Sandra P. ($10), Adam D. ($25), Zachary Z. ($10), Johari N. ($20), T. U. ($20), Anthony H. ($10), Alexander T. ($10), Patrick B. ($25), Michael G. ($20) are the wonderful sponsors for today’s chapter, hope you all enjoy.
Randolf was a very Elf-like adventurer. His weapons were his sharp senses, his exceptional ‘Archery’ Skill, his speed of movement, his ‘Swordsmanship’ that used delicate techniques, and his ‘Spiritual Magic.’
He was the kind of Elf adventurer that many could imagine.
A group of Minotaurs stood before him and roared.
Many might think that such an Elf adventurer would be ill-matched against Minotaurs that swung axes and clubs with more ferocity than a raging bull.
Arrows would be stopped by their thick muscles, so they would have no effect unless they struck the eyes, mouth or armpits. Their weapons, swung with superhuman strength, would be impossible to stop with a thin-bladed sword.
They were ferocious and tough, unfaltering even when wounded, and the Elf adventurer would eventually be cornered even if he repeatedly used ‘Spiritual Magic.’
“… ‘Thousand-Piercing Screw Arrow,’” Randolf murmured.
The arrow released from the string of his short bow, which was easy to use in forests, pierced the center of the chest of the Minotaur charging at him.
The rapidly-spinning arrow did not lose momentum; it pierced through the arms of the Minotaurs behind the first, continued through the breastplate and into the heart of the Minotaur Commander who had been leading the group and finally came to a halt after leaving round holes in the trees in the background.
“Sorry, I put too much power into it. This is a bow that I am using for the first time, after all,” Randolf said.
Having seen two thirds of their group and their commander killed in a single attack, the surviving Minotaurs froze in shock. Randolf drew his sword and quickly disposed of them.
Despite having a thin blade, it cut through their hastily-raised weapons and thick-muscled limbs like a sickle harvesting rice.
He stored the Minotaur corpses in an Item Box… a Magic Item that could store objects in a subspace in which time was frozen.
“I’m really very sorry. I didn’t intend to harm you. I’ll fight more carefully from now on,” he said, apologizing once more to the trees that he had damaged, then continued on.
The rough location of the Minotaur King’s horde was known, but there wasn’t any precise information.
That was why Randolf had wind spirits carry sound to him so he could confirm the rough locations of Minotaurs as he proceeded towards the center of the horde.
Most monster Kings stayed in the center of their horde. This was because the monsters, who were under the effects of the ‘Strengthen Followers’ Skill, stayed near the King to protect it, and also to maintain the King’s superiority over them.
Monsters that were under the effects of a monster King’s ‘Strengthen Followers’ Skill became the King’s loyal servants, but in the end, they were still monsters. Even if they were able to coordinate themselves like an army, they were not an actual army.
Monsters merely formed hordes. Armies could split up and position their forces, but hordes could not.
And the Kings themselves had no knowledge on how to build and maintain an organized structure.
“Though the exception to that is the Noble Orc Empire that supposedly exists within the Boundary Mountain Range,” Randolf murmured to himself. “In that regard, a Rank 4 Goblin King’s horde is no different from a Rank 8 Minotaur King’s horde, but…”
Storing the corpses of the Minotaurs standing in his path to stop him in his Item Box, Randolf proceeds through a cave that looks just like a Dungeon.
“There are more Minotaurs than I thought. I’ve defeated over a hundred of them already, but they still keep coming… Does your King have the divine protection of an evil god? The number of women in the village you abducted them from was about thirty or forty. And perhaps a few adventurers on top of that… Certainly less than a hundred in total, isn’t it?” Randolf asked the Minotaur Mage in front of him.
But the Minotaur Mage did not answer; it roared an incantation and attempted to fill the entire passageway with flames. But the moment it attempted to finish its spell, there was a sudden fierce wind that caused the flames to burn the Minotaur Mage rather than Randolf.
The Minotaur Mage shrieked in pain as it burned.
“I see, I understand. In that case, they are not impregnating them and reproducing in an ordinary way. I can’t imagine that Goblin and Kobold females would be able to withstand them. Perhaps there was a settlement of one of Vida’s races? Or maybe there is an evil god involved after all… Things have become troublesome,” Randolf muttered as he moved on, leaving the burnt ashes of the Minotaur Mage behind.
He made steady progress in the direction that the Minotaurs were appearing from.
After defeating the Minotaur General that had been guarding the final door, Randolf emerged into a wide, dome-shaped space.
The floor and ceiling had many magic circles drawn on them in a closely-packed pattern, and there were four Minotaur Mages spread across the edges. They seemed to be acting as priests; they were offering prayers with intense concentration.
And in the center of the dome was a Minotaur that was larger than the others and emanating a strange aura from its entire body, groaning as it stood in front of an altar.
A rusted, black-red metal bottle and a woman lay on top of the altar. It seemed that she was alive, but all four of her limbs had been severed partway down to prevent her from escaping. If this was the female knight that was Duke Alcrem’s younger sister, then things would end quickly, but… something was strange.
The color of her hair didn’t match the description that Randolf had been given. On top of that, it seemed that she had the ears and tail of a beast.
“… It’s become a bit of a troublesome situation. Is this ritual for planting your seed into the woman and impregnating her with the incarnation of an evil god?” Randolf asked the Minotaur.
The tip of the groaning Minotaur’s cow-like tail suddenly became sharp like the stinger of an insect. At the same time, a sinister presence filled the dome.
“So, you have been producing an excessive number of subordinates with that Demon King’s fragment. Considering its form and effect… the Demon King’s oviduct, perhaps? You have planted your eggs in her to produce offspring rapidly. But it’s quite the strange fragment for a Minotaur King to acquire considering that Minotaurs are a race of monsters that have only males,” Randolf murmured.
Perhaps becoming enraged by the fact that Randolf was showing no signs of fear or even unrest, the Minotaur King let out a roar, picked up a nearby halberd and charged towards him.
“‘Severing Air Flash.’”
Randolf swung his sword to perform a martial skill that unleashed a shockwave that traveled towards the Minotaur King. But it was nullified with a swing of the Minotaur King’s tail, which had transformed into the Demon King’s oviduct.
With another roar, the Minotaur King laid a series of bumpy, semi-transparent eggs.
These eggs hatched the moment they hit the ground, their contents developing rapidly and letting out roars as they were born into the world.
A horde of Minotaurs, each of them identical to the Minotaur King other than the fact that they did not have the Demon King’s oviduct, was produced.
“So, you do not need a female to reproduce. No, considering that you did not produce these until I entered this place, the offspring you produce through asexual reproduction are something like short-lived clones of yourself. They probably only have lifespans of several minutes to a few hours.”
Ignoring Randolf’s analysis, the Minotaur King’s copies flooded in towards him. They weren’t equipped with halberds or armor, but their fists and legs would certainly serve as weapons against the slender body of an Elf.
“‘Hundred Severing Air Flashes,’” Randolf muttered, swinging his sword again, even faster than before.
The countless number of shockwaves he unleashed slaughtered the Minotaur copies in an instant, not even giving them the time to let out dying screams.
Witnessing the copies that it had gone through the effort to create wiped out by a single attack, the Minotaur King recognized Randolf as a superior foe. It raised its halberd and let out a roar.
But nothing happened. Dumbfounded, the Minotaur King turned to look at the altar, but –
“‘Summoned Wind God Spear,’” Randolf murmured.
His wind-attribute ‘Spiritual Magic’ spell pierced the Minotaur King’s exposed torso.
But it did not fall; it let out a shriek filled with agony and rage, and its wound began to heal.
Perhaps the Demon King fragment had granted it the ‘Rapid Regeneration’ Skill that Minotaurs did not ordinarily have, or perhaps its shriek had been the incantation for a healing spell.
But naturally, Randolf swung his sword to deal the fatal blow before the wound could completely heal. However, his martial skill’s shockwave was nullified by the Demon King’s oviduct on the end of the Minotaur King’s flexible, whip-like tail.
The Minotaur King sneered, as if it could easily defeat Randolf as long as it did not lose its composure again.
Randolf sighed. “Unfortunately, this sword is made of Mythril, so it does not have the ability to directly fight against the fragment of a Demon King like an Orichalcum weapon. But… ‘Wind Remnants.’”
He cast a spell that warped the air and created heavy afterimages of himself made of wind, then deftly closed the distance between himself and the Minotaur King.
He was simply too fast; the Minotaur King swung the Demon King’s oviduct and its halberd, but they pierced only his afterimages.
“‘Triple Lightning Thrust.’”
Standing directly in front of the Minotaur King, Randolf unleashed three quick thrusts that were as quick as lightning, aimed at the Minotaur King’s solar plexus, heart and neck.
“It just means I need to destroy your vital organs without directly facing the fragment,” Randolf murmured to his defeated foe.
Still wearing a look of shock, as if unable to believe what had just happened, the Minotaur King fell. Its wounds did not regenerate this time.
“Taking the Demon King’s fragment into account, it was Rank 10, I suppose. Considering the size of the horde, it might not have been possible to stop the ritual without at least ten A-class adventurers,” Randolf said to himself.
The Demon King’s oviduct attempted to crawl away from the Minotaur King’s corpse. Randolf took out a Magic Item for sealing and sealed it away. He also retrieved another fragment of the Demon King, which had an old seal on it.
He then used his short bow to slay the four Minotaur Mages that had taken no notice of the Minotaur King’s death and were still continuing to pray in order to maintain the ritual.
“Of course, it seems that the evil god abandoned these monsters for some reason, so there’s no way to tell whether the ritual succeeded or not. It could have sent a familiar spirit or spirit clone. Then I would have been able to at least enjoy myself… perhaps,” said Randolf, complaining about the nameless god that the Minotaurs had been worshiping.
At that moment, the Minotaur King had activated the ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ Skill or one of its superior versions. But the god it prayed to had not answered.
“Still, why did it abandon these Minotaurs?” Randolf wondered. “It is likely to be an evil god, so there shouldn’t be any reason to not answer their prayers. Even if it did see that there was no hope for victory, sending a familiar spirit wouldn’t be such a great effort.”
Meanwhile, the evil god worshiped by the Minotaurs… Langleboza, the evil horned cow god, let out a large sigh of relief. “The ritual has safely failed… that damned pumpkin-headed fool. This is what happens when you ignore my Divine Message,” he grumbled.
Langleboza was an evil god with an appearance resembling a cow, and that was why he had set his sights on Minotaurs of all monsters.
He had also granted a divine protection to the King of this horde, but… the King had killed the host of the Demon King’s oviduct, which had been on its way to the Boundary Mountain Range, and retrieved it. On top of that, it had even used a second fragment of the Demon King, which it had acquired in a sealed state, and began attempting to create a body for Langleboza to descend upon… all while ignoring Langleboza’s Divine Messages telling him to stop and lay low.
This was no joking matter. No evil god would wish to descend upon the world unless they had a death wish.
The forces of Alda, the god of law and fate, were very active, and Vandalieu, the ‘new Demon King’ feared by Alda, was also present on Lambda’s surface.
A monstrosity who could devour the souls of not only mortals, but gods as well.
Even Randolf, who had just done Langleboza the favor of defeating his servants, was a superhuman among superhumans, possessing an ability in combat that was worthy of an S-class adventurer. He was another being who was capable of fighting gods.
But Vandalieu was too dangerous in a way that was different from Randolf.
He had already devoured several evil gods, such as the evil god of release and the evil god of the magic tome. Even the god of records, Alda’s close servant, ended up in his stomach.
Langleboza had no intention of joining these gods in their fates.
That was why he had not responded to the Minotaur King’s use of ‘Familiar Spirit Descent.’ To ensure that it would not have even the tiniest chance of defeating Randolf.
“Even if it is defeated by this adventurer, I am completely unharmed. I can simply stay holed up in my Divine Realm and sleep for tens of thousands of years, as long as it takes for the situation on the world’s surface to change. It is possible that I will never awaken, and my slumber will be no different from death, but… it is better than suffering agony as I am devoured,” Langleboza told himself.
Paying no attention to Randolf, he withdrew his consciousness from the world’s surface.
Unaware of these circumstances, Randolf continued pondering for some time, but gave up before long, realizing that gods had their own situations.
“I suppose there is no difference in the fate that awaits those who believe in and rely on gods, whether they are human or monster,” Randolf muttered. “More importantly, I still have one task remaining, but this girl is…”
He looked at the girl on the altar. She continued to stare into space with empty eyes. Her arms had been severed above the elbows, and her legs above the knees. The stumps of her limbs had been treated just enough for the bleeding to stop.
Even if the severed limbs were found, it would be impossible to rejoin them and return her to her original state… but more importantly, Randolf was surprised when he saw her face.
“So, this really isn’t Juliana Alcrem,” he murmured.
Juliana’s older half-brother, Duke Alcrem, had asked Randolf to put her to rest if she were still alive, and make the public story that she died in battle rather than having been captured by the Minotaurs. Randolf had also been given a description of her appearance.
The colors of this girl’s hair and eyes were different. More importantly, she was of a different race.
Juliana Alcrem was a dignified, noble, beautiful human girl somewhere between adolescence and adulthood, with golden hair and blue eyes.
But the woman lying on the altar had hair that was more yellow than golden. Her eyebrows were thick, and she had a strong-willed, determined-looking face. There was something strongly wild about her, but she didn’t lack dignity entirely, and she could have certainly been called a beauty.
But there were triangular, feline ears on her head, and a leopard-like tail at her waist.
She was clearly a Beast-kin, though Randolf couldn’t tell whether she was a wildcat-type or leopard-type Beast-kin.
“What to do… The monsters were doing some suspicious ritual, so I was certain that they would have her close to the King so that they could use a noble lady as a sacrifice or something,” Randolf sighed.
In stories, women used as sacrifices to give birth to the incarnation of a god were nobles, but… that was likely to not always be the case for Minotaurs.
It was possible that Juliana really had died in battle, or even if she had been captured, perhaps she had been unable to withstand the Minotaurs mating with her.
To Randolf, who had no interest in gaining trust or reputation as an adventurer, he didn’t mind telling this story and simply leaving, but –
“That would be too pitiful. I’ll at least hear what this girl has to say,” he decided, taking out a cloth from his Item Box and covering the girl’s body with it.
He then activated a Magic Item for disguise, then cast the ‘Antidote’ spell on the unawakening girl.
Light gradually returned to the girl’s empty eyes, and her expression became clearer.
“Ah… Huh? I’m… Ah…Aaaaaaahhh?!”
TLN: The girl is using “ore” as a pronoun for herself, something that is almost exclusively done by boys/men.
The girl began to scream in agony.
“Your consciousness has returned, but your pain has returned with it. Give me a moment, I will treat you,” said Randolf, attempting to treat her enough to remove the pain so he could hear her story.
“W-wait! Please wait! If you heal me as I am now, you won’t be able to reattach them!” said the girl, attempting to refuse his treatment. “My arms, where are my arms… My leg! Even my leg’s…?!”
Even though her limbs had been severed, applying a fourth-grade Potion or better and some slightly advanced healing magic with her limbs aligned correctly would rejoin them to her body, and it was possible that she would become able to move them normally after several months or perhaps a few years.
The girl knew that.
“It’s no use. Though it’s crudely done, your wounds have already been sealed. I don’t even know where your arms and legs went. Into the Minotaurs’ stomachs, most likely,” Randolf told her. “Give it up.”
“No way…” The girl gave a frustrated scream. “SHIT! Those bastards, how dare they do that to me?! I’ll never forgive them for using me as bait!” she shouted.
Randolf sighed; it seemed that it would take some time before he could hear her story, even after he healed her wounds.
Judging from her screams and shouts, she appeared to be an adventurer and had been a part of a party. It seemed that nothing had gone wrong for a while, but the party had unfortunately entered the Minotaur King’s territory and found themselves being chased by several Minotaurs.
But having realized that they wouldn’t be able to escape, one of her party members had thrown a knife into her leg. She had fallen onto the ground, and the people she had thought of as her companions had muttered a quick “Sorry,” and left her behind as they ran.
She had continued to resist, but a Minotaur’s axe had severed her arms, and that was when she lost consciousness.
“And next thing I knew, I was in a Minotaur lair with a number of other captured women, and one of them was still able to speak. She said that she was from the duke’s family, so help would definitely come. That we shouldn’t give up… but the Minotaurs made me take some strange drug… My legs were still attached up until then… This is… It can’t be real… This is…”
“Hey, my name is Ralph. I’ve been requested to exterminate a Minotaur King and rescue a certain woman,” Randolf said, using a simple false name that he kept for situations like this.
“Huh…” the Beast-kin girl said blankly.
“I’m Ralph. What’s your name?”
“I-I’m Natania.”
“Natania. The duke asked me to rescue that woman. Do you know where she is?”
Natania thought for a moment. “If I follow the smell, I’ll probably know.”
Randolf wrapped Natania in his cloak and carried her as he proceeded in the direction she indicated, through the Minotaur lair that had only bloodstains remaining.
Before long, they reached the chamber where the Minotaurs had been confining the women, though there were several skeletons on the ground; it looked more like an execution chamber than a place for confining people.
It was likely that the Minotaurs had simply eaten the women in this chamber when they died or became unusable.
Juliana Alcrem was still alive.
“No way…” Natania breathed.
Juliana was breathing and had a pulse. Like Natania, her limbs had been severed, but that had likely been the case for a while. Iron shackles weren’t sufficient to keep capable individuals in captivity. Their limbs had to be severed, their eyes gouged out and their vocal cords torn.
Considering that, the Minotaurs’ treatment of her had been lenient, as they had only applied the first measure.
But Juliana was thoroughly broken. Even as Natania and Randolf came into her view, her empty eyes gazed into space, and saliva continued to dribble out of the corner of her half-open mouth. She showed nothing that could be called a response.
Randolf tried casting the same life-attribute spell ‘Antidote’ that he had cast on Natania, but Juliana did not regain her sanity.
“When I was taken away, she was worn out, but she was still conscious,” said Natania. “She told me not to give up… That she couldn’t use ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ anymore, but the gods would definitely save us.”
“It isn’t difficult to imagine what happened after that,” said Randolf.
It was likely that the Minotaur King had used the Demon King’s oviduct to lay vast quantities of eggs in the bodies of the women other than Natania, who had been used for the ritual.
The women other than Juliana had died, unable to withstand this, and Juliana’s mind had crumbled in the process as well.
In fact, I’m surprised she even managed to retain her sanity for this long, Randolf thought to himself.
Juliana’s limbs had been severed, and she had been used as a birthing machine as she watched the other women around her die one by one and be eaten by the Minotaurs. It was a wonder that she had managed to stay sane for a month while being imprisoned in this situation.
That was what Randolf thought, though Natania didn’t seem to feel this way.
“In any case, I suppose I should be quick and ‘help’ her,” said Randolf.
“Yeah. I’m sure you got a great Potion or something from the duke’s family – huh?”
Randolf put Natania on the ground and drew his sword.
“W-why did you take out your sword… W-wait! By ‘help,’ you meant…?!” Natania gasped.
“That is correct. As an adventurer, you understand, don’t you?”
There were times when captured women were found by adventurers that completed requests to exterminate Orcs, Goblins or Minotaurs. If the women were capable of moving on their own, they would be brought back to a city, but… what would be done in situations where their limbs had been severed and their minds broken?
There was no helping them, so the adventurers would pray for their happiness in their next lives and put them to rest.
“No, this person is someone from the duke’s family, a knight! She’s not an adventurer!” Natania protested.
“This is the request that has been made by the very same duke’s family. Well, I did consider sparing her if she was capable of living on, even if her body was damaged to some extent,” Randolf said.
He had been treated well by her grandfather; he had accepted this request for its large payment and to pay back that debt.
But Randolf had intended to break his contract with Duke Alcrem if Juliana had retained her sanity against all odds and insisted that she didn’t want to die… or if her subordinates who knew that she had been violated by Minotaurs did the same.
He considered himself to be retired as an adventurer. But that didn’t mean that he had taken up the profession of assassination.
In this case, however, it was likely more merciful to kill Juliana.
“A vegetable with no limbs wouldn’t be able to live on by herself with no family, after all,” said Randolf.
If this were Earth, his words would have been called inhumane. But in this world, where the concept of human rights was underdeveloped, it was a decision that would be accepted as unavoidable.
If Duke Alcrem intended to help Juliana, something could likely have been done about her state with his financial assets, but…
“Rest assured. I’ll send you to your next life and end your suffering next,” Randolf told Natania.
“Y-you’re going to kill me?! N-no! I’ve been rescued, I don’t want to die again!” Natania screamed.
“… I am speaking out of kindness, you know,” Randolf sighed as he looked down at her. “Think about it. How are you going to feed yourself as an adventurer with a body that can’t fight? Do you have enough savings at the Guild to live the rest of your life? Or is your family wealthy enough to take care of you?”
Natania’s face grew paler and paler with each question Randolf asked. Still, it seemed that she had no intention of giving up and being put to rest.
“Then you help me! I’ve never heard the name ‘Ralph,’ but if you were strong enough to exterminate all of those Minotaurs on your own, and you’re acquainted with the duke, then you’re A-class, aren’t you?!” she said, her face shining with hope at this idea.
But Randolf’s response was faint. “Those are good deductions, but so what?”
“If you’re an A-class adventurer, you’re earning plenty, aren’t you?! Lend me some. It doesn’t have to be a lot; just enough for me and that person to live on for a while. I’ll be a prostitute if I have to and pay you back!”
“A prostitute, huh. If you live like that, in a few years’ time, you’ll regret not having died today.”
Even as she was now, Natania could probably make a living at a brothel, and she would be taken care of there. Prostitutes who were former adventurers had more resilient bodies than ordinary prostitutes; they often became popular.
But in many cases, a more tragic life awaited them in the future.
In her current state, the majority of Natania’s customers would be those with strange fetishes. Unless she was very fortunate, the best she could manage would be being used as a plaything every day until she died, or being kept as a slave by a rich person with strange tastes.
Randolf knew of several true stories where a former female adventurer turned to prostitution after becoming unable to fight, and were later rescued from that lifestyle by their previous adventurer companions who had succeeded in life, living happily ever after. But he couldn’t imagine that Natania had companions like that.
“S-still, if I can just live on, I might…!” said Natania.
“You don’t know when to give up. It’s true that I can’t see the future, either. The chance of your success is not non-existent,” said Randolf.
“Then…!”
“… But I’m sorry. I don’t intend to create any more ties of obligation.”
With Randolf’s abilities and wealth, almost anything was possible. He could destroy the Alcrem family of dukes, rescue thousands of orphans from poverty and grant them advanced education, or even create an entire nation.
It was possible for him to help Natania and Juliana.
If he wanted to, he could have an exceptional alchemist create artificial arms and legs to allow them to move normally, and he could have Juliana take a different name and take care of her in her everyday life.
But Randolf knew that if he did this, there would be no end to it. There were always people in need in every village, every city and every nation. There were countless people who would die without a helping hand at any given time.
It would be a noble thing to extend a helping hand to save someone with whom one had no personal connection to. Randolf had only respect for those that did this.
But he had no intention of doing it himself. He was already finding himself unable to retire from his adventurer life because of his past ties of obligation.
“No way…” Natania whispered, her eyes becoming dim.
Randolf raised his sword, not looking at her. “That is how it is. If there is anything to resent, resent your own inability to evaluate your current situation. I’ll at least pray to Zuruwarn for happiness in your next life.”
To tell the truth, Randolf did not worship any god. In the past, he would offer prayers to gods and have their familiar spirits descend upon him. But he had stopped praying to them once he decided to retire from being an adventurer.
But in Lambda, a world where gods were known to exist, not worshiping any of them was a behavior that people would consider strange.
That was why Randolf told Natania that he believed in Zuruwarn, who did not have any set religious commandments.
“Then at least do this for me… The guys who used me as bait to escape are a party called the ‘Flame Blades.’ I want you to report them. You’re about to kill a woman who’s crying and screaming that she doesn’t want to die, so she can at least ask that of you, right?” said Natania.
Randolf’s hands stopped.
Indeed, if he was going to kill Natania, fulfilling this request was reasonable. But that would require visiting the Adventurers’ Guild and explaining to them that her party had not abandoned her, but deliberately wounded her to use her as bait. After explaining to them why he knew that, of course.
If I tell them that I heard it from a female adventurer who had been captured by a Minotaur King’s horde… They’d ask me who the hell I am. Then should I keep the duke’s request a secret and reveal my true identity? If I explain without revealing who I am… it’s likely that they won’t even investigate my report, so I’ll have no choice but to reveal it, Randolf thought. No, if I reveal my identity, they would probably guess that I was acting under a request from Duke Alcrem. I only accept requests from people who I’ve become indebted to in the past and their descendants, after all… So in that case, there might be some who make the connection to Juliana…
If the truth was revealed to the public, in the worst-case scenario, Duke Alcrem would become known as having used Randolf ‘the True’ to kill his own younger sister who had become a nuisance to him.
Randolf would also be troubled if he were to become known as an assassin hired by a duke. The mere thought of similar requests flooding in from other dukes made him want to curl up and die.
With that being the case, he simply needed to refuse Natania’s request and kill both of them.
Now that I think about it, Natania knows that Juliana is from the duke’s family. With that being the case, there is no choice but to kill her in order to make the public story that Juliana was killed in battle, Randolf realized.
That was why he had no choice but to kill them if he were to prioritize the duke’s request. That would have been true if Juliana had been captured alive by the Minotaurs along with her subordinates and then died before Randolf rescued her with only her subordinates surviving.
And Natania was saying that she didn’t want to die.
“It can’t be helped,” said Randolf, and then he swung his sword.
Natania shut her eyes tight. But there was no sound of blood spraying into the air, so she opened her eyes in confusion a few moments later.
Randolf had cut Juliana’s golden hair to less than shoulder-length. He also cut the chain holding the pendant bearing her family crest around her neck, and put the pendant into his pocket.
After making sure that Juliana didn’t have any rings or anything somewhere, he turned to Natania. “I won’t help you. I won’t help you, but I can take you to the nearest city from here… No, people from the duke’s family are likely to be there. I’ll take you to the Adventurers’ Guild in Morksi, the second-closest commerce city. Once you’re there, you can become a prostitute, sell the Minotaur children in this woman’s stomach to the Tamers’ Guild, become a slave or do whatever you want in order to live,” he said.
As Randolf had sealed away the Demon King’s oviduct, the development of the Minotaur eggs planted in Juliana’s body had slowed. Even then, it would grow faster than an ordinary Minotaur. Although there was no telling how many eggs were in her, it was unlikely that they would be born before they reached the city.
The Tamers’ Guild couldn’t tame multiple Minotaurs, but they were still newly-born Rank 5 monsters. They would probably buy them for ten thousand Baums each.
“Y-you’ll spare us?!” Natania exclaimed, looking up at Randolf.
“… I’m merely throwing you out and leaving you be. And if you want to survive for at least a little while, tell people that this woman is a traveler or adventurer from a different group from yourself,” Randolf told her, taking out another cloth from his Item Box and wrapping Juliana’s body in it.
“O-Okay!”
“We’ll be teleporting outside the Devil’s Nest. After that, I’ll take you to the city of Morksi and leave you in the care of the first adventurer I see. What happens after that doesn’t concern me. That’s all I’m doing. After that, pray hard that you will run into someone who’s good-natured, unlike me.”
“Yeah, that’s plenty –”
Without waiting for Natania to finish her sentence, Randolf activated a Magic Item that teleported the user to a pre-designated location, and the three of them left the Minotaur lair.
Want to support Yoshi's translations? Head over to the Donations Page
NOVEL DISCUSSION
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
RayneVilanore
You will never convince me that The Duke didn’t intend get rid of her… He sent a all female knight core in search of a well know C-rank equivalent Bandit/slaver/rapist. Then told Randolf to dispose of her!
BaoBao9984
Yeah this dude is an asshole.
Korath
Is this guy a sociopath or even psychpath? ^^ Was funny to read in the beginning when he casually talked to the monsters he was sluaghtering, but later on when he met the 2 girls this changed quite fast. ^^ I would probably bet on sociopath because he didnt flat out kill them because its more convenient.
X07Zero
He’s not talk to the monsters he talk to the trees …. it’s not that better, I guess XD
Ronin
Neither. Randolf is I’d say a rational person. Sociopaths don’t really know right from wrong and a psychopath would just have overly violent tendencies. Remember they live in a world where human rights don’t really exist as much. A woman that has been with monsters is ostracized in society and they’d be lucky to ever even get married. Now take into account a quad amputee. Who really would be willing to take 24 hr care of them for the rest of their lives? Even Van has said he hates the “those with power have responsibility” mindset. He doesn’t really want to be a philanthropist but, he always ends up being so anyway because he is more emotionally driven.
Naberisu
I can’t understand someone wanting to live with no limbs, just the thought of it already makes me depressive.
Chalky4Block
Super late, but at least in our world, people have and can not let that fact keep them down. That’s just super defeatist and a bit ableist sounding.
Alke
“After that, pray hard that you will run into someone who’s good-natured, unlike me.” seems like the goddess will listen to her prayers🙏. Okay maou sama, here is your cue! New dimsels in distress are coming by! Help them be new citizens among the good people of Thalosheim. Oh, and, make new limbs!
Strahd
“After making sure that Juliana didn’t have any rings or anything somewhere” She has no arms or legs, so I can only think of another type of ring ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Eru
We see Randolf use Spiritual Magic but wouldn’t it be better to call it Fairy magic? It doesn’t uses spirits not ghost. It resemble Dead Spirits Magic but it seem to be using something that doesn’t have a conscieness but is related to the normal magic, also in a lot of fantasy works elves are often close to fairies and in this novel they are many who have an affinity for it so those Spirit of magic aren’t they just fairies?
Also other question I just need a confirmation or explanation Alda is supposed to be the god of Light and Justice it is his role to maintain order and peace ? And bring about justice to the mortals and the gods right? Then why is his first choice regarding Vida war? When you want to keep order in any way possible the first choice should be to talk then to fight if there is absolutely no other choice. A war brings a lot of chaos and disorder, during the conflict of course but even after and often devolve into another conflict. In our world there were many reasons for world war II but one of those reasons was the condition of the German redition imposed by the allies. One of the reasons of world war I was also the existence of the Austrian empire built through marriage but also through conflit and war, and the game of alliance existed because of previous conflit….
I’m not saying that Alda should never fight : the war against Guduranis was just but he teaches things and doesn’t seems to be following his own. Take the evil gods who change sides for instance he didn’t even wanted to consider letting them attone for their sins… His actions are completely against what he teaches and I truly wonder why that is. Is there a reason?
Last question What does Bellwood teaches?
And what does he govern ? Or is it explained later?
Randy Rando
Short answer? He’s always been a bit of a hypocritical idiot and at some point during or immediately after the attack by Gurundis he went totally insane. Not the drooling and muttering gibberish in a corner kind of insane, but the kind of insane that Van and many of his followers are. While they are still able to function reasonably well, the thought processes and factors they consider on the way to any given decision they make is completely abnormal. (Just my theory but I think the majority of the reader base holds similar views.)
SnekyKuro
Alda didn’t really rule over justice. He rule over order and later on took some of vida divinity after defeating her in war. Order for him is the world before guduranis attack them. He see everything that appear after guduranis as opposite of his order even tho it’s literally impossible to return the world to it’s original state.
Sailon
About Spiritual Magic well is very simple they are elemental spirits, very common in fantasy storys as beings formed from mana mixed with pure elemental energy so you have fire spirits, earth spirits etc…, well some storys fairys and spirits are similiar, but the description in this story seems more closely to elemental spirits in my opinion. And well techinically is Death spirit magic that resembles spirit magic, was mentioned that Van couldn’t use spirit magic because it doesnt exist any natural elemental spirits of death attributes, so he thought that maybe elemental ghost could be used as replacement but he dint have oportunit to create any before meeting Levia, so when Levia and the other became fire ghost he used the principle of spirit magic that is transfer mana and your intentions to spirits to create magic.
Sailon
About Bellwood is not mention what he rules over, but considering he is Alda champion should be something related with light, he should be also considered like the god of heroes and holy warrior’s, but during the stories has some mention of his teachings, is the things he advocated even before he became a god and the things that are also advicate by Alda, like the protection of nature, destruction of knowledge from other worlds, to no fall in tentations of evil gods, and fight agaist them and theyr servants, even fight against monsters and Vida races.
JKingSniper
Time for Van to save the girls and create a new death Minotaur race
NGL this reminded me of a certain Danmachi hentai
JKingSniper
Yep
Zenden1st
cursed comment
Illuvatar
Please don’t tell me one of them is Byrkn spy
Chiu ChunLing
I’m not gonna lie to you…
Unless I just did.
Baldingere
Now I really want him to join Van. It would be perfect for him: immigrate to the dark elves nation, where nobody knows him, no one needs his strength cuz A ranks are running around like small fries, where he does not have “acquaintance’s kids” bothering him, where people in need are taken care for and he doesn’t have to give upon helping, and he can just spend his days doing whatever he wants and join the Majin’s hobbies associations (I bet these guys pestered Van for more reversi and chess boards lol).
MintyMints
It was said that he’s actually S rank she only guessed that he was A rank.
Randy Rando
Randolph mentioned earlier that almost everything requested of him could have been accomplished ba a party of A ranks. He’s saying he wouldn’t get those bothersome requests anymore, only the truly vital ones.
Polaris
High hopes for the the demon king fragment other than the oviduct 😏.
Zauberbiest
oh man this was the harshest chapter so far,, i *researched* to much to imagine this scene non aggressively,
i feel bad for the girl begging for her life in that state, gosh .. eggs and shit? this chapter sure came outta nowhere, also the way it keep getting phrased i suppose the minotaurs r not Normal sized for uni-race matting purposes
lmao and wtf a oviduct fragment ? LMAO wtf i imagine it to look something like cells tail from dbz
first adventurer he sees huh? welp i guess hes gonna spot van and his ”tamed” monsters and suspect its a powerful adventurer, and we gonna have a new race of minotaurs join the ranks within that girls womb after getting coated in death attribute
hmm though didn’t it seem like randolf knows of van? maybe he will purposely give the girls to him knowing he is thee dhampir that’s probably do some miracle for the despair ridden girls
A_wandering_otter
He knows about van at least a little so he might even recognize him
polynesianvibez
damn, reminds me of that goblin slayer scene
thanks for the chapter
WizziBot
Goblin Slayer ‘The Wise’
MrTrixer
I didnt expect him to leave such lose ends live, the risk is simply to high. Yet he did it out of his own principles, i can respect that. Its a bit of a shame that Van didnt get that fragment though, it would be interesting to see what he would be able to do with those egg tubes..
Thank you for the chapter and the treat! (^_^)/
Dean1997
I’m worried about Van absorbing that fragment, considering he’s already mistaken for a girl…
rajputra
excited Luciliano noises
TruePath111
I admire Natania will to not give up and this Duke Daughter was abandon by her god and suffered the worst torture. How will these 2 girls change. Hehe it gots me excited.
Randolf Is just a guy whose given up on life.
jacktronsit13
the duke’s daughter is dead
Halfsweat
No he spared her and Natania but they are both amputees and the dukes daughter is mentally broken
ObserverBias
There isn’t currently a duke’s “daughter.” There was a historical one concerning Morksi, that was killed and caused (only by proxy) trouble for Vida’s races for a few generations, but Julianna is the cousin to the current Duke (of Alcrem, for that matter).
ObserverBias
Gah, sister, couldn’t even get it right in the correction, great going.
GodEater
Phew the end solidified that they are going to meet Vandalieu for me
Rollrock
Randolph made a pretty clever turnaround, instead of being indebted to her, he made her indebted to him, at the same time creating insurance for himself, that if the truth of the matter ever went out, he’d know who to track down and exact payback from. It was a decent way of solving the conundrum he had found himself in.
SuicidalSkeletin
I can imagine Darcia healing them and turning them into Chaos Elfs to convert even more people to Vida’s religion
Valeth
Not sure if a Beast Person can become a Chaos Elf…
As for healing them, I think this may still be beyond her. Unless she uses Goddess Descent Skill. I think it may be beyond her as in the war with the Demon King the Gods did this for the people, but as the war turned against them only Zakkart could do this using the Root of Life.
While Darcia has awakened her Life Magic I doubt she is at Zakkart’s level of skill and healing yet, and even he needed help.
yibril
healing them? this is easy for vandailu reallly easy
Your norm Purple Tea addict
Not really
a little spoil
According to my understanding in the untranslated version, Van gave them pros limbs and the skill that van uses to control his clones?
I did not really understand it
Kazza
Honestly just wanted to post this for shits and giggles, but does everyone remember Perfect Cell making the Cell Jrs with his tail? I can imagine Van following suit, but honestly I can see him doing something more along the lines of TeamFourStar’s DBZA:
*Births Van Jrs*
“Meet my wonderful children. We’ve got Suzuki…”
“GRAUGHLAUHERLAH”
“Kazuma…”
“SHISHISHICKISH”
“Subaru…”
“WROUAEGHERROUH”
“Naofumi…”
“BRIEGHUIRGH”
“Sora and Shiro – they’re Twinsies…”
“WHREEOUGH” x2
“And last but not least Tanya…”
“AAAAAAATHEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIISM!”
Alda: “N-no, it can’t be…”
SuicidalSkeletin
“atheism” lmao xD
Jonathan Hurd
God, I hadn’t thought about that, but now I can’t stop, lol. Thank you for the very disturbing mental image.
dkuro
Two more poor wandering souls still in their body are going to join the Vandalism (if you have a better name for the church of vandal, share it with me please)
Thank you for the chapter.
Ltshrek
If van somehow become a god his first request is probably for them not to build a church/religion dedicated for him *tho I doubt he’ll become a god more like he’ll become death/life itself*
Tejing
That was a fun read, thanks for that TankHunter678.
Lord Rin
I could see Van becoming like Schneider who keeps denying he’s immortal and says he’s old.
Jonathan Hurd
A church of Vandalism just sounds like the place graffiti artists worship at, lol. Could be the Church of Eclipse. That kind of helps encompass the light and darkness that Van represents.
isekailoverkuso
Could natania be a reincarnated person? She was talking about not wanting to die again? I mean I guess being render comatose as a meat bag sex toy is one kind of death… I’m guessing the next two chapters are Van saving them and getting more fragments. Also god damn they really cut that evil demon king up didn’t they.
Jonathan Hurd
She’s also to old to be the last of the three reincarnators who were naturally born. Adding the fact that Rodidiot tried to put all of them in positions they would be forced to fight Van. I feel like nameless adventurer is not what he would of made them.
OokamiNoO
I think she reffers to the fact that she considered herself dead until Randolf save her
Jonathan Hurd
Thanks for the chapter Yoshi and crew.
So I think we’re all in agreement Van is going to pick up the two girls and heal them the question is just how…
1. Transplant Ternicias limbs. She is a vampire but no assurances that will have a bad effect. If he has to he can catch a bandit, cut off their limbs and then put on Ternicias to see if something bad happens.
2. Darcia heals them with Life Empress Magic and her eye of regeneration. I find this one a bit unlikely. Fully regenerating limbs seems to be a pretty extreme life magic and I think Darcia might need more time to reach that.
3. Root of life. This is also a pretty unlikely one. There is limited number of it left and it’s too important to use on some random people when you can take another method.
4. Transplant some bandits limbs. This is mainly if Ternicia doesn’t work then just use Bandits, why not.
5. Induce Mutation. This one is a bit weird admittedly. Considering Julianas state she will probably be completely under Vans guidance but the cat woman might need some time. After probably ingesting some of Vans blood and time though I think they could mutate. What that mutation would look like and if it would get then their limbs I don’t know. It could lead to them not having limbs still but getting something like Spirt Form skill
6. Weird thought and kind of a temporary fix but wear Rita and Saria. Those two will probably be the immediate solution to help the women.
7. Kind of a combination of solutions 5 and 6. Van could make basically haunted gauntlets and boots and then mutate the women so they become one. Basically a hybrid between human and undead. Kind of the next step I always assumed Haj and crew will make at some point.
These are all the solutions I can currently think of, feel free to share your own.
Valeth
Honestly I think its more likely that he would teach them a variation on spirit for or something, allowing them to make prosthetic limbs that move as they wish….
It was said that alchemist could make them I believe, but they were rare. I mean if Van can regrow their limbs he probably will. However, I see it more likely he will make a different type of prosthetic limb that they control either through spirit or their very soul. Similar to how he made Isis I think it was moved by the will of her soul alone, as she was brain dead.
Jonathan Hurd
Isis was a bit of a different case to these two. Isis was brain dead. The reason Hajime couldn’t control her was her whole central nervous system was shut down. For these two they still have working brains and nerves so it’s more a matter of giving them something to move.
A big advantage Van has over all other alchemists is that Van makes Holmes by just putting dead spirits in them. So it seems possible that Van could attach gauntlets and boots to the stumps, make them into golems and then connect the spirits to the ladies nervous system.
He has honestly transplanted a missing limb before with Bellmont and her tail. This time would probably be easier since this time there hasn’t been thousands of years without the body part for the brain to forget what moving that limb is like.
Jonathan Hurd
So two more I feel I should add…
8) Reincarnation, basically the Pauvina move. This time is a bit different from hers because their souls are still in their bodies so not putting my money on this one personally.
9) Transform into one of Vidas races. Specifically I think they might be saved if they did the Majin chrysalis thing like Iris did. That melts the body down and reforms it into a Majin. I think the reformed body might have all the limbs even if they didn’t go in with them.
Could work for another of Vidas races but the Majin one seems most likely to work. This solution is also not really high on my list. Considering the trust required to ask someone to be their second parents.
Jonathan Hurd
So respond in number…
1) That’s not really how becoming a vampire works. To turn into a vampire you have to do a ritual. It’s not enough to consume or add on a part of a vampire. I’m confused why you think they’d send assassin’s. If Van did this for them they would be joining his nation hands down. Even if they don’t join though he can just drop them in a different duchy. No one the wiser. Not like they will want to go talk to the people who want to kill them.
2) Not sure where you’re getting these facts about the demon eye and life emperor magic honestly. I think knowing someone started with four limbs should be plenty for the demon of regeneration to try and heal. Now I’m not sure it can actually regenerate amputated limbs but that’s a different discussion.
For Life Emperor magic we haven’t really been told the abilities of it quite yet. I will say taking month’s to regen limbs seems unlikely. Africa might not be able to do it with her current skill, but if she can I can’t imagine the process being that slow.
3) Well yeah why waste material like that for something this simple. Still should be mentioned for completion sake.
4) I would say it is probably not really fine to do this even for monsters,especially between species, but human to human is probably the most tame you can do. I will say though considering they have Van, blood potion, and the goddess of life. I think they can work out how to prevent transplant rejection, lol.
5) I would argue mutation could be pretty extreme. We have seen a fair number of normal animals turn into monsters completely changing their biology. I don’t think it’s to extreme to think that these two could mutate into a new race and be reborn with new limbs. I will admit not likely but still possible.
6) I don’t see why they can’t go outside wearing the twins. Sure it’s some pretty risque armor, but the two cover just about all the arms and legs. Throw on a cape and your golden.
7) I will just point out the biggest issue on solely relying on Spirit Form to make their limbs. Spirit Form consumes mana. They are knights not mages so their pool isn’t going to be big to start. Worse unlike Vigaro they would need to keep four parts going versus his one. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up dry and on the floor after a minute then.
Absolute Zer0
As dark as ever. And here we have new half-human race
readerX
If I want to jump and see what will happen to Natania and Juliana, where should I read in raw?
Yoki
Thanks for the chapter, Yoshi…
Seriously though, you spoil us with 3 chapters in a week
veradux1223
Curious as to what Randolf’s reaction to Van will be because it’s been shown that he knows who Van is. The question now is will he talk directly to him or avoid him. Although with his personality it will probably be the latter.
Jonathan Hurd
I’m thinking avoid Van as well. Randolph already doesn’t want more trouble and he knows Alda is revving up to fight Van. If Randolph talks to Van and Alda finds out… Oh boy. Well there goes what little piece Randolph had.
Chiu ChunLing
Survey says “continue to observe from a safe distance.”
Eventually he’ll realize that there’s no safe distance.
Paps
Thanks for the chapter, I am sure those fragments will look for the ‘true’ body as soon as they make it to the city.
w1ck3d
I hadn’t realized the Minotaur King had two fragments. If someone knows what the other fragment was, spoiler me please.
Sebas Tian
They can’t spoil you here as spoilers are not allowed.
bk3k
However
[spoiler]Spoiler tags do work.
Now I don’t remember what it was anyhow.[/spoiler]
Lord Rin
But how do you make spoiler tags work though?
bk3k
Just like most sites
[tag] some text [/tag]
but instead of tag, you use spoiler.
Lord Rin
[spoiler]Thanks.[/spoiler]
Kuro-san
[spoiler] Thanks. [/spoiler]
Chiu ChunLing
You can just use the [+] button on the far right of the formatting tools.
[spoiler title=”They look like this. Oh, and you can write a title for spoilers.”] B I U
SE E ” </> & {} [+] [/spoiler]bk3k
Just like most sites
[tag] some text [/tag]
but instead of tag, you use spoiler.
Supreme king
[/spoiler] like this?
Eddy
works with parentheses
[spoiler] I see [/spoiler]
Chiu ChunLing
[spoiler title=”All will be revealed in ChapterXXX”] 256 [/spoiler]
Entropy
Wow, Randolph is cold and ruthless, but at least he has something like a heart. I think he might get along with Vand. Vand can be just as cruel to enemies. I am curious if Natania will be able to buy something like magical limbs or living dead limbs. I hope her former party get the same treatment that they left her to. I can understand wounding someone to slow down an enemy, but they could have at least used a poisoned knife so she wouldn’t suffer. If Vand does give Natania new limbs, I wonder if they will be golems or zombie limbs or a combo of the two.
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t really see Randolph as cold and ruthless. That is way more Marshakuls character. Randolph is more just tired and weary. The cold and ruthless move would be to just kill the women and be done with it. Ignore reporting the adventurers who left her behind and go on with your life.
I think Randolph would be way happier if he didn’t have such a strong sense of duty. If he was willing to throw away his need to repay old favors, he could run away to some remote devils nest and live in the forest ignoring society at large. Randolph’s problem is he can’t accept being a hypocrite leading him to his current problem.
I completely agree with you in hoping her old party members suffer a worse fate than what she had. Considering how Van thinks and feels I get the feeling he could subject them to some way worse things. If I remember correctly Van still needs to find out if Humans can have children with the undead…
For a poisoned dagger, you’d have to be an amazingly terrible person to have a poisoned dagger ready for in case you have to make sure you outrun a party member running from monsters. At a certain point they should probably be thinking less on how to efficiently kill their party members and more how to save them, lol.
Entropy
I suppose a poisoned dagger is a little slow on the uptake during a run, but they could have fired an arrow at her. Mind you considering that adventurers can survive head wounds, maybe there was nothing else that could be done to kill her safely, but I still think that they were cowards to do it. If Vand is in charge of tormenting her former party members, I now feel sorry for them. This is the same guy that thought ripping off a guy’s face and then destroying his mind was a light touch and this was done when he was only slightly mad.
Jonathan Hurd
Yeah, they really are just giant pieces of shit. The problem overall though is if you cared about the aftermath of kneecapping your ally, then you are probably the type of person who wouldn’t knee cap them, lol.
Kazza
Oh, Thank Vida, Ricklent, Zuruwarn, um… Fidirg, Zozogante, Merrebeveil… uh… Xerx! That was one if them!
Anyways, thanks to the associated gods of team Vida that Randolph isn’t a dick. Pragmatic and an asshole, certainly, but not a cruel dick. And the story explicitly states he wasn’t planning to kill Juliana until he saw her state. Hooh.
Now, speculation time. So, obviously the two are going to meet Van, but I’m more curious about what will happen afterwards. ‘Cause Natalia knows that Duke Alcrem hired “Ralph” to kill Juliana. Would she tell her, or try to keep it a secret to spare her from the truth?
‘Cause if she doesn’t, Juliana might want to go back to her family… who thinks she’s dead. And if she brings Van with her (maybe to reward him for helping her), would the Duke try assassination again?
And if Natalia does tell her, would she desire revenge? Van’s got an established trauma to the rape and abuse of women due to what happened to Darcia, and if he hears a blood relative ordered her death unconditionally when he had the resources to help her… hoo boy.
And this other adventurer group that used Natalia as bait…
Hell, I’d never imagine I would characterize Lucas as getting off easy…
‘Cause Van’s always been a proponent of revenge, so long as you limit it to whom wronged you and don’t extend it to their descendants.
Damn it Yoshi! First you kick my ass in Mario Party all these years, and now you’ve put me on such a cliff! I’ve never wanted to read the next chapter so much!
(Still love you and the job you do, please don’t hate me.)
Phantom Knight
Darcia-sama was never raped. She was tortured and burned while being ridiculed, but she was never implied or stated to be raped. Nonetheless, you are right that Vandalieu-sama has a tendency to side with the weak and unfortunate.
Because of this, I completely agree that Duke Alcrem is going to make the vengeance list of Van-sama. The Duke is even an advocate of Alda and Heinz. With so many bad points against him, he is highly likely to have his soul devoured or suffer an agonizing death in the future.
Of course, in my personal opinion, this situation of finding female victims of monsters is similar to an event that happened already. If so, he might need to either change their races or reincarnate. He could also choose to rewrite their memories and/or revert both the age and damage their bodies. You never know
Lord Rin
Duke Alcrem might not be an advocate of Alda and Heinz but it doesn’t seem he would become one for Vida either. So far it seems that all his actions are selfish. He did lift the restriction on Vida’s races being able to hold public positions but it’s clearly only so he can get support from Alda’s peaceful faction and he doesn’t seem to have done anything to enforce it. In the entire city of Morksi so far we’ve seen only one member of Vida’s races holding a public position and he’s merely a low-level guard that still has to deal with a racist superior. Meanwhile Duke Alcrem immediately announced Juliana’s death before paying Randolph an exorbitant amount of money -that was noted to be enough to completely heal her if the duke actually cared- to have her killed regardless of her condition. Meaning if she somehow by some miracle had not been crippled or raped before Randolph showed up, Alcrem fully expected him to still kill her because not only had he already announced her death, he seems to have not liked her personally because she had a legitimate claim to the position of Duke if she so wished to challenge him for the position.
Basically Duke Alcrem seems like he would do anything to remain in power or gain more influence. I don’t think Van would be comfortable having somebody that could easily sell you out in exchange for more influence as an ally. Van has been in similar situations before where it would be pragmatic to have certain people as allies but Van has instead killed and/or broke their souls. The Paris brothers being his allies would have helped Van with taking control of the Sauron Duchy but they killed many Scylla like Orbia whose ghost Van ended up befriending so he killed them. The ghosts of Riley and Gordan got charmed by Van and thus genuinely wanted to serve him but he still broke their souls because even though their desire to serve was genuine, it wasn’t sincere and if they one day somehow managed to overcome the Death Charm then they would immediately turn on Van. Same with the “Five-Headed Snake’ Ervine who had a personality that would easily turn on allies if he thought it was necessary. Van wouldn’t want to risk forming an alliance with somebody like Duke Alcrem that could easily betray him in exchange for some benefits at the drop of a hat. Then there’s also the fact that Van really cares for his subordinates. He may just go after Duke Alcrem because of him announcing that Juliana is dead unilaterally and without evidence before hiring somebody to kill her to cover up the lie.
Also Van has changed his goal for being in the Alcrem Duchy. His initial goal was always just to go to a duchy that wasn’t overly favorable to either side so that he could act as bait to draw out Birkyne and Murakami’s group along with any other possible enemies from Alda’s side. Afterwards he was just planning to leave the duchy more or less alone. But now that his mom has been asked to preach about Vida, it seems he has decided that maybe he should convert and guide the duchy to Vida’s side. Anyways it’s not like he hasn’t changed his initial goal before. For example he had originally wanted to just infiltrate the criminal underworld of Morksi so he could get some information now and then and he didn’t have any intention to take over or anything but then people started trying to rebel and so he ended up crushing the entire criminal underworld save for the not overly bad and evil parts. So anyways yeah, Van may just decide to get rid of Duke Alcrem and let somebody else become Duke that is more generally favorable to Vida’s side and won’t try switching sides to get more power and influence. Earl Morksi could be a good candidate since he didn’t really try to take advantage of Van being a Dhampir and hasn’t made things difficult for Vida’s races.
ValiantHex
Well good chance Randolph will run into Van while he’s gathering meat, but it said that Randy Boy has spiritual magic does that mean he can see spirits and as previously established Van has thousands of Souls following him at all times what will Randolph’s reaction be, because it’s normally a bad thing to be haunted as in it’s perceived as your human kill count, Is it not?
Jonathan Hurd
I will just say you don’t need the spirits to know that Van is special. Another part is while yes, murderers can be followed by the spirits of their victims, if you just look at the ghosts and the affection they have for Van I don’t think anyone is going to confuse him for their murderer.
Nox
Thanks for the chapter.
Two new women joining Vans adventure in order to make Vida great again.
Makaayplays
I wonder what new limbs Van is going to give Natania when he eventually takes her in as a subordinate🤔
Mintlin
I’m really liking Randolf so far.
It’ll be interesting to see his presumable encounter with Van and co plus what’s gonna happen exactly with those girls if Van saves them.
I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks for the chapter~
Triduo
And now, we just have to wait and see how much time will pass until Van or his friends encounters the girls, give them new limbs through surgery and tame the Baby Minotaurs ! ^^
Paradoxe : Yeah, knowing Van’s achievements as a Tamer, he’ll probably be contacted to try and tame them. And once he’s done taming them or before taming them, he’ll probably ask who gave the Minotaurs to the guild only to be redirected to the Cat-Girl and the former Princess, buying them and healing them with his abilities… Yeah, that’s probably what will happens…
NovaPulse235
Or he could find them before that and do a pseudo-reincarnation with the minotaurs in her like he did for Pauvina
Metazoxan
That’s unlikely because the Duke’s daughter is still alive. Pauvina was a live dead meaning her body was already no longer “alive”. Even when he talked to her soul she either couldn’t become undead or didn’t wish for it so he reincarnated her instead.
The duke girl is still alive just mind broken so he’s more likely to just repair her mind like he did with those other mind broken girls that became like his fan club.
Although he can still use other souls for Pseudo-reincarnation to make more half monsters like with Pauvina.
korrill
Or Van could:
1. Charm Duke Alcrem’s sister like how he managed to charm the slave girls from the mine. His Dark Demon Creation Enticement (originally, Death-Attribute Charm) works on people who are described as being more dead than alive, after all.
After that, he could fix her up by giving her new limbs. Same goes for the cat lady.
2. Bombard the unborn minotaur children with death-attribute mana and cause the birth of a new race like what happened with the Orcuses, Anubises, and Black Goblins.
reisben55
It is interesting how Talosheim and other nations in the other side of Boundary Maountain Range is many times better to live than human countries.
Someone in comments said it look like you can meet Goblin Slayer or Doom Guy in human side and I completely agree.
Kutakot22
Thank you for the chapter.
flamse111
Ty for chapter, still looking forward to an update on Mehkun and Banda.
SaMu
Thanks for the chapter
Don’t worry, girls. Dr. Van is in.
Pauvina 2.0 here we come, probably.
Triduo
Noctyrannus : WE WANT BIG BREASTED COW-GIRLS !!! ( OxO)°
Dimhélios : It doesn’t work that way ! >_<'
Jonathan Hurd
Hey, we can’t underestimate the value of scarcity! I’ll continue cheering on Zadris and her hopes of looking more queenly!
Metazoxan
So we know for sure what will happen next. Randolf with either Encounter Van directly or pass the girls off to someone who will then run into Van. If it’s the former then the two fragments will likely end up going to van as well and Randolf may or may not end up joining Taloshiem to escape the public eye.
After that he’ll give the girls new limbs with his surgery ability and his death charm and mental encroachment will fix the duke girl’s mind.
Now what I’m hoping for is that he’ll do like with the live dead girl and “partly kill” the minotaur’s genes to create a new Minotaur based beast kin race. He can easily guide any number of human souls into the fetuses. he probably won’t take out the duke girl’s soul since she’s not dead. He only reincarnated the live dead girl because she was essentially already dead so she couldn’t just resurrect her.
As for the cat girl she’ll probably just become a background character who will become a citizen and will probably fawn over van.
Jonathan Hurd
I agree with most of what you’re predicting, but I get the feeling Randolph defecting to Vans place is a bit down the line. Also I doubt Randolph is just going to randomly hand two DK fragments to Van. I do think the fragments might break their seal and try to run to Van(the main body) when Randolph gets close to Morksi. That’d be fun to watch.
I definitely think Van will probably keep the minataur kids and create yet another race. For healing the girls, I think a combination of Darcia, Ternicias live dead, and blood potion should easily allow Van to help someone simply missing their limbs.
Metazoxan
I just mentioned Rudulf defecting as a vague possibility since he clearly just wants to be free of societies expectations. As for the fragments I didn’t mean Rudolf will just hand them over I meant if Rodulf runs into Van they’d probably react and join him.
TheDerangedOne
One of those “…. well this is awkward.” situations.
Valeth
Seams reasonable, and as for the fragments. He will most likely hand them over to the church. After he leaves Van will most likely take them for himself if he knows about them at least.
Jonathan Hurd
I will first say that I don’t think Van really cares that much about relations in this Duchy. Remember he specifically picked this one to wait to have an all out fight with Birknye and or Murakami. He picked this Duchy because they’re not friendly with Vidas races but not extreme enough to try to drive him out on sight.
Another part is if Van heals these two he will be taking them into his country. He can’t have two quadruple amputees suddenly walking around town with four limbs. If that doesn’t gather government attention I don’t know what would. No assassin’s can get to the two in Taloshiem. They also have nothing left in the duchy that has already thrown them away. Why would they stay?
I will say I’m not sure if transplanting from Ternicia really would turn them into Vampires. It would definitely lead to some changes like gaining super human strength or rapid regeneration, but other than that not sure. If that is the issue though what they can do is just capture two random female bandits and transplant their limbs. Wouldn’t even be the most inhumane thing Vans done to bandits. Ternicia is just useful because the body regenerates.
For Darcias powers in relation to Simon, just because she didn’t help him doesn’t mean she couldn’t. She’s trying to lay low currently. If it’s someone they are going to take in and have join Talosheim then they would waste no effort to help. With Simon they’re just doing a bit of charity since he got injured in his line of work. Van has a much softer spot for those thrown away and tortured. Add in that the two women are in a way worse position too. Simon can at least live without Vans help.
Lord Rin
Yeah Van was planning on bailing this duchy once his goals were met but he might have changed his mind since then now that Darcia has started preaching about Vida. Just like how he originally was just going to infiltrate Morksi’s criminal underworld to just get information but because a bunch of idiots kept rebelling, he’s wiped out most of the criminal organizations and now controls what’s left.
As for the two girls, it depends. If they get handed over to Van before other people see them then he could just regrow their limbs and nobody would become suspicious since they wouldn’t know that they had missing limbs in the first place. Conversely if people do learn that they were missing limbs then they could possibly be used as a publicity stunt to spread the worship of Vida more if Darcia healed their limbs and said that it was a miracle done by Vida. Or Van could just give them metal golem limbs and give them some armor to wear so that they can pass the prosthetics off as metal armor.
Jonathan Hurd
That is definitely true, Vans plans in this duchy have definitely taken some strange turns thanks to Thomas. Healing these two could make for some great missionary work. Start going town to town healing the sick, or setup here and offer help to all who come.
As for the girls, considering their current state I feel even if Van fixed their limbs upon first meeting them, they are going to need some months of recovery time before they can go out into society. By that point people will probably assume the two Quadra amputees died or were bought and probably not connect them to being Vans New helpers.
Vaccaria
Thank you very much
CCaprice
Thanks for the chapter. Wonder if Randolf will be interested in taking a look around the Empire to get away from bothersome requests.
mexgema
well….. This chapter was fuken dark, eh?
VEreality
You look around Van’s empire (Aka the demon king’s land. Aka the “most cruel place” from the perspectiv of the “good guys” )and think to yourself “Hey this world is not bad”. You go outside of it and you then ask yourself if you are going to meet Goblin Slayer or the mother f-ing Doom guy.
TheDerangedOne
Gotta be honest, it’d be funny if some discount Doom Guy was brought in, looked around at Van’s empire, then about faces and pulls a Kratos on the gods that summoned them there…. or something like that anyway. Van’s no Haden, or any of the other UAC higherups that think using Hell as a resource is a good idea…..
Gotta be honest Van’s pretty much an eldrich being/(demi)god that decided to lend a hand more than anything else at this point.
NovaPulse235
Eh, Van is very morally gray himself. Let’s not forget his experiments on humans, even if they are criminals
Nobody2
So as someone else said if Randolf wants to retire theirs no better place to do so then Talosheim. While the emperor and a few others might guess where he’s disappeared to they won’t reveal it so to most of the world he’ll just be gone.
Lord Rin
Well I am a bit disappointed that it turned out Van hadn’t rescued everybody. I thought it might have been possible since the knights had been sent out to the village that was probably where Emma and the rest had came from and Van had gone back there at one point to gather up the spirits of the dead so I thought it was possible that he would have encountered the knights but I was wrong.
So I guess Van is gonna get the Demon King’s Oviducts. Uhh… As if he didn’t already have problems with being mistaken for a girl.
I’m guessing the first person Randolph meets after teleporting will be Van probably while in the middle of his hunting for meat since I don’t think Randolph would teleport directly into the city since that might cause a commotion if people spotted him. Anyways the two Demon King fragments will then probably react to Van’s presence and break their seals and merge with him. We have seen multiple fragments try to break their seals to join Van when Alda made an eclipse so they might have a similar reaction if they get physically close to Van.
As for the two girls I guess Van can give them cool fancy golem robo-limbs from Death Iron or some other metal. Give them the ability to do a Rocket Punch. Meanwhile he can also use his mental encroachment to get rid of Natania’s traumatic memories and fix Juliana’s broken mind. As for the eggs in Juliana, Van could probably use a death-attribute spell to abort them. I don’t think he can do the same thing to Juliana as he did with Pauvina since the Live-Dead that gave birth to Pauvina only had a single fetus in the womb so Van could guide the spirit of the Live-Dead into the fetus. Meanwhile there are apparently multiple eggs in Juliana so Van might not be able to guide Juliana’s spirit into one to perform a pseudo-reincarnation. Also according to Randolph the Minotaurs created from the Demon King’s Oviducts apparently have a very short lifespan so I don’t see much reason in keeping the eggs alive and flooding them with death-attribute mana to create a new race like previous times might not have much point if they still end up with a short lifespan. Also Van might not want to let Juliana experience more pain and trauma by allowing the eggs to mature and be born since she’s already mind broken enough. It’d probably be worse if he fixed her mind first and then the Minotaurs were born. Unlike what happened with the ghouls and adventurers that Van previously rescued who were impregnated by races that quickly gave birth so they gave birth before Van could do much, the eggs in Juliana were said that they would develop slowly so Juliana would possibly have to spend an unknown prolonged amount of time pregnant with Minotaurs and that wouldn’t help her mental state if Van fixed it before they were born and he also wouldn’t likely want to wait for them to be born before he could begin to work on her mind.
Lord Rin
I see. I guess I misunderstood Randolph’s words and thought it meant that all beings hatched from the eggs laid by the Demon King’s Oviducts had limited lifespans.
VEreality
Langleboza from now on you should be refered to as “the smart guy”. I mean, someone finally got it. He did it guys. Look. Look at him standing aside. Man what a character. If you don’t play with Van you keep distance. Forever.
As for the demon fragment…..this one is a big What The Heck for me. I don’t think Van will want it. He is already trying really hard to prove his manliness because of the way he looks. Giving birth is not going to help him XD
However, I think he is going to get it as a 2 for 1 deal. It was hinting way to much at the second fragment to not come into play later.
Thank you Yoshi-sama!
Nobody2
I really do have to admire that evil god. He realized the best option when all this bullshit is going on is to sleep like he’s dead and hope things change for his better someday
Lord Rin
Yeah I will agree that this guy is smart and even considers the possibility that he might need to sleep forever so that he doesn’t encounter Van. Well I doubt he would think to try to join Van instead though. I recall one of the gods once mentioned that it was very unlikely for any other evil gods to now join Vida and Van’s side because all the ones who would be willing to already did when Zakkart offered them the chance to switch sides.
I wonder what that second fragment could be? If only it turned out to be the Demon King’s Muscles then Van would be overjoyed.
Kuroky
Literally “fuck this shit I’m out”
Vrotophthoros1
So many chapters in one week :O
gomezseba37
I can´t get tired of the new characters they all have such a unique intresting personality it´s insane randolph character is so intresting
Arha
Gee, I wonder where these two are going to end up.
Giga
Thanks~
Tejing
I’m glad Randolf didn’t do it. I was worried there for a minute, but he didn’t let me down. It’s pretty clear the 2 girls will end up with Van one way or another, but I wonder if Randolf will meet Van or whether the girls will make their way to him through some intermediary.
Also, it was cool to see how Randolf fights. He’s pretty awesome in an “ordinary methods taken to the extreme” kind of way.
Do we think Van is going to end up with either of those DK fragments? Honestly not sure I want him to >.< Though I suppose he can just not use it.
Tejing
I see your point in terms of easier production of more varied DK familiars, but still…
Metazoxan
I was thinking he could use his ability to produce duplicates of DK parts he has to implant DK oviducts into ghoul women as well as other women who can’t get pregnant easily. This would probably be superior to the magic tool he created for the ghouls before.
Jonathan Hurd
I agree, using something like the DKs oviducts to address infertility might be going a bit far…
I think it can be useful as a tool though and considering how much Van helps and hangs around Quinn I think he could find a use for it. It could allow Van to make basically clones of himself and then implant spirit clones and a DK treasure orb as well as other things into them. This could allow Van to have less haphazard DK familiars and maybe be able to spread them in human society.
Creating hundreds of Van copies and sending them out into human society sounds fun. Down side is Van sucks at acting and he sticks out like a sore thumb. So not the greatest for stealth and espionage.
Metazoxan
I agree the familiar creation could be improved. Another point to consider is instant create ones have short life spans but Van can extent life spans so he can instant create clones and do a little surgery to make them last.
Metazoxan
Actually it’s not as bad as you’re making it out. His duplicate parts don’t try to rejoin with him. Only real parts try to rejoin with him. Remember he’s used demon king parts in some of the zombies and other people already. I think some were used when making Darcia’s body as well along side other high level monster parts.
You’re forgetting that cross breeding only slightly helps. They still are mostly infertile without the magic tool.
His “super easy way” was the magic tool. The problem though is relying on a tool isn’t good long term as if Van was ever gone and the tools broke they’d be back where they started.
In planting components of the “DK oviducts” could assimilate with them as a race and possibly pass the trait to their children to some degree which would fix the ghoul fertility issue permanently.
Jonathan Hurd
To be fair, the people who have been overtaken by DK fragments follow all of Vans instructions. Even the Goblin who was possessed by the main fragment stopped when Van told it to and tried to keep the host alive when exiting as asked.
Another part is I think the DK fragments of Van corrupt those who are not under his guidance. I’m not sure it would do the same to those who are recognized and recognize Van as their master.
Chiu ChunLing
What’s really cool about how he fights is how totally half-arsed it is.
He’s just so jaded and bored with the whole thing, “Of course, it seems that the evil god abandoned these monsters for some reason, so there’s no way to tell whether the ritual succeeded or not. It could have sent a familiar spirit or spirit clone. Then I would have been able to at least enjoy myself… perhaps,” … “I suppose there is no difference in the fate that awaits those who believe in and rely on gods, whether they are human or monster,” Randolf muttered.
It really conveys that the gods, Evil or not, are nothing to Randolf. Not even a particularly worthwhile sport.
The most emotion he shows is regret for messing up some trees by overestimating the power he needed to put into his Skill when one-sidedly massacring the Minotaurs.
Saving Natanya and Julianna is just because it’s less hassle than dealing with the Fire-Blades himself, whether through reporting them to the Guild or hunting them down himself.
At the same time, he honestly doesn’t consider just saying that they’re none of his business. So he has at least the minimum respect for the ethical duty of being an adventurer.
I also like how he just blows off his ‘obligation’ to Duke Alkrem’s ancestor with “well, Julianna is also a descendent.” That’s also a worthy bit of “can’t be arsed.”
kazamakj
And the broken will fall into Van’s lap and become part of his ever growing family.
no1
Thanks Yoshi. But why is this a side chapter, it seemed like it should be a chapter in the main chapter. Also Randolph is apathetic. He knows he can do all of these things for the beast girl, but shows no sympathy
Tejing
It generally seems like any chapter that 100% focuses on events not involving Van is a side chapter. This fits that pattern.
gomezseba37
he is probably tired of everything at this point in the last chapter when they were begging for help the narrator said “he heard this so much that it might as well have caused his ears to rot”
no1
I know, but you would think any descent person would have even a little sympathy for someone who had their limbs chopped off
Nobody2
I mean this worlds version of sympathy for those kinds of situations IS killing them so they stop suffering. What he’s doing now could basically be called giving them false hope that will just plunge them into more despair.
Master of Puppets
at some point you just watch so much suffering, you see so many people drowning in misery and death that you simply become numb to it all, hes probably so far from being a “person” in that sense that the idea doesnt really cross his mind other then in small moments, similar to working an assembly job for long enough, you will only realize what youre doing every couple of months or something
Jonathan Hurd
The thing is he does have sympathy. He isn’t refusing to help because he doesn’t feel bad for them. He is refusing to help because he doesn’t see an end to it. If he helps them then he needs to help the next people in trouble too. After that group comes the next. If you don’t help everyone then that means you will eventually leave someone like these two to their deaths.
Randolph fully understands the right thing to do would be to help others, but at this point I think he is just to drained. He has been running around for the sake of others for years with no end in sight. He accrued a whole bunch of debts which he is currently trying to payback now. Problem is every time he helps one person another reaches out their hands.
no1
I see
Lightnovelfan
Now I´m sure they will end up with Van. Looks like my prediction wasn´t that far off. Too bad that the Dukes sister is in that state, but Nothing Van can´t handle. I just wonder how Randolph and Van will interact and if he will give him the two fragments
gomezseba37
considering randolph wants to retire there is literally not a single place better than talosheim for that
iamleejn
3 Chapters in 6 days?! It must be Christmas!
So, this is how “Ralph” and the Duke’s sister will meet Van…
The Duke’s sister is broken, so she’ll be powerfully drawn to Van. Maybe she’ll get a race change as well? Wondering if Van is going to mutate the fetal Minotaur into some new race or just tame them after their born. Van is also certainly going to make some amazing golem-prosthesis for that adventurer. Will Van go after the demon king fragment? Maybe convince “Ralph” to leave it in the Morski church for safe keeping, then take it later?
Damn, so many interesting developments in this chapter!
Lord Rin
Randolph would probably teleport somewhere outside the city so he doesn’t cause a commotion if somebody suddenly saw him appear out of nowhere and he did say he would dump them on the first person he sees. Van would thus probably be the first person he sees since he’d probably be outside the city alone hunting for meat for his cart.
Lord Rin
Yeah Morksi is large but the rule of literary convenience means that there’s at least an 80% chance that the first person Randolph runs into would be Van. In fact I wouldn’t even be surprised if the location that he teleports to just so happens to be in front of Van.
Metazoxan
Oh shit I forgot that mind broken people who are basically dead were affected by Van’s “death charm” passive. So yeah she’ll definitely meet him and turn into his love slave…..I mean a new citizen.
Doom-sama
Hurray! A new chapter!
Soundwave
Thank you for the chapters as always 🙂 So thats what happened I kinda only ever got the gist of what happened when I read this chapter and only now do I know that the Minataurs actually had a evil god they were worshiping. I was never quite sure what Randolf did with the situation with these two girls I kinda had an idea he was going to kill them but didn’t fully understand why he choose to spare them until recently. (I was reading the chapters with google translate its such a nightmare trying to understand what happens in some parts of the story)
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
X07Zero
Thank for the chapter ^^
Dang it, I’m not prepared for this chapter =_=;