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Urgen Tercatanis gave a satisfied sigh at the work that he had accomplished.
He had transformed one of the numerous secret chambers in the royal castle of the Orbaume Kingdom into the most dangerous place in the world. Even if one were to be pursued by the most vicious bandits, they would never think of fleeing to this room.
There were more than thirty sealed fragments of the Demon King gathered inside.
Magic circles had been drawn on the room’s floor, walls, and ceiling, and there was a Magic Item in each of its four corners that produced a barrier around it. But the magic circles were there to prevent any external interference or detection through magic, and the barrier prevented any Undead from entering, including spirits. All of these defenses would be broken in an instant if even one of the Demon King fragments were to go berserk.
Of course, if one of them were to go berserk, it would prioritize unsealing the others in order to fuse with them, so perhaps the barrier would remain intact for a surprisingly long period of time… though it would eventually be broken anyway, and the castle would turn into a mountain of rubble a moment later.
If this room were to be seen by anyone who wasn’t a complete fool, they would think that Prime Minister Tercatanis had lost his mind. They would strip the title of prime minister from him as quickly as possible, then consider how to go about ensuring that the Demon King fragments that had been gathered here could be managed safely.
Urgen Tercatanis knew this, which was why he hadn’t trusted or confided in anyone while carrying out the instructions he was given through (what he thought was) the Divine Messages of Rikudou… Not even his own son. He had deceived people so he could use them without revealing the truth.
He had told high-ranking members of the Church and the Mages’ Guild: ‘We have found a way to store the fragments of the Demon King even more securely than ever before. For the sake of secrecy, I cannot tell you the details, but I want you to leave it all to me. Of course, I must ask you to keep this matter a secret.’
Prime Minister Tercatanis had always asked for fragments of the Demon King to be strictly managed, and if that wasn’t possible, he asked for them to be transported to other Churches or Mages’ Guilds. This request from Prime Minister Tercatanis was nothing unnatural.
Of course, he had not made this request to Churches and Guilds that were in regions where the worship of Vida flourished, such as the Alcrem Duchy, which clearly had close ties with Vandalieu, as well as the Birgitt Duchy and Sauron Duchy. If he did, it was possible that Vandalieu would somehow get wind of it.
The same was true of the Farzon Duchy, where the Five-colored Blades led by Heinz were. Prime Minister Tercatanis detested Alda’s peaceful faction, so he was very wary of Duke Farzon, who had become an ardent admirer of Heinz. He was also wary of Heinz himself, who was a hero of Alda.
The mysterious god (or what Tercatanis believed was a mysterious god) Rikudou had also instructed him not to tell the truth to the God of Law and Fate Alda or his worshipers.
Acts that would save the world sometimes had to be performed while being kept a secret from the foolish populace, Rikudou had told him. This was something that Tercatanis could understand.
But everything had its limits.
“God, it will be difficult to gather more fragments of the Demon King than this… Please forgive me for my powerlessness,” Tercatanis prayed.
It had become difficult to collect any more fragments of the Demon King and equipment made from them in secret. If someone were to poke at his lies, holes would begin to appear, and he hadn’t made any attempts to persuade the organizations that had firmly refused or simply not responded to his requests. He had just expressed his hope that they could continue to keep their Demon King fragments secure.
Thus, Prime Minister Tercatanis was unable to gather any more fragments of the Demon King. He did have the option of commissioning adventurers to search ruins for Demon King fragments, but that could take years before yielding any results.
“I see… You have done well. I shall now give you your next task,” said Rikudou Hijiri.
Tercatanis gave a modest laugh. “I, Urgen Tercatanis, am willing to do anything in my power for the sake of the Orbaume Kingdom and for the sake of the world.”
But Rikudou knew that Tercatanis’s words had an unspoken stipulation: ‘As long as I keep my power and my assets.’
Even in another world, the minds of politicians are all the same, Rikudou thought.
That was working in his favor, however.
“Here is my command. Damage one of the seals of the Demon King fragments. Just a little will do,” Rikudou said.
“Wha–?! You are telling me to damage a seal on a Demon King fragment?!” Tercatanis shouted in disbelief.
He did not obediently follow this command to break one of the seals.
“Precisely. Damage one of the seals,” Rikudou said, repeating his command through Da Long’s ‘Sahadeva.’
But greasy sweat formed on Tercatanis’s forehead as he stared at the Demon King fragments in front of him, slowly backing away.
While he was gathering the Demon King fragments, his self-justification that he was following a god’s orders had allowed him to avert his eyes from his fear and disgust for them. But upon being ordered to damage one of their seals, he was faced directly with those feelings of fear and disgust.
“There is nothing to be worried about,” Rikudou said. “Put your faith in me. I am a god. I will suppress the fragments of the Demon King and ensure that they will not be stolen by anyone. And you shall earn my grace for carrying out my will.”
“Y-your grace…?”
“Yes. I will be victorious in the battle that will take place after I descend upon this world as a true god, but this continent will not be able to escape devastation. Of course, as a god, I will spare no effort in rebuilding this world, but… when that time comes, I will need someone to serve as a central pillar for the people.”
“Y-you intend to make the Tercatanis house the central pillar of all people…!”
Prime Minister Tercatanis gasped as he pictured a future where the entirety of the Bahn Gaia continent became a great nation with him at its center.
Under ordinary circumstances, this idea was one that he would quickly laugh off as an impossible dream, but it seemed considerably more realistic for it to come true after a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the world. It would be a three-way holy war between Heinz, a hero powerful enough to threaten the gods; Vandalieu, who already commanded countless monsters that were as powerful as gods and even actual evil gods themselves; and Rikudou Hijiri, a god from another world.
The collision between these forces would likely cause as much destruction as the battle spoken of in myths – the one between the Demon King Guduranis and the champions. The seas would be split and the mountains would crumble. It wasn’t just the Orbaume Kingdom that would suffer catastrophic damage; the Amid Empire would be laid to waste as well. And Rikudou Hijiri’s victory would cause the collapse of the nation inside the Boundary Mountain Range, which was apparently ruled by Vandalieu… though it wasn’t clear what humans were supposed to do with land that was riddled with Devil’s Nests ruled by monsters.
In any case, after this holy war, a new leader would naturally be needed for the world to regenerate and recover… a leader with an exceptional ability to rule, the knowledge necessary for handling administrative affairs, and had contributed greatly to the salvation of the world – a leader like Urgen Tercatanis.
“Of course, I will assist you. The people will revere you as my first apostle, and you will be the cornerstone of a new era,” Rikudou whispered, speaking to Prime Minister Tercatanis’s intoxicating sense of superiority.
But he was just trying to make Tercatanis do what he needed him to do.
Rikudou Hijiri would continue to rule this world as a god even after he defeated Vandalieu. Rodcorte had already put an ‘insurance policy’ on him, but even so, it was unlikely that he would reincarnate an irregular being like Rikudou into yet another world.
With that being the case, the regeneration and recovery of this world was a necessity to Rikudou. Through that process, he needed to propagate a religion so that people would worship him in order to rule as a god.
And although this would depend on how many survived the battle, he would also be competing against Alda and his subordinate gods. After all, Rikudou was unable to break the souls of Alda and the other gods due to the insurance policy that Rodcorte had placed on him.
Tercatanis was the perfect tool for that. Of course, if he or his family were to die during the battle, he would simply find another suitable pawn, so it wasn’t as if he was irreplaceable.
“I understand,” Tercatanis said, steeling his resolve. “But I am no knight or adventurer. I have some knowledge, but not enough to damage an Orichalcum seal…”
“Then use one of those pieces of Demon King equipment,” Rikudou instructed. “But the moment you damage the seal, throw the equipment aside and step as far back as possible.”
Tercatanis did as he was told and picked up one of the pieces of Demon King equipment.
The moment he picked it up, a thin blade like that of a rapier appeared from the handle.
Tercatanis steadied his breathing, which had grown unsteady due to his anxiety.
“Hmph!” he grunted as he stabbed one of the sealed Demon King fragments with the point of the equipment in his hand.
His movement was deft considering his age, but he only managed to make a small scratch on the Orichalcum.
But that was all that was needed. A moment later, the seal on the Demon King fragment swelled violently, creaking ominously… No, it wasn’t creaking. There was something squirming inside the seal, and a terrifying groan came from within.
Tercatanis let out a terrified noise. “God, I have undone the seal! God!”
Exposed to the rampaging Demon King fragment, he showed his fear in a way that he would never do in front of other nobles. He tossed the Demon King equipment aside and screamed as he ran to the furthest wall in the chamber.
“MAIN BODYYYYY! Us, join with me first!” screamed the black thing that was emerging from within the broken seal, breaking the seals on the fragments around it.
If left alone, these thirty fragments of the Demon King would fuse together and then head straight for the Hospital of Psychotherapy, where Vandalieu was – the one that they worshiped as their main body – destroying every wall, mansion, and person in their way.
But Rikudou’s voice echoed in the chamber, drowning out the voice of the Demon King fragments.
“Now is the time for my resurrection!”
The Demon King fragments began gathering and transforming, changing from sinister-looking monstrosities into a human-shaped being.
“Host? Main body…?”
“Main body… Main body!”
“Unite with the main body! Unite with the main body!”
The fragments of the Demon King mistook Rikudou, who possessed death-attribute magic and had fragments of the soul of the Demon King Guduranis embedded in his body, as their main body.
Rikudou could not be reincarnated through normal means because he had reached the realm of godhood, so this was the idea that Rodcorte had come up with for reincarnating him in the world of Lambda.
Tercatanis let out a noise of admiration as he stared, half-dazed. “So, this is a god from another world. To think that you can even command the fragments of the Demon King Guduranis to use as your own body…!”
Rikudou Hijiri’s body was completed before Tercatanis’s very eyes.
He had sleek, jet-black skin; eyeballs that were entirely crimson, including where the whites should have been; and a body that could be mistaken for that of a Titan, with a well-proportioned, muscular figure that looked like a statue.
“… Incredible. I feel the same as when I was Arch-Avalon… No, even better,” Rikudou murmured.
He could feel his body brimming with strength and powerful Mana. He was humanoid in shape, but he could instinctively sense that he could change his form if he wished to, and he instinctively knew exactly how to do it.
And as I predicted, the Demon King’s instinct and the Demon King’s memories are under my control, though they are feeling quite elated now. That alone makes their consciousness very clear. I feel it even more clearly than when I was in a soul-only form. But…
Rodcorte had embedded the Demon King’s instinct and the Demon King’s memories into Rikudou Hijiri’s soul. He had believed that Rikudou, who had reached godhood, would be able to control his instinct and memories with his reasoning… He seemed to have decided that Rikudou would not be able to handle the Demon King’s reasoning or the Demon King’s power.
But except for the curse.
Before embedding fragments of the Demon King’s soul into Rikudou, Rodcorte had cursed him. The curse was: ‘Cannot destroy or consume souls except the souls of those who possess an affinity with the death attribute.’
Thus, Rikudou was unable to destroy the souls of anyone other than those who possessed an affinity for the death attribute. Because he possessed fragments of the Demon King’s soul, and his body was made up of fragments of the Demon King, Rodcorte had been wary of the risk that he would possess the Demon King’s ability to break souls.
Rikudou had initially questioned whether Rodcorte could make a curse with the power to impose such a restriction on him, but given that Vandalieu was still under the effects of Rodcorte’s curse in the present tense, it was likely possible… though Rodcorte himself had apparently been a little uncertain about whether he could curse Rikudou after he had become a god, even if he was in a soul-only form.
And as I thought, I don’t have a Status. I suppose that means I can’t get stronger by changing Jobs or increasing my Level.
With that being the case, Rikudou would have no choice but to steadily improve his skills, just like he had in Origin, but…
“God, will the battle begin immediately?” asked Tercatanis, who was kneeling before Rikudou like a worshiper rather than a politician.
Coming back to his senses, Rikudou shook his head. “No, not yet. I will need some time to stabilize my connection to this body.”
In his previous life, he had fought with the momentum of the elation he felt after becoming Arch-Avalon, and he had been defeated. Now, he had acquired power that was clearly beyond that of Arch-Avalon, but he needed to avoid making the same mistake again.
“But Vandalieu is already learning of what we have done,” Rikudou said.
“What?! How…?!” Tercatanis uttered in disbelief.
“Duke Hadros Jahan. He has joined Vandalieu’s side.”
Duke Jahan was known to be an ardent worshiper of Alda, but given that he was a member of a race created by Vida, Rikudou had been certain that he would join Vida’s side… Vandalieu’s side.
“That is impossible!” Tercatanis exclaimed. “Hadros Jahan is indeed a Titan, but he is known to be an even more devout worshiper of Alda than worshipers who are human. Even if Vandalieu Zakkart is a Guider, he would not change sides so easily…”
“Tercatanis, Vandalieu Zakkart is no mere Guider. He is a true evil god… a devil who entices people peacefully and gently.”
Gods gave people trials, but devils enticed people gently. Rikudou convinced Tercatanis that Vandalieu was the latter. With this, Rikudou was making Tercatanis assume that Vandalieu’s actions – the saving of others – were the tricks of a devil. It would also prevent Tercatanis from noticing how unnatural the things Rikudou was saying were.
His incomprehensible actions during my previous life… His impulsive saving of those he wanted to save within his long reach without thinking about things too deeply. My plans failed because of that, Rikudou thought. I will need to at least gather my own pawns in this world.
Regardless of his future value, Prime Minister Tercatanis would be Rikudou’s lifeline until he fought against Vandalieu. He didn’t have a foundation to work with in this world, and if he were to lose Prime Minister Tercatanis, he would be left with no choice but to make some hasty, ill-advised move.
He needed to avoid Tercatanis from being guided by Vandalieu through some unexpected contact or by encountering him in his dreams.
“But Vandalieu Zakkart is currently confined in the Hospital of Psychotherapy… I believe that he has had a falling out with Duke Alcrem, or perhaps he has been shunned by Darcia Zakkart,” Tercatanis said.
“Urgen Tercatanis. You yourself should be aware that this explanation is much too far-fetched, shouldn’t you?” said Rikudou.
“Th-that is… But that is the only explanation I could think of… Wait. Could it be that he intended to draw in Duke Jahan from the very beginning?!”
Rikudou sighed as Tercatanis’s further consideration only brought him further from the truth.
“You shouldn’t consider him to be the same kind of noble that you are. His criteria for what he considers to be gains and losses are completely different from yours,” Rikudou said. “He entered the Hospital of Psychotherapy in order to do something to the mother of Elizabeth Sauron, with whom he has formed a party… in order to cure her, most likely.”
By the time Amelia encountered Vandalieu, Rikudou and the others in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm had been unable to see the memories of her daughter Elizabeth for a long time. Thus, this was just conjecture, but given the actions of Vandalieu and his split entity in Origin, this was likely the natural thing to do for him.
“I-impossible… Going as far as to harm his own record to do something like that… Even if he was after the lineage of the Sauron house, taking in Elizabeth Sauron would have been enough,” Tercatanis muttered. “And even if he wanted to cure her, was there a need for him to become hospitalized…?”
To him, Vandalieu’s actions were completely unfathomable; he might as well have been an alien from outer space.
“Tercatanis, Vandalieu has already created and rules over a great nation inside the Boundary Mountain Range. His social position in this nation is but a temporary one. I’m sure he is not even aware of the harm he has caused to his own record,” said Rikudou. “You will devote yourself to gathering information and report your findings to me.”
Tercatanis gave a weak laugh. “As you wish. So, my lord, where do you plan to spend your time until the final battle? If you wish, I can provide you with a mansion.”
“No, that won’t be necessary… Is there an underground chamber somewhere in this castle that nobody knows about?” Rikudou asked.
He would need a large space to check his body’s condition and test how to control and use his body and the embedded fragments of the Demon King’s soul. And so, the first thing he decided to do was to try creating a Dungeon.
In the Farzon Duchy, south of Orbaume, the capital of the Orbaume Kingdom. Inside Alda’s Dungeon of Trials, Edgar, one of the members of the Five-colored Blades, felt his heart throbbing in excitement.
He and his companions had received Vandalieu’s letter and made the decision to tell Selen about what had happened in the Mirg shield-nation. Ever since she learned the truth, Selen had been brooding in low spirits. So why was he excited?
He and his companions loved the Dhampir girl like a daughter. Naturally, Edgar wasn’t rejoicing that she had been hurt when she learned of their past deeds. He didn’t have such perverted interests.
“Heinz, you’ve become able to use Bellwood’s power, so don’t you think it’s about time we went outside? If we let Vandalieu stay free any longer, the entirety of the Orbaume Kingdom might turn against us, you know,” he said.
Even he didn’t know why he was making this suggestion to Heinz and the others.
But Guduranis, who was spreading his roots inside his soul, knew exactly why.
In the Lavelta Archipelago, about a month’s journey away from the Bahn Gaia continent by ship, a popular shop had been doing business for several years.
The owner was a Dwarf woman who was apparently a former adventurer, and her business was very successful due to her space-attribute magic, which allowed her to transport goods very quickly and keep prices down.
And as a former adventurer, she also made business trips into Devil’s Nests and Dungeons. About a year ago, she had hired more staff, and people had thought that her business was going smoothly.
The ‘Noah’ Mao Smith and the ‘Super-sense’ Kaoru Gotouta were spending their morning in peace… or rather, they had no choice but to spend it in peace.
“Hmm, there’s still not enough information from Aran and the others. I suppose it would be best to see what’s happening,” said Mao. “Ah, I’m going out on a business trip today, so keep an eye on the store,” she added.
“Boss, the situation might be serious, so stop brushing it off,” said Kaoru.
“I mean, we don’t have a choice, do we? The fact that Aran and the others are keeping information from us means that Rodcorte is forcing them to, doesn’t it? And that means it’s related to Vandalieu, doesn’t it? Us getting involved will not only not do any good; it’ll end with us being the punchline of a joke when Vandalieu tells us, ‘You’re really annoying, go home.’ Don’t you think so?”
Mao was a reincarnated individual who had chosen not to get involved with Vandalieu. Even now, she had no intention of having anything to do with him – at least, not willingly.
Indeed, even if she did thoughtlessly attempt to make contact with Vandalieu, he would likely tell her, ‘I’m busy right now, so could you please go home?’ After all, he was so busy that he was having the former emperor of the Amid Empire build his own imprisonment facility.
“Well, I do agree with you there,” said Kaoru. “He reconciled with Amemiya and the others, too… It apparently wasn’t exactly peaceful, but when they tried to apologize about the past, he apparently closed their mouths and forced them to shut up. Still, if we were to get involved with him, we’ve decided that we’re going to be his allies, right?”
“Is there anything in it for us if we make Vandalieu our enemy? And no matter what he does, I’m sure he won’t cause the destruction of the world or anything,” said Mao.
“… Yeah, you’re right.”
The rest of the day was peaceful for the Dwarf and Elf reincarnated individuals, and their peaceful days continued after that, too.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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Korath
So Rottencore put a reasonable curse on him. Though Rik still is able to create his own soul transfer system and also can probably learn to seal every being, even gods. The author didnt give stat numbers, but I doubt he is just running around with just something around like 50k vita.
kenchan223
Final round between Van and Rikudou inbound lol
bookworm12
Thanks for the chapter, Yoshi! Things are yet again super convenient for Rikudou. I feel like this trend will continue right up until the moment Van devours him. Rodcorte even included exceptions for his curse about not destroying/devouring souls, which makes it more likely that Rikudou will find a loophole to exploit. In other news, the prime minister has shown himself to be not just a blithering idiot, but also a power-hungry maniac. He directly abandoned the teachings of Alda (whom he worshipped all his life while reaping the benefits of doing so) and gathered taboo objects to help create a body for an unknown god from another world. That ‘god’ was resurrected and turned out to have a massive body with red eyes and black skin (much like a demon/devil), and immediately started talking about how he would destroy the continent. The prime minister didn’t bat an eye at that, though, since the next sentence talked about how the prime minister would become a central pillar of the new empire. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be many people left alive to rule over in that new empire, but sacrifices must be made to bring the prime minister up to an even higher position. I feel like if Van or even the Amid Empire had approached him and made a similar offer of a high position in their impending continent-wide empire, he would have agreed to their terms. It would have been more logical than him taking the side of an unknown, evil-looking ‘god’ from another world whose plans must be carried out in secret even from Alda ‘for the good of the people’ and involve massive destruction.
RanmaChaos
Thanks for Side Chapter 61 and thanks so much to the $150 donator.
Thk
Brilliant, give him a curse with a caveat that only one person has figured out how to circumvent, to the person who figured out how to circumvent it.
Next our antagonist decides on the attack path van has been trying to build a defense against from the start.
Also I think his demon king part body will just see another mass and go ‘MERGE!’ and then van will be connected to out antagonist and start eating his soul that way.
SupremeFanKai
Oh boi, Rikudouche is finally on Lambda, can’t wait for the battle with Vandalieu, I’m impressed he managed to subdue the Demon king parts, that won’t last obviously but still impressive. Edgar is a wildcard and I wonder what he will do…
Kiriaru
Enjoyable chapter for sure. I forgot how many fragments vandalieu has but I think it is less than 30 by a little amount. The issue is that rikudou doesn’t have a status or anything, so we don’t have any numbers to compare.
Doc
“Rikudou had also instructed him not to tell the truth to the God of Law and Fate Alda or his worshipers.”
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I’m not sure how the prime minister could control that. I mean he was a devout worshipper of Alda until very recently. Alda and his faction should just be able to read his memories whenever they want. Rikudou isn’t a guider who moves people off of the normal transmigration system which is what happens when Van guides people and is the reason the gods can’t see the memories of anybody Van guides. Rikudou doesn’t have that ability.
I suppose you could argue Alda’s faction isn’t constantly paying attention to every follower but considering how central the prime minister is in the same region Van is, it’s far more likely one of the various Alda faction gods would pay attention.
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Also, I realize that Rikudou is like Rodcorte’s last remaining serious pawn at taking down Van so this kind of had to happen to make Rikudou a realistic threat, but I would have laughed my butt off if the demon king fragments just refused to acknowledge Rikudou as the main body and went to join Van.
jmoreno126
Too many plot conveniences for Rikudou. Maybe the author wrote himself into a wall with this one.
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I want to believe that Alda knows something is happening with the prime minister, but can’t act upon it because… reasons.
I mean, come on. The thing Alda hates more than Van or technology, is Evil Gods, specially the Demon King and his fragments. How can he not know that they are being collected in the castle?
bookworm12
I agree that everything since he became a ‘god’ has been way too convenient for Rikudou. The way it seems to work with gods seeing people’s memories/thoughts is that their attention is called to the scene if the person is praying to them, but otherwise they can check on it if they want to. Rodcorte for sure can just scan through his system and find the memories he was interested in (like when he was checking in on Van early in the story and found a merchant who had memories of being rescued by him), but maybe that’s something only Rodcorte can do? Maybe Alda was preoccupied and didn’t get around to manually checking the minds of the Prime Minister or those suspicious of him. The other possibility I can think of is that Rodcorte erected a barrier on just the Prime Minister’s memories to shield them from Alda. The prime minister is part of his system after all, which would give him some authority, and the barrier over the Boundary Mountain Range has always had the function of stopping Rodcorte from reading the memories of the living human inhabitants still in Rodcorte’s system of reincarnation (once they died, he could read their memories normally). I doubt Alda would notice one blind spot with everything else going on.
ObserverBias
The gods ‘can’ (or seem to be able to) read their believer’s memories at-will, but a specific one stopping when they have so many others to ‘hear,’ isn’t going to sound the alarms. Minding that devotion does not equate to Divine Protection nor /actually/ being able to hear or properly interpret Divine Messages, and how they’re “scrambling” to raise their heroes; on top of which, Tercatanis wasn’t exactly their only eyes and ears relevant to the situation, so in all likelihood, his platitudes are far from noticeable for gods that aren’t in recovery/don’t “need” it.
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They’re (allegedly, and hypocritically) aiming for a hands-off version of society. Curatos was their best bet for vigilantly checking oddities, and he’s out of the picture. /However/, Tercatanis explicitly stating his concerns in a prayer to them, would have twigged them onto seeking the baldy duo out proactively, instead of letting things fall by the wayside as they’ve been doing.
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On top of which, they have (had) eyes on Van himself (well, Kuhl, at least); they’re /not/ going to presume he has anything direct to do with something happening several duchies away, nor are any watching going to take their eyes off of him. Hmm. Some of them might have taken a bit of mental damage from watching his punishment of the staff that were (at that time) their only means of directly spying on Van.
Joe9719S
TLDR: Rikudou probably means the people follow Alda and his faction not the gods themselves. Alda may even signoff on the plan with a bit of sweettalking from Rikudou.
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Rikudou wants Tercatanis to act in a certain way without impediment so he is manipulating him to act in a way without alerting others who may interfere, even if Tercatanis believes they would follow along Rikudou would not so he is enforcing a blanket ban on information hence the “or his worshipers.” part.
Alda will already be aware because while he may not be monitoring Tercatanis but as soon as he comes in to possession of demon king fragments he goes on the watch list whether it is through Tercatanis himself or everyone around him. As Alda cannot be kept in the dark he needs to be misled to allow it to happen without realising what the full extent of what Rikudou plans “it” to include. Rikudou will have told Alda directly or through Rodcorte that he has a logical and ordered plan to descend as a god with a physical form and directly do battle with Van and for that he needs Tercatanis to do these tasks Alda will like the plan because it is logical and ordered (basically one city in the nation that isn’t his fervent puppets turning into a battlefield between gods in return for the rest of the world being safe from Van’s influence). Alda will not know Rikudou is lying and wants to take control of this world as a new god and Rodcorte was going to cut it off so doesn’t care. That just leaves convincing Tercatanis he is at war with Alda leading to the “Rikudou had also instructed him not to tell the truth to the God of Law and Fate Alda” as that is what is expected of a god plotting to fight Alda from Tercatanis’ perspective. Basically Rikudou tells Tercatanis the true plan while telling Alda it is just to better manipulate Tercatanis and Rodcorte is somewhere over there doing nothing useful and acting like sending some power-hungry wannabe demigod with fragments from the souls of a god killer to another world isnt a problem and definately not his problem.
bookworm12
I very much doubt that Alda would agree to any part of Rikudou’s plan. He distrusts Rodcorte in the first place, so any mention of Demon King fragments or reincarnated people like Van would have him watching the prime minister like a hawk. Alda even wanted Rodcorte to reincarnate the remaining Bravers within reach of the church and possibly brainwashed to make it easier to control them. My theory is that Rodcorte somehow blocked off Alda’s access to the prime minister’s memories, just like the barrier over the Boundary Mountain Range blocked off Rodcorte’s access to the memories of living inhabitants still in his system.
Chiu ChunLing
It’s already established that even fairly minor gods like Gufadgarn can do things to interfere with other gods viewing people’s memories of selected things, despite those people being ardent worshippers actively praying to those gods and Gufadgarn having zero relevant authority other than “those memories relate to the interior of a labyrinth I created”.
It would be completely moronic if Rotcortex couldn’t interfere with the ability of other gods to browse the memories of a person currently in his system, even leaving aside the fact that Tercatanis’ ‘devotion’ was never anything more than calculated self-interest without a hint of serious willingness to sacrifice.
Obviously, that would still arouse suspicion if Alda were actually trying to look into his memories because of Tercatanis directly praying to him. That’s why he told him not to do that.
Irazori
Anyone else had a headache reading this side-chapter?
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Seriously, rod-moron has made the most braindead plan to date. Even if balder-dou does succeed (but likely won’t) in eliminating the people that are aware of his existence in Lambda, exactly what is even there to stop baldie-dou from doing literally the same thing to keep that honorary aldiot from bailing on Lambda during this whole fiasco? I still doubt that knockoff death mage would be even able to do even a 1/10th of what Van can do but I may also be underestimating the DK fragment’s possible innate abilities.
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I think it goes without saying that the aldiot blades of fake peace likely toned down on how serious their crimes against Van was to their token, but still though. And of course there’s also the likelihood of both basic b*tch A and H of blaming Van for baldie-dou’s crimes.
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Huh, so those 2 decided to work together. I somewhat wondered whatever happened to them and just figured that they were simply written out since they didn’t want to get caught up in all the drama after somewhat escaping all from the wannabe hero work they did in Origin.
Entropy
Thanks for the chapter. That prime minister is going to be useful bait. He does realize everything can be traced back to him and now he volunteers to be a spy against an evil god that rules an empire of monsters. I thought rodcorte was dumb, but this guy might exceed him on dumb decisions. I am pretty sure he might be promised immortality or eternal youth to get this level of loyalty. As for Avalon, I suspect he will gain control of the parts, but when he fights Van, it will be similar to the zombie army of that one evil vampire, a tug of war. I am curious if the death magic detectors will lead the bravers to Avalon by mistake and how they will react to seeing their past enemy. I am curious if Avalon will gain demon king title similar to Van or if he will be something like pseudo-demon king. Maybe in time he will unlock true demon king. Also how many demon king parts are still floating around? Van probably has the majority, with Avalon having 30, the kingdom now probably having less than 20, the empire probably having quite a few sealed, guessing around 30-50, and possibly 25 parts floating around in the hands of neutral gods, evil gods, or lost in dungeons. Makes me curious what boost Van will gain from eating the demon king’s soul.
Lord Rin
There is no exact number of fragments known. All that was said was that Guduranis was torn into countless pieces and they don’t correspond to any specific part. They said that the parts each mutated into different things based on their environments.
bookworm12
Only Asagi and company might be using the death magic detectors, so I doubt that will come into play. Most of the other reincarnators who had it are dead or on Van’s side now. Also, Van has Demon King Familiars with mana generators scattered around all over the place, some of which must have at least as much mana as Rikudou. For example, Banda has more. Rikudou’s signature would just blend in with theirs.
no1
When I saw the title of this chapter my mind was like, YESSSSS. It’s finally happening. Still though 30 fragments is a lot and even though each fragment is its own body part Rikudou was able to mold the fragments into forming a balanced humanoid body. He’s pretty good at this. I thought they were gonna infest the prime minister, guess not. Okay but we still don’t know if Rikudou can break souls. We haven’t seen him do that and Rodcorte gave him that curse in order to make sure if he could do that it would only be towards Vandalieu. Does anyone remember how many fragments Vandalieu has? Also Heinz’s group actually told Selen what happened. Conveniently after Vandalieu threatened them in the letter. Pretty sure they were never going to tell her if Vandalieu hadn’t threatened them with that letter. And Edgar/Guduranis is feeling happy that more of his soul fragments are back in Lambda. Can’t wait to see how that develops. Also Mao and Kaoru want to join Vandal now. I’m not that happy about that, they’re better off staying out of the continent. Also the former emperor of the amid empire is building his own prison, lol. I had high expectations when I saw the title of this chapter and it didn’t disappoint. I’m really looking forward to the big battle once Rikudou and Vandalieu meet. Thanks for the chapter Yoshi looking foward to the next one.
Entropy
In volume 12, he had about 50 parts not counting the gods he has eaten which give him a power boost. I suspect he gained a few more to have around 55. Plus unlike Rikudou, he knows how to control them with that great demon king job. I wonder how many of his followers will be revived or it they will be his ghosts to give him ghost magic. I doubt Heinz and company gave an honest retelling. They probably threw in something about asking for mercy after turning in Darcia or that they did not what would become of her after turning her in. Maybe they threw in searching for Van to help raise him since he was now an orphan thanks to their hard work.
Entropy
*sorry meant to say “did not know what would become of her”
Lord Rin
Yeah they definitely didn’t give an accurate or honest retelling. Heinz has lied so much about it that he has actually convinced himself of his lies. Back when Heinz and his party were fighting the copies of Van and the others in Alda’s dungeon he told the Copy Van that he would defeat him even if he’s the son of the woman he let die. Heinz was inside a dungeon with only people who knew the truth of what happened yet he still talks to the copy of Van that he believes is just a non-sentient illusion and makes a justification to it as if he just failed to save her when everybody there knows or actively participated in her capture and being handed over to a noble to burn at the stake. He had no reason to say that but he did because he’s lied enough that he genuinely believes that’s what really happened.
no1
Thanks for the update on the fragments. Maybe there’s more, maybe the fragments number to an even 100. Also it’s pretty obvious that Heinz telling Selen what happen might be a lot biased. I’m not expecting them to tell Selen the more awful parts like how riley said buying a meal with the reward money is like honoring the dead. Or how Martina said Darcia deserved her punishment.
bookworm12
Thanks, Entropy, for the numbers. I lost count of those a long time ago and left it at ‘a lot’. I actually feel like Heinz and his party gave a fairly accurate retelling, since Selen was apparently brooding about it. That said, I’m sure they kept it simple and left out a lot of details like their conversation afterwards and how they spent the reward money, while emphasizing their limited choices for action with a superior priest from Alda present. Something like: “When we were still active in the Amid Empire, something happened that made Heinz want to leave and advocate for Vida’s races here in the Orbaume Kingdom. We received a request to capture a dark elf witch who was hiding in the woods near a village and coming out for supplies. She wasn’t as strong as we were back then, so we captured her and handed her over to the proper authorities, including a B-ranked priest of Alda. That was when we found out that her ‘crime’ was giving birth to a damphir child named Vandalieu. Unfortunately, we were unable to intervene to save her life, and it also wasn’t possible to search for the child. So, we left for the Orbaume Kingdom and found you soon after. It seems that Vandalieu somehow survived and holds a grudge against us, even though he also managed to resurrect his mother. That’s also why he said he can’t be friends with you. It’s not that you did anything wrong, he’s just being unreasonable.” Short on the details except when it explains/excuses their actions and/or makes Van’s grudge look unreasonable.
Lord Rin
I honestly don’t feel any threat from Rikudou. He already got his ass handed to him in a bag back on Origin. An Itty Bitty Ditty Bag. And this was when Van could barely use any of his real power because he was in another world and dealing with other things at the same time. Why should we think Rikudou could do any better now that Van wouldn’t have anything restricting him? He himself is even less threatening now once we heard that Rodcorte embedded fragments of Guduranis’ soul into him. Like at best Rikudou’s plan backfires spectacularly and he ends up taking himself out while at worst he gets taken over by Guduranis and used as a mere stepping stone for Guduranis’ own goals.
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I like how Mao and Kaoru are just doing their own thing and not trying to stick their noses into Van’s business. They’re smart enough to have figured out that since Aran’s group aren’t giving them any information then that means Rodcorte has prevented them from doing so and thus it probably means he’s planning something which they know they wouldn’t be strong enough to do anything about to help Van.
bk3k
If you don’t see the threat… I think you are missing something. I’m not gonna spoil, but all the hints are already given in this chapter, that you can piece together what’s gonna happen.
I think you should be able to guess, but I won’t confirm nor deny.
Lord Rin
I’m not saying there isn’t a threat. All I’m saying is that Rikudou HIMSELF isn’t a threat. For all his attempts to portray himself as some criminal mastermind he’s really just a wannabe. His problem is he arrogantly believes he’s playing 5D Chess so he doesn’t consider that there can be anybody smarter than him or more powerful than him that can ruin his plans.
pepemattos21
So I imagine that either the demon king is gonna gobble up rikudou or when he meets vandalieu the pieces rebell and drag his soul with them into van or he just gets absolutely curbstomped by van since he will be able to use his full powers since it’s not just his soul in an unfamiliar world that he faces
Baru-san
thanks for the chapter! 😁
ExplodingPenguinDood
I hope Mao and Kaori doesn’t get to be dragged into Van’s and the god’s conflict, it’s nice to see other aspects of Lambda
FrogAku
I hope I missed something, or we get a later Side Story which explains how amazingly stupid the Prime Minister is being here. Sure, I get what Rikki says, that many politicians are selfish, self-serving pigs. But this is a world in which the Gods are real, verifiable entities. The only “new” Gods are ones that rose up as mortals in service of the existing Gods, or are LITERAL invaders from beyond (the Demon King and his allies). What vaguely sane, sentient being would trust the words of some “new” or unknown God to be honest are fair, especially if they say “Oh, BTW, -don’t- tell anyone else what or why you’re doing this”. Any rational being of Lambda would figure this was the work of some minor evil God.
I do get that the Prime Minister is feeling threatened by the changes in Alcrem and elsewhere, and is so puzzled by Van’s actions (which as stated in this chapter, are NOT rational by his standards), but his actions with Rikki are so extreme as to make me demand some evidence of manipulation. It is just cartoonishly stupid.
ExplodingPenguinDood
I think it’s not that far fetched considering there are already known human heroes that came from another world, and if there are gods here then surely other words have them too and he was being manipulated by a cheat ability so there’s that
bookworm12
Yes, but those heroes were introduced by the local gods and had their full support. This ‘god from another world’ had no evidence of his legitimacy and even wanted to keep the local gods out of the loop. Also, if the manipulation from the cheat ability was that strong, they wouldn’t need to use persuasion at all, just orders. It sounded like that ability is mostly used for communication purposes here, not the close-range manipulation that probably leaves the person’s consciousness intact.
Lord Rin
Eh you know the saying: Never underestimate human stupidity.
Doc
A few chapters ago when it was revealed Rikudou was talking to him it was revealed he was brainwashing him through Da Long’s ‘Sahadeva’ power. So the prime minister is a few cards short of a full deck currently.
bookworm12
The way they explained that ability, it seemed like it allowed him to observe the target and control their actions from up close. It didn’t sound like it blocked their thinking and awareness of their actions. It seems to mostly be for communication in this case.
Irazori
I think that aldiot prime minister was only half-stupid due to balder-dou still having one of his minions brainwash him into believing all his bs. At least that’s what I remember.
roseblack
“trust me bro”
bk3k
Keep in mind that for Tercatanis, conspiring isn’t something new, but his way of life. And if that was a god from another world – in other words a god moving in on the other gods’ “terf” – it makes sense that they would keep their moves secret. That too would be a familiar concept to him, as their nobles are fiercely territorial. It would be a bit different for actual gods, but there is a saying:
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“A fool judges everything, by the one thing he knows.”
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Politics in any world, can be said to be a careful balancing of fear and greed – both of which can dull your common sense.
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1) Leaders are very often not the smartest people in a group, but the most aggressive and ruthless instead.
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2) Tercatanis was already fearing what changes Van would bring, which threatens his own position due to his existing political alignment.
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3) Then his fear of Van was amplified by telling him… basically the truth of what Van is and what he can do.
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4) Them Rikudou is offering him a solution to his fears, along with stimulating his greed. It is a tried and true scamming technique.
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So it is very realistic that he’d fall for this.
bookworm12
Yes, “don’t tell Alda” was a massive red flag. Especially for an Alda worshipper who believes that everything Alda does is for the good of the people. And after Rikudou’s resurrection, he just wrote off the entire continent as long as he gets to lord over what’s left of it. So selfish and greedy.
Derby Hat
Can’t wait to see how Rikudou will by pass the curse placed on him maybe eat souls? Or maybe absorb souls?
Lipesp
I will bet on guduranis overwriting his soul without him realising (like fittum did to the marionette guy) and not being affected by the curse
ObserverBias
“Never thought I’d retire early with a 401k to some tropical islands.”
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“How about with a friend?”
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“Eh, sure.”
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Well, at this point, blaming Tercatanis for not being able to block collect calls from a scammer when he doesn’t even know what a phone is, would be blaming a gaslighting victim. That said, he totally could have just kept the spam calls to himself and cut/run when they told him to build a body for them in a [chapel] with a box of [Demon King] scraps; they’d have found some other sucker to fall for their bit, even if he said ‘no.’ It’s that poor Amid education system, I tell you what.
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So, the gods /had/ caught wind of what Van was doing in the hospital, and even (seem to have) reasonably guessed with relative accuracy what his goal was. And instead of (them) accepting that he intends positive influence on others, the only one who has his number to a T and directly faced him in (im)Mortal Kombat, wants that runback and he wants it… not now, but, y’know, soon-ish.
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Wonder how Dungeons appear in Van’s skill-perception? Does he need to visit them to know where they are, or does he get a ping when one is added to or removed from some instinctive map of the known world (specifically in regards to dungeons)? Oo, or would Gufadgarn be the one to catch that kind of intel? Well, presuming Rikudou can figure out making one without dropping a castle on himself.
ObserverBias
Yes Tercatanis is in Orbaume, it’s still that poor Amid education system.
Lord Rin
From how I remember it, Van doesn’t become aware when a new dungeon gets created. Though he can instinctively map out an entire dungeon floor once he sets foot in that floor but that’s it. I don’t know about Gufadgarn though.
CountryMage
Of course he wouldn’t destroy the world, his moms live there. Sure, he has kids too, but all of them would probably just go into one of his inner worlds.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…