Bryan C. ($20), Alexander T. ($10), Daniel A. ($20), Michael G. ($20), Keith B. ($133) are the wonderful sponsors for the first chapter of the year. Hope you all had a wonderful new year and that 2020 treats you all well.
In a certain Devil’s Nest in the Farzon Duchy… or rather, a place that used to be a Devil’s Nest. The people guarding the Dungeon entrance that had appeared in a wall in the valley there were standing in a complex formation.
Half of them were standing guard at the Dungeon entrance to look out for anything unusual from inside the Dungeon, and the other half were watching out for any potential intruders from the outside.
Among them were a pair of priest-warriors, standing guard with their backs facing each other.
“… It seems that nothing is happening tonight,” one of them said.
“Nothing happened last night either, right?” said another.
One of them had been dispatched from the Church of Alda, and the other from the Church of Vida. But there was no tense relationship between them; in fact, they had a good relationship with each other.
The ones standing guard here were a group of priest-warriors from the Church of the powerful peaceful faction of Alda, supported by Vida’s priest-warriors.
This might have been difficult to believe considering Lambda’s mythological history, but in the Orbaume Kingdom, the peaceful faction had built a favorable relationship with the Church of Vida, despite being followers of Alda.
There were duchies where the Church of Alda was very influential, such as the Hartner Duchy, and there were also the radical and fundamentalist factions in the shadows. It was best to have as many allies as possible to protect Vida’s believers from such factions.
That was why the Church of Vida was maintaining a cooperative relationship with Alda’s peaceful faction.
And Heinz, the peaceful faction’s leader who was protecting a Dhampir, had converted many of Alda’s believers from the radical and fundamentalist factions to the peaceful faction. The Church of Vida saw his rise to prominence as very welcome… though this was very ironic when considering the truth around Alda, the god of law and fate, and Vida, the goddess of life and love.
“So, what was all that noise about yesterday? We were having a late lunch when there was a scary echoing sound from inside the Dungeon, and a part of the statue of Alda that was built at the small shrine on the cultivated land broke,” said the priest-warrior who had been dispatched from the Church of Alda.
The events he described were the result of the battle between Vandalieu and Heinz. The destruction of the Dungeon by the World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon, and the destruction of Curatos, the god of records. The effects of these events had reached the area around the Dungeon entrance.
“I do not know. The Dungeon’s entrance has remained closed the whole time. Considering that, Heinz-dono and the others are safe… or at least, one of them is,” said the priest-warrior from the Church of Vida.
“Hey! How dare you say such an ill-omened thing!” shouted Alda’s priest-warrior.
“I am also hoping that Heinz-dono and the others are safe, but… it is not ordinary for enormous sounds and vibrations to reach even outside the Dungeon,” said the priest-warrior of Vida.
Indeed, the outside of a Dungeon was essentially in a different world from the inside. Unless something occurred near the entrance, no sound or vibrations would reach between the inside and outside, even if there was a large earthquake on the outside or an enormous magical attack bursting on the inside.
But it seemed that sounds and vibrations did travel all the way to the outside in the event that dozens of the Dungeon’s floors were pierced through and destroyed.
“And what of the statue breaking? Even if it is only a part of the statue that broke, we should assume that something has happened. It is similar to the uproar that happened several years ago with the statues of Yupeon, the god of ice. It is likely that it was caused by something happening in the Dungeon. As long as that is the case, it is only natural to assume that Heinz-dono and the others are involved,” said Vida’s priest-warrior. “It is only normal to be concerned for their safety, is it not?”
Since Heinz and his companions were the only ones in the Dungeon, it was certain that if something had happened inside, they were involved. Ordinarily, this reasoning would be full of flaws, but this Dungeon had appeared as if prepared solely for Heinz’s party, and its entrance had been tightly sealed shut after they entered it.
Considering this, Vida’s priest-warrior’s words could not be denied.
“That is true, but… Damn it, just what in the world is happening inside this Dungeon? Things are going well on the outside – The purification of the Devil’s Nest and the cultivation of the land are going well, and the construction of the town is proceeding smoothly too – but I don’t know whether we’re supposed to watch the inside of the Dungeon or outside it!” the priest-warrior of Alda cursed.
When the anomalous event occurred, voices of worry had naturally suggested that monsters might overflow out of the Dungeon. It was common knowledge for the inhabitants of this world that Dungeons generated monsters, and if monster numbers inside them were not controlled, the monsters would overflow into the outside world.
This was why the priest-warriors were standing with their backs facing each other, watching two opposite directions… half of them facing the Dungeon, and the other half staying on guard against any villains attempting to enter the Dungeon… mages attempting to peer into events happening inside, or assassins sent by Alda’s radical faction or worshipers of evil gods to get rid of the troublesome Heinz.
Even if it was a Dungeon created by a god, there would certainly be some kind of trial inside, and there was no guarantee that this trial would not contain monsters.
“Won’t the gods send a Divine Message or two? The goddess has apparently been resurrected recently, right?” said Alda’s priest-warrior.
“Apparently. But although there are some with Divine Protections, there are few priests who say that they have received a Divine Message… In fact, there are more priests who have chosen to hide,” said Vida’s priest-warrior.
“Hey, are you fine with that? Though I guess we’re not going to report them.”
“I don’t care. There is no need to pay attention to those who aren’t here.”
In recent years, there were some in the Church of Vida who had received divine protections and acquired the ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ Skill. That was why there were rumors that Vida had been resurrected, but this had caused some clergymen to feel that their lives were in danger and flee in the middle of the night.
Vida had been almost completely asleep up until now, so there had been some corrupt clergymen thinking that they would never receive divine punishment and others who had made their way into the ranks of the Church of Vida with the intent to commit crimes. Investigations into the clergymen who had fled had made this clear.
But even if this hadn’t occurred, it was unlikely that Vida would inform her believers of what was happening inside the Dungeon with a Divine Message.
“And there are some who have received Divine Messages who say that it had nothing to do with this Dungeon… What do you make of them?” Vida’s priest-warrior asked.
“I have no idea what’s going on inside the Dungeon either,” said Alda’s priest-warrior.
Alda had not sent any Divine Messages with news of Heinz or what was happening inside the Dungeon.
This was because Alda was concealing information, afraid that Vandalieu would learn of it.
“But that just shows how important the events that are happening inside the Dungeon are. It would be problematic if the gods were to send a Divine Message and then it were to be found out by the Vampires, the Majin or, gods forbid, the Demon King,” Vida’s priest-warrior said.
“The Demon King, huh. The one whose existence was implied by the Divine Message sent to the Church of Alda in the Empire? To be honest, it sounds suspicious to me,” said Alda’s priest-warrior.
“Well, it is the Church of our enemy nation, after all. And it is merely a rumor… but it’s clear what’s going on, isn’t it?”
“Well, you’re right. The gods serving Alda are apparently raising heroes as if competing against each other. The gods wouldn’t do such a thing if nothing was going on.”
The gods were granting their divine protections and sending Divine Messages to those with good qualities, developing them into heroes. Many of them were in the Amid Empire, but there were also such hero candidates in the Orbaume Kingdom, so there were many rumors about them, though the priest-warriors here had never met any of them in person.
“Come to think of it, why aren’t the gods of Vida’s faction trying to nurture heroes? Vida’s been resurrected, after all,” said Alda’s priest-warrior.
“Only the gods know that,” said Vida’s priest-warrior.
“Yeah… Ah, I hope the Five-colored Blades come back soon. It’d make Selen feel at ease, too.”
“Agreed.”
And so, Alda and Vida’s priest-warriors continued to exchange conversation, their backs still facing each other. They felt frustration at their inability to do nothing but wait, but they carried out their daily task.
Meanwhile, in one of the many back alleys in Morksi’s entertainment district, Miles was greedily devouring the grilled skewers that he was carrying in his arms.
“Mmm! This is it. This is what I’m talking about. This is the flavor that I’ve been craving!” he said, smacking his lips.
“… They’re just grilled skewers, though,” said Vandalieu.
“Boss, you can’t call these ‘just grilled skewers!’ Even though the meat is cheap, the preliminary work you’ve put into these is extraordinary!” Miles insisted, continuing to consume the skewers as if in a trance.
Indeed, the meat was the cheap leftover meat of Rank 1 monsters such as Giant Rats, and it would normally just have a little salt shaken over it to produce a flavor that was appropriate for its price.
But Vandalieu had matured the meat with the ‘Maturation’ spell and marinated it in a sauce containing his own herbs and fruits. On top of that, Princess Levia and the other fire-attribute Ghosts provided perfect control over the cooking heat.
Miles was enjoying a flavor worth far more than the five Baums charged for each skewer.
“Do the higher-ups in the underworld really eat so poorly?” Vandalieu asked.
He had handed a Demon King Familiar to Miles and the others for communication purposes, but in order to preserve the Mana he had stored in them, it slept except when in use and during emergencies. Thus, Vandalieu was not well-informed when it came to the lifestyle that they were living… He could not store too much Mana in the Demon King Familiar to have it constantly active, because there was a risk that Murakami’s group, who were reliant on using their radars to detect and approach him, might get confused and head in Miles’s direction instead.
“It isn’t so bad for Eleanora, since she’s in the main headquarters of the organization, but in my position… I can’t stay too long in high-class stores that normal people often go to, can I? That’s why my diet mostly consists of meat that I can buy at bars. It’s not that I hate meat, but it’s hard, has no flavoring but salt, and it only comes with pickles and dried fish… I miss eating fresh vegetables, seafood and fruit. And miso, soy sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup and Worcester sauce. Not to mention curry, ramen, hamburgers, deep-fried food and moderately sweet snacks,” said Miles.
It seemed that his palate had grown too accustomed to Talosheim’s standards. Even the skewers that he was eating now were a little lacking for his taste, but… it was far better than the food that he had been eating since infiltrating the city of Morksi.
“When Melissa went back because of Doug and the others possibly mutating, I asked her to bring back a mountain of souvenirs, but… it would be bad if my underlings saw me eating them,” Miles lamented.
“I heard that this is a city of commerce, but it seems that things are still inconvenient here compared to Talosheim. It seems that you’re suffering quite a bit… Is that why you’re a ‘Starving Wolf?’” Darcia asked, wondering whether the way he was eating and his current starved state was connected to his new Title.
Miles gave a bitter smile. “I’m a face of the underworld that became visible to normal society in something of a hurry, and people started calling me that before I knew it. There were a lot of people who came attacking me… I wonder if my predecessor was a popular fellow,” said Miles.
In the city of Morksi, there was a criminal organization that had done business with the ‘Hyena’ Gozoroff. This criminal organization had no name, and remained lurking in this area, not pulling off anything large-scale. It was an organization that was more of a secret society.
But even secret societies did not seem to welcome those other than themselves exercising their authority in their territory. It was likely that they wanted to avoid being caught up in large incidents caused by poor thugs and failed mercenaries.
They kept one of their leaders visible even to ordinary society in order to act as a leader for such rabble.
Among Eleanora’s group, who had disposed of the criminal organization’s upper ranks and taken over, Miles was the only one suited for the job of replacing this leader. He had taken this role so that he could act right away whenever something occurred in the city of Morksi.
But to the thugs and hoodlums that didn’t know that just one leader of the mysterious criminal organization had changed, it had simply appeared that Miles had suddenly appeared in the city and become its boss, and it was something that they couldn’t accept at all.
There had been several people who had attempted to become the boss themselves, unable to accept this newcomer becoming the boss.
“That must have been troublesome,” Vandalieu remarked.
“Yes, it really was… Holding back and not killing them, that is,” said Miles.
Such thugs were nothing but small fry to Miles. Among the people who challenged Miles for the position of ruling the city, there had been failed D-class adventurers, mercenaries and assassins. But all of them had been inferior to the ‘Hyena’ Gozoroff.
Meanwhile, Miles was a Rank 11 Vampire Marquis… A being worthy of being told of in legends, a foe that even an A-class adventurer party might not be able to defeat.
If he wished to, he would be able to single-handedly destroy the city of Morksi itself and go on to threaten the existence of the entirety of the Alcrem Duchy.
To him, dealing with the thugs and hoodlums was nothing but a tiring task.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t get angry at me for killing them, Boss, but disposing of their corpses would be a pain, and it would be troublesome if the guards noticed a large number of people going missing and made a move,” Miles said. “I had no choice but to carefully persuade them as if I was twisting a baby’s arm. That way, they become obedient after suffering just a few fractures.”
Miles would grab his challengers by the arm and speak intimidating words to them while putting some force into his hand. The challengers would try to kick at his knees or stab him with a knife with their free hand, but he would be completely unfazed. He wore clothes which were made of a combination of threads produced by Arachne and Vandalieu himself, offering as much protection as metal armor. His muscles were harder than steel. There was no way for the thugs to harm him.
… Some of them had apparently attempted to aim for Miles’s groin, but he had blocked such attacks with his knees to protect himself, causing tragic damage to their legs instead.
And so, most of Miles’s challengers had realized the difference in power and submitted to him.
“Considering that, you’ve got quite the amazing Title?” said Vandalieu.
“There were a lot of people challenging me because they couldn’t believe my strength. They thought that I was only great in rumors and in appearance, but my actual ability was exaggerated. Thanks to them, I was busy twisting all of their arms until a few days before you arrived, Boss,” said Miles.
Many thugs and hoodlums had ended up with marks shaped like Miles’s fingers on their arms, and those who saw these marks said that Miles was like a starving wolf who would sink his teeth into anyone. These rumors spread, and Miles became known as the ‘Starving Wolf.’
“Not that I mind, since it’s actually convenient that people fear me to the point that I acquire a Title. I’ve managed to regroup with you as well… and it was harder dealing with Eleanora and Isla than the thugs,” Miles remarked.
“Well, I’ve seen a little bit of that,” said Vandalieu.
Miles’s position required him to walk around the city, and so it was the position that had the greatest chance of meeting Vandalieu. Eleanora and Isla had naturally wanted this position themselves, but… this was impossible for them.
The concept of gender equality didn’t exist in the underworld, and they would be constantly looked down upon just because they were women. Overcoming that sentiment to take control over the thugs would have taken them over twice as long as Miles.
It had apparently been quite the difficult task for Miles to comfort Eleanora and Isla, who were depressed, withdrawn and bitter over this disappointing fact. Vandalieu had watched them through the Demon King Familiar that he had left with them, but… Bellmond’s honest admission that leading a group of hoodlums with their appearance would be impossible had caused deep wounds.
“More importantly, I want to talk about the guard named Aggar and the Deputy Guild Master Joseph. Did you not know anything about them beforehand?” Chipuras asked Miles.
“We’ve never heard of Aggar. But there are several guards that let you get away with various things if you bribe them, so he might be one of them,” Miles replied, wiping some sauce from his lips. “As for Joseph… He’s the uncle of the current Earl Morksi.”
“So, he’s actually a big-shot?” said Vandalieu.
“Well, if you’re just talking about his connections. He was born to an earl’s family, but he’s the fourth son, so he didn’t become the head of the family, and there were no talks of him marrying into another family, so he became a government official and worked in a tax-related department. After that, he became employed at the Commerce Guild and went on to become a Deputy Guild Master,” said Miles. “By the way, he’s not a noble now. He apparently gave up his right to succeed his family.”
The Commerce Guild was generally a non-governmental organization, but it also served as an intermediary organization that collected the nation’s taxes from merchants; essentially, it also functioned as a tax office. Thus, a certain number of government officials would be temporarily transferred as Guild employees, and it was standard for one of the multiple Deputy Guild Masters to be related to the government.
It seemed that in this city, that person was Joseph.
But there was at least one such Deputy Guild Master in every big city, so it seemed that Joseph was not a particularly important person.
“Then does that mean that his harassment of us is Earl Morksi’s will as well?” Vandalieu asked.
“I don’t think so,” said Miles. “Unlike his older brother that was the previous earl, it seems that he has had a bad relationship with his nephew since he became the current earl… and you only just revealed that you’re a Dhampir this afternoon, didn’t you, Boss? I heard that Earl Morksi has been running around investigating details of the incident where parts of statues of Alda broke and priests fainted. He shouldn’t have enough free time for that.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
It seemed that there was no connection between Joseph and Earl Morksi. With that being the case, that meant that the harassment of Vandalieu and Darcia was Joseph’s independent decision.
Miles’s bitter smile grew wider, and he gave a sigh. “Leaving the guard named Aggar aside, Joseph’s actions are confusing for us as well. You are quite the important person just by being a Dhampir, and even though you did refuse his offer, it doesn’t make much sense that he would harass you.”
“Quite the important person… It’s tricky, isn’t it. Well, it’s probably because Vandalieu himself is just a person of a rare race to most people, and he can be used to make connections with Alda’s peaceful faction and those people,” said Darcia.
To the Orbaume Kingdom’s society, Dhampirs were a rare, precious race. Alda’s peaceful faction, led by the S-class adventurer Heinz, and the Church of Vida, would try to protect Vandalieu if they were to learn of his existence.
But in terms of social position, Vandalieu was just a commoner. There were no Dhampir-protection laws in the Orbaume Kingdom, nor were there any laws that stated that all Dhampirs should be treated as nobles.
Thus, even if Joseph harassed Vandalieu, it wasn’t against the law, so Vandalieu could not publicly protest against it. However, that did mean that he could take non-public actions against it.
“The Alcrem Duchy doesn’t want to draw the attention of S-class adventurers. The Deputy Guild Master of a single commerce city can be erased right away if the duchy puts the screws on him,” said Miles, thinking hard. “Joseph shouldn’t be gaining anything from harassing Boss, but…”
“From what we have heard, it is unlikely that he is harassing us for his own benefit. He considers himself to have lost face when Vandalieu-sama refused his offer, and he is simply harassing us because there is no need to hold back,” said Chipuras.
“Is that how it is?” said Vandalieu.
“Yes, Vandalieu-sama. Those who are rulers of little are like that. He has always exercised his authority in this city. The fact that he comes from a noble family or that he has an education has nothing to do with it,” said Chipuras. “Sometimes, people make foolish errors and commit appalling wickedness for reasons that are difficult to understand. I myself was a prime example of that when I was still alive.”
“… We were on different sides while you were alive, but it’s kind of hard to agree on that,” said Darcia.
“There were people like that on Earth as well, so I guess that’s how it is,” said Vandalieu.
It seemed that having received higher-than-average education and being in a position of responsibility was not a guarantee that Joseph would not make any errors.
There were foolish and useless nobles in this world, as well as corrupt merchants… Even on Earth, there had been plenty of scandals and crimes committed by politicians, government officials and even religious leaders.
Vandalieu’s treatment in Origin itself was probably an error committed by an entire nation… Considering that, perhaps it was in the nature of humans for some of them to be that way.
“Well, leaving that aside… What is Joseph-san actually going to do in the end? We’re not exactly particularly troubled at the moment,” said Darcia.
“Darcia-sama, we must worry about our business’s sales, and the thugs may come again to –” Chipuras began.
“Miles-san will do something about that, won’t he?” said Darcia, giving a nod towards Miles.
Miles, who was about to put his sixth skewer in his mouth, stopped and nodded. “Of course. I’m sure that news of the ‘Starving Wolf’ having a long discussion at this food cart will spread within the day… I’ll make sure that your sales are good. I’ll tell my underlings –”
“Then how about we make it so that I’m the ‘Starving Wolf’ Michael’s woman?” said Darcia.
Miles choked and coughed, and Chipuras’s jaw dropped at Darcia’s suggestion.
“I see. If we do that, then it’s not strange for you to visit our food cart often, and Mom can go and meet you, too. If we make it so that you’re the ‘Starving Wolf’s’ woman, nobody will dare mess with you at all, never mind Miles’s underlings,” said Vandalieu calmly.
“Vandalieu’s agreed, so it’s decided, then,” said Darcia.
“Wait a second! Are you sure about this?!” Miles asked, looking shaken.
“It’s fine, Miles-san. That person… Valen, wasn’t quite as well-known as you, but he was quite the big figure in the underworld,” said Darcia, looking into the distance as if reminiscing of the past.
“… Are you okay with that, Boss?” Miles asked Vandalieu.
“It’s not like you’re actually dating, so as long as you’re okay with it, Miles,” Vandalieu replied. “I trust you, after all.”
Though Miles talked in a feminine tone and loved to wear lipstick, Vandalieu knew that he wasn’t homosexual. However, he trusted him.
“Boss…! Alright, let’s do that, then!” Miles said, his heart throbbing as he felt Vandalieu’s trust in him. “But we might need to hold hands or put our hands around each other’s shoulders or waists in order to sell the act, so forgive me for that.”
“Well, it is an act, after all. More importantly, about the mysterious divine protection, how’s yours, Miles?” Vandalieu asked, thinking that Miles’s divine protection’s hidden letters might all be revealed now that Darcia’s were.
“Mine? There are still two hidden letters, but… now that you mention it, there were three hidden letters until yesterday.”
It seemed that Miles’s divine protection still had some hidden letters. It seemed that the ‘Bestower’ Job’s effect was only enough to reveal one letter.
“Is that so? All of my divine protection’s hidden letters are revealed, and it says ‘Vandalieu’s Divine Protection,’ but maybe there are some individual differences,” said Darcia.
“Ah, I see… There might be a huge divine statue of you in the middle of construction by the time we return to Talosheim, Boss,” said Miles.
“Miles, it’s a stone statue. Not a divine statue, a stone statue,” Vandalieu said, correcting him.
TLN: In Japanese, there is a separate word for statue when it’s a statue of a god. There’s no such separate word in English, so I’ve translated that to ‘divine statue’ here. Vandalieu is insisting that it’s not a statue of a god, but an ordinary stone statue.
“But Boss, there might be people other than Darcia-sama who only had one hidden letter left and now have them all revealed. Like the girls in Talosheim,” said Miles.
“It’s still just a stone statue,” Vandalieu insisted.
“You’re so stubborn, Boss… Ah, and my race title has changed even though my Rank hasn’t increased. It was ‘Abyssal Vampire Marquis,’ and it’s changed to ‘Abyssal Noble-born Vampire Marquis,’” said Miles.
“It is just ‘Noble-born’ that was added, is it not? And the Pure-breed Vampires have already become Abyssal Pure-breed Vampires,” said Chipuras.
“A change is a change, isn’t it? You’re a Ghost, so it probably doesn’t have anything to do with you, but Bellmond and the others might experience a change next,” said Miles. “Though it does seem that nothing has changed other than my race title,” he added.
Considering the timing of the change, it was likely the effect of Vandalieu acquiring the ‘Bestower’ Job.
“I see. Let’s ask the other Vampires in Talosheim later,” said Vandalieu. “By the way, are we doing okay for time?”
“Now that you mention it, it would be problematic for us to talk for too long… I’ll take thirty more grilled skewers for takeout, then,” said Miles.
“Yes, yes.”
“Can I have half-and-half of Horn Rabbit meat and Giant Rat meat? The rabbit is healthier and delicious, but the rat has more fat and its richness is delicious as well. And are there any other kinds of sauces?”
“Here you are. But there aren’t any other sauces, so I’ll think of some.”
And so, Miles received dried leaves containing ten skewers each, then went around to the other food carts as the ‘Starving Wolf’ Michael to give the owners some money as a way to apologize for the commotion that he had caused. After that, he returned to the city’s night scene. He would probably divide the skewers later among his underlings and… Eleanora and the others.
Vandalieu had made a profit for today in terms of sales thanks to Miles, but later on, several other people ordered some grilled skewers and started up some conversation.
It seemed that these were information brokers who were curious as to what the ‘Starving Wolf’ had been discussing at this food cart, so Vandalieu and Darcia told them their previously-decided story that the ‘Starving Wolf’ had seduced Darcia.
Vandalieu and Darcia returned home, put the food cart in the shed and entered the house that apparently had a shady history.
The house had been cleaned thoroughly by the Tartarus Maid Armors, Saria and Rita.
“Welcome home, Bocchan, Darcia-sama,” said Saria.
“We’ve finished the cleaning!” said Rita.
The truth was that these two had been inside the knapsack that Darcia had been carrying when she entered the city of Morksi.
It would seem impossible for the two women who could only be described as beauties, one of them wearing an excessively revealing high-leg-leotard-shaped armor and the other a bikini-shaped armor with maid-like decorations, to both fit inside a knapsack.
But Rita and Saria were Living-Armor-type Undead. Their armor was their actual main body, and what filled them was merely materialized spirit form.
If they withdrew their spirit form and returned to an armor-only state, it was easy for Darcia to carry them both with the armors packed into a knapsack. Even if her belongings were inspected, the two of them would just remain silent and appear to be nothing but suits of armor.
They were armor rather than weapons, and they were not contraband goods, so it was unlikely that there would be any problems… other than Darcia being thought of as the owner of the high-leg-leotard and bikini-shaped suits of armor.
“Thanks,” said Darcia. “Has there been any changes? Like the previous tenant still being here or something.”
“No, there weren’t any Ghosts. There wasn’t even a single mouse,” said Saria.
“The mice might have just instinctively fled because we’re here, though,” said Rita.
“I see… I thought it would have been more fun if it was a haunted house,” Darcia said, sounding disappointed.
“Mom, most of this city’s spirits are already with me,” Vandalieu pointed out.
“Now that you mention it, that’s true,” said Darcia.
Though this was only known to those who could see spirits, there was a countless number… a truly countless number of spirits following Vandalieu. Many of them were nothing more than small points of light, but they were unmistakably spirits.
“Bocchan attracts all the spirits except for those that are strongly haunting certain places or people, after all,” said Saria. “Anyway… I wonder what this house’s history actually is?”
“It would be unpleasant if it was some masterful professional killer visiting every tenant and applying a poison that makes their death look like it was caused by disease,” said Darcia.
“Darcia-sama, that’s scarier than ghosts. Seriously,” said Rita.
“… There’s something beneath the floor. There’s a faint response from ‘Danger Sense: Death,’” said Vandalieu.
Further investigation revealed a gap between the floor of the first floor and the basement, and there was mold growing inside it. It seemed to be a very toxic mold, and this was apparently the reason that tenants would die of disease within a year of moving into this house.
Though this would only be revealed by later investigation… This house’s history was not exactly the truth. There had actually been some who had fled to escape their debts rather than die of disease, and others who had moved out after living here for over a year.
“Well, mold is more troublesome to us than ghosts,” said Vandalieu. “‘Disinfect,’ ‘Sterilization.’”
Vandalieu carefully removed the mold with his spells, then completely filled in the gap with his ‘Golem Creation’ Skill. The house was now a safe house with a shady history.
“Of course, everywhere is a haunted house with Bocchan around,” said Saria.
“We’re here too, and there are so many Ghosts like Princess Levia and Orbia-san,” said Rita.
“And I’m going to be doing some full-scale remodeling,” said Vandalieu. “I’ll leave the outward appearance the same, though.”
First, he turned the entire house into Golems. This was to leave the house’s exterior appearance the same while fixing its badly-fitted doors and its creaking floors, and implementing measures against intruders.
If the entire house was Golems, it would be difficult to infiltrate even for the ‘King Slayer’ Sleygar, a superhuman assassin who had awakened the ‘Silent Steps’ Skill into the superior Skill ‘Nihility,’ which erased his presence entirely.
And, as if having waited for the perfect timing, a hole in space opened inside the house, and Gufadgarn emerged from it.
“I have brought the items and materials,” she said.
She had brought things from Talosheim that were needed for remodeling the house.
“Thanks. The only materials and weapons we can get around here are made of bone, so this is very helpful,” said Vandalieu.
“You honor me,” said Gufadgarn.
“This really is so helpful! We didn’t bring our halberd and glaive here, after all,” Rita said happily.
“If we bought new ones from an ordinary weapon store, they would probably break right away. Thank you, Gufadgarn-san,” said Saria.
Rita and Saria had been unarmed up until now; they gladly received their weapons from Gufadgarn. Their strength was already beyond what ordinary iron weapons could handle.
Vandalieu used the delivered Dark Copper to reinforce the house. “With this, the house will withstand even spells and martial skills used from outside,” he said.
“Perhaps it would withstand attacks from the reincarnated individuals… but I believe that it would be possible for the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne to destroy this house’s defenses with a single attack,” said Gufadgarn.
She knew almost nothing about Birkyne, but she was basing this assumption on her knowledge of the other Pure-breed Vampires.
“That’s true, but… Birkyne would be able to attack the house from outside the city’s walls,” said Vandalieu. “Let’s deal with that with the Dungeon that I’ll make in the basement.”
“I see. You will create a Dungeon in the basement, and use it as a shelter and as a supply of fighting forces in the event of an emergency.”
“… No, I’m going to make it as low-class a Dungeon as possible, so I don’t think it would provide us with fighting forces.”
“Depending on the circumstances, we might not have the time to recover the Dungeon, after all,” said Darcia.
If Vandalieu carelessly created a high-class Dungeon, it was possible that this would cause great trouble for the city of Morksi. It would be good if the city could adopt the Dungeon and become a labyrinth city, but… the inhabitants of the slum quarter would lose their homes in the process, which was unacceptable.
And if it ever came to a situation where Vandalieu needed the Dungeon’s monsters to fight for him, the city would either be destroyed or be in a position where its destruction was inevitable.
Vandalieu was creating a Dungeon so that things would not get to that point, so there would be no point in making it for fighting forces.
“Well, I need to make the floors large, so we’ll see if I can keep it to E-class or not,” said Vandalieu. “Well then, Mom, I’m going to create a Dungeon in the basement… but before that, I’ll go around behind the house.”
“Behind the house? Make sure you come back before the dinner that Gufadgarn-san brought gets cold,” said Darcia.
“Yes, Mom.”
There was a starving dog, taking no notice of the house that had people living in it for the first time in a while… along with a strange, different presence.
This dog, who had been born in the slum quarter, had managed to survive until adulthood despite losing its siblings and mother. However, it had recently lost in a struggle between competing predators, and it was now starving, unable to get food. It had wandered to this place without even realizing it.
Its rival predators were other stray dogs and… the inhabitants of the slums.
To the slum quarter’s inhabitants, dogs were competitors when searching for food scraps, and they were good sources of food themselves. The dog had lost its family to the slum quarter’s inhabitants hunting them for their meat.
That was why the dog was utterly afraid of humans. It had grown up as a stray, so it had already been taught by its mother to be wary of humans, but now, humans looked like nothing but terrifying predators to it.
That was why it was here, behind this unpopular, empty house. Unable to hunt its own food or fish through garbage in the streets where people walked, it would starve to death here.
But before that, Vandalieu silently appeared where the dog was.
“A mouse would have done for an experimental subject, but I don’t mind it being a dog… Come here,” he said, beckoning to the dog with a small piece of dried meat in his hand.
Strength returned to the starving dog’s eyes, and it bared its fangs at Vandalieu and growled. Of course, it was aware of the piece of dried meat in Vandalieu’s hand, but it prioritized being cautious of Vandalieu himself, and chose to try and intimidate him.
“At times like this… are you supposed to say, ‘There’s nothing to be scared of?’” Vandalieu wondered, bringing his hand closer to the dog, unafraid of the dog’s growls.
The dog let out a bark and instinctively reached out to bite. It put all of its strength into its jaws, its teeth sinking not into the dried meat, but Vandalieu’s hand.
But to the dog’s surprise, Vandalieu didn’t respond at all. He didn’t withdraw his hand in pain and surprise; he simply continued to let his hand be bitten.
And there was something strange about the hand in the dog’s jaws… No matter how hard it bit, no blood came out. The skin would not break.
“There, there,” said Vandalieu, patting the dog’s head with his other hand. “You don’t need to give me such a playful bite… Wow, it’s actually working. I suppose it’s always worth a try to say it.”
The dog felt as if something was squirming in the depths of Vandalieu’s eyes.
The dog knew that this person was not a human.
It let go of Vandalieu’s hand, which was white as candle-wax and not red from the bite at all, and licked it instead.
“Good dog. I’m sure you’re hungry, so let’s hurry and have dinner… but before that, I suppose I’ll give you a little wash,” said Vandalieu.
The dog gave a happy bark and followed Vandalieu into the house.
Skill explanation:
Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
A divine protection granted by Vandalieu, who is not a god. Until recently, the letters of this Skill’s name were hidden, but the last of the hidden letters were revealed after he acquired the ‘Bestower’ Job.
As a divine protection, it provides ubiquitous benefits… In addition to lowering the difficulty of overcoming developmental barriers, it also provides a small bonus to acquiring Skills that are ordinarily difficult to acquire after birth, such as ‘Status Effect Resistance,’ ‘Physical Resistance,’ ‘Venom Secretion,’ ‘Night Vision’ and ‘Dark Vision.’
Of course, it does not allow the easy acquisition of these Skills; it simply increases the chance of acquiring them through hard work and unexpected events.
Skill explanation:
Bedroom Skill
In short, this is a skill that is used at night. It is a Skill not for ordinary intercourse between male and female, but for the user providing pleasure for their partner, so it is not a Skill that can be acquired through ordinary lovers and married couples.
This Skill is acquired by male and female prostitutes, and women belonging to harems. Those who have this Skill at Level 5 or higher, they are considered high-class prostitutes, and they are not treated poorly even if they are slaves.
Skill explanation:
Love-making
A technique that improves the user’s partner’s vigor and replenishes their energy through intercourse. It is a type of hygiene, but its effects are clear enough that it is represented as a Skill. Perhaps because of this, those who are subject to this Skill’s effects for long periods of time have a high chance of acquiring the ‘Endless Sexual Stamina’ Skill.
There was an era when it was said that powerful people would live long lives if they kept mistresses who possessed this Skill at a high Level, and that their descendants would prosper. All royals and nobles desired such mistresses.
However, there is a legend that says that this skill was granted to the people by Vida, the goddess of life and love. Because of this, the first emperor of the Amid Empire outlawed the use of the ‘Love-making’ Skill.
But the third emperor completely lifted this ban, and although it is no longer illegal, there are few users of this Skill in the western region of the Bahn Gaia continent.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Naberisu
Why are you all upset about Miles faking a relationship with Darcia, that’s just to make the men stop harassing Darcia, I’m sure that Miles wouldn’t even think of laying a finger on Vida’s incarnation.
JKingSniper
I doubt Van would revive his father, so go for that MILF incest!
also nice doggy
Utsuho
The soul of his father was properly taken care of by the Vampire of Gubamon’s faction.
In other words, Velen’s soul is already reincarnated somewhere into a member of vida’s race or, more likely, a monster in a dungeon (as he is a vampire worshipping an evil god).
Vandalieu never met him, so there is no way for him to find out a clue about his father’s soul. And even if that was the case, i doubt Vandalieu can remind Velen’s soul of his previous identity.
maxhh
Vai ter incesto no final
Zenden1st
Yeah I def don’t appreciate this half-baked ntr they’re doing to van
After all that’s happened Darica, she should belong to van (whether that’s platonic or not)
There’s just too much going for the random man that weasels his way into Darcias heart.
Too much say in this upcoming world superpower that’s talosheim, too much political power
That guy would become wealthy beyond comparison so just about any man would try and wife darcia especially seeing as they’d not only get her for her looks but a substantial sum of money for being associated to van.
This guy could be a plant by anyone so you definitely shouldn’t trust anyone who didn’t come out of the dirt with van.
That means the selection of men darcia can date is already narrowed to like talosheim and depending on where you cut the line that could mean the original group that van walked into talosheim with.
Most men in talosheim and vidas associated nations already know vans a mother-con, (If they don’t want to risk death they’d keep their dick in their pants.), and if they’re smarter than that they’d also come to the conclusion that vidas rules on incest are pretty lax. ie. context clues (Holy son of Vida/ Incarnation of Vida, knowing vans a mother-con if she was against incest why give divine protection??? Why even give such a strong incarnation to darcia you might see something you wouldn’t like by giving such a strong connection?)
Plus Darcia is horrible at picking mates, normally you’d think any regular woman would run away from Valen once they learned he’s a vampire, but she stayed with him and had a child (van) OFC Valen was a good husband but Id goes to say %99.99 of all-male, evil god worshipping subordinate vampires are evil, and probably would’ve Graped darcia and sold her to a slave ring, or just abandoned her and the baby.
Because of that Darcia definitely, can’t be allowed to choose her own mates from now on, there’s too much riding on what she does with her actions and words. Plus it’s already obvious she’s is attracted to the bad guy type, the author literally said she found the corrupt gate guard ‘Aggar’ attempt to hit on her cute. Most women would find that the whole situation was weird, especially considering the position of the 2 at the time of his approach.
This is not the only time events like this happened, (if I’m not wrong) she was approached like this on 2 more occasions 1. during the walk to the commerce guild, 2. by Mile’s lackeys, I’m pretty sure she was assaulted, (was grabbed by one of the hoodlums) in one of those two interactions. Although I’m happy she stuck up for herself it makes me think she has a high tolerance for what she finds repulsive when approached by a man. Also if most adventures act like hoodlums and vice versa, it makes me wonder how many times she was approached like this to find such behavior ‘cute’ or to be expected.
Tldr: Van x Darcia
Rasho
Eleanora and Isla will probably come to meet Van in disguise next time…
Also, I just realized that Talosheim is literally “Home of Talos”. Talos = Sun Giant, heim = home, I always read it as Talo’sh’eim, like in ‘sh’are
FunniFear
It’s a bit of a farce. Setting up a small business, rising from the bottom, introducing his mother as Miles’ mistress… Doubtful and a little silly.
I hope the global plan is better than it looks.
ObserverBias
It’s not a direct attempt at conquest. His objective is to sideswipe his way into recognition by society, but registering as an adventurer would show all sorts of troubling things in his stats, so the Commerce Guild (that doesn’t require that much prying) is the next best bet. The alt objective is baiting out those that want him dead (Murakami’s group, Birkyne), and with the criminal element taken over, he has less direct objection to his cover that he would obligate himself to interfere with (read as: he would have less actual criminals bothering him that he might end up having to kill stealthily).
.
Specifically because Miles is already working for him, and for the convenience of being able to meet more regularly, there’s no need to overcomplicate how they interact as far as other people are paying attention.
Chiu ChunLing
Keeping in mind that direct conquest (just rounding up enough force to wipe out the Orbaume Kingdome and teleporting into their capital for ‘negotiations’) does involve some inherent risks. First off, it is likely to be a casus belli to Asagi and like-minded Bravers, as well as to the Amid Empire and the various heroes being cultivated by Alda’s forces. Second, it carries a very strong risk of provoking a humanitarian disaster because of refugees attempting to flee, though this can theoretically be managed it’s not at all simple to completely avoid.
Ultimately Van does have to reveal his real position and strength, but there’s a major difference between revealing that as someone who has already demonstrated the willingness to negotiate according to the laws of Orbaume and showing up as a completely unknown invader.
Keep in mind that Van has previously failed at infiltrating the Orbaume Kingdom twice, both in ways that resulted in the local Duke being intractably hostile and foreclosing the option of proper negotiations. Van’s willing to do some silly things to avoid yet another failure.
FunniFear
Waiting for the mutant doggy
Kerlark Dgrayman
A dog? I can’t wait to see it becoming Van’s Cerberus or His Loyal Hound
OtakuOnCaffiene
Although it’s just a title, Bellmond already is Vandalieu’s loyal hound
NsP7737
What will it become…
Cerberus?
Hound of Tindalos?
mickeyduck
Alda: I MUST RAISE ENOUGH POWERFUL HEROES TO DEFEAT THE EVIL DEMON KING!!
Van: *frying noises* who wants meat 😋
Alda: IF I’M NOT FAST ENOUGH THE WORLD WILL BE DESTROYED!!!
Vida: *vibing in her divine realm* 😌💖💖
Alda: WE’RE DOOMEDDD!!!!!!!!
Van: cute doggo 😊👋
KingJake122
thats so funny and true lol
Moonsshadow
This is the best comment LMAO
Tenderizer
Alda’s doing his best to provide more meat for Vandlieu’s grill.
Shaggy
Y el perro se convierte en un Cerberus Rank 11 o algo asi xd
unwanted child
eng ver:
And the dog becomes a Cerberus at Rank 11 or something XD
Raidanzoup
“TLN: In Japanese, there is a separate word for statue when it’s a statue of a god. There’s no such separate word in English, so I’ve translated that to ‘divine statue’ here. Vandalieu is insisting that it’s not a statue of a god, but an ordinary stone statue.”
A word in the English language for statues of gods, you say? 👀 Why, surely, you mean “Idols”. 💦💦
benmazalan92
you god damn right
hungsayori
Well that’s the third dog Vandalieu is gonna tame.. after Isla and Eleanora, obviously :^)
OtakuOnCaffiene
Why everyone forget Bellmond?
Chiu ChunLing
And those three Light Ghosts.
polynesianvibez
a doggo
thanks for the chapter
Who Cares
Ugh people are forgetting one dog monster that would fit perfectly with the whole eldritch horror that Van is supposed to be turning into. a Hound of Tindalos.
SuicidalSkeletin
Wow imagine if our good boy becomes one of those. But I think they would be nerfed, only able to use basic time magic but Van could send them to hunt anyone under the sun of Lambda. That would be awesome, probably Isla’s subordinates.
TypicalReader
Had to google images that and I have to say that looks cool as hell.
Hunt3rm4n
I am stealing this as a familiar for my friends Warlock in our D&D canpaign. Just had to make an account on here to thank you 🙂
DeadReader518
In everyone’s opinion, who would you ship with Dracia our of all of Vans friends? I’m curious on what other people think. My vote is for Vans apprentice for some reason.
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t really feel like I’d ship her with any of Vans servants. The best option I could imagine would be Schneider, but even with him I think he’s not a position to court her.
This is just my pet theory but I think Van is going to resurrect Valen his father for Darcia. Seeing how much she loves him even now I think that’s Vans new Death Magic goal.
Kazza
Only problem with that is that I’m pretty sure Valen’s soul has already returned to Vida’s system. Like when Van first freed the Titans in Hartner, Borkus asked if his grandchild could be resurrected, only for Van to reply that he couldn’t see the child.
TBH, the only one who even approaches a proper status is Veld, who I guess you could call Vidas first Familiar Spirit. He was also a king in life, so… eh…
Honestly, and I might sound like a giant sexist as I say this, I think Darcia isn’t really looking for any love. I think she wants to focus on taking care of Van and all the others she could treat as children (Pauvina, Legion, etc.) She just struck me as someone who really likes being maternal and spending time with kids and such. Especially since Van’s gigantic harem is going to guarantee at least 30, even if he only has one child with each. I think even without romantic love she’ll have several sources of familial love to make sure she never feels lonely.
timeh
Sexist hows that sexist? Thats just saying shes not looking for love?
Kazza
Of course it isn’t sexist, as that’s not my intention. Some people, however, may take umbrage with me saying a woman is more interested in taking care of kids than pursuing romance. It’s one of those phrases that, out of context, sound much worse than intended.
SuicidalSkeletin
I don’t think there’s any normal person who would consider that to be sexist. To begin with it’s natural for Darcia to want to invest more time to being with Van, since she died weeks after giving birth to him. And it is a fact that it is hard for spirits to move on in matters that involve emotions. I think at the point she died she was still madly in love with Valen and that wouldn’t change even at this point since the whole time she was a spirit.
TruePath111
True Valen looked pretty cool in the Manga
kagemao
I would say Sam, though since he’s put himself as a pretty much eternal servant it would be weird. They have the weird common ground of being wandering spirits for a bit, and being the “adults” of the group from the start. I don’t think she is gonna have room in her heart for other people until Van is older, though.
I also think people assume overreactions from Van that won’t happen. He would want her to be happy.
theblasblas
Miles, she does seem to have a thing for vampires of questionably morality, though I’m sure the current Miles is a better man than Van’s father.
Riguru121
Incest Wincest
TruePath111
Disgusting…lol
NsP7737
Van
InfernoHomura
Lol I guess that dog will become a Cerberus XD
Also please no Miles x Darcia, I like the guy but it just feels wrong to me for some reason
Jonathan Hurd
I think what feels wrong with a Darcia x Miles match is just how different their positions are. Darcia is Vidas incarnation and Vans mother. Miles is Van her son’s servant.
I won’t say that Darcia couldn’t have suitors among Vans servants, but I feel that they wouldn’t be able to be truly open and honest with Darcia for fear of disappointing Van.
Mossy Stone
Miles X Darcia …I like it; hope their fake relationship becomes real resulting in Van getting some brothers & sisters soon. I’ve thought for awhile they would make a good match.
Bloodysorcerer
No, just no. Never, It should never be a thing.
Jonathan Hurd
Yeah…. I like Miles a lot but he isn’t Van father in law potential.
Phantom Knight
Never!!!!!!!!! Whoever touches Darcia-sama will and must die!!!!
Demonuss69
This is probably the most heretical statement I’ve seen yet, now where the hell did I leave my bolter at.
Chiu ChunLing
If it’s the most heretical statement you’ve ever seen yet, shouldn’t you be looking for your cyclonic warhead launcher?
I personally consider this one “laspistol-grade heresy”.
Sp12er
Wait why are we being introduced to those intercourse related skills? Did it get mentioned in this chapter somewhere?
Valeth
They were in character stats previously, but never explained.
Jonathan Hurd
I believe Taria has has at least one of them and some other former slave characters also have these skills.
For why they are being explained now…. No clue, lol. Maybe the author felt like throwing it in. To be fair Vans set up shop near the Red Light district so could have something to do with the next chapter and who he meets there.
Paps
Thanks fro the chapter, wondering which will be the dog evolution.
Ltshrek
Then after that the dog will become knochen’s rival and lemme guess too that dog will become a fenrir like or Cerberus like beast after van finished experimenting on it
Valeth
Rather than rival, I picture it trying to steal bones from Knochen.
Jonathan Hurd
To make a dog happy you give a dog a bone. To make a dog euphoric give a dog a knochen, lol
Lightnovelfan
Hello everyone. That is my first time posting a comment, so let me first say what an amazing job you do translating this story. I enjoy every chapter. So, I have just reread the novel so far and came across a couple of things I have been thinking about. I really could need a second opinion.
1. By this point it is clear that Van is slowly becoming a god, but wouldn´t that make him voulnerable to Aldas´ divine authority? The number of peole following Van is enough to make Rodcorte a god of Lambda and it was heavily implied that Alda would now be able to target him, if he knew. Or would he still be fine, as long as he has a physical body?
2. Could Van create something similar like a familiar spirit descent skill? In the past he merged with his companions to transfer his abilities, like the time he fused with them to transfer his Abyss skill in order to defeat Death Sythe or when he fused with Bughitas to allow him to use God Slayer when killing Ravovifard.
3. We have seen some compatible fragments of the demon king fusing with each other, like the lens and retina being integrated into the eyeballs. What do you think would happen when he gathers all of them? Would they form the Demon Kings´ Body? Or would they stay in weird forms? Don´t get me wrong, I really enjoy the creative ways Van uses the Fragments, but Tumors and blubber just sound weird.
Thank you all in advance and sorry for mistakes, english is not my first language.
Kazza
ONE OF US. ONE OF US.
As to your questions, here’s my best guesses:
1. Yeah, Alda probably can, but the difference is that Vandalieu isn’t a giant coward like Rodcorte. He will fight back, and he has the power of the Demon King, so he’ll definitely put up a hard fight. Remember, Vida wasn’t just sealed, she got sealed after fighting a war with Alda that she only lost because of Bellwood. Although it’s not 100% clear, I believe sealing only involves making a god contribute their function without free will after being beaten to a weaker state. In Pokeball terms, it’s not like a Master Ball Alda can just throw whenever he wants.
2. I think that’s what Banda technically is. Granted, we’ve left them alone for now, but there’s still plenty of room for Densuke to explain what Banda can do for Mei.
3. This one’s just up to speculation. I can only offer my guess that the complete form would be something like “Demon King’s Soma.”
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like Banda is closer to a Spirit Clone than a familiar spirit. What Van might do for Familiar spirits is filling some of the spirits always around him with his Mana and then sending them to his friends and allies.
Darkhelios
For your last question, we know that Demon King fragments mutated. They are no longer pieces of the Demon King past body. However it’s likely that those fragments can, once again, change in order to obey the Demon King’s will (and this is probably the reason the most dangerous fragments are under Rodidiot & Alda’s supervision).
As long as the Demon King’s “will” (memory/instinct…etc) isn’t here, those fragments are on their own. Maybe it would be better to say that without the Demon King, those fragments don’t know what they looked like in the past and can’t become “one” (= go back to their original form and recreate the previous Demon King’s body).
It’s also possible that, if the previous Demon King’s will managed to get free (thanks to Rodidiot doing stupid things), a few fragments would be enough to recreate the Demon King’s body. However if that’s the case, it’s unlikely that the Demon King would recover all his strengh, he would probably be able to walk and fight once again… but in a weakened state.
Entropy
With the first question Vand is already at evil god or even heroic god level power. He was able to kill off Curatas and has the god of dungeons as a loyal servant. Alda could force him into his divine realm and possibly win but it would probably end in a Pyrrhic victory with Alda wounded enough that several seals would be freed and his enemies could beat him, either Vida’s group or other evil gods. I suspect he would also lose several allies in the process so even though Alda could fight Vand as a god, it would be a fight that he couldn’t for certain win. Alda talks a big game about justice and what not, but he is too cowardly to have fair fight. Plus to Alda, Vand is an unknown enemy, he is like a creature in a dark cave, he could be a raccoon, pack of wolves, or a bear for all Alda knows since Alda can’t spy on him. As for the familar spirit question, Vand might be able to pull it off if he creates an independent entity like what he did with Band. He kind of already has several familiars with those demon king familiars, they still have bodies. I suspect for the third question they would just be referred to as Demon King. I kind of wonder how many pieces there are of the demon king.
Jonathan Hurd
Well first off. Hiya welcome to the comments! So to answer in order…
1. I don’t believe Van will be weak to Aldas Divine authority. Remember that Aldas authority only works against Lambdas God’s. That was why he could inflict such extreme damage to Vida but had a much harder time fighting Guduranis.
As far as Rodcorte goes, Taloshim and the rest aren’t giving him faith making him a God. They recognized him and therefore pulled him into Lambda forcing him to become a God there. Best analogy I can think of is Rodcorte was floating out in space but Van and his peoples recognition of him pulled him into orbiting Lambda. Now that he’s a God of Lamda he could be targeted by Aldas authority. Also Rodcorte stinks at fighting so even without Aldas authority he could still kick Rodcortes butt and seal him.
As far as Vans divinity goes I feel like he is easily demigod. In the story they said demigods are God’s with a material body. The interesting part about Van though is he can separate himself from his physical shell. The way I see it we could say he’s a demigod with one foot in Godhood or he has surpassed both God’s and demigods by having a foot in both.
2. I think Van will be able to make his own familiar spirits pretty soon. I like the idea that maybe these familiar spirits could add some of Vans abilities. I think the biggest gain would be Danger Sense Death. We saw how that let Elanora fight on level with Isla when Isla was still alive.
3. I think the DK fragments will eventually combine to make the DKs body for Van but even afterwards he’ll still be able to use the separate parts. I think some of the DK familiars that are being used as lighting for the Sermons are using the DK lens even though those combined with the DKs eyes.
I feel like Van needs more Guts to finish the body. Especially a heart.
Thank you for the interesting post and feel free to add more if you have any other thoughts or questions you want to discuss.
Lord Rin
Well for the first question I’d say two things: A. In order for Alda to use his Stakes of Authority to punish Van he’d need to personally confront him which would just open up the possibility of Van using this as a chance to break or devour Alda’s soul and thus Alda would never risk it. B. Van can break Alda’s Stakes of Authority so even if he got hit with them, Van could just break them and thus he couldn’t be sealed by them.
For the second question I guess Banda is the closest thing to that skill though you could probably also considered it closer to the more advanced versions of that skill like heroic spirit descent and god(dess) descent. But anyways yeah he might start bestowing people with something like familiar spirit descent later when he gets the hang of it. He already has some experience in manifesting multiple spirit versions of himself that can act independently so all he’d probably need is to attach them to people.
For the third question yeah it’s possible that all the fragments would fuse into the Demon King’s Body when he absorbs all or the vast majority of them though he could probably still use them separately. Anyways the forms the fragments have now are just the forms they mutated into over time and aren’t an indication of what the Demon King looked like before.
Rasho
Finally someone said something about Van being able to break Alda’s Divine Authority, I don’t any God’s Divine Authority will work on Van at all bcz he can simply break it and that’s that
Xias1
In regards to your 1st question:
I think Alda will not be able to use his authorities on Vandalieu.
If Alda could simply use his authorities on any other “god” in Lamda, then he could have used them on the “evil gods”, too, instead of having to fight them.
But he did not.
That means that there is some restriction on that authority.
Maybe a “god” would have to recognize Alda as the “god of law” of Lambda at least at one point in time and thereby recognize him as the one allowed to judge other “gods” of Lamda if they misbehave and hence agree to be judged by him if they misbehave.
That would explain why Alda could use his authorities on Vida who had recognized him as the “god of law” in the past but he could not use them on the “evil gods” even though they are already recognized by some monsters, corrupted members of Vida’s races and corrupted people as “gods” they worship.
As such Alda’s authority would not work on Vandalieu because he would never recognize Alda as having the right to judge him – especially once Van finds out that the real reason that Alda demands the extermination of Vida’s races is only the issue with the different reincarnation systems.
Jonathan Hurd
I think you might be slightly off in some of those points…
I don’t think it is about the world acknowledging you that makes you a God of that world. If that’s all it required the Evil Gods would belong to Lambda. Their old world is dead and devoid of life and they made monster worshippers on Lambda. Therefore they should now belong to Lambda and under Aldas authority.
Remember Rodcorte is a really weird case. He never had a home world to begin with. He’s attached to Lambda now not just because people recognized him there but because it’s the first place a large group has ever recognized him. Add in Rodcorte plans to disconnect himself from that attachment but he has to lower the believers before he can do that safely. That says to me that giving up your home world at least takes a conscious effort and sacrifice.
For Alda and sealing, Alda has sealed a lot of fragments of the DK and evil God’s. It was said somewhere that Alda is watching over the most important parts of the DKs soul himself.
All the God’s have the ability to seal others and Aldas domain being punishment is especially good at it. The thing he couldn’t wield against Evil God’s was his Divine Authority as a judge of Lamdas God’s. The Divine Authority robs God’s of their power and authority rather than just locking them away.
We have seen plenty of God’s gather power and bide time while sealed. Some even gave their Divine Protection and Familiar Spirits to followers like Fidirg and Ravoifard. Vida however couldn’t gather her power much less stay awake for long thanks to Aldas Stakes.
The biggest problem fighting Alda as a God of Lambda is that he inflicted those lasting wounds during battle. Usually to seal someone you have to weaken them then stuff them in something. It limits their freedom but not their ability to regain strength. Vida however got away before being sealed but the wounds from the battle wouldn’t heal.
I do agree with you on the fact that since Van still has a status he’s in a kind of weird in between state. Though there are admittedly others like him. I think any monster of rank 12 or 13 basically has one foot into divinity.
Tejing
First of all, welcome! As for your questions:
1. I think you might misinterpreting this, the implication could simply be that Alda thinks there’s no point in trying to attack Roddy because he can just run away, and potentially leave lambda without a reincarnation system other than Vida’s. He doesn’t know Roddy no longer has that option, I don’t think it is specifically about his divine authority to punish other gods. All told, I think if Van became a god the way most mortals do, by being raised by the gods of lambda after death (in his case presumably by Vida), then it would be an issue, but Van looks more like he’d going to become a god on his own power plus salvaged bits of Gudurandis’ power, or possibly become something new that doesn’t quite fit any of the existing categories, and I think it’s unlikely Alda’s divine authority will apply to him in either case.
2. I don’t think Van has anything like familiar spirits, unless the elemental ghosts count as something like that, however he has shown he can make something a lot like a spirit clone with Banda, and I think giving his followers the spirit clone descent skill isn’t out of the question in the long run. Also, don’t forget when he gave the effects of danger sense: death to eleanora, or all the times he gave people the effects of his regeneration skill. He’s done that momentary spirit fusion thing quite a few times now. (minor correction: he fused with Budarion to deal the final blow to Ravovifard. Bugitas was the one that Ravovifard descended on)
3. I think it could go either way, or maybe collecting them all would set off some other change we couldn’t really predict. There’s a lot of room for the author to do what he wants with this mechanic. Afaik, the author has said in answer to reader questions that he has no particular master set of fragments in mind, and introduces new ones on an ad-hoc basis as the story requires them. Given that attitude about them, I tend to think they might get wrapped up in Van’s evolution into some kind of final form at the end of the story, but before that, they’ll probably stay separate and not too much different from how they are now, except maybe getting stronger as Van does.
Btw, your english seems quite good; I didn’t notice any mistakes, and hardly any unnatural phrasing.
Randomreader
First welcome
Second – To give my 2 cents about it here are my opinions
1 – most likely in the future when he transcends all other mortals and becomes the official god of death (whenever that happens) he will probably have to worry but not now due to aldas fear and paranoia plus due to the fact that his mana can break them he should be fine so long as he has at least a billion mana
2 – given the soul rebuild he can probably make some if he devours some souls before the rebuild is complete since there will be more soul fragments it’s just like hey… spare parts. Let’s build more vans
3 – he will probably fuse them all into one skill which we (I) will now call “unique skill demon emperor Vandalieu” which will just be a powered up Vandalieu with the chaos skill only he can change anything ie. arms to wings, neck to gills, shoulder blades to legs, who cares what he changes to what. It will just at that point be a simpler version of using spirit form then changing and materializing it only virtually indestructible
Gawain
1. Much like what others have said, Alda will only be able to use his divine authority on Van once Van becomes an ‘official god of Lambda’. Until then, Alda would have to fight Van as any god would fight any mortal. The only odd thing is that Van is a mortal who is stronger than some gods. As for the conditions to be considered a god of lambda, I would say that Van would need to be a god (so no status would be one sign), but for the worlds that don’t have status’, then the conditions would probably be being immortal (cannot be harmed unless it is an attack that directly damages the soul or something like that), being able to create spirit familiars (spirit clones is much more advanced and while Van can make spirit clones, he can’t yet make spirit familiars) and being able to grant divine protections. Van has only achieved one of these three things, which is granting divine protections. While he is essentially immortal, that is only because he can perpetually reverse his age. In terms of being a god of a specific world, I think that you would just need a certain number of believers. Since Van’s people are enough to make Rodidiot a god of lambda, Van too belongs to Lambda, he just isn’t a god yet. Since Rodidiot was able to become a god of Lambda despite not originating from Lambda, Van’s origins don’t matter.
2. Van will probably be able to make familiar spirits. I don’t think it’s been fully disclosed exactly how familiar spirits are made yet. We only know that they were once mortals that a god called up to their divine realm, but at what point do they make the switchover from being a loose soul to being a familiar spirit? Once this is known, Van will probably be able to achieve it.
3. Since Van got the Demon King title, the DK parts have recognized him as the new DK. Because of this, Guduranis’ parts that Rodidiot and Alda have are no longer recognized as the DK by the DK parts. I don’t think they will all merge into a single piece. That would like saying that someones fingers will merge with their kneecaps and become a single piece of flesh. Instead, I think that he’ll be able to fully manipulate any and all DK parts completely freely, as he already does with the parts that he has, but they’ll be stronger and more compatible with each other. Van may even be able to mutate the parts slightly so that they work better together.
AnnieXfloop
Iam just dreaming that somehow Banda and Mei will make Van a god of Origin so then Alda won’t have the same impact on him.
Mr.Darkness
““Then how about we make it so that I’m the ‘Starving Wolf’ Michael’s woman?” said Darcia.
Miles choked and coughed”
Yeah, me too! I almost coughed blood reading this!!! I laughed too much too!! hahahhahhahahahhahahhaha
gomezseba37
at first I thought vandalieu whould give him the standard death glare
Valeth
I don’t think Van ever actually glares, as he has a expressionless face. I think people just look into his dead eyes and assume he is angry when these situations pop up.
Honestly if his mom fell in love again and was with someone I figure he would be happy with it…. of course, that assumes they don’t do anything to break her heart or hurt her some other way…. or may the gods help you….
Randomreader
I don’t think that they will be able to do anything other than delay the inevitable
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t think there are any God’s crazy enough to stand between a vengeful Vandalieu and his mother’s ex boyfriend lol.
Randomreader
Rodiot, Alda, that lightning war god who is trying to possess a reincarnator I forget the name of, these are only his enemies though so I guess that they don’t count
Tenderizer
If I remember correctly, Van’s facial expression is usually whatever the other expects to see in them. If they think he’s angry, he’s angry. If they think he’s scared, he’s scared. If they think he’s happy, he’s happy.
Warlono
Yeah, people kind of just project emotions onto Van, like an artist puts paint to a blank page. There isn’t actually anything there until someone thinks there is. People close to Van can usually tell how he’s feeling or what he might be thinking but that’s more observing his behavior and how he’s carrying himself than actually looking at his face and seeing his emotions there.
Diggydawg
So the dungeon will become a gathering place for all the strays? This can only be a bad thing for anyone not affiliated with Van.
Lord Rin
And then Van opens up a pet store so people can adopt a stray <.<
ValiantHex
So potential Cerberus, but what if he also finds a stray kitten then ends up making a Displacer Beast for any of you who know what a displacer beast is, it would be adorable. no?
Entropy
Could be interesting, don’t know of many cat monsters off the top of my head except this, a manticore, and one from the harry potter books called a nundu. The nundu if based on a world myth might be interesting as well considering it breathes death. I hope the manticore is ignored, way too many creatures involved like the gryphon and sphinx. Maybe Vand will take all of the strays to form another defensive line, or incorporate some with him and have others join his other allies like what happened with horses.
Nobody2
Cats in Japanese lore can acquire intelligence and monster like powers (essentially becoming yokai) if they live long enough. This is usually shown by their tails splitting in 2
Entropy
Hmm, I knew that happened with foxes, but cats as well. Interesting, maybe they can evolve into interesting monsters as well.
Randomreader
How do you pronounce the last one
Jonathan Hurd
I kind of feel like putting that last name into Google speech and seeing if it explodes.
Gawain
Also the egyptian cat god Bast. There’s also and egyptian lion god but I forget its name. But more importantly, if Van gets a stray dog and a stray cat, maybe they would make a catdog?
Jonathan Hurd
Cait Sith could also be another option for a Cat monster. I would be amused to see Bast show up.
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
Cerberus joined the team.
Disdrac
Are the dungeon Van is building filled with doggos to pet?
Maybe invite all strays so that weird rumors will start…
VEreality
O.M.G………..
If Van gets the Tartarus job (which we can consider to be related to soul imprisonment) and this doggo becomes a Cerberus then he will be able to recreate hell. I made this comment as a joke a couple of chapters back but now is actually coming together. This doggo even has the drive to eventually torture the souls of any asshats that Van would send in there. He is a perfect warden!!!!!
Jonathan Hurd
It’ll probably be a field type that makes rank one horned rabbits. I think Van invites all the stray dogs and now they don’t have any food issues free from starvation. After that all the dogs become charmed and Van will have his own Hellhound Corp.
Jonathan Hurd
Honestly if Van wants to save the poor in the town the simplest solution would be to just kidn…. I mean invite them into Taloshim. There are no land or food issues in then and they get the chance to turn into a cool new race.
I agree creating dungeons would help solve land and food issues for a lot of people in towns. The problem is how much attention it gathers. It basically declares Demon King doing that. Aldas side would have a hayday spreading bad press if Van makes tons of dungeons even if it’s for a good reason.
Kazza
Yay! Starting 2020 off right!
Lots of good exposition this chapter. I wonder if the clergymen who fled were all corrupt, as the guard said, or if Vida warned them to flee before they got caught up in the war. Maybe a mix of both?
Interesting that Alda isn’t willing to give out information Vandalieu already knows, the simple stuff like… y’know… the fact that Vida is on the same side as him. Almost as if he actually doesn’t want Vida’s priests to know, instead of Van. Maybe I’m overthinking this, but that actually shows a lot of how he thinks. It’s inevitable that the priests will find out that Vida is in Van’s side, but hopefully, they’ll be too set in their mindset that Alda is holy to join their godess. Stuck in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy, much like Alda himself. I dunno, any thoughts?
Looks like Van has gotten a new pet. First one that’s traditional, too. If he was getting a dog-like thing, I was expecting a hellhound, or barghest, or maybe a Cerberus. Honestly, I would love a Cerberus’ multiple heads fighting over each other for who gets petties, only for Van to grow an extra arm to pet all three. And then a fourth for belly wubs.
But hey, as shown by the rabbits and mice, normal animals can transform into monsters after ingesting Van’s blood. Even though Mr. Pupson didn’t draw any blood, I wonder what that meat Van was offering was. Could it perhaps be some form of Demon King Blubber, or just some leftovers from the store? Maybe I’m overthinking it again.
BUT NOW WE COME TO THE IMPORTANT PART, BOIS AND GALS: PET NAMES.
Van has three main sources of naming. He’s got mythology (Yamata), foreign names (Rappie/Knochen), or surprisingly banal names (Pete/Pain/Bone Man/Cuatro). There are, however, exceptions in Pauvina, Quinn and Eisen. So, here’s my bets:
For mythology, I’m going with either the Norse Fenrir or the Roman wolf who fed Romulus/Remus, mostly cause I can’t think of any others and am too lazy to look it up.
For foreign names… uh… maybe something in English? He’s already Japanese, so maybe ‘Fangs/Claws’ instead of the often used ‘Kiba’? I don’t know any other languages, so that’s my only guess.
For banal names, I’m going with Travis. Just cause.
Finally, for unique names, I’m going on a long shot: I’m not giving up on him/her becoming a Cerberus, and neither should Van. So, if I were him, I’d try to influence him/her to rank up into one by naming them Ghidorah, and when they finally rank into a Cerberus, they get the King/Queen title. Is that still just a mythology nickname, though? Maybe, but fuck you, I have dreams.
YOU CAN DO IT GHIDORAH-WHO-IS-PROBABLY-NOT-GOING-TO-BE-NAMED-GHIDORAH! I BELIEVE IN YOU!
Jonathan Hurd
Lol, I agree the new Doggy here is probably going to be mutated and then ranked up into a Cerberus. I mean Vans already raised so many monsters from rank 1 into mythological creatures never before seen, what’s one more?
For names I like your suggestions but I think you’re missing an obvious mythological one. He could name the dogo Cerberus to start with. Give him a name to aspire to imo.
For the information Alda is hiding I think you’re right about the fact that Alda doesn’t want Van gaining the Church of Vida as allies. If he spreads the news that Vida is allied with the Demon King. There could be converters, but there could also be people who follow the goddesses will.
I think the biggest thing Alda doesn’t want to share is Heinz and crews current condition. Telling everyone how Edgar is almost dead and Heinz isn’t doing so well but will recover would be pretty devastating blow for morale. It also might entice Van to come and try to finish the job or take more aggressive actions. Better to leave everyone in the dark if sharing the info could get to Van.
As far as devout believers of Vida disappearing goes, I’m not sure there would be any benefit to them running. It seems to me that Vida doesn’t really trust or need the majority of the Orbaume Kingdoms followers. They seem closer to Aldas peaceful factions ideas, of only helping Vidas races who don’t have ranks, than Vidas position of helping all her children. If someone is a devout follower and they really want to do some good they shouldn’t run they should be reforming the Church from within.
Kazza
The only problem with naming him Cerberus is that he would then have a Cerberus named Cerberus. Well, he does have a pile of bones named “Bones” and a skeleton named “Bone Man,” so guess he doesn’t always pick the most creative names. I’m still holding out hope for Ghidorah, though.
As for the devout within Orbaume, I’m willing to believe there are those who actually do respect all Vida Races. After all, one of the strongest people of Amid, where worshiping her is outlawed, is basically her Son-in-Law. The thing is, though, no matter how sincere they are, they can’t do anything without power. It’s better to hide away from the oncoming war than fight and potentially die. Vida has all the battle strength she needs. They’d be necessary after the war, when proper integration of Vida’s Races would be implemented.
Granted, that brings up it’s own issues of what Vida’s plan is after winning. I think integration is an end goal, but it’s unclear how she would be able to achieve that.
Lord Rin
Yeah there’s a good chance that many of the clergy of Vida’s Church that fled probably where real followers of Vida that got her divine protection and familiar spirit descent and got a Divine Message to flee and hide. Like I’m sure that there probably were corrupt people among the ones who fled but the Vida priest said that only a very small amount of people got the protection and skill but I just find it hard to believe that there really could only be so few who got it in the Orbaume Kingdom. I just find it more likely that more people got it but kept it hidden after Vida sent them a Divine Message to warn them to hide. If the Alda radicals and fundamentalists heard how people were suddenly getting Vida’s Divine Protection and familiar spirit descent skill, they might move to kill them to deny Vida followers whose faith would speed up Vida’s recovery. The clergy left behind are probably mostly the pretenders who only play at being true believers. They claim to follow Vida but join hands with a faction that only acknowledges certain races as “true” races of Vida and even then, they would still be treated as second class citizens. They only acknowledge dark elves, beast people, titans, and very begrudgingly mermaids and scylla. The first three because they look the most human and are descended purely from Lambda’s gods while they only begrudgingly acknowledge mermaids because they know they are descended from Vida and I think it was Triton and even then they still come up with excuses for why they should still be targeted. As for the scylla, they don’t know from who exactly they descend because Merrebbeveill actively changed her origin story and nature into claiming she was a scylla who became a heroic god and that scylla came from an obscure water god of Lambda that became forgotten.
As for what Van will name the puppers, I’ll go with something like Fluffy or Pochi.
Dogoid
when translating the divine stone statue, I think stone idol would be the best fit. As an idol is usually a statue that represents something of worship.
Morgan
Happy New Year! Thanks for the chapter!
Nodens
Alda : prepare fo war against Vandalieu dan Vida by raised human hero
Vida : already have strong follower and keep getting stringer everyday
Real world : prepare for WW III
Jonathan Hurd
To be fair if Vida did try to raise hero’s in human society Alda would send his hero’s to swarm them. There’s no point in holding a training camp behind enemy lines.
no1
Good chapter. Thanks Yoshi, the previous chapters were necessary to see how Vandalieu is doing as a food cart vendor, but it would be nice if we could see some action soon. Also I wonder what will happen to the stray dog at the end. It might become a hell hound or something.
Makaayplays
Honestly the thought of that dog becoming a Hellhound sounds adorable for some reason🤔 He should name it something really harmless like spots, but it’s actually a rank 12 hellhound😂
Jonathan Hurd
My bet is it mutates to Hellhound and then starts gaining heads. At the end it becomes a Cerberus.
I will laugh if Van does name him spots though. Probably use the German for Spots considering Knochen, Khul, and others.
Nobbu
Cerberus *basically* means Spots, actually.
Cerberus is already naming your dog spot.
Mr.Darkness
Spots The Hellhound! hahhahahahhahahhahhahahahhahahhahahhahahahhaha
Brian P.
As I best recall from the machine-translated raws we’re going to be here dealing with food-cart related issues for quite a while.
Randomreader
Name it Fluffy or Pyromatic
Gawain
He should name the dog Baskerville.
Doom-sama
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR EMPEROR, OUR DEATH GOD, AS HE PROCEEDS TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE AND SPREAD HIS DOMINION! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Dungeon Making Tip 1: Make then in convienent locations!
Randomreader
Praise van
lazygeko
*Alda: War is coming. Gotta raise up some useful humans to make heroes and champions out of. Lets get training.
*Vida: War is coming. I already have super strong followers. No need to raise up some weak human believers.
*Vidas Priests: I wonder why Alda is raising heroes but Vida isn’t.
If Heinz actually cared about the peaceful faction he would step down. Because once people know he is Vida’s enemy, he because a joke for everything he did. He won’t. He seems to see himself as some sort of hero after all.
Entropy
Heinz might follow Alda’s ideas by simply declaring Vida insane or confused after being freed. Heck, he might start believing that lie. He might lose a few followers, but he does possess a guider skill so most of his followers will delude themselves with whatever he says to explain it away.
Jonathan Hurd
I can see that as the most likely result as well. Heinz has shown that when faced with his errors he is unwilling to listen to the other side or change. Aldas end goal has always been to try and use Heinz to unite the humans against Vida. It looks like things are heading in that direction for him.
Jonathan Hurd
Overall there’s no real use in Vida raising humans in the middle of Aldas main base. Add in that the Church of Vida in the Orbaume Kingdom doesn’t even really follow her teachings and you might be making and reinforcing your enemies. Smarter to raise the forces in Vans Empire. Alda can’t see them and they stand for what you believe.
I completely agree if Heinz were to actually stand up for what he says he believes he would step down from Aldas peaceful faction. Though if he stood for what he says he does he wouldn’t have ended up trying to kill Van and making Vida his enemy. So no way he steps down now.
hidefreek
They aren’t Vida’s follower but a pretender found by Alda teaching a long time ago.
Vida never has any intend to work with Alda’s peaceful faction because they hunt her races call them monster while true Vida worshipper call them people.
(Alda’s peaceful kill and enslave mermaids, ghoul and many more Vida’s race whom don’t look like human).
Heinz can’t step down because he doesn’t has any political power except his combat skill.
He is a noble by title so kingdom and it’s duchys can use in political game (Some duke asked Heinz to destroy mermaid’s village and it is very suspicious).
Mostly is Selen , Only corrupted nobles can “protect” her and Heinz is brainless so he always been used by other until he mess up everything he once did.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. Kind of curious how some of the Vida priests will react if they found out Heinz was Vida’s mortal enemies, I suspect that a new sect of the religion will form like the peaceful group. Also who wants to bet that the dog will become a monster soon, I am betting a black dog, cerberus, or demon dog. Makes me smile that Vand finally got a pet that is somewhat normal, although he might use it as an experiment for some of his skills like bestower since he mentioned wanting to find rats. I doubt that he will experiment on it, but there is a small chance that he might.
Jonathan Hurd
I’d say the dog will probably become all of those things at different points. The fun part about ranks is the creatures can progress to new higher races. So I definitely don’t think he’ll start as a Cerberus but he will probably end up there around rank 8ish. My guess is he starts as a rank one black Dog, goes to demon dog, then hell hound, grows a second head, and then finally becomes a Cerberus.
For the experiments, Van is going to probably do one on the dog involving feeding it his blood and seeing how long it takes mutation induction to trigger. Just because you experiment on something doesn’t mean it has to be cruel. For someone like Van who was subjected to scrap like that he isn’t going to do that to a weak starving creature.
Entropy
You might be right, maybe with the fenrir thrown in before the hellhound or cerberus. Quite a few diverse myths rolled into one animal. I hope it does not evolve into a manwolf like creature aka a wolf that turns into a man. I agree that I doubt Vand would be that cruel to something he considers innocent, an enemy yes, as well as bandits, but animals, he treated pretty well. I am surprised that I was right about the vampires just gaining noble titles with bestower, kind of curious about elves and dwarves.
Jonathan Hurd
That was a good catch with the Vampires. I’m kind of curious what effect having their origins introduced will cause.
I get the feeling that maybe Van gets a second dog and we get one Fenrir and Cerberus. Maybe one fire based and the other ice. That could be fun.
I agree with you on the werewolf thing as well. We already have Beastmen and people with Animal transformation so I don’t see full dogs developing in that route. There could be a human transformation skill which could be fun, but that’d probably be later in the story. Also probably depend if the dogs get Diana’s divine protection.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Armorpiercer
DOGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO❤❤❤❤❤❤
Guroga
yay 2020 and a new chapter! Thanks for continuing to translate this!
Also i like how the chapter was wholesome and it ended with love making skill description.
Madparadox99
If Darcia finds love again, it will be difficult for that person to overcome a Vandaru analyst.
The dog scene was very tender and explanations of such important skills must have come from the second volume.
The conversation of the priests makes me nauseous, those nearsighted
gomezseba37
If she finds love again its probably gonna be another god or a demigod who knows maybe birkyne has his father soul vida never mentioned it having went through her reaincarnation system to darcia or van
Lord Rin
If I were to ship Darcia with somebody I’d go with the dhampir Mercenary King who recently ascended to heroic godhood. As for Valen, I think he’s back in the circle of reincarnation. They mentioned before that the vampires who killed him used Holy Water on his remains because that immediately banishes spirits and sends them back into the reincarnation circle so that spiritualists can’t call them while they linger in the world of the living in order to get information.
Jonathan Hurd
I think you’re right that Valen is back in the circle of reincarnation but one of Vans goals is to resurrect those who have already moved on. Now that he has accomplished his first goal of getting his Mom back he might move onto the second goal of getting the husband she loved back to make her happy.
Would be kind of funny considering it kind of follows Vidas story as well. Vida lost someone dear to her in Zakkart and tried to bring him back even without his original soul available. Darcia has become Vidas incarnation.
It would be a nice end to the legend if Van could ease both their hurt hearts by doing what Vida originally could not. Maybe when resurrecting Valen he could use Zakarts remains in Vidas resting grounds and make him a combination of both woman’s loves.
Lord Rin
The more I hear about Aggar and Joseph, the more likely I think that they’re gonna get killed after trying to mess with Van. Meanwhile Van is really adamant that if a statue gets built, that it be referred to as just a stone statue. He already finds it embarrassing enough that it’s probably gonna be huge so it’d be more embarrassing if it was also called a divine statue.
So the reason for why people kept dying turned out to be something innocuous. I thought that made it’d be because of some disease ghost or something but it turned out to be just some mold.
Now Van got a puppers. Wonder how it’ll evolve? Become a Fenrir? One of Fenrir’s children: Skoll or Hati? A hellhound like Garm? A Cerberus? Not sure what other dog-like beings there are in mythology.
I see so that explains why most of the Alda followers are assholes. They’re assholes because they can’t have good sex.
Entropy
Agree with you about Aggar, but I suspect joseph will just sour Vand’s opinion of the duchy. There are also black dogs, I know confusing name, but think of shadowy spectors that haunt cementeries that usually look like dogs. Personally I am thinking cerberus or hellhound since those will be easier to make rank ups for, but who knows could be off.
Jonathan Hurd
I think Van is mature enough to not let Joseph cloud his entire opinion of a Duchy especially if he is working against the ruler. If the Ruler of the city and or the Duchy mess with Van and Vidas races though… then they might join the Hartner and Sauren duchies on the black list.
Entropy
Yeah, but even though this chapter said Joseph was not close to his relatives, I suspect he might be able to get them or some other nobles on his side with the potential of buttering up to the five blades. You might be right, but so far two duchies have struck out, and I suspect the trend will continue.
Jonathan Hurd
Oh I completely expect more duchies to strike out especially considering what Marshakul said about the Orbaume Kingdoms corruption. I just feel they haven’t struck out quite yet. Though Joseph is on his way to being ‘convinced’ to change his mind about how he treats Van.
farmer
Van’s charm skill is getting stronger. At first, it only works on ghosts, then it works on undead, then it works on people with suicidal thoughts, and now it works as long as the other entity is near-death. At this rate, he might be able to harm people until they’re close to death and then all their hatred would suddenly be gone and they’ll suddenly love him (like what happened to that priest-warrior guy he fought in Talosheim war). He’s turning more like a horror monster each chapter.
Morgan
That would be terrifying. imagine a creepy kid half your height walking up outta nowhere, sucker punching you and suddenly you’re devoted to them a few seconds later.
Jonathan Hurd
To be fair he charmed Gordan after he killed him. The charm effect works amazingly well on Spirits and Undead. Its not enough to be near death to be charmed it was more seeking/desiring death. Thats why Van can charm the suicidal but not really the enemies he beats half to death. Those he beats half to death are desperately trying to live not desperately trying to die.
gomezseba37
maybe in the final stage of that skill It will work on people who fell helpless or depressed
Jonathan Hurd
I think it’s already at that state. Those who feel helpless or depressed were the ones Van charmed and helped throughout Origin. The charms effects are pretty wide it just needs something to start with.
VEreality
Wholesome! This chapter was Wholesome! Thank you Yoshi-sama and a happy new year!
Alright everyone, there is not much to say about this chapter but let’s start this year with a bang 🙂
Here is a little chalenge for you all: What do you think would happen if (at this point in the story) Van would simply vanish out of thin air for a couple of days? How do you think the gang will react and what will Van see when he returns? Be as crazy and creative as you can.
In my opinion:
-Poor Darcia will have panic attack
-Nuaza will try his damn best to perform as many rituals as possible to hopefully bring him back (also build as many shrines and statues in his name as possible)
-A civil war will happen because nobody would know what to do
By the time Van comes back everyone will be up and armed, ready to march toward the Amid empire after deciding to blame everything on Alda. As they should XD
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like there would be less of a Civil War and more just all out war towards Alda and Co.
First things first of course would be question any God they can. Second step would be search his last known surrounding and ask the DK familiars. If no answers from that I think the assumption would be Alda did something and get ready to invade. Probably do a multi pronged attack against the hero’s Aldas raising and any big church of Alda. Burn food and farmlands and then retreat before anyone can collect themselves. Van then comes back as they’re readying for wave two.
Superboy8338
Thanks for the update. LOL, love-making and bedroom skills. LMMFAOOL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Morgan
I get the feeling Emperor Vandalieu will get those skills eventually. His lifespan is basically infinite after all
Superboy8338
Assuming that he’ll have sex often enough.
Entropy
So are the number of women vying for him. I wonder how large his harem will end up being.
Jonathan Hurd
Well it’s already easily into the double digits and isn’t showing signs of stopping. So my guess is it’ll definitely be in at least the three digits maybe four by the end.
kazamakj
Experimenting on the dog? Either that or it becomes the Kings hound 2nd.
VEreality
It’s funny because is true *_*’
Superboy8338
I’m now imagining a Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote scenario.
ShiN.A.X
“The dog knew that this person was not a human.”
Vandalieu not like this.
lazygeko
I don’t think he would be upset. Van wasn’t born human and neither of his parents were either. Now if the dog thought he was a monster, he might have to create clones to sulk. Also, that dog hates/fears humans so perhaps that is why he likes Van.
Apokryphos
Yay~ Night skills~
Kettern
Thanks for the chapter
No wonder those people are so stoic and stubborn. They can’t even have good sex.
Morgan
Take your damn vote.
Jonathan Hurd
He’s earned it lol
ZeaZ
+respect
PrinceHaten
Thanks for the update Yoshi, great chapter