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Starving Wolf Security had procured a building through connections that had existed since the days of being a criminal organization. It was a warehouse that also served as a residence, and it was on the boundary between Alcrem’s commercial district and residential area.
The first floor was a storage space that could house several carriages and other items, and there was a stable on the grounds as well. The living space was on the second floor, and although each room was small, there were many of them.
The building had originally been built for merchants who ran companies. However, the living space was too cheap for a wealthy merchant, and yet the building was too large and its rent too expensive for merchants with small or medium-sized businesses.
That was why it had been possible to use this building on short notice.
“Well then, I’ll leave the luggage here. Good work on getting here, everybody!” said Vivi, who was wearing lipstick of the same color as Miles’s.
“Good work,” said Vandalieu.
Vivi and the other Starving Wolf Security personnel stored everything away in the warehouse part of the building, but they didn’t head towards the second floor; they began getting ready to leave.
“But are you sure about this? Us being in an inn and everyone else staying here? Shouldn’t it be the other way round?” Vivi asked, looking perplexed.
This building wasn’t particularly shabby. However, the rooms on the second floor were not very large, and they didn’t even have any furniture.
Renting rooms at a middle-range inn would result in a much more pleasant stay.
And yet, such rooms would be rather extravagant for mere workers and employees. That was why Vivi thought that the accommodation arrangements would normally be reversed.
“It’s alright, Vivi-san. We won’t be using the second floor,” said Darcia.
Vivi and the other Starving Wolf Security personnel were shocked by the thought of Vandalieu and his companions staying on the first floor that had nothing but a space of dirt to store carriages and a storage area with a hard wooden floor. But in the next moment, they remembered that Gizania was here.
“With us being present, I do not think any inn in the city would let us in. And… those stairs are too narrow for me,” Gizania said, looking at her enormous, spider-like lower body half.
She was larger than a carriage; she would certainly become stuck if she tried to climb the stairs of this building.
“Well, I am sure we would be disliked just as much as Gizania-dono,” said Myuze, an Empusa, as she showed the sharp blades of her sickle-arms.
“Even though we’re members of Vida’s races, we have body parts that other people don’t have,” said Privel, raising the tentacles of her lower body half. “I’d probably make the floor all slippery, too… And to begin with, the rooms of the inns in this city wouldn’t be very pleasant to stay in for us.”
Indeed, the inns in this city were built to be pleasant and relaxing for humans. Even the highest-end inn wouldn’t be pleasant to stay in for Gizania or Privel.
“And Myuze and I probably wouldn’t be given rooms anyway. Ghouls and mysterious mantis-people aren’t known to be races of Vida,” Kachia pointed out.
“Ah!” said Myuze, stunned by this realization. “You are absolutely right!”
“That’s why we all want to just stay on the first floor together, since it’ll be more fun that way. We can sleep in the carriage at night, and it’s not like we’re staying in this city for months,” said Vandalieu.
“I see,” said Vivi, convinced.
She possessed the ‘Intuition’ Skill, but it didn’t allow her to read the future or the past. It only allowed her to sense danger quickly and, in some situations, allow her to tell which path of action was correct to take when presented with multiple options.
“I understand now! Well then, we will excuse ourselves!” Vivi said.
“We’ll still be in the city, so let us know if you need anything!” said another Starving Wolf Security member.
Vivi and the rest of the Starving Wolf Security personnel, who hadn’t forgotten to color their own lips, decided to back down.
Judging from the behavior of Vandalieu and his companions, they could sense that there were accommodation facilities in the city that even a Scylla and Arachne would be able to spend the nights in comfortably, but it was better for them not to press the matter.
They might get an explanation if they asked, but once they found out, there would be no going back. Their ‘Intuition’ Skills told them this.
It would be best to mentally prepare themselves and ask again later, or wait for Vandalieu and Miles to decide to tell them.
Having made this decision, Vivi and the others left the building.
“Well then, once we get our luggage sorted out, let’s go to the Tamers’ Guild,” said Vandalieu, oblivious to the inner thought processes of the Starving Wolf Security personnel. “Are you going to the Church of Vida, Mom?”
“Yes, but before that,” said Darcia, pulling Vandalieu aside. “Make sure you think about why you tried to glare at that knight with your Demon Eyes. I can’t imagine that the same thing would happen at the Tamers’ Guild, but Bachem-san is there as well, isn’t he? You can’t go causing trouble for him.”
Bachem, the Guild Master of the Morksi branch, had been summoned to the Guild headquarters in Alcrem. He had departed for Alcrem after Vandalieu and his companions on the back of his Huge Wyvern… which had gained a Rank and become a Greater Wyvern after the battle at Morksi’s front gate. It was likely that he had arrived already.
Darcia was worried that causing trouble in Bachem’s presence would damage his reputation. Of course, she was also worried that there would be some unfortunate victim.
“That might be true, Darcia-san, but Van said he doesn’t know why, and even if he thinks about it, he won’t be able to come up with an answer right away, will he?” said Privel.
“Mom, Privel, you’re right, but after some pondering, I’ve got a good idea as to why I did that,” said Vandalieu.
“You do?! When did you figure it out?!” said Privel, taken aback.
“I thought about it while I was walking with Myuze and Kachia holding my hands, after you released me from your tentacles,” said Vandalieu.
He had used the ‘Group Thought Processing’ Skill and dedicated half of his thought processing power to conduct a self-analysis. He had discussed the issue with himself, as well as the false image that he had fused with in the ‘Trial of Zakkart,’ and his shadow self that had formed when he absorbed the Demon King’s shadow.
Someone from earth might describe this behavior as that of an alien that was being captured, and Privel and the others hadn’t imagined that he would be doing such a thing, which was why they were so surprised.
TLN: I don’t really understand this description by the author either, but I’ve translated it as well as I can.
“There have been plenty of instances where my friends have been hurt, including Fang, during Leveling in Devil’s Nests and Dungeons, duels and battles to the death. And even though they were hurt far more badly than Fang was in this case, I wasn’t overcome by an insuppressible rage. Considering that, I have come to the conclusion that the cause was the situation in which Fang was attacked,” Vandalieu explained.
“The situation?” Darcia repeated.
“I think it was the situation where Fang couldn’t avoid the attack or retaliate, and had no choice but to simply stand there and take it,” said Vandalieu.
The situation he described was one that would not normally occur during battle. It would occur if one’s body was paralyzed by a poison or bound by magic, but if one considered such poisons or spells to be attacks themselves, they could be avoided by being dodged or blocked, so these kinds of situations didn’t count.
“Hmm… So, the situation where one of your allies has no choice but to simply stand there and receive violence under unfair circumstances caused you to lose your temper?” said Sam in summary.
“Yes, probably,” said Vandalieu, nodding. “I might be harboring some trauma from my time on Earth and in Origin.”
In his previous lives, Vandalieu had been subjected to violence that he was unable to avoid or prevent. Perhaps he had lost his cool because the situation with Fang had reminded him of these times.
“Isn’t that quite bad?” said Simon with a serious expression on his face. “If Natania, or even Gizania-san and the others were to get involved in these kinds of things…”
The ruler of Alcrem, the duke, had taken initiative to support the peaceful faction of Alda, which was friendly towards Vida’s races. Thus, the people of this duchy were friendlier towards Vida’s races than those in the Hartner Duchy.
But Gizania and Privel looked very different from humans, and Kachia was a Ghoul, a race that wasn’t recognized as one that had been created by Vida. It was possible that people would discriminate against them and try to harm them for no reason.
Simon seemed to be worried about this.
Vandalieu looked a little puzzled. “If that happens, there won’t be any problems like with that knight, so we can just fight back.”
“Yes… It’s not like they’re forced to attack us because it’s their job. I don’t feel sorry at all for people who willingly choose to do those things,” said Darcia.
“Huh?!” said Simon in surprise, but then he came back to his senses. “… Come to think of it, everyone entered the city as familiars. People might speak ill of us, but I guess any fool who actually tries to do something to us has no right to complain if they get killed.”
Familiars were tamers’ tools; they were necessary for their survival. If anyone were to try and lay a hand on them, harm them or snatch them for themselves, this was equivalent to doing so to the weapons of an adventurer or knight.
Unlike Earth, it was not a crime to kill thieves in Lambda, so there would be no problems with Vandalieu slaughtering anyone who tried to attack Gizania or the others.
What Darcia, Juliana and the others were worried about was someone with no hostility or malice having to attack the familiars as part of their job, like the square-jawed knight, meeting a gruesome end. They were not concerned about the fates of foolhardy, reckless discriminators.
“Of course, I know that my response has to be proportional to the actions against us. If it’s things like children trying to pull out the rats’ fur or drunkards causing trouble for Privel and the others, there have been similar incidents before, but I didn’t lose control of myself then,” said Vandalieu. “If the person causing trouble for us is a noble or something, and his actions are truly malicious, then… I’ll deal with them in a way that won’t be noticed. Fortunately, thanks to ‘Perfect Record Technique,’ I will never forget their faces or names.”
Just as Vandalieu finished speaking, several small silhouettes appeared from inside the warehouse. They had black skin, pointed ears and noses, and slanted eyes. They were wearing black clothes and had ninja blades on their backs. They were Braga and the other Black Goblins.
“King, is ‘dealing with them in a way that won’t be noticed’ our job?” Braga asked.
He and his ninja force had been working in rotating shifts, moving about in Alcrem’s shadows.
“Good work, ‘Face-tearing Demon’ Braga. Don’t pay too much attention to this talk of new work for you,” said Vandalieu.
“I see. We’re almost finished with the guys on the list, so we’ve been kind of free lately,” said Braga.
“Isla isn’t sending any more names to add to the list. Can we go home?” asked another.
Braga and the other Black Goblins had been disposing of those who had been dealing with the members of the criminal organization based in Morksi, such as the ‘Hyena’ Gozoroff, and those who had been competing against Morksi’s criminal organization.
If they simply wanted to punish criminals, they could simply leave evidence of their crimes in the city guards’ offices. However, some of the commanding officers in charge of the city guards, some of the knights and several nobles had actually held connections to criminal organizations… and some had even been high-ranking members themselves.
With that being the case, little could be expected with evidence alone. The underlings would either be cut off from the organization like a lizard’s tail, or be crushed to silence them.
And the evidence held by Vandalieu and his companions included some that the Alcrem Duchy’s government were unlikely to believe. The testimonies of spirits, Undead, and members of criminal organizations whose brains had been tampered with mentally and physically.
Knights and nobles placed under suspicion this way would call such evidence a conspiracy, dismissing these testimonies as the ravings of the dead who had lost their minds after their deaths and confessions forced from tortured criminals. Vandalieu had suspected that Duke Alcrem would choose to take the suspects’ side in such situations.
That was why he had taken action by force. Naturally, if he had taken the time to investigate thoroughly and find irrefutable evidence of crimes, it would not have been impossible to hand that evidence to knights and nobles who were not corrupt and have the criminals punished through legal means.
However, Vandalieu had been unable to think of a reason why he should go to such lengths to protect the reputation of the Alcrem Duchy’s policing force.
“Did you have any difficult battles?” Vandalieu asked the Black Goblins.
“We sneak in, take off the skin of their faces like Isla taught us, and then all there’s left to do is take them with us. We gather them up and send them to Talosheim. We didn’t have any trouble,” one of them replied.
“Luciliano was very happy,” said another.
“A bounty has been placed on us, but nobody has noticed that we’re working in a group,” added a third.
Acting as a mysterious killer who tore off the skin of his victims’ faces and left nothing else behind, taking the rest of the corpses with them. The Black Goblins had chosen this modus operandi because they had seen Isla skillfully stripping the skin off one of her victims while they were still alive, and decided to copy her.
The result was that Alcrem had been plunged into fear… or not quite. The victims of the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ were all criminals, or knights or nobles with bad reputations, so these murders had nothing to do with ordinary, honest people. In fact, it seemed that the general population considered him to be some kind of virtuous thief for some reason.
“As expected of you. I too wish to become a ninja like you and the others, Braga-dono,” said Myuze, looking at the Black Goblins with a look of respect in her eyes.
The knowledge left by the champion Hillwillow in the region inside the Boundary Mountain Range portrayed ninjas and samurai as they were in entertainment works; ninjas were considered to be direct combatants.
“We’re not that amazing. In battles where you don’t catch the enemy by surprise, you’re stronger, Myuze. As expected of a kunoichi who uses her body as a weapon,” said Braga.
“No, no, that is not true,” Myuze said humbly.
Incidentally, ‘using the body as a weapon’ in this case was literal. Kunoichi in Lambda were physically powerful.
TLN: This is as opposed to a woman using one’s body as a weapon in a sexual way to lure enemies into a vulnerable position.
“Come to think of it, you said you’re ‘almost done.’ Are there still targets left?” asked Vandalieu.
The Black Goblins looked at each other, then back at Vandalieu with a vexed expression.
“There were a few we failed to kill. But there aren’t any left alive,” one replied.
“There is someone who is copying us. That person is killing bad guys on the list and even bad guys that aren’t on the list,” said another.
Around the time Braga and the other Black Goblins began being called the ‘Face-tearing Demon,’ the skin of the face of a woman who hadn’t been on their list had been found, having been killed with the same method that the Black Goblins used.
Of course, it hadn’t been one of the Black Goblins acting on his own, killing a villain without permission. To begin with, they hadn’t even known that the woman had once been the leader of a drug smuggling ring.
Since then, there had been more killings by the unknown ‘Face-tearing Demon,’ who had even killed several people on the list before the Black Goblins could get to them.
As for why this hadn’t been reported to Vandalieu up until now –
“We weren’t sure whether we should report it. It’s not like they’re doing anything bad,” one of the Black Goblins said.
“Yeah, they’re just copying us. We’re not happy that they got to some of our targets before us. But they might just be trying to help,” said another.
“I see,” said Vandalieu, understanding their reasoning. “It would be a serious concern if this copycat were to target people who weren’t evil, but it seems that they’re only targeting bad guys…”
He pondered for a while, unsure as to how to deal with the copycat.
He and his companions did not consider murder to always be a crime. Self-defense was one obvious exception, but they also killed bandits, underground slave traders who traded slaves illegally, mass murderers – and sometimes captured them alive to become subjects in human experiments before being used as materials for Undead or a source of power for Golems.
Thus, they did not think badly of the copycat who was killing evil individuals on his own… In fact, they were slightly impressed.
Of course, the copycat’s actions would legally be considered a crime, and those who maintained public order in the Alcrem Duchy – the knights and the city guards – had a duty to put a stop to them. It was not a task for Vandalieu, even if he was the mastermind behind the ‘Face-tearing Demon.’
The conversation was heading in the direction of Vandalieu not caring and the copycat being left alone.
But Simon spoke up. “Master, it’s true that only evil people have been killed, but something tells me it isn’t for just and moral reasons. I get the feeling that someone is using the ‘Face-tearing Demon’ as a pretense to cover up killings happening as a result of a conflict between two evil organizations fighting for money and territory… And if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be bad to leave them alone?”
He still had his sense of what it was like to be a part of human society, and although he sounded unsure of himself, he spoke firmly.
“You think so too, Simon?! I’m so glad, I’m not the only one. You’re right. We can’t say it’s a bad thing, but it sure isn’t good, either!” said Natania in agreement.
“Vandalieu-sama, even without taking Simon’s theory into account, it is possible that the criminals only tore the skin from their victims’ faces, and left them alive,” said Juliana, pointing out the possibility that the copycat’s victims were alive.
“Huh? But the skins of their faces were left behind, weren’t they?” said Kachia.
“It is true that their corpses have not been found, but if they had such a thing done to them when they do not have the ‘Rapid Regeneration’ Skill… If they do not have connections to users of advanced healing magic like Darcia and Jeena, they won’t ever return to their original appearance,” said Gizania.
“Would they really go that far?” asked Myuze.
Juliana nodded. “Some healing can be done, even with ordinary healing magic. Or they could have stockpiled high-grade Potions. And I have heard that there are some assassins who tear off their own faces in order to become masters of disguise, so I do not think it would be so strange for someone to be willing to do it in order to survive.”
Gizania and Myuze were shocked by her words; until recently, they had been living in the Boundary Mountain Range in a nation of races created by Vida, and had only ever known gentle humans who quietly worked away at their production-based jobs. However, they did not voice any objections.
“I see. In any case, we must investigate the objectives of this person who is imitating the crimes of the ‘Face-tearing Demon,’” said Sam.
He had originally been a human who lived outside the Boundary Mountain Range, but was now a murderous carriage. It wouldn’t be strange that there were people as determined as him among the living, Gizania and Myuze seemed to realize.
“Very well. Let’s investigate… although I have to go to the Tamers’ Guild as well today, so the most I’ll be able to do is listen to what the spirits have to say. Gufadgarn, please tell Luciliano and Isla to extract information from the experimental subjects that are still alive,” said Vandalieu.
“As you wish,” said Gufadgarn.
“We know where an information broker is. We haven’t met them ourselves, though,” said Braga.
The Black Goblins had been continuing their secret work in Alcrem while rotating and taking turns to return to Talosheim. However, they couldn’t allow themselves to be seen by people, so they had acted entirely in secret and conducted almost no information gathering.
After the conversation regarding the copycat, Vandalieu headed for the headquarters of the Tamers’ Guild with Gizania, Privel, Kachia, Myuze as well as Mähne and Hof, who were following the group with the ‘Shadow Assimilation’ Skill… and just as they finished their business there and left, it happened.
Of course, Vandalieu did not rampage out of control and cause some great disaster like the Guild headquarters being destroyed; his conversation with the Guild Master ended peacefully, at least on the surface.
“I’m sorry. It wasn’t a very pleasant chat, was it?” said Bachem, who had been summoned to the headquarters by the Guild Master as well, giving a bitter smile.
“No,” said Vandalieu.
This immediate, honest response made Bachem’s cheeks stiffen even more.
“It was that unpleasant, was it? The stable was quite pleasant…” said Myuze.
“I suppose the quality of the facility does not reflect the character of the man in charge of it. In any case, you did well to contain yourself,” said Gizania, patting Vandalieu’s head.
“Yes, yes. Good boy, good boy,” said Privel, patting Vandalieu as well.
“Ah! I’m supposed to pat you as well! Good boy, good boy,” said Kachia, joining in.
As they were Vandalieu’s familiars, they had been waiting in the Guild’s stable while Vandalieu and Bachem spoke with the Guild Master.
They had been in separate spaces in the stable that were suitable for their body sizes; there had been plenty of space, and they had been in a section of it that was reserved for demi-humans and other monsters that possessed some degree of intelligence. Thus, the spaces provided for them had actually been modest rooms.
Several people managed each section, and each of Vandalieu’s companions had been assigned one person who attended to them like a concierge.
If they asked for a drink, they would receive tea or fruit juice mixed with water. If they asked for a light meal, they would receive a sandwich or soup.
The facility was a stable, but provided better service than middle-class inns.
The Guild’s workers were used to doing this work; none of them had shown any signs of confusion. They had likely seen tamers who had tamed members of Vida’s races before, though probably not Arachne or Scylla.
Of course, Gizania and the others had likely been treated this way because they were the familiars of Vandalieu who had been summoned all the way from another city by the Guild Master – in other words, they were the familiars of a VIP.
“Good boy, huh… I can’t argue against that,” said Bachem with a sour expression, giving up on defending the Guild Master.
Mähne and Hof neighed as they materialized the top halves of their bodies from Vandalieu’s shadow, rubbing their faces against him.
“… Well, I’m sure he’s an exceptional tamer. I heard from a Guild employee that he’s currently known as the ‘Giant Demon Tamer’ and ‘Hornless Demon General’ and stuff,” said Vandalieu, speaking in defense of the Guild Master now that Bachem had given up on doing so. “I also think there’s no problem with his skills as a tamer. Not that I’m confident in my ability to judge people,” he added.
Pedro Olsen, the Guild Master of the Tamers’ Guild headquarters in Alcrem, was the top figure among every branch of the Guild in the Alcrem Duchy. He had the appearance of an old soldier with a long history, having some scars visible on his face and his arms.
His tone of speech had been a little rough, his mannerisms slightly lacking in politeness, but he did not seem to be a bad person… He was just the type that Vandalieu didn’t get along with.
Even now, he was served by more than ten Trolls, Ogres and Minotaurs, and he and his familiars alone represented a fighting force equivalent to a knights’ order. He was so skilled that people often said that if the Five Knights of Alcrem were six instead, the sixth would be him.
However, he had a tendency of measuring one’s skill as a tamer by the strength of their familiars, and an even stronger tendency of treating his familiars as weapons and nothing else. That was why he commanded his familiars with the same strictness as a well-trained troop of soldiers, but… he was strongly detested by tamers who thought of their familiars as family.
“I can’t say that his methods are wrong. If he’s skilled enough to command Ogres and Trolls, and has disciplined them enough to use them safely even inside the city, his ways are probably correct,” said Vandalieu. “But I have to question his decision to advise me to adopt his methods.”
“Old man Pedro is a pushy guy, you see. And he’s become more preachy as he got older… I’m not so good at dealing with him either. There’s all kinds of tamers out there, so I don’t think there’s a single best way of going about it,” said Bachem.
The Guild Master had become the bothersome type of old man after acquiring his current position. The fact that he had remained the Guild Master for over a decade despite this meant that many tamers agreed with his ways.
“I see. He and Van-dono are like water and oil,” said Myuze.
“I wouldn’t be very happy if I were treated like that,” said Privel.
But even as they said this, the two of them thought of Isla, Eleanora and some others who weren’t here. They would likely be delighted to be treated that way… or rather, think of it as some kind of reward and do whatever Vandalieu ordered them to.
“Well, he talked for a long time about how he manages his familiars, and he backed down and said that there are all kinds of tamers, as Bachem-san just said, after I indirectly declined to adopt his methods seven times. And it only took me declining his offer of a job once for him to back down on that,” said Vandalieu.
“Hmm? I thought that his goal was to close Van off within the Tamers’ Guild. He gave up fairly quickly, didn’t he?” said Gizania, a little surprised.
“Well, that probably just means that old man Pedro isn’t seriously thinking of having you work for the Guild right now. You’re still underage, after all,” Bachem explained. “He should be satisfied with just being able to put a mark on you before the Adventurers’ Guild… and he was more serious about my promotion.”
Pedro’s goal had been to show everyone both inside and outside his Guild that the Guild Master of the Tamers’ Guild had its eyes on ‘Genius Tamer’ Vandalieu, in order to keep the Adventurers’ Guild in check.
“Huh? Even though his offer got rejected? Doesn’t that give off the impression that the Tamers’ Guild has been given the cold shoulder?” asked Privel.
“He’s probably intending to indirectly spread some false rumors that Vandalieu declined his offer because he is young and inexperienced, and wishes to gain more practical experience first. This will cause the other Guilds to mistakenly believe that Vandalieu intends to join the Tamers’ Guild in time,” said Bachem.
“… The Guild Master is better at thinking like a noble than a lot of noblemen,” Kachia said in a half-impressed and half-exasperated tone as she looked back over her shoulder towards the Tamers’ Guild headquarters building behind them.
“Well, old man Pedro is an honorary baron, after all. He technically is a nobleman,” said Bachem.
“… Ah, so that person has the position of an honorary noble, something that was once my goal to attain… Even if the ways we think about our familiars are different, it’s disgusting that he would make the suggestion that he did,” said Vandalieu.
“It would be an ordinary suggestion if your familiars were normal monsters, but…” said Bachem.
“Huh? What did he suggest?” Kachia asked curiously.
But neither Vandalieu nor Bachem were willing to give a clear answer about the Guild Master’s suggestion.
“It was to do with Juliana and the others, but it also involves Kachia and Myuze, so I’ll explain when we return. It’s not something I can really talk about in public, anyway,” said Vandalieu.
“Old man Pedro won’t try to force you to do anything, and I don’t think he’ll be persistent enough to press the issue and keep repeating his suggestion, so… please let this end in peace,” Bachem begged Vandalieu.
“I-I kind of have a bad feeling about this,” said Kachia.
“Indeed. Human cities are rather terrifying,” said Myuze.
As the group conversed, passing through a narrow alleyway between two buildings, a small object rolled towards Vandalieu’s feet.
Vandalieu looked down.
It was a pebble with a scrap of paper tied to it.
He looked back up to see a fierce-looking man who was very muscular, with his muscles being clearly visible even through his clothes, looking this way with an unpleasant smile on his face.
The moment the man’s eyes met Vandalieu’s, his smile grew wider. In the next moment, he swiftly turned around and ran silently out of the alleyway.
“Is something the matter?” Bachem asked.
“No, I’m just imagining things,” Vandalieu replied, having the Mimic Slime Kühl who was hiding in his shadow swallow up the pebble, then return into his shadow.
Pretending that nothing had happened at all, Vandalieu resumed his conversation with Bachem as he returned to the accommodation building.
- Name: Braga
- Titles: Face-tearing Demon (NEW!)
- Rank: 9
- Race: Black Goblin Absolute Ninja Master
- Level: 90
- Passive skills:
- Dark Vision
- Status Effect Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Enhanced Agility: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Intuition: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Detect Presence: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
- Augmented Attribute Values when equipped with Ninja Equipment (Medium) (Awakened from Strengthened Attribute Values when equipped with Ninja Equipment (Medium)!)
- Murder Healing: Level 3 (NEW!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Duty: Level 4 (NEW!)
- Active skills:
- Dagger Technique: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Throwing: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
- Silent Steps: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
- Trap: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dismantling: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Unlocking: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Transcend Limits: Level 1 (Awakened from Surpass Limits!)
- Assassin Technique: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Ninja Tools: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Coordination: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Pursuit: Level 4 (NEW!)
- Torture: Level 3 (NEW!)
- Familiar Spirit Demonfall: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Unique skills:
- Human Slayer: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection (NEW!)
Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano):
Black Goblin Absolute Ninja Master
Braga has gone from being a Rank 7 Ninja Master to a Rank 8 High Ninja Master, then a Rank 9 Absolute Ninja Master.
He is likely the first Goblin who has ever achieved this Rank, even among non-superior races of Goblins.
I wonder what he will become once he has mastered his ninja techniques even further…
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Hobbes
Braga still needs to obtain Unarmed Fighting Technique & Assassin(ation?) Fighting Technique… & finally he needs to learn a Summoning Skill of some kind… Preferably for Ninja Toads.
Zenden1st
nice chapter i wonder who that mysterious person was?
A_wandering_otter
I think it’s one of the three hero trying to astablish contact with van but is too socially awkward
Ronin
It was probably Arthur the hero for Bashas. Remember her and the other 3 gods have been guided by the pics in taloshiem so they likely want to defect and are using their heroes as messengers.
asdsdsffdhffggkl
the alien thing, is when you see 2 persons guiding/dragging another by force. happens a lot to mitsuha lol.
gomezseba37
Braga is FUCKING RANK 9 AND HE IS AN ASSASIN NINJA.
the only chance to beat van and his army are the gods at this point. direct confrontation would be useless.
Moonsshadow
Is the next chapter coming anytime soon this is the first time this has happened is yoshi ok?
no1
a whole month and only one chapter, did something happen, please let the next chapter be released soon
Chiu ChunLing
There are rumors that the story has actually ended now…but maybe there will be an after arc or something.
ObserverBias
There is definitely more arcs than this ‘currently.’ It might have ended a volume or few away from this current point, but this chapter is not the current endpoint, to my understanding.
Chiu ChunLing
No no, of course not this chapter. I was wondering if the raw apparently reaching the end of the story might be affecting the priority Yoshi put on translating.
ExplodingPenguinDood
Yoshi’s busy with irl stuff, apparently he’s getting his license. I learned it from the discord
GoneAstray
Could we get a progress update please? Its been almost a month since this chapter was released, & no news on the next one.
Wsteven7o7
That end was creepy it left me really confused and concern…
Poh
When is the new chapter coming out?
akatsuki kuranashi
is it just me or is it weird that Braga isn’t under the effect of Vandalieu guiding skill?
Lord Rin
Being guided isn’t something that shows on a person’s status. Well he’s obviously been guided since he has Van’s Divine Protection also which people can only possibly get if they’ve been guided.
Chiu ChunLing
To be precise, it often does show as “Enhanced/Strengthened Attribute Values: XXX” where XXX is something that refers to being Van’s follower. In this case, it might be “Duty”, along with “equipped with Ninja Equipment”, since both of these are things that tie back to being Van’s follower.
But such effects can appear for reasons other than being guided.
It also wouldn’t really be weird for Braga not to be guided by Van (though he clearly is), since he’s not Undead, or a member of a Vida race. He’s a variant of goblin that only occurs due to Van’s Death Mana, but that was before Van got any Guider jobs.
Jonathan Hurd
I think Braga might not have Strengthened While Guided because he hasn’t been working directly under Van for a while and has more been guiding his own troops of Black Goblins.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, E/SAV: Guidance does exist, but it usually isn’t seen on the status of Van’s closer associates, especially those who’ve known him since before he was a guider.
It’s more for people who don’t have any other relationship than having been guided. Those with closer relationships usually have things like SAV: Duty/Loyalty/Submission/etc. or SAV: [Using something Van taught/gave me].
SchmidtNation
It would be extremely weird if Braga (or any Black Goblins, Orcuses, or Anubises) we’re not guided by Van because of the fact they are races created through death mana, and have all been Van’s followers since birth. Van can, and does, guide anyone that follows him.
Chiu ChunLing
Yes, but it’s not like all the Black Goblins, Orcuses, and Anubises are biologically compelled to be guided by Van. He created all three races before he became a guider, after all. They’re different from the more recent races which originate from being guided by him.
Braga et al are guided by Van because of continuing to accept his leadership after he became a guider, but it wouldn’t be all that weird for it to take time or additional affirmative steps to be guided. In the case of the citizens living in the Vidal Empire, Van had to go meet them personally to guide them even though all their nations had formally acknowledged his leadership.
So we can say it would be just as weird for any humans living in the Vidal Empire to have not been guided by Van. And it would be weird, just not extremely so.
SchmidtNation
Every one of them has been taught since birth that Van is their King, creator, and object of worship. They’ve been fully indoctrinated into believing that being of use to Van is the single greatest use of their own lives. Add on the fact that bathing in death attribute mana as fetuses does make them more biologically inclined to being guided by Van, and yes, it would be extremely weird if any Black Goblins, Anubises, or Orcuses were not guided.
The citizens of the Vidal Empire are not comparable because they’ve grown up without knowing of Van’s existence and the effects of his charm skill.
Chiu ChunLing
I get what you’re saying.
But the first generation Black Goblins were all born before Van got any guider jobs. So they naturally had a period of their lives where, no matter how much they liked Van, they were not guided by him. And there was nothing weird about that at the time.
It’s been a few years since Van became a Guider, so it would be weird if any of his long-time followers hadn’t been guided since then. But that’s still no more the case for Braga than anyone else. And we know that degree of guidance varies even among Van’s followers, that’s the issue that motivated the experiments that led to the creation of the Dark humans.
In other words, Braga probably had SAV: Duty and SAV: Ninja equipment even before being guided by Van, but the effects likely got stronger when Van became a guider. Even if he gets EAV: Guidance (and it ranks up) later, it’s not weird that he doesn’t already have it (or the ranked up version) if the guidance is still mainly expressed through the SAV skills he already has.
If you’re saying that Braga was never a part of Rotcortex’s reincarnation system, that’s true but not contingent on being guided. Goblins weren’t part of Rotcortex’s system in the first place.
Kazza
Ha, the walk through the desert was long, but the Oasis had finally come…
Anyways, I thought that was a nice enough chapter. Nice to know Braga’s doing such a good job he’s already got a copycat.
My money’s on it being an ideological follower, and here’s why: A criminal using it has no protection against the actual FTD.
When I say that, I’m thinking of The Dark Knight, where Batman starts getting copycats. To them, it makes sense Batman’s on their team, so when he brings them in, they’re shocked. I think that makes sense, especially since they’re doing it as disguised Batmen. They don’t want personal glory, they want to increase the order Batman inspires.
But if it were someone who was using it as a cover, they would be afraid, because nothing is stopping the FTD from coming after them. They know nothing about him except a possible motive, he has great skill, and can somehow access and kill nobles and knights. If the FTD could get any definitive proof you’re using his method for your own means, you’re on his list, especially if there is an ideological reason for his killings.
They could claim the ideological angle, but depending on the proof, that could fall apart easily.
I dunno, just seems risky to use a serial killers methods for your own ends, when that risks bringing the killer’s attention to you, y’know?
Chiu ChunLing
Well, an ideological follower in this case doesn’t explain how the copycat is able to do what Van and co. are doing. Batman’s only superpower is being a billionaire, all of his physical abilities are in line with the high end of human ability. Braga is a rank 9 monster ninja, leading a group of similar monsters, being given logistic and intel support by Van, who has surpassed the realm of superhumans and minor gods and is an existential threat to even major gods.
If someone were capable of doing the same thing they’re doing, that would be pretty amazing, which means they’re probably not doing the same thing.
Though there’s the possibility that the copycat is Arthur’s party in cooperation with the dark god trio. But that seems a long-shot to me cause their established character so far is that they easily get suspected even when they’re not doing anything. But maybe they’re really good at actual covert activity to make up for it?
Kazza
…But the group does indeed think it is possible for it to be an ideological follower, therefore it’s well within the realm of possibility.
I’m confused what you mean by “amazing”? Simply carving off a face? Subduing targets? Yes, those are impressive feats for humans, but not something you need minor gods and Rank 8+ monsters for.
After all, the copycat doesn’t have to be a homeless person or low rank adventurer screwed by the system. It could be a noble, or possibly one of the Alcrem Knights getting mentioned now and again. All it takes is knowing the information, and the chapter even establishes the one woman wasn’t on the list because Van and Co. did not have the relevant information.
I suppose nobles would be harder to isolate, true, but again, we have no reason to assume the copycat isn’t skilled enough to pull it off.
Chiu ChunLing
It’s within the realm of possibility, but I still think it’s not the most probable explanation. Braga casually assumed that there should be other people in Alcrem capable of doing it, but he suffers from “compared to Vandalieu, we’re all normal” syndrome. Of course, someone in Alcrem is doing it, so they’re obviously capable. But with that level of capability, they weren’t an ‘ordinary person’ who just needed a push to do something outside their ordinary paradigm.
The copycat may not be a hero with backing from minor gods, but they’ve definitely got exceptional abilities that are possessed by only a small number of people in the entire Duchy, not an ordinary person who just never thought they could make a difference before.
Simon and Juliana’s thoughts are more informed by awareness of how difficult it would be for the copycat to be someone without a definite agenda beyond admiration of Braga’s actions. Yes, they planned the whole thing to generate an overall favorable impression among the common people, but those people don’t have the ability to imitate this.
Arthur’s group makes good suspects, in that they fit the ability profile, and they do have a motive, but so far they’ve been too goofy. They seem more like the sort to end up getting captured by Van’s group after doing something completely innocent in an excessively suspicious manner. But it would also be funny if they’re also nigh invincible as long as they’re really doing something shady.
Lord Rin
Well we don’t know the caliber of the people Braga has killed. We just know they are criminals. Most criminals we’ve seen are only around the equivalent of E-D rank adventures so just someone equivalent to a C rank adventurer would be able to do the same things Braga has been doing which is just cutting off someone’s face and not leaving a body behind. A person equal to a C rank could definitely do that and they aren’t so rare. The only thing they could possibly have trouble with is going after nobles and for that they can just not target them. It’s not like we know if any of the ones the copycat has killed are nobles so it still leaves a large suspect list.
Chiu ChunLing
It’s true that probably most of the people getting killed aren’t extraordinary.
But they are people whom it is difficult for the authorities to handle. I tend to doubt that the copycat is someone who has been living an otherwise ordinary life in the city.
This is not a world where people who can resort to violence don’t do so habitually and openly. In our world, (or Origin), the lack of a status system means that the difference between the average abilities and the top isn’t enough to override the substantial risks involved in regular conflict. But in Lambda, someone who can do this repeatedly without getting caught is already doing this sort of thing as their ‘day job’, and has been for a while.
Viral
“Someone from earth might describe this behavior as that of an alien that was being captured, and Privel and the others hadn’t imagined that he would be doing such a thing, which was why they were so surprised.”
Probably the meaning is more like
“Privel and the others never imagined that he would be doing such a thing while he was carried like an alien being taken away (to put an example easy to understand in the Earth) and that was why they were so surprised”
Jonathan Hurd
Considering he was wrapped in tentacles maybe it is supposed to read like ‘No one would of thought such an intense debate was going on within Van while a scene like someone being abducted by Aliens(from a perspective of a person on Earth) was going on outside.’
Chiu ChunLing
No, the original is clearly “an alien captured on “Earth””, not an alien doing the capturing. And it specifies a “space person”, so more like a humanoid alien than something with tentacles.
It’s definitely the classic image of a captured ‘grey’ being led by both hands without any sign of resistance.
Ed. Ah, forget that bit about “space person” not having tentacles, I forgot that the Japanese use an alternate etymology for ‘person’. Still, it’s a captured alien, not an alien capturing someone.
Lord Rin
Ah so maybe Vivi really is that one bodyguard from a brothel that once tried to confront Darcia over her supposed “seduction” of Miles. The bodyguard had the Intuition skill like Vivi and was also quite taken with Miles so maybe they really are the same person. Eh whatever it’s not that important. It is weird though how all of the Starving Wolf Security members are wearing lipstick like Miles. Also I don’t think all of the members there are women.
Anyways so it turns out Braga is the “Face-tearing Demon” and him and his team have been working in Alcrem cutting off the faces of criminals before sending them to Talosheim to become guinea pigs in live human experiments. They’re doing it to crush the final remnants of the criminal organizations that had been based in Morksi that were either not based there or had managed to flee Morski. Well I assume that that’s how this initially started but Van probably heard about the crimes of other people from the spirits of their victims and had decided to help them. He’s done it before like when he heard about one guy in the Hartner duchy killed a close friend of a spiritualist so he decided to avenge her and from there he heard about the crimes of other people and ended up destroying a group of people working for Ternecia or when he went to kill Marshal Palpapek and on the way there heard about some assassins and other criminals from the spirits of their victims and he decided to kill them all to avenge them and also use them as a scapegoat for Palpapek’s murder and the Legston family’s defection to Talosheim. Well anyways they still need to investigate a copycat who’s also going around cutting off people’s faces. As they discussed, they can’t be sure if this copycat will continue to only kill criminals or if this is all a smokescreen to either also kill rival gangs or innocent people or if it is a tactic to allow certain criminals to flee. Like fake their own deaths and come back with a different face after being healed with magic.
That Tamer’s Guildmaster Pedro doesn’t seem that bad. He sounds more like just an uptight old man. It says he believes in using his familiars as weapons and tools but it also says that he treats them sorta like a general treats his soldiers in a professional manner. So he probably doesn’t go around giving his familiars unreasonable orders or actively treat them badly. Van recognizes he and Pedro just have differences of opinion but that Pedro isn’t necessarily wrong and that’s why he’s hard for Van to get along and deal with. I do wonder what suggestion he gave to Van was though? Van said it disgusted him. Since it was a suggestion towards his female familiars then all I can think of is that he suggested to use them as breeding stock for other monsters. It wouldn’t be unheard of. They previously mentioned how sometimes some tamers would purchase female criminal slaves so that they can be raped and impregnated by their familiars like orcs or ogres in order to get more familiars that way instead of going out to dungeons or Devil’s Nest to capture them or to give the resulting babies to their apprentices. They also mentioned how they’d buy the babies of women that were raped by monsters like orcs or goblins which was also something Van essentially did previously. If that was the suggestion that Pedro gave to Van then I can see why Van would decline since not only are his familiars sentient but some of them have had horrible experiences before like Kachia. Well Pedro probably didn’t mean anything by it and it would be a pretty normal suggestion that most tamers might make.
I wonder who that guy was at the end? He apparently passed a note to Van before leaving. Could he be the copycat Face-tearing Demon? Somebody who works for Duke Alcrem? Or one of the heroes from Bashas’ group?
Chiu ChunLing
I doubt that “unreasonable orders” is even a meaningful idea to the monsters he uses. The social psychology of monsters generally isn’t that complex even for relatively more intelligent ones like Lizardmen, and ogres, trolls, and minotaurs don’t seem to be the most prone to reasoning. Which means he probably does treat them actively badly quite often as a way of reinforcing their perception that they’re subordinate to him. But obviously he has to do it with a sense of making sure they perceive obedience as their best chance of survival.
Given that he probably uses his monsters as more or less disposable meat-shields when necessary, that’s likely the only option that would work for him. He probably thinks that most tamers are too ‘soft’ because they bond emotionally with their familiars and thus can’t easily sacrifice them for tactical advantage.
While Van acknowledges that he certainly has a point when it comes to making the most efficient use of monsters and their psychology, that doesn’t change that he basically advocates acting the way a boss monster would, which really is fundamentally incompatible with being a good person.
That includes the issue of breeding. Yeah, Van went ahead and had Juliana give birth to herself and her sisters at the cost of her own life, but that’s actually totally different from how Bugogan did things. Even if Pedro is right that Bugogan’s way is the most efficient way to use monsters, that doesn’t mean it’s right.
Monster behavior may be more biologically efficient, but Vida didn’t create new races to imitate monstrous behavior.
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like the issue between Pedro and Van isn’t so much one of right and wrong but more of how they perceive their monsters. For Van his familiars are family while for Pedro they are tools or equipment.
I find it highly unlikely Pedro abuses his monsters, but the reasoning why he wouldn’t is completely different from why Van wouldn’t. I mean equipment is a valuable thing you use to get your job done and protect yourself. It makes no sense to not try and keep it in optimal shape.
Similarly you don’t need a tool that thinks for itself. You just need it to do its job when it needs to. Breaking the monsters wills to Pedro would effectively be the same as sharpening a sword to an adventurer. Overall it’s not a pleasant thing but it is one method of making full use of your tamed creatures.
We can say that to Van these methods go against his beliefs, but Vans value system can be seen as fairly wrong and disturbing from others perspectives. It’s a fact Van places more Value on his friends and familiars lives than normal humans. For Pedro the opposite is probably true for his familiars.
Chiu ChunLing
Basically, Pedro’s familiars really are monsters and it’s not really wrong to treat them like monsters.
Whereas most of Van’s ‘familiars’ are Vida races, and even those who are technically monsters are still people. They’re way more his family than his familiars.
The place where Pedro’s taming strategy goes sideways is what happens if his monsters ever perceive him as being weakened or vulnerable. In a situation where Van would get snuggled and comforted, Pedro’s familiars would treat him very differently.
But hey, that’s cause they’re monsters.
Superboy8338
Nothing really happened, so I have noting to add to the comments.
super_connor
I have recently re-read volume 10. from my re-read and thought over some things, I noticed Junpei Murakami (Chronos), Misa Anderson (Sylphid), and Akira Hazamada (Odin) didn’t try there best to kill Van because they didn’t use Vida’s religion against Van. By having Junpei Murakami, or Akira Hazamada getting Misa Anderson pregnant then Misa would of bean able to use her self as a hostage epically with Sylphid to surround her allies to prevent Van from using soul breaking attacks for fear of breaking the soul of the unborn child.
Next, I thought over about transformation equipment; ok, we all know transformation is OP, some of the best armor in all of Lambda with the armor having engravings on it to enhance the armor. so what if Van made transformation equipment for Tiamat which she is (I forget if 50m or 100m tall). so base on this transformation equipment for the demi-god Tiamat would be broken because it would become stronger because of the size. man … Alda side is so screwed. continuing on transformation equipment, Banda exists in Origin so couldn’t Banda make transformation equipment in Origin. also base on are knowledge of Lambda and Origin, Lambda has higher combat power then Origin so that would also lead to stronger weapons and armor. Transformation equipment is OP in Lambda, so would transformation equipment be like 500x+ the strongest magical media in Origin. I can totally picture for Hiroto (Braver) for a birthday present from Meh-kun could be transformation equipment.
Meh-kun *gives transformation equipment to Hiroto* then says “daddy say transform” to humor his daughter Hiroto says “transform” Hiroto face drops because of embarrassment. Hiroshi says “so cool” and Narumi (“Angel) bitter smile on her face.
Finally, we all heard that some boys bullies the girl he likes/makes fun of them, Mathew (leader of the orphanage kids) could be calling the vampire nuns gorillas because he has a crush of them.
Chiu ChunLing
It wouldn’t have worked.
Van wouldn’t have any way of knowing that Misa was pregnant before she died unless she let him capture her without a fight, and even if he knew he wouldn’t have any objection to killing her and only sparing her child, since he can use pseudo-reincarnation anyway. He has done that with people who were technically alive at the time.
If it was just Murakami’s idea, he’d probably have lost the loyalty of the only remaining female in his group…the one with the best ability to flee. It would be like telling her “yeah, we have zero chance of actually winning.”
Transformation equipment is OP because of the amount of craftsmanship Van puts into it. He could design all of it with more surface area using layers or whatever instead of just frills, but having more surface area doesn’t automatically fill it with all the enchantments, he still has to do that work. Having more surface area cause it’s for a larger being in the first place just means it uses more materials, it doesn’t automatically make it stronger.
Banda can probably do anything Van can do within the limits of the mana pool he has. The only major difference in the physics of Origin and Lamba is the Time attribute, which Van can’t use anyway (though it’s apparently enough to cause stuff designed for either world need adaptation to work properly in the other). But why on Earth would he deliberately do something that would reveal the existence of Bander and Mei’s death attribute?
I mean, yeah maybe if their lives were on the line, but just for a stupid prank?
Matthew could have a crush on the nuns, but it is definitely not going to work.
super_connor
I said soul break, Misa because Van hasn’t tested out what happens when you soul break the mother of an infant that is still in the womb so it could also damage the infant’s soul, Van wouldn’t risk that.
For the bigger surface area transformation equipment, I agree it would take more time to make them, however it also means you can have more enchantments on it.
For Meh-kun giving Hiroto transformation equipment for his birthday, i just thought it was cute and adorable.
Chiu ChunLing
Doesn’t change that the only way for Van to know that Misa is pregnant is for her to allow him to capture her, taking her completely out of the equation as a combatant. And it’s not like the attack on Morksi posed zero risks of any other innocent people dying, Van set the entire thing up from the outset with a determination to accept a certain risk of collateral damage. Nor is his Soul Devouring an all or nothing technique, at the end of the battle Van is devouring heroic gods and spitting out their hosts without much concern about the fact that he knows nothing about the circumstances of most of them. I’m sure he would have loved a chance to try the same thing with Misa and see if Rotcortex were willing to try sticking his hand in Van’s mouth. But I fail to see what possible advantage this could be to Murakami’s group.
All the transforming equipment could use more surface area. But several examples already have more than they use.
I think that Mei is cute and adorable. But Banda isn’t Mei, and should prioritize protecting her over trying to be ‘cute’. He does play with her, but stops the moment it would interfere with protecting her. And so far, he’s frankly and quite reasonably unsure whether El Braver is an ally.
super_connor
no … Death attribute mages/Life attribute mages have ways of detecting life, and we know during that fight, Van was contently using a detect life spell
Chiu ChunLing
And Misa was countering it, cause otherwise Van could easily capture her.
Gohankuten
Exactly Misa was under special spells that basically made her impossible for Van to sense directly hence why Van had to use the roundabout method of bloodlust to figure out her location so he could destroy her instantly.
Lord Rin
Well Murakami’s group are just incompetent idiots. Their plans never amounted to anything more than almost exclusively leaving everything to others to deal with Van while just presuming they can run away easily and try again later if they fail and they barely even trained themselves despite how they had by that point already known that Van could directly fight and kill gods so even relying on Fitun wouldn’t be reliable. They also just assumed that Rodcorte could take Van’s soul to deal with after dying despite how they had evidence that Van could instantly turn into an undead before Rodcorte could do anything and that it was also likely that Rodcorte wouldn’t have been able to interfere with Van’s soul anyways since he was from a different circle of transmigration. As for trying to use Vida’s religion against Van, they have no idea if Van would behave like the Eighth Guidance who don’t kill children so trying to impregnate Misa and use her unborn child as a hostage would be too much of a risk. Plus they wanted to leave Lambda as quickly as possible so why would they bother trying to get Misa pregnant and also they wouldn’t be able to afford having Misa out of commission for 9 months since they were only a group of 3 trying to kill Van and losing a combatant would be out of the question. Also Murakami as the so-called “brains” of the group believed that everyone was like him as some sort of psychological projection so he thought that Van would be just as much of a bastard as himself and would do the same things he would and thus wouldn’t care about killing somebody despite being pregnant and thus he wouldn’t think to try such a tactic against Van.
As for the transformation equipment, I guess it’s theoretically possible for Van to make some for gods like Tiamat but I’m not sure if it is practically possible. A god the size of Tiamat would need a lot of metal and other materials for Van to make into transformation equipment of that size and I’m not sure if Van could handle making armor that size. Maybe if his alchemy skill levels up it might be possible. As for making transformation equipment on Origin I also don’t know. It requires special magical metals that don’t exist on Origin and I’m not even sure if magical metals exist at all there in the first place.
Dr. Steel
Van can create the magical metals from just normal metals like Iron + his Death Attribute magic. I just don’t think Banda has access to any of the tools needed to process said materials into Transformation Equipment.
Dr. Steel
Banda could theoretically make transformation equipment on Origin, but right now he doesn’t have the personal freedom to go and get the materials or even somewhere to put it all together, or any of the tools that would likely be necessary. He also doesn’t have access to monster parts because those don’t exist on Origin, but they are a necessary part of Alchemy. Although, that he may be able to bi-pass with DK fragments.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, he could probably get copper and iron easily enough for making the main components, but if he’s stripping those out of the house they might be missed.
Chiu ChunLing
Peel off their faces first, ask questions later.
Now including “Hey, do you happen to know anyone other than us who would peel off folks’ faces, and why?” That…would be a really surreal moment in the lowest point of your criminal career.
Jonathan Hurd
Honestly I think getting that level of torture out of the way first really speeds up the interrogation process, lol. If peeling off the face is their opener I don’t think they want to start imagining what these people will do as a follow up I’d you don’t answer.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, and that what will happen to them during Luciano’s various experiments is probably beyond their imagination. Even I don’t know where they can go after turning experimental subjects into Aberrations by implanting DK bits…it occurs to me that Van probably could still use information on how Homunculi are created, given that he could probably create a Dungeon that generates them for use as pseudo-reincarnation bodies with that knowledge.
Being reverse engineered to discover the secrets of Homunculus creation…is probably not pleasant.
Wsteven7o7
Kinda gives me vibes of the Happy Farm from Overlord…
And believe me what Van and Luciano would ever do cannot get near what Happy Farm has made…
Not really know all the details since i don’t look around to fuck with my mind more than it already has. If you wanna know search it up and give it a light read or a good read if you are into those things…
Tejing
I can’t help but notice all of them are female. Do I even want to know what he suggested?
Hmm, is that guy from the defector gods’ group or is he someone new? Is he the copycat?
Chiu ChunLing
Why not all three? The defector gods’ group got a new guy, and he’s the copycat.
I’m split between it being suspicions about the “mutant variant” that happens to look, sound, and act a lot like the lost Princess Knight (extending to a bunch of others who seem to act more like Van’s minders rather than tamed monsters, especially to a guy who specializes in taming naturally aggressive monsters), and something tiresomely predictable regarding females with no legal protections aside from being considered property.
The former is obviously more interesting, but the latter is…tiresomely predictable.
Doc
Not sure I needed the multiple paragraphs on Van’s introspection on why getting your dog suckerpunched could possibly make you unreasonably angry, but still interesting to note he can discuss his behavior with essentially other versions of himself.
Didn’t expect the goblin squad to be clearing away organized crime. The author explained why the goblins were leaving faces, because Isla did it, but the author didn’t explain why they were doing that. What purpose does leaving a gruesome calling card serve? And why is Van going through this effort? Originally he just needed control of Morksi’s organized crime organization to get information and so that they wouldn’t mess with him. Going further after people who are no longer a threat to him or his plans just seems like a lot. All just to make Morksi safer?
I agree with investigating the copy cat. I mean it’s a variable Van doesn’t control that can potentially interfere with his plans. Only makes sense to figure out who it is and if they’re an ally or enemy.
Chiu ChunLing
A trademark MO is essential to make sure that investigations are directed towards finding out the motive for the killing rather than the identity of the killer. This is quite important to them because they are killing evil-doers that have thus far been protected or at least overlooked by the authorities.
If they didn’t use a trademark MO, then the public perception of there being a proper (if illegal) motive for the killings wouldn’t be so readily formed and reinforced.
Of course, just as they discuss, this has a downside if someone else copies their trademark MO but has a different motive, like allowing the ‘victims’ to escape or covering up the killing of people who weren’t actually evildoers with a bit of faked up evidence, or just allowing rival criminals to get away with killing while also doing a bit of looting on the side.
Doc
“A trademark MO is essential to make sure that investigations are directed towards finding out the motive for the killing rather than the identity of the killer.”
Where did you get this logic from? Having an “MO” does none of that. Sure, figuring out why a serial killer(s) is doing what their doing is interesting to note, but figuring out who the killer(s) are is always the priority. The psychology behind the killer(s) actions can come after capturing them.
Some faces don’t have to be left behind for people to come to realize bad people are disappearing.
You also didn’t really answer the question. Why is Van going through the effort in the first place? There doesn’t seem to be a goal or objective in mind that Van needs these people dead. From their conversation, the only thing I can think of is he just dislikes criminals or anybody who treats other people unfairly and would otherwise face no consequences for their actions. Essentially taking the law into his own hands for no particular benefit other than to help other people that were troubled by those criminals.
Chiu ChunLing
You can say that having a trademark MO isn’t absolutely required for that, but it’s fatuous to say it does none of that.
The fact that their killings are all easily identifiable to the public as the work of a single killer is entirely due to the trademark MO. If not for that, even the top authorities would have trouble saying all the killings were connected. By connecting the killings together as the work of a single entity, it becomes possible for the public to perceive them as all having a common motive.
This is essential to make it apparent to the public that this is not an marked increase in random high-profile murders, which would cause a large outcry for increased policing. Braga et al are running around eliminating quite a few prominent individuals, many of whom have official positions. If there were no evidence that this is the work of a highly selective entity that it doing it for a reason, people would be scared and it would be easy for the authorities to cover up the motives for the incidents involving corruption (which they would be likely to attempt).
Sure, the priority for the authorities remains “catching the culprit”, but the important thing here is to shift the public perception of the culprit to be a ‘dark hero’ rather than senseless murderers. That also increases the pressure on the authorities to actually deal with corruption rather than covering it up, both because of the public perception and their own recognition of the common thread.
Like I said, this can be done without a trademark MO but it takes a huge amount more work and Van is doing things this way to save the hassle of doing it “legally” (keeping in mind that Van is a legit Emperor annointed and recognized by the Gods, so his actions are far more legal than that of the Alcrem authorities).
Doc
I can say “none” because you’re making a baseless assertion. Why would having an mopus operandi change the priority of a police force? Why and how a criminal does something has nothing to do with the reasons for wanting them to stop doing it. They broke the law, therefore it’s somebody’s job to find, arrest, and prosecute them. That’s how the process works and has worked throughout history. Having a calling card brings attention to the criminal but again that has nothing to do with what an investigators job is.
“The fact that their killings are all easily identifiable to the public as the work of a single killer is entirely due to the trademark MO.”
You’re again making an assumption here that crimes committed in the same manner must obviously all be done by a single entity and that nobody else could conceive of a group doing it. And in regard to making people believe there is a common motive, what’s your point? I don’t understand what you think you’re arguing against here. I understand the principle behind an MO or leaving a calling card. I’m saying why go through that effort, as we’re not provided a reason from Van for doing so.
“This is essential to make it apparent to the public that this is not an marked increase in random high-profile murders, which would cause a large outcry for increased policing.”
You’re again missing the foundational question to argue details not being argued about. WHY would Van care? What is the objective? Do you think Van’s subordinates aren’t skilled enough to handle additional guards? Van isn’t trying to save any particular person or group of people as far we we know. He’s not trying to negotiate with some organization that needs these people out of the way. We’re missing the why. Just to give the goblins we haven’t heard from in awhile something to do in the story? If that’s all it is, that’s fine, though perhaps a more organic way of working it into the story would be better.
So far the only thing you’ve explained is why a calling card is helpful towards a goal that hasn’t been established yet.
Doc
Let me try this another way. Were these individuals a threat to Vida races? Did they have connections to nobility Van didn’t like? Does Van have unfinished business in Morksi or the Alcrem Dutchy as a whole that benefits from less criminals? Is it just Van’s personal belief that all criminals should be disposed of as long as he’s in the general vicinity and has the power to do something about it.
These can all act as the foundational “why” that I’m talking about. Something that ties the actions in the story to some narrative objective or goal for the main character or plot. Without that “why” it’s just meaningless words that take up the reader’s time and add nothing to the overall narrative. I wasn’t curious what the black goblins were up to or where they were since the last time they were mentioned because this “mission” they were assigned wasn’t set up. Had Van tasked them with getting rid of all criminals tied with the organization Van took over earlier and this was just an update on that progress, that would be moving the plot forward. But that’s not what happened.
I’m not a fan of “and then this happens” kind of story telling. Good story telling involves setup and payoff. Events in a story should be organically driven from past events in the story. Not just suddenly happen. It is far more satisfying when the reader can understand why something happens as a consequence of some earlier scene. It’s like connecting the dots or putting the last piece of a puzzle in. “And then this happens” story telling on the other hand gives no explanation for what’s happening leaving it up to the audience/reader to backfill a justification.
Chiu ChunLing
Yes, these bad guys pose a threat to the Vida races, and they would pose a threat to Van’s group and their plans in the city by doing stupid crap like Aggar and Joseph tried even after Van had dealt with most of the obvious threats in Morksi. That you would even question this is inexplicable.
Yes, they have connections to trash corrupt nobles. This was specifically mentioned already.
Yes, Van’s personal interests benefit by eliminating criminality in areas where he’s operating. This is…I have to question whether you’ve even been reading the story if you don’t get this point. He’s been doing this since before he was a year old, for crying out loud.
I don’t even get what you’re complaining about anymore. Setting up a ‘mysterious dark hero who kills the wicked, but was already in the city before Van showed up’ is kinda an obvious necessity here.
It’s especially necessary to hide the fact that a large number of the victims haven’t actually been killed, yet.
P.S. I’m not sure why this comment has to wait for approval so I’ll just leave it as is rather than bother writing another response that would have to cover the same points.
Chiu ChunLing
They’re taking control of the underworld in the city, they need to eliminate the competition to make things easier, and they’re using a more straightforward approach than the whole “leader” charade that ended up being extra work for little gain.
They need a way to make a bunch of bad guys disappear without causing any major problems for themselves.
The narrative of a ‘dark hero’ who kills bad guys is useful to them.
I don’t know why you’re throwing a hissy fit over it. Other than because you personally dislike me for reasons I don’t recall. But your personal animus is just making you seem silly.
Doc
They already took control of Morksi’s underworld. There isn’t anybody the author has described as being a threat or impeding Van’s work there. As far as a more “straight forward approach”, again, their work is already done. At no point does Van or his companions state there is more to do and that the methods they employed initially aren’t worth their effort. You’re inventing a justification the story itself doesn’t indicate.
“They need a way to make a bunch of bad guys disappear without causing any major problems for themselves.”
Why?
“The narrative of a ‘dark hero’ who kills bad guys is useful to them.”
For what purpose? To repeat myself, things in a story need to serve some narrative purpose. Nobody is aware Van’s subordinates are the one’s killing the bad guys. So any kind of honorable vigilante reputation these actions could bring doesn’t benefit Van for what Van’s goals are (spread Vida tolerance, save Vida races, reduce threats to himself or his companions). Also, Van never ordered them to kill people in that specific way, they were merely copying what Isla did, so it’s not like there was some scheme requiring this reputation you think is made.
“I don’t know why you’re throwing a hissy fit over it. Other than because you personally dislike me for reasons I don’t recall. But your personal animus is just making you seem silly.”
Ah the classic ad hominem. I’m arguing against your poor reasoning, not throwing a” hissy” fit, nor do I like or dislike you. I don’t know you and at no point do I personally attack you or your character. I’m trying to get you to understand what I’m asking for in my original statement and you keep bringing up irrelevant information that I didn’t ask for while acting like it’s answering my statement. Why a calling card is useful in a general sense was never the issue yet that was entirely your focus.
Aaron6890
“Braga and the other Black Goblins had been disposing of those who had been dealing with the members of the criminal organization based in Morksi, such as the ‘Hyena’ Gozoroff, and those who had been competing against Morksi’s criminal organization.” Start reading here again and it says why they are doing what they’re doing.
It is like 6 or 7 paragraphs long and tells you why.
Doc
No, that’s what they were doing, not why they were doing it. You read it again. I’ve been very clear here what is missing from what the author described. “Those competing against Morksi’s criminal organization” isn’t a why. Is that competition blocking Van from doing something? Does he need a completely crime free Morksi for some purpose? Are they a threat to Van’s companions? Does he just hate criminals? Again what is the narrative purpose. As far as I can tell it’s entirely just to introduce this “copy cat” killer. Which means there is no purpose in their actions other than the author needed a way to introduce a new character and this was the only way they thought to do that.
Chiu ChunLing
Okay, when you say that you’re not throwing a hissy fit…everyone knows you’re lying.
Rather than throwing a hissy fit, you could try explaining why you’re so hostile to the idea that eliminating vile criminals from Alcrem, the city where they are now trying to operate, is actually quite compatible with Van’s goals.
You’re the one who asked:
I don’t know why you’re so upset that there’s a perfectly reasonable answer.
Doc
You’re the one attributing emotion simply because I’m disagreeing with you. Spending more than 10 words to counter argue the points (or lack of points) you bring up isn’t “hostility” or a “hissy” fit and you continuing to suggest that comes off very petty.
Either address the points I bring up or leave the argument. Insulting me while tripling down on what I’m not asking for is just wasting both our time.
“I don’t know why you’re so upset that there’s a perfectly reasonable answer.”
/eyeroll I’ll be here for when you want to provide that “reasonable” answer.
Chiu ChunLing
Fine.
Lord Rin
Van started cleaning up the criminals in Alcrem because they were remnants of the criminal organizations based in Morksi. He has shown multiple times that when he crushes groups like this, he does so thoroughly so that no potential problems occur later. That’s probably how he started the killings in Alcrem but with Van being Van, he probably learned about the crimes of other people from the spirits and he decided to help them too out of sympathy. As for why he has Braga and his team leave behind their faces, it’s probably so the public can know that the criminals have been punished. If they just suddenly disappeared and no body is left then people might just assume that they maybe fled somewhere so the face is evidence that the public can know that they’ve been taken care of. Likewise they aren’t just leaving any corpses there instead of face because Van wants to use the criminals for live human experimentation.
Doc
“he probably learned about the crimes of other people from the spirits and he decided to help them too out of sympathy.”
Now this is the reasonable “why” I was looking for. Something that connects the story being told to some narrative purpose. Van’s personality. The author didn’t say that’s what happened here, but at least your supposition is consistent with past actions Van has done, therefore it’s a reasonable conjecture.
If that’s the case then again, I would have liked the author to establish this mission earlier before Van left Morksi. All it would have needed is a line or two where Van orders Braga and his squad to go after the remnants of the criminal organization and to dispose of them in such a way that the public is aware of those people are gone. Then this chapter serves as the logical outcome of that. Setup. Payoff. Proper storytelling.
Chiu ChunLing
We already established long ago that certain aspects of the infiltration of the criminal organization in Morksi were unsatisfactory and over-complicated. There was an entire scene and conversation about it. The fact that you didn’t bother to remember that doesn’t change the fact that the author did properly address it.
Aaron6890
Chiu ChunLing and Doc can we please drop this argument already. Neither one of you is going to convince the other of anything. At this point it doesn’t matter because it is a story. A STORY. Just try and enjoy it for what it is. Lets try and be mature about this.
Chiu ChunLing
Sorry. I was just caught off guard by Doc’s excessive and still inexplicable hostility to a straightforward answer to the question.
Doc
/eyeroll. Apparently disagreement to you is “hostility”. Do you read any and all arguments in your head as bitter resentment or something? To repeat myself, I neither like or dislike you, I don’t know you. “Excessive” to you is apparently following up a couple times. I guess you never thought somebody would have the audacity to respond back to your final word? If I was this hostile, “hissy fit” throwing person you claim me to be I’d be snapping at you in all the other comments you’ve made. I haven’t because I found nothing wrong in your other comments, so there was no additional things to say.
As to dropping the argument, Chiu ChunLing seems adamant to respond to every comment every single person in this comment section makes and there’s nothing wrong with animated discussion. I’d appreciate if Chiu here would stop trying to label me as “angry” or “hostile” or any other personal attack when I’m doing none of that back. This was my initial criticism and if Chiu ChunLing is going to try and argue against my criticism, I’m well within my right to argue back.
But Aaron you’re certainly right about one thing. Chiu here is very unlikely to be convinced of anything. I on the other hand can absolutely change my stance when presented with proper arguments and evidence. For example, Lord Rin actually provided a reasonable conjecture for why Van had Braga and the other goblins do what they did that didn’t involve just repeating what they did in this chapter as if that answers anything. Van has asked spirits about criminals in the past and does act on sympathy on occasion so it’s understandable to think that’s what prompted this mission. To that my only hang up is this particular incident had no setup like past ones do. It just started from the result and leaves readers to guess at the setup.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, so…is it unclear to anyone else that Doc is inexplicably hostile, or conversely does anyone else have some explanation for why?
Dr. Steel
He isn’t. If anyone is, it’s you for continuously calling him out personally rather than his argument in a debate, and his intention was never even to initiate a debate but simply get clarification for something that wasn’t portrayed well by the author, and when he received tangential comments to his question he responded with why he didn’t think that was valid to his question, and then you went off on your high horse, wasting everyone’s time (including yours).
Chiu ChunLing
I started by merely clarifying and answering the question.
Doc is the one who made it personal and kept at it after that.
Dr. Steel
Personal? Where? Can you give a direct quote of where he attacked your person?
Chiu ChunLing
I could, but that would be taking this conversation down the same road. Though maybe it’s too late for that, given the tone you adopted from the outset.
I get that you’re on Doc’s side and aren’t a neutral party. So we’ll leave it at that.
Dr. Steel
One quote please? What was the first comment he made that was insulting you rather than pointing out logical issues with your argument?
Other wise you’re just making claims with no evidence, and so how is anyone supposed to take your word for it, over anyone else’s word?
Dr. Steel
And yes, I am on Doc’s side. Why? Because he asked an innocent question, had an innocent and honest gripe with the story, and then received hostility when he replied to his replies by several people. And I’ve seen plenty of other comments by Doc on this site, and he seems like a pretty ok person, not deserving of such hostility.
Hell, even the main comment he posted still has negative likes just because he was, what, questioning the storytelling? Asking reasonable questions about why the the author chose to do certain things that feel unnecessary and disjointed? Feels like people were from the start against his comment here just because it pointed out that Death Mage isn’t a flawless masterpiece.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, I get that it upsets you that not everyone agrees with your buddy.
But he could have been more agreeable.
Dr. Steel
Say, where is the delete button on these comments anyway?
Wannabe
Regarding the faces, the author did explain it. Van started this habit back when he was getting rid of the noble that sent some of the evil destroying swords after the sauron liberation front. He left his face behind but actually kept him alive as a criminal slave to experiment on. I assume the same thing is happening here.
Leaving the skin behind implies the person died a gruesome death but they could keep them as a test subject if they want to, since they don’t leave the body. It’s a simple thing for them to even grow the skin back after.
Jicksonn
If i can throw my hat into the ring, then I agree with Chiu ChunLing on most parts even if they seem more than a bit caught up on hostility that might or might not be present. But my issue with Doc’s side of the story is that they seem to ignore most parts of Chiu ChunLing’s argument. What I mean by this is it seems like they want a step by step instruction on how and why things happen for every little detail where as Chiu ChunLing says major parts leaving only minute details, that you understand from what they say, out of the conversation because they don’t expect to need to hold your hand. Because it seems they presume to be at an equal level of understanding even if on different points of view.
GoneAstray
Kind of a waste of time to do so. Doc simply wasn’t paying attention.
“Braga and the other Black Goblins had been disposing of those who had been dealing with the members of the criminal organization based in Morksi, such as the ‘Hyena’ Gozoroff, and those who had been competing against Morksi’s criminal organization.”
“And the evidence held by Vandalieu and his companions included some that the Alcrem Duchy’s government were unlikely to believe. The testimonies of spirits, Undead, and members of criminal organizations whose brains had been tampered with mentally and physically.
Knights and nobles placed under suspicion this way would call such evidence a conspiracy, dismissing these testimonies as the ravings of the dead who had lost their minds after their deaths and confessions forced from tortured criminals. Vandalieu had suspected that Duke Alcrem would choose to take the suspects’ side in such situations.
That was why he had taken action by force. Naturally, if he had taken the time to investigate thoroughly and find irrefutable evidence of crimes, it would not have been impossible to hand that evidence to knights and nobles who were not corrupt and have the criminals punished through legal means.”
They wanted to remove those who were interacting with the previous morksi organization & competing with the current. Says it right there along with their reasoning.
Rollrock
That is not to mention that Van is almost always surrounded by the souls of the dead, majority of them having lost so much of their selves that they persist in a state of what could best be approximated as mechanical automation, so they can be freely used for golem creation, but the spirits with stronger senses of self that have died violently or had unfinished business of some sort, tend to approach him and tell him their stories thanks to the effect of his death attribute charm. He probably is dealing with them almost constantly using the parallel thought processing and spirit-form copies of himself, listening to them and filing away the information he gets from them for further use and adjusting his actions accordingly. He had done so for Sam and his daughters in the very beginning and there’s no indication that he had ever stopped doing it, avenging the unfairly or unjustly slain and killing awful human beings, dismantling criminal groups and seeking larger scale conspiracies that can be traced back to manipulations of some sort of powerful/supernatural nefarious entities, this in general is something Van now does whenever he reaches a large human settlement.
Dr. Steel
This is what Doc was looking for a reason why Van decided to deal with the neighboring criminal organization. This entire debacle could have been avoided had the author just put in a few lines calling back to this aspect of Van, maybe instead of the, frankly, unimportant part where they were analyzing why Van would have scared off the guy that was about to punch his dog, not even attempted to kill him.
Chiu ChunLing
You realize that’s the exact same aspect of his character, right?
Dr. Steel
Not exact, and the author didn’t tie it in to the actions of the Black Goblins, so it’s irrelevant anyway. And it doesn’t really add anything to the story, so the space could have been better used tying the Face-Tearing Demon part in better.
Chiu ChunLing
The fact that he gets upset when someone is being unfairly abused and has no recourse is pretty exact.
And it doesn’t need to be tied to anything particular Van does because it is the fundamental reason for pretty much everything he does. It’s the primary theme of the story as a whole.
And you’re just making yourself look stupid now. I get that you don’t like that Doc ended up looking foolish here, but you’re not actually helping him.
Dr. Steel
“And you’re just making yourself look stupid now. I get that you don’t like that Doc ended up looking foolish here, but you’re not actually helping him.”
Proof that you are attacking the person rather than the argument whenever it doesn’t go your way, or someone maintains an opinion other than your own.
And it is good storytelling to make each part flow into the next part, that’s how a story works. It isn’t a story if they just tell you how each character works in their own little section with absolutely no connection to the rest of the story, no flow from one part to another.
And you are right when you say that Van getting upset when someone is unfairly abused is a major part of his personality, however it’s not the only thing, and even if it is a large motivator of Van we still need it to be properly shown to help transition into what the Goblins are doing, because, storytelling wise, they feel somewhat abrupt and out of place in the way they were introduced in this arc. Character’s personality traits are a tool for storytelling. That also means if they are left in the box they mean nothing.
ObserverBias
Van being unaware of the reasoning behind his own flash of aggression is a relevant topic to cover ASAP, and so happens to not directly tie to the the Face Tearing Demon that was hinted at being relevant to the group. It’s really not the ‘thing’ you seem to be vying to make of it.
While doing aside-blurbs for a character’s, well, “character,” can be a tool to be used or leaned on like a crutch, it pends on a number of factors; whether it’s clear through previous actions but is just being clarified for reference to outliers, whether it’s a change that was being built up to over time that’s hopefully clearer in retrospect, whether it’s an entirely new mutation that differs from previous similar actions in an important/relevant way, and so on.
In this case, something like an indicator that while Van has (by and large) made a habit of thinking things through before he acts, impulse actions will likely not have that same boon even with superfast thought and group parallel thinking. Something generally obvious, but somewhat new for someone already as powerful as Van to be comprehending about himself.
Regarding story flow, sure, it’s a detour, but it hardly dead-ends or cuts off what the topic shifts to. It was relevant to be covered, got covered, and the next subject was addressed. Full stop.
Chiu ChunLing
There’s of course another more fundamental reason that it matters to the story.
Because Van, unlike any of his enemies, is actually reflecting on his motives when he does something ‘bad’ to think about how to improve his behavior in the future.
Heinz, Alda, and El Braver at least know how to pretend to be reflecting on their past decisions…but they only do this to look ‘reasonable’ and have absolutely no intention of actually improving their future behavior.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. I am kind of surprised that the intuition skill is not more commonly known by Van and company since Van gives the danger sense which is similar to it. I think Simon is right about the copycat, he is probably an assassin that evil organizations hire out. Best idea I can think of would be to help the guards catch him and pin all of the crimes on him. I do wonder if the copycat is a group of assassins using the face-stealing murders as a smokescreen to get business. I also suspect that the guild master will end up like that merchant that tried to use Van. Curious about what was written on the pebble, a warning, a threat, or a bribe. Can’t wait to find out.
Chiu ChunLing
I’m not sure where it’s suggested that Van isn’t familiar with the Intuition skill, he’s previously commented on how sometimes he spots people with the Intuition skill because they suddenly realize that they are in danger right before he shows his hand.
It even seems that Van knows that Vivi has this skill, not only is she currently his sub-contracted employee but he may have previously seen her using this skill to avoid getting into trouble with Darcia. I think he didn’t notice in this case because Vivi’s response here isn’t really unnatural or inexplicable, since he’s her boss’s boss. There’s nothing strange about her choosing not to press the issue.
The letter on a tossed pebble is classically associated with an invitation to an assignation…in this case with a muscular dude. So you can add “invitation~♥” to your list.
Nobody2
So I’m guessing the guild master offered to either trade or breed in some way van’s familiars and that’s what was so disgusting.
Doc
By context, my money’s on breeding.
Chiu ChunLing
I’m not going to bet against it. Shades of Edmond’s “sacred prostitution” scheme with a more direct approach?
Still, with the particular mention of Juliana and the fact that the dude is a noble, it could be about her origin (and the others being fairly rare playing into it). Given the guy’s outlook on ‘proper’ taming, perhaps he’s suspicious that Van’s familiars aren’t ‘tamed’ so much as exploiting the Tamer’s Guild rules to sneak weird intelligent monsters (including one that somehow looks a lot like a certain missing noblewoman) into town.
It’s a good bet someone’s going to seriously bring that up at some point, since their now in her former hometown.
Doc
I think you’re over emphasizing the noble aspect. From their description of the guild master, I don’t think the guy considers himself part of the gentry. What with his rough manner of speaking and lack of manners. He was made an honorary baron which means his title isn’t hereditary. It goes away with his death.
I also don’t think he’s suspicious of Van’s familiars as being untamed. The guy reminds me of the antagonist from How To Train Your Dragon 2. He used fear and intimidation tactics to control his dragons versus Hiccups’ approach to befriend them. Meaning his view of the “correct” way to tame monsters is to treat them like garbage to assert dominance. He probably sees tamers who befriend their familiars as too soft or weak. Therefore from his perspective, he thought he was giving Van, who people consider a “Genius Tamer”, good advice on how to further improve himself as a tamer. And if Van follows his advice he’d be in the Guild Master’s debt for the assistance.
No, I’m reasonably certain the Guild Master must have brought up breeding Van’s familiars as the thing that disgusted Van.
Dyneamaeus
While that IS a fair point, based on the primary monster types the Guildmaster uses, I think he probably asked about breeding his monsters with Van’s. I seem to remember minotaurs are male only, and I’d bet trolls and ogres might be similar. If the guy really does see them all as weapons it would makes sense to ask about using his male monsters on Van’s females to make more, potential better ones.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, I can’t bring myself to like that comment, but it’s the most likely scenario.
Zenden1st
author did mention he had minotaurs and Juliana is a rare type of minotaur so I’m putting my money on him Implying some piper perri memes
graustier
Van, Mirror-Van, and Shadow-Van having thorough discussions amongst themselves (themself?) is a scenario that should happen more in this story, it has just the right amounts of cute, amusing , and scary.
Skarbrand
Reminds me of Kumoko from “So I’m a Spider, So What?”
Chiu ChunLing
Except that Van would never turn against himself…and he knows that. Even though the other two versions of himself were created specifically to fight him, they all are Van so they fundamentally trust each other.
Just another example of how ‘insane’ he is, I guess.
P.S. It’s really ironic that the main mind of Kumoko ended up agreeing with her ‘divergent’ minds after getting the same information they had, after how deeply she distrusted them for going against her. If she’d trusted them more in the first place, they could all have avoided some unpleasantness.
CyberDre
It’s more off, the parallel minds were acting on instinct from Mother as well as doing it for shits and giggles. Kumoko after receiving the same info from the Ariel, wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t needlessly wipe out everything, so I think it’s a good thing she turned against them.
Renrobt
Well they are all fundamentally Van, and even when he integrated mirror Van he integrated because he/they acknowledged that despite one having a very explicit purpose. And shadow Van is pretty much a direct copy of him, his shadow.
Honestly most of us would probably hate it, since many usually find people who are very similar to them annoying, mostly attributed to seeing their own flaws in them. I guess it goes to show how abnormal Van is. He fully understands his flaws and hypocrisies, and isn’t fazed by it literally staring him in the eyes.
And Kumoko’s case is a good example why you should talk things out. Also if I remember correctly she could even turn of the wills or unify them. Why didn’t she do that I don’t know. (tbf I have not yet read the LN only the manga)
But yeah its more and more the case that there is nothing one can do against Van. I mean mental attacks are already practically ineffective against him due to his soul, but now imagine having to wrestle with not 1 abnormal mind, but 3.
Chiu ChunLing
And there’s the fact that he’s split off a fragment of himself into Origin, hanging out with Mei, and also a whole bunch of other fragments that can be used in spirit descent, along with all those ‘main body’ familiars. It seems like even somehow killing him would only force his soul to attach to one of his other bodies, and since one of those bodies is in another world, even destroying Lambda completely might not do more than royally piss him off.
Not that Alda or Rotcortex know that. But hopefully Alda wouldn’t go that far (or if he tried, hopefully the other gods in his faction would wake up and stop cooperating).
Renrobt
Honestly at this point Van can’t be killed, he is effectively a god now. The only one with power to kill gods is the DK and Van as they can attack the soul.
And sure Rodcorte might be planning to grab Van’s soul the moment he dies, but well… Poison? Won’t work. Decaption? Not enough. Electrocution? Nope. And many many more and all that if they can even hit. After all anything that even poses a modicum of danger is automatically detected. Find a poison strong enough to affect him and he will know, otherwise he will just drink it like its the hot new beverage.
And all this before he even needs to turn himself into an Undead, again anchoring his soul. As long as Van has Mana he will be able to resist Rodcorte and with his Mana regen, he will always have enough. And imagine if Van turns into an undead. Now not only does he have infinite Mana but infinite Stamina. And when being undead gets inconvinient, he can just find a way to resurect himself like Darcia, getting a ton of cool upgrades.
As reckless and stupid is, Rodcorte’s idea of adding the DK’s power to Edgar, might be the only way to actually kill Van. It is said that it has no ego and all, but we know how it will turn out. It’s something Rodcorte touched after all.
Chiu ChunLing
I have a feeling that even if Rotcortex did somehow manage to grab Van’s soul he’d immediately bite off his arm.
At least Guduranis might have a fighting chance, but I’d still wager that Van would win pretty handily.
The real danger is what happens to everyone else.
Unianonanymity
Horcrux:van style?
Renrobt
Well since he had a lot of “leftover” soul after he was rebuilt, those fragments plus Banda could very well reconstitute Van, should he somehow be disposed off. So yeah Van style horcrux, with the added benefit of not needing to kill people for it.
Not that he didn’t fulfill that condition… Actually I have to wonder how many did he kill? He slaughtered Bandit camps and sent the rest to Luciano to be experimented upon. Same with anyone connected to underworld organizations he encountered. Aside that there was the invasion army… So easily in the ten thousands, only counting humans.
Actually since the fragments that act as the familiars are technically tied to Van, at least in terms of Mana, the only Fragments of Van who has their own Mana is Banda, who has about the same amount as he had when he was born (not counting the mana enlargement skill or whatever it’s called).
So this might be a way to soft reset Van, he would still have access to most of his skills, but since his magic and skills drain so much mana, it would lock him out of using a lot of it until he can recover.
Chiu ChunLing
I think if we’re just talking about humans Van might be approaching 10,000, but probably hasn’t cleared it. A few dozen bandits at a time adds up over the years, and there’s also the defense of the old Scylla rez, but the more targeted killings inside the cities have had to stay on a limited scale cause of all the overhead.
But like Van says, humans are barely worth killing anyway. Though if you count in terms of military strength, Van’s killed some humans that easily add up to tens of thousands worth of ordinary troops.
I think that the pseudo main body type familiars also have treasure orbs to generate and control mana, right? And they have enough sub-brains and whatever to function as pseudo main bodies (not that Van actually needs his brain). At very worst, I think Van could be forced to pseudo-reincarnate himself if his actual body were completely destroyed, and have to grow up from being a baby again.
Renrobt
While he could do that I would think that Van would consider that to be too slow. After all he is way too paranoid to choose a method that would leave his him and everyone else “defenseless” (relatively that is). Him having to grow up again would also cause far too many issues, especially considering that he already experienced paralyzing level of pain when his growth spurt came. And he is far more powerful now.
My guess would be that he uses the Root of Life, the same way he revived Darcia, adding the the skeleton and monster parts in. Though having a metal skeleton in a still growing kid might not be a good idea, but I’m sure Van can do something about it. And this is assuming that all this happens sometime soon, though to be fair the longer it goes on the less likely anything can kill Van to the point that he would need to resort to such things.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, he could actually already have that set up to go, since Gufadgarn can grab souls and transfer them with her space magic…wait, thinking about it, that means there’s nothing to set up, cause she’d definitely do that.
Renrobt
So to actually get rid of Van you need to:
If just one of these are skipped Van can still revive even if weakened…
Treason
I’d prefer a Bakarina-type scenario with all the Vans situated around a round table holding a discussion in front of a tv camera. And of course one of them needs to have glasses as the “smart one” and a different one a little gavel.
CyberDre
TLN: I don’t really understand this description by the author either, but I’ve translated it as well as I can
Neither do I but bless your soul anyways
Skarbrand
I imagine it as Van is literally talking to himself.
Chiu ChunLing
Using telepathy in his head while showing no external expression, just like how a classic grey would when being captured by some MIB.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Doom
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, THE ONE TRUE DEATH GOD, AS HE SPREADS HIS INFLUENCE AND INVESTOGATES ALL MATTERS! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Suspicious people are suspicious, so let’s investigate.
Chiu ChunLing
Including Van himself, this time.
I was curious about “Black Goblin Absolute Ninja Master”, so I checked the raw.
It was spelled out in katakana.
Hobbes
Eldritch abominations aren’t suspicious… See how innocently he’s whistling while looking to the side with the dead gaze of Cthulhu
Treason
Reading this comment, I can’t help but imagine Van wearing a small Sherlock Holmes outfit or Detective Conan suit while holding up a magnifying glass and following footprints.
Chiu ChunLing
Now I can’t help imagining that the outfit and magnifying glass are expediently assembled from various DK frags (and Van is not limiting himself to clues that are on human-traversable areas).
Treason
Using the Demon King’s Luminescent glands as a makeshift black light while skittering along the walls with jointed legs?
Chiu ChunLing
And most importantly, interviewing all the witnesses that nobody else can see or hear.
no1
Thank you for the new chapter Yoshi. Secret ninja assassination in the city, cool. Hope to see the next chapter soon
Touchme
It was probably one of the heroes dispatched by the gods of Alda’s side that have been enticed by Vandalieu’s paintings over Talosheim.
Kiriaru
I was thinking the same thing, that guy was pretty odd for sure. Either that or the copycat, I’m betting on one of their heroes though.
Chiu ChunLing
Ah, Arthur, right? Well, the guy didn’t look like the sister or the dwarf, anyway (or the naive girl either).
Yeah, given the way those three were talking at the end of last chapter…they probably know about Van’s interest in muscles, right? That’s not somehow still a secret at this point, is it? I kid, I’m sure that’s not how they meant all that….
Jonathan Hurd
I have to admit as I read the description of the stone thrower I kept thinking his body was really Vans type, lol. The guy seems weirdly suspicious though to be how Arthur and crew establish first contact.
I feel like this guy might be a part of an Alda extremists group. That is my current guess of his identity. The way the message was sent it feels like a fairly obvious trap.
I think Darcia and Van are currently split up so the message might be something like ‘we have your mother if you ever want to see her again come to X location without your tamed pets’.
Chiu ChunLing
With the Face Stripping Demon active for the last little while, I have my doubts as to whether there are any Alda extremists with experience in criminal violence left in the city, but the resulting scenario is so hilarious that it’s got to happen at some point.
Baldingere
Bachem casually ignored that Van’s goal had been to be an honorary nobleman. He’s getting used to it. Tsk, one tsukkomi less.
Thank you for the chapter!!
JeKeBe
Haha, the alien thing is a pretty common trope where a ‘gray’ alien is between two much larger humans, specifically Men in Black types, holding its hands and leading it off. Not sure where the original image came from, probably some old 50s era cult sci-fi flick.
This chapter was sedate, but awesome! Lots of dangling threads to be followed up on in a new arc, a new city! Yay!
It’s always good to see Isla and crew getting some mention… even if the nature of it was questionable. Pfft. Masochists, the lot of them. Makes me wonder just what that tamer guild master was suggesting for Gizania and Myuze that the subject turned that way.
As always, thanks for the translation!
Baldingere
Thanks for the explanation!
Chiu ChunLing
I guess the implication here would be “he looked like a expressionless puppet being moved by those holding his hands, so none of those with him suspected he was engaged in such intense mental activity.”
BurstThrough
My guess is that he wanted Gizania and Myuse to breed with his tamed monsters.
Since one is very big and seems like a similar weight class and a rare creature in these parts and Myuse cause she’s rare to the point basically no one knows what she is(though in her case he’d likely get her a more feeble breeding partner).
Jonathan Hurd
Since the old tamer is all about establishing your dominance over your creatures and ignoring their happiness or will. I think the suggestion was probably to have Van force himself on them to establish dominance.
Chiu ChunLing
Hahaha, that would be…tricky.
“Um…I’m not even twelve so that would be a bit difficult.” Van said words that were technically true, while leaving out the fact that he could manipulate his spirit form and tongue to easily overcome the physical limits of a prepubescent body, and the problem was more conceptual, in that he was the one who would end up being ‘forced’ if the topic were broached carelessly.