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TLN: The ‘Dark Continent’ has been retranslated to ‘Demon Continent,’ a more accurate translation. (Previous chapters have been edited with this change.) Keep in mind that the continent that was introduced in chapter 246 is the Demon King’s continent, similarly named but a separate continent. Sorry for any confusion.
Beings that served Alda, the God of Law and Fate, as well as familiar spirits sent by other gods, visited his Divine Realm one after another to report information.
Many of these reports were related to Vandalieu.
“From my master to Alda-sama. Vandalieu, the Demon King who defeated Fitun, and his companions, are holding an extravagant and luxurious festival in his capital, boosting morale.”
“My lord Zaress, God of Soldiers, believes that the festival was funded by money extorted from his citizens and wealth that was obtained illegally from taking over the criminal organization in the city of Morksi.”
“To still not be satisfied after forcing his people to construct an enormous statue of himself. What a vain, arrogant person he is. He is an embodiment of the first Demon King, Guduranis himself.”
Familiar spirits, who performed tasks such as delivering messages, were beings who had been created by the Mana of the gods that were their masters. Thus, their words and actions were those of the gods that had created them. This meant that the gods themselves, the ones watching over the region within the Boundary Mountain Range from the skies above, held a strong hostility for Vandalieu without knowing the true circumstances of the people living in Talosheim.
Even though it was a result of the god’s own rampaging and actions that were not befitting of a god, it was a fact that Fitun, a god of Lambda, had been destroyed not long ago. Perhaps the young gods could not be blamed for seething with animosity towards Vandalieu.
But Alda thought differently from them. “Familiar spirits, tell the young gods that you serve: ‘Maintain your composure. Do not forget that the troublesome thing about the Demon King Vandalieu is that he is compassionate towards others, a trait that the first Demon King, Guduranis, did not possess.’”
All of the familiar spirits were bewildered by Alda’s words of reprimand.
“It is certainly true that Vandalieu is evil. There is no doubt that he misleads the people with twisted teachings that oppose our teachings of the correct order of the world and the way that the people ought to live. He may be arrogant, and it is likely that he is vain as well. But he does not lack a heart of mercy,” Alda continued.
“Alda-sama, do you mean to say that he is not evil?!” one of the familiar spirits uttered in shock.
“That is not what I am saying. But even wicked people who break the law and commit sins have hearts of good. That is all.”
Even the wicked had parts of them that were good, just as virtuous people also had dark sides to their minds.
Many of the things Vandalieu had done in the city of Morksi had likely been done in order to bolster his own strength and the strength of Vida’s religion. But not everything had been done in Vandalieu’s own self-interest.
The Vida that Alda knew was the Goddess of Life and Love, even if she had lost her mind. She loved the races that she had given birth to, imperiling the principles of the world, as her own children. She preached to them the same teachings that she had taught before Guduranis’s appearance in this world.
That had likely not changed, even after she was impaled by Alda’s ‘Stakes of Law’ and then freed from them by Vandalieu.
With that being the case, she would have taught the same teachings to Vandalieu, and Vandalieu would be obeying those teachings.
And that was precisely why Vandalieu was so dangerous. If he possessed the same personality as Guduranis, he would be forced to speak and conduct himself in a way that was filled with arrogance and vanity. A ruler who reigned using only power and fear had a strong control over his subjects, but even small things could create cracks in that control.
Conducting himself in a way that ensured that he would not be looked down on would require Vandalieu to continuously display himself and his companions to be greater than would otherwise be necessary.
If Vandalieu were ruling in this way, Alda’s forces would have likely been able to make Vandalieu’s subordinates betray him even more easily than the champion Zakkart had done a hundred thousand years ago. Unlike the Demon King’s army, which was composed entirely of evil gods who were born in foreign worlds, many of Vandalieu’s subordinates were people of Lambda.
But Vandalieu was ruling over his subordinates with something that was not power or fear. But to Alda, this was something that was distorted and repulsive, something that contradicted the order that had existed in this world thus far, and something that could never be accepted.
“I am not defending Vandalieu. But if we mistakenly believe that he is full of only hatred simply because he is the second Demon King, we will have our feet knocked out from under us. Tell your masters that we must be cautious,” said Alda.
“V-very well,” said the familiar spirit that had spoken up.
With that, the familiar spirits returned to their masters to relay Alda’s words to them. After them came more familiar spirits with reports from the gods watching over the Demon Continent and the Alcrem Duchy, as well as those in the seas where the Demon King’s Continent was, protecting Botin and Peria.
Many of them reported that nothing was out of order, but some reports were not of this nature.
“My lord Arkum-sama, God of the Blue Sky, requests some time away from the task of monitoring Talosheim,” one familiar spirit said.
“Arkum? What is the matter? Has he been attacked?” Alda asked.
Arkum, the God of the Blue Sky, was the light-attribute god who ruled over the weather. He was one of Alda’s younger subordinate gods, and carried out his duties with passion, but…
“No, he has not been attacked. However, there are repulsive patterns that are so blasphemous that they cannot be described with words, painted on the roofs of Talosheim’s buildings, and they are tormenting my lord Arkum’s mind,” the familiar spirit replied. “He is currently having his duty mostly carried out by another in his place, and it would cause more trouble if this were to continue, so he would like to excuse himself from this role.”
“I see. I knew that the Demon King had created monoliths and images that eat into the minds of humans, but to think that they can also eat into the minds of gods. It is likely that Arkum is simply not suited to this task. Instruct Arkum to step away from this task for a while and carry out the nurturing of his heroes,” Alda told the familiar spirit. “Incidentally, who is the god who is watching over Talosheim in Arkum’s place?” he asked, thinking that perhaps this god was relatively resistant to Vandalieu’s attacks on the mind.
“It is one of Nineroad-sama’s subordinate gods – Bashas-sama, the Goddess of Rain Clouds.”
If he were to be honest, Alda was not particularly familiar with that name. He did recall that she had been a woman who was a foreteller of the weather, and she had ascended to become a goddess after dying young.
Unlike Fitun, she was obedient and in no way wicked. Alda did not have much of an impression of her because she did not really cause or get involved in any problems.
But because of those qualities, and the fact that she was a goddess of ill omens, she was not very publicly worshipped by the people. Most statues of her were fearsome and eerie rather than portraying an image of purity.
And she was not thought of as a goddess with mental fortitude or valiance.
Perhaps it is a matter of compatibility with the task rather than mental fortitude? Alda wondered. Even the God of Sunlight and the God of Evil-Crushing, whom Bellwood left in my care, have reported dizziness and headaches from the attacks on their minds. But the Goddess of Dark Nights and the God of Shadows have been unaffected.
The Goddess of Dark Nights and the God of Shadows had ominous-sounding titles, but both were gods of the light attribute. In this world, darkness was not an attribute of its own. Rather, it represented a state or a space in which there was no light, so it was considered to be a part of the light attribute.
There was even a light-attribute spell called ‘Darkness,’ which manipulated light to create darkness –a space where light did not shine.
In the same way, nights of pitch-black darkness and shadows, which could be created as long as light were present, were ruled over by light-attribute gods.
Having thought up to this point, a thought suddenly occurred to Alda. “… Wait, is this situation alright?”
There were some among guiders who could influence not only mortals, but gods as well – Just like the champion Bellwood, who had spoken of the correct state that the world should exist in, and the ‘Fallen Champion’ Zakkart, who had convinced numerous evil gods to betray the Demon King’s army and corrupted Vida to insanity.
Was Vandalieu not one such individual? The second Demon King’s guidance had misled not only Vida and the evil gods corrupted by Zakkart, but Ricklent and Zuruwarn as well. Would this guidance not affect other gods?
Basha, the Goddess of Dark Nights and the God of Shadows looked like they were not under mental attack, but could it be that they were actually being affected by his guidance?
Am I overthinking things? In reality, they are showing no signs of making moves to betray us. And as for whether they are being affected by his guidance, I may be able to read the minds of mortals, but I am unable to peer into the hearts of gods. I would not be able to tell unless they were to show concrete signs, Alda thought to himself. But just in case, I suppose I shall investigate the state of their heroes. As they are gods, if they were to try and make contact with Vandalieu, they would use their believers rather than do so themselves.
With these thoughts in mind, Alda inquired as to whether anyone knew of the whereabouts of the heroes of Bashas as well as the other two gods in question, but there was not a single familiar spirit who knew of the heroes being nurtured by these gods.
The reason for that was, Bashas knew that she was feared as a goddess of ill omens, so she had told her potential heroes to keep the divine protection she had given them a secret for a while.
As for the Goddess of Dark Nights and the God of Shadows, it wasn’t clear if they were even nurturing heroes or not. Nobody knew, as they avoided contact with other gods even more than Bashas did.
While the heroes of other gods were performing glorious deeds under their watch, Bashas’s heroes were out there somewhere, acting in secret.
“… I must quickly choose gods to send out in order to replace them. And I suppose it would be best to hear what they have to say,” Alda muttered to himself.
Carelessly suspecting his allies would bring about the downfall of his faction, but he could not simply leave them be.
Talosheim would be renamed. Or to be precise, the name ‘Talosheim’ would continue to be used, but only to refer to the city rather than the entire nation.
The new name would be used not only for Talosheim – it would be used to refer to the nation comprising all lands ruled by Vandalieu, including the Demon Continent, the former Scylla territory and the entire area inside the Boundary Mountain Range.
This large project was taking place behind the scenes, unknown to Vandalieu, the emperor of the nation.
It was also kept a secret from Chezare, the general and prime minister, as well as his aide Kurt Legston, the military officers and civil officials that served them such as Cuoco Ragdew, the people who were once leaders in the separated territory that was the Demon Continent, and the gods and leaders of the nations within the Boundary Mountain Range.
As if it were some kind of bullying by exclusion, all possible efforts had been made to ensure that Vandalieu never learned of it.
The construction of the enormous statue of Vandalieu was, by coincidence, the perfect cover to distract Vandalieu’s attention away from the project.
“But you know, I don’t think ‘Great Vandalieu Demon Empire’ is going to work. There’s gotta be other options,” said Matthew, having heard this suggested name that was suggested by Talos.
Incidentally, Matthew and the others from the orphanage would immigrate to Talosheim in the future, so they had come to Talosheim to see it before it actually happened – and also to have them participate in the parades and festivals, and to make preliminary preparations for Seris and Vestra’s surgeries.
“I agree,” said Vandalieu in response to Matthew’s opinion, nodding more quickly and more enthusiastically than usual.
Seeing Vandalieu’s reaction, Matthew suddenly gave a forced smile. “So, how many people did you talk to before you came to me?” he asked.
“… More than ten. Half of them already knew about the changing of the nation’s name, and the other half were unaware but gave unexpected responses,” said Vandalieu.
Gufadgarn, who had been present when Talos suggested changing the nation’s name to him, could not understand what Vandalieu thought was problematic at all. This was likely because she was the Evil God of Labyrinths, and there was already a nation that was named after its guardian deity in the Boundary Mountain Region, Zanalpadna.
“Someone as lowly as myself cannot understand, but I am always the servant of the great Vandalieu,” she had said comfortingly, but Vandalieu had the feeling that something was off.
Darcia had said, “Yes, they should play around with it a little more,” recommending that the name be adjusted a little, but seeming to agree with renaming itself.
Most people other than those who had been taken to the city of Morksi were aware of the renaming. However, Luciliano, who was permanently holed up in the underground workshop other than for meals, and Kasim, Fester and Zeno, who were Vandalieu’s friends but ordinary explorers otherwise, had been unaware.
Luciliano had casually brushed the matter aside, saying: “More importantly, Master, I believe that we should move that experiment to the human experiment stage.”
Kasim, Fester and Zeno, on the other hand, had been happy for Vandalieu and congratulated him.
Vandalieu was grateful for everyone’s support, but all of them had given different reactions from the one he had been hoping for.
Thus, he had begun to wonder whether it was him that was strange for detesting the idea of having the nation named after himself, and that was why he had come to hear the opinions of Matthew and the others who had been secretly brought here from Morksi from the parade.
“You’ve come at the perfect time! Vandalieu-dono, I mean, Vandalieu-sama! Please do something about these impertinent brats!” shouted Luvesfol’s voice.
A hands-on ‘interaction with a familiar’ session was being held in the plaza for the children, using Luvesfol as the subject with Pauvina’s supervision.
But Vandalieu and Matthew ignored his pleas and continued their conversation.
“But why are you asking me? Wouldn’t it have been better to ask your disciples, old man Simon or Natania nee-chan?” Matthew asked.
“Simon and Natania are currently very tired, and are asleep. Borkus and Vigaro got a little too excited while training them,” said Vandalieu.
Wanting to train the newcomers effectively, Borkus and Vigaro had used training weapons to have fights against Simon and Natania going all-out, providing a kind of training that was quite close to a real battle.
The two of them possessed strength and vigor that was not at all inferior to physical incarnations of heroic spirits, and Vigaro had been particularly into it, as Simon and Natania were both users of ‘Spirit Form’ like him. Thus, Simon and Natania seemed to have been provided with an enriched training environment… and as a result, they were now dead tired and sleeping like logs.
“I see… But you’re this country’s first king, right? So wouldn’t it be normal to name it ‘Zakkart Empire’ rather than Vandalieu?” said Matthew.
Indeed, most nations in the human societies of this world were derived from their founders’ surnames.
This was true for the Amid Empire as well as the Mirg shield-nation, one of its vassal states. It was a little different in the case of the Orbaume Kingdom. It was named after the Free City of Orbaume, where the nation’s founder united twelve independent nations and devised the system of having an elected monarch. This city was at the center of what was now the capital realm.
However, even the Free City of Orbaume had originally been named by taking one character from each of the surnames of its five founders.
TLN: ‘Orbaume’ is five characters in Japanese: オルバウム
Considering this convention, there would be nothing strange about using Vandalieu’s surname as the name of the nation.
“But that’s a little odd, too. I got the surname ‘Zakkart’ after I became the king and emperor. And… there’s no guarantee that I won’t get more surnames in the future,” said Vandalieu.
“… You can get more surnames, huh. Well, I suppose you’re right. But it’s kind of surprising that even you get embarrassed sometimes,” said Matthew in an earnest tone.
Vandalieu blinked several times. “Of course, even I have a sense of shame. In fact, I don’t know why you’d think it’s surprising.”
He thought back, but had no idea… no, he had a feeling that there were quite a few past incidents that could have made Matthew think this.
“I’ve done completely dirty, underhanded things to survive such as using poison and microbes to kill enemies and lay traps for enemy armies. Is this how you arrived at that conclusion?!” Vandalieu muttered in shock.
“No! That’s not what I had in mind when I said I thought you were shameless!” said Matthew. “What I mean is, you were quite clingy even when you were out in the city with Darcia-san, Eleanora, Bellmond, Basdia nee-chan and Zadiris. Gufadgarn was always at your back, too.”
Darcia and the others quite often did things like patting Vandalieu’s head, lifting him into the air and embracing him. At first, Matthew hadn’t thought that there was anything strange about that, but he thought it was a little weird now that he knew that Vandalieu was older than him.
He thought that humans of that age would normally feel embarrassed and become bashful when treated like a child.
It was even more noticeable in Talosheim… Men would lift Vandalieu into the air as well. An enormous mass of flesh would swallow Vandalieu up as if it meant to squash him. There were even frequent events that would be more likely to cause fear than embarrassment, like bones that flew through the air snatching him away out of nowhere.
And although Matthew didn’t really understand this because he was an orphan, Vandalieu had given his female acquaintances transformation equipment that transformed into idol clothes, including his own mother, and cheered for them at the front of the audience, not even trying to hide the fact that his mother was one of the performers. This was another thing about Vandalieu that was perhaps abnormal.
But Vandalieu didn’t show any awareness of such abnormalities. Matthew had even been a little worried about his friend, thinking that perhaps Vandalieu didn’t have any emotions at all.
“Matthew… That’s because I’m a lonely, spoiled person who gains peace of mind from physical contact with others. To elaborate further, everyone in the nation is aware of this, but I am also a big mother-con,” he said.
“I-I see,” said Matthew.”
“It is not that I have no sense of shame. I’ve only just realized it, but the things that cause embarrassment for me are just a little different from most people. For example, the carving of an enormous statue of me is one of them.”
The thing that had recently caused the greatest embarrassment for Vandalieu was the project of creating an enormous statue of him. He had become used to there being life-sized statues of him, but he felt resistance to the construction of one that was a hundred meters tall.
“Well, that’s something I can’t understand. Or rather, nobody can. Even the Orbaume Kingdom’s king and the Amid Empire’s emperor haven’t built statues of themselves that big,” said Matthew. “But I do get that you have to do something about the country’s name soon. Not everyone knows about the problem yet, do they?”
“Yes, only the main people involved are aware of it,” said Vandalieu.
“Then you should suggest a name other than ‘Great Vandalieu Demon Empire.’ I mean, it’s you we’re talking about here, so if everyone says they want to name the country that, you’ll be left with no choice, just like with that giant statue,” Matthew pointed out. “Right?”
Vandalieu was taken aback. “N-now that you put it like that, you’re completely right.”
At first, the only one strongly pushing for the statue’s construction had been Nuaza, so Vandalieu had firmly refused. But with the entire nation’s people taking action, he had been forced to respect the people’s voices and give up on resisting it. Now, he was expressing his displeasure but was unable to do anything more than that.
There was no guarantee that the same thing would not occur with the nation’s renaming.
“Then let’s think of some possible names right away… Do you have any good suggestions?” asked Vandalieu.
“Don’t ask me that. It has nothing to do with me, does it?” said Matthew.
“Yes, it does. You’re going to live in this nation one day, so it does have something to do with you,” Vandalieu told him.
“Huh? We’re going to be allowed to live here?! I have to warn you, we’re still amateurs when it comes to taming, so we’re not gonna be earning anything! Or are you after Seris nee-chan and Vestra nee-chan’s bodies?!” Matthew said in an accusing tone.
“No, I’m not going to be expecting you to earn money right away. And I should also say that Seris, Vestra and your bodies are not the only thing I’m after. Give me your hearts, too.”
“Mine as well?!”
Hearing Matthew’s shouting, the other children gathered around to listen to the amusing conversation taking place, and one of them made a wolf whistling noise.
“Matthew nii-chan’s so popular.”
“Matthew nii-chan’s a bit incomplete*, but take good care of him, Vandalieu nii-chan.”
“Wait, isn’t ‘unstudied*’ the correct term?”
TLN: The children are trying to use a difficult, formal word here. I think they are trying to say ‘inexperienced’ or something like that, but they are using the wrong words.
“You guys too, give me your bodies and hearts, and become our citizens!” said Vandalieu, holding his hands out in front of him and pretending to chase them as if he were a monster.
Marsha squealed. “So, you were after my heart all this time!”
“Isn’t that a good thing, Marsha?” one of the other children said to her.
The children laughed as they ran away from Vandalieu.
“H-hey, are you sure about this?!” Matthew asked. “We’re definitely going to be a burden on you! We’re not strong at all yet!”
“I’m not expecting strength from children,” Vandalieu replied. “You can take your time and become strong as you grow into adults.”
Even the people of the Kijin nation, a nation that valued combat prowess, did not immediately expect the strength of an adult from children. It was enough to be as strong as an adult once one was an adult.
“Even once we’re adults, I can’t promise that we’ll be able to repay the favor!” said Matthew.
“I think that’s fine with me,” said Vandalieu. “I’ll leave the choice up to you, but it would make me happier if you would pursue your own happiness rather than try to repay the favor, Matthew.”
Vandalieu had no intention whatsoever to raise Matthew and the other children into spies that were loyal to the nation. He would turn their pets into monsters if they wanted him to, but he had done nothing more than provide good education, such as widening their possible future careers.
Vandalieu would be satisfied as long as his friends grew up to be healthy and sound.
“Van, stop interfering with everyone’s ‘interactive experience.’ Hmph,” said Pauvina, grabbing and lifting Vandalieu into the air like a kitten.
“I’m sorry, I was just having some fun,” Vandalieu apologized.
Matthew looked up at him for a while, then wiped his eyes with a sleeve. “A-alright! Then I’ll help think of a name for the country that you won’t feel embarrassed about! I’m one of this country’s citizens as well, after all!”
The other children got in on it as well.
“What? What are we doing?”
“I’ll help, too!”
“Everyone, Director Holly has prepared some tea, so –” said Seris, who had just come over.
“Seris nee-chan, Vestra nee-chan, everyone! Let’s all think together! Get Director Holly over here, too!” said Matthew.
“Think,” groaned Rapiéçage.
“Thin-thin-think,” Yamata sang.
“Then I’ll be resting in the corner over there,” Luvesfol said quietly.
One of the insects glared at him silently.
“Ngh, don’t look at me with those compound eyes!” Luvesfol said. “Fine, I shall lend my wisdom. Hmph, I suppose it would be amusing in a way for Lioen and Tiamat to become a part of a nation that was named with my input.”
And so, the discussion to think of the nation’s new name began. Later, Seris and the others would say that they hadn’t thought that they were really deciding the nation’s name; they had assumed that it was a joke.
“First, let’s take a part of Vida’s name. It’s a nation with Vida’s faction united in it, after all,” said Vandalieu.
“It’s good to take some characters from the goddess’s name, isn’t it?” said Seris.
“And I think everyone would want a part of Van’s name, too,” said Pauvina.
“Okay, so the ‘Nation of Viva!’” said one of the children.
“… That sounds like the name of a nation of thoughtlessly cheerful people,” said Luvesfol.
“How about taking some characters other than the first characters?” suggested Matthew. “Like ‘n,’ ‘da’ or ‘ru.’”
Before Vandalieu knew it, Eleanora, Isla, Bellmond and others were gathering around and joining in as well.
“And what about taking some characters from Ricklent and Zuruwarn’s names?” said Eleanora.
“They are great gods that are our allies, after all. How about adding Gufadgarn’s name as well?” suggested Isla.
“So, the ‘Nation of Virizugulieu?” said Bellmond.
“That sounds terrible,” said Isla.
“Alright! How about holding a tournament, and giving the right to name the country to the one who wins?! I’ll be satisfied with just fighting in the tournament, though!” said Godwin.
“Father?! Don’t say such silly things!” said Iris, telling him off.
“Then let’s just draw straws to decide. We can try the name out for a hundred years or so, and change it again if you don’t like it,” said Borkus.
“It’s quite difficult to decide, isn’t it. How about having a simpler name? I think we can use Ricklent and Zuruwarn’s names for Dungeons, cities and villages that will probably be built in the future,” said Kanako. “Royals and nobles apparently tend to name cities and bridges after their wives and mistresses.”
“I don’t know if you should be comparing those, but… I think it’d be easier to say the country’s name if it were simpler,” said Doug.
With the voicing of Kanako and Doug’s opinions, the more complicated and mysterious-sounding candidates were ruled out, and the brainstorm moved in the direction of a simpler name.
“How about names from our world, like ‘Guardheim’ or ‘Hellheim?’” suggested Legion.
But it was decided that a name from this world would be used.
In the end, one and a half characters were taken from Vida’s name, and two from Vandalieu’s. Through coincidence, this also contained one character from the name of the nation’s currency, the Luna.
TLN: Luna is ルナ/runa, which has the ル/ru in common with Vandalieu’s name ヴァンダルー/Vandaruu
“Well then, let us report to Chezare and Talos with the suggested name: ‘The Demon Empire of Vidal,’” said Vandalieu.
For some reason, the ‘Demon’ character remained in the nation’s name.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Temp950
why demon? that makes it sound evil. Besides… its not even an empire of demons to begin with.
prnewt
“Give me your hearts, too.”
For a momment I thought of a pink guy.
Also Van sure is a NTR-pro, snatched Alda his three gods already
NsP7737
I’ve just realized, but if this were to be an anime
they won’t say Vandalieu but Vandaruu…
VANDARUU-SAMA!
Adddmeeee
Van doesn’t just want your body, he’s also after your heart!
FunniFear
The Demon Empire of Vidal — I don’t know, that doesn’t sound good to me. First of all his empire has nothing to do with demons (he only took a couple from the dungeon), I understand if it was his title Demon King. “Vidal” sounds very strange and very short. Meh.
Chiu ChunLing
It’s “ヴィダル魔帝国”, Vidalu Devil Imperial Nation. The “魔” is the same “ma” as in mahou shojo (Magical Girl) and other uses of ‘magic’, but doesn’t include the “人” necessary to make it “Devil-person” (Demon) nor the “王” for it to be “Demon Lord”.
It’s just that, contextually, the complaint against “魔” would be that it means “Demon” rather than “Magic”. In other words, while a ‘better’ translation of the name of the country might be “Vidal Magic Empire”, that doesn’t capture the implicit connection between “magic” and “devil art/people” that has largely died out of the English usage (and has no etymological connection, “magic” originally having meant “art/technique” with no implication of a connection to the devil).
It’s just that, because the country is ruled by a “魔王” who is also several kinds of “帝”, the most logical connotation of the “Magic Empire” name is “an empire ruled by a Demon Lord as Emperor”. Hence the name is very logical at many levels, but not all the meanings fit with any single English translation.
Well, hopefully Van’s “Demon Lord” title can be upgraded to “Demon Emperor” (魔帝) at some point.
Kerlark Dgrayman
Wow, Van-sama is so easily to be misunderstood whether it’s from the gods or from his people.
I really like the part where he said he is a mother-con. I’m happy and laughing at the same time.
Irazori
Typical aldiot baseless line of thinking.
NjShade
So there are some god secretly has been guide by Van
Who Cares
Ah the tyrant god is realizing that if you want to rule as a tyrant you need a secret police to ferret out dissenters and traitors.
He should have taken Van as an example of how to be a benevolent tyrant instead of the tin pot dictator style one he decided to be.
Absolute Zer0
My conclution after this chapter is
Zeus minus horny equals Alda
seventhtale
LMAO I’ve thought of Viva too, and surprised when I saw the next line. Guess I’m child too.
Somebody
Very disappointed that they didn’t name it the Kingdom of Vandals. The primary religion would of course be Vandalism.
AnnaYvette
You know Alda… you could always just leave him be? He’s annihilated your forces when you’ve instigated him, but when you aren’t bugging him Vandalieu is just vibing and just doing his thing, he’s not persecuting you outright
AnnaYvette
Van also isn’t trying to like conquer the world or destroy it or invade the whole thing or whatever, and he doesn’t attack or kill unprovoked.
Who Cares
That is the problem. Van is not obeying Alda and that is as we’ve read a crime. Worse he is collecting others who do not obey Alda. And as any tyrant knows you cannot let that situation fester or it will come back to bite you later.
Chiu ChunLing
While Alda could just let Van be, this will inevitably lead to a resurgence of worship of Vida and the gods of her faction, who have a program less insanely incompatible with the ultimate survival of humanity in this world.
Keep in mind, the reason that Marshkuzarl doesn’t allow the genocide of Vida races isn’t because he doubts it is the will of Alda, but because he’s studied enough of the 100,000 years of history of civilization in Bahn Gaia to understand that large human populations require Vida races to mitigate Devil’s Nests in areas that are not economically habitable for humanity. Otherwise it becomes unsustainable to manage those areas, they turn into unmitigated Devil’s Nests, and then expand and drive the nation into impoverishment until new leadership arises (or takes over from without) who rejects the religious duty of exterminating Vida races and allows them to live in those areas humans can’t readily manage.
The alternative solution would be to promote technology to allow humans to reach the Industrial Age and start “raping the environment” just the way Bellwood feared. Of course this would still tend to favor nations less inclined to take Alda seriously.
Alda is sorta correct about one thing…his past errors have been so egregious that if he fails to double down on them and exclusively select subordinate gods who unquestioningly accept them as ‘necessary’, he cannot survive as a god. If he admits that everything he’s done so far has been to the detriment of not only Vida and her races but also harmed humanity for 100,000 years, he’s not going to be worshipped much.
LuxSaar
I’ve finally caught up.
SheepySenpai
How would Vidal be pronounced?
Lord Rin
So Alda mentions how Bellwood could guide gods? The irony is lost on that idiot. He can’t even see he was the one guided by Bellwood.
There are two other gods that aren’t really affected by Van’s drawings like Bashas. Maybe they’ll decide to defect to Van’s side with Bashas. Alda seems to be worried of that very possibility though but he probably won’t make a move to investigate any time soon. He can be just as lazy as Rodcorte at times and postpone things until they get out of hand. Like when he let Hihi-chan set up his evil vampire organization or not doing anything immediately after learning Van can break souls.
Vidal is a good name. Hmm… since it would be pronounced Vidaru and Darcia’s name would be pronounced Darushia you could also say that Van named the empire after his two mommies >.>
conscript117
Well, he is a mother-con after all, who could blame him.
ObserverBias
(Mind that guiding is inherently not seen as a ‘bad’ thing, and that if accused of such Alda would focus on how Bellwood did succeed in defeating the previous Demon King) Despite the very relevant details.
gomezseba37
Alda recognizing the power and nature of his opponent makes him really scary to have as an enemy. but he is just to hard headed, he probably got guieded by bellwood
Flesh Sculptor
I have a very intense desire to punch Alda every time he calls Vida insane or corrupted.
Yes Van is on a brainwashy side of things, but he does not really take advantage of it – he genuinely cares for each and every one of them.
It is sort of like falling in love – a form of mutual, and mutually accepted, brainwashing. Besides, the only time he consciously uses brainwashing on allys and innocents is when they are mentally in pain and he is trying to help them.
He is not on the side of good but calling him evil is just stupid.
And Vida was never insane OR corrupt. One mishap she had was being foolhardy for a little while. And she can be forgiven for that one, that was when her hero, the guy who was one of the closest people to her, the man she seems to have been in love with – died and had his soul crushed. It would not be strange for her to actually go mad, instead she just went through with an admittedly rushed and rather reckless plan, that still made sense. Kind of an admirable showcase of mental fortitude actually… Even for a god…
Doc
For clarification, the “guider” jobs and his death charm thing aren’t really brainwashing per se. I believe Zadiris described it at some point. Like they’re consciously aware of the fact that they don’t feel threatened from Van and are more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust in him. But he’s not taking away anybody’s free will. If he does something bad or people disagree with him, the guiding/death charming does nothing.
You’re right that he does have skills which could allow him to more directly brainwash others, but he never does that.
ObserverBias
Alda’s perception that Vida is insane/corrupted seems rooted in his having been guided by Bellwood, whose material-plane fanatics actively seek out and destroy advancements in technology (under the core concept that “new is bad,” which in Alda’s eyes applies to the “new” races Vida brought into existence).
Basically DnD rules on “necromancy and undead = evil,” plus Vida sort of using something similar to not-quite bring back Zakkart, turned towards any resulting race.
Not helping the case ever since have been the most powerful trio of active Pureblood undead and their organizations, who have “recently” (as in the last handful of years) been taken out of the picture.
theblasblas
Nah, nah, nah, Alda’s view isn’t simply “new is bad”. The races of Vida that are part-monster all spread corrupted mana much like monsters which creates Demons’ Nests, eventually there’s a risk that the world will one day turn into a barren wasteland much like the homeworld of the evil gods. Alda wants to maintain the present order and prevent the spread of Demons’ Nests, whereas Vida wants to promote the survival of the fittest in the hopes that one day her children would be capable of living in the barren wasteland. Alda is Brotherhood of Steel, Vida is Super Mutants.
Eddy
The problem is that it does not apply to all races of Life, even those that are descended from monsters, the excillas lived for years and at most there was a dungeon, the vampires neither, nor the ghouls and I think the centaurs or harpies. Furthermore, even if she admits that she was wrong in not telling Alda or talking about it, she does not regret her plan or having created them, she is the goddess of life, life can be cruel, but she also gets ahead without matter the shape, and even so, she is also the goddess of love, she loves “humans” and she was not going to leave them behind, Alda is much worse in that aspect, for him humans are part of his drawing of the ideal world, whether 10,000 or 1,000,000 die doesn’t matter as long as 1,000 remain.
and everything is based on the premise that Alda could purify, the two contaminated continents and the current one, remembering to fight against the evil gods and that each fight against them increases the size of the devil’s nests, and that to purify a devil’s nest You need the church itself, and not just any priest and a whole reform, and using divine power would leave the gods useless and the world at the mercy of real threats.
And from what you say, Alda is practically a genocide and life is a super mutant that can be reproduced and therefore does not need so much a race in many ways inferior more than for the companionship of living on the same planet and having parents in common.
theblasblas
Even if it takes hundreds of thousands of years, the fact that monsters spread corrupted mana that will eventually turn the world into a Devil’s Nest.is reason enough to exterminate them. That Vida does not regret her actions doesn’t mean that her actions weren’t wrong.
Also, here’s the thing, Alda’s church so far has been able to survive even after having to fight and win against Vida’s forces. This leads credence to the idea that what Vida did was unneeded for life to flourish. If Vida had just worked alongside Alda then they could’ve found a way to defeat the “threat” Vida was afraid of.
CyberDre
Dude , it wasn’t just to create new life for the planet , it was also a way to give the evil god’s who defected to their side a place among their pantheon , As well as remove them from Rodcorte’s system cuz well he was ready to abandon Lambda should they lose WITHOUT even lending a finger to help.
I’m not saying Alda was wrong, yes he had every right to be scared and wary of this plan, from his POV what she was doing was reckless , however , it wasn’t illogical, the benefits outweiged the dangers that it would cause , not to mention a lot more power would be put into maintaining the attributes.
Well what I get from this is , both were technically right, Alfa proved humans could survive and thrive , however his plan to go to “the good old days” is an impossible reckless dream that might actually put the world in danger given how much energy that would take to accomplish one tenth of that. As for Vida , given the state of the world and what Rodcorte had done (or didn’t do) it was a completely logical plan to bind the defected gods to them as well as gain independence from Rodcorte, however if she had discussed things first , they could have worked on the kinks in the biology of the newer races , especially the ones with ranks, tho personally I believe Alda would’ve struck her down then and there.
If I were to blame anyone, I would blame Rodcorte , had he done what he was doing now to the bravers when Guduranis was out and about, none of this would have happened.
theblasblas
I don’t think Alda would have struck her down then and there for just trying to discuss it.
Yes, in the end, it’s Rodcorte and Guduranis’ fault. I’m just arguing against the sentiment that Alda is a bad god, he’s of equal, if not less, blame as Vida.
Chiu ChunLing
No, Vida’s races haven’t been actively trying to wipe out humanity because Vida doesn’t want that.
So essentially they’ve been enduring a one-sided massacre without any general attempt at retaliation, and you think that this is proof of the moral superiority of those on the side that would have already been wiped out by now if they got serious?
theblasblas
The vampires are one of Vida’s races, and they’re like the greatest source of evil in recent history. The ghouls have admitted to hunting humans that were just passing by.
Vida is laissez faire, besides those living in her sanctuary none of her races really follow her words to the letter outside of the fact that “survival of the fittest” is already a programmed instinct. They don’t not try to wipe out humanity because of Vida, they don’t try to do that because they don’t have the power to. Vida’s races are just as capable of evil as any other race. The real issue is the fact that they have corrupted mana that pollutes the world around them.
Chiu ChunLing
The vampires would still all be worshipping Vida if someone hadn’t attacked her, stabbed her half to death, sealed her and then stolen her divinity by lying to all humans for thousands of years.
.
Anything any Vampires have done since then is entirely on Bellwood and Alda. That includes the activities of the ones maintaining the Barrier to keep out Alda’s faction as well as those worshipping Evil Gods.
.
There are no “humans that were just passing by” the centers of Devil’s Nests where the Ghouls live out of necessity. And they only hunt the ones that try to kill/capture/rape them on sight, they’re perfectly happy to orgy with the ones that act friendly.
.
Your claim that nobody respects Vida’s doctrine of not slaughtering women and children is flatly contradicted by every instance of the text that discusses the subject. Try again.
.
The issue of “corrupted Mana” is real, but wiping out Vida’s races will only INCREASE the spread of corrupted mana because monsters and the Evil Gods still produce it and humans lack the strength to control them in most of the world, including ALL of the oceans (which fairly clearly constitute the majority of this world). Humans are holding onto just parts of an archipeligo on their own, they’re holding onto most of one continent and the sea routes connecting back to the islands with the help of Vida’s races, the remainder of the continent and two whole other continents (that we know about) are basically closed to human colonization and there is no serious possibility of that changing without them relying on Vida’s races.
Eddy
Vandeliu, be careful, that is a lethal technique that you did there, if matthew were in puberty you would have left him more confused than a ghoul child when they explain that Vandeliu is a man.
on the other hand, it is always interesting to see how Alda, like Robcorte, can have moments where he is the voice of reason, but their nature prevents them from being effective.
ExplodingPenguinDood
Classic Van, getting schooled by Matthew 😂😂
Thanks for the TL Yoshi 👍👍
Kazza
Hmm. Vidal. Yeah, I think it rolls off the tongue pretty well.
What would the citizens be called? Vidalians? Vidalmites? Just plain citizens of the Vidal Empire?
VEreality
Vandals…….oh wait no that’s for the new religion….
Dr. Steel
That makes them all seem like they like to vandalize the city, you know, graffiti and destroy stuff.
Eddy
in addition there is already a variant Majin Vandals, and it is a complete consideration that it is a race of beastly and muscular beings.
VEreality
Nah nah nah… this name is perfect. Just imagine one of Alda’s priests screaming “The Vandals are comming!” as they rush in to PILLAGE AND PLUNDER their b!tch a$$ church and city. All the while blasting Sabadon “In the name of god”. ‘Cause in the Vidal empire we stan the god emperor!
Eddy
It is tempting, although I see the empire with a more defensive posture, you know, a ghoul guard and a skeleton casually speaking on their turn and someone shoots an arrow that bounces off the ghoul’s chest and he didn’t even notice.
Eddy
the latter is the most acceptable if you take into account the number of races in the empire
Cain_The_Wanderer
Hmmm, I really thought they’d come up with something like ‘Vandalheim’ or something like that
Buphido
“It is certainly true that Vandalieu is evil. (…)” Alda continued.
“Alda-sama, do you mean to say that he is not evil?!”
“…I just said that he is. Listen to me when I talk you little shit.”
Chiu ChunLing
To be fair, what he’s saying doesn’t make any damn sense until you understand that he defines “evil” in the more overtly solipsistic sense than most people feel comfortably acknowledging.
Doc
I feel like the author is getting a wee bit “having their cake and eating it too” with these Alda faction gods “observing” Van’s actions. Like they can observe in enough detail to know a party is being thrown and that people are building a giant statue but can’t observe that the people appear to be genuinely happy or are actively praying at said statue. Clearly indicating nobody is being forced, coerced, or oppressed into doing things they don’t want to do.
Like I know they only get like a bird’s eye view of Talosheim, but there should still be plenty of directly observable evidence that Van is not an oppressive Tyrant by now (they should also be able to see Van’s demon king familiar opposing said construction, even from their vantage point). Like, I get Alda’s faction have to be built up in such a way that we see them as clearly bad and to root for Van, but this just makes them seem overly dumb. Actively refusing to report evidence that doesn’t fit their specific bias, even if that goes against their orders.
Anywho, other than that, Vidal sounds like a perfectly serviceable name. Personally I would have gone with “Eclipse Empire”, since one of Van’s titles is the “Eclipse Emporer” and an Eclipse involves the sun which is connected to Talosheim’s guardian diety, Talos
CyberDre
The way I see it , it’s typical propaganda that’s found even in our real world , I mean think about it, would anyone want to praise or acknowledge their enemy? Would you admit that they are an excellent ruler? Whether it’s pure racism or a way to bolster morale for your side , it’s normal to twist your enemy’s intention to suit your own views.
I’m glad Alda has clearified what his perception on Good and Evil is , it’s basically “My word is law and if you opposite, YOU’RE EVIL” simple logic used by virtually all Dictators , but one that works well everytime in a story. Well I’m just glad Alda isn’t dumb, he’s just a Moron!
Demon Vidal Empire, huh? No matter how you spin , it sounds evil as Fuck and I love it! It’s like Van is okay with Demonic sounding powers and titles so far as it’s not something “embarrassing” like his name in the title , seriously, how can someone this adorable be the Demon lord and bastards like Alda are god of law? Very weird…..
So the heros of Bashas and the goddess of Dark nights and God of Darkness are probably those dudes that are heading to Alcum Duchy huh? Arthur was the leader’s name I think…. Noice , even better is God’s with eerie sounding titles and authorities seem more likely to be guided by Van , I guess it has to do with them being stigmatized by mortals (kinda reminds me of my main man Hades ) and how their fellow gods treat them, just hope they have time to safely defect b4 Alda gets to wise.
nadirku
For the Alda faction, I think the key term to keep in mind is “confirmation bias” – when someone tries to find, or give more weight to evidence that supports an existing conclusion, and ignores, or downplays evidence that refutes it. There have been probably plenty of “happy” parades in North Korea, and various other dictatorships, and monuments constructed of the “Dear Leader” of those countries…
Telling the difference between a happy, and unhappy country would probably require a more detailed observation than the gods are capable of doing between headaches induced by Vandalieu’s art installations.
Doc
The problem with just saying, “it’s confirmation bias” is that it implies they were always doing that. Alda’s faction doesn’t need to come up with fake reasons to want Van dead. He’s taking in parts of the former demon king. He can break souls of mortals and gods. He’s supporting the exiled and punished Vida. All these reasons were perfectly valid and while we know the circumstances and that’s why we side with Van, those reasons can still be soundly argued in Alda’s favor for why Van must be stopped.
Alda himself has at least acknowledged Van shows kindness to his friends, family, and supporters, which shows his side isn’t completely ignoring all evidence to the contrary. That’s why I’m saying what we just read in this chapter seems a little forced on the author’s part to further push these Alda gods as the “enemy”. I just find it unnecessary to make them seem that dumb.
Regarding your example, as I said, there’s plenty of directly observable evidence pointing to him not being a tyrant. The parade is just one thing.
Tejing
I don’t think it’s forced at all. It’s normal for people to want things to be more black and white than they really are, and to bias their interpretations that way as well, especially in a social context where the opinions of the others around them strongly match their own.
Also, most of these young gods were adventurers when they were human, not philosophers or logicians. It’s reasonable for them not to have cultivated much ability for abstract detachment. Especially given the level of education that a typical adventurer (or most any non-noble) has in this world.
Chiu ChunLing
There’s also the fact that, if they weren’t unthinkingly loyal to Alda’s faction, he’d have eliminated them from consideration for elevation to godhood. We saw him do that with someone who had previously been a likely candidate up with Bormack Gordan and Heinz. It was straight up “guy has heroic god qualities, but is tempted by Vida, therefore rejected.”
ExplodingPenguinDood
Does it matter to Alda and co. that Van’s citizen is not being forced? He wants them all dead anyway and the humans that live there peacefully and happy they can chuck them up as brainwashed so of course they’re gonna be happy. I thought Alda was talking about Morksi people and how they’re not just absolutely disgusted by the sight of Van like Alda maybe wants them to
Doc
It doesn’t matter per Alda’s final goal, but does in the context of them understanding their enemy’s personality. As Alda’s innermonologue stated, if Van was a tyrant who ruled through power and fear alone, that would make it easier to dispose him through flipping his subordinates, like the original demon king. Having an accurate idea of who Van is and what his behavior is like should be important to Alda’s faction, yet this chapter depicts his faction giving completely misleading or erroneous reports based solely on their own malice for Van.
Basically I’m saying it’s just unnecessary. They don’t need to come up with fake reasons to hate Van. He is a threat to Alda’s world order and that’s all the reader needs to be against them.
ExplodingPenguinDood
I never thought that Alda and co. bothered and tried to understand their enemy, he only does it after the fact ie Gurdanis and Vida and even if he did would Alda really try what Zakkart did? I doubt it with his reasoning that it would betray long dead people. Alda does unnecessary things all the time to me so it doesn’t seem out of place for him and his entourage to do it
Doc
I mean this chapter shows that Alda does think understanding Van is important. He wouldn’t have advised caution to the younger gods otherwise. Alda simply finds Van incompatible with his world view.
I swear, any time the smallest hint of criticism appears, people come from the woodwork to defend it like their child was injured. I keep saying “a bit” and “unnecessary” because the story isn’t bad or wrong because of it, just could be more compelling without. Unless you’re saying idiot Alda faction enemies are better for the story?
ExplodingPenguinDood
Why get defensive? Was I coming off as aggressive there? If I did I’m sorry it wasn’t my intention. I never said that Alda was an idiot, it’s just that they have their blindsides as have Vida and Van. Like you said he is progressing somewhat albeit slowly. Although that might be because he perceives Van as a greater threat than Gurdanis, so he needs to do bettet.
Is Alda the final boss of this novel? I hope not, I think it would be better for Van overall if they would hash it out before their world slowly die out due to too few gods. In that sense I am sort of cheering on for Alda to be a better god I guess, might be in the minority tho so 🤷
Eddy
You have a good point, if I give you my opinion, I think Alda is not an idiot, he is stubborn and his ideology clashes with that of Vandeliu and Vida, but the main problem is not that he is influenced by Bellwood or is an idiot, because until now He has shown that while his faction is an echo chamber full of idiots, he is intelligent, stubborn, but with intelligence that allows him to understand the situation better than almost all his allies (although he is partly responsible), his problem is similar to that of Heinz, is very passive, whether his intentions are good or bad, nothing will matter if he does not print it on time and entrust everything to others, Alda’s plan is for each god to nurture his hero in his own way and for Bellwood to revive, whatever He can doubt years, and while in a year they do not advance, Vandeliu already created a couple of rank A.
ObserverBias
In what capacity are you founding your critique, then? The author took tacks to reason out why unnamed gods besides Alda might be biased in the negative, which allows Alda to (at all) show any presence of mind in advising them to chill out.
Mind, general audience perception seems to read that “only Rodcorte and Alda are the main problems on the gods’ side,” which isn’t true by itself. As far as their perceptions matter, of course unnamed gods would take issue with the new Demon King successfully slaying one of their ilk who actually mattered, at the end of the day it’s the Demon King killing a god, regardless of said god having gotten himself into poor graces and been the aggressor.
Counter to your claim, if they ‘had’ just been justifying their ire in “Alda doesn’t like him so we don’t either,” that WOULD be those unnamed gods being the “idiot enemies” you seem to not desire.
Who Cares
Aside from the confirmation bias there is also that they are suffering from “It is difficult to get a man to understand something if their salary depends on not understanding it”.
Alda does not deal with dissent well and Alda has something that is more akin an idée fixe when it comes to Van being an enemy then anything else. So you better go with that or else.
Chiu ChunLing
If Alda were a reasonable guy in the first place, he wouldn’t have assaulted Vida and attempted to exterminate her races.
If the gods in his faction were reasonable, they wouldn’t have been on his side during the war against Vida or he wouldn’t have elevated them to godhood later.
If they were actually even doing a good job maintaining the world, it wouldn’t have lingered for 100,000 years remaining largely uninhabitable.
Marshkuzarl is only human, but he has the correct understanding of the actual relationship between humanity and the Vida races, humans can only prosper on the Bahn Gaia continent because the Vida races are there to mitigate Devil’s Nests in areas that humans can’t economically settle.
That’s why Alda’s genocidal program has never generated deep traction with humanity in general, sane people know that the Vida races aren’t intractably hostile and in fact are essential for the survival of humanity. The various kingdoms and empires of the past that took the duty of genocide of Vida races seriously all ended up straight up losing to numerically inferior forces or they succeeded but destroyed the livability of their own territories by driving out all the Vida races that kept the magic ecology in check.
The serious scholars and intelligent rulers of humanity all know this. They know that strict observance of Alda’s commands inevitably leads to national suicide.
But Alda doesn’t pay any attention to their opinions, other than rejecting such people as potential subordinate gods after death.
It’s telling that he’s okay with Heinz, who knows perfectly well that wanton murder of Vida races looks bad but doesn’t think it’s actually fundamentally wrong or incompatible with the survival of humanity. Alda also is fine admitting that the genocidal program looks bad and needs to be dressed up to be more palatable. But he doesn’t accept that it’s actually counterproductive, and he doesn’t elevate those who notice that to godhood.
Ace o laemons
thanks for the chapter ,btw can we expect the thumbnail for the series to change to the new LN vol cover.
Superboy8338
FRICK YOU, ALDA!! Also, Vidal is an OKAY name.
Dr. Steel
I think a big thing to note when it comes to the name if that it’s translated and our language works very differently, so some of it is lost in translation, no matter how well or how much the translator adjusts it.
VEreality
Thank you Yoshi-sama!
Lo and behold! Alda the broken clock is right once again. The last time for today I guess. Not gonna lie that was a pretty good deduction. Once again he proves that he is not stupid, he is just a moron.
Also, I have gone deeper into this fandom and visited Reddit r/deathmage. The funny thing is that there are a couple of people who think that Van has kinda brainwashed the majority of the population of his now empire with his Guidance. Welp, this chapter just proved them wrong.
And I mean “who wouldn’t be loyal to Van?”
He is:
1)Someone you can relate to
2)Someone who does care about every and each citizen
3)Someone who can take/make a joke despite being in a high position
4)Someone who gives you absolute trust and accepts you for who you are
5)An overall Daddy. Not a Dad. A Daddy. As in the famous “He may be your dad, but sure ain’t your daddy” quote kind of Daddy. Poor Matthew and the other orphans just got a full dose of it.
VEreality
I have mulled over this idea and realised this:
-The bees that serve Quinn call him FATHER
-The Orculus, Anubis and Black Goblin races exist because of him, therefor his IS their dad in a way
-The Abyss Vampires are the same
-As such are a couple of other races and characters
-Zod went as far as to call Van his fourth PARENT(family tree is weird for people who got converted from other races)
-Pauvina should actually consider Van her DAD(he stated this himself in the earliest chapters)
-He is trying his damn best to pamper the citizens like a MOTHER HEN(not 100% accurate but you can’t deny it either)
…….
Van IS a DADDY. He pretty much adopted the entire empire. Lmao, he is the Allfather of Lambda! He even destroyed the Braver who held the tittle Odin! XD
Dr. Steel
And ate his soul, and stole his Odin ability!
Sinfulmass
Thanks
Kiriaru
Not a bad name really. It was funny as heck when they said they all tried their hardest to keep it a secret from vandalieu and then he is already their giving his input. At least Alda isn’t completely stupid.
nadirku
Vandalieu in the beginning: I better avoid any jobs, skills, or titles that will make it hard to fit in with human societies…
Vandalieu now: I can lead a “Demon Empire”, just don’t name it after me!!!
Skarbrand
A lot can change in 11 years.
VEreality
He can compromise on a lot of things… BUT NOT PRINCIPLES! The heart of his kingdoom is the same even if it’s now an empire.
Eddy
Vandeliu has been wondering the same thing for 100 chapters.
Irazori
To be fair, that was only because his status could be seen if he registered as an adventurer.
Tejing
Alda’s showing more of his true colors here. It’s kinda disturbing to see him recognize this about Vandalieu and not question him being evil at all. He basically said here that the definition of “evil” is “opposing Alda” (or really, Bellwood).
Also, how can he not realize he was guided by Bellwood? or does he?
I was hoping Alda wouldn’t consider the possibility of gods from his faction being guided for a while longer. I guess Arthur and his group are probably the heros of those gods?
“The Demon Empire of Vidal” is a reasonable compromise I think. Anyone who thinks on it will realize it’s a combination of Vida’s and Van’s names, but it doesn’t throw it in your face the same way, so it’s not so embarrassing.
Skarbrand
This chapter just shows how hopeless it is to reason with Alda. He understands that Van and Vida are not pure evil, but he still considers them evil for going against his idea of order. Alda is going to have to be imprisoned the way Vida was to stop him from doing anything.
SamiNeptune
Merely imprisoned? That psycho has to be annihilated.
ObserverBias
Considering that he /does/ kind of hold two extreme authorities, him being annihilated should probably wait until a slightly more reasonable replacement for him can be… grown? Taught. Raised, that’s it.
On the other part, I reckon he /does/ realize that he was guided himself, but he /doesn’t/ understand the Bellwood’s influence was anything negative; to my understanding he gave the impression to Alda that one might get from Saturday morning cartoons, where “the good guys” always win, and sometimes “the bad guys” can have layers, much like an onion.
It just so happens that Bellwood’s been taking the long nap for a long time and hasn’t had to deal with the fallout of his biases, though it’s entirely possible that he believes his own hype that hard. Though I will say, Alda being at-all aware that his fellow gods’ input might be needlessly biased is a little… interesting? He has some awareness, but I imagine bending his own rules of good/evil as a god of rules would be… difficult.
gomezseba37
I think a world piercing hollow cannon can do him right.
Lord Rin
Nah. Having his soul eaten is better. That would also take away his divine authorities just like how he stole Vida’s authority over the life attribute. Plus since doing so would just transfer the authorities to Van, he doesn’t have to worry about Alda’s destruction having an effect on the world like when Shizarion was destroyed.
ObserverBias
… Except Alda DIDN’T steal Vida’s Life attribute authority; his two authorities are Light and Law, one of which is him covering for a god that fell, isn’t it? Every one that I’m aware of only ever had one authority to be in charge of, barring Zantark (who lost (???) his by fusing with multiple dark gods while injured) and Alda (who, to my recollection, is picking up someone else’s slack, but they either haven’t mattered for a bit or are outright gone, iirc).
That is to say, Vida still has her authority, and I don’t recall her having had 2 of them.
Tejing
Alda was originally the God of Light and Law, but now calls himself the God of Law and Fate, starting from the time he stole Vida’s authority over Life.
Yes, he really did steal her authority; see Side Chapter 2:
The 8 original elemental great gods were all gods of 2 things (and sometimes one more quality, such as Zantark being a war-god, or Ricklent being a “genie”)
See Chapter 3:
Wannabe
When it says Alda finds Van ruling with something other than power and fear unnatural, I can’t be certain if it’s because he’s a demon king or he just doesn’t agree with the method in general. It’d explain him a bit I guess.
Skarbrand
I think it is because Van is the Demon King, because Alda acknowledges that Van would not be able to rule so many people from Lambda if he acted like Guduranis.
theblasblas
No, he’s not saying that Van ruling with compassion is unnatural, rather Van is unnatural. The danger in him ruling through compassion is that it causes people to view Van’s “unnaturalness” as normal. The danger in this is that evil gods, monsters and half-monsters spread corrupted mana which create Devils’ Nests.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, I think that Alda isn’t completely unaware that the gods mainly serve him rather than Vida because of fear of his Stakes of Law more than because he’s particularly benevolent.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Nobody2
Edited
Doom
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR CHAMPION, OUR DEATH GOD, AS HE UNITES THE HEARTS OF ALL PEOPLE WITHIN HUS DOMAIN, AND AS HE CONSTRUCTS A NEW GREAT NAME FOR HIS EMPIRE! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Matthew, I choose you! Use Name Creation!
Eddy
Matthew Use Name Creation.
Matthew has failed.
all join the fight.
IRONMAN000elas
Idk how but i basically guessed the names that were going to be proposed and chosen somehow like i mean litteraly each and every single e of them
no1
Thank you for the chapter Yoshi. So gods of alda’s faction who govern negative and dark aspects can be swayed by Van’s guidance. Some future allies for Van in the future. Were the adventures in the previous chapters heros of the god of shadow and goddess of dark nights or are they completely unrelated. Coming up with a new name for Van’s nation. Matthew is surprisingly thoughtful and Van enjoys playing around with other kids. So Van’s empire will be called The Demon Empire of Vidal, I like it. I was also kind of fond of the Zakkart empire, too bad they aren’t incorporating that. Good chapter to start this month off with, hope to see the next chapters soon, and thanks yoshi.
Skarbrand
It sounds like they were Bashas’ heroes.
Lord Rin
They can’t all be Bashas’ heroes I think. Aren’t the gods all just making one hero each? The others are probably just the party members of whoever is Bashas’ hero.
Doc
As Skarbrand said, it sounds like the group that’s making its way to Alcrem’s capital are Basha’s heroes, from the sound of the foreshadowing going on in this chapter.
Regarding the name, personally I think the “Eclipse Empire” would have been a fine choice. One of Van’s titles is the Eclipse Emporer, and the nation’s former namesake and guardian diety, Talos, is connected with the sun, so Eclipse would tie into that as well.
Cydean
I also was hoping for “Eclipse Empire”. It would have been nice for them to have at least brought it up, just to say that it sounded too temporary or something. The reason Van came up with Eclipse King in the first place I beleive was because he planned to let princess Levia retake the throne, so I can understand why it would be taken off the table now that it’s clear that Van is going to remain the ruler. Also, time for those title updates baby! Vidal Emporor here we go!
Personal head-cannon the name should have landed on “The Eclipse Empire of Vidal”. Still sounds sounds ominous to outsiders and comforting to the residents without the overt demon/dark tag, but can still use the final name.