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TLN: Privel is mentioned very briefly at the end of the previous chapter and I somehow forgot to include her. That’s now fixed
Insect and arachnid monsters either had innate instincts that were too powerful or intelligence that was too low for them to be tamed. Perhaps ordinary people who didn’t come into contact with monsters wouldn’t know this, but it was common knowledge for knights and adventurers.
However, although Arachne possessed the characteristics of spiders, they were a race created by Vida. Naturally, the common knowledge of insect and arachnid monsters being untamable did not apply to them, as they were not actually arachnid monsters.
For some reason, it was an elderly knight who was taking care of the process for Vandalieu’s group entering the city instead of a city guard. And he could understand the explanation that Vandalieu had ‘tamed’ an Arachne.
“Still, I’ve never heard of there being an Arachne or Scylla territory between here and the city of Morksi,” the knight said, looking at Gizania and Privel, who had come out of Sam’s carriage.
Incidentally, Privel was a Scylla Origin who had dragon heads on the ends of her tentacles, but like Gizania and Myuze, she was disguised as an ordinary Scylla with a Magic Item.
“If it is true that you tamed them during your journey, I would like to hear a detailed account just in case, if that is alright? I mean, there have been various incidents in the past with people like underground slave traders illegally selling members of Vida’s races, insisting that they had tamed them,” continued the knight, whose cheeks were drooping because of his age, in a polite tone. “Of course, it is not that I suspect you of being such a group. I just need to carry out due procedure, just in case.”
He wasn’t one of the knights who had come to investigate when Vandalieu and his companions first joined the queue. He had been calm from the very beginning.
“… For as long as we can remember, the three of us have always been together. It is likely that we were kidnapped by the underground slave traders that you have mentioned, Knight-dono,” said Gizania.
“And the slave traders must have died somewhere, because the three of us were left abandoned in a cave. We worked together to escape from the cave,” said Privel.
“We stayed together to survive after that. We traveled from place to place, through forests and Devil’s Nests, avoiding places where humans live. But in one of the forests, we were captured after we stepped into a trap laid by bandits,” said Myuze.
“And then we were about to be sold to another group of underground slave traders,” said Kachia. “Incidentally, I’m a former human who was captured by the bandits in a separate incident.”
The four of them spoke in turn, explaining the circumstances that brought them to the forest between Alcrem and Morksi.
“And while we were moving through the forest, Fang caught the scent of the hiding bandits and let us to their base,” said Sam.
“We cleared the bandits out and rescued these four!” said Juliana.
“All of them are very sweet girls and everyone got on well, so we decided to travel together,” said Darcia.
The explanation from these three concluded as to why the four new additions were tamed.
“That’s how it is. Do you have any questions?” Vandalieu asked the elderly knight.
The knight gave a puzzled groan, turning not towards Vandalieu, but towards Simon and Natania. “I suppose this story is the truth?”
“Of course, it is indeed the truth,” said Simon.
“What he said,” said Natania.
The two of them seemed nervous, but they managed to not panic and managed to give the answers they had decided upon beforehand, albeit in a stiff tone.
The old knight sighed and turned back to Vandalieu. “Then I shall ask you just in case, but what did you do with those underground slave traders and bandits?”
“We slaughtered them all,” Vandalieu said.
“And the location of their base?”
“My mother cast multiple offensive spells when we began our attack, and after we saved Gizania and the others, we carefully burned everything to the ground to ensure that the base can’t be used by other bandits. I think the only thing you’d find is a large pile of ash. If you’re still interested, I can give you the location.”
Isla, who wasn’t here, and Chipuras and the other Ghosts who were with Vandalieu right now, had expected the questions that the elderly knight had asked. Thus, Vandalieu had gone to the trouble of using the ‘Golem Creation’ Skill to build several huts and walls using the wood of the trees, then Princess Levia had burned them down to create a ‘burned down bandit base.’
As for the corpses, Vandalieu had buried some bones left over from bandits he and his companions had defeated before.
Even if the elderly knight made a report and Duke Alcrem sent people to investigate, they would likely be fooled.
“Would you like to see the treasures that the bandits had? Though as an amateur adventurer, I do claim ownership of them,” said Vandalieu.
Naturally, these treasures were also to support his story.
“No, that will not be necessary,” said the elderly knight, declining to check it.
Perhaps he had realized that it would be pointless to do so.
Instead, he directed his gaze at Juliana, with his expression indicating that he wanted to say something. He stared at her for a while.
“Knight-sama, is there something on my face?” Juliana asked.
She was aware of the reason the elderly knight was looking at her. He had likely realized that she resembled Juliana Alcrem, the human she had been in her previous life.
But in the end, the knight shook his head and didn’t bring it up. “No, it’s nothing,” he said as he turned back to Vandalieu. “Very well. If that’s how it is, there’s no problem with you taming an Arachne and Scylla. But be sure to register at the Tamers’ Guild and get them proof that they’re familiars by the end of the day.”
With that, the investigation of Gizania and the others was over. The other knights, especially those who had rushed to the back of the line outside the city when Vandalieu and his companions first arrived, were wearing expressions of disbelief. But the elderly knight said nothing more and ignored them.
The elderly knight was aware that Vandalieu’s explanation was suspicious. He was aware of it, but he saw no point in following up on his suspicions and trying to reveal the truth… because Vandalieu and his companions were likely not breaking the law.
It was illegal in many duchies for members of Vida’s races to leave the territories they were living in without permission. However, members of Vida’s races who did not live in territories to begin with were free to go wherever they liked… although this was simply because they were not being managed.
And Vandalieu had said that Gizania and the others had been tamed by him. With that being the case, they were his belongings; they were legally treated the same as an adventurer’s weapons.
Thus, restricting their movements or forcibly transporting them to the respective territories of their races would be equivalent to taking an adventurer’s weapons from him.
And even if the story is a lie and the truth is that he already met the Arachne and Scylla somewhere else, it doesn’t seem like it would affect the city’s safety. It would be a problem if he brought them into the city under the pretense of having tamed them for the purpose of selling them by ‘transferring’ them to another tamer employed by a noble, but… these women don’t look like they are being manipulated through training, drugs or magic, the old knight thought.
His experienced eyes could tell that Gizania and the others were acting. But he didn’t think they looked as if they were being forced to lie through threats or drugs.
And their tamer, Vandalieu, was the ‘Patron Saint of Transformation Equipment,’ and his mother Darcia was the ‘Holy Mother of Victory’ who was capable of summoning a familiar spirit of Vida. Their reputation provided plenty of proof that they would not commit any cruelty against members of Vida’s races.
Trying to investigate any further would be little different from harassment. That was the conclusion that the knight had come to.
“The last thing I wanted to check was these two horses. They’re Demon Horses, aren’t they? The coachman doesn’t seem to be the tamer, but if Vandalieu has tamed them, then I think they should be well-behaved…” the old knight said, unhesitatingly stroking Mähne and Hof’s necks.
At that moment, the other knights and the city guards froze in anxiety, but…
Mähne and Hof neighed softly, seeming to not care.
“Yes, they really are well-behaved. It seems that they are very sturdy Demon Horses, even better than the ones we have at our Knights’ Order,” the old knight said. “Well then, once you’ve paid the entry toll for your coachman, you’re free to pass!”
Familiars were not subject to entry tolls, so the only person required to pay it was Sam, the only one among the party who wasn’t a member of a Guild.
However, a knight with a square jaw, who had been silently watching the elderly knight’s questioning, interrupted. “Wait. You’re being a little easy on them, aren’t you? You are letting such a large canine monster, a Rank 5 Huge Hellhound, and several other monsters of equal Rank, enter the city. I personally think we should investigate more carefully.”
“No, asking any more questions would –” the elderly knight began.
Vandalieu, perceiving that the square-jawed knight possibly held a higher position and the elderly knight could not stop him, spoke up.
“If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them,” he said.
The square-jawed knight cast his gaze around at Gizania, Juliana and the others that Vandalieu claimed were his familiars, and then approached Fang.
“No, there’s no problem here. You just need to… show me!” the knight shouted, suddenly throwing a fist at one of Fang’s front legs.
The punch was a considerably strong one, and it connected with a heavy noise.
But Fang had frozen in surprise, and that was it. He showed no signs of wanting to attack the knight back.
“Alright, you pass,” the square-jawed knight said, giving a satisfied nod at Fang’s response. “Sorry for being violent, but we knights have a rule that one of us will risk our lives to test high-Rank monsters like these when their tamers enter the city for the first time. It seems that this Huge Hellhound is a little cowardly, but it is well-trained…”
He turned back around to see that Privel had wrapped her tentacles round and round Vandalieu’s lower body for some reason. Only one of Vandalieu’s arms was visible between the tentacles.
“What are you doing?” the knight asked.
Privel gave a nervous laugh. “I’m a scaredy-cat like Fang, so I got scared and grabbed onto Van-kun!” she said, trying to pull Vandalieu even deeper into her tentacles.
“It is because you did that without any warning, Knight-dono. I was really surprised, you know!” said Myuze, pushing Vandalieu’s hand in to help Privel.
“If the paperwork is complete, we shall excuse ourselves. We will cause trouble for others if we continue to occupy space at the gate,” said Gizania, somewhat hurriedly lifting Privel along with Vandalieu up and walking past the gate with her eight legs.
“Ah, here is the entry toll. Well then, please excuse us,” said Darcia, paying the required amount.
She and the others hurried to leave the scene as well.
Fang gave a short bark before running after them.
“There’s a homicidal maniac these days called the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ who fancies himself to be some kind of virtuous thief, and he’s all kinds of dangerous! That’s why the entry process was stricter than usual! Sorry about that!” the elderly knight shouted after them as they left.
With a sigh of relief, he gave a light pat to the back of the square-jawed knight.
“You saved me back there,” he said.
“Hmm?” said the square-jawed knight, looking confused for a moment. “Oh, you mean with the Huge Hellhound. It’s nothing; I’m wearing the sturdiest armor among all of us, and I’ve got the highest Level in the ‘Armor Technique’ Skill. Even if it went berserk, I would have lasted a while.”
“No, that’s not what I meant… When you punched that Huge Hellhound, it wasn’t the familiar that looked ready to attack, but the tamer boy.”
“W-what?! I didn’t sense that at all!”
The shocked square-jawed knight looked towards the other knights and city guards around him, but they looked just as confused as him.
“Indeed, I did not even see him move, let alone sense anything. I am sure everyone else didn’t, either,” said the elderly knight. “However, the moment you struck that monster, the boy disappeared – or so it appeared, but the next thing I knew, the mantis-like girl was standing at the front, and the Scylla girl had wrapped the boy in her tentacles. That is all I saw.”
The moment the square-jawed knight threw his fist at Fang, Vandalieu had tried to attack him while keeping his presence erased. Myuze had put herself between him and the guard to prevent that, causing Vandalieu to instinctively stop. And in that tiny moment of time that Myuze had bought, Privel had wrapped her tentacles around him from behind.
Fang freezing in place hadn’t been because he was afraid of the knight. He had been surprised by the rapid series of events unfolding behind him.
This was what the elderly knight had deduced, but the square-jawed knight gave him a skeptical, disbelieving smile.
“You’re overthinking it, aren’t you? I mean, the rumors do say that the Dhampir himself is quite capable, but he didn’t face the monster rampage with his mother, did he?” the square-jawed knight said. “All he did was use poisons and drugs to confuse the monsters from a safe distance, then repel some bandits who were trying to find some loot. Surely he wouldn’t be able to move faster than the eye can see without us sensing anything.”
Indeed, according to the rumors, Vandalieu himself was unlikely to be highly capable in direct combat. That was because Earl Morksi had kept it a secret from the public that the bandits had been individuals as capable as A-class adventurers or even greater, and armed with Orichalcum equipment.
“… I am overthinking it, am I? It would be fine if that were the case,” said the elderly knight.
The square-jawed knight and city guards nodded and reassured him that he really was overthinking things, then began their inspection of the next group of travelers.
If I was overthinking it, why did that girl behave like that? Well, in any case, it is too much for someone like me to think about, just like the monster that looks exactly like Juliana-sama and claims to be the Dhampir’s familiar. And it seems that a report is already on its way to the higher-ups, the elderly knight thought, looking around and realizing that the knights who had rode their horses in a hurry to the back of the line when Vandalieu arrived on the highway were no longer there.
Having entered the city of Alcrem, Vandalieu and his group attracted the attention of the people in it.
Alcrem was a large city with a population of a million people, and many adventurers were based here. There were races like Beast-kin and Titans, and although they were rare, there were Dark Elves and Drakonids as well.
There were also many tamers, and unlike the city of Morksi, the Guild had several dozen tamers who possessed Rank 3 or 4 familiars. There was an organization of Dragon Knights who flew through the air mounted on Lesser Wyverns, and during large festivals, they would soar through the skies above the city in formation as a display of the influence and power of the Alcrem house of dukes.
However, many of the city’s people were seeing an Arachne and Scylla for the first time, so they couldn’t help but stop, stare, point and talk amongst themselves.
But Vandalieu and his companions were having their own conversation, ignoring the eyes of the people around them.
“I know how you feel, but you can’t react like that when even Fang held himself back,” said Darcia.
“Indeed. Even if you were confident that you would be able to bring him down without anyone noticing, patience was the virtue needed in that situation,” said Myuze.
Fang licked Vandalieu all over to try and calm him down, although Vandalieu was still wrapped in Privel’s tentacles so his large tongue was licking her rather than him.
“Hey – wait – your tongue!” Privel said in between fits of giggles.
“… I wasn’t really intending on burying that knight. There’s no way he could have been able to hurt Fang with just an ordinary punch, since he didn’t use an ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ martial skill,” said Vandalieu.
He hadn’t released any aura of bloodthirst towards the square-jawed knight; he hadn’t had any intention of killing him.
“So, what were you trying to do?” asked Gizania.
“I felt so much fury that I even surprised myself, and I couldn’t hold it back, so I was trying to go and stand in front of him and glare at him,” Vandalieu replied.
Vandalieu had become intensely furious for some reason the moment the knight punched Fang. He was aware that the knight’s punch, which hadn’t been an ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ martial skill or anything, wouldn’t be able to harm Fang.
But he had felt an intense anger towards the knight that was inexplicable even now.
Thus, he had intended to stand in front of the knight and glare at him… with the ‘Demon King’s Demon Eyes,’ which filled their target with terror.
Vandalieu hadn’t said that last part out loud because there were people around them, but Darcia and the others gave a dry smile as they realized that he had intended to use the Demon Eyes.
Incidentally, Vandalieu had once used the Demon King’s Demon Eyes on the rich upstart who treated Darcia like a prostitute, and even though he had held back considerably on their strength, the man had screamed and fled on the spot.
“Bocchan, if you are not careful with those, you might cause people to go insane from fear,” Sam warned Vandalieu quietly.
“He’s right. That person might be able to handle more than an ordinary person, since he’s a knight, but… I’m sure it would have turned into a big fuss,” whispered Darcia.
Indeed, if that knight had become permanently disabled or fled while soiling himself, it would have created a huge scene.
If that had happened, even if there was no proof that Vandalieu had done anything to the knight, he and his companions would have been slowed down by even more questioning.
“Yes, I’m very sorry. Privel, Myuze, thank you for stopping me,” Vandalieu said.
“It is quite alright. We are well aware of your temperament, Van-dono,” said Myuze.
“Yes, don’t – worry about – Fang, can you stop it already!” Privel said, trying not to laugh.
“Well then, I shall dispose of that knight,” said the voice of Gufadgarn, who was hidden in an interval in space.
“… Miss Gufadgarn, I think disposing of him is going a little too far. If something were to happen to him now, Master would be placed under suspicion,” said Simon.
He had become accustomed to her presence, so he was able to speak with her calmly despite her voice speaking out of nowhere. It seemed that he’d been influenced by Vandalieu and his companions quite heavily during the short period of time he’d spent with them so far.
“And I mean, I’m not trying to defend him or anything, but that knight was just doing his job. And the process was only so long because of the ‘Face-tearing Demon’… in other words… you know,” Natania mumbled.
Indeed, if it weren’t for the ‘Face-tearing Demon,’ there wouldn’t have been such a high state of alert in the city with multiple knights deployed at the gate.
The one who did defend the knight was Juliana, who had, in a sense, been a comrade of his in her previous life.
“I don’t think that square-faced knight is rotten at his core,” she said. “That knight was able to choose which familiar to strike. It is only natural to avoid Maroru and Suruga, since his fist would be burned or impaled, but he chose to strike Fang, who is disguised as a Huge Hellhound and looks very ferocious. He did not choose me, even though I certainly appear to be the weakest among us.”
“If he wanted, the knight could have chosen to strike you, because he would likely have been fine even if you attacked him in return. And yet, he chose to strike Fang, so he had no ill intentions. Is that what you are saying, Juliana-san?” said Sam.
“Yes, that is precisely what I mean,” said Juliana.
“Now that you mention it, that is true… Wait, if that is the case, could he not have struck me instead?” said Gizania.
“Gizania-dono, you are just an ordinary large-build Arachne, or you are disguising yourself as one, at least. From the knight’s point of view, you are Rank 4 while Fang is Rank 5. It is likely that he thought Fang would be harmed less by his fist,” said Myuze. “And since you are a woman, the knight was likely hesitant to strike you.”
“I see. We don’t know if he’s a good person, but like everyone has said, he doesn’t seem to be a bad person,” said Vandalieu. “Thank you again for stopping me, Privel and Myuze.”
The conclusion was that the knight wasn’t a bad person.
“Well then, I shall leave him alive,” said Gufadgarn’s voice.
And with that, the square-jawed knight’s mysterious disappearance was averted.
“Come to think of it, are those knights acquaintances of yours, Juliana-san?” asked Privel.
“No, I don’t know them at all. I had a questionable position in society during my previous life, and it was possible that forming too many personal connections would stir paranoia in the people around me, so I did my best not to interact with knights outside the ones under my command unless it was for work,” said Juliana. “However, I believe that all knights knew of me. Even without a claim for the position of head of house, I was a part of the duke’s family, and my troop of knights was the only one that consisted only of women, and these alone were enough to make me a little famous. But since I was not well-acquainted with any of them… it seems that the only one to notice was that elderly knight.”
Juliana’s current appearance was identical to how she had appeared as a child in her previous life, excluding her horns and tail. However, not every knight had known her from her early childhood, and the duke’s house didn’t contain any portraits of her from that stage of her life.
Many were incapable of seeing the resemblances between a woman of around twenty years of age and how she had appeared as a child.
… However, Juliana currently had the appearance of a nine-year-old, and more people would realize as she grew older that she not only resembled her previous self, but looked completely identical.
In that regard, perhaps it had been the correct choice for Juliana to come to Alcrem before her body had fully developed.
“Well then, it seems that Vandalieu has calmed down, so let’s meet up with Vivi-san and the others at the warehouse and living quarters that the people from Starving Wolf Security prepared for us. We need to go to the Tamers’ Guild with Vandalieu before the end of the day anyway,” said Kachia, prompting the group to move on.
Fang finally stopped licking Vandalieu (although he had mainly been licking Privel).
“F-finally,” Privel said in relief. “Well then, shall we get going, Van-kun?”
“Privel, I’ve calmed down, so will you please let me go?” said Vandalieu, who was still wrapped in Privel’s tentacles.
Bashas, the Goddess of Rain Clouds, who was monitoring Talosheim from a great distance above… or rather, pretending to monitor it, listened through the ears of her hero, Arthur. Through the people’s clamoring that she heard, she sensed that the time had come.
“He has come… the embodiment of the evil omen,” she murmured.
At the same time, two other gods appeared at her side. The other gods monitoring Lambda’s surface should have been surprised by their appearance, but the two newcomers ruled over powers that caused them to pay attention elsewhere and take no heed of their arrival.
One of them was a goddess with hair and eyes that were a glossy black, and although her entire body except for her face was covered in black clothing, they did not conceal the plentiful, un-Elflike curves of her chest and waist.
She was Zelzeria, the Goddess of Dark Nights.
The other had an appearance that one might mistake at first glance for that of an evil god. He had the form of a black silhouette of a person’s head with no features whatsoever, with not so much of an outline of the eyes and nose.
He was Hamul, the God of Shadows.
“The portent of dark nights descends upon Alcrem…” Zelzeria said.
“The incarnation of shadow… has appeared,” said Hamul.
“He’s appeared in Alcrem, just as you whispered. Ah, I long to invite him directly as soon as possible…”
“Calm yourself, Zelzeria. We cannot give in to our desires; our plan to give ourselves up to the Demon King must not be known. We must at least carry out our duties as gods…”
“Indeed… We were enticed by the traps set by the Demon King, and without knowing whether we were doing the right thing, we granted divine protections to our believers in order to turn them into messengers. We have done the unthinkable, something that cannot be considered to be the actions of gods,” said Bashas in a melancholy and yet passion-filled tone. “We must continue to carry out the roles that we are meant to.”
She was the one who had caused the other two gods to be caught up in this.
“First, to my Arthur –” Bashas said.
“To my beloved Kalinia –” said Zelzeria.
“To my Borzofoy… Incidentally, what shall we do with the other one?” asked Hamul.
“… I think we should leave it to Arthur and his companions,” said Bashas.
“… You’re right. Giving too many instructions isn’t good,” said Zelzeria.
“Well then, let us leave it for Borzofoy and the others to decide,” said Hamul.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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RayneVilanore
why are all the guards such ass hats, not saying there evil but the tone and way they speak makes me feel that they are most likely hated but most people.
Randy Rando
Alcrem is a truly massive city for a medieval setting. For reference, Alcrem has about a quarter of the population of modern day Boston. It’s extremely hard to believe that they could get food to everyone in the city, and even if they could, that it would be at all efficient to have a city with such a large population.
Korath
Im also curious. Today we both have superior logistics like ships, planes, trains and trucks and at the same time cooling devices, but that shouldnt have been the case several hundreds of years back then. At some point deer and livestock is depleted and also their food.
Even today I wonder why an underground pneumatic tube system in a big scale isnt invented and used yet. Would save a lot of place for trees and houses to grow and prevent emissions.
Zenden1st
Non humanoid???
Hotel? Trivago
JKingSniper
Ye so much work to do. People still treating Vida’s race as monster
Rollrock
This grants better insight into how Vida’s races that are not overwhelmingly humanoid are treated even in places that are openly tolerant of them such as one of the Orbaume Kingdom’s more populated cities. As monsters that should be held on a leash and are forbidden from wandering around without supervision, even if they can speak for themselves and express discontent at their current predicament and their presence will be accepted only if they are “tamed”. There’s still a lot of work to be done if better conditions are to be won for beings like the Majin, Arachne and Empusae.
Temp950
Arachne and Empuza might be able to gain acceptance, but I think the Majin will have a tough time thanks to their reputation for being hostile to humans, similar to Ghouls.
Spearow
i have made an account just to say this, if you have read raws and know spoilers, please do not post on the comments, even if you try to fake it and say “i suspect x is going to happen” or “i think that this is going to happen”
it makes going on the comment section very traumatic, i have very limited eyesight and i have to use a read aloud extension to actually read the novel, and every time i hear the
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i have to stop everything i am doing to not be spoiled, i have discovered the site recently and i am yet to catch up to recent chapters, even if my opinion have little weight here, please refrain from posting “camouflaged” spoilers you do it to feel “smart” i know, everyone knows what you are doing, and its neither smart or cool.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah. It’s also unfair to Yoshi’s fine work to screw around by posting spoilers. We can all read the webnovel through MTL if we want spoilers (I admit that MTL often is genuinely difficult to decipher if you don’t have at least some working knowledge of the problems of translating Japanese to English, but that’s for subtle stuff more than spoilery tidbits). Also, people who post spoilers based on MTL tend to get things wrong anyway, which doesn’t make it any less spoilery, it just makes it extra frustrating.
FunniFear
Fang: Do you call that a hit?
Inea
hmmm when Van unconsciously want to attack the guard, i think he started to contaminated with the demon king fragments, but i guess that’s not it
Garison
I think it has more to do with him literally being insane causing him to be compulsive.
Doc
…I mean it’s not all that unreasonable to be upset that a dude unexpectedly sucker punched his dog. A dog that went through lots of abuse before Van took care of him.
Considering he only wanted to glare at the guy I think his reaction wasn’t all that “insane” (granted his glare would have possibly driven the knight insane with terror).
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, the ‘dramatic irony’ here is that the guard is making a mistake because he does not realize how much more dangerous Van and all the other members are compared to Fang. He is honestly (but still somewhat stupidly) worried whether Van can really control Fang, rather than worrying about whether the rest of the group can keep Van in check.
The older guy was acting based on better information and more experience, then this knucklehead almost picked a fight with a literal god-killing abomination cause he was worried about whether the scary looking dog was ‘really’ tamed.
If his perceptions were correct, it would still be reasonable for Van to be upset about someone punching his dog, but it would be pretty harmless. So the guy apologized for upsetting the kid, but was confused by the reactions because he’s the only one who doesn’t realize he just punched Cthulhu’s dog.
ObserverBias
I’ve finally remembered that thing I was going to say; is Van’s Tamer skill legitimately not of use for Pete or any of the insect monsters associated with him, or is it just not widely known that Tamers can tame insect monsters? iirc one of the Five Evil-Smashing Blades was a standout example for having a whole hive feeding on her and getting them stolen by Van, but was her situation ‘not’ actually taming, and instead something else?
Doc
Van has a specific insect based job that makes insect monsters want to follow him. Tamer skills may assist his already existing job but as Van can’t have already existing jobs he can’t really get traditional tamer jobs.
Chiu ChunLing
Bebeckett did tame her insects, but her abilities were a result of awakening unique aptitudes and were kept a state secret rather than becoming general knowledge.
The the same way, the vampire leaders of Hihiryushukaka had the ability to control undead, but these techniques were secret and dependent on methods not generally available.
Irazori
The square-jaw guy was essentially doing his job, so he definitely dodged a bullet there.
Van on the other hand seems to still have some rather strong lingering feelings after the illusion trial in ‘The Trial of Zakkart” and especially after the aldiot training dungeon. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he acted out of reflex. I would basically do the same thing by rampaging whenever some moron does some pro-species discrimination garbage.
Lord Rin
Uh maybe Van and friends should designate somebody to do all the explaining because they suck at doing it and not look suspicious. Van can make pretty convincing evidence but he and everyone else sucks at actually telling a lie.
That elder knight seems pretty reasonable. Since Alcrem Duchy until recently had been pro-Alda before the Duke switched to Alda’s Peaceful Faction, I was expecting that the knights and guards to still be pretty racist and try to give member’s of Vida’s races a hard time. But nope that old knight was courteous and even though he knew that something was up, he knew he was out of his depth. Even that other knight wasn’t really bad. Maybe a bit overzealous but it sounds like he’s a bit wound up since there’s somebody called the Face-tearing Demon -which incidentally is a pretty badass name- active in the city. Sure punching Fang with no warning isn’t nice but it is necessary. Fang is Rank 6 though the knight thought he was only Rank 5 and we’ve been told long ago that a Rank 4 monster is equivalent to a T-rex so you can imagine how wary people would have to be about a monster even stronger than a T-rex that might potentially not be fully tamed. There was an appendix chapter explaining ranks and it said for Rank 5 monsters, humans are nothing more than food, toys and XP and that they can single-handedly destroy a small city and would require a team of multiple experienced knights to kill such a monster. If there’s something like that just walking down the street then the city soldiers will want to make sure it won’t just suddenly rampage because a kid accidentally stepped on its tail or something. That square-faced knight wouldn’t have even been able to hurt Fang anyways with a regular punch without any unarmed fighting skills used and the knight knew it in fact he’d actually have a greater chance of hurting himself doing that punch rather than Fang. And as the rest of Van’s group pointed out, that knight very specifically chose to target Fang because it seemed both the strongest that should be able to take a punch and he would have been uncomfortable striking one of the girls so he was actually thinking when he struck and he had no malicious intent. He wasn’t just some racist asshole looking for an excuse to punch a member of Vida’s races nor was he some unthinking meathead as he was also well aware that if Fang did rampage then it was best for him to be the one to conduct the test since he had the strongest armor of the people there and that it’d keep the less protected or weaker guards from doing something so dangerous.
Well looks like Bashas and Zelzeria and Hamul might be trying to defect to Van’s side. It sounds like they got guided by Van’s paintings and then made some heroes who they gave their Divine Protections to so that they can act as messengers who can meet Van and pass information about their intentions to Van. Also they ain’t dumb since they are continuing to perform their duties so that Alda doesn’t suspect anything and try to do something rash to them like use his Stakes of Law on them.
Chiu ChunLing
Van has people talented at lying…but most of them would just cause even more trouble if they were allowed to speak for Van.
ObserverBias
Except, isn’t it kind of a ‘thing’ that Alda does already suspect them, specifically because they have passing synergy with him (or was it because they had yet to suffer similar ill effects to surveying Van’s city that other gods did)?
Like, he didn’t make any clear moves to have someone else keep tabs on them, but last we saw in his POV, he was absolutely aware something might happen between them and Van? Oop
Yeah, no, he’s absolutely aware of exactly what their plan was, if not aware that they’re actively going for it or doing anything about it yet. This was from 247.
Jonathan Hurd
I’d say Alda has strong suspicions but he lacks decent evidence to really act on it. If he haphazardly sends out spies to watch these three things could go wrong very fast.
The biggest issue is all three from the start were loners so anyone approaching them now would just be plain awkward and suspicious. The other issue is if it gets out that Alda thinks there are potential traitors in the ranks it could cause mass confusion and suspicion. Everyone could start suspecting each other and lead to a giant breakdown in order and cooperation.
Alda desperately needs everyone to believe they’re all stuck in this together with him. No other choices. I think the worst outcome could be some of the more skittish God’s might contemplate jumping ship just to survive. They haven’t really done any damage to Van yet and he killed one of their top fighting God’s. I could imagine the more knowledge based God’s having cold feet by this point.
Worst comes to worst you know Alda would probably need you back to maintain the world post Armageddon. In the end Alda can seal you which would hurt but there is a chance you can be forgiven after a few thousand years. Losing to Van means death. I know which side I’d choose if my top priority is life.
Lord Rin
Actually I honestly doubt he truly has any suspicions. He has a habit of dramatically missing the point or just outright dismissing or ignoring things he realizes. Like how he recently noted that Bellwood could [Guide] gods yet fails to consider he himself was guided too. Alda may have some suspicions about Bashas’ group but he’ll probably forget about it soon.
ObserverBias
I was under a different impression, that he understood that he was likely Guided, but didn’t see how that could possibly be a negative. Of course, I might misremember.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, it feels like Alda even regards it as a clearly positive point.
Hu-Tao
Yeah just like he did with Fitun when he gave Kanata a divine protection and Fitun ends up rampaging. Lol
gomezseba37
What a strange reaction from van. he Isnt like that. why ded he suddenly feel that urge to attack? he has sen far worse tihngs done to his companions and felt nothing I wonder wtf happened
Doc
What “far worse things” has he seen being done to his companions? Van values his family above all other things and he considers all of his companions family. He vowed to kill Heinz just because of the possibility he could harm his friends or family. He killed a dude who tried to treat Darcia like a prostitute. Killed that corrupt guard at Morksi who wanted to have his way with Darcia. He usually is very out spoken whenever his friends are insulted. This all happens regularly enough that his companions knew how Van would act before he could actually do it.
CyberDre
Well technically he didn’t kill the Rich dude that tried to treat Darcia as a prostitute, he merely stroke terror to him , causing him to flee.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, he might kill him eventually for something else. Like the guard that was lewding his mom, he didn’t kill the guy for that, but the dude didn’t quit until he’d gone way too far.
That’s why motives matter. I think this guard is probably just too dumb to notice that Van is incomparably stronger and more dangerous than Fang, so once he figures that out, he won’t feel inappropriately duty-bound to do anything else stupid. But if he really figured out that Fang was the weakest member of the group and wanted to bully him…well he’ll probably end up trying something like this again in a situation where his role as a guard won’t protect him.
Rich dude that tried treating Darcia like a whore…I’d guess that eventually he ended up falling afoul of Starving Wolf Security and quietly disappeared without needing to be mentioned. Like Murakami said, some people just can’t live in a world run by Van’s sense of justice. Guy knew damn well she was just trying to run a food-cart, that’s why he targeted her, cause she wasn’t a whore. He ran away that one time, but he’ll eventually cross the line when he thinks Van’s not watching (or probably already has).
The guy who thought a ‘Vida prostitution temple’ was a great money-making idea is skating on thin ice, but as long as he remembers that there’s no profit in dying, he’ll probably continue to choose to make money in ways that don’t invite Van’s wrath.
Of course, there was that ‘Strong Arm’ Gordan who tried to nab Zadaris and Basdia by beating up a couple of crippled adventurers in a fight. He was a dead man walking if he stayed in Van’s sphere of influence, and he recognized that, but unfortunately for him….
On the other hand, Luciliano has been pretty much forgiven for what he did to Pauvina, which was pretty bad. But he didn’t know he was doing it to her and she doesn’t remember, and he was really sorry about it, so there’s not too much of a problem.
Tejing
Ok, punching him seems like a bit much as a test. I wouldn’t expect him to sit still through that, though I have a feeling they would have accepted it so long as his response wasn’t out of proportion to the provocation.
Well, now we know for sure that Bashas & co are aiming to join Van, and that Arthur & co are their heros. I look forward to seeing how that meeting goes.
ObserverBias
… Mmm. Are they plotting to ‘join’ him, or sacrifice themselves to him? Their phrasing seems to be a bit odd if they’re aiming to be allies, considering that no one’s overhearing them but us. “Our plan to give ourselves up”? “The embodiment of the evil omen”?
More than the the Guidance Paths he’s crammed together, are they not also being influenced by the blessing provided to him by the dark gods of Origin?
Doc
“The embodiment of the evil omen” line is more that evil omens are attributed to Bashas’ domain (regardless of whether that’s true or not. Rain clouds be sad, yo). Each of the traitor gods said a line specific to things attributed to their godly domain. It was more just to say, “Van represents us”.
Though I do agree the “give ourselves up” to him line was oddly phrased. Though in context I think it just means they want to surrender and work under him (like Gufadgarn). Obviously Van would be suspicious of any previously Alda aligned gods that Vida hadn’t vetted so they have to be very roundabout with getting Van’s acceptance.
Tejing
‘Follow’ might be a better word than ‘join’ for what I think they have planned.
The ‘evil omen’ line seems to be Bashas describing Van in terms of how he connects to her own nature/domain, not unlike how Zuruwarn calls him a ‘transgressor’ or Gufadgarn calls him ‘Zakkart of this era’. Each of these 3 gods seemed to do something similar here.
Also, it was the Dark Gods of Earth, not Origin, that gave him their divine protection. Regardless, the rest of the Gods of Earth have also given it at this point, and I don’t really think it’s affecting these gods. It’s his guidance.
Lord Rin
I think they speak like that because their divine authorities are more dark or gloomy. Bashas is the Goddess of Rainclouds and we were previously told that she’s mostly associated with foretelling dark omens and things like that. Meanwhile Hamul is the God of Shadows and his physical description reminds me of Nyarlathotep since he’s a dark figure with no face. As for Zelzeria we don’t really know much about her but she is the Goddess of Dark Nights. I guess they’re just really into portraying the eeriness of their authorities kinda like they’re chuuni. Their heroes were also kinda like that too when they got introduced. Arthur looks scary, Kalinia looks kinda like an evil (sexy) witch and Borzofoy looks like an evil skinny mage who’s got a creepy laugh.
Chiu ChunLing
There’s also the matter of how they perceive their own actions. After all, they’re surrendering to the ‘evil’ enemy for reasons that don’t comport with the ideal of ‘good’ they’ve been taught.
Chiu ChunLing
Zelzeria, is it?
Seems like quite a few of Van’s friends might be happy to have her blessings.
On a not completely unrelated note, it seems like Juliana’s growth is at least slowing down a bit. At this rate it should take her at least another month to reach a fully adult figure. I’m kinda curious how her fellow future magical princess knights look. After all, their current human genes come exclusively from Juliana’s former body, so…but then again, it seems that in Lambda the appearance is heavily affected by the former life’s memories.
Doc
I wouldn’t say that’s a property of Lambda. Juliana looks like the original because Van specifically tinkered with the cellular makeup of the child while it was still in OG Juliana’s womb. Pauvina by comparison doesn’t really look like her original body. Van again worked to make her more human looking and to reduce the amount of noble orc genes that would change her appearance in the womb of her original body but she still ultimately doesn’t look like the original.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, Pauvina didn’t have any memories left by the time she was psuedo-reincarnated. But in the case of the individuals reincarnated as adults, they all ended up looking like themselves to a large extent despite some having changed races and the disadvantage of looking the same since Van had already seen a bunch of them.
Anyway, it would be interesting if the rest of Juliana’s knights also looked like her. Some of them seem to have lost much of their own personalities so it’s not impossible.
Doc
The people reincarnated as adults were given bodies by Rodcorte that matched how they looked. It wasn’t a memory thing. The reincarnated people born in Lambda look nothing like their past selves.
Chiu ChunLing
Sure, cause they grew up to an extent without any memories of their past life to influence their appearance.
But the ones that reincarnated with their memories had to look similar even though they would rather not.
Doc
I don’t know where that first statement comes from. All the reincarnators born in Lambda have their memories from Origin/Earth still (it takes a little bit before their memories return from when they’re newborn). They physically do not resemble their previous bodies. I think that you’re conflating this universe with So I’m a Spider’s where the reincarnators that were born as monsters took on their previous life’s appearance once they evolved into a humanoid body. This world there is no such concept. People either look the same as they did because Rodcorte had the power to do that or because Van tinkered with the genetic code of the person in the womb. There is no special property of Lambda itself doing that.
Chiu ChunLing
Rotcortex doesn’t want them to look the same, though. He doesn’t even want to give them the same names, it just can’t be helped if he’s sending them with their memories already fully active.
As for this being a special property of Lambda…maybe the same thing would happen on Origin or Earth if he reincarnated people with their memories fully intact there too.
Jonathan Hurd
I believe Rodidiot explained to Hajime when he was first reincarnating that it has to do mostly with the Soul. If he reincarnated the person as a teenager the body conforms to the Soul completely. Reincarnating as a baby is more like a new Body and Soul with an added on portion containing the past memories and abilities.
The reason why someone like Seig the former Persius can’t remember his past is because his body currently can’t handle the information. So while seeing Van sparked the Soul to remember his body and brain couldn’t handle the info and so suppressed it again.
Van and the author asides have basically said similar things regarding the Soul and the Bodies connection. The Author has stated multiple times the reason Van can modify his Soul Form so weirdly is because his Soul is naturally deformed and he’s already insane. Normally it’s impossible to make the Soul Form things your own body couldn’t do.
Part of the reason the Root of Life works as well is because it was reforming the body based on the Souls memories of the body. That was why it could recreate a new Body for Darcia, but the body still look like her. The soul is basically a blueprint.
Chiu ChunLing
It seems to have been primarily Izumi who actually explained it to Hajime, though others spread their queries more. While Rotcortex shouldn’t be trusted even if it should make no sense for him to lie (because he’s clearly too stupid to tell whether it makes sense or not), Izumi’s ability seems to still be effective enough and she has also gained significant expertise in the reincarnation system.
Also, Pauvina and Juliana should have very similar circumstances other than Juliana having more intact memories (even if she wasn’t fully sane anymore). That said…it’s not really clear that Pauvina doesn’t look like her previous self (rather than like a close relative).
Darcia also probably figures into this somehow, though it’s possible for her to strongly resemble herself because of latent genetic material left in her bone as well.
SchmidtNation
Probably has more to do with the fact that the reincarnated born as babies have parents who’s genes they’ve inherited. While the ones who spawn as teens don’t.
But, this isn’t a Lambda exclusive issue. Before Van was Van, he was able to recognize the Bravers that he had been classmates with as they killed him. Enough to know exactly which one was the girl who’s life he tried to save on Earth. “their faces were familiar to him. Their features were a little different, but most of them were his classmates in the same year as him in his previous life. He knew some of them as his teachers. Naruse Narumi was among them as well.”
I would say that it’s not the memories of a previous life that affect one’s appearance, but the shape of their soul. Normally, a soul is completely wiped clean and reset before reincarnation, resulting in the appearance relying solely on inherited genes. In Pauvina’s case, the soul had degraded to almost the same point while haunting her body, so she looks different. For Julianna and Darcia, the soul was not allowed to degrade (immediate transfer for Julianna, constant maintenance and care for Darcia) resulting in as close to original forms as genetically possible. The ones spawning as teens don’t have supplied genes to be based off of and their souls are unprocessed, so they look practically identical to their Origin bodies (race differences aside).
The ones ‘naturally born’ into Lambda are currently unknown. In Ch 158, the Braver born into the Legston household believes he’ll grow up with a different face. But even if the ones born into Lambda end up looking practically the same as in Origin, they’re still babies. It’s not surprising no one has recognized them.
Jonathan Hurd
A thing to remember with the Origin reborn guys was that almost all of them started as Japanese but they reincarnated on the full spectrum of nationalities. A good example was Doug who reincarnated as a black American i believe.
They all did have some similarities to their past selves but I think the big reason Van could tell who they were was because he had been obsessing over seeing them, they didn’t show any hostility seeing him, had amazing powers, and were all in the appropriate age group. Finally I think Hiroto and his wife had a weird little monologue before killing him. Honestly I think Narumi and Hiroto were the only two Van recognized and remembered mainly cause they killed him.
For Pauvinas case I’m pretty sure she does resemble her original body just giant. The biggest difference for her from Darcia and Julliana was that the reincarnated soul was so broken its hard to tell if she could or should inherit its memories. Add in that she was the first try at this Vans become much better at the process.
Another difference to keep in mind between Pauvina and Juliana is Pauvina was born as a Fetus. Juliana was an Egg of the Demon King with minataur DNA. Pauvina’s birth was closer to what we talked about with the reincarnators starting from zero. I think Juliana’s rebirth was probably closer to Darcia’s. Effectively Juliana with a few things added in rather than Juliana’s child with what’s left of her soul put in.
SchmidtNation
This “their faces were familiar to him. Their features were a little different, but most of them were his classmates in the same year as him in his previous life. He knew some of them as his teachers. Naruse Narumi was among them as well.” is a direct quote from the prologue and are his first thoughts when seeing the Bravers. He was able to recognize multiple classmates and teachers before anyone said anything. Also, they definitely were showing hostility because the very first thing they did was all shoot him with attack magic before he could even say a greeting.
Thank you for bringing up the Demon King aspect of Juliana’s rebirth, it helps strengthen my point. Child Juliana may not have inherited any of her original DNA, since she wasn’t technically impregnated by the Minotaur King. An egg from the Demon King’s oviduct was fertilized by the Minotaur King and implanted into Juliana’s body, but she still looks nearly identical to her previous self. Yes, Van did do some gene manipulation to tone down the minotaur traits, but I doubt he has the precision to choose exactly what she would end up looking like.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, but the source for any human genetic material would still have had to have been Juliana’s own body, even if Van had to copy it from outside the egg. Which probably wasn’t the case, just because it was an egg doesn’t mean it couldn’t absorb the host’s genetic material through the nutrient cycle that would be necessary for it to even make sense to implant the eggs in a female rather than just grow them out of dirt (which didn’t have great results on longevity).
Anyway, Juliana has plenty of reason to look like her former self, but what I’m wondering is whether any of the other HMMPK’s look very different.
SchmidtNation
Fetuses don’t absorb genetic material through the placenta, only nutrients. Inherited DNA comes from the woman’s egg and the sperm used to fertilize it, so in a normal surrogate pregnancy the surrogate mother doesn’t share any genetic information with the child.
But, the details of how Van altered Juliana and her sisters were never given (probably for the best), so it’s largely useless to continue debating why she turned out looking how she does.
However, I would be a bit disappointed if Julianna and her sisters never awaken to some special something inherited from the Demon King. Perhaps some affinity for death attribute magic? Or they find it easier than most to use demon king equipment (the sealed stuff, not those created by Van)?
Chiu ChunLing
Well, keeping in mind that we’re not dealing with terrestrial biology here….
Chiu ChunLing
Van himself is an example of his appearance being more heavily influenced by his memories of his previous life than by his genetics (by conventional Lambda logic).
It may be that over time the face will come to resemble the past life once memories are recovered. But it might take time on the same scale as the development before regaining the past life memory.
SchmidtNation
Does Van resemble either of his past bodies? On Earth he was an average looking Japanese boy with no outstanding physical features. In Origin we never got a description of his appearance (he may not have ever looked into a mirror that entire life), but we do know his body and facial structure were altered during the decades of experimentation to the point that none of his classmates recognized him (even after finding out The Undead was a reincarnation).
Currently, Van looks like a ghost. Pasty white wax-like skin, white hair, dead eyes, no facial expressions, androgynous features. Looks a lot more like a soul that has been disconnected from its own body for the past decade than it does either of his previous lives.
I agree with you that something other than genetics heavily influences ones appearance in this world. I’m just proposing that this something is the state of the soul, which includes any retained memories, not the memories themselves.
Chiu ChunLing
The divergence between his expected appearance as a Dhampir child of Darcia and his actual appearance is mostly in the direction of the appearance he had by the end of his life in Origin.
Anyway, it’s been confirmed that being reincarnated as a baby and growing without memories with those memories being gained later allows ‘normal’ development away from the appearance from the previous life. That’s a significant plot point that’s been brought up multiple times in regards to the reincarnated ex-Bravers.
Therefore the soul itself without memories does not affect physical appearance, even when the memories are only suppressed rather than removed entirely by the normal reincarnation process.
SchmidtNation
All 101 people reincarnated from birth in Rodcorte’s system, Origin or Lambda, have their memories of previous lives suppressed for a number of years. And yet, Van was able to recognize all the ones he had know on Earth.
In ch 0, Van doesn’t regain his memories until several years after becoming an experimental subject. And from Ch. 126: “ Humans were normally born anew, but in the case of reincarnated individuals, they would regain the memories and personalities from their previous lives once they were around five or six years old.” An internal monologue of Rodcorte.
This is because the brain can’t handle the memories until it’s developed to a certain point. This ‘mental overload’ has been seen with both the Legston child and Zod’s adopted son (Amid emperor’s son) when their memories were temporarily forcibly regained when first coming into contact with Van.
Therefore, a soul will develop it’s body to best suit itself, regardless of the presence or suppression of previous memories. And, in every case except for Van’s, the form of the soul matches the form of it’s previous body, before degrading or being reset. Van is an exception because he spent the last decade of his previous life existing in spirit form separated from his own body.
Edit:
I think I found the definitive answer in Side Chapter 22 when the ‘Noah’ Mao Smith comes to Lambda:
“It wasn’t that she’d wanted to be a Dwarf no matter what. She had simply wanted an appearance that was as different as possible from the one that Vandalieu knew.
It was impossible to request for Rodcorte to simply change her face. Her physical body would be influenced by her soul that carried its memories and personality from her previous lives.
It was possible to minimize that influence if she were to have been reborn as a baby like she had been in Origin. But when reincarnated in a directly-created adult body, it was impossible.”
Looks like it’s memories and personality contained within the soul that influence ones appearance. So, we’ve both been sorta right the whole time and arguing over non-exclusive details.
Doc
I mean whether it’s memories, the soul itself, or a combination of the two and other factors my point was simply it isn’t a property of Lambda that’s doing it. Which you also seem to be in agreement about at this point given your statements. You seem to be just stuck on the minutia of the specific mechanism behind why they do or do not look the same.
Chiu ChunLing
Because I’m wondering whether Juliana’s fellow HMMPK’s look similar to her or not.
bk3k
I think Van is simply much better at the point he helped Juliana compared to Pauvina. Both in terms of practicing his skills, the number of them, and the levels of them. His abilities then where unthinkable and miraculous, but nothing compared to now.
Chiu ChunLing
That’s very true, but it doesn’t mean he can generate genetic material out of nothing.
Juliana would be the source for the human genetic material for her own pseudo-reincarnation. There wasn’t even another human in the house at the time, and certainly no other human genetic material in Juliana’s womb. So it’s not real surprising that Juliana pretty much looks like a clone of herself, since that’s basically what she is.
But all the other HMMPK’s are also essentially clones of Juliana, cause hers was the only human body recovered from the minotaur’s nest, there’s just no way for them to get any genetic material from the rest of her knights and the village girls. Juliana is the only sample they have.
And many of the spirits had been dead for over a month, and subsequently lost most of their memories. So I think some them probably look like her identical twins.
Doc
This chapter had some of my favorite story telling in it. Not to condone the punching of dogs but the characterization and follow-up explanation from that scene was excellent.
The best characters to read about are imperfect characters. With Van’s overwhelming strenghth, the amount of very powerful companions he has, him being the Emporer of a nation of multiple races, it’s very easy to end up with a boring character nobody can relate to. I mean if we know ahead of time he’ll win every fight he gets in because of his OPness, there is no tension. However, it’s these little moments, where Van loses his cool, acknowledges he acted irrationally, and even forced his companions to stop him from making an unrecoverable mistake, where we get a relatable character.
Not only does that scene humanize our protag (which is ironic considering the inhuman act Van wanted to commit on that knight) but it also more fleshes out Van’s companions. They aren’t just his yes-men who are only sounding boards for Van’s thoughts or shallow comic relief characters. They understood Van’s faults and acted immediately to balance them like proper companions should do. Excellent piece of character writing for anybody having trouble understanding what makes a bad or boring character from a well written one.
Eddy
this reminds me not so much of john wick, but of billy butcher from the boys comic, 10 years of planning a master plan, selectively killing targets, and eliminating anyone who might harm the plan, only to have someone decide at the last minute to hurt his dog and sent all the planning to the trash to go into a total attack.
Superboy8338
Man, F that guy for punching Van’s dog.
Chiu ChunLing
But they totally are letting him off the hook.
At worst, he’ll get a scary glare from Van and have nightmares for a while. And that’s only if he does another boneheaded thing.
Doom
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR CHAMPION, OUR DEATH GOD, AS HE PROCEEDS ON HIS JOURNEY AND ENTICES MANY TO JOIN HIM! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Instead of jumping to conclusions, think and analyze the situation a little!
Hobbes
Yeah, Conclusions isn’t much of a sight-seeing island anyway. Plus, you have to work on your long jump to get there & back.
Speaking of which Van really needs to turn a Tollbooth into a Phantom sometime…
no1
Thank you for the chapter yoshi. Van is making progress in his journey as usual and the gods of alda’s faction are possibly deserting him, I was a little confused by the last part. Nice to have another chapter Yoshi, hope the next one comes out soon
Jonathan Hurd
From how I interpret the final part… I think the group of three weirdo’s and the random person dragged in are the Chosen hero’s of God’s in Alda’s faction who lean towards darkness. Bashas is Wind Attribute and the other two are light Attributes just more on the Shade side of light.
Not completely sure what they plan to do or what message they’re going to pass to Van. They are definitely not going to oppose Van that much seems obvious. Now its hard to know if they will actively fight with him though. They might decide to stay neutral and declare they’ll stay out of the way similar to Zantark. Though considering how passionate their group seems I think they are probably leaning closer to secretly supporting Van from the shadows.
All I can say with certainty is that Van is getting himself a whole other group of Weirdo followers, lol.
Doc
I don’t know, Bashas sounds like she still has it together pretty well. She’s cognizant of the fact she and her other Alda traitors need to still do their jobs and to not attract attention so they don’t seem all that weird. And Arthur’s party also seemed to be pretty normal personality wise despite the scary vibes their group gives off to others.
Jonathan Hurd
I do find it interesting that they seem to believe Aldas lies about Van being evil, but they can’t help but find themselves being swayed by his presence.
I feel like their logic and passion are currently at odds and passion is winning. I think things will be better after they can talk to Van and see how welcoming he is.
Chiu ChunLing
More simply, they accept that they are inclined towards ‘evil’, as defined by Alda.
Alda is very clear about his standards of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and the implications. He considers everything that happened as a result of Guduranis’ invasion as ‘evil’, especially those things that were only possible because of the invasion, such as the Vida races with monster heritage, but also everything that could have happened anyway but hadn’t happened before the invasion, like advances in technology and philosophy.
Of course, if he were really consistent about that he’d also have to consider his own actions against Vida and his consolidation of power over the other gods evil as well.
CyberDre
Thanks for the chapter , was reading web serial “worm” to saite my hunger….. Anyways nice to know they’ve been guided ,some of the gods from Alda sides, you see Alda! This is why you must relate with your Subordinates! Else the competition will poach them! You muscle brained fool! Esdeath never suffered this , y’know!?
Kazza
Hmm. Not a legal guy, but I’m still 50/50 on whether the knight was justified or not.
Mainly, I’d say he’s in the wrong because it was a surprise attack; neither Van nor Fang were aware an attack was coming. And what, if Fang had defended himself, he’d be judged as too dangerous?
What if Fang was significantly weaker than the guard expected, and he actually did damage? I’m sure the Tramer’s Guild wouldn’t be happy. Even if it wasn’t Van, does any guard expect to be able to attack a tamed animal with no repercussions, despite that Guild running on the effectiveness of the animals?
I understand Fang is visibly strong, and I’m sure the knight himself probably understood his punch wouldn’t do damage, hence Van specifying he didn’t use Unarmed Technique.
But still, picture it from Fang’s perspective. The guy could’ve been an Alda Fundamentalist or something. Without letting Van know an attack is coming, and him translating that to Fang, what is Fang supposed to think? “Oh, this must be a test, better let this guy have full access to any potential weak areas to exploit.”
And the test itself… I’d assume a tamed animal acts differently when it’s attacked, whether it’s a Hellhound or a Wyvern. I’d also assume no citizen in their right mind would want to pick a fight. Maybe some kids would throw rocks? At most?
I dunno. Like I said, I think he’s in the wrong, whether he knew he couldn’t hurt Fang or not.
VEreality
Not the devil’s advocate, but I think it is a good test for a tamed beast, even if it is a bit cruel. Imagine what could happen if a dumb child would just step on the tail of a tamed beast by accident. They have to make sure that those creature will not react violent when surprised or at the first sight of something annoying and/or possibly dangerous
Kazza
Yeah, I think that’s why it’s a bit of a dilemma. To be clear, I don’t have any problem with the test itself, that is something to be worried about, I’m more just curious on what would constitute failure. If Fang just dodged or growled, I would assume that’s passing, but what about batting the punch away?
Maybe I’m just a little too sensitive to the subject, as well. Animal abuse really disgusts me, and even though he did it with a purpose I still think he should have gotten Van’s consent at the very least, if not Fangs.
CyberDre
Don’t like ani- no Doggo abuse either , but I kinda see why he didn’t ask Van’s consent, the test won’t mean anything if Van simply told Fang to remain calm.
Jonathan Hurd
I get where you’re coming from, but I feel like the test is basically a necessary evil. Fang is a rank 5 monster and he’s only being hit by a normal punch not a martial skill. Any damage done would of been minor and easily healed by magic afterwards. Things could be so much worse if a rank 5 monster doesn’t really follow the tamer and went on a rampage in a civilian area.
Part of the point of the surprise attack is as VEreality pointed out. You can’t always expect every occurrence to be premeditated. The guards need to know Fang won’t go on a killing spree if some random drunk throws a punch or someone walks into him.
Lord Rin
I think people may have forgotten since we’ve encountered so many very high rank beings but Rank 5 is actually pretty damn powerful. Just Rank 4 is already equal to a T-rex as explained in an appendix chapter about ranks so you can guess how wary people would be of something Rank 5 possibly not being fully tamed. Also Fang is Rank 6 so the knight dude had a greater chance of injuring his hand rather than Fang since it was just a normal punch.
SchmidtNation
I think it’s expected that the tamed monster will do something to protect itself when attacked, which is why the knight called Fang a little cowardly when he didn’t move at all. The point is seeing how it reacts. Will it only do defensive and evasive actions until receiving an order to attack a person? Does it move to join and protect it’s tamer? If it does just start attacking back, does it immediately stop when the tamer orders it to stop?
It’s important to know how a monster capable of destroying villages on it’s own will react when it perceives an attack. Especially when you don’t know what it considers an attack. It’s be real bad if someone bumped into the tamer while walking down the street, and suddenly there’s a rank 5 monster rampaging in the middle of the city.
Doc
I agree with SchmidtNation here. Sure it’s unpleasant for a guy to suckerpunch what we know used to be a regular dog that had been abused by people. But from the guard’s perspective this is a monster that can easily kill hundreds if not more civilians if it isn’t perfectly tamed.
Though I do kinda agree there’s not much of a point in not telling Van what he was about to do. If Fang wasn’t truly tamed then there’s nothing Van could have done to prevent Fang from acting out to invalidate the test. I suppose you could argue part of the test is also how the tamer reacts to their familiar being attacked unexpectedly. Like if the trainer has I’ll intent or isn’t sane would they order it to attack, so in that case I understand not telling Van.
SchmidtNation
Making sure the tamer reacts properly to unexpected situations with their monster is probably part of it, and not telling Van ahead of time allows for an accurate test.
Example: some dogs chase cats, just immediate instinctual behavior. But, you can tug the leash, have them sit, they calm down, and everything’s fine. The situation is a bit of a bigger deal when the dog is a rank 5 walking calamity. If the tamer isn’t competent enough to accurately respond to those types of unexpected situations and quickly control their familiar, no way in hell should the monsters be allowed in the city.
Now, it could be said that adventurers can be as or more dangerous than familiars, and not testing them is unfair. But, it’s not really the same. Only high rank monsters who have never been to the city before are subjected to the test. Adventurers only get as dangerous as high rank monsters after many Job changes and ranking up in the guild (usually). The entire time they’re going on quests and getting stronger, the guild keeps tabs on them and if their behavior is problematic, it can be addressed. A newly tamed monster has none of that background reputation, and thus a test makes sense.
I would even believe that this test was created specifically for Van, because he is such a newly registered and seemingly inexperienced tamer, but already has so many high rank familiars.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, if Fang attacked, the test would become “can the tamer call him off before an ordinary person would be killed?” His reaction to Fang doing nothing at all indicates that he would still have passed if he’d growled or snarled.
It’s a legitimate procedure, as the Juliana and the gang pointed out. It also was a surprise inspection, but obviously it would be useless if the tamer can’t control the monster in an unexpected situation.
If he’d picked on one of the members capable of speech, that would have been unreasonable even if it was according to the procedure, but he clearly just wanted to make sure that what looked like the most dangerous monster in the group had been tamed well enough that it wouldn’t freak out and start killing anyone if, say, a flowerpot accidentally dropped on the street nearby.
That said, he’s being rather dull-witted. Obviously it’s the speaking ‘tamed’ servants that are suspicious, and he should have followed the more experienced knight’s lead since he was out of his depth. So it’s not like I would blame Van for giving him a good scare as a lesson.
But he’s not a candidate for becoming meatballs, fertilizer, or an experimental subject.
JeKeBe
Myuze with the clutch play this time out, keeping Van-sama from making a mess of things… well, that and Privel clutching him in her tentacles. Haha. The gate scene was pretty entertaining, the lies they told and the guards not really buying into their BS but not pushing the issue was great.
And the circle of defecting gods slowly grows, just goes to show they’re not all idiots. Though I do worry from their rather vague remarks that one of them may have gave their blessing to a human who turned out to be a face-ripping nutcase.
As always, thanks for the chapter!
Doc
I think they’re referring to the extra member of Arthur’s party that wasn’t named by the gods here. I think it was a young woman.
Chiu ChunLing
So some other heroes say in Ch. 251, at least.
Renrobt
Honestly I am most worried about that girl. From the descriptions, she seems to be pretty inconspicuous. While that could be that she is just someone neutral, who really has nothing to do with it, it seems more likely that she could be an agent of another god, told to keep the blessing secret.
After all Alda’s group started to suspect Bashas and it was mentioned that she didn’t reveal where is the hero she managed. It could be that one god gave their blessing to her, to keep tabs on the other 3.
Seems far too underhanded for Alda’s group, but still. Also to make sure she isn’t suspected, it would mean that she is either really good at hiding her strenght, something that is practically useless in front of Van, with his danger sense and all, or genuinely weak, which would be a waste of divine protection. After all unlike Van, who passively gives protection to those around him, most gods need to put some effort in, and can’t give out protections left and right.
Honestly I hope that she isn’t an enemy agent.
Chiu ChunLing
Hmmm…well, or she could just be the one member of the party who doesn’t have weird divine messages in her head.
ObserverBias
Considering the ties a number of Van’s abilities has to these gods that vibed with his encroachment, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s associated with a god whose existence is paper thin (to match Van’s ability to erase his presence, but since they’re a god, it’s possible that’s their main ‘thing’ and requires persistent awareness of them to remember they exist).
If that’s not the case, no disappointment, but at the very least it probably isn’t a reincarnated individual, else she would have gotten a bit more detail than several second-hand mentions.
… Unless that’s her thing–
Chiu ChunLing
Well, we’ve got a precise accounting of all the reincarnations who’ve died in Origin so far. So if she’s one of them, it has to be one of those mentioned, and none of them are very good candidates.
If there’s a god in Alda’s faction with a presence thinner than Hamil, god of doesn’t even get a face and may be literally 2D, then that’s quite interesting. Not impossible, but maybe less likely than a party simply not being composed exclusively of Hero candidates.
The fact that most of the characters we get status summaries for have Vandalieu’s Blessing may obscure this, but most people in Lambda don’t have a Divine Blessing. That wouldn’t make her unimportant, it would just mean she hasn’t met and been guided by Van yet.
Renrobt
A god of obfuscation or a god of hiding or maybe of confusion. That would explain why she has such a low profile, and even would tie into how the god itself is not well known, possibly even by the other gods as well. Issue is that these aspects sounds more in the territory of the evil gods…
Actually what if she is someone with the protection of an evil god who decided to join Van? Would make sense why she would keep a low profile and since the other people’s gods seem to be keen on making contact with Van, this might be their way to get to him.
And the only reincarnators we don’t have info on are Noah and Super sense, and those 2 the last we know fled the continent itself. Unless they would be trying to join Van like Konako and co. I don’t think they would dare to even approach.
Phantom Knight
Now that I think about it, are these the same people who were mistaken as shady individuals in a past chapter? I remember that there were a group of at least 3 people who had good hearts yet intimidating/shady looks.
……..I can’t remember which chapter talked about them though
Chiu ChunLing
Seems like they showed up in Ch. 245 and freaked out the guards, which did not surprise Miriam.
It was not entirely clear at that point that they were in fact good guys easily mistaken for villains rather than inept servants of some Evil God. Since their gods have been identified, it’s easier to say they are more likely the former.
Miriam herself remains a mystery, unless she’s just what Carlos said.
Chiu ChunLing
“And the process was only so long because of the ‘Face-tearing Demon’… in other words… you know,” Natania mumbled.
Well, we don’t, but apparently Van’s group is supposed to. It’s probably Isla etc. taking over the organized crime in the city (I recall a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the previous “Leader’s Mistresses” cover).
ObserverBias
Remember that somewhere around the time the Scylla territory got some exposure and the Sauron Liberation Front sort of still existed(?), Vandalieu paid a short visit to an outpost and the only remainder of the head of said outpost was his skinned face.
… iirc. I mean, he might have also pulled something similar elsewhere, but they were both relatively isolated incidents, though it’s also possible it relates to someone else entirely.
Renrobt
So it’s a goddess of rain clouds, goddess of dark nights and a god of shadows. They seem to be oddly compatible with Van. Dark night and shadows is obvious, considering how they are things people usually associate negatively, and rain clouds, while good for farmers, is also viewed negatively most of the time.
If we go by this, there might be hundreds of minor gods compatible with Van, only not yet exposed to the paintings at Talosheim. After all they cause insanity or at least mental damage to those who reject Van, while increases favorability with those who are neutral.
We just need to think of things or concepts that while neutral, people usually don’t think of them in a positive light. Such as traps for example. Hunters and some farmers might pray for such a god, but otherwise most would find traps distasteful.
CaTastrophy427
*ahem* Some other groups of people like traps, though there are some who call such people perverts or worse.
Renrobt
Emphasis on the “usually“. I am not commenting on traps, whether they are lethal or otherwise. Take that as you will.
Tho a god for a specific kind of trap might be rather interesting and in this case would explain why they seem unknown/unrecognized.
Chiu ChunLing
Gufadgarm is totally the god of traps, especially since gaining a physical body that totally looks like a young elf girl (up until it splits open from the crotch to the nose and Gufadgarm’s incomprehensible true form drags you into the very special hell).
Thk
I keep catching these too early so the comments have yet to develop, so its like the chapter ends even sooner.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…