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A Giant, whose body was made of entwined plants that had grown abnormally through advanced life-attribute magic and whose head and hair were like a blazing fire, let out a roar that sounded like the creaking of a tree. Countless arrows, short spears and spells rained down upon it, wounding its vines and tree-trunk-like body, and damaged pieces of wood scattered across the ground.
“Wildwing!” shouted the Tamers’ Guild’s master, the ‘Flying Dragon User’ Bachem, calling out the name of his Huge Wyvern.
He charged towards the Plant Giant’s back… or rather, feinted a charge, and changed direction completely at the last second. The Huge Wyvern’s tail struck its target with the momentum of that movement, creating a fissure in the wooden flesh, and the spear-like, venomous stinger on the end of the tail dug into it.
But in the next second, new shoots sprouted up, repairing the wounds that had been created on the Plant Giant’s body. As the embedded arrows and short spears were shaken off, Wildwing hastily flapped its wings to retreat.
“Pointless, pointless! Such attacks are pointless against this Giant, which I have created with the greatest of my spells – ‘Great Life Fire Flaming Wood Giant Assault!’” said a human voice from within the Plant Giant.
A young mage, one of Fitun’s heroic spirits, was controlling the monster he had created with his own spell from within.
A Plant Giant with a body even larger than a Mountain Giant, and an incredible regenerative ability that caused any shallow wounds to heal in an instant. And the one controlling it was located inside.
It was a truly flawless strategy for battle. This was the reason it had been possible for a young man who was purely a mage with no ability in close-quarters combat to become a heroic spirit.
And yet, there was desperation in the young man’s voice despite his boasts.
“You’ve done as you liked for long enough! I’ll show you my true magic now!” he shouted.
He and his companion were at a disadvantage in this battle.
“Don’t step too far forward! Has the blood rushed up to your head because your first to seventh secret techniques were all defeated?!” the Tamer woman shouted at the boy as she struck her whip against the ground to prevent the few remaining monsters from running away.
There were few monsters left, and the enemy forces had suffered little damage. Meanwhile, the two heroic spirits weren’t even receiving any orders, let alone reinforcements.
What’s going on? What is this sense of loss that I’ve been feeling for a while? Could it be that something has happened to Fitun-sama…? No, that’s not possible. Even if his opponent is the Demon King, it was said that he would have certainly been S-class if he were an adventurer when he was a mortal! He is on another level from the heroes being grown in a greenhouse by Alda! the Tamer thought to herself.
“You foolish beasts! You call yourselves the natural enemy of mankind?! Show me your willpower!” she shouted, cracking her whip in command at the few remaining monsters.
But their morale was low and their movements were considerably poor.
Damn it, if only I’d had the time to tame them…! the woman thought.
She had not tamed these monsters. Even a heroic spirit like herself wouldn’t be capable of taming dozens of monsters in an instant.
The monsters were fleeing in fear of Darcia and the others, and the heroic spirit was simply using her whip to threaten them and force them into a suicidal attack. That in itself was an impressive feat, but as she had not tamed them, even her ‘Command’ Skill wasn’t in effect on them, let alone familiar-strengthening Skills such as ‘Strengthen Subordinates.’
At this rate, we have no chance of winning no matter what we do. Since we’ve already used ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation,’ we only have a few minutes left. Should we retreat already? But what will we do if our retreat causes problems for the plan as a whole? the Tamer woman thought to herself.
She and the mage were the reserve fighting forces kept back by Fitun and the rest of the heroic spirits. The two of them were the only reinforcements available for the others.
If they retreated, what would happen to the plan? The sense of responsibility for that made them hesitate to abandon their vessels and return to their Divine Realms.
But even as they did so, the situation on the battlefield was changing.
“In other words, you’ve got an enormous, regenerating wooden training dummy that burns while it fights. You’re probably using your first to seventh secret techniques all at once, but I don’t think it’s anything to boast about. Though I won’t deny your training and talent that made it possible,” Basdia remarked, provoking the mage.
“To begin with, are secret techniques something that you should have so many of?” Zadiris questioned, looking up at the Plant Giant.
The two of them had already overcome the spells that the mage called his secret techniques… the fireballs that he could control freely, and a swarm of soldiers made of plants.
“Y-you damned Ghouls! You’re nothing more than chattering old women; I’ll crush you to death!” the mage shouted.
He had lost all of his composure. He was fatigued from spending so much Mana and unexpectedly at a disadvantage in this battle. His body was collapsing from the side effects of ‘Heroic Spirit Transformation,’ and his pride was wounded from having all of his secret techniques overwhelmed.
The Plant Giant let out a roar and charged at Basdia and Zadiris, its flames burning even more fiercely than before.
“Don’t shout like that. It gives away your lack of worth as a man,” said Basdia, who was in her mid-twenties and wearing a tight-fitting leotard with wavy frills and a mini-skirt.
“Yes, you should take a leaf out of the boy’s book,” sighed Zadiris, who was actually around three hundred years old despite having the appearance of a girl in her early teens.
But the two of them weren’t letting their guard down. Basdia raised her axe and dashed towards the Plant Giant, while Zadiris cast a Light Princess Magic spell on her.
“‘Light Princess Clone Assault!’” Zadiris shouted, raising her staff into the air.
At that moment, Basdia split into seven.
“Illusions?! What a boring tactic!” the mage sneered, turning the Plant Giant’s head towards the seven Basdias.
From within the Plant Giant’s flaming hair came a series of countless dry, bursting noises.
“Take these burning-hot seeds!” the mage shouted.
The seeds flew forth and scattered like buckshot, raining down upon the Basdias on the ground. But the seeds seemed to be less powerful than they looked; the Basdias continued closing the distance between themselves and the Plant Giant without slowing down.
The mage smirked. “You’re the real one, you damn old woman!”
He pointed one of the Giant’s arms at one of the seven Basdias. Several vines with sharp, spear-like tips extended from the end of it, piercing into her.
“Did you think that I would miss that one of those lifeless illusions would move to physically block the seeds…” the mage began, but his face stiffened in astonishment in the next moment. “What?!”
The Basdia that had been pierced by the hardened vine spears had vanished like an illusion.
The mage hastily followed the remaining six Basdias, but he was already too late.
“‘Great Ogre Axe Blade Burst Slash!’” shouted Basdia, who had reached the Plant Giant’s feet.
She swung her magical Death Iron axe, which had been tempered with materials produced from fragments of the Demon King. Though the leg of the Plant Giant was easily thicker than a tree that was thousands of years old, she severed it with a single blow.
“Th-this secret technique of mine will regenerate right away –” the mage stammered.
Indeed, the branching shoots immediately grew from both the severed leg and the part of the leg that it had been severed from.
But Basdia used her martial skill once more.
“‘Surpass Limits,’ ‘Surpass Limits: Magic Axe’… ‘Great Ogre Axe Blade Burst Slash!’”
This time, she severed the other leg.
Even the regenerative ability that he was so proud of could not take effect if the other leg was severed as well before the first leg had finished regenerating. The newly-sprouting shoots snapped under the weight of the Plant Giant, and the mage shouted in alarm as it lost its balance.
He immediately tried to extend vines and branches to attack Basdia, but the other five Basdias repelled them.
“They actually had physical form?! They weren’t illusions?!” the mage shouted in disbelief. “W-wait, stop –”
“For the third time… ‘Great Ogre Axe Blade Burst Slash!’” Basdia roared.
Now that the Plant Giant’s upper half had lowered close to the ground, Basdia struck it with her martial skill. The Plant Giant’s head split vertically in two, and Basdia turned to look at her defeated foe, sweat on her forehead and a victorious expression on her face.
“Little boy, grown women don’t flinch at a pea shooter with a little heat,” she said.
“And you should at least be able to combine an illusion spell and a familiar-summoning spell then make one of them pretend to protect itself. Remember that, you brat,” Zadiris added.
It was unclear as to whether their words reached his ears, but he soon revealed himself by coughing blood from within a tear in the Plant Giant’s body.
“Th-there’s no way there can be women like that!” he shouted. “But even from this state, my Giant will regenerate right away and –”
The ferocious cries of rats interrupted him, and four shadows leapt at him.
Suruga the Steel Rat led the charge, forcing the mage to block her body-slam with the Giant’s arm. The impact of it was greater than it looked; with the arm being swung around in an unstable position, it was deflected far away.
There were two more fierce squeaks as the Snow Rat Urumi stifled the heat of the Giant’s flaming hair with her cold air and Blazing Rat Mamoru threw herself at the Giant, forcing the mage to squeeze out the last of his remaining Mana to block her.
“And I’ll finish the job!” shouted Natania, who was running across the mage’s side like a four-legged beast, having transformed her liquid-metal artificial limbs to a beast’s limbs rather than those of a human.
The mage grunted in pain as the Death Iron blade attached to Natania’s tail cut a deep wound in the side of his body as she dashed past.
The mage coughed blood once more and looked up at the sky. “N-no way… I, the ‘Titan User,’ defeated not by the Demon King himself, but these filthy Ghouls and Beast-kin – ?!”
But the dying words of the young mage with the ‘Titan User’ Title were cut short as a hand axe thrown by Basdia split his head open.
“Don’t name yourself as you die. It is too much of an insult to the original owner of that body,” Basdia murmured, giving a pitiful look at the young man who was now nothing but a corpse.
“D-damn you!” the Tamer woman muttered with anger in her voice. “So, I’ve been left on my own already. But I won’t be shamelessly retreating here!”
She had already sensed that the plan had failed. She had sensed it, but even if she were to retreat, it was clear that there was no future for her. Even if she were to return to her Divine Realm, the only fate awaiting her was to be impaled by Alda’s Stakes of Law.
With that being the case, her only choice was to struggle as much as she could.
“You’re first, dog! Submit to me!” she shouted, brandishing her whip at Fang, who had been busy finishing off one of the few remaining Trolls by biting its windpipe out.
She was attempting to stimulate Fang’s sense of fear and dominate him with that fear, just like she had done with the other monsters.
But despite the woman being a first-class Tamer, Fang showed no fear for her whip. Not only that, he even let out a roar and counterattacked with a fireball shot from his mouth.
The flames themselves were no major threat to the Tamer woman, but her pride was wounded heavily by Fang’s response.
“Impossible! My whip has no effect on a Rank 5 Huge Hellhound? Is this the extent of the Demon King’s control over his monsters?!” she uttered in shock.
“Don’t say such terrible things about him. Our Fang just loves Vandalieu a lot,” said a voice.
An arrow flew out from somewhere behind Fang’s enormous body.
“What?! Go forth!” the Tamer woman said hastily in command to a Scale Bull – a raging bull covered in scales – that she had been keeping by her side.
Thinking that it had finally been released, the Scale Bull leapt forward, but the arrow pierced straight through its body and sailed by the Tamer woman’s side.
“My aim still has a long way to go… My teachers would scold me for this,” said Darcia, who had transformed her staff into a bow, as she stepped in front of Fang.
She was wearing liquid metal clothes that clearly defined the shape of her body despite the decorative frills and ribbons attached to them.
“Damn it, the monsters have been wiped out!” the Tamer woman muttered with a grimace.
Behind Darcia, she could see the knights and adventurers trying to catch their breath and the monsters’ corpses lying at their feet.
As a Tamer, monsters were her greatest weapon, and they had all been exterminated.
“But don’t you think that I’m a woman who can’t do anything without monsters! At the very least, I’ll be taking your head back with me!” she shouted, refusing to give up.
She brandished her whip and activated ‘Transcend Limits’ and ‘Surpass Limits: Magic Whip.’ Her body, already close to collapsing, drew even closer to its fate. But she didn’t care.
“I don’t think my head is something that will be taken so easily,” said Darcia, rapidly casting layers upon layers of enchantments upon herself with ‘Spiritual Magic’ and the ‘Chant Revocation’ Skill.
Returning her staff to its original form, she dashed towards the Tamer woman.
“Is that so? Take this! ‘God-binding Instant Whip!’” the Tamer woman shouted, her whip closing in on Darcia so quickly that it couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.
Darcia immediately attempted to repel it with her staff, but the whip avoided it as if it had a mind of its own, and wrapped itself around her body.
Darcia let out a groan.
The Tamer woman laughed. “You will never escape my whip, which was said to have been capable of binding even the gods! I’ll crush your bones and organs!”
Seeing this, Fang, the knights and adventurers behind him, and Simon all ran forth to try and help her. But at the same time, they realized that they would not make it in time.
We won’t make it on time if we just run over! Damn it, what are we supposed to do?! Simon thought in panic.
Simon’s legs were made of flesh and bone; he had only a single artificial limb, his right arm. He wasn’t able to cover ground with the speed that Natania was capable of.
Naturally, he was also unable to extend his spirit form or his tongue, or cast spells, like his master Vandalieu.
Even so, he continued to look for something that he could do, and then he remembered – Vandalieu had been able to continue manipulating a piece of spirit form that he had cut off from himself. And Vandalieu had told Simon that he would become capable of doing the same.
Can I do the same thing as Master? … No, I have to! Believe in Master and the expectations that he held for me! he told himself.
Simon sharpened his mind and held his right arm in the air.
In his mind, he imagined a thrust from his own ‘Swordsmanship,’ as well as Vandalieu’s ‘Throwing’ and ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique.’ The liquid metal that made up his artificial limb responded to that image and changed shape.
“‘Surpass Limits!’ ‘CHARGING THRUST!’” he shouted.
With his hand now in the shape of a sword, his forearm detached from his elbow and flew forth.
That projectile closed in on the Tamer woman along with the arrows fired by the city guards.
With her whip binding Darcia, the Tamer woman was confident that she would be able to dodge mere arrows fired from the guards’ crossbows. And she was right; she avoided most of the arrows. But to her astonishment, Simon’s arm continued to pursue her even after she evaded it.
Even then, she should have been able to continue dodging it… but she was overworking the body that she had borrowed. All of the strength left her in an instant, and her body felt as heavy as lead.
The Tamer woman coughed. “I-I guess this is my limit…”
Simon’s arm pierced her right shoulder, and her hand released her whip.
And as if waiting for that moment, Darcia let out a shout as she tore the whip binding her to pieces, freeing herself. The Tamer woman, the soldiers of Morksi, Simon, and Fang all opened their eyes wide in shock as they saw the broken pieces of the whip flying in all directions.
With another spirited cry, Darcia took a step that dug a crater into the ground beneath her foot like the footstep of a Giant, and closed the distance between herself and her foe in the blink of an eye. At the same time, she thrust the pommel of her staff forth, piercing through the Tamer woman’s chest.
“Im…poss…ible…” the Tamer woman gasped, falling to her knees with her eyes still open wide in shock.
Simon, who had fired his right arm (or to be more precise, simply extended his spirit form to thrust it forward), stared at Darcia from behind.
She would have been fine without my help, wouldn’t she? he thought.
But Darcia removed her staff from the woman’s corpse, turned around and waved at him and the guards. “Thanks for helping me, everyone! I’m very impressed, Simon-san. I’m sure my son would be very proud to hear about what you did!”
“I-is that so?” Simon stammered.
“Yes, of course! But before that… Everyone, we are victorious!” Darcia declared.
Though their celebration was a moment late, the brave individuals who had gathered and fought with their lives on the line to protect the city of Morksi let out a cry of triumph.
Upon receiving the news that the monster rampage had been repelled, the city’s inhabitants who had been preparing to evacuate cheered. Preparations for a celebration in the city began immediately.
They had resigned themselves to an escape in the middle of a winter that they did not know if they would survive, with their husbands, fathers and friends facing a battle that they would not return from alive. Despite that situation, the city was safe, and although there had been injuries, none had died. Everyone was overwhelmed with emotion upon hearing that news.
If the city had been destroyed, Earl Morksi’s family would have lost the majority of their property, and it was possible that they would have been forced to relinquish their court rank. The families of the knights and guards might have been left wandering in the wild.
The same was true for the city’s people. The Orbaume Kingdom was not as prosperous as modern-day Japan on Earth; it was difficult to say that refugees were provided with sufficient support. They would be lucky to have unreliable tents, thin blankets and small rations in the cold of winter.
Those with enough savings or family and relatives in other regions would be fine, but the others would face cold days filled with suffering.
Even those with jobs had no guarantee that they would be able to find work in new cities and villages. If there were many workers in the same trade in the cities they moved to, there would be an oversupply of newcomers.
As a result, they would become the poor of the cities they fled to and many would be forced to live in slum districts.
As they had avoided this dark future, it was only natural to hold a festival in the city to celebrate.
But even then, the majority of the city’s inhabitants were unaware that the city’s future was not only not dark, but possibly very bright.
One part of that bright future was the materials of the monsters that had been defeated.
The monsters that had rampaged towards the city – the lowest among them were Rank 5 Ogres, and the highest were Rank 8 Thunder Dragons and Mountain Giants. It was the kind of threat that a city of thirty thousand would expect to be destroyed by.
But now that they were dead and their materials were available for the taking, they were a mountain of treasures.
A single Ogre would provide a Magic Stone, meat, tendons and organs; if all of these were used, they were worth a considerable sum. Rank 8 Thunder Dragons and Mountain Giants were each worth enough to fill one’s entire bathtub with gold coins and still have some left over.
According to common practice and the rules of the Guilds, the profits generated by the sale of these materials would be evenly divided among all who had joined the battle.
Many city guards, knights and adventurers had gathered at the front gate, but even so, each of them had earned themselves a fortune. For the city guards, it was several years’ worth of pay.
The money they spent would trickle into the city’s stores and entertainment district. The city of Morksi would likely prosper for some time.
However, the guards, mercenaries and adventurers were currently still in the process of disassembling the monsters’ corpses and stripping them of the materials, and the Adventurers’ Guild did not have the cash required to immediately purchase them, so this would possibly take up to ten days.
But there was a small problem.
“This store is out of stock as well?” a customer asked.
“Sorry, we are,” the store’s owner replied. “The merchants that supply us all ran away, so…”
A sudden shortage in goods.
Knowing that a horde of monsters was approaching the city, not everyone had calmly followed the guards’ orders. A considerable number of traveling merchants, caravans, mercenaries and adventurers had fled the city before all of the gates were closed.
Doing that would lose them the trust of the city’s people, but they had considered protecting their own lives more important than keeping the trust of a city bound for destruction.
Even among the merchants that had just arrived in the city today, there were some who had simply packed their belongings and left. Thus, some of the city’s stores were experiencing a shortage in goods.
There was no shortage in food, however. It was currently winter, but food had been coming into the city as normal up until yesterday. Some of the fleeing merchants had left behind their bulky grains like wheat and their heavy alcoholic drinks.
“That puts me in a bind. The secret flavor behind our store’s meat dish needs that mushroom. You don’t even have a single piece of it?” a customer asked.
“The Birgitt Duchy’s cheese is essential for our store’s meal course. Just give me what you have. I don’t care if it’s expensive. Can’t you help me out here?” asked another.
The ones inconvenienced by this shortage were people wanting subtle seasonings for dishes and famous goods from other duchies. With the entire city in the mood for a festival to celebrate the fact that everyone had survived, the strings of customers’ purses would certainly be looser. But with stores unable to offer their specialty dishes, the customers would be disappointed.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to hold out on you. I really don’t have the things you need,” the store owner said.
The faces of the customers looking to buy their ingredients fell with disappointment. Normally, they would have secure routes of supply for their ingredients, but they were of no use now, right after the city had avoided its doom.
But new information soon found its way to their ears.
“Hey, a traveling merchant by the name of Edmond has opened his business in the city’s market! He’s apparently selling those mushrooms that you’re looking for, the Birgitt Duchy’s cheese and a whole lot of other stuff!” shouted one of the customers’ acquaintances in the same business.
“Really?! I owe you one!”
With that, they all hurried to Edmond’s store.
A large crowd of customers had gathered at the store, and they were buying products one after another.
“Welcome! We have fruit wine, cheese and a plentiful supply of every product you could need! Please come and take a look!” a lively voice was shouting.
The Edmond Company’s store was the only one with customers in the deserted marketplace.
The owner was Edmond. He was the one hiring the former B-class adventurer Rodriguez, and he was also the merchant who had tried to convince Darcia to open a brothel disguised as a Church of Vida with Ghoul women as sacred prostitutes.
I’ve won. My gamble has paid off! he thought to himself.
He had ordered Rodriguez to join the battle at the front gate and remained in the city, and now he was hard at work, doing business.
He had called out to his competition – the merchants who had fled the city – and offered to buy their goods, at a discount, putting on an act of being a good-natured, honest young man.
Those merchants had gladly sold their goods to him, wanting to exchange their heavy goods for his light cash, even at a discount of more than half.
“This is high-quality cheese that has been brought here all the way from the distant Birgitt Duchy! This amount would have a market price of a thousand Baums. But today is the day of the feast to celebrate the safety of the city and its people! I will offer it at a special price of five hundred Baums! All Birgitt-Duchy-produced cheese is half price at my store!” Edmond announced to the crowd.
There was a large commotion as the customers scrambled over each other to buy the cheese. But Edmond had bought the cheese from the merchants who had transported it here for even less than half price – he was still making plenty of profit.
“Give me a discount on this oil as well!” one customer shouted.
“Very well. Today, I will be selling these ninety-Baum bottles at two-thirds of the price, at sixty Baums!” Edmond said.
Each time a customer called out to him, Edmond repeatedly told them that his prices were ‘today only.’ The fact that these prices were especially low today was imprinted upon the customers’ minds.
This was a trick to make his customers stock up on goods today, and to make sure they didn’t ask for lowered prices when Edmond opened his store again later.
It was worth believing in Rodriguez and betting my life on this. With this, the Edmond Company’s name has become more well-known, and I’ve gained the people’s trust. Even if the other traveling merchants try to find fault with me later, they’ll be the ones who accepted small change and fled for their lives in a time of emergency, and I’ll be the one who stayed behind and offered goods at discounted prices. There’s no need to even think about who the city’s people will side with, Edmond thought. Still… it was really dangerous.
He had heard stories from Rodriguez and the adventurers and mercenaries who had fought at the front gate. According to them, Darcia and the Ghoul women tamed by her son were outlandishly powerful. Rodriguez himself had admitted that he wouldn’t stand a chance against any of them.
To propose using such Ghoul women in a brothel… It made Edmond sweat with anxiety as he realized how out of his mind he had been.
If I’d followed her around and tried to force the issue, I might have ended up as a corpse in a back alley somewhere. I need to know my place when I’m doing business. I shouldn’t try to get into other businesses so carelessly, Edmond thought. Once things have calmed down, I will go with Rodriguez and greet her with a present, apologize for what I did back then, and express my wish that we can do business in the future.
Though Edmond regretted having made that proposal to Darcia and tried to use Rodriguez to threaten her into agreeing, there was still no denying that she and her son were in a valuable business. He did not intend to distance himself from them; in fact, he had not given up on growing closer to them.
Vandalieu and Darcia, the heroes who had defended the city, were surrounded by people in the city’s plaza… as the business owner and salesperson of a skewered meat cart.
“Thunder Dragon organ skewers have the special price of ten Baums each today,” Vandalieu said to the crowd. “Freshly-harvested Dragon heart and liver, and the delicious sauce has Dragon blood in it as well.”
“Holy lady of victory! Five skewers, please!” a customer called out.
“Okay!” Darcia replied. “Vandalieu, five skewers.”
“Yes, Mom… By the way, why are you still transformed?” Vandalieu asked.
“Because I left my change of clothes at the house. The clothes I was wearing before I transformed are all in pieces, too.”
Darcia, as well as Basdia and Zadiris, had put on aprons and were working to sell skewers, still in the same transformed state that they had been in at the front gate.
“You can wipe not only dust, but blood and fat as well, off this costume with just a cloth. It’s very convenient,” said Basdia.
“And it’s popular among the customers,” said Zadiris. “Well, I get the feeling that it is a little too popular.”
“Zadiris-chan! Three skewers over here!” another customer called out.
“Don’t add ‘-chan’ to my name, you brats! I have lived ten times longer than you!”
The three women who had fought at the front gate were very popular among the city’s people.
“… You can go back and get changed, you know,” said Vandalieu.
“It does not matter,” said Zadiris, shaking her head with sorrow in her eyes. “Working like this is better to distract myself.”
As a result of her defeating the heroic spirits, she had achieved the Rank increase that she had longed for… from Ghoul Wizard High Princess to a race called ‘Ghoul Moon Wizard Princess.’ She had not been able to remove the word ‘princess.’
To add insult to injury, her daughter Basdia’s Rank had also increased, and she was now a Ghoul Amazoness Midnight Queen.
That was the reason for Zadiris’s sorrow.
“Surrounding myself in this noise means that I have no time to be depressed,” Zadiris told Vandalieu. “Now then, if you will please get me the skewers?”
Incidentally, she would change her Job after this, but all of them had adorable-sounding Titles and she would be forced to weep as she chose from among them.
While Zadiris was taking some time off a short distance away from the cart, some new customers came.
“Over there!” one of them said. “The food cart with the transforming holy lady, the transforming axe-woman and the transforming girl!”
“So, they’re the ones who mowed down Dragons and Giants like they were nothing…” another murmured.
Fortunately, it seemed that their voices hadn’t reached Zadiris’s ears.
… They have all kinds of new nicknames now, but I’m sure it’ll all settle down in a few days, Vandalieu told himself, recalling all of the unfamiliar ways that the customers had used when referring to Darcia, Basdia and Zadiris.
In a few days’ time, the heat and excitement would die down and the new nicknames would… The unpleasant-sounding ones would stop being used, and the similar-sounding ones would be consolidated into one or two nicknames.
I get the feeling that some cute name will stick for Zadiris and become reflected as a Title on her Status, Vandalieu thought, though he had no proof of this… and he needed to rack his brains for how to comfort Zadiris when the time came.
“How could this happen! I listened to Melissa’s request and got changed, and it’s backfired on me!” groaned Kanako, who was sitting at one of the square’s tables, near Vandalieu’s food cart.
“Why are you making it sound like I lured you into a trap?” said Melissa, who was sitting with her.
The two of them had undone their transformation and changed back into their normal clothes.
Kanako looked like she was full of regret, but she suddenly stood up out of her seat as if realizing something, and raised her staff into the air. “There’s no need to hold back just because I’ve gotten changed. I just need to transform once more, right here, don’t I!”
“W-what?!” Melissa said in disbelief.
“What’s going on? Are that Dark Elf nee-chan and that Elf nee-chan going to strip?!” a drunken passerby mumbled.
“Whoo! Now that’s a sight for sore eyes!” laughed another.
“I’m not going to strip, though I am going to show some more skin! Here we go!” said Kanako.
“Don’t! You’re getting me caught up in this! Just stay quiet and munch on some skewers!” Melissa pleaded.
“Calm down, and I’m not going to let them strip, so stop that whistling!” Doug shouted at the crowd.
“I’m counting on you to take over if things get out of control,” Vandalieu said to Miles, who had turned up with his hair in a mess and still wearing his tattered clothes, having done nothing to tidy himself up other than reapplying his lipstick.
“Yes, leave it to me,” Miles said. “But I don’t think it will turn into anything crazy. The drunken mercenaries making the noise aren’t moving any closer.”
The battle between Vandalieu’s group and Fitun hadn’t been seen by many people, but Fang and the rats were in the plaza, and more importantly, Darcia and Basdia were there. The mercenaries didn’t seem drunk enough to forget that they would be dealt with if they made too much trouble.
Simon was with Jessie, the alchemist daughter of the Adventurers’ Guild’s Guild Master Berard, and Natania was resting at home as she had hurt her waist with the four-legged movement that she wasn’t yet accustomed to.
“By the way, you don’t really need to have the food cart out at this time of day, do you, Boss?” Miles asked.
“At night, I’m planning to treat everyone to dinner in the Dungeon. I need to have the food cart out during the afternoon,” said Vandalieu.
“… Normally, wouldn’t you be leading a parade as the hero who saved the city and introduced to the townspeople by the city’s lord in a public speech?”
“Apparently, a parade will be held after waiting for the city’s people to calm down a little. Something about it being dangerous if we hold it now and people jump into the parade’s path out of excitement. The public speech will be held then as well… and a detailed explanation of the situation will come later, too.”
Incidentally, the materials of the monsters defeated by Vandalieu and his companions, and the equipment of Hajime Fitun and his group, had been treated as their spoils of war rather than being divided evenly.
Vandalieu and his companions had defeated these monsters and the individuals after his life in a battle away from the main gate. The Thunder Dragon’s organs that were being sold now were a part of those spoils.
Mountain Giant meat and organs were inedible without complicated preparation, so that had been left until later.
“Ah, the earl’s knight that came as a messenger said that the earl wants you to attend the parade as well, Miles,” said Vandalieu.
“Can I decline? My position in society is that of an outcast,” said Miles.
“Since I’m your boss, I’d like you to attend. To show that Starving Wolf Security is a respectable group.”
“… Okay, Boss.”
4 reincarnated individuals destroyed.
6 reincarnated individuals destroyed in total.
12 remaining reincarnated individuals reincarnated from Origin.
3 reincarnated individuals transformed into familiar spirits.
79 reincarnated individuals remaining in Origin.
- Name: Darcia
- Race: Chaos Elf Source
- Age: 0 years old
- Title: Witch, Holy Mother, Monster’s Parent, Vida’s Incarnation, Empress Mother, Holy Lady
- Job: Holy Lady
- Level: 0
- Job history: Magical Girl, Life Empress Mage, Magical Idol, Magic Staff Clothing User, Transforming Fighter
- Passive skills:
- Dark Vision
- Magic Resistance: Level 10
- Physical Resistance: Level 10
- Status Effect Resistance: Level 10
- Monstrous Strength: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Super Rapid Regeneration: Level 5
- Vitality Enlargement: Level 9
- Mana Enlargement: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 7
- Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Super Self-Enhancement: Vandalieu: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Self-Enhancement: Guidance: Level 10
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Ruling: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Allure: Level 8
- Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with a bow: Medium
- Strengthened Defense Power while equipped with non-metal armor: Medium
- Strengthen Followers: Level 1
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Transformation: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with a staff: Medium (NEW!)
- Active skills:
- Cooking: Level 5
- Housework: Level 5
- Hunting God Archery: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Hearth-Style Dagger Technique: Level 2
- Infinitely Changing Fighting Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 5
- Fine Magic Control: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Life Empress Magic: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Water-Attribute Magic: Level 10
- Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 10
- Spiritual Magic: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dismantling: Level 2
- Spirit Form: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Chant Revocation: Level 6
- Coordination: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Goddess Descent: Level 3
- Clergyman: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dancing: Level 3
- Singing: Level 3
- Surpass Limits: Magic Staff: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Staff Technique: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Unique skills:
- Vida’s Incarnation
- Life Attribute Gods’ Divine Protection (Those allied with Vida)
- Chaos Elf Founder
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
- Divine Metal Skeleton
- Demon Eye of Regeneration: Level 5
- Chaos
- Name: Zadiris
- Age: 300 years old (Has undergone age reversal)
- Title: Magical Girl
- Rank: 12
- Race: Ghoul Moon Wizard Princess
- Level: 0
- Job: Magic Princess
- Job Level: 0
- Job history: Apprentice Mage, Mage, Light-Attribute Mage, Wind-Attribute Mage, Philosopher, Great Philosopher, Great Mage, Wizard Princess, Magical Girl, Magic Staff User
- Passive Skills:
- Dark Vision
- Pain Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Superhuman Strength: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Paralyzing Venom Secretion (Claws): Level 2
- Super Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Mana Enlargement: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Augmented Magical Power while equipped with a staff: Large (Awakened from Strengthened Magical Power while equipped with a staff, LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Transformation: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Self-Strengthening: Guidance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Magic Resistance: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Moonlight: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Active Skills:
- Light Princess Magic: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 10
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 7
- Fine Mana Control: Level 1 (Awakened from Mana Control!)
- Alchemy: Level 7
- Chant Revocation: Level 9
- Multi-Cast: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Level 8
- Housework: Level 2
- High-speed Thought Processing: Level 7
- Staff Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Familiar Spirit Demonfall: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Singing: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dancing: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Unique Skills:
- Zozogante’s Divine Protection
- Garess’s Divine Protection
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
- Deanna’s Divine Protection
- Name: Basdia
- Age: 35 years old (27 years old in appearance)
- Rank: 12
- Race: Ghoul Amazoness Midnight Queen
- Level: 0
- Job: Transforming Ogre Queen
- Job Level: 0
- Job history: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior, Apprentice Mage, Mage, Magic Warrior, Wind-Attribute Mage, Magic Axe User, Ogre Axe Blade, Ogre Queen
- Passive Skills:
- Dark Vision
- Monstrous Strength: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Pain Resistance: Level 7
- Paralyzing Venom Secretion (Claws): Level 6
- Magic Resistance: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Intuition: Level 6
- Strengthened Attack Power when equipped with an axe: Very Large
- Mental Fortitude: Level 5
- Mana Enlargement: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Guidance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthen Followers: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Allure: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Moonlight: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Active Skills:
- Ogre Queen Axe Blade Technique: Level 1 (Awakened from Axe Technique!)
- Shield Technique: Level 9
- Archery: Level 8
- Throwing: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Silent Steps: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Coordination: Level 10
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 4
- Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Water-Attribute Magic: Level 7
- Mana Control: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Cooking: Level 3
- Surpass Limits: Magic Axe: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Armor Technique: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Magic Fighting Technique: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dismantling: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Commanding: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Singing: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dancing: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Familiar Spirit Demonfall: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Unique Skills:
- Zozogante’s Divine Protection
- Garess’s Divine Protection
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
- Deanna’s Divine Protection
Skill explanation: Strengthened, Augmented, Enlargement
Skills that alter certain or all Attribute Values. Their names differ depending on the target Attribute Value, such as ‘Strengthened Muscular Strength’ or ‘Augmented Agility.’
A ‘Strengthened’ Skill is the basic level, where the bonus is slight, and can awaken into ‘Augmented,’ causing the bonus to increase. Once this is awakened into ‘Enlargement’ and reaches the maximum Level, the Attribute Value becomes approximately twice its original value.
These Skills mean little on their own; the higher the original Attribute Values are, the greater their effect. Thus, there are almost no adventurers and knights who take pride in their Level in these Skills.
There are also similar Skills named ‘Strengthened/Augmented/Enlarged X when equipped with Y.’ These Skills take effect when the user is equipped with specified equipment.
These Skills are also meaningless if the user’s combat-related Skills, Attribute Values and weapons are of poor quality; they too take a greater effect with high base qualities.
TLN: I haven’t been very consistent with my translations of these three very similar terms (I have used things like ‘enhanced’ or ‘increased’ before), so note that these Skills in previous chapters’ Statuses might not be consistently translated. I will be careful to translate these consistently in future chapters.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Korath
So, she basically IS Sailor Moon now. 🙂
Winter
I wonder if Zadiris will become the heroic spirit or goddess of princesses by the end of this novel :’)
Akachi86
Close 🙂
Akachi86
Zadiris continues to receive mental damage 😀
Zenden1st
Whats with Basdias Ogre titles???
does this mean she just pick up Ogre skills like how a centaur would pick up rough road travel for carriages.
Zenden1st
The merchant is more competent than i thought
JKingSniper
Huh this merchant is smart
even though he tried to make Darcia be a brothel girl and deserve death for it. Especially thinking of threatening her
asdsdsffdhffggkl
Holy Lady
Axe Woman
Girl…
Zadiris passed the point of return so long ago.
Vitor
All praise Zadiris-chan!!
Ninjacow
Side story: Zadiris Chan doesn’t want to be Cute!
Rollrock
There is no escape, mahou shoujo Zaidris-chan.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. Poor Zadiris, she can live for three more centuries and she will still be known as a princess. Something tells me that Edmund will be moving Van’s capital city sooner or later. That is where the money is and being a financer for a king would look good on his resume. At least now he knows how wise he was not to force the issue. I wonder if those last two gods escaped with their lives when their vessels died or if Van is going to have some more snacks. I don’t know if the braver that can copy people should be included in that list of still alive, since she is blanker than a magnetized floppy disk. I wonder if her soul will recover after she dies or if Rodcorte will just scratch her as a failed product. Another thing I am curious about is how will the bravers react to four more of their number being destroyed. I do find it ironic that Van promised he would kill them, later forgave them, and is now the leading cause of them dying in this world. Don’t get me wrong, they chose to attack him, but he is still destroying them all the same.
Lord Rin
Well Van gave her a bit of his soul that is questioning her about who she and that is undoing Mari’s brainwashing while guiding her to Vida’s circle too.
Jonathan Hurd
No way Gufadgarn let’s such tasty snacks for her Lord escape.
With Mari this is Rodidiot we’re talking about I think if he was given the choice he would just leave her blank and reincarnate her as is. She’d make the perfect vessel for whatever God wanted her. Especially considering they could change her body into their own image.
Overall there’s no chance Rodidiot would go through the extra work healing her tattered mind/soul when it wouldn’t benefit him. The simplest solution for him if he did care would be to wipe her soul clean and then reincarnate her fresh.
Personally what I find ironic is the fact that the Bravers keep making a big fuss about Van killing more of them, but Vans only killed those who tried to kill him. They can go on about how Van shouldn’t break souls, but the ones whose souls he devoured swore after they die they’ll come back and try to kill him again. Destroying their souls is the only way to get them to stop trying to kill Van.
I find their hypocrisy annoying but funny. ‘We have to kill l Van because he can kill us!’ ‘
Omg Van killed one of us what a monster! This just further proves we have to try to kill him.’
‘Isn’t Van only killing those who try to kill him?’
‘Of course but he could someday decide to kill us so let’s jump into his mouth!’
Flesh Sculptor
Yeah, Changeling? I think that was her nickname?
To early to write that girl off, i will not be surprised if she will become one of Vans allies at some point but that is not the main thing about her.
It has been said that the strange blank soul Van met on his “Origin astral plane misadventure” was her, and that mouth and pair of eyeballs he left with her are actively helping her battle the brainwashing. It was also pointed out that to keep her in that state – her captors need to keep renewing the brainwash program and keep her on drugs.
Question of “will she end up in Lambda” aside – i think she will play a big role in “Banda and the Brave larvae” storyline.
A friendly reminder, at the time Banda was created – Van already had no beef with Braves whatsoever, they were generally irrelevant to him, plus Van would have some personal problem with someone’s soul being messed up to hijack their body just cause the perpetrators wanted to use that body for something. He have been through similar experience and would be sympathetic towards Changeling, and so would Banda, been basically a copy of Van from some time ago.
Add all that up with the fact that Changelings body is one of the most versatile assets of the guy who currently tries to kidnap kids Banda is protecting – tadaam, fun things are going to happen next time we take a peek at Origin, or the time after that… you get what i mean…
InfernoHomura
I think certainly everyone can predict that Zadiris can’t escape the princess and cute thing on her jobs forever
Lord Rin
What the hell kinda ridiculous and chuuni name is “Great Life Fire Flaming Wood Giant Assault” for a spell? Might as well have thrown in a “… Of Darkest Evil Black” in for good measure. That Heroic God must have been the God of Chuunibyou.
Ha ha! Finally someone learned ROCKET PUNCH! OK sure Simon turned his arm into a sword but whatever. He can just not transform it and keep it a fist next time.
It’s nice to know that Edmond isn’t really a bad guy. He just had a bad idea is all. Anyways now Morksi is gonna make him out like he’s a hero. He actually stayed behind while a bunch of other merchants ran away for their lives and abandoned the city, he had his bodyguard go help in the defense of the city and now he is selling supplies cheaply to Morksi who is currently having a supply shortage.
Meanwhile Morski is probably gonna experience a huge growth. They now have access to massive amount of monster materials and most of those are materials that the average human considers rare and high quality that are also super expensive. Morksi can now sell such material or use it themselves to make stuff. Meanwhile all the adventurers and guards who participated in the defense of the city are probably gonna level up a lot and get stronger so the average strength of the city will have gone up.
It seems that transforming Magical Girls are getting more popular. I can just picture Kanako and Zadiris sitting somewhere doing the Gendo Pose as they plot the increase in popularity of Magical Girls and Idols.
Speaking of Zadiris, she’s never gonna get rid of the “Princess” title is she? If she ever meets the gods in charge of titles and stats and stuff, she’s gonna kick them in the shins.
Well next up is the wrap-up parade. I can just picture Van’s expressionless face as he is put on a float and made to go around the city. I wonder if they’ll ask him to give a speech too? Anyways there are gonna be a lot of changes in the city I think. Apart from the influx of many rare and high quality monster materials and the increased strength of Morksi’s guards and adventurers, the perception of Ghouls is improving since two were very prominently helping in the defense of the city and they’re both also very pretty and dressed in sexy clothes. Then there’s the possible response of Alda’s Church. They could try to pin the disaster on Van but that’s not a good idea since any divine message they give will end up all garbled and it could backfire like it did with Schneider. Eileek could get an accurate message but nobody from Orbaume would listen to some guy from the enemy country and what he has to say about some random kid. The smartest thing Alda’s Church can do would be to keep quiet and let people speculate what happened to Fitun since his statues all crumbled. Then again, Alda’s people aren’t very smart so…
Ah it’s also good to know what’s the difference between ‘Strengthened, Augmented and Enlarged’ meant in the stats.
Libio
Maybe they will go from different direction. That ‘bandits’ did have dangerous equipment that was protected by Fitun church (no message that they were stollen etc.) and they did attack Van (+ city with monsters) and his statues did break, so it will look like some extremists did some crazy attack with blessing of they church and God. Alda can say, he didn’t approved this action and chose to punish Fitun (explanation for statues). He can make fix imagine little bit and even strength his authority, maybe. (I am more important than rest, I can punish god, if he doesn’t listen me.) Maybe he can partially overshadow rumor about Van saving city. Well, it’s just option, it depends on how good will be investigation and rumors.
Jonathan Hurd
The problem I see with Alda trying to pass off Fituns crumbling statues as his own work is the two previous incidents. Especially the one where the book Aldas statue is holding broke. It’s obvious Alda wouldn’t do that to himself so there is definitely some third party that can hurt God’s out there.
Another problem is even if people do believe Alda punished Fitun it doesn’t change the fact that Aldas God’s have been raising champions and DK Weapons were taken from a church of Fitun without a fuss. Considering these things going missing could be a national disaster that means the church of Fitun must have agreed to handing it out on some level.
This leaves Aldas authority in some pretty questionable places. It means Alda knew what Fitun and his champion was doing and didn’t stop him or inform anyone. Which would show he doesn’t care about his chooses hero’s breaking rules he put down himself. Or it could mean that Alda was ignorant to what was going on and some of his subordinates can manage to steal calamity class weapons without him being aware.
Either way is not a good look for Alda. He’s either callous or he’s incompetent. Not sure there is a good way to spin this. What makes it worse though is the fact that the people using the DK weapons used them to try and kill an innocent Dhampir during a giant monster invasion. You could make some excuses if they used the weapons to protect the town, but the fact that they not only ignored the town’s danger but even attacked the town. Yeah I don’t think there’s a good way to comeback from this PR nightmare.
Honestly I think people are going to view Hajime and his group as a bunch of insane Alda extremists. People so focused on killing people of Vidas races they were willing to help burn down an entire city with everyone in it. This might lead to more positive looks at the less extreme Alda faction, but considering Alda wants people to kill Van this is just going to make it harder to demonize him.
Doc
Was it like a rocket punch? The way I interpreted that is he just stretched out his arm, Mr. Fantastic, style. His arm was spirit form and the physical part he just held onto.
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t think there is enough physical material to stretch that far. From the way I read it Simon pulled off the beginnings of long distance control skill that a lot of undead get. Since its just beginning I think he just ended up throwing the arm and then lost control of it. For someone like Van or Knochen they can separate the part and move it about.
Doc
“But to her astonishment, Simon’s arm continued to pursue her even after she evaded it.”
Throwing the arm and losing control of it doesn’t really fit this section. The description that he “extended it to thrust it forward” also makes me think he stretched his spirit form. He referenced Van who has stretched his spirit form numerous times before.
It could be taken as long distance controlling it as well but I think it’s not clear either way.
Jonathan Hurd
That’s definitely true. Good catch there I forgot about the homing part. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see Simons status in the character summary.
I definitely feel like Van would probably have shown off Long Distance control to his apprentices as something useful to do with Spirit Form down the road, but either one is honestly pretty cool.
I will say though I think the Heroic Spirit wouldn’t be shocked if Simons extended arm twists to track her rather than the fired sword twisting mid air, but either way I think it works well.
Doc
You’re assuming the spirit form has to be physically manifested. Like the armor sisters it can be invisible until the person decides to physically manifest it. All he has to do is manifest the portion holding the transformed prosthetic, stretch out his arm spirit form without manifesting it, and you get the same effect of a seemingly floating, homing, sword hand.
Also I don’t know why the heroic spirit wouldn’t be surprised. Non-undead beings manifesting spirit form is something nobody has heard of before. So whether it’s a long distance control application of spirit form, or stretching a spirit form arm, either case is unprecedented for a living person. Remember, everybody thinks Simon and Natana’s prosthetics are advanced magic tools made by Van using alchemy. Not the simple metal prosthetics inhabited by spirit form that they are.
Jonathan Hurd
That is definitely true. I think for Simon and Natania though they hadn’t managed to get Manifest ability quite yet. What they were doing was more possessing something with a part of their spirit. In that case I do like your idea that he extends the invisible part of the spirit with the knife on the end and swings it.
The only issue I can come up with there is basically that I believe to transform your spirit form into new shapes outside your own body I think you have to be pretty insane. Van can easily do it, but he spent years basically as just a spirit outside his body. Adding in the make up of his soul was always a mish mash it was easier for him to change it. That is not to say that Simon couldn’t have overcome the block with his desperation and just managed to lengthen his arm.
Eddy
There is no stronger bond like that of the self-denial of Vandeliu and Zadiris, every time one loses his self-esteem in the face of the inevitable, the other supports him
Eddy
Well this magician had a humiliating and painful death, perhaps more than the one who died before the phalanxes of boneman or Hajime fitun, but more importantly, the tamer tried to hurt Darcia, for her sake, hopefully Van does not find out until He ate her, because if not, that Life have mercy on her soul
Kuro-san
I’ve been thinking about it since I saw Zadiris’s latest status: What exactly does the philosopher job do? Is it just an enhanced version of wizard jobs or is it a job specializing in creating spells?
Libio
Maybe something for people who are good in more forms of magic.
VEreality
A philosopher is more like a scholar that quetions the existence of things mostly from a spiritual point of view. I believe that this is more about how she understands magic to whole new level due to her time with Van
Jonathan Hurd
I agree with the scholar point. Zadris has been the elder of her tribe for over 300 years. Her job as elder was to collect and pass on knowledge to the other members. She has done extensive study through the years on magic, history, alchemy, and survival.
If I had to guess I think the Philosopher job helps her learn new magic, greatly increase int and mana growth, and probably increases learning speed of history or other things.
Kazza
Ahh, the wait has been long…
So, the ranking system seems to just be trolling Zadiris, now. How else would they be so specific with Sailor Moon references? The Ghouls don’t really have that much to do with the night or the moon, except being related to vampires, I guess. If anything, lions are more associated with the sun, but eh. Next thing you know Van will get the “Masked Tuxedo Wearer” job to cement his place as Apex Husbando.
It hit a little too close to home about that limited stock thing. Some of us just wanted to play a remastered Demon’s Souls, Sony! Why would you make it so limited?! No one likes pre-ordering, it’s fabricated BS!
Seems we’re coming close to the end of the arc. I hope that parade is going to be depicted instead of just summarized after the fact, because it could actually be pretty interesting to see Van struggle with public speaking. There’s also the idea that – with Van becoming the champion of one of his cities – Duke Alcrem is going to have to do something to honor him too, even though he knows Van knows his dirty little secret.
Lord Rin
I assume they got those races because they got the Divine Protection of Deanna the Moon Giant.
Kazza
Ah, forgot about that. Honestly, most of the Dark Continent stuff hasn’t really stuck with me, but that does make sense.
Valeth
Actually she gained Deanna’s Divine Protection.
Deanna is the Goddess of the Moon, which is where her race title comes from.
Doc
But, I like to think a tiny bit of it does come from Sailor Moon. I mean we know that’s where Van is pulling all of his transform outfit inspiration from, lol.
Lord Rin
I don’t think Van has made a Sailor Moon outfit. Yet.
Doc
I’m not saying he’s made a direct cosplay of a Sailor Moon outfit, I’m saying the inspiration behind a transforming “battle” outfit with frills and ribbons and being called “magical girls” clearly comes from there.
Jonathan Hurd
I will just say I believe Sailor Moon was a much bigger deal in America than Japan. I do remember watching and loving it when i was growing up, but I think over in Japan it was basically a dime in a dozen of magical girl shows.
I do have to admit I hadn’t made the mental connection between Ghoul Wizard Princess and Sailor Moon before, but now thinking about it… Yeah that makes sense, lol. Now we just need Zadris to start saying catchy phrases like “By the power of the Moon we will punish you!”
Doc
Unless there was an earlier manga/anime that did it, a “magical girl” transforming into a costume was popularized by Sailor Moon. It doesn’t matter if the show wasn’t as popular in Japan as other magical girl stories, I’m just saying that this specific inspiration is pretty clearly Sailor Moon based.
Now Sentai style shows where the hero transforms into a battle suit did exist before Sailor Moon but again, to my knowledge, a “magical girl” changing to a suit with frills and ribbons is pretty specific a reference.
Lord Rin
I don’t think Van was specifically inspired by Sailor Moon. I seem to recall that originally Van was just trying to make transforming armor but it would be too heavy like that so he made the metal into fibers and wove it into cloth to make it lighter but since he also needed a certain amount of surface area to engrave magic circles on the armor for the buffs, he started adding accessories and the resulting armor looked liked something a magical girl would wear so Van decided he’d turn it into that. There’s no specific anime he’s basing the armor off of though most magical girl series tend to have similar aesthetics anyways. Though some of the first magical girl outfits he made seem to have been based on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha since Zadiris once says that she understood ‘Magical’ but she didn’t know what ‘Lyrical’ meant when they debuted some of the prototype outfits.
Though it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t make a Sailor Moon outfit later down the line.
Jonathan Hurd
If I remember correctly Van started making the armor after making a joke about how Zadris would look good as a magical girl. Since the ghouls had no preconceptions when Van described a weapon that covers your body in highly flexible and strong armor that increases your stats it sounded like a great idea. At that point sadly for Van, Zadris thought he was making it as a gift for her and felt bad admitting it was a joke.
The made product then turned out super effective and as Rin said he was still new to making these. So he needed more area to make circles. Add in Zadris image and of course he went for cute design, lol.
I think Rin also might be right about inspiration. I think the magical girl show that started it all was Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Never actually fully watched any of the series but have read a few manga chapters of the spin offs. My knowledge of the subject is very lacking.
junior1210
Nice to know there’s some people who still remember the classics and old school manga/stories like I do.
Absolute Zer0
Remind me my childhood. One of first series that hooked me.
Tejing
I was starting to wonder if we were going to skip the wrap up of the front gate fight. Glad we got to see it.
I am a bit concerned about this:
The people who heard this might put the pieces together and realize Van is the Demon King. I suspect that won’t actually happen, but it still makes me a little nervous.
Edmond capitalized nicely on his knowledge about Darcia’s strength, and is starting to realize how insane what he did earlier was, but I hope he doesn’t turn out to be incorrigible and keep causing trouble… We’ll see.
The ghouls saving the day so much should really help a lot with Van’s goal of getting people to accept them. All in all, this whole event seems like a huge win toward Van’s social and political goals, though that may still depend on how the Earl and the Duke respond to Van and Darcia’s growing popularity and influence combined with the questions about their origins, capabilities, and affiliations.
That skill explanation at the end has really helped clear up a long running question of mine. I wonder if we’ll start seeing ‘enhanced’ stats other than vitality and mana in future statuses.
Kazza
I’ve got a “maybe” response to that first bit.
Keep in mind, no one in Morski knows Fitun’s heroic spirits were there to kill Van. They just think they’re a bunch of crazy bandits here to capitalize on a spontaneous monster rampage. So, when someone hears “the Demon King” they’d probably instead think of OG Gudurandis, and the language is just vague enough (in English, at least, don’t know anything about Japanese) to believe the tamer is talking about Gudurandis after his death, and (since this “bandit” would have no frame of reference for how a specifically demonic dog is on Morski’s side) Darcia is correcting her that he’s on their side because Van tamed him.
Granted, that’s taking the stance that a Lambdan native would associate “Hell” with “Demons,” like a modern person would, but its not impossible some aspects of it trickled down from the summoned heroes.
Doc
If you’re referring to how the tamer woman referred to Fang’s rank, I’m pretty sure that’s common knowledge in Morksi. Van takes Fang and the rats into the tamer’s guild often enough that people are aware of their strangely high ranks. I don’t think her calling Fang a hell hound has any relation to her calling Van the demon king.
And like Lord Rin said, I don’t believe any townspeople were within earshot of the heroic spirit tamer saying that, and even if they were, to them she’s some bandit herding monsters to attack their city, they wouldn’t believe her over the city’s savior.
Kazza
No, I mean it could be interpreted that she’s talking about Gudurandis, in an “Even after death, he was so terrifying to demons they fear him more than me.” Sort of way, but Darcia is correcting her that Fang isn’t resisting due to fear, but love (or some Power of Friendship Yadda-Yadda).
Lord Rin
I don’t think anybody was near enough to hear her. Remember that everybody was trying to rush to Darcia to help her when she got wrapped in the whip and none of them were near enough to have made it in time so that means they must have been quite a huge distance away and out of earshot.
The Earl will definitely side with Van. He’s not dumb enough to try to contend with Van. Remember how he treated Van’s verbal promise that he would help if the city was in trouble as if the promise was an agreement between nations? He’d never try to get on Van’s bad side now by trying to weaken his influence. As for the Duke well we’ll just have to see since we’ve never even met him yet.
Jonathan Hurd
I think another part to remember is everybody thinks the people Fituns spirits possessed are Bandits. I find it more likely that Dang will be loyal to Van because Van tamed and raised him from a normal dog. The comment from the heroic spirit sounds more like stupid bravado/overconfidence.
I’m with Rin on how the Duke and Earl will act as well. The Earl has no reason to feel anything but gratitude to Van and his mom. Without their help he would of lost his entire city and also probably losing his families status along with his life.
For the Duke considering Vans spiking popularity I feel it would be unwise to make moves against him when you don’t have to. If he was a closet Alda fanatic sure he might start plotting something, but Van chose this duchy because the Duke is more neutral.
I think instead of trying to mess with the Cities hero and increasing ire of your own citizens as well as making some really powerful foes who easily defeated rank 8 monsters. It seems smarter to endorse them and try to bring them to your side. Besides who wouldn’t like to have their very own hero to brag to the other Duchies about.
Honestly if the current Duke were to drive Van and his mom out then another Duchy could swoop in and grab them. No one wants to give your competitors so much power politically and physically.
Cydean
A pleasantly chill chapter after shredding the last of the “heroic” spirits. Thanks for all the hard work!
It’s nice that the city and Van gets a break to re-organize before the mega celebrations happen, and of course Van’s skewer cart grows to be an even bigger attraction now with transforming magical girls! And if Van is holding a dinner party in the dungeon, hopefully Miles and the others will finally get to indulge themselves in that sweet sweet taste of Talosheim’s dishes again. Also Van was selling dragon parts, but he also had several undead dragons. I was kind of hoping he would give those to bone man’s swamp team so he can have a squad of dragon riders, but maybe not.
I have to say I hope we get a little segment where Van experiments with his new demon king fragment and his God Spirit Magic, as well as some hint that Van helped teach Simon and Natania better. I’m also wondering if Kest will get roped into Van’s circle at some point, since he seems to be on the path of guidance. Maybe he and Natania and Simon could become friends or form a party at some point in the future. Anyway, looking forward to whatever chaos may arise from a parade, the Tamer guild’s Guild Master cornering Van about his clearly abnormal ghouls, and/or more persuit from the Mage’s guild over the transformation equipment!
Soulzer1
Awesome-sauce chapter and thanks for the explanation on the skill prefixes I’ve been waiting on it. Keep up that amazing work please and thank you for all the hard work you’ve done so far!
nadirku
Can we get a fan-art of Zadiris saying something like “Tsuki ni kawatte butsukorosu yo!”?
Mazkamen
Thanks for the chapter! Now, I love this light novel, but it’s been some chapter that I have a strange feeling.. and I think I finally understand what it is! The things that made me like this story are 3: Revenge, danger, and the evolution of comrades.
But right now, he has started to forgive people, he always wins without a single danger, and the transformations of the companions are getting a little lazy, only new names but no real “changes”. The battle with the god of war was boring, the quest and the funny moment about him be a momcon are ended.. And Raidiot’s pain scene, only the result (he passed out), now the fan-service has become even more common,
I hope things got better! but is just my opinion and my hopes, you guys what do you think?
Mazkamen
*only the result was shown
VEreality
I understand what you think. And I understand why you think this. However, you have to understand something: it was to be expected.
It’s not that the story is losing it’s charm but rather Vandalieu is now in a high place on the power scale. There are things that could endanger him but they are very few at this point. Van’s problem is now the fact the other are lagging behind. His party is too weak to fight against Alda’s forces at full might.
Van is going to play it safe for a long time from what I can see. And this is because once his inner circle is strong enough GOD is going to be their next target. And GOD in this world is jerk that has an army of smaller gods at his command. We have plenty of chapters that show us what absolut chaos on the battlefield looks like in this world. Imagine that with multiple gods just as powerful as Fitun as enemies.
For now Van is counting victories by how much he can take from Alda without having to outright fight him. So political struggle looks like the way to go for now. And I am honesty down for that. Not to mention that the interdimentional conflict between the Bravers, Rodiot and Van it’s still on.
This story has a lot to work with.
bk3k
But… they are not zero. Not to spoil anything, but things will be hot at some points. Plus even going beyond the currently translated chapters, the story is most certainly not over yet. I don’t even think it would be over once the main conflicts of Lamda are settled [spoiler title=””] (by far they are not settled yet as of chapter 397) [/spoiler] .
This story could stay fresh for some time. What I’m saying is mostly speculation (not a spoiler). Consider if you will, Van’s conflict with Rodcorte. Rodcorte isn’t much of a fighting force, but he is a God of Reincarnation for many worlds. We’ve only covered Origin, Lamda, and Earth (the 3 running on the same system). As selfish, stupid, and irredeemable as Rodcorte is, there are many worlds that very much rely on him. Consider the perspective of the Gods of those worlds. So what would you do if a single being (Van) threatened the reincarnation system of your world?
Now Rodcorte didn’t lift a finger to help Lamda when Guduranis was invading, so it is no wonder that Vida decided to create her own reincarnation system (copying the one made by Guduranis) – thus trying to make the future of their world less dependent upon Rodcorte. So you can also see why going to other worlds (those directly connected to Lamda) and negotiating with their gods was necessary. But there are other worlds out there.
Van is very much capable of creating dead worlds simply by eating souls on a massive scale. He wouldn’t do so on account of his personality, but… would various Gods trust in such a thing so easily? Betting the survival of entire worlds upon the mere whims of a single being? Even more so when he’s hostile to Rodcorte, whom they depend upon. From their perspective, Van is definitely dangerous. There is something else major that could make him dangerous, but that’s definitely a spoiler.
Again this doesn’t reflect spoilers from untranslated chapters, just my speculation on where the story will eventually go far in the future. But it also isn’t entirely without basis either.
Libio
Great, I am just not sure, if Rod-idiot is smart and brave enough to do it. He would introduce them new world where are gods that created their own reincarnation system. Will they not ask, Can’t we do it to? We have enough time to do it slowly and safely, we will not end in trouble like them. (Can’t imagine Rod-idiot is popular) +they can learn, that he didn’t help them to save world (he did even harm them) and did reincarnated people with superpowers to it without permission. Even if they didn’t want to change system, they could try to bind him to they world be creating legend of him (how did Van) and not let him run. He could ask for help other worlds, but need to be careful, which to ask.
Libio
Well, I did enjoy that battle. Yeah, something was predictable (like who will win) and there wasn’t much danger for Van, but process was really exiting and surprising. Like betrayal and soul eating Time-out for Van.
About forgiveness, I just like it. I am type that’s try to explain everything and so hope in cooperation. Only one person (who still exist in story) right now is worth of Van revenge and cannot make peace with him. Rod-idiot.(Avalon and rest doesn’t count like revenge target) I don’t think he will make peace with everybody, but I am sure (from style of story and background storyline) that at least with one of these three, Van will make peace or will make him his follower/ally. Heinz, Brave and/or anti-mage Asagi (or what was his name. I don’t have totally hatred for Alda and Bellwood. Well, Bellwood should be slowly roasted in forest fire, but there wasn’t any his pow and there’s chance that he was/is controlled or something (they did lose part of demon king soul and didn’t know it), so final verdict is waiting. Alda’s MAIN reason is pretty good one and he feels sorry about whole thing. Believe he did right thing, but could do it better way, so there wasn’t so much pain. (Ironically exactly like Vida) He was in difficult situation and only with Bellwood and rest of fanclub to make decisions. And I can’t say, he was wrong. Maybe was, but maybe not.
bk3k
As for what happened on Origin, Van understands that the Bravers didn’t understand who/what he was when they killed him so he’s over that much.
There will absolutely be no forgiveness for Heinz, Alda, and Rodcorte. Rodcorte might have even been forgiven originally, until he decided to become an enemy (sending reincarnators to attack and using Death Scythe from his realm).
As for Mage Masher and his friends, they haven’t went as far as actually causing harm to Van or his friends. Van isn’t going to kill someone for merely disagreeing with him.
DarkCarnage
i can van getting uppity against Avalon just because he try to hurt and kidnap meh-kun. more so once Banda reconnects to main body and info dump everything he knows.
Doc
I don’t think Banda is aware of Avalon’s involvement in Mei’s kidnapping. However, I think Van will eventually come to blows against Avalon because Avalon is obsessed with obtaining the secrets behind death attribute magic (and becoming immortal) and Van is the source of it.
Doc
I mean, one doesn’t read this kind of story because they’re expecting surprising outcomes. The point in these super OP characters, like your Van, Goku, One Punch Man, Rimiru, etc, is in the journey. Their interactions with other characters, and the powers they display. Of course we know Van is going to curb stomp every foe, it’s not like the story hides that outcome. What’s interesting is the build up. We hear just enough about our enemies abilities and plans to seed just that smallest hint of “maybe they can hurt Van or those he cares about after all” to keep you invested.
Jonathan Hurd
Admittedly I always love the feeling of ‘will this enemy be too much for the Mc’. I get where people are coming from that the latest fights have been fairly simple, but I would argue we have not seen any of Vans enemies truly pushed into a corner yet.
Hajime was always a throw away character who was broken before he even started. Gungnir showed the Bravers overconfidence in their cheat powers and served to help gauge what we could expect if someone from Origin just immediately jumped at Van.
Murakami and his crew did better than Gungnir but also showed us the limit of the reincarnators if they don’t get a God’s Divine Protection.
Heinz and his group are technically being raised by Alda as heroes, but to me Alda seems to see them less as war potential and more as good tools. They’re here to unseal Bellwood and unite the Orbaume Kingdom against Van less than to fight him.
Van has destroyed all the enemies he’s fought but think about the circumstances of said enemies. Three pure breed vampires more set on killing and undermining each other than Van. A God who went rogue and refused any help from the outside leading to fighting Van completely unprepared. A group of young reincarnators who barely obsessed A class stats. A group of heroes who had no understanding of what Van was and is capable of after they exhausted all their mana and mental stamina.
Yes, Van has won all these fights but other than the pure breed vampires neither Alda or Rodidiot have stopped planning to kill him or truly gone all out. Currently Alda is only down two God’s and one of those was never a fighter. He’s got plenty of fighting God’s and Heroic Spirits in the wings waiting for their shot.
The funny part is that while after every fight Van becomes stronger. His enemies at the same time become more desperate and willingly cross more lines. I’m really looking forward to how Rodiot acts after he regains consciousness. He’s already tried to disconnect Lambda from his system and use DK fragments to fix a guys soul. There is no way he doesn’t try to take a insane action after this latest blow.
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
The more changes Zadiris goes through the more her status as a princess is being made clear.
Van-samas influenece is going to rise even more thanks to the fool Fitun was and the rise of Vida and her companion will be on the shit Alda and his troops did.
JeKeBe
Some top-tier innuendo from the girls when dealing with the wood giant. Fun little wrap up to the battle sequences.
Thanks for the chapter, as always.
Eddy
“Yes, you should take a leaf out of the boy’s book,
At this point they go even without understanding romance and seduction very well, they have a talent even without the powers
no1
Thank you for the chapter yoshi, nice aftermath. So the Edmond guy is doing well for himself and still wants to make propositions to Van and his mom in the future. Can’t tell if that is a good idea or bad idea. Maybe good idea, so long as Edmond next propositions are nothing like the ghoul brothels he mentioned earlier. Nothing really exciting happens after a major battle. Next chapters might be slow and peaceful, but still want to read them, hope the next chapters come soon.
Doc
It seems like he’s learned his lesson. Plus, Van having a competant merchant connection outside the boundary mountain region where his empire is would be very helpful. Could even pull a Rimiru (that time i reincarnated as a slime) and invite him back to his country to assist in his nation’s commerce. Right now his nation is primarily run by former nobles who were more military inclined (or that one food crazy noble).
Jonathan Hurd
I like that the first order of business for Edmond is to apologize. I don’t think Darcia and the ghouls hold a grudge over the holy prostitute idea, but never hurts to admit where you were wrong and ask for forgiveness.
I feel like it might be a bit to early to invite him back to the kingdom, but it would be fun to make use of his connections to spread some of Taloshims goods and the food cart businesses to other cities.
Reiji
Thank you very much. Please stay safe everyone. May the Eclipse be with you 🌗
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Superboy8338
This was fun, but I want the plot to progress more. Thanks, Yoshi!!!
DarkCarnage
hey val got stronger and one major god dead that could been pain later. so alda forces are now weakened badly. all in all i good days work plus god soul to snack on ^^
VEreality
Thank you for the chapter!
Awwwww. Zadiris thinks she can escape the ‘cute hell’. How adorable.
This is the end of this arc and I dig it. It is a nice conclusion to everything. Also, let us not forget that what Van is doing right now shows just how weird he is. While everyone tries to make profit, he just sells things that most people couldn’t dream to afford at dirth cheap priece. And to top it off he has no intention of stoping any time soon.
STONKS indeed my lord. 🙂
Chase Eldredge
Well he’s the emperor of 1.3 continents so I think he can get away with wasting a bit of money.
Turix
The irony is his position as a newbie in the Commerce Guild still being tested.
Dr. Steel
And he still makes profit cuz he harvested it all himself. STONKS indeed.
Soulzer1
On top of that he’s earning favor points from the people which might lead to more followers of Vida. Also depending on how all this gets explained the church of Alda Might be in for some hot mess with the people of Lambda. After all didn’t Van-sama remake the demon king weapons that where used against him (mostly…mostly)?
Mitchelltrt
The Demon King Weapons held THE Demon King’s Scale, and other such parts. They were remade to contain A Demon King’s Scale. As the user of the Demon King’s Scale, Van can create as many Scales of the Demon King as he wants. The weapons made using these scales are likely still very good, and will hold up to the inspection given by the caretaker priests, but they are not as good as having the origin of the scales, and would not hold up to a God examining them.
Doc
As Mitchel said, Van recreated the demon king fragment weapons, both Fitun’s scale swords, and the bone marrow bow and arrows, using the actual fragments. I don’t think anybody but a god or somebody who could tell the seal was broken would be able to tell the difference since the weapons would perform identically to how they did before.
Jonathan Hurd
It said in the last chapter that the only real way to tell would be to use them. They have a off shoot of the original fragment so they look real, but since they don’t have the original they can’t regenerate/make new parts after breaking.
Now the Brightside is that it is a giant taboo and honestly potentially catastrophic to use them as weapons. So it’s not like anyone in their right mind wants to test the weapons. Van can easily earn himself huge brownie points by basically gifting these DK weapons to a church to be sealed.
The way people would see it is Van giving away basically one of the best weapons in the world to protect them. Doing it for free would even further improve his image and allow authorities and rumors to investigate where the weapons originally came from. DK weapons had to be made and looked after somewhere. When it gets out that someone from a church of Alda took them out to try and kill a innocent Dhampir for no reason, and that same Dhampir selflessly gave them back to be resealed in the name of Vida. It’s easy to imagine the way the public will see this event.
Doc
It’s not like they would break the moment they were used. They are still made out of a material only oricalcum or other fragments of the demon king could damage. So while you’re not incorrect that they would be technically less effective than the original fragment the pieces come from, there’s few people on the planet that would be able to determine that. So like I said, unless it’s a god or somebody who could tell the seal on the fragment was undone, even using them as weapons wouldn’t tip anybody off.
Jonathan Hurd
That’s definitely true for the swords. You’d need to be able to break the orichalcum covering to even hurt the scales after all. I think the bone marrow though might be different since I don’t think the offshoot bleeds. Though if you don’t know how it’s supposed to work it might be hard to tell it’s not working right.
All in all people are most likely going to see the seals still there and throw it in a church, imo. Why mess with a perfectly good seal considering the investigators would be the first victims if something goes wrong.
Hobbes
Good Food + Good Company = Good Life
Apokryphos
As always, thanks for the chapter~