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Two days after the sermon, Simon was outside the city.
How many years had it been since he left the city of Morksi? He had received numerous requests to repair the walls that protected the city, so perhaps it hadn’t been that long, if one were to count that.
But he felt as if it had been over ten years. The cold winter wind felt good. Each time he felt the snow that had fallen yesterday crunch underfoot, he remembered those days.
The scent of blood in the air and the sight of the lifeless corpse lying on the ground in front of him was incredibly pleasant.
“That’s right, I can still do it. I’m not finished; even if I have only one arm, I can at least kill Goblins!” Simon shouted with a maniacal laugh as he struggled to wipe the blood from the thick-bladed sword in his left hand.
These days, his pocket was warm with the funds that he received from running errands for Vandalieu. The quantity and quality of the monster parts handed to him for sale at the Adventurers’ Guild increased with each passing day. There had only been the parts of Rank 1 and Rank 2 monsters on the first day, but his second errand had even included a body part from a Rank 4 Kobold General.
That one part alone had been worth a week’s pay from doing day jobs, but the bag had contained multiple body parts from Rank 3 monsters such as Orcs and Goblin Leaders as well.
Even back when he was an adventurer, his party had never hunted this many monsters in a single day. He thought it was incredible.
Simon had received half the pay from selling these parts just for carrying them to the Adventurers’ Guild. He had been paid far too much for a task that involved no great labor and no danger. He considered himself lucky.
But for Simon, it wasn’t just lucky.
Every time he entered the Adventurers’ Guild, unpleasant looks were directed his way.
Simon had regularly visited the Adventurers’ Guild to accept day jobs. Each time he did so, his one-armed body would receive looks of pity and sneers.
It was during his third year as an adventurer, in his later teenage years. He had finally purchased some decent equipment, passed the examination to ascend to D-class, and his whole life was ahead of him when he lost his dominant arm at the shoulder.
The shock of this loss was great, but Simon had not given up immediately. There were skilled alchemists in Morksi, so he and his party members had done their best to see if there was a way to acquire a Magic Item artificial arm.
If he had a Magic Item artificial arm that functioned well, he could not only live every day without any inconveniences, he could return to being an adventurer.
But Magic Item artificial arms, even those that did not function particularly well, cost over ten times what Simon had expected.
As Simon had only just become a D-class adventurer, he didn’t have a large amount in savings. Even if all of his party members scraped together all of their wealth, it still wasn’t enough for even a down payment.
Even if he went to the Guild for a loan, they could not loan a large amount of money to adventurers who had just become D-class.
Still, Simon struggled hard and did not give up. He trained to use his sword with his left hand, and even tried training to become a shield-bearer and learning magic to change his role in the party.
But this hadn’t gone well, and Simon had left his party so that he wouldn’t hinder them. His companions had left Morksi after that, and he hadn’t heard their names since, so he didn’t know what had become of them.
Perhaps they had died before becoming famous, or perhaps they were moderately active as C-class adventurers in another duchy, or perhaps they had given up adventuring and taken up other professions. Perhaps the Guild would have told Simon if he asked, but he hadn’t even tried asking.
Left in this city on his own, Simon had continued living out of force of habit. At first, he had worked as a baggage carrier for other adventurers, attempted jobs in production industries – he believed that he had done his best to live as a respectable person.
But before he knew it, his alcohol consumption had increased, and he had gone from living in a cheap inn on the main street to a dilapidated house in the slum district, and he had stopped caring about his appearance past the bare minimum that was socially required.
The sword and armor he used in the past had been sold for living expenses, and he had truly become an outcast who had settled into the slums.
He couldn’t blame currently-active adventurers for pitying and sneering at him.
Despite that, Simon had brought parts that served as proof for having exterminated monsters. This drew unavoidable attention. News quickly spread that there was a Dhampir boy, a Tamer but not an adventurer, who was hunting monsters for meat to use at his food cart, and Simon was being hired to sell these parts for him.
Though Vandalieu was merely doing it for the meat, the fact that he was acquiring the meat on his own was not a pleasant situation for the Adventurers’ Guild.
It was possible that potential clients who didn’t understand the situation would wonder why they needed to pay such large fees for monsters to be exterminated when a child who was not even an adventurer could do it.
Even without such thinking, Vandalieu’s cutting into their profits was no joking matter.
But naturally, Vandalieu didn’t visit the Adventurers’ Guild himself, so everyone’s discontent was directed at Simon, the one running Vandalieu’s errands.
In any case, people had asked Simon to tell Vandalieu to either make requests for meat at the Adventurers’ Guild or register as an adventurer himself.
The gazes of active adventurers towards Simon had changed from looks of ridicule to looks of contempt. They thought he was buttering Vandalieu up, milking him as much as he could.
… He was indeed milking Vandalieu, so he couldn’t say anything back, however.
But over the past ten years, Simon had become fully accustomed to receiving ridicule and scorn. He found it unpleasant in the moment, he didn’t really think much of it, but… after hearing Darcia’s sermon, he had started thinking.
As long as people continued to live, they could redo things. So then, perhaps he could try becoming a respectable adventurer again, one that wouldn’t be subjected to such treatment.
Before he knew what he was doing, Simon had found himself taking his money not to a bar, but to a weapons store. There, he had purchased a sword, then began to move his weakened body.
Today, he had left the city at a timing where he wouldn’t run into Vandalieu, looked for a lone Goblin wandering around outside a Devil’s Nest, and hunted it.
Simon chuckled. “At this rate, in less than a month… I’ll even be able to take on Rank 2 monsters. Then, if I can regain the senses I had back in the day and become able to fight with my left arm… even Rank 3 monsters aren’t an impossible dream.”
It was hard to make a living as an adventurer without hunting monsters that were at least Rank 3. Hunting Rank 2 monsters would be enough to continue living in the slums, but there would be no point in devoting himself to a dangerous profession with a handicapped body only to live the same lifestyle that he had been living up until now.
Feeling like he was moving forward towards the goal that his eyes were fixed upon, Simon laughed, but there was sweat on his forehead and his shoulders heaved up and down as he breathed heavily.
Years of an unhealthy lifestyle had reduced his stamina more severely than he had thought.
In this world, there was a Status System and Skills. Skills were effective for the rest of one’s life after acquiring them.
But that did not mean that Skills were always as effective as their Levels would suggest no matter what the condition of the user’s body was.
If one’s muscles atrophied, the speed and strength of their sword swing would decrease, and if their senses grew dull, their parrying abilities would dull as well.
But Simon did not dwell on his current state; he cut off the Goblin’s ear and, with clumsy movements, began dismantling the corpse.
“Never would have thought that I’d be going through the effort of taking Goblin meat back home with me,” he chuckled to himself. “And I’ll make that bra – Vandalieu-san, realize that I’m not just some gofer –”
Suddenly, Simon leapt away from the Goblin corpse and raised his sword. He found himself facing a pack of wolves.
“Wolves… Shit, they were lured here by the smell of blood, huh,” he muttered.
They were ordinary wolves, not monsters. This pack of wolves, which roamed outside the Devil’s Nest, had been drawn here by the Goblin corpse that Simon had been dismantling.
There were just under ten of them, and all of them looked somewhat thin. It was likely that they hadn’t been able to hunt enough to eat properly this winter. They were looking to take the leftovers from the monster that Simon had defeated.
The odds are against me… I have no choice but to back down, Simon decided.
He slowly stepped backwards away from the Goblin’s corpse, glaring at the wolves.
They weren’t monsters, but if one were to put a Rank on them, they would be Rank 2, and there were nearly ten of them. They were not adversaries that Simon could fend off.
But fortunately, as they were not monsters, they were not fixated on killing humans. Simon would almost certainly be able to get away without fighting as long as he gave them the Goblin’s corpse.
That was what he thought, but it seemed that the wolves decided differently. The pack spread out to surround him, despite the fact that he was slowly trying to back away.
Simon’s face stiffened. “These bastards think I’m easy prey!”
The wolves weren’t just after the Goblin corpse; they had decided that the one-armed, fatigued Simon was food for them as well.
As if in response to Simon’s words, the wolves bared their fangs, and one wolf from the back leapt at him to try and knock him off his feet.
“Sh-shit, ‘Instant Response!’ ‘Single Flash!’”
Simon activated a martial skill that he hadn’t used for years, improving his reaction speed, and swung his sword at the head of the wolf that had leapt at him.
But he groaned as pain ran through the arm that he used to swing his weapon, and his attack missed the wolf. He immediately tried to avoid the wolf’s tackle, but his leg was caught, and he fell onto the ground.
W-why?! I used my martial skill!
His reaction speed had increased, and he had been able to clearly see the wolf that tried to knock him down.
Indeed, his martial skill had been active. But his arm, which had atrophied and lost its muscular strength, had screamed in pain, unable to withstand the use of ‘Single Flash,’ a martial skill that involved a fast swing of the sword. His atrophied leg, unable to keep up with Simon’s improved reaction speed, had gotten caught.
No way! I’m gonna die in a place like this?! Simon thought in despair.
“HEL –” he screamed as the wolf leapt at his throat to end his life.
He heard the low growl of a rat and a yelp of pain from the wolf as it was thrown into the air.
Surprised, he looked up to see an enormous, furry rat with a long tail that had a metallic shine to it.
“Wha – A monster? But it’s a rat, could it be…?”
Simon heard another rat screech.
Before he could get onto his feet, he felt heat on one side of him and cold air on the other side. In the next moment, a ball of flames burned a wolf, then a blast of cold air froze it solid.
Two more rats appeared; one was wreathed in flames and the other was surrounded by a liquid that radiated cold air.
“Three rats means that it’s definitely…” Simon muttered.
As he became aware of who was rescuing him, an echoing, fearsome roar shook the air. The surviving wolves yelped and fled.
“It’s a little late for me to say this, but I’m here to help,” said Vandalieu, who was riding on the back of a gray-furred Hellhound.
Knowing that he was saved, Simon gave a sigh of relief.
It was pure coincidence that Vandalieu had come to Simon’s aid. He had been hunting with Darcia yesterday, so he had gone hunting earlier than usual today to work hard on Fang’s Leveling, and happened to come across Simon on the way home after Fang’s Rank increased.
“I see, so that’s why you were hunting a Goblin,” said Vandalieu, having heard Simon’s explanation of the situation.
“Yes, I got rather hot-headed. It’s unbecoming for someone my age…” said Simon, who was sitting on the ground, unable to fight off his fatigue.
Vandalieu was touching Simon’s arm.
“This is embarrassing. Even now, my legs won’t stop shaking… I’m pathetic,” said Simon, lamenting his own weakness.
“You’ve spent quite a long time not doing this kind of work, haven’t you? It can’t be helped. And it seems you’re quite fatigued, too,” said Vandalieu.
“Yes… But I’m starting to feel better as we keep talking.” Simon gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I’m not sure which one of us is supposed to be the older one…”
“That’s just because I’m curing your fatigue,” said Vandalieu.
Indeed, he was using ‘Out-of-body Experience’ to put his spirit-form arm inside Simon, examine the state of his body, massage his muscles and improve his recovery by fusing with him.
Ordinarily, Vandalieu wouldn’t be able to put his spirit form into Simon unless Simon himself allowed it, or if he were unconscious. But he was able to quietly heal Simon as he was currently in a depressed mental state and didn’t have the willpower to resist.
He hurt the muscles in his arm, and just has a few other scrapes. His organs are like this because of years of unhealthy living, Vandalieu observed. His brain is… hmm.
“By the way, this is Fang, and if I recall, Maroru, Urumi and Suruga? Their appearances have changed quite a bit. Did their Ranks increase?” Simon asked, unaware that the inside of his head was being examined while he was being treated.
Fang, sitting next to Vandalieu on standby, gave a bark. The rats were devouring the wolves’ organs.
Fang had been a Black Dog, but he was now a Rank 4 Hellhound. He had grown to about the size of a cow, but the color of his fur hadn’t changed.
Hellhounds were monsters that were well-known by adventurers. Their ability to breathe flames, and their ferocious and savage nature, were well-known. Thus, they were considered difficult to tame even by skillful Tamers.
But as Fang had started out as an ordinary dog that had undergone multiple Rank increases to become a Hellhound, he appeared to not be ferocious at all… though his roar had been so terrifying that even Simon had frozen in fear despite knowing that it was Fang.
It was possible that Simon’s legs were still shaking partially because of Fang.
But although Fang had turned from a Black Dog to a Hellhound, the transformation that the rats had undergone was even more dramatic. Up until yesterday, they had been Rank 3 Murder Rats.
These were considered to be the strongest among known rat-type monsters, which preyed on humans with their sharp fangs, but… Maroru and the others were certainly not Murder Rats now.
As the conversation turned towards them, the rats stopped feasting on wolf organs and gave sly squeaks at Simon… with their mouths stained red with blood.
“Yes, they’ve become Rank 4 like Fang,” said Vandalieu. “Maroru is a Flame Rat, Urumi is a Wet Rat, and Suruga is apparently an Iron Rat.”
The rats had changed race, and their fur had changed accordingly to their race titles. Maroru was wreathed in flames, Urumi was surrounded by water and cold air, and Suruga had gained the ability to make her fur itself as hard as metal.
They’d mutated so much that one would never think that they had once been ordinary rats.
“Do you know of these races?” Vandalieu asked.
“No… Never heard of them,” said Simon. “Maybe you don’t get them around here… or maybe they’re new races?! If they are, you can get a reward if you report them to the Tamers’ Guild or the Adventurers’ Guild!”
Considering Simon’s response, it was likely that the rats were of new races. With the exception of Wet Rats, Vandalieu had heard of the other two races as monsters that appeared in Earth’s folk tales, so he hadn’t thought that this was the case.
With that being the case, I suppose I’m the reason for their Rank increase to their current races. Maybe it’s because I went to Earth and gained knowledge there? Vandalieu wondered. If that’s the case, if Fang had a twin, maybe it would have mutated into a Komainu instead of a Hellhound.
TLN: Komainu are lion-dogs made of stone seen at Japanese shrines.
Meanwhile, the treatment of Simon’s arm was finished, and Vandalieu let go of it.
“I think you’ll be alright now. Can you stand?” he asked.
“Yes, I can manage… I’m really sorry for causing you so much trouble. I don’t know if I can say that this is thanks, but please take that Goblin and this as well,” said Simon, gingerly getting to his feet and pointing at the Goblin he’d killed.
He also held out his sword and scabbard.
“It’s a cheap sword, but I don’t have anything else on me, so… I haven’t used it much yet, so you should be able to have the weapon store buy it back for some amount,” he said.
“Are you sure? Weren’t you going to redo being an adventurer?” said Vandalieu.
“Yes, I’ve learned my place. I’m not cut out to live this lifestyle… I’ll redo things, but for a different lifestyle.”
Simon’s mind had been completely broken by this experience of almost being killed by wolves. He had been encouraged by Darcia’s sermon, but it was certainly fate that he had been saved by her son. He tried to convince himself that the goddess believed he was not suited for the adventuring profession.
Of course, he didn’t have any idea what this ‘different lifestyle’ would be. The current Simon was here as a result of having tried and failed at that in the past.
If he had at least acquired a creation-oriented Job, things would have been different, but… Simon’s current job was ‘Swordsman,’ and it was at Level 10. He would need to Level up ninety more times to change Jobs.
On top of that, he had hit a barrier in his development, making it hard for his Level to increase.
His companions from the past had also tried to help him to at least allow him to change Jobs, but he gained almost no Experience Points from anything other than combat, and his Level had increased at a snail’s pace. Unable to bear this, it was Simon who had backed down from this arrangement.
“If I at least had a talent for taming like you, maybe I could have done something even with only one arm, but… this can’t be helped. I’m sorry, but please use me as your gopher, at least for the next little while,” Simon said.
“No, if you want to redo things, I’ll help, since you were so inspired by my mother’s sermon that you want to change your life,” said Vandalieu, showing no signs of wanting to take Simon’s sword.
“Huh? You’ll teach me the basics of taming?!”
“No, that’s something that can’t be taught even if I wanted to teach it. What I’ll be helping you with is gaining your arm back.”
“My arm?! Th-that’s even more surprising… Are you acquainted with a skilled alchemist?”
The truth was that Vandalieu himself was a ‘skilled alchemist,’ but Vandalieu didn’t mention that.
“It will all depend on your hard work and motivation,” he said. “But if you have those, I promise you that you will acquire the best arm possible.”
He had an idea for helping Simon regain his arm. It was… not the use of the root of life, the Lambda version of pluripotent cells that the champion Zakkart had created.
If he used that, Simon’s arm would certainly regenerate. But too much time had passed since he lost his arm. His brain had completely forgotten how to move his right arm; the brain cells needed for that were now either gone or serving other functions.
With that being the case, even if Simon were to regrow his arm, a long period of rehabilitation would be required for him to become able to move it. Though he might become able to use it in everyday life again, it would be difficult for him to regain the strength and dexterity needed for battle even decades later.
In the case of Bellmond’s tail, Vandalieu had been able to regenerate her brain tissue as well, but… that was because she was a Vampire with an advanced regenerative ability. It was difficult to achieve the same in Simon, who was a human.
That was why Vandalieu intended to teach Simon the best secret possible for moving an artificial arm.
“It won’t need any special talent or qualities; you only need to believe in my words and follow me until it works. However, I believe that people will be uncomfortable around you or stare at you inquisitively afterwards,” he warned Simon.
Simon listened to Vandalieu’s vague explanation. He didn’t know Vandalieu very well, and today was the first time that they’d had a conversation this long. But looking at Fang and the rats, he could tell that Vandalieu wasn’t an ordinary person, and more importantly, he was the son of Darcia, the one who had given him the determination to redo his life.
He was certain that Vandalieu wouldn’t demand anything unreasonable.
“… If I never met you and your mother in the first place, I’d have just continued working day jobs and barely feeding myself, living like a dead person,” said Simon. “It might not be of much worth, but I’ll entrust my life to you.”
The moment he finished his sentence, a large change occurred inside him.
The weight of his body disappeared, making him feel light, and his head felt clear. His body was filled to the brim with strength.
“O-OH! This is… I feel like I was reborn the moment I decided to follow you! I feel like I could go and send those wolves flying into the air now!” Simon shouted, jumping up and down on the spot.
He had been guided by Vandalieu at that moment.
Darcia’s sermon had left a deep impression on Simon yesterday, but he had still not been guided by Vandalieu at that point.
Darcia hadn’t preached Vandalieu’s values and view of life at the Communal Church; she had preached the teachings of Vida, the goddess of life and love, that were taught in the Boundary Mountain Range.
But becoming a believer of Vida didn’t necessarily guide one to Vandalieu’s Dark Demon Creation Path. One needed to either decide to follow Vandalieu as Simon had just done, or become strongly charmed by him like the Undead were.
… That was why the food cart owners that Vandalieu had taught how to make Gobu-gobu and steamed Kobold meat had already been guided.
“I’m sure you’re full of willpower. At this rate you’ll be able to work hard in training tomorrow,” said Vandalieu, repeating the same words he had said to the food cart owners to play down the guidance’s effects when they found their physical abilities enhanced.
“Of course!” said Simon. “But… We’re starting tomorrow?”
“Yes. I need to prepare some necessary things, and… I need to stock the ingredients tonight.”
Vandalieu wasn’t negligent when it came to the operation of his food cart.
Vandalieu and his companions had left their carts where they were and rushed over to help Simon. Thus, they had to go back to get them before returning to the city.
Simon was afraid that other monsters would have ravaged it by now, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“He used some kind of spell…? He never ceases to surprise,” Simon said to Fang, who had been ordered to guard Simon while he waited for Vandalieu and the rats.
Fang barked in response.
Fang knew that the truth was that Vandalieu hadn’t used a spell; he had left Chipuras behind to watch the cart. But he didn’t tell Simon the details… though it wasn’t as if he had become able to speak the human language from his Rank increase.
Incidentally, Fang disliked humans, but felt a sense of closeness and companionship with those who had been guided by Vandalieu, so it didn’t seem that he had any hostility or excessive sense of caution towards Simon.
Fang himself believed that this was because he perceived Simon to now be something that wasn’t a human, though his appearance remained the same.
“I’m not as amazing as you, seeing as you turned into a Hellhound in just a few days, but I feel like I can change my way of life now,” Simon said to Fang.
Fang gave an encouraging bark to his new junior. ‘That’s the spirit,’ he seemed to be saying.
But this peaceful conversation was abruptly interrupted.
“So, you’ve tamed a Hellhound. It seems that you’re a capable Tamer,” a voice said without warning.
Fang immediately got to his feet to protect Simon.
The owner of the voice… Randolf, gave an impressed nod.
Despite having received no command, it protects its owner, and yet doesn’t attack. It has been well-trained, considering the ferocious and savage nature of Hellhounds, Randolf thought.
Indeed, he mistakenly thought that Simon was Fang’s Tamer.
“N-no, I’m not –” Simon began, bewildered by what appeared to be a human adventurer.
“Sorry, but I’d like to make a request. I want you to take these two to the Adventurers’ Guild,” said Randolf, one-sidedly stating his business without listening to Simon.
He brought forward Natania and Juliana, whom he had made float behind him with wind-attribute magic, and presented them to Simon.
“Wha –?! This is terrible…” Simon whispered.
The two were wrapped in cloths, but he could tell with a single glance that they were both missing all of their limbs. Despite Simon and Fang being in front of her, Juliana showed no response but to look over at them with a hollow gaze.
“It’d be better to take them to a healing mage’s clinic rather than an Adventurers’ Guild… No, maybe the Church would be better!” Simon exclaimed, disturbed by their serious states.
“Wait, calm down! Our wounds are fine, so we want you to take us to the Adventurers’ Guild! I’m Natania, and this is Julia… Yes, her name is Julia,” Natania said hastily. “The truth is –”
She began explaining the situation.
Randolf watched silently. Natania referred to Juliana as ‘Julia,’ a woman she had met after being attacked and captured by Minotaurs, and told Simon that she didn’t know anything other than her name.
The Minotaur King incident would be dealt with by the Alcrem family of dukes and the Guild Master of the Adventurers’ Guild in the capital, so there was no need to report it to the Guild in the city of Morksi.
Randolf intended to disappear once he saw that Simon thought of them as unfortunate victims of Minotaurs and accepted their request.
But before Natania finished speaking, he felt a chill on his spine, as if someone had pressed ice against it.
This is… The Demon King fragment is reacting?!
Surprised, Randolf checked the small Orichalcum bottle… the Demon King fragment’s seal. It was trembling. The fragment, which was sealed and had not infested any host, was reacting to something.
Wondering if the god of law and fate had caused another eclipse, Randolf looked at the sky, but that wasn’t the case either.
Then what is it?! I know that there have recently been incidents of Demon King fragments that have infested hosts traveling towards the Boundary Mountain Range, but… this is the Alcrem Duchy! This isn’t close enough to the Boundary Mountain Range for a sealed fragment to be reacting! Randolf thought. Wait, I don’t have the time to think about what’s causing it.
The freshly-applied seal on the Demon King’s oviduct looked like it would hold, but at this rate, it was possible that the older seal on the fragment that the Minotaur King had been using in its ritual would break.
If the seal was broken, it was possible that the fragment would aim to infest the Hellhound, Simon, Natania or Juliana as its host.
“Hey, here’s the fee for their request,” Randolf said, handing Simon a Magic Stone that he had harvested from a Minotaur. “And this is a farewell gift for you two,” he said, handing several Magic Stones taken from Minotaur Mages to Natania. “I’ll leave them to you!”
And with that, he used the wind-attribute spell ‘Soar’ to take off into the sky.
“Wait! What’s going on all of a su… Ah, he’s gone. What’s wrong with that guy?” Simon wondered.
“… Who knows?” said Natania, staring blankly up in the direction that Randolf had flown in.
Next to her, Fang relaxed his guard.
He had sensed that Randolf was an overwhelmingly powerful individual. He had been so mentally fatigued by his presence that he had not even thought to warn his carefree junior.
“Well, we don’t mind carrying you to the Adventurers’ Guild, but hold on for a moment. This guy’s owner, and my… What should I call him? Boss, teacher, master… Yes, my master who is going to train me, is coming,” Simon told Natania.
“Master? You’re not the one who tamed this guy?” Natania asked, looking at Fang.
“Yeah, he’ll be back soon – Ah, that’s him!”
As if showing up to replace Randolf, Vandalieu and the rats returned, each pulling a cart with them.
“Hmm? It seems like something happened. Could you please explain the situation?” said Vandalieu.
“Yes, Master! An adventurer I didn’t recognize appeared out of nowhere with these two –” Simon began.
“I see. Natania-san and Juliana-san, yes?”
“How do you know my name?!” exclaimed Natania, bewildered.
There was no way that he could have known her name, let alone Juliana’s, which hadn’t even been spoken.
I’m the one who’s surprised. I’ve returned to find that I have even more apprentices, Vandalieu thought.
“I’ll hear the rest of your story while we move, shall I?” said Vandalieu.
“Alright, I’ll tell you what I can. But this person is Julia. Don’t say the name ‘Juliana’ out loud. Please, help us,” Natania begged him.
Vandalieu nodded. “Yes, of course I’ll help you… I see. That must have been an ordeal,” he murmured.
He was mainly looking not at Natania, but the spirits of what appeared to be knights and village girls that were floating around Juliana.
“Please help Captain Juliana and this girl who persuaded that man not to kill her,” one of the spirits said.
“Please, help. Help, help, hel-hel-hel-hel…” said another nonsensically.
“Ah, our god… Our god, help…” said a third.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. Please stay calm,” Vandalieu told the spirits, nodding to their words.
He had already planned to help Simon. That one person had turned into over a dozen, then multiple dozens. That was all.
- Name: Simon
- Race: Human
- Age: 27 years old
- Titles: None
- Job: Swordsman
- Level: 10
- Job history: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior
- Passive skills:
- Enhanced Muscular Strength: Level 2
- Detect Presence: Level 1
- Starvation, Disease and Poison Resistance: Level 2
- Mental Resistance: Level 2
- Active skills:
- Swordsmanship: Level 3
- Armor Technique: Level 2
- Surpass Limits: Level 3
- Coordination: Level 2
- Dismantling: Level 1
- Housework: Level 1
The one-armed former adventurer Simon. His Skills are average for a D-class adventurer, but due to many years of living an unhealthy lifestyle, his stamina has decreased and his senses have dulled. For this reason, martial skills do not display their full effects when he uses them.
Because he has lived in the slums for several years, he has acquired the ‘Starvation, Disease and Poison Resistance’ Skill, and also the ‘Mental Resistance’ Skill from the despair of losing his arm, giving up his life as an adventurer and living a life where he couldn’t see a future for himself.
The fact that the latter is not the ‘Mental Corruption’ Skill is a testament to his virtuous and positive nature.
- Name: Natania
- Race: Wildcat-type Beast-kin
- Age: 17 years old
- Titles: None
- Job: Unarmed Fighter
- Level: 27
- Job history: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior
- Passive skills:
- Dark Vision
- Enhanced Body Part (Claws): Level 2 (Lost!)
- Enhanced Agility: Level 3
- Detect Presence: Level 3
- Active skills:
- Throwing: Level 1
- Silent Steps: Level 2
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 3
- Armor Technique: Level 2
- Surpass Limits: Level 3
- Dismantling: Level 1
- Trap: Level 1
- Status effects:
- All limbs missing
A wildcat-type Beast-kin female adventurer. Her adventurer class is D-class. She has not acquired the ‘Coordination’ Skill because she has worked solo up until now, but she has acquired the skills of a scout instead.
But as she has no arms or legs, she is currently in a state where she cannot use most of her Skills. She has been in this state for a long time, so her brain may lose some functions and she may lose Skills such as ‘Enhanced Agility.’
Incidentally, the reason her missing limbs are displayed as a Status Effect while Simon’s missing arm is not is because Simon’s arm has been missing for so long that it is now considered his normal state.
- Name: Juliana Alcrem
- Race: Human
- Age: 20 years old
- Titles: Alcrem’s Princess Knight
- Job: Superior Knight
- Level: 34
- Job history: Apprentice Knight, Squire, Knight
- Passive skills:
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Under Command: Level 3
- Enhanced Attribute Values: Mounted: Level 3
- Strengthened Attack Power when Equipped with a Spear: Medium
- Strengthened Defensive Power when Equipped with Metal Armor: Medium
- Active skills:
- Spear Technique: Level 5
- Armor Technique: Level 4
- Shield Technique: Level 4
- Mount: Level 3
- Coordination: Level 3
- Etiquette: Level 3
- Command: Level 2
- Status effects:
- All limbs missing
- Infested: Eggs
- Mental Collapse
The youngest sister of the current Duke Alcrem. She has already renounced her right to succeed her family, but she is a member of a respectable house of dukes.
She belongs to a knights’ order and had been entrusted with the command of one unit. If her abilities were to be judged with the Adventurers’ Guild’s standards, she would be considered C-class; there were high hopes for her future.
However, like Natania, she is currently missing her limbs. Furthermore, several of the Minotaur King’s eggs have been planted inside her womb by the Demon King’s oviduct.
The trauma from these events has caused her mind to break, and even if her body were to be restored to its previous state, it is uncertain as to whether she would return to normal.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Winter
Time for Pauvina 2.0 minotaur edition 😛
Naberisu
Van only made Pauvina because he wanted to test an artificial reincarnation to use on Darcia.
Zenden1st
I wonder if there are any legends in Lambda of regular animals not infested by devils nest mana, that ascended in rank to become calamity-type monsters without the aid of devils nest. ie. [Rank 10 Normal Tiger] that happens to be really strong but unaffected by DK miasma
That be a test id like to see van attempt.
Chiu ChunLing
That sounds really unlikely.
First off, Ranks only exist in the Status System because of Guduranis modifying it to benefit monsters. Mankind and the Vida races that don’t have ancestry from monsters don’t have Ranks, so there’d be no reason that animals that haven’t become monsters could ever have them.
On the other hand, the part of the Status System that is intended to benefit Mankind depends on acquiring Jobs, something that would be extremely difficult for most animals to accomplish. So even if you’re only talking about a normal animal raising it’s primary Skill level up to 10…without the benefits of any Job Changes that would seem implausible, especially in the limited lifespan of an animal.
Normal animals probably do have the ability to improve their Skill levels even without a Job, Van was able to do so, anyway. But I see no possible reason Van would experiment with trying to raise the Skill level of a normal animal to 10 without mutating it into a monster, that would only make sense for an extreme Alda/Bellwood/Nineroad fanatic who believed that Taming was an essential part of following the will of the gods but that using it on monsters was heresy.
Sailon
Well whe dont even know if normal animals even has skill, Riclkent created the job and skill system to help Mankind to fight against the Demon King so has a very strong possibility that normal animals doesn’t even posses them.
NsP7737
These three will become S-class adventurers
I feel it
Moblord
I’m really rooting for simon and his determination to start over, its really heartwarming to know his positive resolve on the matter.
TypicalReader
I like the author’s juxtaposition at the end between Randolf and Van.
Baldingere
It’s nice to have the power to help people.
Aircat386
Status Effects: All Limbs Missing
Need a Full Heal? (Pokemon Joke)
Dean1997
“Silent steps: level 2”
So silent you can’t even see them.
vamptacus
Savage
unmellow
after reading this chapter my first thought was
Enhanced Body Part Nubs: level 7
thank you
polynesianvibez
Van should just replace and rule all the gods lol he’s saved more ppl since reincarnating than the gods lol nuanza build that statue asap lol
thanks for the chapter
TruePath111
Simon doesn’t realize how lucky he is… LOL
xtremeloldude
“Unarmed Fighter”. I guess Natania doesn’t really need her arms back then
thanks for the chapter
GodEater
Unarmed fighter! You fools she is in the exact position she wanted, unarmed.
jacktronsit13
love myself some puns
Turix
Tis but a flesh wound.
rajputra
lmao
Hobbes
Exactly, eventually they too will be able to bite bloody legs off.
Kuro-san
Has Van-sama ever used spells based on necrosis or miasma? If not, do you think it can be used as a sub-attribute of the death-attribute magic or as a disease?
Kuro-san
What about necrosis?
Kuro-san
Ok, thank you.
Zenden1st
that sounds smart
fahhad0555
i want to read it with illustration can you add it
Tejing
What illustrations? This is the web novel. It has no illustrations. There are illustrations for the light novel, but
a) there are legal issues with using those
b) the light novel is far behind this translation of the web novel, only up to the hartner duchy arc if I remember correctly.
Lightnovelfan
Is there much of a difference between the light novel and the web novel? Most of the light novels i read so far differ vastly, but I couldn´t find a list of differences.
A_wandering_otter
Light novels are published as books with physical copies and more funds thus there are illustrations and revised story
no1
Do you know if the light novel has an English translation and where is it possible to buy it in store or online?
Tejing
it doesn’t
no1
aw man, that sucks
TricksterR
Your translating style is probably a very big reason for why this series isn’t boring or hard to read even after 200 chapters, the story is good, but bad translating and Japanese type writing which isn’t understood in English can ruin a good story most of the time. Usually I get bored after a few dozen to 50 chapters, but your translating(writing?) style is very interesting and flows well with the story, fitting all of these elements in gives us a nice and juicy meal called “Death Mage”.
Yoshi
Thanks, this is a huge compliment! ^^
Triger
Quality is definitely better than most official translations of light novels that ive read
TricksterR
Van needs a good old-fashioned adventure ark sometime for some extra spice in the story.
Thanks for the translation on a good story!
InfernoHomura
Please tell me that Fang’s gonna be a Cerberus
Kuro-san
[spoiler] It will evolve into Orthos and then Cerberus. [/spoiler]
no1
I just realized that with all the things going on with Van his food cart business, spreading Vida’s influence, and giving guidance to other people, Heinz is still out of commission isn’t he, resting in a divine realm. Also Edgar’s soul is still being maintained by Rodcorte, can’t wait to see them confront each other again in the future.
Jonathan Hurd
I know right? I do feel the next confrontation between Van and Heinz is going to be a while though. Alda is not letting Heinz and co out till they finish his dungeon and they are going to probably beef up security triple hard to avoid a repeat of last time.
It is funny to realize Van is currently working hard to dismantle the Alda peaceful factions relationship with Vidas group and increase Vida followers while all that is happening though. I can just imagine Heinz and crew pop out being like ‘Yay we did it we’re Bellwoods successors guys!’ Only to find all of the Vida people gone and the whole kingdom on the brink of civil war.
SuicidalSkeletin
i dont think they’ll be able to truly be named bellwood’s successors, the dungeon isn’t going to be well managed without curatos
no1
Even if they manage to be named Bellwood’s successor, the name bellwood would only be a cheap and hollow imitation compared to the trial necessary to be named the successor of Zakkart
UnveilingSage
Thank you for the chapter, Yoshi! I’m so glad we’re getting spoiled recently with these more frequent chapter releases!
I wanna say, who thinks Birkyne’s Spy is Simon now? Especially with the “His brain had completely forgotten how to move his right arm; the brain cells needed for that were now either gone or serving other functions.” Line. I think these suspicious ‘other functions’ require some thought. Especially with how long Vandalieu was spending extra time examining his Brain.
Tejing
I don’t think it’s suspicious, the brain actually does repurpose bits of itself under certain circumstances entirely naturally (neuroplasticity is a pretty amazing thing honestly), and the author is just referring to that. Also, Simon wouldn’t make much sense as Birkyne’s spy, since the way he came into contact with Van couldn’t really have been predicted or engineered by Birkyne.
Your norm Purple Tea addict
What about the Priestess?
Tejing
Birkyne said Van would save his puppet. She doesn’t seem to need saving.
Tejing
Matthew does seem like the best fit out of the people we’ve met so far, but I don’t think we have enough information to be even a little certain yet.
UnveilingSage
Its fair reasoning about the puppet wanting to be Van-sama’s friend. I’ll concede on that point, but since Birkyne’s operative doesn’t even know it himself, it also implies that Birkyne has no direct control over what he does. I think it’s perfectly plausible for his puppet to go rogue after hearing Darcia’s sermon and accidentally get killed. Also, due entirely to lacking an arm, I would say that Van could save him from that. Thus I think that is the “saving” part for this person.
madstack
‘Unarmed Fighter’… Heh.
Kuro-san
Did you expect something like: ‘Apprentice Fighter’ => ‘Fighter’ => ‘Claw Fighter’? Me too…
Tejing
Kuro-san, if I remember right, you read this site through machine translation to portugese or something, right? (If I’ve got that wrong you can ignore the rest of this message) If so, I suppose the pun doesn’t come through for you. ‘Unarmed Fighter’ would normally mean a fighter without ‘arms’ (meaning weapons), but could be interpreted to mean a fighter without ‘arms’ (meaning the limbs that attach at the shoulder), hence the joke. Of course this is only a thing in english, so it wasn’t intended by the author, but it’s still funny.
Kuro-san
I understand, thank you.
Ozarazil
Oviduct? Doesn’t this means that our boi will be laying eggs at some point? And how does someone comes across an orichalcum bottle? “Hey you know what’ll be useful? An orichalcum bottle!!!” Hahaha what? Doesn’t this means that some god created that bottle to put something in there?
Morgan
Symbolism is really important in magic too. A bottle is much more like a seal than a sword as a seal and bottle are both designed to contain while a sword isn’t.
Just look at the legend of zelda, the master sword isn’t the seal, the pedestal is (since it “contains” a sword), the sword is simply the key.
UnveilingSage
It’s made by the god of liquor to hold his wine. Maybe? I originally ment this as a joke, ut it actually seems pretty plausible now that I’ve written it down.
V4NQU1SH
Hoh~ Thanks for the chapter~!
GJ Translators and thanks to all donors~!
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
Unfortunately the Demon Kings fragments were ‘stolen’ even before they could go back to their master but he has gotten himself three new disabled knights(?) who will protect the ignorent people trying to harm Van.
Triduo
Towards total surgical body reconstruction, brainwashing psycho-therapy and nonetheless- !
Noctyrannus : BIG BREASTED MINOTAURS !!! (/°O°)/
NOPE !!!
Noctyrannus : Awww…
Triduo
Noctyrannus : Ever heard of growth-hormones ? >:)
Dimhélios : Remember what happened last time you tried that on an animal ?
Noctyrannus : I already said I was sorry !
gomezseba37
i laughed way to much at this. but TBH if van gets that fragment oh bOI
eddjeld
maybe Van will use the demon King brain to give them back some movement?
no1
Yeah, but spirit form requires mana to use, unless they constantly use their mana and have a large mana pool, they won’t be able to use spirit form 24/7
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like ghosts mana problems come from the fact that they’re primarily fighting using only mana. A living armor can physically beat things to death, but for a ghost to attacking needs to manifest with mana or cast a spell.
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like spirit form doesn’t really solve Simons problem with having forgotten how to wield two arms. It would be like if we grew a third arm or a tail tomorrow. We might have it, but we would be total strangers in how to move it. Taking Vigaros case for example he still needed training with his fifth arm even after he could grow it.
Vigaro also possessed certain advantages Simon lacks. Such as having already experienced increasing his amount of arms before. As well as gaining parallel processing with his race rank up.
Keeping that in mind, Eddjeld might be onto something with Van giving some of the DKs subbrain. Though I feel literal brain surgery might be too extreme a solution to this problem.
Jonathan Hurd
I agree a normal human spirit has two arms, but we have seen that spirits can drastically change when they become used to a new body. Examples of such are like the Bone animals whose souls started as rats and insects but now recognize themselves as bone animals. Another such case is Sam whose soul went from human to cart shaped. As Simons status shows having one arm is his normal state now. His soul has adapted to that alone with his brain.
I will also say that from what I understand of the story spirit form is still controlled by the brain. That was part of the reason why Van needed to make multiple brains in his spirit form to cast and do multiple tasks.
All this considered I feel in Simons case he is probably going to get a prosthetic arm that has a will of its own and works together with him. Basically a similar setup to the haunted armor warriors. That will probably be the only way to skip the years of physical therapy to properly wield his new arm.
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like Simon isn’t really great enough of a fighter for a possessed arm to be to detrimental. At this point he has been out of practice so long he will need retraining even if he doesn’t get a new arm. Add in he hasn’t had the arm for all those years he probably doesn’t even fully remember his original fighting style.
For fear of the undead. He is under Vans guidance now. He already feels closeness to Fang a giant hellhound which is basically a killing machine. Adding a few undead and taming them into the mix shouldn’t scare him off now.
I imagine that no matter what Van is going to make a new prosthetic probably using death iron. Or hell Orichalcum at some point for the fun of it, though that is definitely not for a starting arm. I do think after that though there is going to be an experiment of some sort. That could be to see whether his body and nervous system could connect to the prosthesis. Only thing with that is he has the girls to try that on. With Simon I feel he is given an interesting experiment to effectively give someone autonomous limbs.
If the experiment goes well there is nothing saying you have to stop at replacing missing limbs. He could add to armors a tail that attacks the enemy on its own and coordinates with the user. He could even help someone become like a ghoul tyrant and have four arms. I can see Van recreating some of the weirder gundams or general Grevious in star wars if he can perfect the tech.
SuicidalSkeletin
I’ve been thinking this since last chapter, but it’s very possible that Darcia’s Life King magic might be able to restore the lost limbs. If not they could become Van’s next experiment?
eddjeld
i don’t know, it say in this chapter that at least for Simon his arm missing is like a default state to him.
gomezseba37
she has the eye of regeneration that can regenerate anything
Supreme king
I’ve been wondering this since the beginning but WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE AUTHOR AND HIS RAPE FETISH?! Ffs almost all the love interest have given birth or we’re gangbanged or raped by monsters is it so hard just to Putnam a NORMAL girl next to van?!?
Tejing
Given that lambda is a world where pretty crappy stuff happens to people, and Van is the kind of person who takes in the outcasts and broken people and gives them a home, it should be no surprise that a number of the people around him have pretty horrific experiences in their pasts. If the author actually had a rape fetish, as you suggest, those events would be given a titillating spin, but in fact they are always portrayed as simply horrific and that’s that. Just because an author includes something in his books doesn’t mean he has an obsession with, or even likes, it. That’s overly simplistic thinking.
kagemao
Is Kanako not normal?
I really don’t think most of the characters are actually love interests. He’s got the whole “champion of the broken and downtrodden” theme, and that’s generally who his guidance attracts. That, and he’s a child so why focus on that?
I kinda think it’s intentional to mess with folks trying to self-insert and fantasize about perpetual virgin women.
Chiu ChunLing
Kanako is pretty abnormal. For one thing, she coldly decided to give up on being an idol in her first life and instead saved herself for marriage as a purely mercenary calculation. That’s not normal. In her second life she used her Venus ability to avoid ever having to put out while simultaneously having a perfect understanding of what she was (not) missing as a result. That…actually might be pretty normal, I think that the majority of women would choose to avoid ever actually having sex if they had an ability like Venus. But having such an ability is itself not normal.
In her third life…she’s still kinda weird compared to a normal human but not compared to the more prominent members of Van’s harem. But her mental and emotional structure when it comes to romance is pretty exotic. She probably has more memories of sexual experiences (both male and female) than any mortal, but it’s highly likely none of those are her own experiences. She’s also probably been copying the innocence of some of her ‘competitors’ in an effort to make her character more idealized to appeal to Van.
Thinking too deeply about this is kinda terrifying, so I’m going to settle for thinking of her as someone who has deliberately redesigned herself as a anime magical girl lyrical idol character.
Still, not normal.
Absolute Zer0
Well, Lambda is messed up place compared to Earth. And being adventurer is pretty stressfull job. In addition Lambda has little to no form of entertainment. So it’s normal to people to relieve their stress in that kind of way.
Jonathan Hurd
I would personally say, no the author doesn’t have a rape fetish. Yes, rape has come up a few times in the story but an important part about it is how the act and it’s victims are portrayed.
Rape is never fetishsized. The act itself is never described. It is made very clear that it was a horrible act that has inflicted lasting wounds to all who suffered it. Van has never swept in to find a half naked heroine (okay was thinking back and yes I remember Zadris but she has been the only one).
The case with Zadris is actually particularly interesting though. She is ready to be killed and okay with that. She knows she will be separated into parts and used for profit and she doesn’t begrudge that. It is only when she realizes that she is going to become a sex slave does true despair set in. Even for a clan as open about swapping partners as ghouls this was over the line. Past death, past desecration, it was the one thing she was unwilling to let happen.
The other thing is the author has described multiple horrible abuses and tortures throughout the story. A lot of which were leveled at Van first. Those include slaughter, torture, murder, organ harvesting, lobotomy, electrocution, starvation, skinning, human experimentation, and many more. This is a hard cruel world where the strong prey on the weak. Rape is going to be a part of such a world since at the end of the day rape is a show of dominance and power over others.
The majority of the female cast has never had this happen to them and thank god for that.
heiro001
First, those are two very, VERY different things. Second, in every case of sexual assault, including this latest one, it’s been framed as an act of violation, of violence. We meet Rita and Saria as charred corpses who have been traumatized by what has been done to them, Pauvina was a ghost watching her corpse be violated, what happened to Bellmond is portrayed as a hate crime, Juliana here has been mutilated, and so on. So yes, is including rape in the story potentially still problematic? Is it a very heavy subject matter that Densuke may not be giving proper weight and introspection to? Absolutely. But the problematic part ISN’T that the framing of these events is sexualized, or titillating, or somehow made to seem ok.
Now, if we want to talk about why we’ve had both sexually experienced and sexually abused characters in this story, I think both of them come out of a distaste Densuke has for the whole virgin obsession, which is just as big and screwed up a thing in Japan as it is in English speaking countries. There’s a reason there’s a bunch of mothers being idol singers and magical girls recently. There’s a reason the head god of the good guy faction in this story is a goddess of life and love who has many spouses and many children, and her avatar / saint is a mother. Densuke is making a point here that being sexually experienced or god forbid sexually abused doesn’t make you any less of a person, doesn’t mean you can’t be in all sorts of “virginal” roles, and doesn’t mean you can’t have future intimate relationships or just generally positive relationships of all sorts afterwards.
Tejing
I hadn’t made that connection as to why it was in the story, though it’s obvious now that you point it out.
Supreme king
People downvoting me seems to have misunderstood something i just wondered why the author keeps on putting such heavy things into his novel I’m not saying rape is heavier than torture/murder I’m just saying it further just adds a depressing tone to the story which it already has enough of just when you thought things are all good around van he comes And throws in another batch around van with their emotional baggage ik death mage isn’t the kind of story to look for a bright undertone from but come on when will he stop doing this?cant he move the plot forward without doing this?
Also I’m quite intrigued by what you said with the author and the Stereo type what’s up with that?
Chiu ChunLing
But this novel is also chock full of torture and murder, right from the first chapter.
I think it might be valid to question why we’ve seen almost no serious portrayal of homosexual rape (Van feeling up muscular guys doesn’t quite cut it). But in a novel that features so much other torture and murder, the amount of rape we’ve seen isn’t remotely disproportionate. I don’t even find the heavy preponderance of female victims too unlikely, and it’s been acknowledged that males can also be victims of rape, we just haven’t featured any as main characters.
This is simply being realistic, when women are being tortured and murdered, there’s a very high probability of them being raped as well. And yet it’s not like we haven’t seen any important female characters who were tortured and or murdered, but not raped.
So I don’t think that the people downvoting you are misunderstanding anything. They just find your complaint so objectively invalid that they don’t consider it likely that you are sincere.
no1
Wonder if Van is going to give Simon a prosthetic arm, a monster arm, or a corpse arm(with life gold implants)? Also dang, that demon king fragment was so close to Vandalieu, too bad he wasn’t able to claim it.
Triduo
Imagine that if Van had been faster, the seal would have broke and let it rampage… I’m pretty sure that fleeing with it was the wisest choice.
no1
yeah, but I wanted to see Van get a new demon king fragment. I was also curious to see what kind of experiments he would do with the demon king oviduct
UnveilingSage
I wanted to see Randolph’s reaction to seeing the DK Fragment break through the seal, fly right past everyone there and go staight to Van-sama. Imagining how confused he would be makes me smile.
bk3k
No… it detected a superior host (Van). It wanted to join Van.
Jonathan Hurd
Honestly why not all three, lol? Make a prosthetic arm from monster corpse parts and death iron. Infuse it with Life Gold and Spirit silver to animate it. Victory!
Your norm Purple Tea addict
No spoilers.
Tejing
Spoilers aren’t allowed around here, man. Think before you post.
no1
Thanks for the chapter Yoshi. Yeah should’ve guessed that Van would be helping Natania and Juliana
gomezseba37
when randolph used the teleport item last chapter I guessed that he would appear in front of van with the two girls. almost nailed it I expected him to meet van tough luck
Triduo
Paradoxe : You can complain to the Demon King’s part that made Randolf retreat faster than the wind. -__-
Absolute Zer0
Is Simon heading toward Chuuni-character route? I have feeling he might look like Hajime.
gomezseba37
yeah so far he is the only ultra normal human to be going this route
Triduo
Please, define “normal” in Lambda ?
Kuro-san
People who at most can kill a T-Rex in 1vs1. At least for Class D Adventurers.
Jonathan Hurd
I think T rexs were the weakest monsters near Taloshiem. Gotta step up their game.
Ltshrek
So he’ll be the shinpachi
ObserverBias
Minor nitpick; on intro, Simon’s wiping the blood off the sword in his right hand, but in his setup (about a page later), after losing his dominant arm, he trained to use a sword with his /left/ hand (as well as training to use a shield). Which arm is he actually missing?
no1
I’m pretty sure he is missing his right arm and only has his left arm. The part above might be a mistake
ObserverBias
I gather that one or the other is the mistake, which is why I ask which it is.
ObserverBias
While I can understand that, I would presume either a future scene with him or his stat window would specify which one it is that he “has” already, or lost. That the stat window didn’t specify is its own thing, but if it keeps switching which arm it is in the future… (shrug)
Jonathan Hurd
The story will probably state which arm was missing when they talk about the solution. At that point we can go back and fix it here.
UnveilingSage
The story does say that he lost his dominant right arm, and tried to learn with him non-dominant left arm.
Kazza
Yoshi, stop it! If you release so many chapters in such a short time frame, I always end up late!
Oh, wait. What am I saying? Full speed ahead!
Honestly, I’m just so excited Fang’s a Hellhound. He’s approaching Cerberus… and with it the triple head petties!
“HELL” yes, as the saying goes.
I do find it interesting that the Guild is worried about “potential clients who didn’t understand the situation would wonder why they needed to pay such large fees for monsters to be exterminated when a child who was not even an adventurer could do it.”
Like, that’s a level of contempt for your consumers I haven’t seen since *REDACTED TO NOT START FLAME WAR*
Like, how stupid do they think their clients are? “Oh, this kid with a fuckin’ Hellhound can take on an Orc. Why should I pay specialized Adventurers to do it? I’ll take in on myse- Oh Alda, my insides! They’re outsides!”
Like, what about Knights? Are they supposed to think Knights are adventurers? They’re weaker, sure, but they’re still expected to defend against monsters when Adventurers aren’t available.
It honestly provides an interesting look into how the guild thinks. It’s changed a bit from what it stood for (Protection of all, spread of knowledge) to become a business that, like most, falls into corruption and competition. I’m honestly wondering how connected guilds within different duchies are. Would it be possible to look into the Hartner Duchy and see Van already applied but was rejected? Would they in turn try to offer him a spot, only to have him refuse it? Would they then also try to join in on Joseph’s “brilliant” plan?
…I might be overthinking this. Just seemed like a really dumb one-off line of reasoning.
ReikoLupus
In defense of the guild:
In OUR world there are people that believe the earth if flat and vaccination is a lie to milk money out of us.
People thinking “They are a bunch of liars. See that? A KID can do all this shit! Why should I pay a ‘Profesional’ when I could do it myself for cheaper?!” aren’t something imposible.
The guild probably does that to stop crazy people like that from thinking even they can take down an orc if they have a Sword, and trying to do it.
Kazza
I agree that people that stupid can exist, but they’re small in number, therefore there’s no way they’re a majority of the Guilds business. If they die, so what? People die every day, and a bit of lost revenue isn’t worth concern. Their main revenue would be the lords and nobles, who are smart enough to understand monsters are dangerous and should be left to socialists.
bk3k
>I agree that people that stupid can exist, but they’re small in number
Sorry to break the bad news, but stupid people are not small in number.
Jonathan Hurd
For the adventurers I think it’s a matter of pride. A little kid seems to be saying their job is so easy he can do it himself. He’s also that strong and doesn’t bother to even register. Basically it could be seen as Van mocking them saying ‘you guys risk your lives against this small fry? I don’t need to hangout with you wimps’.
Another part is no one is going to like someone taking their work or making it look easy. I mean let’s say you work at a retail job and bust your butt trying to serve customers with your coworkers. Then out of nowhere some kid comes by and opens a store. He not only runs the store by himself but makes it look easy. You can’t tell me you won’t start having some inferiority complex by that point.
I would also say part of the problem for adventurers on the business side is Van makes this look to easy. It isn’t so much of a problem of business people going to hunt themselves but negotiating prices. What better line can you use than ‘you want me to pay how much for this meat!?! There’s a ten year old kid out there bringing it in alone. It can’t be that dangerous.’
The biggest problem is if those negotiations fail they could also then say ‘well if you won’t lower your price I’ll just try and buy it off the kid for a better price. He’s got meat to spare.’ Even if Van doesn’t sell to them. They could take a page from Vans book and just hire their own hunters rather than buying the meat from any adventurer that happens to bring it in.
A big point of the guild is to consolidate adventurer work, basically the guild is an adventurer union. If others start following Vans example and get their own personal hunters it could destroy the jobs of a lot of adventurers. A lot of the newbie adventurers need to gather experience collecting low end monsters meat to turn in. If no one is going to buy it from them no one can train up as adventurers. No one can instantly become a veteran. So if there is no new blood since there are no jobs it could lead the adventurer guild to ruin if not handled correctly.
I will just say the funniest thing about this situation to me is the fact that this has all happened due to the corruption and draconian rules of the Orbaume Kingdom and the adventurers guild. Van needs the merchant license to be an adventurer. However, he can’t purchase the meat to become a merchant member normally thanks to Joseph. If he buys it from the adventurer guild through requests it would cost to much failing the merchant guild test. So he really is left no choice but to get it himself.
Kazza
I actually don’t disagree with anything you said. My entire point is that the reason they stipulate (that Van is increasing the danger of people thinking they can handle monsters) is wrong, insulting to their clients, and/or is a deflection. The real reason they’re angry is probably like you said, Van’s taking business away from them and making them look bad.
Because if they did actually think there was a clear and present danger, don’t you think they’d actually try talking to Van, instead of only targeting his middle man and trying to sabotage him?
Jonathan Hurd
No worries, there were so many posts wasn’t sure where to insert mine and just wanted to catalog my thoughts on why the adventurers guild is annoyed at Van.
I think currently the adventurer guild hasn’t bothered Van yet because he’s to small time and under the radar. He is running a food stall in the middle of the slums so even if he became self sufficient its only annoying and not much else.
Another part of why Vans not really currently a threat has to do with the fact he has not changed his prices or sold his meat to others. If Van started selling the meat himself then he would be directly competing with the adventurer guild and that would be a true affront. All in all no one can or would follow Vans current moves. If Van wants money then just selling the meat he hunts would be more than enough. Anyone who follows in Vans footsteps would soon realize this and not bother.
I think the biggest reason someone like Simon annoys the adventurers is because Van is treating turning in proof of subjugation as a joke. They have no way of understanding why Van or his mom can’t sign up and turn it in themselves. With Vans strength he can obviously easily live as an adventurer yet he insists on being a merchant at his small little food cart in the middle of the slum district.
Things could probably still be overlooked if Van just partnered with some newbie Adventurers, hunted with them, and finally had them turn in the proofs on his behalf. The fact that he has Simon do it feels like he is belittling the profession.
The reason why none of the adventurers have touched or harassed Van directly is probably because he is small time, but he is still a merchant.
Merchants are a big part of the adventurer guilds clients. If it gets out that the adventurers guild harasses merchants for no real reason they could be boycotted. At the very least it could strain the relationship between the merchants and adventurers guild and no one really wants that.
gomezseba37
Adventurers risk their life every day so its normal for them to be angry if some kid is caplable of doing alone what they risk their lives for
Chiu ChunLing
It’s not like a Guild policy.
Adventurers do a status check to see if they are notorious enough criminals to have a Title (like “Holy Mother Killer”) and verify that they have combat skills. There are no additional checks on character until advancing to B-rank.
So basically it’s a profession open to people who aren’t quite ready to fall into banditry or worse. The Guild has to tolerate that cause it’s a world where monster-hunting is too big and pervasive a job category to be picky about it.
That’s why the ‘loophole’ of letting people with credentials from other Guilds join without that kind of check exists. Members of the Commerce Guild have to show they can run a business for a while and survive an audit of their activities. Tamers have to demonstrate that they can train animals. Both those are considered to reasonably demonstrate suitable character far more reliably than a mere absence of obviously criminal Titles.
Kazza
“Actually many of their clients are very stupid, very greedy, or both.”
No offense, but there’s a citation needed. Who specifically are you talking about? The story seems to imply that the majority of Guild requests come from either the Lord and/or Duke of the city they are based in, and villages under threat of monster attack. The rest seem to be those interested in monster materials, such as butchers and alchemists.
Among those, I agree that many nobles are shortsighted and greedy, but where does stupidity come from?
Because there’s a level of stupid involved. People aren’t going to be told “This kid got a stray dog and killed a lot of monsters,” it’s going to be “This kid and his Hellhound he tamed/grew kept hunting beasts to fuel his food cart.”
And if you go “Oh, a hellhound? That’ll be easy to tame.” Then yes, you’re beyond stupid and deserve a Darwin Award.
Like, that’s where the contempt comes from. Thinking your clients are so dumb they think they can just get a Rank 4 monster (I think it was established during the Talosheim arc that’s about as strong as a T-Rex, right?) like that. The people who have the money to pay you to risk your life for them probably are smart enough to know there’s a specific reason why they’re hiring you.
Could there be people dumb enough? Probably, but there’s no way they represent a large part of the guilds profit. So, them dying isn’t going to do jack to the Guild. However, the Guild considering this a very real possibility shows, yes, they do think the majority of their clients are that stupid. That’s the contempt I mean.
Kazza
Dude, again I’m not trying to be rude, but you’re just stating things as facts without providing evidence.
“Of that group the Merchants are the ones most at fault for both the stupidity and greed part.”
Who? When? Are you talking about Joseph? Provide an example that shows what you mean.
“Also keep in mind that its been since Fang was a stray dog that the guild has had these issues that they are complaining to Simon about.”
Has it? Fang evolved into a Rank 2 Demon Dog his first night out, before he even met Simon. While you’re right they don’t know he’s a Hellhound yet, there’s no indication of when the complaints started.
And I’m honestly confused how likely you think a situation like that could occur. The people who would come across an orc horde would most likely be Adventurers anyways, as they mainly live in Devil’s Nests and don’t travel to towns except to pillage and kidnap women – leaving no survivors as villagers don’t usually have the strength to fight them off. So, you’re saying an adventurer would be too overconfident – despite the fact that many go through a specific school on monster hunting – to not request backup, and would just attack them and die/get captured? All because of a rumor (because presumably they would not have met Van) that a kid could do it with the help of a tamed monster dog they don’t have?
If anything, that reflects poorly on the adventurers, not the clients.
You and the guild seem to think the citizens are so stupid they don’t understand monsters are dangerous and there’s a reason the Guild has been handling them for such a long while. I’m saying that the people who are stupid enough to go into a place they know is filled with danger on the basis of rumors – which actually have reasonable explanations if pursued further – are people who aren’t influential enough for the guild to worry about. They’d mostly be kids, like you said, and uneducated/untrained people who haven’t been taught basic details about the world they live in. People who do not contribute much in the way of money and are unlikely to be the only ones to witness a disaster in the making.
Kazza
Now that’s not fair to the merchants. I think you’ve unintentionally ignored context.
1. There were merchants who paricipated in the slave trade in Morski.
So? That’s immoral, not stupid. If anything, they were protected by a gang of thugs, and only got discovered because Van took them over. If you’re saying they should’ve known Van was a possibility – which I don’t think you are – that’s not a lack of intelligence, that’s a lack of psychic future-telling power.
2. The slave trader in the Sauron Duchy.
I think you removed some context on that. The guy was always a slave trader, the reason he was turned on by the rebellion was that he was going to exclusively trade Vida Races to the Empire, betraying his homeland.
And how is that stupid? Immoral? Absolutely. Cruel? You bet.
But it was shown that despite Orbaume being apparently pro-Vida, persecution of her races is still rampant. So this merchant thought he hired guards that thought similarly to him, but was proven mistaken.
Again, that’s not stupid. A plan failing because of one miscalculation is not stupid.
3. Eisen’s previous incarnation.
Saying she was a merchant is a little much. She was an apple vendor who presumably sold her own produce. She likely wasn’t trained or educated, and only did so to make ends meet. So when she saw a chance she took it – paying the ultimate price.
And keep in mind, she (I think her name was Diane) didn’t know he was a Dhampir. He covered his eye and claws. Also, Gordan was an experienced Vampire hunter trained by the church of Alda, so saying that a random woman who’s never seen a Dhampir should be as knowledgeable as him is stretching it.
If it was an actual slave trader, there would’ve been more preparation for his capture. She and a couple others just ganged up on him, mistakenly believing he was just a normal kid because he covered his eye. And while you’re right they should’ve questioned why a kid had so much money, that doesn’t support the notion that slave traders – professional ones compared to a ragtag gang who had probably not done this before – would behave the same way.
4. Bandit attacks.
Honestly, this is how businesses work. They need to cut costs somewhere, and if they believe the protection they bought was sufficient, they have no reason to spend more because that’s lost profit. And if the argument is that they should’ve known it wasn’t enough, that goes back to the future-telling skill. Saying in hindsight that they should’ve bought more protection doesn’t make them stupid, more unlucky.
Like, what about that guy Kanata killed when he first got to Lambda? He had no way of knowing that Kanata could effortlessly kill his hired guards. Is he stupid for not hiring an A-class party?
As for the ones who don’t get protection, I’m with you there, they’re stupid beyond belief. And since they are, they don’t contribute to the guild anyways and still have a very short life expectancy due to my main man Charles D.
Honestly, it seems we have differing opinions on what “Too stupid to live” means. Not taking enough precautions because you don’t know enough about the magnitude of potential danger is not stupid. Doing an evil thing when you think you’re protected from retribution isn’t stupid. Being greedy is not being stupid.
So, I want to kind of get some common ground between us, so let me explain what I mean by stupid in terms of our world:
So, you’re a merchant. You make a living selling Tigerskin rugs. You purchase them from a poaching group – full of people who have trained and have special equipment designed for catching tigers.
Then one day you hear a rumor that a 10-15 year old kid took down hundreds of tigers with only the help of a stray dog. Do you:
A) Assume this rumor is 100% false or at the very least embellished.
B) Decide there are obviously details removed from this story and ask for clarification on the impossible elements.
C) Go see the kid himself to prove the rumors as true/false.
D) Decide without investigation that this means the tiger hunters were ripping you off and that you – without training – are strong and skilled enough to trap tigers. Therefore, as long as you buy the equipment, you can use it just as effectively.
I’m pretty sure any rational person would stay away from D. Because it’s not just stupid, it’s ignoring basic reality that this 300+ pound beast who has lived in the wild all it’s life is in fact able to rip apart humans easily.
And consequently, if you ignore basic Lambdan reality that orcs are 500+ masses of muscle who can carry huge clubs to beat you to death is the mind of someone too dumb to live.
But the guild somehow thinks most of their clientele would choose option D. That’s contempt, not even believing your clients – who have built the funds to pay you for the service – are able to understand basic reality. And if your defense is that some people are that stupid, my response stays the same: Those people are not worth considering because they would not be in any position of power to affect the world around them.
It’s more likely the Guild is just projecting a reason that Van hunting monsters is bad because they can’t face the actual reason: He’s doing their job better than they are and taking potential profit. Since he’s not doing anything illegal, they’re trying desperately to frame him as doing something damaging and irresponsible. Because if they really felt that way, don’t you think they’d ask him to stop? Instead of trying to intimidate the middle man?
And finally, please don’t use future events for details in your arguments. Thank you for using the spoiler box, but I’m not going to read them and I can’t argue against something I don’t know anything about. So just stick with things that have already happened, please.
Kazza
No offense, but it seems you’ve made a couple of assumptions.
1. I’m honestly confused why you think someone doing something illegal is stupid. Yes, if they get caught they will be enslaved themselves. Just like criminals in real life will be put in prison or even killed if they’re caught. That doesn’t make them stupid for doing it if they think they can escape the risk. Even police today aren’t omnipotent, and not every crime is solved.
And where did you get this idea the organization would turn on them without a moment’s notice? Why would they do that, when letting them get caught would allow the authorities to gain any information they know? Are you saying that they would kill them as soon as they were in danger of being exposed?
That seems excessive, especially since – by the very nature of the slave traders being responsible for the slave trading – the other parts of the organization may not be able to do it nearly as well. There’s also methods to prevent capture – bribing guards as we’ve been shown they can, or moving their operation to another area. Why do you assume this organization would just instantly go with violence as their first option?
Being evil does not necessarily mean you are stupid. Even in real life, various intelligent people can do evil things.
2. So I re-read the chapter, and it is never stated the slave trader knew they were originally part of the army. Debis discusses this as the reason he is working with the SLF, but only after he turned on the guy and killed him.
Why do you assume he would know this? We don’t know how he hired them, only that he did it in secret. We don’t even know how early Debis decided to turn on him. Or even if the they were the first group he hired.
Are you saying all mercenaries are former soldiers? What about retired adventurers? What about opportunists like Padej himself, or people who may have been conscripted and hate the Duchy? Is it so impossible that other people shared his lack of loyalty?
Again, what he did was evil and immoral, but not necessarily stupid. He took precautions because he knew what he was doing could lead to danger. However, he miscalculated and may even have been tricked, neither of which proves his stupidity. We don’t know.
3. Ok, bit of unclear language on my part. She may have had a license, but she wasn’t a merchant of a scale that would interact with the Adventurer’s Guild. Thats what I meant, so saying someone that small represents the average merchants who deal in monster-based products is a bit of a false equivalence. She – presumably not being apprenticed in any way – is not a good example of an average merchant’s intelligence.
And you were right that they found out he was a Dhampir, only that was when they were already in the process of trying to kidnap him. They debate during the attempt on whether revealing that will get them more money, which Diane shuts down specifically because of Heinz’s prescence. She did, in fact, take it into account. They may have debated it more if they had the time, but they were in the middle of the act and were in a hurry.
4. You seem to be missing my point. You say “intentionally not hiring sufficient guards” but I’d have to ask how they would know that.
They can’t get that from other merchants, because if theose merchants were attacked they would either kill them, run, or be killed/captured – as bandits take everything they can and destroy everything else. If they kill then the bandits aren’t an issue, if they run they have no way of analyzing their skills, and if they’re captured they won’t reveal anything.
They can’t get it from patrolling guards, because if they knew how strong the bandits were they probably already dealt with them. Bandits live by hiding and not antagonizing the large-scale law force. If they were above C-Class, that’s a danger the local lord can’t ignore and presumably specialists would be hired to deal with them.
Despite the Status and Skills, Lambda isn’t a video game. There isn’t a mission screen that’ll give them a recommended level.
So how are they supposed to get information on how powerful the bandits are? This is what I meant by my example, you and I both agree that the man wasn’t an idiot, because there was no way he could’ve seen Kanata coming. And I’m saying why can’t the same logic be used to defend those who were killed?
They knew there was danger, so they took precautions. Those who didn’t, I agree, are too stupid to live. At the same time those merchants aren’t going to remain in business for long, so they’re not the ones the Guild should worry about.
Again, saying after the fact that the guards they hired weren’t strong enough doesn’t make them stupid. Hiring to minimize cost isn’t stupid if you think it is sufficient. Do you think if they did know the exact power of the bandits that they wouldn’t have hired more?
They miscalculated. It was unlucky and unfortunate, but that doesn’t make it a stupid decision.
And the end there, I’ve got to ask again: Why do you assume the Guild talked to Van? This chapter instead expresses two distinct facts: Van doesn’t visit the Guild, and the adventures asked Simon to get him to stop.
Neither implies that they talked to him first, or at all. Why do you think they did?
Now this may sound accusatory, and I’m not trying to call you a spoiler, especially since you’ve proven you’re courteous enough to use spoiler boxes. But are you using information from the raws to form your arguments?
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it’s unfair to those of us who have not. I’m speculating based on the information I have, and if you counter my points with such information I can only take you at your word – something antithetical to logical argumentation. We need facts and references.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t comment, but please use discretion on whether or not you’ve reached a conclusion based on knowledge I don’t have before you post. Because if I’m to challenge an assertion you made, you can’t reply that I’ll understand as I read on or put the reasoning in a spoiler box.
The conversation doesn’t finish or continue at that point, it stops dead in its tracks.
Chiu ChunLing
In defense of the Guild:
This is not what the Adventurers Guild thinks. This is what some of the less successful and active Adventurers, who are hanging around the Guild at odd hours to jump on easy quests that anyone could take, think. In other words, they’re guys just barely more successful than Simon, who takes odd jobs too easy to be worth much.
And many of their clients might well really be better off without them.
After all, they’re the sort of characters that sneer at a guy who lost his arm but is struggling to make a living, then become envious of him when he gets a temporary job that pays a bit better than usual.
They’re basically to the Guild what Aggar and friends are to the Town Guard.
kazamakj
Story is moving along nicely. Thanks to Yoshi for translating and thanks to the donors.
Paps
Thanks for the chapter. Well Van keeps gaining more disciple at this rate he can create a sect and become an Elder HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! Wondering how will Simon improve.
gomezseba37
Vans guidance doubled the normal stats so he will rpobably be a B class adverturer in no time if he gets his arm back
Tejing
We’ve never gotten any specific information on how much Van’s guidance increases stats, though does seem to be a significant boost. Still, the biggest boost from guidance seems to be making it easier to overcome leveling barriers, gain skills, and whatnot. Anyway, I agree he’ll probably grow super fast.
Jonathan Hurd
From what was said during Borkus versus the Dragon King in the swamps. I think the stats boost is a flat amount. It does a lot more for those who are weak than those already strong. For example, if Vans guidance gives +100 to your power. Simon who currently has 1 power then started following Van. Someone like Borkus has 100,000 then started following Van. Both receive a power up, but Simons will be much more noticeable because of his starting point. Similar thing with Fang.
This stat boost I believe is part of the original skill Strengthen Subordinates. Guidance then goes the step further and not only strengthens them but helps them along a path to become stronger. Moving aside barriers and helping overcome limitations.
SaMu
Thanks for the chapter.
Don’t worry about a thing, new recruits. Dr. Van’s got the magic touch. Just ask Zadiris, Tarea, and all the other brides that we haven’t seen in awhile
Lightnovelfan
Thank you very much for the new chapter. You just saved my day.
VEreality
I am not going to lie, when I saw the title of the chapter I wanted to see Darcia converting people. However, Luciliano 2.0, less talking more fighting version, made me forget about it. What is Van going to give to those three? My money is either on a prosthetic made from spirit silver or death metal.
Thank you Yoshi-sama!
VEreality
I think that spirit silver can be tied to someones soul. After that it might become material/semi-material. I am saying this because we still got no idea what it does.
Also, by the time Van is going to be done experimenting with death metal Transformers are going to be a thing in this world 😀
VEreality
Ohhhhhh. Ok. I understand. Van is even more of a god for creating it.
Jonathan Hurd
Why pick only one? Lol. Add in life gold there too, imo. Death Iron works as the casing and structure. Life gold gives it life and mobility. While Soul Silver works to connect it to the user.
VEreality
Now how am I supposed to argue with that logic lmo 🙂
gomezseba37
Or kill him and turning him into an undead easy regeneration
Ltshrek
Changing their race or using darcia Mama’s healing will do,buut knowing this van would probably try a different approach that he didn’t do yet
UnveilingSage
LOL!! “Uh. Hello music store? Yes, I’s like to order a prosthetic arm made of your finest Death Metal please. What!?!? Only your Talosheim Branch sells those! Damn, they’re too expensive to import. I’d have to have the gods bestow me a miracle in order to get my hands on one now! Oh No!” Says Simon
Vilebird
I just wanted to express my appreciation for all the hard work and chapters recently.Thanks!😀 I love this story.
iamleejn
Totally love the recent string of new chapters! This chapter has answered several questions I have had looming in my mind and also raised a few new ones.
Simon manages an intercept! Didn’t see that coming. Feel like an idiot now. He was clearly the guy wandering away from Darcia’s sermon muttering “I can do it!” in ch. 213. Alas, “Ralph” and Van will have to meet again some other day…
So Van will be making “Golem limbs” for his new apprentices (Simon and Natania for sure, dunno about Juliana). I’m going to guess that it’ll have something to do with Life Gold or Spirit Silver and possibly using the person’s own spirit to “possess” the limb.
Didn’t know that the Duke’s sister gave up right to succeed the throne. I suppose that means that she won’t be taking over as the new Duchess in the future. I wonder how if Van will mend her mind: pseudo-reincarnation, Vida race transformation, or perhaps using Mental Encroachment therapy? Regardless, after she “gets better” I bet she’ll become good friends with Iris.
There’s some animosity in the adventurer’s guild. I wonder what the reaction is going to be to the new state-of-the-art prosthesis. Is Van going to make friends with the adventurers or get into a fight?
Lord Rin
I’m thinking that the adventurer party that betrayed Natania will be one of the ones who will try something with Simon and they’re gonna get the shit kicked out of them and maybe killed.
Jonathan Hurd
I think we could potentially have another spirit possessing the limbs. We have examples of a similar situation with Haj and his crew. Two minds/souls working together to make the best of one body. The chapter also clearly stated at least in Simons case his brain no longer knows how to handle two arms. I feel like the fastest way for him to recover would be to have something with its own will in charge of the replacement arm.
For Juliana I think some surgeries and a lot of mental encroachment will eventually get her back on her feet. She isn’t the first broken person to come to Van. I mean Marie of the Bravers is probably in worse state and even she is gradually recovering without Van being in direct contact.
I feel like the adventurer guild will dislike Van. They are already annoyed at him circumventing getting meat with requests and doing it himself without registering. Now he’s giving out limbs to his gopher. The logic chain I could see is ‘this brat has enough money to give away an expensive artificial limb, but won’t even bother to put requests in for meat. What a bastard.’
For the alchemists guild I don’t think it really hurts them in anyway. It’s not really stealing business since there was no way Simon could ever buy from them. If I was them I’d see it as someone had a dangerous prototype they need to test. They’re giving it to the old man from the slum to see if anything dangerous happens and if not they can easily kill him to retrieve it and no one will care.
Jonathan Hurd
I gotta say good catch on figuring out Simon was the old man who left Darcias cermon. I hadn’t thought to deeply on that because I was chasing the Birknye angle to hard, but yeah that makes perfect sense.
I think you’re right on golden limbs too. I will say I think they will start with artificial golden limbs, but eventually they’ll mutate so the Holmes become one with their bodies. I mean Darcia already has a skeleton made of metal. I don’t think it would be weird if others start heading in a similar direction.
For healing Juliana I’m thinking mental encroachment. She’s not really in a state to consent to any kind of transformation or reincarnation. As she is now I also think those two probably wouldn’t be that useful.
I will say from the sounds of it at the end of the chapter though Van plans to help her entire squad which was massacred. So he is probably going to revive them as either living armors or undead and put her in charge of them.
So we’ll have Iris and her group of resistance fighters with cursed weapons and armors. The undead vampire Night Knights led by Isla. The prime minister/generals knight corps. Gorkas Orkus group and probably a few other platoons I’m forgetting lol.
Mr.Darkness
“I wonder what the reaction is going to be to the new state-of-the-art prosthesis.”
Man, Vida’s religion is sure to get even more belivers now…
Doom-sama
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR CHAMPION, OUR DEATH GOD, AS HE SPREADS HOPE AND JOY AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND HOW CHEER AND GOODWILL WILL BE FOREVER KNOWN WITH HIS NAME! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Time to help some people! I get the feeling I missed someone important though…
Jonathan Hurd
I love that our Death God does more in relation to helping and kindness. While Alda the God of light and law is only about death. I think they might of gotten their domains mixed at some point.
gomezseba37
van is literally chaotic good in a nutshell
Entropy
I wonder if Vand will be able to restore Juliana’s mind. She isn’t suicidal per se but more of mentally broken to the point of being comatose. I suspect that Simon and the other one will have robot limbs or something along those lines. Funny tat Randolph and Vand missed each other by moments. I do wonder if Vand will gain that demon king part sooner rather than later. I find it funny that Vand leaves for a few minutes and the number of followers he had grow by almost ten times counting the ghosts as well.
veradux1223
Well he might. Also He already made progress on metamorph who is basically in a state worse than comatose do Julia shouldn’t be a big problem to fix
Jonathan Hurd
I think Juliana falls into the same category as the kids in the slave mines Van picked up. The only difference would be her trauma is a bit more severe and more condensed. I think she might not be conscious of Van right now because she is in such bad state her entire mind is currently shut down, but given a little time I think his charm will be the first thing she latches onto.
Lord Rin
So Simon is only 27. I always thought he’d be much older like in his 40s or 50s. I wonder what Van will do for his missing arm? They said his brain no longer remembers how to control the right arm so a transplant or a regenerated limb would take a long time to use because the brain would have to relearn how to move it. The same thing would probably also apply to Natania and Juliana.
If only Randolf came just a bit earlier or stayed just a bit later then he could’ve met Van. I guess that the second DK fragment will break its seal and go to Van which will cause Randolf to chase it and finally meet Van. Then maybe the DK’s Oviducts will also break their seal and Van gets that fragment too.
VEreality
An unhealty lifestyle can do that to a person. Sad but this is reality. But don’t worry. He will soon look younger :3
Jonathan Hurd
Finding he was 27 was definitely surprising. I guess part of it also just has to do with life expectancy of the world and adventuring. Admittedly I don’t think he could survive with his current life style to become 50 so it makes sense he’s that young.
For Simon his prosthetic is definitely going to have to be unique. It’s been over ten years since he first lost the arm. For the girls though I don’t think it’s been past a month so they should be able to move the limbs like before as long as they get setup correctly.
Mr.Darkness
“I always thought he’d be much older like in his 40s or 50s.”
Me too!
Lord Rin
If they get metal limbs then it better lead at least one of them to get a rocket punch damnit >:o
That’s like a creator’s romance and Van is made of the souls of 4 creator heroes.
Tejing
Fang’s a Hellhound now… like, almost everyone called that. He’ll probably go on in the same vein from now on, maybe becoming a Cerberus or the like later on. The 3 rats are kinda interesting though, I wonder where they’ll go from here? I kinda thought Randolf probably wouldn’t end up meeting Van, though I do wonder what’s going to become of those DK fragments now. So now I guess we’re going to get the amputee group with Simon, Natania, and Juliana, but what secret is Van going to teach them?
Valeth
I’m thinking that Van is going to try and teach Spirit form or something of the like. I mentioned this in the previous chapter, but as another pointed out there would be some serious Mana issues for them.
I’m still leaning towards that, as he said people would feel uncomfortable around him or stare at him inquisitively. Although, the mana would be a serious issue.
I figure a Prosthetic Arm, or Limbs in Natania’s case that will be moved spirit… Of course I could be way off. As stated there are a lot of issues with this.
Jonathan Hurd
What might happen is Van makes them prosthetic limbs using fragments of the DK. That would definitely cause people to look strangely at them, but that might be too understated a preacher goes that route.
I do think spirit form will play a part in the limbs, but spirit form has always been used by just about everyone as a supplement and not the main thing. Skeletons and living armors it adds more power to their bodies, ghosts it gives them physical power to their body, even with Vigaro its mostly to allow the four physical limbs to display their best. The only person we have seen use spirit form in its natural state for fighting has only really been Van. The main reason he can and has to do that is his mana pool is so huge.
Spirit form can definitely help them, but I feel having a physical container to pour the spirit form into makes more sense. That way they wouldn’t become completely helpless mid battle if they run out of mana mid battlem
Kuro-san
How much mana do you think a normal person who has been reincarnated without receiving any blessings to fill his ‘Whiteboard’ would have?
Van-sama has acquired 100 million, but his soul is a peculiar combination of four other souls plus Guduranis’ ‘Negative Energy’.
However, I believe that when a soul reincarnates correctly, it deforms and reforms into a new soul, returning to square one in the ‘accumulating whiteboard space’ aspect, which Van-sama’s soul must be unable to do by natural means, because of the peculiarities.
I believe that all these factors helped Van-sama to reach the 100 million mark, so how much mana would someone who doesn’t have any of these factors have?
I would say it’s around 10 to 100 thousand mana, but what’s your guess?
Sebas Tian
A few corrections for you. Van’s blank space is because of Roddy doing a shoddy job of combining the soul fragments of the four creation champions, because Van lacks a destiny, because Van lacks any fortune, because he lacks a magic attribute affinity, and because of Roddy’s curses adding more negative space. There is no energy from Guduranis involved here. Van’s soul has been reincarnating normally on Earth for a hundred thousand years. Souls get shaped to fit the vessel they’re placed in also, so for many new lives what decides your starting mana total is body shape, the amount of fortune you were randomly given, how many magic attribute affinities you were given, and the blank space that remains.
Kuro-san
Okay, but how much mana do you think a person without any of this would have?
However, when I wrote ‘Van-sama’s soul must be unable to do by natural means, because of the peculiarities.’, I was referring to ‘it deforms and reforms into a new soul, returning to square one in the ‘accumulating whiteboard space’ aspect’, not the ability to reincarnate normally.
In addition, the lack of fortune, curses and poor maintenance are within the category of ‘peculiarities’.
SoulDaemo
Damn you guys are fast I’m still in 3/5/20 lul. Ah Randolf should’ve waited then one less hassle for everyone would of been taken care of. Oh well
Shank Mugen
Thanks for the chapter!
Superboy8338
5th!!
Superboy8338
Wow, just WOW, It’s been so long, I forgot how weak the D-class warriors are.
gomezseba37
Being normal in that worlds sucks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much D class warriors are probably stronger than The best IRL humans so yeah being human in that world sucks
Dtar316
Last i checked itl humans can’t kill a t-rex though for all i know it might have changed since i checked last. Hell if anything we might be E rank at best if we believe ppl can kill bears
Mr.Darkness
“I’m the one who’s surprised. I’ve returned to find that I have even more apprentices, Vandalieu thought.”
He is already so used to having new apprentices that he doesn’t even ask if they want to become his apprentices anymore. hihihihihihi
Decaf [Invidia]
A broken mind? Sounds perfect for death attribute charm. Rose Quartz will take in all the people society deems as worthless and guide them lovingly towards darkness!
Shank Mugen
Rose Quartz? SU?
Superboy8338
But I thought that Death Charm only worked on people who genuinely wanted to die or are already dead.
Kuro-san
A person with ‘Broken Mind’ is a dead person inside. And even if the mind is repaired, there will still be ‘Cracks’.
Jonathan Hurd
Death attribute charm seems to not only work on those who want to die, but also those who don’t want to live. It also works well on those close to death. Considering her mental and physical state I feel like she is in the range for it to affect her.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Soundwave
First and thank you for the chapter 🙂 Sorry just wanted to say first for a DM chapter for a while. It’s interesting to see what is happening for the most part because when I read this chapter with Google Translate it was hard to tell sometimes what was going on and for the most part I only ever really got a gist of what was happening
Otakukamikazes
I also tried google translate and have always wondered why it’s that sometimes they repite the same thing two or three times in a sentence.
Can someone please explain that to me
Absolute Zer0
Reading Death Mage on MTL is most effective way to fry the brain
Lord Rin
No worries. Van can guide them then.