Thanks very much to the sponsors: Marc K. ($10) Romir C. ($10) Aaron X. ($30) Brian G. ($20) Dath ($10) Alexander K. ($5) David R. ($5) Tom B. ($30) Euan K. ($1.40) Stephen B. ($40) Joseph T. ($2) Kristopher C. ($40)
At the Commerce Guild, Vandalieu was able to take care of his affairs promptly while avoiding various troublesome matters, thanks to the Guild Master’s preemptive actions.
“To think that we would be so popular. Not that I am happy about it,” said Myuze.
The ‘various troublesome matters’ were apparently so-called ‘get-rich quick’ schemes that merchants wanted to suggest to Vandalieu. A third of them were the same as the one proposed by Joseph, the former Deputy Guild Master of the Commerce Guild in Morksi. Another third of them were related to the transformation equipment that Vandalieu had invented. The last third of them were almost all related to Myuze, Maroru, Juliana and the others.
The rat sisters were new races of monsters. Empusa were also thought of as a new race of monsters even if that wasn’t quite the case, and Arachne and Scylla were also rare around these lands. Some of the offers were reasonable ones, involving the sale of materials taken from these monsters, such as shed fur, saliva and shed carapaces. Other offers were less pleasant, such as the offers to buy Juliana to keep as a beloved pet.
The former would have been fine perhaps for the rats, but it was not a pleasant offer for Myuze and the others. It would be physiologically impossible for them to provide for large crowds of men and women demanding fur, saliva and carapaces.
If the Guild Master hadn’t scolded and chased off the merchants gathered at the Guild, Vandalieu would have likely been making generous use of the Demon King’s Demon Eyes.
“As the one who manages the Commerce Guild, I offer my sincerest apologies. However, I would like you to realize that not all merchants are like them. They are people with little experience as merchants or fools that don’t learn from the experience they do have. After seeing you, they made rash and hasty moves, but the respectable merchants have not made a move. They should be readying themselves and observing you. So please forget about the one who wanted to buy that girl. I will be giving him a strict warning as soon as possible,” said the Guild Master of the Commerce Guild.
Unlike the young merchants who had made hasty moves, he knew the face of Juliana, the youngest sister of the duke.
He did not understand why she had become a mutant Minotaur child, but he seemed to believe it would not be wise for a mere merchant like him to touch on this topic.
“In any case, we’ve received permission to do business in this city and information on a farmer who grows sugar beets, so let’s leave it at that,” Vandalieu said to Myuze and Privel, sitting on a bench in the city’s central plaza. “And there were some normal merchants, too.”
After Vandalieu and his companions left the Commerce Guild, they had been approached by people wanting carapaces and fur, their requests prefaced with, “I am reluctant to ask this of such young women, but…” Other merchants had aimed for the Starving Wolf Security personnel, rather than approaching Vandalieu and his companions directly.
Vandalieu and his companions responded appropriately to these merchants as well. With that said, in regards to the former, they had simply responded with the vague promise of, “If we get the opportunity.”
“I shed my carapace once a year, and I do not carry the fur I shed around with me. I feel bad for them, but I am hesitant to offer my saliva…” said Gizania.
“It can’t be helped. Who knows what will turn up if they investigate our hair, fur and carapaces,” said Privel. “Ah, this is delicious.”
“How nostalgic… It’s just as delicious as when I had it before,” said Vandalieu.
After leaving the Commerce Guild, Vandalieu and his companions had started buying and eating food in the central plaza.
The central plaza of the Alcrem metropolis had all kinds of establishments, ranging from high-class restaurants catered to well-dressed, wealthy customers, to stores offering cheap meals to commoners.
Opting for the items sold at the food carts, Vandalieu and his companions had started at one end and gone around, buying and eating the various items available.
“You guys… Considering that the duel is tonight, it’s pretty bold of you to buy your competitors’ products,” said the ‘Plentiful Sandwich’ Sandy, the representative of the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram who had challenged Vandalieu to the duel in the morning.
She was looking at Vandalieu and his companions with a look that was a mixture of exasperation and admiration.
The food they had bought included not only the stuffed-full-with-fillings sandwiches sold at her food cart, but the products of the other Food Cart Pentagram members as well.
“We’re buying these because the duel is tonight. We won’t be able to win unless we do preparatory research on what our competitors are selling and what will sell to the people of Alcrem,” said Vandalieu. “And you’re the one who told us to come before the duel started so that we can have a meeting before it.”
“Yes, it’s helpful that you came and showed your face early. So, how are my sandwiches?” Sandy asked.
“They’re delicious. The way you have concentrated your effort on creating your sauce is particularly good,” Vandalieu replied.
The sandwiches that had become Sandy’s Title were packed with fillings, something that could be seen at first glance. The bread was not white bread baked with wheat flour, but brown bread baked with mixed grains. But that solid, heavy, slightly sour bread went very well with the ingredients.
As Vandalieu mentioned, the sauce on the ingredients was a masterpiece. Naturally, as things like mayonnaise and ketchup did not exist in human societies, the sauce used in Sandy’s sandwiches did not contain them. However, the spices, fruit skins and finely-minced vegetables were fused into a complicated flavor that one could never get tired of.
“Oh, you have quite the taste, don’t you?” said Sandy.
“The best thing is that you use cheap ingredients, so you can profit even if you keep the price down. Delicious, low-price and substantial. I can see why these are popular with rookie adventurers who don’t earn much and assistants of merchants and craftsmen,” Vandalieu continued.
“Yes, you know quite a lot… Don’t you know a little too much for your age? Did you ladies give him some hints?”
Sandy had seemed pleased with Vandalieu’s thoughts at first, but as he continued his analysis, she shot a suspicious look at Privel and the others.
“No, it is our first time in a human city, so it is our first time buying and eating snacks between meals like this,” said Myuze.
The truth was that Myuze and the others had bought and eaten snacks between meals in the nations in the Boundary Mountain Range, but Myuze needed to lie so as not to contradict the story they had told the knights when they entered Alcrem.
“Incidentally, Sandy-dono, does your food cart not need your attention?” Myuze asked.
“No, since I don’t actually make my food at the food cart. I make the sandwiches at home and bring them to the food cart to sell, so business is finished for the day when they sell out,” said Sandy. “Normally, I’d be packing up the shop around this time of day to go back to my husband and help him prepare the sandwiches to sell for dinner. But we have our meeting today.”
Myuze’s attempt to change the subject of the conversation was successful.
Meanwhile, four people approached from behind Sandy.
“Before we begin our meeting, we need to introduce ourselves and apologize. I’m the ‘Soup on a Whim’ Sing,” said a lively-looking middle-aged man.
“I am the ‘Red-hot Rice’ Paparus,” said a Dwarf man with a wild haircut and beard.
“Nice to meet you. I am known as the ‘Chaos Rice Ball’ Michem,” said a woman who looked to be around twenty years old.
“I am the ‘Sweet, Sweet Sweets’ Tom… Please do not ask too many questions about this long-winded Title,” said a kind-looking old man, who seemed to be the leader of the group. “Us four and Sandy over there are the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram. We apologize for causing you so much trouble,” he said, lightly bowing his head.
Sandy and the others voiced their apologies to Vandalieu as well.
“I mean, they were rumors, so don’t worry about it,” said Vandalieu.
“No, no. Sandy and the others are at fault for taking gossip so seriously, and Michem and I are also to blame for not admonishing them,” said Tom. “But if you are not going to accept an apology, then perhaps gratitude would be better. If you had ignored us, Sandy and the others would have had nothing to say for themselves.”
Sing and Paparus looked away, looking ashamed.
It seemed that Sandy, Sing and Paparus had taken the rumors seriously and demanded a duel or showdown with Vandalieu, and Tom and Michem had tried to stop them.
“We did tell them that even if the rumors were true, they weren’t anything to pay attention to. Those kinds of sales pitches are used everywhere, after all,” said Michem.
“We made false accusations against you, but you still accepted our duel. We have nothing but gratitude for you,” said Sing. “Well, we’re not going to go easy on you in the duel, though,” he added.
“I hate to repeat myself, but please don’t worry about it,” said Vandalieu. “By the way, what about the meeting?”
“Yes, about the way we will compete, I am thinking that we should decide on who is victorious by the total number of sales and customers. We shall be ranked from first to sixth, and no matter what the results are, we will all shake hands and vow to continue to do our best. How does that sound?” said Tom.
No signboards, products or business locations were on the line, and the duel would end in an amicable manner. It was certainly a vague way to end a duel, but it would be fine as an end to an event.
Indeed, Vandalieu had no intention of continuing to operate his food cart in Alcrem, so winning signboards and business locations would only cause him trouble.
“I have no objections, but one more thing. If I win, I would like you to decorate your food carts with these,” said Vandalieu, taking some cloths from the things that Gizania was carrying on her back.
These cloths bore the heart marks that were Vida’s holy symbol, the same ones worn by Starving Wolf Security personnel and the food carts in Morksi.
“This is good cloth. This is good cloth, but… didn’t the Church tell you not to do anything that draws attention?” asked Tom, having heard the rumors in town.
Vandalieu shook his head. “They told my mother that, not me. And these cloths are not for religious reasons; they’re just for business.”
It was a deceptive argument, but the Church of Vida in Alcrem didn’t have any right to stop Vandalieu and his companions from acting freely to begin with. They had merely made a request.
Of course, Vandalieu and Darcia’s reputations would worsen if they were to bluntly refuse the Church’s request and provoke the Church of Alda and its followers.
However, something like this would be fine. To the people of the city, this commotion about a duel was nothing more than an event.
“I see. Well then, I do not mind. You are not asking us to become affiliated with you or anything, are you? With that being the case, it will be helpful as it would make it clear which food cart has won the duel,” said Tom.
It seemed that the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram had no complaints about it. Having a flag on their food carts would not affect their business at all, and it would only be for a limited period of time.
They would perhaps be opposed to this idea if they were fervent worshippers of god other than Vida, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“I mean, you’re probably going to lose if we’re doing this around dinnertime, old man Tom. Maybe you should just take one of the cloths now?” said Sing.
“Sing, don’t go telling the truth now! The competition hasn’t started yet, you know!” said Tom.
“The truth? Elder Tom, I will of course be supporting Van, but the cake from your store was very delicious. I think you should have more confidence in your own creations,” said Gizania.
The wrinkles on Tom’s face deepened as he gave a joyful laugh. “It delights me to no end to know that you enjoyed my cake so much, Arachne lady. I suppose sweets are popular with women, no matter what race they are. However, the demand for my store’s products drops at dinnertime compared to lunchtime.”
“The demand for my sandwiches drops a little too,” said Sandy. “On the other hand, Paparus’s fried rice and Sing’s soup sell more. The clientele changes at dinnertime.”
When the sun set, less young women spent time in this area looking for something light to eat. There were more laborers, adventurers and city guards around, having finished their day of work. It seemed that the main thing they wanted for dinner was something substantial like the meals served at Paparus and Sing’s food carts.
Of course, there were some who added a sweet dessert to their dinner, but although Tom and the others were known as the Alcrem Foot Cart Pentagram, they were still just food carts in the end. Customers who did want a dessert with their meal would normally go to restaurants.
“Adventurers and city guards who are married do come to buy things to take home to their families, so it is not that we cannot sell any products at all,” Tom added. “Still, we panicked a little when Sandy rushed off, saying that she was going to challenge you to a duel.”
“I mean, at the time, I was intending to challenge him to a duel at lunchtime on the next day, so that we’d have more of an advantage. But since he wasn’t such a bad person, I kind of lost the will to do that,” said Sandy.
“Well, in any case, let us all do our best. My food cart has arrived,” said Vandalieu.
Among the bustling crowd, he had spotted his food cart being pulled by Hof and Mähne, accompanied by a waving Darcia.
As a result of his research, the dish Vandalieu had chosen for his duel… ended up being his meat skewers.
“I only have a few hours to prepare, after all. I can’t make large changes to my cooking. If that wasn’t the case, it’s quite cold around here, so I would have made steamed buns… steamed meat buns,” said Vandalieu.
Noodle dishes hadn’t been invented in this world, but steamed buns did exist. They were thought to have originated when an unsuccessful baker living in a hot spring area came up with the idea of saving on fuel costs by trying to use hot steam to bake his bread.
However, it seemed that steamed buns were known as ‘hot spring buns’ and considered to be local specialties that could only be purchased in hot spring areas, so people living in other areas were not familiar with them. Thus, even Vandalieu and his companions had never actually eaten steamed buns in human society.
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to change the time of the duel to tomorrow or the day after?” suggested Natania.
“Natania-san, Vandalieu-sama is confident that he can win with his meat skewers. Vandalieu-sama clearly has the upper hand when it comes to technique, after all,” said Juliana.
Indeed, Vandalieu’s ‘Cooking’ Skill was Level 8. It would not be strange for someone with a Level this high to be a main chef at a first-class restaurant or the head chef of a prestigious noble’s house.
In contrast, the ‘Cooking’ Skill of the members of the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram was unlikely to be that high. They were the owners of famous food carts, and their cooking had indeed been delicious, but it still wasn’t superior to Vandalieu’s.
“But Juliana, victory isn’t decided by the Level of the ‘Cooking’ Skill alone. That’s especially true in Van-kun’s case, considering where the duel is taking place,” said Privel.
“Ah, you’re right!” said Juliana, remembering that Vandalieu would not be able to use various seasonings, ingredients and cooking methods in human society.
There were all kinds of reasons for this, including the fact that Vandalieu wanted to one day use them for local specialties and export products of the Demon Empire of Vidal.
“But I think I’ll be able to get pretty far. None of the Pentagram are a meat skewer food cart, so my product will be unique, too. I should be able to aim for third or maybe second place,” said Vandalieu.
“Are you not aiming for first place?” asked Myuze.
“I am not, Myuze,” Vandalieu replied. “If a newcomer makes such a big appearance, they’ll be hated.”
Vandalieu would win over some of the Pentagram and lose to others. He would then praise his competitors’ efforts and exchange handshakes.
That was the ideal outcome of the food cart duel.
It would not be good for Vandalieu to lose to all five of them, but it wouldn’t be good to defeat all of them and have the people declare him victorious over the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram.
“… You say ‘newcomer,’ but I’d say you’ve achieved quite a lot in Morksi,” Natania pointed out.
“That’s because Joseph did a lot of things to make things difficult for us and because Hajime and the others came to cause trouble. If that hadn’t been the case, I would have been just an ordinary meat skewer food cart owner now,” said Vandalieu, putting the blame on Joseph and on Hajime Inui, the reincarnated individual who had attacked the city as the vessel of Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds.
“Still, there was the business with the orphanage and Birkyne, and I don’t think anyone else would have become Simon-san’s master. Maybe things wouldn’t have ended up so differently,” said Darcia.
That sunk Vandalieu’s argument, causing him to fall silent, although his hands kept working on preparing the food.
“By the way, Vandalieu, that isn’t Thunder Dragon and Mountain Giant meat. It’s ordinary Orc, Impaler Bull and Mad Boar meat. Those aren’t bad ingredients by any means, but are you fine with them?” Darcia asked.
“Huh? Really?” said Privel, who hadn’t noticed.
With a surprised look, she looked at the skewers Vandalieu was making.
There were Dungeons around Alcrem ranging from B-class to E-class, and many adventurers were based here. Thus, many food ingredients were sourced from monsters.
Therefore, meat from Rank 3 Orcs and Impaler Bulls wasn’t rare. They were commonly used even by the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram, with the exception of Tom’s dessert store.
Indeed, these ingredients were used in the sandwiches, soup and rice balls that Vandalieu and his companions had purchased and eaten today.
Fewer stores used meat from Rank 4 Mad Boars than Orcs, but not to the point that it could be called rare.
The flavor quality and scarcity of the meat taken from Rank 8 Thunder Dragons was in another dimension.
“Yes. Using ingredients that are too high-quality would be bad for my image and reputation,” said Vandalieu.
“Now that you mention it, you’re right. You don’t want people to think that you forced a victory with the sheer quality of your ingredients rather than your cooking skill and ingenuity,” Darcia agreed. “Ah, does that mean I shouldn’t transform and work as a shop assistant?”
“I don’t think they’ll mind that. They already know that you’re going to be my shop assistant, Mom,” said Vandalieu.
“Y-you are worrying about your image and reputation? After all of this?” said Gizania, her eyes wide open in surprise.
“And if this was Morksi, wouldn’t you be playing winner-takes-all?” said Natania.
The attention of the people nearby was drawn to Vandalieu’s food cart, as Gizania – a large-build Arachne whose spider-like lower body was larger than the food cart itself – was standing next to it, alongside Privel and Myuze. Most people were looking simply out of curiosity, but there were also some negative stares filled with repulsion, fear, and anger.
Seeing as Vandalieu was taking them around with him anyway without caring about that, Gizania had thought that he didn’t care about his image and reputation.
And as Natania pointed out, one of the reasons Vandalieu’s food cart had risen to the top in the city of Morksi was because it offered delicious monster meat skewers at a cheap price… though there were other factors, including the fact that Vandalieu and his sales assistant Darcia belonged to rare races.
“I do care,” said Vandalieu. “I do care about the image and reputation I have as a worshipper of Vida, the ‘Food Cart King’ of Morksi, the ‘True Ruler of the Entertainment District,’ and the ‘Patron Saint of Transformation Equipment.’ But I couldn’t care less about people who dislike me, you guys, Vida’s races and familiars; it’s a bit too late for me to care about what they think. As for Morksi, I’m just doing business there, but this is a duel, a contest. There aren’t any clear rules, but it would still feel bad to compete in a completely rule-ignoring way… I don’t need to win so desperately that I need to put all of my effort into it, anyway.”
Vandalieu and his companions currently didn’t have any plans to move their base of operations to Alcrem. They intended to return to Morksi once the audience with the duke was finished and the problems with the fake Face-tearing Demon and Arthur were resolved.
There was nothing to gain from putting every effort into seizing victory over the Pentagram.
“So, are you going to be holding back, then?” asked Juliana.
“No. I’m going to compete to the best of my ability while following the unspoken rules and the limits I choose to impose on myself… although I’m using a portion of my thinking power to look for spirits of victims and witnesses of the fake Face-tearing Demon… Before I go to bed tonight, maybe I should visit places where corpses were discovered and check if they’ve become spirits bound to the place they died,” said Vandalieu.
The other thing was that the duel would be seen by the public, so Vandalieu thought it would be a visible location marker for Arthur if he were to come to receive an answer.
“Incidentally, Vandalieu-sama, what shall we do about Ralmeya’s surveillance on us? It seems that he is looking for something,” said Chipuras, pointing at one particular corner of the plaza.
It was likely that the ‘Knight of Keen Insight’ Ralmeya, one of the Five Knights of Alcrem, had created the ‘rumors’ regarding Vandalieu to Sandy and the others this morning, and was in fact the mastermind behind the food cart duel. Chipuras had reported his involvement to Vandalieu.
“… For now, let’s just keep an eye on him. I don’t know what he’s after, after all,” said Vandalieu. “He has the ‘Demon Eye of Appraisal,’ and if his goal is to see our Statuses, one glance should be enough.”
“Indeed. Then I shall return to monitoring him,” said Chipuras, going back to his task.
As if replacing him, Simon and Kachia returned with Fang, who was pulling a wagon.
“Master! We’ve bought as much cheese that’ll melt if you heat it, just as you asked!” said Simon.
“Are you going to use it in your sauce? Or are you going to make cheese skewers?” asked Kachia.
“Your ideas are quite interesting, Kachia, but I am thinking of pouring the cheese on top of the skewers,” said Vandalieu.
And so, preparations continued, and the duel finally began.
One part of the central plaza had simple tables and benches, where food and tea could be enjoyed outside. The ‘Knight of Keen Insight’ Ralmeya sat on one of those benches, commanding and executing his plan in the central plaza.
Just as Chipuras, Vandalieu and the others suspected, Ralmeya’s objective in riling up the Alcrem Food Cart Pentagram and creating the circumstances for a duel to be held was, of course, to use his ‘Demon Eye of Appraisal’ to see the Skills and Attribute Values of Vandalieu and his companions.
But why a cooking showdown? If he wanted to see their abilities, wouldn’t it have been better to send thugs and hoodlums after them rather than the owners of well-known food carts?
Those who don’t understand the power of my ‘Demon Eye of Appraisal’ would surely think so. However, if I simply look at my targets, my ‘Demon Eye of Appraisal’ can only see the characteristics of their appearance; they cannot measure numbers accurately. If the targets themselves do not exert themselves to some extent, I cannot get an accurate measure of numbers.
Based on reports from the spies Duke Alcrem had sent to the city of Morksi and the widespread rumors, the Dark Elf mother was at least equivalent in strength to a B-class adventurer, and although the strength of Vandalieu himself was unknown, his familiars were almost certainly very powerful, and it was difficult to imagine that he was the powerless boy that his appearance and current Adventurers’ Guild class suggested.
His apprentices, the ‘Flying Sword’ Simon and ‘Iron Cat’ Natania, were C-class adventurers. It was also unlikely that his new Arachne and Scylla familiars were the Ranks that had been reported at the city gate.
Given all of this, would they really exert themselves to some extent to fend off some thugs and hoodlums? They were more likely to brush their attackers off without showing even a fraction of their strength.
To begin with, it wasn’t a simple task to prepare a disposable pawn that could force someone with a B-class adventurer’s strength to exert themselves. It would be a different story if someone connected to the Alcrem house of dukes, such as a skilled knight of the Knights’ Order serving the duke’s house or one of the Five Knights, could challenge Vandalieu to a test of strength. But this would very likely cause Vandalieu and his companions to become suspicious, and it was possible that it would make the unofficial audience that would take place later a more dangerous meeting.
Given that, it is simpler if it is cooking or dancing. I can make them ‘exert themselves to some extent’ in a peaceful manner. Of course, I can’t directly measure the Levels of their combat-related Skills, but I can accurately measure their Attribute Values. When they use their brains and move their hands quickly while they cook, I can see their Intelligence and Agility. When they use their physical endurance, I can see their Stamina. When they use the magic stoves, I can see their Mana. And people say that dancing skills transfer to combat… Well, I don’t know if they will be singing and dancing. It matters not. All that is left to do is sit here in this front-row seat and measure their strength.
Naturally, Ralmeya was sitting on a bench where he could see Vandalieu’s food cart. Fortunately, Vandalieu had an Arachne and Scylla with him, a rare sight around here, and they were drawing the stares of the people nearby. Even if Ralmeya observed Vandalieu and his companions intently, it would be assumed that he was simply one of the countless onlookers.
… The truth was that Ralmeya had already been found and was being observed by Chipuras, but he wasn’t aware of that.
In any case, I must see the numbers. First, from Vandalieu… He has familiars with him, but the effects of the ‘Animal Training’ Skill are not active? Does he not have the Skill? As for ‘Cooking’… Level 8?! Impossible! But he is indeed eleven years old, as his appearance suggests! Even that old man Tom, a member of the Pentagram, has the Skill at Level 6… The head chef of Duke Alcrem’s house has it at Level 7. They have decades of experience, but they have been surpassed by a boy who is merely eleven?!
Although the ‘Cooking’ Skill had nothing to do with Ralmeya’s original objective, he was astounded nonetheless, but he continued measuring Vandalieu’s abilities.
His Mana is unknown… and his other Attributes are in the tens of thousands?! What nonsense is this?! Never mind being equal to us Five Knights, he surpasses us! Is he truly an eleven-year-old boy? No, perhaps… his father, instead of being a Subordinate or Noble-born… Is the boy directly descended from a Pure-breed Vampire?!
The fortunate thing for Ralmeya at this moment was that Vandalieu’s food cart cooked its food using the flames of Levia, a fire-attribute Ghost, rather than operating a magical stove. If he were to get even a rough estimate of Vandalieu’s Mana, he might have screamed in terror.
Of course, even after just measuring Vandalieu’s Attribute Values except for his Mana, Ralmeya was completely paralyzed with shock.
This was unexpected. We expected that he would be the type of tamer who is reasonably capable in combat himself, but to think that he would have the Attribute Values of an A-class adventurer… no, an S-class one. Does this mean the others are powerful as well?!
Ralmeya directed his ‘Demon Eye of Appraisal’ at the food cart’s security and shop assistants – Simon and Natania, as well as the conspicuous Gizania and the rest. Information such as their height, body mass and age were displayed in his mind, and their Attribute Values followed.
Of course, Simon and the others weren’t exactly busy working, so the numbers were not particularly accurate.
The others are powerful as well!
Even taking into account the inaccuracy in the numbers he was seeing, the Attribute Values of Gizania and the others were high. In truth, they were around Rank 10, and their Attribute Values were easily within the range of those of A-class adventurers.
That wasn’t the case for Simon, Natania and Juliana, but… their Attribute Values were only low when compared to those of Vandalieu, Gizania and the others; they were not weak by any means. And in Simon and Natania’s case, they had artificial limbs.
The Magic Items called transformation equipment that the Ghouls and Dark Elf are using, and the artificial limbs of the ‘Flying Sword’ and ‘Iron Cat,’ none of them are normal. Defense, flexibility and, most importantly, the amount of Mana embedded in them is on another scale compared to other Magic Items! Just how many tens of thousands of mages would have been needed to… No, he has used the Magic Stones of high-Rank monsters?! What?!
At that moment, right before Ralmeya’s eyes, a drunkard got into a scuffle with Kachia – who was working as a waitress, serving customers with food placed on tree leaves rather than plates – and tried to forcibly pull her away with him. Kachia deftly knocked him onto the ground.
Having been rejected by Kachia, the drunkard – who seemed to be an adventurer or mercenary – drew his sword. Kachia produced a wooden rod that she was carrying for self-defense and easily fought him off with it. Ralmeya watched the entire spectacle with his ‘Demon Eye of Appraisal,’ and was astounded even further.
Her ‘Swordsmanship’ Skill is Level 7! To think that a Ghoul’s Skill Level would be this high… The strength spoken of in the rumors is not a result of the transformation equipment or enchantments; the base strength they possess to begin with is far greater than what we imagined.
Up until this point, Ralmeya had thought of Ghouls to be a kind of monster that did not pose a great threat – though they could speak human languages and were intelligent, their base form was Rank 3 at most, and even superior races of Ghouls above Rank 6 had not been seen in recent years.
But it seemed that this perception of Ghouls was greatly mistaken.
Ugh, to think that even I, a man who is praised as the ‘Knight of Keen Insight,’ would be breaking into a cold sweat just by measuring Attribute Values. But I will not be able to face the duke if I don’t measure more Skills than just the boy’s ‘Cooking.’
The first thing he looked at was Darcia, who was performing a small song and dance at the request of the customers. It was calming for him to see her mundane Skills such as ‘Singing’ or ‘Dancing.’
However, more beads of cold sweat formed on Ralmeya’s back as he began seeing Skills that no ordinary Dark Elf could possibly possess.
Hmm? ‘Self-Strengthening: Vandalieu,’ ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator,’ ‘Vitality Enhancement?!’ ‘Status Effect Resistance’ and ‘Monstrous Strength?!’ Is this woman really a Dark Elf?!
As he continued measuring Darcia’s Skills, he realized that there was someone with a Guider-type Job around her.
What’s this? ‘Self-Strengthening: Guidance?!’ In other words, this woman is being guided by someone… by a Guider?!
Ralmeya was aware of what Guiders were. They were those with Jobs that were so rare that no more than one Guider had ever existed at any given point in history, with the exception of the champions such as Bellwood.
They had an even greater influence on the world than S-class adventurers.
But where in the world was the Guider who was guiding Darcia? Ralmeya’s gaze slowly shifted towards the most likely possibility… as he repeatedly told himself that such a thing was utterly impossible.
But upon measuring Vandalieu’s Passive Skills, he saw that the ‘Guidance’ Skill was among them.
‘Guidance’ and ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Worshipped?!’ This is why he does not have the ‘Animal Training’ Skill despite being a tamer! He is not training his familiars; he is guiding them and making himself a symbol of their worship! And ‘Abyss?!’ What in the world is ‘Abyss?!’ I-in any case, I must report this to His Excellency the Duke!
Vandalieu was a Guider.
Having realized this, Ralmeya immediately stood up from the bench and was about to turn around and leave – but found himself unable to do that.
His eyes had met Vandalieu’s, who was staring directly at him.
A small scream escaped Ralmeya’s lips – he could see a reflection of himself in Vandalieu’s hollow, empty eyes.
And his instincts told him that Vandalieu knew he had been peering into his Status.
A hallucination appeared before him – a hallucination of a grotesque monstrosity crawling out from the abyss beyond Vandalieu’s eyes.
I-I’m going to be killed. I’m going to die here! Ralmeya thought in despair, trembling in terror, certain of his doom.
But after staring at him for a few seconds, Vandalieu’s eyes moved away again.
And as if nothing had happened, he began taking the order of a large man with a great sword on his back.
I-I have been spared? Me?
It had been decided that Ralmeya was not a significant threat, not even worth disposing of. Fully aware of this, Ralmeya ran from the plaza as fast as his legs could carry him, ignoring the strange stares from the people nearby.
His heart was filled not with humiliation – but with the joy and relief of still being alive.
- Name: Kachia
- Rank: 8
- Race: Ghoul Wizard Sword Adept
- Level: 90
- Job: Flame Space Magic Swordsman
- Job level: 70
- Job history: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior, Apprentice Mage, Mage, Magic Swordsman, Fire-Attribute Mage, Space-Attribute Mage, Flame Space Mage, Light Wind Technique Swordsman
- Age: 27 years old (19 years old in appearance)
- Passive skills:
- Dark Vision (Transformed from Night Vision!)
- Pain Resistance: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Superhuman Strength: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Paralyzing Venom Secretion (Claws): Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attack Power when equipped with a Staff: Medium (NEW!)
- Strengthened Attack Power when equipped with a Sword: Very Large (NEW!)
- Strengthened Defensive Power when equipped with Metal Armor: Large (NEW!)
- Mana Enlargement: Level 4 (NEW!)
- Self-Strengthening: Guidance: Level 7 (NEW!)
- Active skills:
- Swordsmanship: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Armor Technique: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
- Shield Technique: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dismantling: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Surpass Limits: Magic Sword: Level 5 (NEW!)
- Surpass Limits: Level 10 (NEW!)
- Coordination: Level 8 (NEW!)
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 8 (NEW!)
- Fire-Attribute Magic: Level 7 (NEW!)
- Space-Attribute Magic: Level 7 (NEW!)
- Light-Attribute Magic: Level 5 (NEW!)
- Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 6 (NEW!)
- Mana Control: Level 9 (NEW!)
- Chant Revocation: Level 5 (NEW!)
- Housework: Level 2 (NEW!)
- Singing: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Dancing: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Unique skills:
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection (NEW!)
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Naberisu
Let’s goo the duke will know about Van’s greatness.
Akachi86
Nice to see Kachia is still going strong.
Strahd
It seems to me that Kachia has an irregular status, focusing both on magic and physical combat, she is perhaps among the top of the B rank adventurers or even between the B and A ranks, nice to see that among so many characters she also has space .
Akachi86
Kachia will be relevant as a side character all the way till the end.
Zenden1st
did he see abyss skill then get countered?
JKingSniper
So many people overestimate themselves and underestimate Vand
Illuvatar
Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping for an overlord kinda vibe when he looks at Van’s mana
Chiu ChunLing
Sparkles are always shiny.
A_wandering_otter
Lol dude just starts producing body fluid out of every hole and crumbles on the ground in the middle of the street despite nothing happening to him at least from a bystander’s point of view
Rasho
Haha, hope this guy doesn’t speak ill of Van just bcz he saw the ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Worshipped’ or something.
Yay, Kachia is getting stronger! Hope the Author includes her in more Chapters in the future, also, how TF did the others who told Kachia that she has no talent for Magic come to that crazy conclusion!?!? Even if you don’t include No-Attribute Magic, she has talent for 4 other Attributes, and one of them is even Space-Attribute Magic, which is pretty damn rare!!!
Rurourin
Having an affinity for an attribute doesn’t necessarily mean you have talent for magic. Kachia inherently has very low mana and her talent in magic was very poor even after becoming a ghoul which increased her talent above what it was as a human. She was able to get started on her training thanks to Van-sama style mana training and his guidance.
Zenden1st
anime despair meme
Tomi97
There is a typo in –> his father, instead of being a Subordinate or Pure-breed… Is the boy directly descended from a Pure-breed Vampire? <–
The first Pure-breed should be Nobleborn
Chiu ChunLing
I also think that makes more sense. Not that I know how the whole Pure-breed Vampire thing works, if it’s like that then maybe Sieg’s little siblings will be something, eh?
ObserverBias
So, two things.
One is- how do 4 stall owners make a pentagram…? Even if it’s the space between them, there has to be a fifth member, or it’s just a box isn’t it?
Two is- that large guy with the greatsword, it’s probably Arthur, isn’t it?
Chiu ChunLing
Um…While there may be ways to do that, there are in fact five of them.
Sandwich Sandy, ‘Soup on a Whim’ Sing, ‘Red-hot Rice’ Paparus, ‘Chaos Rice Ball’ Michem, and ‘Sweet, Sweet Sweets’ Tom.
I also thought the guy with the greatsword might be Arthur, just because it’s time for him to show up. They also said that all the other Heroes left the city, but really I suppose a lot of adventurers might fit the description of a big guy with a big sword.
ObserverBias
Yeah, spotted the recount at the start of the next chapter, for some reason missed the fifth one on a reread of this chapter.
Irazori
Well it can’t be helped that they’d feel inferior to Van’s companions. Plus, it was mentioned way back in the beginning that knights would be weaker than adventurers, since the latter would be more capable due to repeated experience in action/field work.
Side note: Totally didn’t think Kachia grew so much to be such a major magic swordswoman. I remembered that she had an affinity for 4 attributes of magic, but still surprised on how high her skills are now thanks to Van’s divine protection helping her through a development wall.
Chiu ChunLing
While knights would be weaker than adventurers who were equivalent in social status and wealth, it’s important to avoid a categorical comparison implying that all knights are weaker than all adventurers. But they’re probably a bit weaker that the top party of A-Class adventurers in the city at any given time.
Of course here the actual comparison is between the elite forces of Van’s Empire which thrives in a land composed significantly of Devil’s Nests and the top knights of a commerce Duchy. Even on their best day, the Five knights probably couldn’t take even the weakest of the Fifteen Evil Swords. Ralmeya in particular would be relegated to Hilt, but he’d need some toughening up first.
Irazori
Part of me wonders what the rest of the 15 aldiot swords are like/what they’re doing now? Especially since Van’s forces killed like 1/3 of them before.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, I’m sure that mostly they handle stuff inside the Amid Empire. The Vampire organizations have collapsed into chaos and it doesn’t seem like Van troubled to deal with any that didn’t have orphans, slaves, or valuables to take. So most recently they’ve probably been hunting stray Vampires a fair bit. Storm of Tyranny has dispensed with pretending to have any respect for Marshkuzarl’s wishes that they stay inside the Amid Empire, so that’s probably had them running around a bit too. There’s also the situation with Fitun being eliminated.
Marshkuzarl’s position seems to have deteriorated with some recent events, not only the series of losses to Van but also the moves by Alda to become more active. I imagine that the Heroes running around are just as problematical for Marshkuzarl as Storm of Tyranny, since he well understands that Alda’s program is not compatible with the welfare and stability of the Empire. Not only that, but Ghouls, Dark Elves, and other Vida races have started migrating to the Vidal Empire. This means a drastic reduction in monster hunting and Devil’s Nest mitigation in the Amid Empire. And the increased activity of the Demon King Fragments seeking to rejoin Van since that stupid eclipse is a pretty serious threat.
Overall the increased activity of the Heroes should balance this out…but that itself poses a threat to Marshkuzarl’s more secular position relative to the upcoming Pope.
And it can’t have been easy for them to fill the holes left by their losses in the Sauron operation. Bebbeket especially seems hard to replace, even though she was one of the weaker members in direct battle. The Third Sword is a public position which requires political connections and acumen in addition to significant fighting prowess. And Sleygar and Ervine were among the stronger members.
Even if they successfully recruited people with the same potential, they’re probably busy helping them raise their ability to the necessary standard without getting them killed.
I’m sure that they’re also preparing to transfer their loyalties to the new Emperor once Alda inevitably has Marshkuzarl deposed.
graustier
Please don’t do anything stupid when (if?) your knight’s report gets to you, dear Duke.
PLEASE don’t do anything stupid.
Our boy, Van, could really use another highly placed win in human society.
Lord Rin
Those Pentagram guys seem nice. Van isn’t planning to beat them all but I bet it’ll happen anyways accidentally. Van also isn’t planning to partner up with stall owners in Alcrem City since he doesn’t want to have more connections with the duchy but I bet that the Pentagram guys will ask Van to partner with them and incorporate them into his stall franchise like all the guys in Morski.
Anyways Ralmeya’s scheme seems so inoffensive that it’s actually quite charming. Yes he gave reasons why sending thugs or criminals after Van to see him fight so he could be appraised wouldn’t be a good idea but I think a lot of people would still have gone through with it anyways because it’s the easier and faster option. Ralmeya isn’t thickheaded and is thinking of all possible factors unlike somebody like Asagi or Heinz. Anyways it’s funny how the first thing he freaks out about when appraising Van is that his Cooking skill is level 8.Then he proceeded to freak out even more when he saw the rest of Van’s skills and those of his companions. And that’s before he got hit with the Uno Reverse that is Abyss that informed Van of what Ralmeya was doing. Hopefully he informs Duke Alcrem that doing anything to Van or his people is patently suicidal. That is if Ralmeya hasn’t gone insane from this experience.
Wow Kachia is strong now. She’s now higher rank than Bugogan was and could now manhandle him easily. I think her skills are even higher than Murakami’s group were.
Randy Rando
Hate to always be that guy, but Mr ketchup actually does use his head and consider all options available to him before making a move, it’s just that he doesn’t have all the vital information. His willingness to admit when he’s wrong and completely change his stance on matters when he receives information that contradicts his personal biases is actually really impressive and praiseworthy. He also ignores what is most convenient for him when deciding what to do and for the most part he chooses what he considers to be the most just and kind option to everyone, not just people he personally knows. TLDR: Heinz (Mr ketchup) isn’t a villain, but an antagonist.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. Makes me wonder if that knight is going to make a report or more likely find the closest horse and go somewhere far, far away. At least Van allowed him to see some of his stats which ended up breaking him. Still can’t wait to see who or what the copycat is. My money is that Van will still end up winning the competition since his food is both good and new. Time will tell.
Psychodaz
I’m not sure if this is a problem in the original text but in the sentence
“No, perhaps… his father, instead of being a Subordinate or Pure-breed… Is the boy directly descended from a Pure-breed Vampire?!”
Shouldn’t it be Subordinate or Noble-born instead?
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
ravelphenex
i think van is filtering what skill that the dude is seeing so that he can warn the duke to not do anything stupid. that dude will be disabled on the spot or even worship van if he can see van’s full character sheet.
Strowy
He’s not filtering, knight guy can only see skills/stats that are being used (e.g. why he can see the Cooking skill level but not Van’s mana).
As long as Van doesn’t use any of the fragments or his magic, the guy won’t know about them.
Chiu ChunLing
The fact that Abyss didn’t show up right away means that Van had the ability to conceal his Skills, probably mostly by realizing that Ralmeya needed to see some directly visible effect of a Skill in order to perceive it. So he was probably extra careful to minimize what he showed…at least till ne noticed the guy checking out his mom, lol. It may have been a coincidence that Van showed him Abyss right after he was checking Darcia’s abilities, but I feel like up till then the plan had been to let the guy collect the information he wanted and advise the Duke not to be foolish.
Dyneamaeus
I think it’s more likely that Abyss doesn’t activate immediately. One doesn’t need to fear glancing at the Abyss, but gazing into it, so the ability activating a few seconds after the knight started staring makes sense. It would also explain why the knight didn’t know what Abyss was actually doing.
Chiu ChunLing
Hmmm…it feels like more than a few seconds, several minutes even, and Abyss has always activated immediately before. But I suppose it’s possible that Ralmeya simply was working too fast and looking for what he considered more relevant information.
Lucian
No screams of terror were issued this chapter. Today was a peaceful day.
ObserverBias
Just a small scream. As a treat
Chiu ChunLing
Really more like a stifled yelp…maybe even a squeak.
Inea
hey hey Knight of Keen Insight if your insight is true, than you better know what will happen if you tell what u saw to the Duke
ravelphenex
van is letting him tell the duke so that the duke won’t do anything stupid or else another duchy will be taken down.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, Van was definitely telling him “You have seen…enough. Warn your Duke against doing anything…foolish.”
flannan
I expected the knight to get freaked out. What I didn’t expect, is to see him starting to freak out from seeing Van’s cooking skill.
Absolute Zer0
And Cooking skill is tamest thing in Van’s status.
Chiu ChunLing
I think that the actual tamest thing (as in, least alarming) is Ricklent’s Divine Blessing. The most commonplace Skill would have to be Dark Vision, but it would definitely be way more alarming.
But yeah, really the only thing alarming about the Cooking Skill is that it’s level 8, which should take decades to reach.
ObserverBias
Would he have been able to see Rodcorte’s curses, or did it seem like that would be beyond him? Didn’t seem like he caught wind of titles or current/previous jobs, or levels, but I wonder if he would have at all recognized what he was looking at if the curses were visible.
Chiu ChunLing
I don’t know how he’d see Van ‘using’ those. They’re not Skills, after all. I suppose he might glimpse one if he saw Van changing Jobs, and another if he watched him soloing a bunch of high-level monsters and not getting XP for it. The other…is kinda normal and barely makes a difference anymore. I don’t know how he’d observe it without already knowing that Van’s reincarnated with his past life’s memories.
Chiu ChunLing
I looked at Van’s Status again. Turns out he has Whip Technique: Level 3 and Staff Technique: Level 1. Those are both super tame in comparison with the rest of his Skills. But since his whip is his extended tongue and his staff is made from the bones of an Evil God…
Well, I’m sure he could use either Skill with a more ordinary weapon. Just probably not while cooking.
Tejing
The pentagram seem nice. Here’s hoping the competition stays friendly.
Whew, Ralmeya certainly got more than he bargained for. It’s a good thing he didn’t see anything really incriminating though, like ‘Demon King’ (the title, the job, or the skill), or ‘God Devourer’, or ‘Divine Enemy’. Also probably good that he didn’t see Van’s mana, or ‘Demigod’.
I wonder if the Duke is smart enough to realize now that Van’s surname of ‘Zakkart’ is exactly as meaningful as it sounds.
Chiu ChunLing
I’m guessing not.
I mean, he just honestly doesn’t seem that smart. Though I do think that someone could come to the conclusion that Vandalieu is named “Zakkart” because he cleared the Trial of Zakkart. I just don’t believe that Alcrem is the guy.
But looking at it reasonably, a lot of people have to know by now that Heinz’s group was waiting for the Trial of Zakkart when it failed to appear and the Trial of Bellwood showed up in it’s place. Heinz’s group, not just the party, but all their followers out there, all knew right away that meant someone else had already cleared the Trial of Zakkart. So well informed people should be looking for someone who could have done that, and while Van’s party doesn’t look the part, a careful investigation of their real abilities would be informative.
But Alcrem doesn’t just seem on the shallow end of the IQ pool, he also seems relatively out of the loop for a Duke. He has vapors about the influential guys in the central government of the Kingdom conspiring against him, pretty sure that means he’s on the outs and isn’t considered someone to necessarily tell hot info like “it seems an unknown person has cleared the Trial of Zakkart”.
Dolmad would probably disbelieve it on general principle of “it’s not clearly convenient for me if people were to believe such a thing, so it must not be true.”
As for the Pentagram, since they’re having an event that will attract a big crowd, but they all have different specialties, probably this will boost everyone’s sales for the night and their general popularity for a while as long as nothing terrible happens (I mean worse than a drunk waving a sword getting beaten with a stick). It would really suck for them to actively cause trouble, so I think they won’t.
Doesn’t mean nobody else will. Even if Ralmeya successfully communicates to his boss that picking a fight with Van’s bunch will not go well for Alcrem, there’s still that fake face-stripper muttering alarming things in the shadows. A merchant a little less wise than Edmond might show up suddenly. Probably a lot of people other than Alcrem have noticed Juliana by now, some might be considering obtaining her for non-trivial motives. And of course the Bellwood extremists got to show up eventually, right?
Tejing
I doubt he’d connect it to the Trial of Zakkart, after all, everyone is convinced that the person who clears that becomes Bellwood’s successor, not Zakkart’s. I wasn’t really talking about that part; I was just wondering if he’d make the connection that Van is genuinely connected to Zakkart (even if he doesn’t know exactly how), not just taking on the name as an affectation or a religious tool or something, as people have generally assumed until now.
You make a good point about the pentagram. It’s simply not in their interests to cause trouble.
And actually, the one I’m most expecting to cause trouble at this point is Miriam, in some kind of misguided attempt to protect her friends from the ‘Demon King’.
Chiu ChunLing
Oh, hey, speaking of them, is that big guy with the sword Arthur? There was no particular mention of him being extra sinister, but whole “abyss gazing back” thing might have obscured it.
While there should be some people capable of noticing that the appearance of a Trial of Bellwood that is clearly distinct from the recently conquered Trial of Zakkart is a pretty unambiguous Divine Sign that the Trail of Zakkart did not select the successor of Bellwood, I think Alcrem couldn’t put that together even if anyone told him, which I doubt they did.
Though I guess someone like..um Bravetea? Bravatiyu could come up with something hilariously off, like that the Trial of Zakkart was intended to find the successor of Bellwood, but a new Trial had to be sent because the enemies of Bellwood sabotaged the Trial and busted it (without even realizing how true that is). By the way, he’s going to be having fun with whatever information Ralmeya brings back.
I think if Miriam does try anything the result will be bemusement or embarrassment rather than trouble. I can easily see her failing to correctly identify Van in the first place.
Lord Rin
From what I remember I should point out that Alda’s dungeon isn’t actually called the Trial of Bellwood. There’s just a sign outside that says that whoever conquers the dungeon will become Bellwood’s successor but does not specifically name the dungeon. Heinz and his party do know that it’s a different dungeon because their magic tool they got that points to where the Trial of Zakkart will appear stopped working which told them that someone conquered it plus the stuff inside the dungeon that appeared before them is completely different however nobody else knows it’s a different dungeon. At least not concretely. Heinz and his party went in immediately without telling anybody that this was a different dungeon and most people probably wouldn’t question why the entrance is different and would just assume that the appearance of the entrance was just updated. After all it’s happened once before where Gufadgarn got fed up with people and slapped a cheap looking wooden sign outside the dungeon that read Trial of Zakkart. Most of the public probably still thinks the new dungeon is still the Trial of Zakkart just with a new look.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, but all the people with them started howling at the moon when the Trial finder stopped working, and the priests guarding the replacement Trial seem pretty well informed that the Trial that appeared is a new one that’s completely different from the Trial of Zakkart in several obvious and important respects.
I do think that the information is relatively hushed up. But it’s certainly known to the well informed (like Randolf, who checked the entrance out). Still doesn’t help Alcrem, who is just not part of the inner circle of the Orbaum Kingdom. We haven’t seen much of the inner circle other than Dolmad, and his views on inconvenient information are pretty clear.
no1
A pretty peaceful chapter. A knight nearly died though or went insane. Hope to see the next chapter soon. Thank you for the chapter Yoshi.
HeyaUser
My friend you are lucky to be alive. Unless keeping you alive was all part of Vans plan in which case You fool! You should’ve died!
ExplodingPenguinDood
Smart move by Van by showing he’s a guider but hid what kinds and how many. Guider + Daria’s spirit summoning + his surname? Oooff what a combo. Pretty easy to conclude Van’s Vida’s new champion I think
Chiu ChunLing
Well, it’s not so much a move on Van’s part as a limitation of Ralmeya’s Demon Eyes that they can only see Attribute values and Skill levels in use, it cannot see Jobs or Titles (or names). Even for Attribute values and Skills in use, it cannot see them if they are being used invisibly, like Van supplying his mana to Levia to produce the flames rather than using a visible magic stove.
Also, Van’s Abyss Skill would have activated the moment Ralmeya started using his Demon Eyes, but Ralmeya didn’t see the Skill till Van looked back at him. So while Ralmeya’s eyes definitely give more detail on what he’s seeing, he doesn’t get any information about Skills till he can see it being used. For instance, we can infer that if Van had a visible injury and Ralmeya could see it healing, his Demon Eyes would give him the accurate measurement of Van’s Super Rapid Regeneration Skill. But if Van were injured someplace that wasn’t visible to Ralmeya, his Demon Eyes wouldn’t see the Skill even though it was working.
Likewise (and crucially), he can’t see any of Van’s Skills related to being the Demon King unless Van does something like visibly using the Demon King Fragments. He also couldn’t see the “Binding” Skills that allow Van to have insects, plants, and undead equipped even though Van doubtless has a small army in there as usual. If he saw something coming out, then his Demon Eyes would no doubt tell him the Skill being used as well as it’s level. But if the Skill is being used but has no visible effects, he’ll see nothing.
Same for Darcia having the Vida’s Incarnation Skill, even if she called down a Familiar Spirit it might not show, but he’d see that she had the extra superior version “Goddess Descent” rather than just the Familiar Spirit Descent. But to see the effect of Vida’s Incarnation, I think he’d have to see her call Vida down.
Tejing
I’m not sure he was. Levia can cook things just fine on her own, without Van’s mana. I suspect if Van had been actually using God Spirit Magic, Ralmeya would have seen both the level of that skill, and Van’s amount of mana.
Chiu ChunLing
But then he should also be able to see that Van is using his Binding Skills. He should also be able to see his Mana Recovery Skill.
And he should be able to see it without having to see Van, if he can see the Skill despite things being invisible to him.
Tejing
If Van was using God Spirit Magic, Ralmeya would be able to see the flames. I would assume that would be enough.
Although one wonders why he didn’t notice that Levia was a ghost during all this, given that… maybe he just never thought to measure the fire.
Chiu ChunLing
Well he’s got a lot of other things to think about.
ExplodingPenguinDood
Abyss skill reflects all eye skills even if Van is not directly looking back tho like with the tentacle god and Gufadgarn, Doesn’t it?
Chiu ChunLing
Yes. That’s why I think that Ralmeya can only see the Skill when it’s being used to directly produce an effect he can see. In the case of Abyss, when Van wasn’t looking back at him, he couldn’t see that Van was aware he was looking at his status, so even though the Skill was active he couldn’t see it.
If he could see every Skill that was active regardless of having a directly visible effect, he would have seen a lot more Skills even without going to the trouble of arranging this cook-off.
Dyneamaeus
I think it’s just that the Abyss doesn’t activate immediately. It takes a few seconds of direct stare to activate it, so him spotting it the second time is because it was active, even if he didn’t know what it was doing. Likewise, he got a mana-reading from the flames, but it was ‘unknown’ because Levia was doing them, not Van, and he didn’t spot the binding skill because they aren’t active when Van isn’t loading or unloading his critters.
SchmidtNation
‘Self-Strengthening: Vandalieu’ ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator’ ‘Vitality Enhancement’ ‘Status Effect Resistance’ ‘Monstrous Strength’ ‘Self-Strengthening: Guidance’ ‘Guidance’ and ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Worshipped’ ‘Abyss’
Other than Monstrous Strength, how is it possible for Ralmeya to have seen any of these being used?
This is Ralmeya’s introduction:
“Strictly speaking, Ralmeya was not a knight, but something of a technical spy. The Unique Skill he possessed, the ‘Demon Eye of Surveying,’ surveyed objects that he looked at and displayed information as numbers.
It displayed their size, weight and momentum, but it could also give a rough measurement of Attribute Value and the Levels of targets’ Skills if he observed them in battle or using the Skills.
It took longer to work than ‘Demon Eyes of Appraisal,’ which could read information with a single glance, but it was still effective for gathering information.” -side chapter 39.
It only says he has to observe the target as they use the skill, not that he has to see the skill itself.
As for why noticing Abyss was delayed, there’s a couple possibilities. 1. He simply hadn’t tried to look at unique skills until then (he is observing sections; attribute values, active skills, passives, uniques) 2. Abyss didn’t fully activate until Van looked at him (since the skill being reflected requires seeing the target). 3. He just hadn’t read that far down yet. Every single value and skill he measured gave a mental shock, not at all surprising if it took him a bit longer than usual to look at everything.
*Not sure why this chapter says Appraisal instead of Surveying when talking about his eyes.
Chiu ChunLing
Well cause Van and friends don’t know what kind of Demon Eye’s Ralmeya has, just that it’s probably something of the sort..
Like I said, it’s important that he actually observes the use of the Skills, if the Skill is being used in a way that he cannot observe the effect of it being used, he can’t see it.
He can see the effects of Guidance if he can see Attribute values because Guidance changes Attribute values and such. He can also see Van’s the Guider, though it’s significant that he couldn’t see the exact nature of the Guidance (Dark Demon Dream Creation etc.). While the Enticement Skill Van has seems to work passively, his Guidance Skill seems to require he actually interact with the target in some way. So it’s visible.
I don’t buy that Ralmeya would have gotten hooked up long on Cooking 8 if he could see any of of Van’s other Skills, pretty much all of them are much more remarkable in some way. The majority of them are things that people shouldn’t normally be able to get no matter how long they work at it. And the remainder that are plausible for a person to obtain through long effort are generally more remarkable than Cooking 8.
Chiu ChunLing
I love the reaction that Juliana keeps provoking of “I’m well aware that’s Juliana Alcrem somehow, but I’ve decided to ‘pretend’ otherwise cause it seems troublesome.”
Much better than the reaction of people too dull to realize it’s somehow Juliana Alcrem (or even just obviously a girl rather than a Minotaur) and proceeding to suggest something incredibly stupid based on having missed that point.
It’s also much better than the various characters who seriously pretend to not have noticed something equally obvious because it makes them look bad (like Heinz and party, or El Braver and Kouya).
Bob, Son of Bob
S-Rank Isekai survival strategy: “I gonna pretend I didn’t see that”
ReignGuard
See what? I didn’t see anything, did you?
Zenden1st
must’ve been the wind
Chiu ChunLing
That guy’s lucky he didn’t see anything dangerous. Like Van’s Titles, or his Jobs, or his Titles, or his unique Skills other than Abyss.
Or his Titles.
If Van had seen Ralmeya’s Title with Abyss…
That being said, he did find out that Van’s a Guider, as well as a figure of worship. So he’s still definitely lucky to be alive.
CyberDre
I can totally see the Bravetiyu guy getting nervous and declare “killing him before he kills us” approach that many so love to suggest in this story , only to be overwhelmingly voted against cuz there’s no way anyone in their right mind would go against, add in the fact Darcia has familiar spirit descent, they’ll come to do the conclusion that vida is at least in support of him….. That’s assuming they can dedice that much at least.
Strowy
He saw Van’s attribute values, which are way above the Knights’, as well as the general ranks and attribute values of Van’s companions – they’re at least equivalent to a party of A-rank adventurers, so he’d be completely suicidal to suggest ‘killing them before they kill us’
CyberDre
No, Bravetiyu is the conspiracy theorist knight , not this one , this one is Ralmeya
Chiu ChunLing
I can see him deciding that Ralmeya’s report is unreliable because clearly Van (conspired and) did something to him. But he already got outvoted on the whole “We should attack! Surely it is better than doing nothing!” plan. Whether or not Ralmeya’s report is reliable, the fact that Van and co. were able to see through his scouting and somehow disable him in the middle of a busy public event without causing any kind of alarm or disturbance anyone else could detect remains a cautionary point.
Reasonably speaking, Bravatiyu’s theory is that Van is just a distraction, a stalking goat being used to bait them into an unfavorable position. In that case, the need to establish who actually attacked Ralmeya’s mind is even more pressing.
graustier
Considering the fact that Van’s surname is no secret to the duchy’s authorities, coupled with Ralmeya’s findings on Van’s nature and that of his party, there is certainly going to be an acute reaction from the latter’s superiors, which puzzles me as to why Van let him go without so much as a warning or explanation.
Here’s hoping that the Duke and his cabinet manage to avoid doing anything too stupid…
Cr1m50nR3ap3r
It would have been funny if he saw van’s divine protection just to freak him out as it is known that the gods don’t walk on the ground anymore and are in their divine realms
Chiu ChunLing
I think Vida’s Divine Blessing would be alarming but hardly a surprise. Gods of Origin & Earth’s Divine Blessings would be a bit puzzling but I doubt he’s so absolutely confident in his theology that he’d know those were Gods from other worlds.
It should be known that Vida has only recently become able to bestow Divine Blessings again, and the same is true of Zuruwarn and Ricklent. The real kicker would be Zantark’s Divine Blessing, no matter how you see it that’s not something that anyone in Bahn Gaia should be able to get.
But it should be hard to spot someone ‘using’ a Divine Blessing under most circumstances. Ralmeya’s Demon Eye’s let him ‘measure’ the Attributes and Skill levels necessary to perform an action he can see. That’s why Cooking showed up right away, but Abyss only showed up when Van made eye contact and let him know he knew Ralmeya was checking his Status. For Skills like God Devourer, Mental Encroachment, Labyrinth Creation, Divine Enemy, Group Thought Processing & Control, Soul Form, Mutation Induction, etc. I can imagine ways Van could use those Skills so that Ralmeya could see them, but of course he wouldn’t do that while running a food stall, right?
Kiriaru
Seems so short. But the fact that the demon eyes worked and this knight has gained all this information is a huge milestone. I wonder how much they will believe him and what the Duke will do.
Hakuro1010a
I thought that the Knight of Keen Insight would immediately get reverse uno’d before being able to appraise much, but it seems that Van purposely held back on the Abyss skill.
I suppose that the Lord wants others to know bit of his true power so they won’t dare bother him? That would certainly save him some trouble later down the lane.
Chiu ChunLing
To be precise, I think that Abyss was active, but Van held back on doing anything visible to show that because he realized how Ralmeya’s Demon Eyes worked.
Doc
Personally I don’t know about the idea that Van allowed the knight to see some of his and his subordinates’ stats for the Duke to leave them alone. Logically the stats that he revealed would only lead to MORE trouble. Not revealing your cards is always more preferable than revealing them.
Honestly I think Van just wasn’t aware how the Demon Eyes of Appraisal functioned. Like maybe he thought it would be like a magic ping that he could completely block with abyss. Having skills and attributes revealed through a bit of “exertion” is just strange.
CyberDre
The way I saw it, it’d be more suspicious if he was able to completely nullify the effects of Ralmeya’s Demon Eyes , he wasn’t aware of how they worked, but completely nullifying it would only lead to more investigation on the duke’s side, so I guess showing some of his cards would tell them he and his people aren’t the lot the duke can afford to harass….. Hopefully Bravetiyu would also get it into his head.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, they’ve already decided not to resort to killing/brainwashing everyone trying to investigate them…unless it became clearly necessary. As it is, Ralmeya hasn’t seen anything truly damaging, like the exact Attribute values or combat related Skill levels of their most powerful members. What he’s seen for them is enough to know that they’d need a powerful A-class party to have a chance of fighting them, but not enough to know whether that A-class party could win.
In fact, their realistic options are the S-class Randolf and Heinz, neither being currently available for this job. There should also be steep suspicions about whether either would be reliable. Randolf very obviously intentionally blew off his last job by not only not killing Juliana, but delivering her to Van, leading to her highly embarrassing pseudo-reincarnation as her own Half Minotaur child. This is unimaginably more scandalous than anything Alcrem was thinking could possibly happen.
Meanwhile, Heinz is famous as the symbol of the Alda reconciliation faction, parading his pet Dhampir around as proof that worshipping Alda doesn’t have to mean excessive persecution of Vida’s races. The odds of him being willing to fight another Dhampir child and his beautiful Dark Elf mother famed as one of the few people able to call down a Familiar Spirit of Vida, both of whom heroically defended the city of Morksi from the nefarious scheme of the fallen Fitun (believed punished by Alda for his crime)…should seem much lower than happens to be the actual case.
Especially since the motive remains the same, covering up the existence of Juliana.
Dyneamaeus
I don’t think Van actually has a way to negate the appraisal short of mind-smacking the guy. Abyss doesn’t turn off eye effects or give Van any control of them, it just copies the effect in reverse. So the whole time the Knight was getting readings on Van, Van was getting an equal reading on him, though since the guy was only using the eye, I doubt Van got too much detail.
My guess is that now that he’s done ‘hiding’ to ambush enemies in Morski, Van’s not concerned about neutral parties like the Duke learning about him. He has no real plans for them, and it’s not like they’re a threat after all.
Dr. Steel
Abyss doesn’t actually have the ability to block skills, just reflect their effects. Like when Death Scythe was attacking him from Rodcorte’s realm, Abyss didn’t prevent it from working on Vandalieu, it just allowed him to attack back. So Abyss, in this scenario, would have let Van see the Knight’s stats as he saw Van’s.
Magma_Rage2024
I’m already hyped for the moment where he dominates the whole culinary culture of lambda. imagine once he starts trading his spices and for example the miso sauce.
and another day where rodcorte is also know as “good-for-nothing”
IRONMAN000elas
HAHAAAA REJOICE PUNY HUMAN FOR THY HATH SURVIVED