Many thanks to this chapter’s sponsor: Dylan F. ($150)
“‘Heroic God Descent!’” Heinz shouted spiritedly, and his entire body began radiating a blinding light. The light produced by Skills was ordinarily nothing more than a side-effect, but the light produced by ‘Heroic God Descent’ was so bright that it could be used as a weapon to blind monsters. That was how tremendous the effects of the ‘Heroic God Descent’ Skill were.
I can see Guduranis’s movements! I can actually see them!
Up until this point, Heinz had only been able to defeat Guduranis by dying over and over again while learning his combat patterns. He hadn’t been able to perceive Guduranis’s movements; he had fought Guduranis while having prior knowledge of what he was going to do.
If he was facing the real Demon King Guduranis rather than a fake with no independent will or ability to think, he would have likely been killed in the blink of an eye.
That was how much of a difference in power there had been between the fake Guduranis and Heinz. But this changed the moment Heinz used ‘Heroic God Descent.’
By summoning Bellwood upon his own body, the physical capabilities of his body were multiplied dozens of times over.
The fake Guduranis roared as it attacked, but Heinz could see the tentacles, whips, and spears of bone that flew towards him, clear as day.
Heinz severed the tentacles with his sword that was wreathed in blue flames, evaded the spears of bone, and closed the gap to swing his weapon at his foe.
The fake Guduranis let out a furious roar, and highly corrosive, poisonous blood sprayed from its wounds.
Heinz fell back with a small grunt to avoid being showered in the fake Guduranis’s blood. But he didn’t forget to use spells and martial skills to keep his foe in check.
This back-and-forth exchange repeated itself several times. As he saw the fake Guduranis’s body accumulate more and more wounds, Heinz realized that it felt like far less of a threat than it did previously.
His previous self hadn’t been able to perceive the fake Guduranis’s movements at all, but now that he had activated ‘Heroic God Descent,’ it was still a powerful enemy, but one that merely repeated the same simple moves monotonously.
As these thoughts ran through Heinz’s mind –
“You’ve let your guard down, haven’t you?” said Bellwood’s voice in Heinz’s head.
With an echoing, ringing noise, the magic sword that Heinz had thrust towards the fake Guduranis shattered and fell to pieces.
“Wha –”
Astounded, Heinz groaned in pain as several fatal-sounding noises came from within his body. Blood poured out through holes all over his face, and when he threw his arm out to break his fall, it broke and twisted as if it were made of candy.
His mind understood that he needed to quickly create some distance between himself and the fake Guduranis, but his body wouldn’t obey him.
The fake Guduranis roared, and in the next moment, Heinz’s consciousness went blank.
When Heinz awakened, he found himself covered in bandages and poultices.
“Heinz, perhaps defeating Guduranis on your own is too much, even if it is just a fake,” said Diana worriedly.
Hearing her voice, Heinz realized that this was reality, not a dream.
“… If I don’t become capable of doing at least this, then I won’t be able to make full use of Bellwood’s power,” he said.
‘Heroic God Descent,’ which summoned the heroic god Bellwood upon Heinz’s body, was a Skill whose effects transcended ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ and its superior variations, ‘Spirit Clone Descent’ and ‘Heroic Spirit Descent.’
It drastically improved Heinz’s Mana and physical capabilities; though Heinz could be considered a superhuman in his ordinary state, the Skill pushed his strength into the realm of the gods. But this also placed a heavy burden on his mind and body.
As Vandalieu and his companions had suspected, ‘Heroic God Descent’ caused Heinz muscles to burst, his bones to break, and his cardiovascular functions to greatly diminish. And that was just after using the Skill for a short period of time.
In his current state, Heinz wouldn’t be able to withstand using it in battle.
Heinz’s objective wasn’t to defeat Vandalieu, but to first talk to him. He intended to tell Vandalieu once more about the danger he felt regarding the policies of the nation that Vandalieu ruled.
But given what he had done to Vandalieu in the past, a battle between them was likely unavoidable. Thus, any discussions would have to take place after Heinz defeated him, or during the battle itself.
That was why Heinz had sought power, but… in his current state, both options were out of the question.
“If I strain myself to concentrate… I can use ‘Heroic God Descent’ for a minute, with ‘Transcend Limits’ active. But if I let my focus slip even a little, I can’t keep ‘Heroic God Descent’ active. I might as well not be able to use it at all,” said Heinz.
“If you end up vomiting blood before you can even greet him, you will have no hope of surviving,” said Diana. “I do not believe that he will show you any mercy even if you destroy yourself in front of him.”
“You’re right,” Heinz agreed.
His exhaustion could be heard in his voice, but his face looked unnaturally youthful.
Heinz had been in his late teenage years when he handed Darcia over to High Priest Gordan in the Mirg shield-nation. More than twelve years had passed since then, and he was in his thirties. When he entered Alda’s Dungeon of Trials, he had aged as much as one would expect.
But his aging had clearly been reversed.
“I know that you have been made younger by Alda’s grace, but please do not push yourself too hard,” said Diana.
It wasn’t just Heinz’s appearance that was younger. Alda, the God of Law and Fate, had used his power to reverse the physical aging of Heinz’s body – as well as that of Edgar and Jennifer, who weren’t present.
Over a hundred thousand years ago, Alda had decided to preserve the youth of the three champions who had defeated the Demon King Guduranis, as they were essential to the rebuilding of the world.
That was why Bellwood and the others had been able to take part in the battle against Vida, about a hundred years later, as mortals. And it was because of this that Farmaun was able to found the Adventurers’ Guild, and Nineroad was able to found the Tamers’ Guild.
Alda had now done the same for Heinz and his companions – though this didn’t accomplish much for the Dwarf Delizah and the Elf Diana, who were of races with longer lifespans than humans.
However, this reversal of their aging hadn’t produced any significant effects yet.
“At the very least, I think you should reverse the change you made to the way your real body is damaged when your illusory body is damaged,” said Diana. “No matter how effective it may be, it might render the reversal of your aging meaningless at this rate. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Alda’s Dungeon of Trials allowed Heinz and his companions to face the trials using illusory bodies that were identical to their real bodies. Because of this, even when they were defeated in the trials hundreds or thousands of times, their real bodies had remained unharmed.
But Heinz had changed this so that the damage taken by his illusory body also caused harm to his physical body.
If he didn’t do this, his physical body would never grow accustomed to the burden it would need to bear when Bellwood descended upon it.
But Diana was worried that Heinz’s illusory body suffering fatal wounds every day would cause his real body to die before it could grow accustomed to Bellwood’s power.
“But I am getting used to it, little by little. I’ve started gaining resistance-related Skills, so in the future, I’ll…” Heinz stopped, realizing that he had previously said the exact same thing. “I’m sorry. I’ll be careful,” he said, bowing his head in apology.
“I understand that we have no future unless you become stronger,” said Diana. “I am the one who owes you an apology.”
The gods, as well as Vandalieu and his companions, had acknowledged Heinz as the human representative of the gods of Alda’s forces. And he had ‘killed’ Darcia twice.
Even if Heinz were to give up on everything and flee, Vandalieu would likely give chase and not relent until Heinz was destroyed by his hand. In order to survive, Heinz had no choice but to become stronger, defeat Vandalieu, and make peace with him.
“I’m sorry to have got you caught up in all this,” Heinz said. “I’m sure he would spare you and Jennifer if you were to leave us…”
“You promised not to say those kinds of things. Or would you like Jennifer to finish you off?” said Diana.
“Sorry. By the way, I don’t see Jennifer and Edgar around. Where are they?” Heinz asked.
“The two of them are facing trials with Delizah,” said Diana. “I plan to join them once I have finished treating you. After that, Selen –”
“Heinz-oniichan!” a familiar voice called out.
Selen, the Dhampir girl who was under the protection of Heinz and his companions, came running into the room.
“Selen can spend some time with you while you rest,” Diana finished.
Previously, nobody other than Heinz and his companions had been able to enter this Dungeon. However, the doors at the entrance to the Dungeon had opened after Heinz awakened Bellwood, and people were able to enter from outside.
Thus, Selen was free to visit the town on the first floor of the Dungeon.
It was possible for others to face the trials of the Dungeon as well, but… illusory bodies were only available for Heinz and his companions, so in a way, the Dungeon would be even more difficult than an S-tier Dungeon.
Thus, there were some who observed the battles of Heinz and his companions using familiars in order to learn, but not a single person had decided to take part in the battles themselves.
“You’re all beaten up again,” said Selen. “I learned a new healing spell. Should I cast it on you?”
“Unless it’s the kind of healing spell that passes an electrical current through my body to stimulate its natural healing abilities, I don’t see why not,” said Heinz.
There were many who approached the Dhampir Selen, but many of them did so with the objective of forming connections with Heinz and his companions. Having the sensitivity of a child, Selen instinctively avoided those with such motives and was only open with those without such motives, such as those who were friends with Heinz and the others.
In other words, there were many individuals who were capable but also eccentric oddballs, as was common for adventurers.
“Then how about a spell that plants a seed in you? The plant’s roots will suck out all the bad things accumulated in your body,” said Selen.
“Diana, it seems that there’s some deviant who has been teaching Selen strange magic,” said Heinz. “Could you please do something about it?”
“Heinz, that’s because we have been confined in this Dungeon for years. Rather than weed out your friends, let us prioritize teaching Selen more sensible spells,” said Diana.
“Ah, by the way, Heinz-oniichan,” said Selen. “A person at the Church said there’s a letter for you. From someone called ‘Asagi Minami’ in the Birgitt Duchy.”
“Minami?” Heinz repeated, confused by this unfamiliar name.
Having been confined in this Dungeon until recently, he wasn’t yet aware of the ‘Mage Masher’ Asagi Minami, who was under the employment of the Birgitt Duchy.
Later, a cleric from the Church of Alda came running, bringing the news that Vandalieu had appeared in the capital of Orbaume.
Meanwhile, Vandalieu was making it rain blood in the garden of the recently-purchased mansion, the new Zakkart residence.
The plants and spirits of the garden, which had partially turned into monsters, cheered as their roots absorbed Vandalieu’s blood, which was being poured on them from a watering can.
“Aaaaaah… So filliiing.”
“Oooh, my dryness, my dryness is no more!”
“Is this good enough?” Vandalieu asked.
“It’s fine, I thiiink,” Eisen nodded. “Isn’t that right, you looot?” she asked the spirits.
Instead of replying with words, the spirits began mutating.
The murderer who had come to this mansion to bury the body of his victim crawled out of the ground, his own corpse having become a Zombie.
The corpse of the woman he had murdered fused with a nearby tree and began to move.
Other plants became Immortal Ents and Poison Mushrooms, and even the insects living in the gardens turned into monsters… and the garden of this cursed mansion was now truly a Devil’s Nest.
The Zombie groaned. “Blooood, I need bloooood.”
“A Zombie with fangs like a Vampire that is obsessed with blood rather than flesh… You must be a ‘Blood Sucker,’” said Vandalieu.
“And meeee?” the tree-woman asked.
“A tree that sucks blood, so a Blood-sucking Tree? But you look stronger than that, so you’re a newly-discovered race, I suppose. Alright, I’ll call you a ‘Jubokko,’” said Vandalieu.
TLN: Jubokko is a tree monster in Japanese folklore that grows on battlefields where many have died and attacks unsuspecting humans to suck their blood through its branches.
The Blood Sucker… A Rank 4 Undead that was slightly more agile and slightly more intelligent than a regular Zombie. Given their obsession with blood, some scholars believed that they were Vampires who had become Zombies.
The Jubokko was a Rank 4 Undead, a new race that Vandalieu had named. It was more powerful than a Blood-sucking Tree, and it used its roots and vines like tentacles to suck blood from the living. Blood-sucking Trees were considered to be among the more ferocious plant-type monsters, but the Jubokko was even more dangerous, as it possessed intelligence.
Until yesterday, these spirits had been frightening but harmless, doing nothing more than swaying the branches of plants and making whispering noises. But after being showered in Vandalieu’s blood from a watering can, they had mutated into dangerous monsters.
If the Senopa Company employee were here to witness this, he might have suffered incontinence out of pure terror.
But for Vandalieu, this was nothing more than part of the tasks that needed to be done when moving into a new home. There were still more tasks to be done inside the mansion, so he turned around to head back.
“Now then, I’ll go and have a look at the people inside the mansion –”
Vandalieu stopped and looked around at his surroundings.
The spirits all around the garden groaned and screeched as they turned into monsters. Buried bodies crawled out of the soil, plants began to move, and spirits that couldn’t find vessels simply became Ghosts and Haunters.
The nearby insects, crows, rodents, cats, and bats began turning into monsters as well.
“… It seems that the monster transformation is spreading across the whole garden, but why?” Vandalieu wondered. “I’ve only given one watering can’s worth of blood so far.”
“Maybe the Mana in your blood has increeeased?” suggested Eisen.
“These guys were probably on the verge of becoming monsters already, right? So you being here is causing them all to turn into monsters one after another,” said Orbia.
“It is likely the result of the mansion being sealed and the miasma inside pooling up without being dispersed,” said Princess Levia. “Though I think that they wouldn’t have become monsters for another few decades, perhaps a century, without someone like you causing it, Your Majesty.”
“… Please make sure that the neighbors won’t be able to see this for a while,” said Vandalieu.
“As you will!” said Chipuras and the other light-attribute Ghosts as they refracted light to create an illusion that concealed the truth of the mansion.
“Leave the sound to me!” said Kimberley, erasing the groaning and shrieks of the spirits.
This would help maintain order in this noble district where many nobles’ mansions were, and allow Vandalieu and Darcia to maintain good relations with their neighbors.
“… Now that it’s come to this, perhaps I should purchase the mansions on either side as well?” Vandalieu wondered.
“Both have people living in them, so that would be impossible, wouldn’t it?” said Orbia.
“You’re right… I’ll go and say hello to them with Mom later.”
The mansions on either side of Vandalieu’s mansion, as well as the one behind it and the one in front of it, were owned by great noble families. Naturally, the heads of the families were absent when Vandalieu and Darcia went to visit and say hello. But all of the servants who answered the doors, without exception, trembled in anxiety during their visits.
The inside of the mansion was being cleaned for the first time in decades, at a quick pace.
Rita and Saria had been smuggled into Orbaume aboard the carriage that Vandalieu and his companions had ridden in… Sam’s carriage. Now, they were dusting the furniture in the mansion.
“This is apparently the first time this place has been cleaned in decades, but it’s surprisingly clean,” said Rita.
“Haunted mansions are odd, aren’t they? Nobody lives in them and they aren’t cleaned, but it’s typical for them to somehow stay clean to some extent,” said Saria.
“Now that you mention it, they are indeed strange. Nobody cleans them or conducts repairs, and yet I have never heard of a haunted mansion collapsing due to mold and such,” said Bellmond, who had a higher ‘Housework’ Skill Level than both the Living Armor sisters and was currently skillfully polishing the antique vases.
“Perhaps it’s the same reason why Living Armors don’t rust and rot away, and Zombies and Skeletons don’t decompose into dust?” said Darcia as she dusted an ominous painting of unknown origins.
“In other words, their current state is maintained by the miasma that corrupts the Mana possessed by the Undead and the place they inhabit?” said Arthur as he and Simon entered the room. “By the way, the cleaning of the attic is complete.”
“The secret chambers have been cleaned as well, though we left the nest of giant spiders that Master has tamed untouched,” said Simon.
It was possible that there were still monsters left that Vandalieu hadn’t tamed, so they were wearing their combat equipment. When one imagined these two ‘cleaning’ the rooms, it might seem like they were exterminating the monsters inside them, but that wasn’t the case.
Incidentally, it seemed that Natania, who had been forcibly invited into the mansion along with Vandalieu during their first visit, still hadn’t mentally recovered.
“Ugh, damn it…!” she groaned.
After the two of them were brought inside, the cursed mansion had begun showing off its facilities… and to Vandalieu, this had been a fun tour, but to Natania, it had been like being forced to go on a ride through a haunted house.
Plates and cups floating through the air, tap dancing performances consisting of nothing more than quiet footsteps and crimson handprints, stained glass windows that constantly changed colors so viewers never grew tired of them, the paintings that smiled amiably at visitors…
“I was so damn scared…! But I was fine with the Living Armors, Zombies, Undead Skeletons, and the ordinary skeletons, though!” Natania exclaimed.
She was being surrounded and comforted by Demon King Familiars and Pauvina.
“Anyone would be scared by sudden loud noises and people appearing without any warning of their presence,” one of the Demon King Familiars said soothingly.
“Man, woman, adventurer, none of that matters – everyone is the same,” said another.
“Even I would be surprised,” said a third.
“Van, you freeze and open your eyes wide when you’re surprised, don’t you? I know these things,” said Pauvina. “As for you, Natania-san, your tail gets all puffed up.! My tail is really short, so I’m always impressed by your tail and Rapiéçage’s!”
Pauvina was a half-Noble Orc, with the ears and tail of a pig.
But it seemed that the way Beast-kin expressed fear through their tails was an embarrassing thing.
“You don’t have to point that out,” said Natania, sounding as if she was going to cry, burying her face into the nearest Demon King Familiar.
“Pauvina-sama, I think it would be best not to mention tails…” said Bellmond, sympathizing with Natania.
And then Vandalieu returned.
“I’m back. I’ve finished turning the spirits in the garden into monsters,” he said. “Now then, I’ll turn these things that Natania is so scared of into not-so-scary Undead.”
“Hurry, Master, I’m begging you!” Natania pleaded.
“… No matter how many times I hear it, it sounds pretty contradictory to me. But I’m an adventurer, so I suppose I understand it to some extent,” said Miriam.
It wasn’t uncommon for adventurers like Natania to be scared of ghosts despite not being scared of Undead.
TLN: In this sentence, “ghosts” refers to supernatural ghosts, rather than the monsters known as Ghosts (capitalized).
Undead were monsters, after all. Because they were monsters, it was possible to fight them, and one could defeat the Undead that were weaker than them. Even if the Undead were stronger, one could run from them. That was true for both Undead that had physical bodies, like Zombies and Skeletons, and Undead with no physical bodies, such as Ghosts and Haunters.
Of course, there were powerful Undead who could neither be defeated nor escaped from, but that was true for other kinds of monsters as well, not just Undead. It wasn’t considered cowardly to fear powerful monsters that one couldn’t defeat.
However, one couldn’t use combat to deal with ominous phenomena caused by ghosts whose presence couldn’t be seen or heard… at least, not without taking drastic measures such as destroying cursed mansions and old castles, or collapsing the underground tombs of dead nations to bury them.
Thus, there was a surprisingly large number of adventurers who weren’t scared of Undead that they could punch, but scared of ghosts that they couldn’t punch.
“Let’s get started right away…” said Vandalieu.
He radiated Mana from his entire body, and the mansion let out a creaking noise that sounded like a scream as the Mana permeated through it.
The Ranks of the Living Armors, Zombies and Ghosts that were already Undead increased, and the ordinary human bones became Skeletons and other monsters as well.
The Undead that was skilled at tap dancing with its footsteps and handprints became an Invisible Stalker.
The cheerful, friendly paintings became Cursed Paintings.
The stone and bronze statues became Living Statues.
There were several new Ghosts as well.
Finally, a beautiful woman in her mid-thirties wearing a beautiful dress appeared before Vandalieu.
“Master, and Master’s family. Thank you for purchasing me. I shall serve as a residence for you all,” she said with an elegant bow.
It seemed that she was a split entity of the mansion itself.
“Wow, it seems to be the same type of Undead as Father and Cuatro,” said Saria.
“Creating a split entity that looks just like a human, right from the beginning. Impressive,” said Saria.
“The same as Sam-san… Then perhaps this mansion will become able to fly soon?” said Darcia.
“Mom, I think that’s a little too much to expect from a child who has just been born. Let’s leave discussions about the future for another time,” said Vandalieu.
The beautiful woman looked from Darcia to Vandalieu with her eyes wide open in shock at learning that she was expected to become able to fly. But nobody reassured her that this was a joke, so it seemed that she was taking this seriously.
“… I’ll do my best,” she said.
“Let’s take our time increasing your Rank, without rushing things. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be able to fly one day,” Vandalieu said reassuringly.
“By the way, is that the form you had when you were alive?” Saria asked.
“Yes, but not quite,” the woman answered. “I am an aggregation of the spirits of the people who were killed in this mansion… the people who fell victim to that man. The form I have now is that of that man’s former wife, the oldest of his victims. I am able to change form if I wish, like this.”
The woman’s form changed into one person after another. A prostitute, a maid, a town girl, and even an orphan from the slums. Most of them were humans, but some were Beast-kin, Dwarves, Titans, and other races that weren’t uncommon in Orbaume.
“I see. Then I’ll have you use this split entity that can turn into various people to pretend to be servants when we have guests. When we don’t have guests… Are you able to do housework?” Vandalieu asked.
“Yes. I can do anything related to the mansion, though I cannot give any guarantees regarding the quality of my cooking.”
“Alright. So, do you have a name?”
“No. I perceive myself as a ‘Cursed Mansion.’ But now, I believe I should be called ‘Zakkart Residence.’ That is what is displayed on my Status. I do not have a race title.”
It seemed that she was not the type of Undead with an emphasized personality like Sam was. She perceived herself more strongly as the mansion itself that she resided in.
“I see. But it will be inconvenient to have no name to call you by, and since you seem to be a new race, I’ll give you a race title. Your race is now ‘Silkie,’” said Vandalieu.
The race title Vandalieu gave her was the name of a ghost or spirit that was considered to be the incarnation of a haunted mansion on Earth. He thought this fitting, as her initial appearance of a woman wearing a white dress reminded him of a Silkie as well.
With no objections, she bowed once more.
“… My Rank just increased, and I have become a High Silkie,” she said.
It seemed that by naming her, Vandalieu and his companions had officially become residents, causing her to gain Experience Points.
“Well, we shall continue calling you ‘Silkie.’ Please refer to yourself that way, or something like ‘Silkie Zakkart Mansion.’
“Very well.”
And so, Silkie Zakkart Mansion was named.
As for Vandalieu’s other plans…
“Now then, I’m going to go to the Tamers’ Guild and report that I’ve tamed a Cursed Mansion. I’ll use my reputation as the ‘Genius Tamer’ as well as Mom’s court rank and the influence of the Alcrem house to force them to believe me. I’m sure a staff member from the Guild will come to check, so please give them a warm welcome,” said Vandalieu.
“Alright. We’ll make preparations to welcome the person from the Guild,” said Darcia.
“In the meantime, Darcia-sama, I shall continue cleaning the mansion along with Danna-sama’s Demon King Familiars,” said Bellmond.
Neither of them showed any surprise at Vandalieu’s unbelievable plans. Nobody else had any objections, either.
After all, this had been the plan all along, though a few changes had been made.
First, Vandalieu would have Eisen, a highly-intelligent plant-type monster whose appearance was very similar to a human’s, enter Orbaume brazenly through official means. They had already succeeded in achieving this.
Next, he would have the Vampires Bellmond and Eleanora enter the city officially as well, insisting that he had tamed them. Ordinary people viewed Vampires as a dangerous race created by Vida, creatures that were similar to Undead. But like humans, they were known to be highly intelligent and capable of conversation and communication, with the social skills necessary to hide themselves within human societies.
Thus, if Vandalieu strongly insisted that he had tamed them, it was likely to convince the city guards and the Tamers’ Guild.
After that, he would bring Majin such as Iris and Kijin such as Oniwaka, again insisting that he had tamed them.
From there, the second stage would begin. He would bring insect-type monsters, which were considered to be impossible to tame, such as Pete, Pain, and Quinn. He would insist that he had tamed them. He would force his way through those who doubted him, using his reputation of already having tamed Vampires and Majin.
The final stage would be to insist that he had tamed Undead and force the Guild to acknowledge this, creating a precedent for Undead being tamed.
In Morksi and Alcrem, he had found that it was easier to have the people understand that Ghouls were a race of people that was created by Vida by having them directly interact with Ghouls, rather than trying to persuade them using words.
With that being the case, wouldn’t it be the same for Vampires, Majin, insects, plants, and Undead? That was the idea that Vandalieu and the others had come up with.
Vandalieu was aware that if this plan was carried out, all the Churches and nobles would become wary of him, not just the Church of Alda, the Church of Vida who were on good terms with them, and their worshippers. But it was likely that they were already wary of him regardless of if he carried out his plan or not, and his allies had already been attacked, though it was only by radical renegade members.
Given that the Alcrem house was on his side, and the risk was more or less the same regardless of whether he went ahead with the plan or not, then it was best to go ahead with it.
Duke Alcrem had been the only one to oppose the plan, but Vandalieu had persuaded him and gained his approval.
“I’m off to the Tamers’ Guild, then,” said Vandalieu.
And with that, Vandalieu changed his plans and went to report that he had tamed a Cursed Mansion.
The Tamers’ Guild headquarters would soon be facing its greatest trial since the Guild’s foundation.
- Name: Silkie Zakkart Mansion
- Rank: 6
- Race: High Silkie
- Level: 0
- Passive skills:
- Special Perception
- Superhuman Strength: Level 10
- Mental Corruption: Level 5
- Corrosion Resistance: Level 5
- Allure: Level 5
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Inhabited: Level 1
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator: Level 1
- Self-Strengthening: Guidance: Level 1
- Active skills:
- Spirit Form: Level 5
- Materialization: Level 6
- Clone: Level 1
- Housework: Level 5
- Etiquette: Level 3
- Cooking: Level 1
- Clothing: Level 2
- Bedroom Skill: Level 5
- Lockpicking: Level 1
- Pickpocketing: Level 1
- Whip Technique: Level 6
- Commanding: Level 3
- Coordination: Level 7
- Parallel Thought Processing: Level 1
- Aura of Fear: Level 10
- Unique skills:
- ヴ■■■■■’s Divine Protection [V]
Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano):
Silkie
A cursed mansion that has been turned into an Undead by Master. There are precedents for such objects being turned into Undead, such as a carriage and a ship, so this does not come as a surprise. As she is a place of residence, she is not suited for fighting, and she is only able to create a split entity to act within her own grounds. It is expected that improvements will be seen in these areas.
… I am unsure as to how Master intends to increase her Level, however.
As one might expect of a mansion, she has a Skill that increases her Attribute Values when someone is residing in her, and she also possesses numerous Skills that belonged to the victims that she originated from.
In battle, if the enemy is within her grounds, she would likely be able to fight to a decent extent, coordinating vine attacks with other Undead and using the traps inside her body, as long as the enemy does not significantly surpass her in strength.
However, if she were to be attacked from outside her grounds by long-ranged attacks, she would not be able to do anything other than try and intimidate her attackers with her ‘Aura of Fear’ Skill… though this Skill is Level 10, enough to drive any ordinary person to insanity and perhaps kill the unfortunate who have weak hearts.
The mansion also has several hidden mechanisms, such as a hidden chamber that only opens after three different wall carvings are pressed, and a vault that only opens when a statue is shifted to a certain spot – the kind of mechanisms one might find in a cursed mansion, but consider rather impractical.
Still, Master and the others are using them as they are. That is likely because the wall carvings and statues move on their own when asked, so they don’t feel any inconvenience. If anyone else were to live in a haunted mansion like this one, I would recommend that they make large-scale renovations – of course, with the prior permission of the mansion and anyone else who will share it.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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John Johnson
drinking challenge: take a shot whenever “insist(ing) that he had tamed them” is said
CCaprice
Had to shake my head when the house got Lvl 5 Bedroom skills.
Thanks for the chapter.
Ronin
I’d be more worried if she had loving making skill. lol
Naberisu
Van planned to introduce undead last but then he reported to have tamed an undead mansion right after… 🫠
Rizeres
Hmm. I wonder if Sam and Silkie could get together. I mean Sam is a carriage she is a house, seems like a good match. I am sure his daughters would support their father finding new love.
Guardian of souls
Ponho o carro, tiro o carro, à hora que eu quiser
Que garagem apertadinha, que doçura de mulher
…
🤣🤣🤣
Naberisu
Sem comentários. 🤣
Irazori
Very typical for an aldiot to call a certain magic to be a deviant kind of magic, just because it doesn’t follow their retrogressive norms.
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I am both concerned yet not concerned at the same time of basic b*tch A making contact with basic b*tch H.
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I honestly think Silkie is more like Knochen, since they’re both hive-mind type undead.
ExplodingPenguinDood
Silkie reminds me of the house from Vampire Accountant Fred
Shion Vaynex
Seems to be a common trend in vans enemies. Baseless conviction.
Van is already at a point of being a demi god while also being a god at the same time.
And sinds gods can’t die except by special powers like that if van and the demon king.
His thought that if van were to die all undead would cease to be civil.
Which is also baseless. As we know that a strong soul can remain sane, like barkus.
And sinds all citizens are trained they will not fall to their primal urges.
Van doesn’t magically make undead sane. But undead normally default to their broken urges which is in most cases revenge or retaliation, or to be alive(by stealing them)
Van simply is on a higher priority than those urges. And eventually develop a sense of self. And becomes truly sane.
It’s the same with incests and plants.
There was another incest user. Who made himself a priority in their hierarchy. By becoming their nest.
With beast it’s relatively easier. As you just have to become pack leader. Or the provider or guardian.
Sonaxie
“It’s the same with incests and plants”
“There was another incest user”
Bruh, please eddit yopur comment.
Tejing
There’s no edit feature anymore, unfortunately.
Doc
…some unfortunate typos you got there. *Insect, not “incest”. The second word is a very different thing.
Also, “since” not “sinds”.
And the undead gaining their sanity is absolutely due to Van’s influence. Van is the reason many of them increased their rank, resulting in higher intelligence or gaining a sense of self. Bone Man is an excellent example of this. Bone Man was a human skeleton inhabited by the spirit of a dead rat. It could not speak until it ranked up significantly, and once it did, he could understand and speak language fluently. Dude’s more eloquent now then most humans.
While *some* undead, like Borcus, maintained their original personality and demeanor from the start, that’s generally the exception and not the common practice for undead Van has met.
Libio
Thanks for chapter
I wonder when Alda dare to talk with Heinz (it looks like they didn’t meet personally). While Heinz believe in most ideals of Alda(following laws, keeping order etc.) he disagreed in Vida races stance. Because he believes in him, he wants to heard reason why. Bellwood reason was disappointing, but it looks like he doesn’t know Alda’s reason and Bellwood will not tell them (probably). I wonder if Alda is not meeting himhim, because he is worried he will not make him change option. Well, Heinz has another reason to stay with Alda now and that is Van. Quite irony. I understand why he wants power. Van is highly emotional and he will probably attack him when he see him, if there aren’t special circumstances (too many civilians around etc.) so even having talk would need strength to talk while fighting or if he defeats him. I hope Van will have answers for Heinz, just to see what he will do. Asagi and Heinz, that is combination. I think Asagi wants Heinz as sponsor for his project and maybe pressure him to not kill Van just seal death attribute. But sealing death attribute would start worst case scenario (or he thinks so) so I’m not sure, if he agrees with him. If it’s just about stopping big hypothetical bomb, best would be keep undead under control and slowly destroy them in war. Maybe he would see good in his research and help him or see it as opposite of his goal. Probably he will see it as good thing.
I wonder how will they level up house? Bring monsters there? Building dungeon inside it? Job changing room? Some abstract art on rooftop? I don’t think normal serving would work. In the end, she(it) is monster in the end and use rank system, so main way to rank up should be killing, maybe evolution will change it.
Diggydawg
I’m reminded of the old anime series “Flying House”… Van will have a cursed version it seems.
Rifqy
thanks for the chapter! ♥
Lord Rin
I wonder if the cursed mansion will be able to get XP just by having people live in it? Also it seems it’s a foregone expectation that the mansion will eventually be able to fly. Silkie Zakkart Mansion has some pretty big expectations to fulfill since Sam and Cuatro can already fly.
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…They’re not gonna expect it to also transform are they? Like the isekai undead equivalent of Metroplex the Transformer?
Entropy
Interesting chapter. Seems a little cheap that Heinz and company can gain resistances fighting training dummies and illusions. Can they also gain immunities to certain attacks using this method. I also find it telling that Mage Masher promised to be neutral but is joining up with Van’s greatest enemy. Something tells me Heinz will soon know all of the info about Van as well as to expect reinforcements in the form of the bravers and possibly the dwarf that researching ways to seal the demon lord. What is truly worrying is that the reborn demon lord will probably try to stop this since he could also fall victim to the same method probably after Van has been dealt with. So the house is a monster, is it considered undead, immaterial as in a living golem, or alive. I feel sorry for the tamer’s guild, this is a migraine just thinking about. Also will the house be able to heal, gain abilities, and be added to. What abilities can a house even gain and how would it use them? I wonder if knochen will feel jealous of its younger sibling considering it is a bone palace and Silkie is a complete house.
Jonathan Hurd
I think Heinz is only getting the resistance skills because he is having the illusions body taken damage affect his real body. Basically it’s similar to how Legion got resistance to fire and lightning by setting themselves on fire and electrifying themselves. Resistance only comes from really taking the damage. So nobody but Heinz is developing resistance.
I’m not sure how much info Asagi is going to share with Heinz. At least about the Bravers. If Heinz sees Vandalieu as an uncertain outside threat he could think the same about some of the more powerful Bravers too. I mean Aldas followers have been literally hunting down anyone who brought foreign ideas in.
I think Asagi probably thinks Heinz is thinking on a similar wave length as him. Asagi is in contact with Arin and co. Heinz is in Aldas circle so every conversation and thought Heinz has can be read by Rodiots familiars and told to Asagi. Both Asagi and Heinz want the same thing. Not to kill Van but to either get him to renounce death attribute mana or seal it. I also think Arin and Co would point Asagi to Heinz in the hopes to increase Asagis survival chance.
How far Asagi’s experiments on sealing DK fragments have gotten are to be seen but I think him at least trying to meet Heinz makes sense.
Tejing
If Van can gain exp by being worshiped since he got the Demiurge job, can a Silkie gain exp by being lived in? By helping its inhabitants? Does it gain support exp when its inhabitants kill things elsewhere?
Doc
Few confusing things to me this chapter. First, I thought Bellwood was just going to be a permanent power up. Not something he needs to summon. The beings mortals summon using the descent line of skills summon those beings from a divine realm. So where is Bellwood hanging out when not summoned? I thought Heinz was spending time getting used to his new baseline power increase. Not training a skill and the power increase he gets from the skill. The fact that Bellwood gives Heinz advice while in combat also goes against the whole “I’ll just be a power up with no will of my own”.
Second, I still don’t understand what Heinz’ endgame is here. He’s been told by Bellwood and Alda himself (probably) that Alda’s goals are a complete reset on civilization to what it was before Guruadanis appeared. Which means genocide for millions of people living peacefully. And his first concern is to talk to Van to get Van to do what exactly? Have a better contingency plan in case he dies and his subordinates go nuts? Then what? You still have Alda and his gods wanting to kill Van and all the genocide. Like Heinz entire motivation here has become completely nonsensical. In the best case scenario of his plan, he has a peaceful conversation with Van who forgives him and we’re right back to an Alda/Vida war.
Finally, if Van’s plan is to say he tamed a cursed mansion…isn’t he doing step 4 of his master plan first? I imagine a cursed mansion would be a type of undead. I mean it’s filled to the brim with undead.
Doc
I suppose “not be killed by Van” is a fine enough motivation for Heinz to want to get stronger but then maybe publicly denounce Alda, your own “peaceful” faction, and switch sides to Vida. At least then he’d have more common ground to negotiate under or at least be listened too.
Like the author has yet to present a reason for Heinz’ continual support of Alda. Dude’s known Alda’s goals for years at this point and not once has he shown support for them. Yet it’s just ignored.
Tejing
Yeah, Heinz’ goal makes no sense at this point. Until you take into consideration his nature. Heinz is someone who wants to be seen (most importantly by himself) as heroic, but doesn’t really want to take enough of a stand to really rock any boats. So he takes a path that tries for a lukewarm, and obviously untenable, goal. He doesn’t think about the hard problems, just being happy when he can say he acted for a reason that sounds sufficiently heroic on the surface.
Triduo
Paradoxe : In short : He’s an idiot. -___-
Irazori
Not just any idiot, he’s an aldiot.
ObserverBias
Bellwood has returned to his divine realm (when Alda sealed Jarod, it’s revealed that Bellwood has already contacted him to denounce his own previous goals as shortsighted and shallow). He is less providing advice and more going “you overstepped” moments after Heinz has already hit his limit. As noted from him ‘repeating’ himself to Jenna, he’s less “learned” and more “is now an addict” for the high, possibly for the pain as well if he’s modified his connection to reflect damage to his body (like, what?).
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Technically, Heinz has /nearly/ denounced Alda himself, claiming that he’ll also “have a conversation” with him as well before he even met Bellwood the first time. However, he’s playing it ‘safe,’ not casting aside his support from the peaceful faction while Van is still a “threat” (under the impression Van can still die of anything remotely akin to natural causes). Another way to view it is him pushing that goalpost minding that Bellwood’s “conversation” didn’t go as bad as it could have been, but nowhere near as great either.
Entropy
Well a golem can be created and tamed, perhaps the haunted house will be treated in the same vein as a golem. Also Bellwood is a giant hypocrite so anything he promises to do is basically him washing his hands of the problem he will probably cause. I bet he will do more to aid Heinz in the fight and if Heinz wins he will claim to be a great coach whereas if Heinz loses, he will say that was all on Heinz. As for second problem, Heinz is a moron. He seems to want peace, but will not lift a finger to secure equality. If Heinz is successful, eventually Van’s prediction that the world will revolve around dwarves, elves, and humans as master races with all others being servants to them will occur such as what happened in the Amid duchy or what happened to the ghouls.
Lord Rin
Bellwood has locked himself away in his Divine Realm and only comes out when Heinz invokes his descent skill. Anyways it shouldn’t be surprising that it isn’t a permanent power-up. Darcia had been specifically trained to attune her with Vida and had a near indestructible body crafted for her by Van yet even she has a time limit on how long Vida can descend on her -albeit her time limit is probably measured in hours rather than minutes- so there was no way some random human like Heinz without those same specific traits and conditions would just somehow be able to have Bellwood permanently descended on him for a permanent power-up.
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Anyways Heinz has never had a real endgame to begin with. He’s basically the same as Bellwood that he just had no real end goal. His only real concern is in how heroic he looks to the public regardless of if he’s actually done anything heroic or not. Plus he’ll either move the goal posts further down the line or just outright find an excuse so he doesn’t have to actually do any real good because he doesn’t want to do any real hard work or think hard. I mean look right here, he says he wants to have a discussion with Van first about the dangers of his nation’s policies but then not even a few sentences later he’s saying that he’ll need to defeat Van first before any discussion takes place. I bet by the time he actually meets Van he’ll have already come up with an excuse for why Van has to be defeated and try to kill him almost immediately instead of have any sort of discussion. It seems he’s also done a similar thing with Alda were he kept saying he’d have a discussion with Alda to get his views on Vida’s races and try to change his mind about their treatment yet it seems he’s not even bothered to meet up with Alda with the excuse that he’s training to handle Bellwood’s power and that he needs to get stronger to defeat Van.
Doc
It’s not surprising that’s how Bellwood’s powerup would work but just not how it was initially described. Heinz did not invoke the Hero Descent skill when he used Bellwood’s power on the evil god of Sinful Chains. He just suddenly had the power. The implication being Bellwood was just going to be like a chunk of energy, forgoing a will of his own. Any amount of assistance he gives in combat is still demonstrating a clear will. He might not be making important decisions, but there’s still a clear difference. In fact, Bellwood just being a powerup and nothing else is how I thought the author was going to go around the Darcia/Vida comparison. As Vida very much has a will when she descends, to the point that she basically replaces Darcia’s in full incarnation mode. But, clearly that’s not how it works, so fine.
When Heinz says he has to defeat Van, he doesn’t mean to the death. He means incapacitate Van so Van will listen to what he has to say. Van has already made it clear to Heinz and his team that the next time they meet, Van will try to kill him. So Heinz’s plan is to get strong enough to not only survive that battle, but somehow put Van in a state where he can’t continue to fight without killing him.
My point is just, what then? All I can go by is what Heinz has said so far and from that he clearly disagrees with Alda. And he agrees Van is not a direct threat to the world. Yet we’re not being given a reason why he hasn’t dumped Alda yet.
Lord Rin
Like I said, Heinz doesn’t have a real end goal. He talks about improving the treatment of Vida’s races but only because it makes him look all good and heroic. He doesn’t really care about affecting any real change. Basically he can be described as ‘All Talk, No Walk’. Back when Van encountered him in the dungeon and they had a discussion he kept getting increasingly defensive every time Van pointed out how he and the Peaceful Faction weren’t actually doing much to really help Vida’s races and he kept giving excuses for his actions. Even when Van told him how Ghouls are a race of Vida, Jennifer and Diana were suitably aghast from the revelation because they knew it would undermine their stance of accepting and coexisting with Vida’s races if they accepted extermination quests from the adventurer’s guild for Ghouls yet Heinz just basically shrugged and went, “Yeah I already guessed they might be races of Vida but they’re guilty and still need to die.” Instead of working to spread knowledge about Ghouls, he decided to use the excuse that since the guild put up a request for their extermination then they must have done something to deserve it because it’s much simpler killing Ghouls than working hard to spread knowledge about them to the public. That’s all it is with Heinz: finding excuses. I honestly believe he’ll never even attempt to have a talk with Alda like he said he would. Right now he’s using the excuse that he doesn’t have time because he needs to train in order to get used to Bellwood’s power and I’m sure that once he has gotten used to his power he’ll say that he still doesn’t have time to talk to Alda because “VaN iS a THrEat tO ThE wOrLd as A dEmoN KIng.”
Doc
There’s a lot of assumptions and wrongful rephrasing of events going on there. First off, nothing Heinz has said indicates his motivation is to look “good and heroic”. That’s interpretation you’re putting on him, not things he’s said and done. If that was Heinz’s only goal, he never would have left the Amid Empire. He would have just stayed and become an S Rank hero in the country he was already setup in. He had to essentially reset after coming to Orbaume which took years.
And I don’t know what you mean by “increasingly defensive”. When Van first appeared in the trial and fought with Heinz while arguing with him, there was *very* little back and forth. It was mainly Van ranting at Heinz about how his actions do not meaningfully help Vida races and how he continues to be a threat to Van’s friends and loved ones. Him pointing out Ghouls were a Vida race and not monsters was meant to show Heinz’ naiveté and hypocrisy. Heinz, after the battle when he had time to think about what Van and Darcia said, said he suspected Ghouls were a Vida race, but “suspecting” something is true is not the same as knowing something is true. He was a human adventurer taking on quests from a human dominated guild system which claimed Ghouls were monsters. It’d be like going to a hunting preserve to hunt deer only to be told years later that deer are actually an intelligent species capable of language and self-expression.
And for the record, while Heinz hasn’t dramatically altered the lives of Vida races in the like 5 or so years he had to do that after moving to the Orbaume Kingdom, the reforms he pushed for weren’t nothing. Beastmen and Titans being allowed more public office jobs and less overall discrimination of non-monster based Vida races was better than what was happening before his presence. Him saving Selen was also not just to be “heroic”. If that was his goal he would have dumped her off on the first Vida race friendly orphanage and peaced off. Instead, he’s her guardian.
Even Van has acknowledged that Heinz is a nice guy trying to do the right things. To Van, none of that matters. It’s just a simple fact of Heinz was involved in his mother’s death, so he has to die. Pointing out Heinz’ hypocrisy and naiveté was never about Van having a moral high ground on Heinz or showing Heinz the error of his ways. It was just venting during a fight.
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My complaints are what we’re being told and what is happening are incongruous with one another. Heinz says he doesn’t like Alda’s beliefs. He listened to Bellwood’s reasons for not liking Vida races and found them ridiculous. He’s said he thinks Van has done far more good for the world than he has. Those are Heinz’s words and actions so far. So the story just continuing on with him training to beat Van along while not disavowing Alda goes against what we’re told.
no1
Nice chapter. So Asagi is going to join Heinz, like that will go smoothly Asagi is a hot head and might claim to be an expert since he ‘knew’ Vandalieu in his past life. Also the house itself gained sentience and calling it silkie, anyone who knows the ancient magus bride would get it. Anyway great chapter thank you Yoshi, looking forward to the next one
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…