The Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords… a secret fighting force prided by the Amid Empire, comprised of warriors who possessed the highest skill in combat.
They were feared beings who were rumored to have used their power to turn the tides of numerous battles, stop monster rampages on their own and erase traitors to the nation, pulling out any roots of rebellion.
If one considered the S-class adventurer, the ‘Thunderclap’ Schneider and his party to be the greatest fighting force that didn’t belong to the empire’s government, the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords were the greatest fighting force that did.
“This is an unpleasant mission,” muttered the ‘Light-speed Sword’ Rickert Amid, who belonged to the Fifteen Evil-breaking swords and had been assigned the number three, as he continued down the highway towards his mission.
Despite being as young as being in his late twenties, the Third Sword was such a master of the blade that he was said to be “faster than light.” In fact, his abilities were equivalent to those of an A-class adventurer.
He was a handsome man with a shapely nose. While he was a member of a secret force, he was highly popular among the ladies of the upper class; there were endless marriage talks despite the fact that he was already married to three wives.
He even came from an excellent bloodline; he was the grandson of the previous emperor of the Amid Empire, with the current Emperor Marshukzarl being Rickert’s uncle.
As an honorary duke, he owned no land, but he had received offers of recommendations to become the First Sword in the future, and he was in a position where his name would certainly be among the candidates to become the next emperor if something were to happen to Marshukzarl and the newly-born First Prince.
But Rickert knew that all of these were lies.
His sword was slower than light.
He had simply been chosen as a decoration among the Fifteen Evil-breaking swords because of his good looks and heritage. The position of Third Sword and the position of First Sword that he had been promised were simply for propaganda.
And nothing would happen to Marshukzarl during his lifetime.
That was how things had been up until today, and things wouldn’t change from tomorrow onwards.
“Is it unpleasant?” asked Buss, Rickert’s attendant. “The stable ruling of the former Sauron region is currently the greatest unresolved problem in the empire. The outcome of the war against the Orbaume Kingdom depends on it. If you can suppress things, my lord, your achievements will echo across the entire empire.”
The Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords were a secret force, but Rickert’s existence itself was an advertisement sign that displayed the empire’s military strength. Thus, a carriage was used to transport him to places and he was constantly accompanied by knights wearing gaudy armor and Buss, who was his attendant and essentially his secretary.
Rickert was inside a carriage so extravagant that if he were to tell someone that he was going to a ball rather than to a mission, nobody would have doubted him.
“How can I be happy over being praised for a hollow achievement gained through something that is disguised as a mission?” he said with a sigh, his words dripping with sarcasm.
“My lord, you will be heard from outside. If you wish to complain, you must inform me in advance,” said Buss, remonstrating his master as he activated a Magic Item that prevented sound from extending past a certain area, allowing private conversations.
“I did put thought into that. The armor and helmets that our empire provides to the knights that guard us have too many decorations, so those sounds are very loud. They can’t hear my complaints as they’re walking. You’re wasting your Magic Stones,” Rickert said.
“Putting thought into things is my duty,” Buss said, thinking now more than usual that his lord had some kind of serious illness. “What exactly is it that you find unpleasant?” he asked, pressing his master to spit out all of his complaints.
Buss thought that it was also his duty to listen to such complaints.
Knowing that Buss thought this, Rickert spat out his complaints and the stress that had accumulated in his chest like sediment.
“What, you ask? It’s the same as always. My own lack of talent that causes me to always be used as a decoration, while being fully aware of the reality of the situation… Apparently, those with sharp senses think that this incident was a ploy of His Majesty’s to reduce the influence of the useless Duke Marme.”
Duke Marme, who had been complaining that the rule of the former Sauron region was not going well, had been successfully deceived and placed in a position as the person now responsible for and in charge of the occupying army that would likely fail at their job.
And by offering a helping hand at the timing when Duke Marme would begin complaining, it would become widely-known that his ability for ruling and military strategy was worthless, thus lowering the power of the Marme family of dukes.
The discord between Emperor Marshukzarl and Duke Marme was famous enough to be known to any who were reasonably knowledgeable regarding matters within the empire. And any half-clever nobles could imagine that it was impossible for Duke Marme to rule the occupied land of an enemy nation.
And so, many thought that there was a power struggle going on between the emperor and Duke Marme behind the scenes of Rickert and the other Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords being sent out.
Indeed, it was possible that Marshukzarl did have such intents.
“But His Majesty’s true aim isn’t to wear away at Duke Marme’s influence. The mission given to us isn’t the extermination of the resistance, either,” said Rickert. “We’re to make contact and negotiate with the Dhampir Vandalieu, who slaughtered the Mirg shield-nation’s expedition army of six thousand and went on a rampage in the Orbaume Kingdom as well. If the negotiations break down, we’re to dispose of him.”
Marshukzarl was after Vandalieu.
Marshukzarl, who had gathered information through a different network to the one used by the army occupying the Sauron region, knew that the resistance organization known as the Sauron Liberation Front had made contact with the Ghouls of the Sauron region.
And by adding together and analyzing other small pieces of information, he had become certain that Vandalieu was backing the Sauron Liberation Front.
That was why he had appointed Duke Marme as the new supreme commander of the army occupying the region. So that he could use him as a touchstone and bait for determining how hostile Vandalieu was towards the empire.
Duke Marme was someone with the blood of the imperial family, with rights to succeed the throne, and even among the empire’s noblemen, he discriminated against Vida’s races particularly harshly. On top of that, he was a passionate believer of Alda. And to Marshukzarl, he wasn’t someone who would be considered a loss if he was killed.
Even if Duke Marme and the vassals that he had taken with him were to be killed, there were people who could succeed them, so there wouldn’t be any great harm to his region’s economy. The other noblemen who had moved with the duke were those that the emperor felt could be replaced or simply didn’t care about if they were absent.
In truth, Duke Marme had yielded and asked for the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords to be dispatched sooner than Marshukzarl expected, but even if that hadn’t happened, Rickert and the others would likely have been dispatched anyway.
In order to deal with Vandalieu.
“But are His Majesty’s decisions not the natural decisions to make? At the age of six, the Dhampir slaughtered six thousand elite troops from the Mirg shield-nation, as well as the ‘Vampire Hunter’ Bormack Gordan, and even turned them into Undead to perform a counter-invasion, where he turned the cultivated land into a rotten sea of deadly poison,” said Buss. “In addition to that, in the Hartner Duchy of the Orbaume Kingdom, he tilted a castle, destroyed a mine operated by slaves along with the entire mountain, buried a knights’ order and kidnapped over a thousand villagers and disappeared somewhere. And he is manipulating the Scylla race and the resistance from behind the scenes… To be frank, all of this is difficult to believe.”
On top of all of that, according to the information, Vandalieu was capable of creating new Dungeons.
Immediately after a Dhampir thought to be Vandalieu was sighted in the City of Niarki in the Hartner Duchy, a Dungeon had appeared in the forest to the direction in which Vandalieu had fled the city.
After that, many Dungeons had been discovered in the Hartner Duchy. Other than the one discovered close to the city of Niarki, they were all F-class Dungeons with only a single floor consisting of a single room, however.
“Buss, it’s not that I’m dissatisfied with being sent out to hunt one Dhampir child. Even if we ignore the unconfirmed information that you just mentioned, he’s someone that many Ghouls and Undead obey. If all of the unconfirmed information is true on top of that, he’s so dangerous that he won’t be a problem of just the Sauron Duchy,” said Rickert. “If we don’t deal with him right, in the worst-case scenario, the Amid Empire could be destroyed.”
“My lord, you must not say such careless things.”
“It’s not careless, Buss. It’s unknown as to how much fighting strength Vandalieu possesses as an individual, but he destroyed an elite force of six thousand of the Mirg shield-nation’s elite three years ago. We should consider him to be capable of destroying at least one of our vassal nations, including the Mirg shield-nation. And unless the Orbaume Kingdom’s power is severely harmed, it’s clear that they’ll come to take advantage of that as well.”
The Amid Empire’s vassal nations – the maritime nation of Kalahad to the south, the mountain-nation of Marmuke to the north, the grain-nation of Yond to the west and to the east, the Mirg shield-nation that possessed the greatest military strength among them all.
The army of elite individuals from the Mirg shield-nation had been unable to defeat Vandalieu. If he were to set his eyes on one of the other three nations, in the worst-case scenario, the damage would be so great that they would stop functioning as nations.
Vandalieu was capable of contaminating the earth with a poison that lingered for a long period of time… it was unknown as to what methods he used to create that poison, but if it was possible for him to spread that poison across large areas of land or ocean, he could destroy nations without even having to fight them.
Marshukzarl would be a failure of an emperor if he were to not pay attention to such a dangerous individual.
“But my lord, making contact and negotiating with this Vandalieu is part of our mission. I find it difficult to imagine that the negotiations will go well,” said Buss.
“Really? Actually, I feel the same way,” said Rickert.
“… My lord.”
“That’s what I personally think. But it seems that His Majesty and the others of the Fifteen Swords have ideas.”
Considering the things that Vandalieu had done in the Mirg shield-nation, it was certain that he didn’t have any favorable thoughts towards the Amid Empire that governed it. Considering that he was a Dhampir, it was only natural to think that it would be impossible to build a friendly relationship.
In fact, wasn’t it more likely that he would curry favor with the Orbaume Kingdom, a nation that was the Amid Empire’s enemy? At first, that was what Rickert had thought.
However, based on the various incidents in the Hartner Duchy thought to be caused by Vandalieu, Marshukzarl and his advisors had concluded that Vandalieu would not join the Orbaume Kingdom’s side without conditions.
With that being the case, it would be possible to make him an ally, depending on the conditions. That was what they seemed to think.
In fact, even in the Sauron region, Vandalieu hadn’t directly caused large harm to the army occupying the area. It seemed that he had destroyed a fort, but considering the things that he had done up until now, he should have been able to destroy the entire army.
Around the same period of time, the higher-ranking members of the Reborn Sauron Duchy Army had been destroyed, its remainders being absorbed by the Sauron Liberation Front to form a single large organization led by the Liberating Princess Knight.
If this was Vandalieu’s handiwork, the one that he had inflicted harm upon was actually the Orbaume Kingdom.
“Based on his actions up until now, it seems that the Dhampir named Vandalieu doesn’t intend to side with either the Amid Empire or the Orbaume Kingdom. The emperor likely thought that he intends to build his own power made up of Undead. It does indeed seem like the kind of thing that a child who possesses power would think of,” said Rickert.
Vandalieu would rule over a group of puppets that would work for him loyally without disobeying or having any opinion at all. The tyrant of a small hill.
“A game played with dangerous dolls,” said Buss. “Such a person would never yield to the empire no matter what conditions are offered, would he?”
“That’s what I think, but I’m not in charge of the negotiations,” said Rickert.
“That’s right, Ricky-boy,” said a new voice that suddenly echoed inside the carriage.
Rickert showed no signs of surprise, but responded in a sour voice. “… Five-headed-Snake-dono. Could I ask you to stop calling me that?”
This was the ‘Five-headed Snake’ Ervine, the Fifth Sword, a true member of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords.
He was a man who had already been a member of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords by the time Rickert joined them.
Ervine chuckled. “What else would you have me call a youngster who has not even lived a hundred years if not ‘boy?’”
“Ervine-sama, I believe that my lord is more displeased by your nickname of ‘Ricky,’” said Buss.
“Ah, I see. My apologies; I’ll call you something else if I remember.”
“Incidentally, it is the seventh time that I have heard those words.”
“Oh my, is that so? I’m sorry, Ricky-boy,” Ervine said, speaking to Rickert once more in a disagreeable tone. “I’m very forgetful, you see. After all, I am an ‘old geezer,’ as you like to call me.”
… Going on and on about something that happened years ago. An unpleasant man as usual! Rickert thought.
Immediately after Rickert joined the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, he had met Ervine on a mission. On that occasion, Ervine had been acting in an unpleasant senpai-like manner, and Rickert had once called him, “old geezer.”
It seemed that Ervine still held a grudge towards Rickert for that.
“Now then, back to the topic, Ricky,” Ervine said. “Your duty is your mission on the surface… acting as the cool, strong hero that eliminates the resistance. We’ll have you work up until a certain point, and if the negotiations with the Vandalieu brat break down, you and I, along with the others, will dispose of him.”
“The others? You’re not the only one?” Rickert asked.
“I’m honored that you think so highly of me, but even I am not enough to face thousands of Undead. If he hunts down the dimwits of the occupying army, they could all be killed and turned into Undead.”
Each of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, particularly the true members like Ervine, possessed the strength to fight over a thousand enemies at once. However, no matter how powerful they were, they would always be fighting from a disadvantageous position if they were facing large numbers of enemies.
In this mission, they had to force Vandalieu, who was likely hiding behind the Sauron Liberation Front, to the surface to negotiate with him, and then dispose of him if the negotiations failed.
It seemed that the emperor and the Zero Sword, the leader of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, had decided that it would be too dangerous for anyone to chase Vandalieu on their own if he left the Sauron Liberation Front to die and refused to come out, or tried to flee after negotiations broke down without fighting.
“Me and two others,” Ervine said. “The ‘Insect Swarm’ Bebeckett, the Fifteenth Sword, and the ‘King Slayer’ Sleygar, the Eleventh Sword, are participating.”
“Wait, why are you telling me that?” Rickert asked.
Because Rickert was merely a decoration to be shown off to society, he didn’t have detailed information on the true members of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, including Ervine. Ervine was the only one whose name and face he knew, and as for the other true members, he had only heard the Titles that the emperor had given them, which were almost like codenames.
Rickert found it strange that Ervine would go out of his way to reveal their names.
“Of course, it’s because you’ll meet them on-site,” Ervine replied. “With this mission, there is almost no information that we can gather preemptively. We can’t scout from the sky, and even when people were sent in directly, they went missing.”
“I knew that Duke Marme’s army’s reconnaissance didn’t go well, but what about the Hilt guys?” Rickert asked.
Among the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, there were some members originating from the ‘Hilt,’ which was comprised of capable covert operatives and spies. At the very least, they should have been more competent than Duke Marme’s soldiers.
“Ah. After sending information that there are strange stone monuments, they all went missing,” said Ervine. “That’s why we’re going to conduct a power search once we arrive on-site. Either way, if we capture, interrogate and kill resistance members or Ghouls, the mastermind or someone who knows him will come out eventually.”
“Isn’t it a bad idea to kill the subordinates of someone we’re trying to negotiate with?” Rickert asked, thinking that this would take a lot of time and effort.
“It’s not like there are any problems with that, is it? Considering the methods that he’s used so far, no matter how you look at it, he’s the kind of guy who thinks of his subordinates’ lives like consumable goods. Are you saying that I’m wrong, Ricky-boy?”
Rickert closed his eyes and recalled the methods that Vandalieu had been using so far.
Leaving aside the fact that he had slaughtered the expedition army, he had turned them into Undead, attacked a city and rendered the cultivated land there uninhabitable.
The image of Vandalieu that one could gain from all of this was one with a coldhearted, cruel personality that didn’t hesitate despite the fact that civilians could get caught up in the conflict and that the hearts of the deceased expedition army soldiers’ families would be deeply tormented for a long time… no, he had likely even taken this into account and taken these actions on purpose.
Considering the Dungeon creation incident and the destruction of the slave-run mine in the Hartner Duchy, it didn’t seem that he had any compassion or mercy.
And the deliberate murders of the top-ranking members of the Reborn Sauron Duchy Army, carried out in order to increase the power of the Sauron Liberation Front, led by the Liberating Princess Knight, whom he had somehow turned into his subordinate.
Given all of these, Vandalieu didn’t care if innocent lives were put at risk as long as he could erase those who opposed him, and he would use the lives of his subordinates like consumable goods; it wouldn’t bother him in the slightest if they were killed. That was the kind of image that could be put together.
However, there was information that didn’t quite match this image.
“No, it’s difficult to imagine that you’re wrong, but… I thought there were some strange reports,” said Rickert.
Vandalieu had apparently assisted the cultivation villages of the Hartner Duchy, and around the time period where he appeared there frequently, there had been a mysterious phenomenon in the farming villages near where small Dungeons were discovered, where the villagers were visited by ‘Vida’s clay dolls’ filled with valuable metals, money and food if they gave their aged livestock as an offering.
And if the reason the Ghouls of the Hartner Duchy had vanished like the ones in the Mirg shield-nation was because Vandalieu had gathered them, then something was strange. If he wanted fighting strength, Vandalieu could create Undead, so he wouldn’t have needed to go out of his way to gather Ghouls.
“Considering that, wouldn’t you say that he controls the Undead to use as disposable soldiers, feels no mercy and even sadistic tendencies towards his enemies, but possesses the kind of personality with enough compassion to provide charity to those he feels he should protect?” said Rickert. “It’s exactly as if you swapped the humans and Vida’s races in Duke Marme’s views.”
“That might be true.” Ervine didn’t even try to deny Rickert’s conclusion. “But either way, they’re likely just accessories for him to feel pleased with himself, thinking that he’s doing good things. Or maybe he’s just using them and keeping them until he turns them into Undead. Like fish in a tank. It’s possible that the upper ranks of the Sauron Liberation Front, including the Liberating Princess Knight, have already been turned into Undead and the underlings are continuing to move, oblivious to it.”
“That’s true, but…”
“And it’s not like we’re going to be friends with him. If we can take him in, we will, and if that seems impossible, we dispose of him. If he has precious people that can be used as a weakness, then it’s actually convenient. We can use them as hostages. Ricky-boy, don’t you worry about it. Just lift up the Liberating Princess Knight’s head and think of a speech to calm the people, telling them that everything’s all right thanks to His Majesty, the great emperor, who dispatched the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords.”
And with those words, Ervine’s faint presence vanished. Rickert wasn’t sure whether he had left or whether he was lurking around somewhere, but either way, the conversation was already over.
“… That old geezer, guessing all the things that I find unpleasant and then ending the conversation like that,” Rickert muttered.
What he found unpleasant was not the methods employed by the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords or the emperor’s intents, but the contents of this mission that made him fully aware that he was nothing more than a decoration, through and through.
Rickert’s role was to carry out his official mission of eliminating the resistance and make his ‘success’ clear to the occupying army, regardless of whether the negotiations with Vandalieu and his possible extermination were successful or not.
Whether the Liberating Princess Knight’s head was the real one or a fabricated fake would depend on the negotiations with Vandalieu, however.
“My lord. I believe that your mission is also a necessary duty to provide the Amid Empire with a thousand years of prosperity,” said Buss, offering Rickert a black tea made with water boiled by a Magic Item.
Rickert responded with a sigh.
“But can Ervine-dono and the others really defeat that Dhampir?” Buss continued. “It is not that I am doubting everyone’s abilities, however.”
“They probably can,” Rickert replied, his shoulders relaxing as the scent of the black tea filled his nose. “If what he says can be trusted, Ervine himself is capable even among the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords. And I’ve heard rumors about the Insect Swarm and the King Slayer.”
Insect Swarm was the only confirmed Bug Tamer in the empire. He had once cleared a group of monsters overflowing from the shallow layers of the Trial of Zakkart, all on his own.
The King Slayer originated from the Hilt, and he had slain numerous monsters with the title of King that had been protected by hundreds or thousands of underlings.
Rickert, who was an advertisement for their achievements, knew of their strength.
“And among all of the information that we have gathered about Vandalieu so far, there is nothing that mentions his individual fighting strength. It’s likely that he’s a special Tamer. He tries to increase the number of pawns under his command because he himself is weak. His attack on the slave-run mine in the Hartner Duchy, his gathering of Ghouls, Scylla and the resistance as his underlings, it’s all probably for that reason. Judging from how he polluted the cultivated land, he probably has poison and disease-related ways of attacking, but if they are wary of that, then he won’t even put up a fight.”
Rickert found this mission unpleasant, but at the very least, he wouldn’t fail it. That was the kind of mission it was.
The ‘Noah’ Mao Smith’s cheeks relaxed as she felt the warmth of sunlight and the tickling sensation of a breeze against her skin for the first time in a long time.
“Even in a different world, the sun and wind aren’t any different, are they,” she murmured. “But still, I’m really naked… am I supposed to cover myself with leaves?”
There was nobody else around her… Seeing that she was in a grass-covered plain, Mao decided to examine the state of her body in her third lifetime.
Chestnut-colored hair and tanned skin. Her height was far shorter than it had been on Earth or in Origin – to put it bluntly, she was a midget.
As if to compensate for that, her limbs had muscle on them. Mao curled her hands into fists several times, did jumps on the spot and tried walking and light running.
“Hmm, I don’t have scales or a hand dynamometer so I can’t tell for sure, but I get the feeling that my physical strength has increased. But considering that, my body feels heavier. I suppose that’s because I chose this race,” she muttered.
Those who knew her from her previous life would recognize her face as having traces of its previous appearance, but it was younger overall. It might have been possible to convince them that she was a much younger sister with completely different hair, eye and skin colors.
But that would be difficult in Lambda. Because she was a member of a different race.
The race that Mao had chosen for her third life was the Dwarf race.
It wasn’t that she’d wanted to be a Dwarf no matter what. She had simply wanted an appearance that was as different as possible from the one that Vandalieu knew.
It was impossible to request for Rodcorte to simply change her face. Her physical body would be influenced by her soul that carried its memories and personality from her previous lives.
It was possible to minimize that influence if she were to have been reborn as a baby like she had been in Origin. But when reincarnated in a directly-created adult body, it was impossible.
Thus, Mao had chosen to become a Dwarf rather than a human or Elf.
She had actually wanted Rodcorte to make her a man, but that was impossible.
“You know that the brain structures of men and women are different, do you not? If the body and soul do not match, there will be large effects… in the worst-case scenario, you could die within several days, so I advise against it,” Rodcorte had said.
Of course, the ‘Inspector’ Shimada Izumi had confirmed that this wasn’t a lie.
“Well, my name can’t be changed in my Status, and I’ll be found out when I’m found out, so I don’t really care. I’ll get used to my body eventually… Status. Wow, it really comes out.”
Mao examined her own Attribute Values and her transformed Skills. She could see her Unique Skills – The God of Reincarnation’s Fortune, Target Radar: Owner of over 100,000,000 Death-Attribute Mana and Unique Skill Concealment.
With Unique Skill Concealment, her Unique Skills wouldn’t be seen by Demon Eyes of Appraisal or when she registered at a Guild.
This was a modification made by learning from Kaidou Kanata’s mistakes, thought of by Izumi and Aran. With this, the fact that she was a reincarnated individual wouldn’t be revealed, even if her Status was looked at.
“Still, seeing my driving and piloting ability turned into ‘Mount’… I was a pilot, you know. And my other Skills’ Levels aren’t very high… Just what kind of monsters are the people who live in this world? Well, I’ll stop the naked monologue here… Yes, yes, this way, right? Hmm, it’s quite hard to walk with these short legs~”
Listening to Rodcorte’s voice that was playing inside her head, Mao began walking. She was heading towards a small group of bandits, and she would defeat them to get clothes and other things that she needed.
And by the time she was ready for her journey, she would have become a Level 100 Jobless, also commonly known as a “Commoner,” from the Experience Points gained from killing the bandits.
Once she continued to a nearby city, registered at a Guild, received identification, fabricated a suitable background and finally went through a Job-change, nobody would suspect anything.
She was fifteen years old, a Dwarf who had just become an adult, so some might think it strange at first that she hadn’t possessed a Job until coming to the city, but if she kept changing cities, countries and continents as she repeatedly changed Jobs, she would be able to fool them.
“Now then, once I save enough money, I’ll bid farewell to this continent and begin a business in another continent.”
Mao had no intention of getting involved with Vandalieu whatsoever. She had no intention of trying to kill him like Murakami and the others, nor did she intend to try to convince him and stop him like Minami Asagi.
She intended to flee to a place far away from Vandalieu and spend her life there. That was why she had chosen to be reincarnated earlier than the others.
Though she had reached out to the other reincarnated individuals, like the ‘Clairvoyance’ Tendou, the ‘Ifrit’ Akaki and the ‘Oracle’ Endou Kouya, they hadn’t followed her.
But they had supported her. They had told her that there might be more reincarnated individuals who didn’t want to fight Vandalieu, and that Mao should lend them her help when the time came.
Incidentally, she would be contacted by Izumi and Aran when such individuals appeared, or in situations of emergency.
Rodcorte had allowed Mao’s decision. Reincarnated individuals had the role of developing Lambda as well, not just the role of killing Vandalieu.
One day, a Dwarf adventurer by the name of Mao, who was unusually adept at wind-attribute magic despite her race, would eventually come to do a little work in the Farzon Duchy of the Orbaume Kingdom, which was known for its fishing and shipping industries.
She would reach C-class around a year after her registration, far faster than ordinary adventurers, but soon get on a ship and journey away from the Bahn Gaia continent.
The ‘Noah’ Mao Smith has been reincarnated in a Dwarf body created by Rodcorte.
Remaining reincarnated individuals:
Rodcorte’s Divine Realm: 12
Origin: 79
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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RayneVilanore
If we don’t deal with him right it could be the end of the amid empire…
spoiler
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Then immediately proceeds to enrage him to the point where his own friends are scared…. why is everyone not on Vida’s side so dam stupid.
Korath
I could write a lot, if some descisions are smart or not, but what I dont understand: Wth doesnt the Orbaume Kingdom react? In US terms its like Texas was invaded and claimed, but the US didnt do anything about it and twiddle their thumbs. Sure it may mean all out war, but thats how it is. If Van wouldnt exist, they already would try to conquer the next dukedom until only the main city is left.
Ronin
Well it’s a bit different for them though. Remember in the Orbaume Kingdom every duchy is almost like it’s own country essentially. So sure they have a central ruler who is king but, that King is elected from one of the Duchy’s rather than simply being inherited like normal royalty. So it’s more that each Duchy is in it for their own benefits as well. Like sure they are part of the same Kingdom but, to send troops to help it would be like what are you going to do for us?
Winter
The 15 suicidal swords should probably take doubts like Rickert’s more seriously :’)
They are really hart bend on destroying their own empire, by misjudging Van’s character and strength so badly.
Mao in turn is a smart cookie for just getting on with her life and not dealing with all this bs 😛
tatu selvagem
15 suicidal swords lmaoooo
Akachi86
“Rickert found this mission unpleasant, but at the very least, he wouldn’t fail it.”
If only he knew 😀
EjPuzatiy
Well, if he will be the only one to commit negotiations and return alive, then yes.
Alke
Contrarly to the bunch of idiots that are seeking death, this Mao did the right choice, a smart one at that. ///🤣🤣🤣😒😒😒😒the stupidity of the Amid pple doesn’t have limits!! They are killing (trying at least) his pple and intend to make nogociations with him 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣He killed all your army and crazy fanatics BECAUSE they attacked his pple to begin with! And if he refuse to be your “dog” you’re gonna kill him?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣It’s even more hilarious! You don’t qualify at all! Even evil gods didn’t qualify! Shinei 😒😒😒😒
Zenden1st
intelligent reincarnator
Bunnyman
Mao is really smart for avoiding van. But i would have chosen to be an elf with long lifespan.
Chiu ChunLing
Well, she’s choosing to prioritize being hard to find. Though I think that, considering all the ways Van could end up getting information about her, probably you’re right overall. It’s almost certain that Van will catch and interrogate the ever-living *&^% out of some of the other reincarnators, and even if he doesn’t, she’s leaving a paper trail with her own name through the Adventurer Guild, which Van is eventually bound to dominate if nobody kills him within a decade.
That being said, maybe she’s okay with just a couple hundred years.
A_wandering_otter
Nah van wouldn’t really go out of his way to capture Mao it might be a different story if she happens to come across van but Van stated that he’d ignore the other reincarnaters if they don’t fuck with him
Kuroky
Wise choice mao smith
unwanted child
“Considering that, wouldn’t you say that he controls the Undead to use as disposable soldiers, feels no mercy and even sadistic tendencies towards his enemies, but possesses the kind of personality with enough compassion to provide charity to those he feels he should protect?”
yes yes yes
“That might be true.” Ervine didn’t even try to deny Rickert’s conclusion. “But either way, they’re likely just accessories for him to feel pleased with himself, thinking that he’s doing good things. Or maybe he’s just using them and keeping them until he turns them into Undead. Like fish in a tank. It’s possible that the upper ranks of the Sauron Liberation Front, including the Liberating Princess Knight, have already been turned into Undead and the underlings are continuing to move, oblivious to it.”
no no no
Gohankuten
Yeah Rickert basically nailed it in one there with his description of Van (though Van only treats enemy undead as disposable soldiers). If Ervine was smarter they would realize that they should approach it from the worst case scenario of Van being as Rickert described and they to get on Vans good side first. Too bad Ervine is too arrogant thinking Van is gonna be easy to kill and thus has doomed them all with his plan to draw Van out by harming those Van cares about.
Baldingere
*squints suspiciously*
I like you, new character.
*squints more suspiciously*
You’re gonna die, ain’t you
Will he even get to be a nice undead side-character? 😔
TruePath111
I’m relieved this girl will be neutral. I originally hoped MC would become friends with some at the end but looks like my expectations have plummeted at this point. Only world building and plot is good. Not expecting much from the characters. I’m sad man
Kahandran
I honestly feel like I’m just obligated to downvote you at this point. This is like the most positive comment I’ve seen from you in over a hundred chapters and it’s still disparaging
Tejing
It’s true the characterization is the weak point of this novel. It never really bothers me because the plot and worldbuilding are so good, but it is true. Also, I think you’re jumping the gun on assuming none of the reincarnators will become friends with Van. Didn’t you notice Melissa’s line of questioning with Aran earlier? She “decided who she would bet on” after that conversation, and from the content of the conversation, it’s hard to imagine she was betting on the reincarnators being able to win against Van.
Also, congratulations for perhaps your first post that I didn’t consider a complete waste of the few seconds I spent reading it (just almost complete). Did it physically hurt to be a slightly reasonable person for a few seconds? … Sorry, I shouldn’t be responding like that, but you’ve really annoyed me thus far, so I’m doing it anyway.
Chiu ChunLing
The thing is, there are dozens of unique characters already (including one character with a dozen unique personalities). If all of them had the same level of characterization as Van, then progressing the story to this point would have taken at least a few dozen times as long.
That would make the excessive lack of narrative focus a major weakness of the story.
And yet, with most of the unique characters (leaving aside the mobs) we can easily see how they are making what they believe to be reasonable assumptions based on their own biases. Even this Ricklent and Ervine, the problem isn’t with their logic, it’s with their base premise that excludes treating Vida races (including Van) like ‘real people’. But without that base premise, there’s no way they’d be part of the Evil Swords.
Vitor
Evil-BREAKING Swords, please, no respectable (read as trashy) Alda believer would name themselves evil, the have too much ego for that
polynesianvibez
hmm interesting mao
thanks for the chapter
Erelorial
Thanks for the chapter! … HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Evil-breaking Swords have Comedy: Level 10! Thanks!
Sov
Lol the way they think is so stupid, like y’all call him a monster for killing 6k peeps y’all sent to kill him, like they expected him to just Sit there and get slaughtered. They see this whole thing in one perspective and only that, not trying to see things from a different angle at all.
SuicidalSkeletin
Well for them he is simply a child with the power to create undead and nothing more. They have essentially zero information on him, but they are ready to act either way. Simply put he is a threat to them, but if things were normal they’d be able to take him on no matter what. They’re just arrogant
Chiu ChunLing
Well, they did expect him to just get slaughtered, that’s kinda the point of an army.
But it’s certainly a valid criticism that nobody on their side has actually tried just talking to him. For which there is no excuse. It’s not like they don’t have plenty of information indicating that talking to him is possible. They just choose to do crap like sending armies after him.
WolfLord_Jordon
Thanks for the chapter on a good story. 15 evil swords should be changed to 15 morons
Vitor
15 corposes you mean?
Triduo
… I must be traumatized to imagine a Bearded muscular female Dwarf looking like a male Dwarf, but then I guess that I just don’t know many Female Dwarves after all…
Tejing
According to Appendix 4, dwarf women “maintain the appearances of young girls despite being adults.”
reisben55
Eternal loli ?!
Skarbrand
Apparently…
SuicidalSkeletin
Eternal loli.
WholesomeAF
Legal lolis
unwanted child
buff loli,
XPotato
Matpat would be happy
Gohankuten
That’s what a Tolkein Dwarf is. They have beards and are neigh indistinguishable from male dwarves to other races.
aplldth
Rodcorte is literally a fucking idiot.
Triduo
Well, he’s the ‘Worthless One’ after all !
Every single thing he did after his ‘Greatest Mistake’ was dumber than the last one and he doesn’t seem to want to stop…
Hobbes
People don’t learn until they face the consequences of their actions after all. Especially idiots. And since Rodcorte is an uncurable idiot as well as someone who doesn’t think of anyone else to begin with, he’s not going to learn until he is personally punished. Problem is Van’s punishment of Gods doesn’t allow for second chances lol
darkoneko
Hah, Insect Swarm think he’s the best bug tamer. That’s cute.
Rodcorte accepted to reincarnate her as an adult despite her not following his wishes ? He’s open minded.
SpudCaleb
Well, she will be a big help developing the world and an excellent refuge for other reincarnated individuals when they need help, going in early will be a big help in the long run.
aplldth
too bad he doesn’t know that he is the cause of his issues
Brandragoon
It probably has more to do with her being very useful even if she was too choose to fight Vandalieu. Her ability let’s her put people and objects in a sub space she carriers around with her, up to a cargo freighters worth I think.
SuicidalSkeletin
Yes her subspace is simply humongous. Even if she isn’t planning to kill Van she will still lend a hand to her old comrades when they need help or provide them with some good equipment.
SuicidalSkeletin
well his primary wish is for the development of Lambda so she isn’t doing anything bad. To begin with she wasn’t much of a fighter in her previous life either, so its better to have her make use of her inventory-like ability and knowledge to make some new technology to advance the world of Lambda
Chiu ChunLing
Keep in mind that Rotcortex isn’t really stupid enough to think that many of these guys have a chance in hell of even being helpful in a fight with Van, and that he still needs at least some of them to survive and help develop this world rather than dying in the fight or killing themselves immediately afterwards to get their promised next life reward.
The Noah ability is awesome in a lot of ways, but since she doesn’t have teleportation magic or whatever it’s not exactly a tactical game changer.
bookishPengin4ever
thanks 4 translating!
bencachinit
Ervine (or whatever his name was) is just asking to get his soul broken…
Skarbrand
To be fair, everyone who speaks favorably of Van is in Talosheim. I think even Iris is more scared of him than respectful.
Hobbes
That’s not true. Van is largely misunderstood because of his communication disorder, the cruel treatment of his enemies, and the fact that he’s insane.
Plus, people in authority are the only ones who can or want to gather info about him. Those guys usually have their own vested interests to do so – they’re largely looking to see if they can use or dispose of Van rather than actually looking to establish working relationships.
SuicidalSkeletin
I completely disagree. Van is clearly loved by his citizens. His moto is literally (paraphrazing) if you can help someone, whenever you can, lend them a hand. He has rescued most of them and at least helped the rest find peace. He mingles with his subjects every day and doesn’t let his power over them go to his head. He is basically the ideal ruler, and everyone shows their appreciation for that in return with loyalty, admiration and work. Heck he even helps rebuild foreign nations, simply because they went through a rough time and they simply didn’t do anything wrong.
They aren’t scared of him, rather they are more amazed at the things he can do. For them Van is more of a Godlike being than a mere King, it wouldn’t be weird since he already possesses more power than some Gods do.
And you say that IRIS is scared of him? She and the rest of Legion worshiped him in Origin as their savior, when the whole world was experimenting on them and torturing and malforming them
he was the thing that kept them going.
To twist logic so far to make it seem that those people are scared of him… you really must have difficulty following a linear narration type story like this, don’t you?
Tejing
I think you’re confusing Iris and Isis. Iris Bearheart is the liberating princess knight, who Van saved from Gubamon. Isis is part of Legion, and was the member of the 8th guidance with the ability to conduct special surgery and raise undead.
Tejing
Iris was never scared of van. She was bewildered and uncertain what kind of person he was when they first met, but they quickly found their stride. Check chapter 127 again, she’s totally comfortable with him.
Vitor
To be honest, I’m quite sure that she was scared as all hell when he suddenly popped out of the leader of the other ressistance group and stabed Gubamon
Chiu ChunLing
I upvoted this just to be fair.
“To be fair” doesn’t mean unconditional agreement with a position, just acknowledgement that it is not total nonsense.
E.g. “To be fair, these people are judging Van by how they and most powerful people in their society would act in his place.”
That’s not saying anything positive about them, it’s just acknowledging that their position makes sense from their own perspective…even though it’s largely their own fault they have that outlook.
E.g. “To be fair, they don’t know anything about Van having a Soul Break ability (or even his heinously OP individual combat ability).”
To be even more fair, part of the reason that they don’t know this is because his various leadership/support abilities are even more ridiculous and he’s been specialized that way for a long time. He’s also taken a fair amount of steps to hide his true abilities. While the gods have no excuse for missing that he could easily have wiped out pretty much all humans in the Empire with the diseases he was developing by accident if he’d messed up a little, he carefully didn’t mess up and they have no idea how lucky they are he hasn’t kept playing around with that stuff. They’re just looking at the tip of the iceberg without having ever seen one before, so they don’t know what’s beneath the surface.
Of course, to be fair to Vandalieu, he has no obligation to play nice with anyone who voluntarily worships Alda knowing that he’s a legit genocidal, deicidal maniac who picked a fight with Vida because she made it possible to defeat the Demon Gods despite him. They’ve already proven that they don’t have the judgement to be trusted with any additional information.
Wsteven7o7
Man that’s true he can make diseases that no human or machine can accomplish since he can change everything with Mana or death attribute to get a better result…