Chapter 67: The first mission – Good afternoon, King
Volume 4: The Hartner Duchy Volume
Documents.
It doesn't need to be said that they wouldn't exist without materials for writing. Tree bark, branches and animal skins can be used, but Vandalieu was looking at documents made of paper created by the Golem factory that he had set up.
Looking at this, Vandalieu wondered why he had made straw paper, regretting his decision.
"Well, I suppose deskwork is necessary as well."
Things would surely be easier in the future if he got used to this now. He would be able to gain popularity and respect as a man capable of finishing his work quickly… though it seemed that strong men capable of hunting monsters were the popular ones in Lambda.
He decided to deal with the documents for now. He quickly checked over them, and as long as he saw no problems, he stamped it with a seal that he had made earlier.
"Phew, it's done, it's done!��� said the many heads of Vandalieu, who had split them and his arms into multiples.
"… Your Majesty, could I ask you to teach me this method of doing deskwork?" Despite having done deskwork for much longer, Chezare requested instruction from Vandalieu.
"I don't mind teaching you, but in your case, it would be faster if I multiplied your arms and heads physically," said Vandalieu. "Should I start the surgery today?"
"No, please leave it for another time," said Chezare. It seemed that even Zombies were reluctant to undergo body (corpse) remodeling.
"So, are there new documents?" asked Vandalieu.
"No, I was hoping that you would consider the issue of currency…"
"I see."
Various systems had been put into place in Talosheim thanks to Chezare.
Vandalieu hadn't ordered him to create these, nor had anyone else asked Chezare to do it, but he had taken the initiative and advised Vandalieu to create a government.
Because of this, the national flag had become a black and white circle using a solar eclipse as its motif, and all kinds of documents had been created.
Incidentally, laws had been created using the laws Talosheim had used in the past as well as the laws of the Hartner Duchy as references. They weren't of much use now, however.
Naturally, Chezare pressing Vandalieu to introduce currency was the next step.
"Your Majesty. It is certainly true that there are currently no problems with bartering for goods. However, the introduction of currency is absolutely necessary for the development of our nation! Even if the commercial trade that you desire with the Orbaume Kingdom becomes a reality one day -"
"Umm, wouldn't it be fine to handle trading with the Orbaume Kingdom by introducing the Orbaume Kingdom's currency? I don't really intend on making Talosheim an independent nation or anything," said Vandalieu.
"How could this be! You would sell the nation, Your Majesty?!"
"I was thinking that Talosheim should aim to be a self-governing dominion within the Orbaume Kingdom with no diplomatic rights."
"Your Majesty, it is madness to willingly stoop to becoming a vassal nation to the Orbaume Kingdom! Please reconsider your decision!"
Vandalieu sighed. Despite Chezare's words, Vandalieu had been aiming to become an honorary nobleman in the Orbaume Kingdom from the very beginning. After that, things would depend on what happened to Talosheim, whether the Undead and Ghouls gained human rights or not and whether Vandalieu managed to dispose of the Pure-breed Vampires, but if things went well, he intended to have Talosheim to become a self-governing dominion of the Orbaume Kingdom.
The chances of this becoming a reality were probably quite small, but Vandalieu thought that this would provide the most benefits.
Of course, if this was impossible, the Orbaume Kingdom probably had exceptional diplomats he could make deals with while managing the nation, but… would he need dozens of experienced Undead from political families?
"Well, that's for the future, so let's leave it aside for now… You mentioned currency, didn't you? I intend to depart for the Hartner Duchy before the day is over, so won't you consider it after that?" said Vandalieu.
Vandalieu was already seven years old, and the season was summer. According to his plans, he should have already been heading for the Hartner Duchy by now.
His objective was to register at the Guild.
For underage individuals to work as adventurers, they need to enroll and graduate at the adventurers' school. However, registration is possible even without enrolling at the school.
G-class adventurers who have just registered at the Adventurers' Guild can only accept manual work in towns, so there is no need for them to learn at the school. Only those intending to rise to F-class and beyond enroll at the school… At least, this was true for the Orbaume Kingdom's Adventurers' Guild of two hundred years ago.
In the future, Vandalieu also intended to rise to F-class and beyond, gain achievements to his name and become an honorary nobleman. But right now, he intended to register, acquire a Guild Card and return to Talosheim without enrolling at the adventurers' school.
The reason for this was -
"I want to register before my Status becomes even more outrageous than it is now."
This sentence summarized that reason.
A registration card, commonly known as a Guild Card, would be issued when Vandalieu registered at the Guild. But Vandalieu's Status would be displayed in full to the Guild staff member issuing him the Guild Card.
In other words, Vandalieu's Titles of Ghoul King, Eclipse King and Taboo Name, his previously-undiscovered Jobs such as Undead Tamer and Soul Breaker, the unknown skill that was Death-Attribute Magic, his astoundingly-named unique skill, God Slayer, and even the curses placed upon him by Rodcorte, would all be displayed.
It was already looking quite bad, but there was no saying that more terrible things wouldn't appear on his Status. Thus, Vandalieu's plan was to register now before it got any worse and then make a dash back to Talosheim before an uproar occurred.
Of course, Vandalieu had another objective of investigating what became of the First Princess Levia, Borkus's daughter and the others who had escaped to the Hartner Duchy from Talosheim two hundred years ago.
Like Ghouls, Titans lived for three hundred years, so he would probably be able to find out by asking Titans in a town.
It would be nice if they were healthy, but if they were too healthy and were currently planning the revival of Talosheim, it would be problematic. Perhaps not, if they were understanding towards Undead.
"I'll bring back currency from the Orbaume Kingdom, so let's examine that and think about it then," said Vandalieu.
The Amid Empire used a unified currency issued by the Empire, but in the Orbaume Kingdom, each duchy and royal capital city issued its own currency. In other words, there were fourteen kinds of currency.
Baums, a unit of currency valid all over the Orbaume Kingdom, circulated in combination with the currency issued in each duchy. Because of this, despite all being part of the same nation, towns on the boundaries between duchies had currency exchange facilities. Peddlers working in multiple duchies had to constantly be mindful of the currency exchange rates.
In addition to the above, there had apparently been cases of older currencies being replaced by newer currencies in the Orbaume Kingdom's history. It wasn't simply a matter of the face of the king engraved on the coins being changed; the metallic ratios of the coins would change, so they would have different values as well.
Therefore, it was possible that new coins might have been created sometime in the past two hundred years.
"The Orbaume Kingdom lost one duchy in the war of six years ago, but that doesn't change the fact that things are complicated, so we have to be careful if we're going to create our own currency."
It would be problematic if the value of Talosheim's currency plummeted in the distant future due to differences in the coins' metallic ratios. Vandalieu had learned in class that this had happened in Japan in the past.
Chezare appeared surprised for some reason. "You still intend to go to the Hartner Duchy?!"
"… What do you mean, 'still?'" Vandalieu asked. "Of course I do."
"But you have already postponed your departure for seven days."
"There are various reasons for that. Various reasons." Though Vandalieu said this, he couldn't deny that he had continued to postpone his departure for seven days.
The ones going to the Hartner Duchy were Vandalieu, the ninja unit of Zran and Braga, and Eleanora, who was exceptional as an infiltrating spy. That was the plan.
Vandalieu would go to the city of the Hartner Duchy, take a look around and check whether there was any reaction from Danger Sense: Death. After that, he would call the ninja unit and Eleanora.
This was what he had discussed with everyone months ago, but -
The first day.
"No way, no way, I'm going with you!" Pauvina squealed.
"Go…ing!" Rapiéçage groaned.
"No way, no way, I-I want to go with… I cannot do thiiiiis!" Zadiris wailed.
"Pauvina, I'm just going there and coming straight back, so it might not even take ten days," said Vandalieu. "Rappie, you'd cause an uproar if you went near areas where people live, so you can't come. And Zadiris, you don't have to do that if you're going to be embarrassed about it."
Pauvina, Rapiéçage and for some reason Zadiris, held him back. Pauvina and Rapiéçage were quickly pacified, but Zadiris was depressed, asking herself, "How unbecoming of my age. What am I doing?" By the time Vandalieu cheered her up, the sun had already set.
Giving up on departing that day, Vandalieu spent the evening playing with Varbie, Jadal and the other children.
The second day.
Vandalieu decided that he would leave today. Suddenly, the sky became dark, and before he knew it, he was kidnapped and taken into the sky.
"OOOOOOHN."
It seemed that Knochen, the Union of Bones, had kidnapped him from behind.
"Umm, I'm intending to leave today," said Vandalieu.
"OOOOHN? OHN."
"No, I can't really bring you with me."
Nobody in Talosheim was aware yet that a Union of Bones was a monster that would be designated as a disaster, but even so, it wasn't difficult to imagine that there would be a huge uproar if a mass of bones went near a town.
"Once I register at the Guild, I'll get a Familiar's certificate for you."
"OOOOHN!"
As Vandalieu tried to persuade Knochen into letting him down while being taken on a scenic flight, the sun set.
The third day.
Vandalieu decided that he would definitely leave today. Wondering why there was a lot of buzzing and why the sky had become so dark, he was kidnapped into the sky.
"I thought I was having déjà vu, but it's Cemetery Bees this time."
Several dozen Cemetery Bees had grabbed Vandalieu. They flew up to their nest that had been built in a way that made it look like a part of the royal castle.
And then they offered him honey and insects. Were they trying to dissuade him from leaving by offering this food?
"I'll be coming back," Vandalieu reassured them.
The Cemetery Bees made clicking noises.
"Yes, really. So please stop making me trying to eat caterpillar dangos. At least boil or fry them."
Fried caterpillar dangos with honey on top were delicious, being crispy on the outside and syrupy on the inside. If the honey was replaced with salty-sweet tare sauce, they might make good side dishes or snacks to eat while drinking alcohol.
The fourth day.
"Will you really be alright? Perhaps it would be better if you waited you leveled up a little more… After all, you did say that your level wasn't really increasing these days, weren't you?"
Today, Darcia, who happened to be awake in the morning, was stopping Vandalieu.
"It's fine, Mom," said Vandalieu, reassuring her. "I've just hit a wall a bit early on. It's not like I've become weaker."
As Darcia said, Vandalieu had entered a phase of development where his level suddenly became very difficult to increase, commonly referred to as a 'wall.'
His progress was indeed slow, but he hadn't suddenly become weaker or become unable to do things today that he had been able to do yesterday.
And it wasn't as if his development would be stalled here forever. It was well-known that walls could be overcome. In fact, Kachia had encountered the same problem. She had now overcome that well and was currently leveling up as fast as she once did in the past.
The thickness of the wall and the timing of encountering it vary. There are those who give up and say that this is their limit, but there are also many who surpass it to grow even further. The percentage of adventurers who give up increases with the second wall, however.
Walls are something that adventurers encounter once when they become D-class. Those quickly able to overcome this wall are determined to have talent, and they attempt to become Class, while those like Kachia who cannot immediately overcome it experience a long slump.
Incidentally, the former A-class adventurer Borkus had encountered three 'walls', and was still attempting to overcome the fourth when he was defeated by Mikhail.
"Looking at it another way, this means that I'm as strong as a D-class adventurer right now," said Vandalieu. "I think making a little trip to the city and coming back will be a piece of cake."
Vandalieu's words were something that any D-class adventurer in this world would deny. Darcia would agree with them.
"No!" Darcia cried. "I don't want to be separated from you! Take me with you, just as you've done up until now!"
"I want to bring you as well, but it's a little dangerous," said Vandalieu.
It was possible that Vandalieu's belongings would be thoroughly searched by the gatekeepers as he entered the city. If by some chance they found Darcia's bone fragment and somehow realized that her spirit was possessing it, it would be troublesome.
If the gatekeepers called for people or tried to purify Darcia's spirit, Vandalieu would be forced to run, even if he had to kill the gatekeepers to do so.
"It would be problematic if I had to fire Death Bullets in random directions, don't you think?"
Indeed, it would be problematic. If Vandalieu did something like that in front of the city's gates, it wouldn't be only the gatekeepers' lives at risk. The walls around the gates would turn into a mountain of rubble… in fact, it wasn't clear if rubble would even be left.
"… Fine," Darcia agreed reluctantly. "But make sure you come back safe," she added.
"Yes, of course, Mom," said Vandalieu.
And so the sun set today as well.
The fifth day.
"Huuuuuuh?" Vandalieu let out a flat-toned scream-like noise as he was kidnapped by the Immortal Ents. Judging from his limp body, it seemed that he had given up on resisting.
The sixth day.
"Kid, about the letter I gave you to give to my daughter if you see her," said Borkus. "If she's having a hard time, give her this as well."
"Holy Son, if you meet Levia-sama, please give this to her," Nuaza requested.
"This as well, Your Majesty!"
"… My luggage is already three times my size," said Vandalieu.
Sorting out his luggage took time, so his departure was delayed yet another day.
And now today was the seventh day.
"I've convinced everyone, and the factories will keep producing miso, soy sauce, katsuobushi, smoked food, mayonnaise and ketchup for a hundred years, even if I'm not here. I'm fully prepared. All I have to do now is move my feet," Vandalieu said eagerly.
"Umm, Vandalieu-sama, there is something of a problem…" Eleanora said reluctantly as she appeared.
"A problem?" Vandalieu repeated.
"Braga and the others ended up going to a Dungeon yesterday. They might not return for a few days," Eleanora told him.
It seemed that the ninja unit had been unable to endure the trip being postponed day after day and had left to do some training in a Dungeon.
"It can't be helped," said Vandalieu. "Let's head out first. If I leave Undead to communicate with, I'm sure they can meet up with us later."
Communication Undead used like familiars could be used like cellphones. The distance for making calls was small, and his voice wouldn't be heard exactly as it was because it would be the Undead's tongue speaking for him, but these were revolutionary Undead in the world of Lambda.
They had the appearance of shrunken Goblin heads; they had the most terrible design… using freshly-severed human heads would provide better function, but Vandalieu would be arrested if he was caught with them, so he had abandoned this idea.
"Now then, shall we go?" said Vandalieu.
"Yes, Vandalieu-sama," Eleanora replied. "Ah, a journey with just the two of us… ♪"
"No, Eleanora. You're going to be waiting at the tunnel, you know?"
Though this was an unlikely scenario, it would be troublesome if the town's gates had anti-Vampire defense mechanisms in place.
Even if Vandalieu didn't take this into account, he also had to be wary of the information network of the Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped Hihiryushukaka, the Evil God of Joyful Life. He also had to be wary of things like the Magic Items that allowed the pinpointing of the owner of a blood sample.
However, he had come to the conclusion that there would be nothing to worry about this time.
He didn't know how extensive the Vampires' information network was, but they would never expect him to be able to reopen the tunnel. Also, they didn't seem to be such a large and careful organization that they would have people hiding in every town and village.
There would be some informants in major cities, but it seemed that they wouldn't have any in regular towns and villages unless there were some special circumstances. At the very least, this was how the information network was arranged in the Empire and Mirg shield-nation according to Eleanora's knowledge.
And as for the Magic Items, they were seized during the defense of Talosheim. Even if there were more of the same items, they would be running low on Eleanora's blood which was necessary to operate them.
And even if they did encounter subordinates of the Pure-breed Vampires, Vandalieu was confident that he would be able to dispose of almost any of them.
"That's how it is, so let's go," said Vandalieu.
"Have a safe trip, Van-sama," said Tarea. "Please make sure you come back to me."
"Tarea, Van is going to come back to us," Basdia reminded her.
"Bocchan, please use me, Sam, as your legs in your next journey," said Sam.
And so, the whole nation saw Vandalieu off as he and Eleanora departed Talosheim for the Hartner Duchy.
Three days were spent flying while being occasionally attacked by Pteranodons and bird-type monsters, and then three more days were spent to pass through the tunnel that Vandalieu had turned into Golems in order to repair. Vandalieu ordered the Golem sealing the tunnel's exit to step aside and finally arrived in the Orbaume Kingdom that he had set his sights on so long ago.
There was nothing at the tunnel's exit other than a sparsely-forested plain with the remains of a road on it, however.
It had apparently been a magnificent highway two hundred years ago when the Hartner Duchy was trading with Talosheim, but there were only traces of it left now.
"If we travel east for three hours, the city we are headed for should be there, but… I wonder if it's still there?" said Eleanora.
"It's apparently a city of several thousand, so it probably is, isn't it?" said Vandalieu. "There should be areas inhabited by people at the very least, since the Hartner Duchy shouldn't have fallen to ruin. Well then, you wait here, Eleanora. I'll use the communication Undead to contact you."
"Alright. But… will you be fine on your own?" asked Eleanora.
"It's fine. I can do this alone," said Vandalieu.
Should he have added, "you know," to the end of his sentence? As Vandalieu asked himself this foolish question, he left the worried-looking Eleanora behind and set out walking along the remains of the road.
He was actually accompanied by a large number of spirits, so he wasn't really alone, however.
In addition, the Golem sealing the tunnel's exit was camouflaged and set to only open when the password was spoken.
The password was, "Brains flying sideways repeatedly." It wasn't something that would ever be spoken by coincidence.
And simple accommodation had been built inside the tunnel near the wall. Eleanora was to stay there and wait for the ninja unit that would be coming afterwards.
"I suppose it's about time," Vandalieu murmured to himself.
Walking through grass that was taller than him had become bothersome, so he was using Flight to fly over it silently.
If it weren't for the luggage he was carrying on his back, it was possible that he would be mistaken for a ghost.
Though this wasn't the reason, sometimes Goblins and giant ravens with 1.5-meter wingspans attacked him. Vandalieu quickly repelled them.
He didn't need any particularly clever plans to defeat Rank 1 or 2 monsters. Of course, he couldn't gain Experience Points because of his curse, but this was a trivial matter that he wasn't concerned about at all.
Goblins wielding tree branches charged at him with strange cries. Vandalieu let out a strange, unmotivated-sounding cry in response as he disposed of them by throwing rocks at them using the Throwing skill that he had acquired after training with the ninja unit.
"About one in five of the Rank 2 giant ravens gives me a Magic Stone, though. If I could get them, I could at least use them to pay the toll fee."
In the Bahn Gaia continent, it was normal for towns and villages to charge a toll fee to enter them. As Vandalieu had no Baums, the currency of the Orbaume Kingdom, he had included salt in his luggage that he thought he would be able to pay as a substitute.
He had given up on the idea of using the Magic Stones and materials of high-Rank monsters, as people might cause a fuss and wonder why such a young child would possess such things. The Hartner Duchy had no seas and no rock salt to mine, so he had brought valuable salt with him.
"If a rock salt mine has been discovered in the past two hundred years and the value of salt has dropped, I suppose I have no choice but to hunt monsters."
Or perhaps Vandalieu would look for non-monster rabbits, which he hadn't done in a while.
"Come to think of it, the fresh rabbit blood that Mom gave me was delicious."
Immersed in his memories, Vandalieu beat yet another Goblin to death and pressed forward.
A distant wall made of stone came into his view.
"I can finally see it. But there's quite a lot of moss and ivy growing on the walls, even though I heard from Borkus and the others that this was quite a prosperous city."
This was the commercial city that had connected Talosheim and the Hartner Duchy together. It had been constructed hastily after commercial trading between the two began, so its history was shallow, but Vandalieu had heard that it had been a lively city.
Perhaps because of the commercial trade disappearing with Talosheim's destruction, the city had gone into a decline. In fact, Vandalieu got the feeling that there were too many monsters like Goblins and giant ravens near the city… He hadn't been near a normal town since Evbejia, so he couldn't be sure, though.
"It couldn't possibly be just a ruin now…" Succumbing to anxiety, Vandalieu used the Detect Life spell across a vast area. He detected over a thousand responses in the center of the city.
It seemed that the city had declined, but hadn't become a ruin.
There were a large number of reactions that were stronger than the average person's, but they were probably adventurers and soldiers who had been stationed there.
"Ah, that's good.��� Letting out a sigh of relief, Vandalieu set his feet back on the ground and began walking towards the city's gates.
As he did so, the gatekeeper that noticed him began to make a noise that sounded like, "Gegyagegyah." Vandalieu had stopped using Flight so that he wouldn't startle them, but it seemed that this was pointless.
The gatekeeper with dark green skin, a long nose, long ears and slanted eyes -
"Hmm, let's face reality," Vandalieu told himself. "That's a Goblin."
Judging from the fact that it was raising its spear, it seemed to be a Rank 2 Goblin Soldier. On the other side of the doorless gates, there were countless Goblins pointing in Vandalieu's direction and shrieking as they ran towards him.
There was one particularly large Goblin who was the size of an adult human among the other chest-high Goblins, letting out a shriek.
Unlike the other crudely-armed Goblins, it was equipped with proper armor, a shield and a halberd.
It seemed that this was a Goblin King.
"Wow, this is the first time I've met a King other than myself," said Vandalieu in a monotonous tone as he released Death Bullets.
And so began the battle between the two Kings, the Ghoul King and the Goblin King!
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 7 years old
Title:[Ghoul King],[Eclipse King],[Taboo Name]
Job: Venom Fist User
Level: 20
Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker
Attributes:
Vitality: 184
Mana: 328,120,344
Strength: 128
Agility: 130
Stamina: 119
Intelligence: 761
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 2
Rapid Healing: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Status Effect Resistance: Level 7
Magic Resistance: Level 1
Dark Vision
Mental Corruption: Level 10
Death-Attribute Charm: Level 6
Chant Revocation: Level 4
Strengthen Followers: Level 8
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Strengthen Subordinates: Level 4
Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Enhanced Agility: Level 1 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Bloodsucking: Level 6
Surpass Limits: Level 5
Golem Transmutation: Level 6
No-Attribute Magic: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Mana Control: Level 4
Spirit Form: Level 6
Carpentry: Level 4
Engineering: Level 3
Cooking: Level 4
Alchemy: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 4
Soul Break: Level 5
Multi-Cast: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Long-distance Control: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Surgery: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Parallel Thought Processing: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Materialization: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Coordination: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
High-speed Thought Processing: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Commanding: Level 1
Farming: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Clothing: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Throwing: Level 3 (NEW!)
Unique skills:
God Slayer: Level 2
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
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Side Story Chapter 6: Kaidou Kanata
Kaidou Kanata was a half-Japanese American. His real name was Kanata Kaidou.
But almost nobody believed this when he told them because both of his parents were of Asian descent, so his appearance was mostly Japanese.
This didn't cause him to suffer any bullying, nor did it cause him to become noticed by others and become popular.
His grades were average, with his athletic abilities being a little better than average. The differences in English in Japan and English in his home country actually made his grades worse.
And, he lost his life in a terrorist bombing attack during a school field trip.
"Kanata, we're reaching the drop point soon."
Kanata, who had been reminiscing about the past, came to his senses as the pilot called out to him.
"Got it," he responded as he checked over his parachute equipment one more time. In the past, he had once gotten full of himself and made a mistake that almost cost him his life during drop training, so he was sure to be particularly careful when it came to inspecting his parachute.
Magic and cheat-like abilities… People in Origin would call these 'Gifts'. During the twenty-eight years that had passed since Kanata was reincarnated in this world, he understood that these Gifts wouldn't prevent him from dying no matter what.
"Now then, let's hurry up and sterilize these terrorists," he said.
"Oi, Kanata, the mission is to rescue the captured daughter of the president," the pilot reminded him. "Don't forget that."
"I know," said Kanata. "By the way, do you think the president would be angry if I asked his daughter for her contact details?"
"No comment. Also, Lady Hannah is only fifteen year sold. She's half your age, old man."
"I'm still in my twenties! I'm not an old man!" Kanata protested.
If including his previous life, he would be in his forties, however.
"Is that right? Well then, hurry up and get going, Gungnir*."
"I hate that code-name."
Giving an exaggerated sigh in embarrassment over his code-name, Kanata jumped out of the helicopter that was camouflaged with light-attribute magic.
When Kaidou Kanata was reincarnated in Origin and awakened to his memories of Earth as well as his new powers, he became Kanata Smith. Though his last name was different, he had thought that the god had made unnecessary effort in allowing him to keep the same first name. He began adapting to his new environment.
Origin resembled Earth other than the fact that magic coexisted with science. The number and shapes of the continents were similar and even the international situation was the same. This helped him to adapt more quickly.
Though Kanata did his best not to use his cheat-like ability in order to keep them hidden, he didn't hide the aptitude for magic that he had been given. Unlike in his previous life, he spent an enjoyable, bright childhood as a prodigy.
His parents were wealthier than his parents on Earth, and soft on their genius son, buying him anything that he wanted. He was always the center of attention at school, and by the time he entered his teenage years, there was never a period of time where he didn't have a girlfriend.
It was truly smooth sailing. A dream-like second life. It seemed like he would have a hard time with his studies from university onwards, but if he kept extending his ability magic, he would easily continue being a famous person.
That was what he had thought.
However, as he approached his late teenage years, he was reunited with the others who had been reincarnated in this world with him.
Even the fact that I'm skydiving towards a house of terrorists with an assault rifle and combat knife, it's all because of that guy.
Amemiya Hiroto. The world's hero, the leader of the one hundred people who had been reincarnated here.
Though Kanata possessed only one cheat-like ability, Amemiya Hiroto possessed multiple. He was a man with an overwhelming amount of power.
He had been finding and gathering the other reincarnated individuals. He was a bastard straight out of American comics, with the ideal of using their powers for world peace.
With great power comes great responsibility? It's the first time I've heard something like that outside of a movie.
Come to think of it, how had that movie's sequel gone? For some reason, the green giant was more popular in Origin, so that hero hadn't been turned into a movie yet. Was it possible that using power alone to scatter your wizard enemies was more popular?
There had been backlash from critics who complained that there was too much emphasis on ancient magic, however.
Thinking about such things, Kanata opened his parachute and cast his magic whose incantation he had recited in advance.
He manipulated the heat and atmosphere while refracting the light around him, making him appear transparent to the terrorists on the ground. He was essentially a mirage.
"Now then, this should fool them - or not?!"
Holes appeared in Kanata's parachute one after another. Realizing that his parachute was being shot at from the ground, he cut himself free from it and fell near the suburb ruins that the terrorists had holed themselves up in.
Amemiya Hiroto and the others who were reincarnated in Origin were, in Kanata's eyes, the worst.
Hiroto insisted that the cheat-like abilities granted to them by the god were 'Gifts' and organized a rescue team that operated internationally. A team of heroes, so to speak.
They dealt with natural disasters and fought mysterious Undead monsters that appeared out of nowhere, made appearances in charity parties to sign autographs for children and went on television to give interviews.
Even Kanata acknowledged that they had the ability to do this. He worked so hard that it would be impossible to believe that he had been a NEET on Earth, kicked out by his parents and was riding that ferry in order to go and live and work in a relative's factory.
But Kanata wished that they wouldn't get him involved. He hadn't admired the protagonists of adventure or action movies, nor did he want to perform hard work and become covered in sweat and dirt for the sake of people whose names and faces he didn't know. He would have been satisfied with simply relaxing, being pampered by those around him and living an enjoyable life.
The thing that he found difficult to understand was that many of his school friends from his previous life supported Amemiya Hiroto. Everyone was overjoyed at becoming superheroes. They happily traveled west to provide disaster relief and east to assist in criminal investigations. They rejoiced in their lives as they were hugely popular in the media.
Of course, not all of them were happy. There were more than a few of them who found it troublesome to be exposed to the media. However, even they still supported Hiroto. They said that it was better to stay in a single organization so that the world's nations wouldn't use and exploit their special, non-magical powers in undesirable ways.
Now that the organization had been created, being widely acknowledged and trusted by those outside the organization, the common people in particular, was more important than anything. That was what they said.
Because the great majority of those resurrected here supported Amemiya, making objections would require courage, and apparently the governments of each nation had already been aware that Kanata possessed a special ability even before he reunited with the others.
His name, face and Mana seal, Origin's equivalent of Earth's fingerprints and retina patterns, were all already known. If he hadn't reunited with Amemiya and the others, it would probably have been people from the government appearing in front of Kanata instead.
Amemiya said that gathering into a single organization and appearing before the media was to intentionally keep all information open so that intelligence agencies and criminal organizations wouldn't take advantage of them. But Kanata felt that his well-being was none of Amemiya's concern.
In the group of one hundred people reincarnated from Earth, his exceptional affinity with magic, his great talent and Mana pool that was larger than other mages would be buried in the masses. He would go from being a genius to 'just another person.'
The only affinities with magic that Kanata had been given were his high aptitude for the fire-attribute and an average aptitude for the wind-attribute. The cheat-like ability that he had been granted was quite well-suited for being used in the field.
Because of this, he had been given the exaggerated code-name of "Gungnir", but -
"That's why I'm forced to risk my life in these secret missions without getting paid much!"
Just before Kanata hit the ground, he opened his spare parachute. Normally, it wouldn't have opened in time, but he used wind-attribute magic to force it to open and reduce the impact of his fall.
He somehow made a successful landing and rolled across the ground.
"Light, heat, Mana," he whispered as he remembered the map in his mind. In the next moment, Kanata vanished.
Well, I've only become transparent.
With his field of vision surrounded in complete darkness, Kanata pressed forward, relying only on his memory of the terrain.
Those damn terrorists. Did they get their hands on the latest Mana sensors?
Kanata suspected that his parachute descent had been noticed because the spell that he had cast triggered a sensor. That was why he had turned himself transparent to the naked eye, to heat sensors and to Mana sensors.
This was Kanata's cheat-like ability.
Incidentally, he hadn't used this ability during his parachute descent because it required Mana to use, and he had wanted to conserve as much as he could. The other reason was because he was rendered blind in this state, meaning that he could have collided with obstacles during his landing without being able to see them.
He soon reached the building in which the terrorists were holding this nation's president's daughter captive.
"Detect Organism Heat." Undoing his ability and regaining his vision, Kanata used a spell that only detected the heat of living creatures to search the entire building. It also reacted to the small animals living in the surrounding wasteland, but he ignored all of them.
There were seven human-sized heat sources. Four of them were moving around hurriedly. They were probably the ones who had noticed Kanata and fired their guns at him.
The other three were all close to each other. However, two of them seemed to be sitting down. The other one was standing tall.
"There's no way that there are two terrorist guards sitting in chairs in front of a president's daughter who's bigger than me, is there?"
Kanata had seen a photograph; Lady Hannah was a small, fifteen-year-old girl. Even if she was in her growth period, this was impossible.
"Well, for now, I guess I'll get rid of those four." Because he was unable to tell which of the two seated people was Lady Hannah, he decided to dispose of the four that were moving first. "Structure," he whispered as he pointed his assault rifle in the direction of the heat sources and squeezed the trigger.
There was a roar of gunfire, and the bullets passed straight through the walls of the building without making any impact sounds or leaving any traces.
The terrorists, having noticed Kanata's detection spell, had already started to make a move, but then they suddenly collapsed and lay still.
They had been shot by bullets that had appeared through the walls and floors without warning.
This gunfire was truly 'Gungnir'. No matter what obstacles were in Kanata's way, his bullets would easily pierce the vitals of their target.
"It really is an exaggeration, though," Kanata muttered. "And what's the idea behind making a code-name associated with my ability? Building, metal."
Kanata passed smoothly through the wall and floor to enter the building. In the next moment, he tightly grasped his resin-handled knife and charged through a wall into the room where the reactions of the other three had come from.
"Gungnir?!" the large terrorist screamed, but the knife made short work of him.
And then Kanata quickly checked the remaining two people.
One of them was a female terrorist firing a gun freely at Kanata's back. Even in Origin, where magic existed, guns and knives were still the best options for making sudden counterattacks. Because magic needed incantations, they took time.
The metal bullets passed straight through Kanata's body and pierced the large man, however.
"You're such a pretty woman, too. What a shame," Kanata said as he used his knife to return the favor to the Caucasian terrorist woman, whose face had turned pale upon realizing that bullets wouldn't work on her enemy.
If the president's daughter wasn't here, I would have stayed in invincible-mode and given them a punch… No, the second was a pretty woman who hadn't done anything. What a waste.
Even though this was one of the few benefits of being made to engage in fights to the death.
"Who are you?"
"Are you alright? I am Gungnir of the Bravers. I have come to rescue you." Kanata made his identity clear, hiding his inner thoughts and adopting a gentlemanly manner.
'Bravers' was the name that had been given to the team of people reincarnated from Earth after a certain incident. Their official name was the 'Hundred Bravers.'
The 'Hundred Heroes' would be a terribly embarrassing name, wouldn't it?
Now that I think about it, that was the cause for us to start accepting work that involves killing like this in addition to the rescue and support work, wasn't it?
That was when they had gone to a secret research laboratory in a European military nation to exterminate one of the experimental subjects who had become an Undead and gone on a rampage.
They had accepted missions to exterminate the Undead that occasionally appeared in Origin, as well as animals and people who had been turned into monsters by the influence of Mana, on multiple occasions before that. But this incident was particularly memorable in various ways.
First, the 'Oracle' Endou Kouya*, who provided predictions on what methods should be used to complete requests, had provided a very strange method of defeating this Undead.
They had to wait, completely defenseless, for the Undead to come out of the laboratory. They had to avoid showing hostility towards it at all costs. Once the Undead let its guard down, they would take it down with a combined, simultaneous attack.
They had questioned the Oracle's sanity after being told to be defenseless before a dangerous enemy, but when they actually executed this plan, the Undead let its guard down and was defeated in a one-sided fashion.
Kanata had been truly bewildered, wondering what it was thinking, but things began to progress rapidly from there.
That Undead, or to be more specific, the Mana of the person who had become that Undead, had been the secret behind the new pharmaceutical products and medical treatments that the military nation had been exporting.
Death-attribute Mana, which had never been discovered before. Kanata and the other Bravers had obliterated the only source of this Mana from the face of the planet, leaving not even a single fragment of flesh behind.
Of course, the exports stopped. New pharmaceutical products and Magic Items were impossible to create, and the entire world began competing to do so. And in the shadows, with the information extracted from the remaining data and the few survivors of the laboratory as a basis, each nation desperately tried to search for… or create, a second death-attribute mage.
Kanata and the others were asked repeatedly whether they could use their 'Gifts' to recreate death-attribute magic. Kouya, the Oracle who was supposed to be able to answer this question, said, "That thing… That person was someone who shouldn't have existed in this world. In order to save him, we had no choice but to do this." And then he remained silent on the matter.
Feeling sympathy for a single guinea pig? This is why I can't deal with amateurs, Kanata had thought, but as more of the illegal research facility and its investigation on death-attribute magic was exposed, he realized just how abnormal that Undead's existence had been. If they hadn't killed it, it might have been them who would have been killed. At the very least, over half of those who had gone to the laboratory would have died.
As Kanata attended mass at the church every week, he could sympathize with the Undead a little.
If death-attribute magic was mastered, immortality would apparently become possible, but things had become a mess because of the powerful people who wanted to obtain that immortality and the religious people who refused to accept it.
That was why the president's daughter had been kidnapped by terrorists, and that was why Kanata had come to rescue her.
Huh? Why am I remembering this kind of stuff? Actually…
"Gehah?!" As Kanata suddenly turned around, blood came out of his mouth. "You… how do you know… my weakness… You're not the president's daughter, huh…"
Hannah, who had been clinging onto Kanata, had plunged her arm deep into his solar plexus. It wasn't something that the president's daughter was capable of doing.
"It's me, Kanata," Hannah replied quietly as her appearance silently changed. The young Caucasian girl turned into an Asian woman in her late twenties.
"You… Metamorph… Why…?"
It was Shihouin Mari*, one of the people who had reincarnated from Earth, a woman who was supposed to be one of the Bravers, with the cheat-like ability to transform into any kind of person.
Mari responded with a mask-like, expressionless face, but there was hatred burning in her eyes. "I made use of the terrorists in order to kill you. The real president's daughter is probably being protected in another place by now."
"In order to kill me?! Why, I don't remember doing anything to be hated by you…!"
"To avenge my mother."
"Wait! Don't misunderstand!" Kanata was unsteady on his feet and his body was reacting to his commands surprisingly badly, but he backed off and put some distance between himself and Mari.
He cauterized his wound to stop the bleeding, desperately looking for a way to survive.
"It wasn't me who killed that woman," he said. "It's true that I couldn't save her, and it's true that it was me who stopped her heart in the end. But she was missing her head, you know?! It's because of me that your mother is living out there somewhere -"
"If my mother was missing her head, can you explain why her cornea was transplanted into a mafia boss?" asked Mari, interrupting him. "You piece of sheet."
As Kanata tried to crawl backwards away from her, she quickly raised her hand towards his head.
This was the worst. Mari's Metamorph ability was a terrible opponent for Kanata's Gungnir ability. If Kanata was unwounded, he would still be able to somehow escape, but now that he had taken a fatal wound, it was impossible.
"Wait! Do you think that the others will allow this?! There's no way you can keep this hidden; there's no way that that justice-loving Hiroto would forgive… Stop, I don't want to die yet!" Kanata begged. "That mother of yours isn't your real parent; she's just the woman who gave birth to you in this world, isn't she?! And aren't we supposed to be comrades?!"
"No. Someone like you, who cut up my mother and sold her organs, is no comrade of mine."
Kanata vaguely heard Mari's voice speak these words, but before he could reply, his consciousness was cut off.
Kanata Smith, one of the Hundred Bravers. Known as Kaidou Kanata on Earth.
Discovered with a fatal wound, he was rushed into a medical facility. Treatment produced no real results, and three days later, he was confirmed as deceased.
It was thought that the weakness of his Gift was taken advantage of during his mission to rescue the president's daughter from terrorists.
Kanata Smith was remembered by the people as the first casualty of the one hundred heroes, and his death made a shocking impact on ninety-eight of the ninety-nine remaining Bravers.
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Chapter 68: The Hartner Duchy has gone through a decline
『The levels of the Unarmed Fighting Technique, Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue) and Bloodsucking skills have increased!』
"I see. This city had already become the Goblin King's stronghold," said Vandalieu.
"Still, you're pretty impressive," Zran remarked. "To think that you'd be able to take down a disaster-designated monster on your own."
"I wanted to see King going wild, too," said Braga.
"No, it wasn't really that special," Vandalieu told him.
That evening, he and Eleanora, who had regrouped with the ninja unit, were having a hot pot together.
After Vandalieu had approached the city, he had fought the Goblins in earnest. He used Out-of-body Experience and Spirit Form to divide himself, used the Materialization skill to materialize his body parts, fired Death Bullets all over the place and slaughtered the Goblins with his claws while running endlessly around them. It was a one-sided massacre.
He had used Golem Transformation to create Stone Golem allies from the city's walls as well, so every single Goblin was turned into a silent corpse.
In addition, he didn't have to think about finding female Goblins that could become partners for Braga and the other Black Goblins. The Black Goblins didn't understand the Goblin language, and because Black Goblins resembled humans far more than Goblins, their sense of beauty wouldn't match.
"It wasn't anything amazing," said Vandalieu. "It was only a thousand Goblins."
"For normal people, that would be pretty amazing," Zran told him. "That's a number that even a Class adventurer would run from if he was on his own."
"Well you know, I'm not really normal," Vandalieu pointed out.
"Yeah, King is amazing," said Braga.
A thousand Goblins led by a Goblin King. The pack of Goblins under the Goblin King's rule had still been small, but a normal adventurer or even a party wouldn't have been able to challenge them.
Though the Goblin King's Strengthen Followers skill was likely still low in level, it would still strengthen the Goblins beyond their normal abilities, and under the King's rule, even cowardly Goblins would become reckless soldiers willing to sacrifice their own lives.
However, these had proved to be enemies that Vandalieu could defeat one-sidedly on his own.
He was vulnerable to enemies who possessed enough power to break through his Impact-Negating Barrier or his Magic Absorption Barrier, but he was essentially invincible against enemies who couldn't break them.
Keeping his physical body and soul protected inside his barriers, he had left the outside fighting to his spirit-form clones. With Vandalieu doing this, it was impossible for Goblin Soldiers and Generals armed only with rusted weapons to deal him a fatal blow.
Though the Goblin Kings and Mages did their best to defeat the clones, they inflicted pain that Vandalieu considered to be tolerable, and he could simply make more clones again immediately afterwards.
With the remaining stone walls of the town turned into Stone Golem allies for Vandalieu, even escaping was difficult for the Goblins.
As a result, the Goblin King and his pack were annihilated after managing to make Vandalieu use only 10,000,000 of his Mana. Vandalieu had even recovered the majority of that 10,000,000 Mana with his Automatic Mana Recovery skill and by using Bloodsucking on the Goblin King.
"But Vandalieu-sama, couldn't you have defeated them faster by using disease?" asked Eleanora.
If Vandalieu wanted to, it was possible to quickly produce the pathogen that caused the disease that he had used on the Mirg shield-nation's army in the defense of Talosheim last year. If he had used this, the non-Black, normal Goblins would have instantly become unable to act. They wouldn't have died immediately, but Vandalieu would simply have to finish off the collapsed Goblins as if he were performing some manual labor task, so it wouldn't have even been a battle.
But there was a flaw with this plan.
"That's true, but it would have been troublesome if there were people that the Goblins had captured," said Vandalieu. "Well, there weren't any, though."
Like Orcs, Goblins sometimes kidnapped women and used them as tools to birth children. Vandalieu had taken this possibility into account, but fortunately this pack hadn't been keeping any women captive. There had signs of life that could have been captive women, but they turned out to just be female Goblins.
"How prudent of you to consider women who might not even have been there," said Eleanora.
"I think it's normal to take that into consideration," Vandalieu told her. "But don't stop praising me."
Delicious meals and the admiration of others is the richness of life. Physical contact would make it even better.
"Yeah, you did good," said Zran.
"You're great, King," said Braga.
As the three of them patted his head, Vandalieu recovered from the disappointment of the failure of his first visit to an area inhabited by humans. He turned the Goblins that he had killed into Zombies and everyone began preparing to make camp.
Vandalieu didn't really like the idea of using the houses that the Goblins had been living in, so he used Golem Transmutation to construct familiar-looking pit dwellings out of suitable wood and stone.
It was summer, so ten of these would probably be fine.
Incidentally, Vandalieu had broken the Goblin King's limbs and left him at death's door for Braga to deal the finishing blow. Braga did gain some Experience Points, but despite being a King, it was only Rank 4. It didn't provide enough for Braga to level up.
"Still, what a waste," said Zran. "If you'd defeated the Goblin King after becoming an adventurer, you would have climbed up the classes all in one go."
"Are they really that amazing, these Goblin Kings?" asked Vandalieu.
"Well, they are," Zran told him. "If a newbie who had just registered were to defeat a Goblin King on his own, I think they would be promoted from G-class straight to E-class, and they'd probably be allowed to take the D-class promotion exam right afterwards as well."
"Oh, so they're more amazing than they look," said Braga, looking impressed. "As expected of another King."
"… Wow, I feel like I just missed out on a lot," said Vandalieu as his shoulders dropped.
A newbie who had just registered at the Guild, defeating a Goblin King alone. It would be incredibly big news, an achievement that would linger in the memories of even those who weren't adventurers.
In fictional works that Vandalieu had seen on Earth, there were plots where the protagonist would suddenly achieve something great and make a striking debut. This could have been possible for Vandalieu.
If he had done it after registering as an adventurer, that is.
"I mean, we're supposed to be leaving the city quickly, right? You wouldn't even have time to sit the exam either way," Zran pointed out.
"That's right," said Eleanora. "And you defeated such a great enemy before you even registered. I'm sure you will be able to achieve something just as great soon enough, Vandalieu-sama."
"I suppose you're right," said Vandalieu, feeling a little better after being comforted like this. "But the city was beyond undergoing a decline; it had become a home for Goblins. Why is that, I wonder? The Hartner Duchy does still exist, doesn't it?"
"Yes, there is no doubt about that," said Eleanora. "This is my first time coming to the Orbaume Kingdom as well, but something like the destruction of an entire duchy would be news that would travel to the western side of the continent. And judging from the state of the ruins, it seems that the city disappeared a long time ago."
"I've only been to this city twice as well, but… isn't it because the commercial trading with us stopped?" said Zran. "But even then, there's an even larger city to the north and a mine to the south. You'd think that it would still get by as a place where people stop in between."
"Then maybe the city became impossible to maintain because of monster rampages," Braga suggested.
"Yes, that could be the reason," said Eleanora. "The same thing has apparently happened before in the Mirg shield-nation as well."
Vandalieu had once heard from Kachia that after Talosheim was destroyed by the Mirg shield-nation, the monster population had no longer been kept in check by the Titan adventurers, so some monsters crossed the Boundary Mountain Range and caused damage to the Mirg shield-nation.
The same thing had likely happened to the Hartner Duchy. As Braga suggested, it was possible that the duke had become unable to maintain the city, leading to its abandonment.
"I see, no wonder the area around the city had turned into a semi-Devil's Nests," said Zran. "They weren't able to keep the monster numbers in check."
Incidentally, the difference between Devil's Nests and semi-Devil's Nests is the extent of Mana pollution in the soil.
Lands with Mana pollution so severe that normal plants and animals living there would turn into monsters and monsters would spontaneously appear are referred to as Devil's Nests. The presence of produce that only grows in Devil's Nests, such as Kobol fruits, is also a requirement of being classified as a Devil's Nest.
In order to convert a Devil's Nest into normal land that doesn't produce monsters, forests need to be cut down and swamps need to be filled in, things that can easily contain Mana must be removed and clergymen from the Church are needed to purify the land.
Semi-Devil's Nests, on the other hand, are simply lands that multiple monsters have begun living in for whatever reason. For those making use of these lands, they are essentially the same as Devil's Nests, but once the monsters are all hunted down, no more monsters appear. Afterwards, they can be used just like any other forest and marshland.
With this logic, Talosheim and its surroundings was a splendid Devil's Nest, with its crops turning into monster plants. But nobody minded.
"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Braga. "Are we going back to Talosheim?"
"No, let's go and see the city to the north," said Vandalieu.
"It's more promising than the mine to the south," said Zran. "Since two hundred years have passed, it might have run dry and stopped being mined by now."
"Eh? Do ore veins run dry in this world?" Vandalieu asked in surprise.
"King, it's only ore veins in Dungeons that don't," Braga told him.
It seemed that Talosheim was in a truly blessed location.
The next day, Vandalieu turned the well water into Aqua Golems (which resembled Slimes) to remove it while the Black Goblins cleaned the well so that Eleanora and the others could wait here while he went to the city. He quickly set up some walls, watchtowers and traps with Golem Transmutation before heading towards the highway that the Goblins' spirits had told him about.
He found walking to be bothersome along the way, but unlike yesterday, he decided to build his body's strength by running on all fours, using his claws to provide grip on the ground's surface.
"Once I reeegister at the Guiiild, and becooome an adveeenturer~" Vandalieu sang this rhythmless tune as he ran along on all fours for around half an hour. He finally found the road. It was a crudely-built road that would cause carriages traveling along it to bump up and down, but it was clearly man-made.
Realizing that this was one of the highways of the Orbaume Kingdom, he stared at it for a while. As he took his first step onto it, he raised his arms in celebration, and then froze.
"Traveling alone feels… empty," he whispered to himself.
He had tried singing to himself and firing himself up meaninglessly, but these couldn't fill the void. The feeling didn't last.
Vandalieu had been alone in his previous life and the life before that, but in Lambda, there had always been someone by his side. Because of this, he had completely lost his resistance to feelings of loneliness.
There were over a thousand spirits floating about in Vandalieu's surroundings, however. But as spirits, their personalities had gradually deteriorated. Thus, the spirits led by Vandalieu, including the Goblins that he had killed yesterday, were simply tools to use for Golem Transmutation rather than companions.
"If I don't hurry and get to the city, I'll probably end up making Undead just to have someone to talk to. So, from here, north is… this way."
Using the sun as a reference to get a sense of direction, Vandalieu began running.
After he continued running for a while, he suddenly noticed a scent on the wind that stimulated his hunger.
"This is the smell of blood. This stink is Goblin blood… no, there's human blood mixed in as well?"
It seemed that there were people and Goblins fighting up ahead.
"Alright, let's go and help them."
Vandalieu used Flight to float lightly into the air, and then began flying forward at great speed.
He didn't know whether the adventurers or soldiers who were fighting were struggling, but even if the battle was going favorably for them, wouldn't they be friendly towards him? That was what Vandalieu thought.
As usual, he had no confidence in his ability to communicate with those who were unaffected by his Death-Attribute Charm.
Kasim stopped the club with his shield and brought it crashing down on the club's owner.
"Eat this! Shield Bash!"
The Goblin Soldier screamed as the shield slammed into his face, sending it flying backwards. However, its place was quickly taken by another Goblin Soldier.
"Oi, Kasim! When did you learn how to use Shield Bash?!"
"I just shouted the martial skill's name; it's not like I can actually use it."
"That's what I thought!"
The Shield-bearer-in-training Kasim, the Swordsman-in-training Fester and the Scout-in-training Zeno formed a three-man party. Because Goblins had been appearing more frequently on the highway between the village and the mine, this party had been hunting them to reduce their numbers.
The three of them had just graduated the adventurers' school and become E-class adventurers, but they were confident that they would be able to exterminate Goblins, even if they appeared in large numbers with three or four Goblin Soldiers.
But they hadn't expected over fourteen Goblin Soldiers to appear on a highway that wasn't even part of a Devil's Nest.
On top of this, there was a particularly problematic Goblin shrieking orders to the others. It was a Rank 3 Goblin Barbarian, one of the newbie-killers that the adventurers had learned about in the adventurers' school.
"What is a Goblin Barbarian doing in a place like this? I didn't sign up for this!"
"Everyone mistook it for a Goblin. This is why they're newbie-killers."
If examined closely, it is clear that Goblin Barbarians have more developed muscles around the neck and limbs, but from afar, they simply look like slightly thicker Goblins. And in the majority of cases, their weapons are tree branches used as clubs just like other Goblins, only a little larger.
Because of this, many newbies approach them after mistaking them for normal Rank 1 Goblins, only to be beaten to death by their overwhelming strength.
"It's still better than a Goblin Mage, isn't it? Those are newbie-killers as well," said Zeno.
The contents of a Goblin Barbarian's head are no different from a normal Goblin's. Even the Goblin Barbarian that was in charge now seemed to not have given any orders other than, "Don't run away," and, "Fight."
"Zeno, you're right, but trouble is trouble. No matter what happens, they won't… run away!" Fester finally managed to cut down a Goblin Soldier, but the next Goblin Soldier stepped forward immediately to take its place.
He had already cut down three of them. Goblin Soldiers were smart enough to run when they thought that their chances of winning were slim or if they thought that victory would come at too great a cost.
But the Goblin Barbarian's head was filled with nothing but the idea of fighting. And since the Goblin Soldiers feared the Barbarian far more than Kasim's party, they weren't running away.
"Oi, do you still have Mana left?" Kasim asked his companions. "If I use Provocation and either Stone Wall or Stone Form, I'll be out."
"I can use three more martial skills," Zeno replied. "How about you, Fester?"
"… I only have enough to use Single Flash twice," said Fester.
It is difficult to say that non-mage E-class adventurers have abundant Mana pools. Kasim prepared himself, knowing that it would be difficult to come out of this situation alive on their own with their remaining Mana.
At least they were all fortunate enough to be men. At worst, they would all be killed here… though they would probably turn into Goblin food afterwards, they wouldn't feel anything as long as they were killed first.
"Zeno, Fester, I'll draw the Goblins' attention with Provocation. While I do that, you guys run," said Kasim.
"Kasim, what are you trying to -"
"There's a Barbarian on the highway! There's definitely a large pack of Goblins nearby. You need to let everyone in the village know!" Kasim raised his shield.
The Goblins had grown tired of attacking, but they were unwilling to allow Kasim's party to escape. The moment Kasim tried to use his Shield Technique martial skill, Provocation -
Far behind the Goblin Barbarian, there was a child carrying a large amount of luggage floating in the air.
"Eh?"
That child was silently flying closer, swift as the wind.
"- Iron Rend."
He swept his claws across, easily decapitating the Goblin Barbarian.
"Eh?"
"Geh?"
"What?"
"Gyageh?"
The Goblin Barbarian screamed as its head flew off and blood spouted from its headless corpse like a fountain.
Kasim and the Goblin Soldiers stared blankly at the white-haired child that was floating in the air on the other side of this blood fountain, making it difficult to believe that this was reality.
"Umm, if you're going to attack the Goblins, I think now is your best chance," the child… Vandalieu, advised Kasim's party, who were still staring at him blankly several seconds later.
"Gegyuh?"
"Eh? Yeah!"
"Gegyah?!"
Kasim's party used the mace, sword and knife in their hands to beat down the dumbfounded Goblin Soldiers. There were some Goblins who had regained their senses and tried to flee, but they fell before Vandalieu who casually swung his claws at them, and all of the Goblins were safely eliminated.
"Sorry I'm late. My name is Vandalieu."
"Ah. You saved us."
The E-class adventurers were bewildered by Vandalieu's polite self-introduction.
White hair, candle-wax-like skin, doll-like facial features and a clear-sounding voice. All of these contributed to his doll-like lack of presence… it was as if he had a phantom-like air about him, and he would vanish if touched.
The only vivid thing about him was the bloodstained, knife-like claws extending from his thin fingers, but these were his most unbelievable feature for Kasim and his companions.
Vandalieu had sliced through the Goblin Barbarian's muscle-packed neck with these claws. The neck of a monster that was significantly stronger than them, feared at the adventurers' school as a newbie-killer.
Who is this guy?
Nobody could blame them for having their minds completely occupied with this question.
"Umm, Vandalieu-san -" Kasim began.
"You don't have to use the honorific," said Vandalieu interrupting him. "Kasim-san, you are adults, aren't you?"
In the world of Lambda, humans in most regions are treated as adults from the age of fifteen. Kasim and his companions looked to be in their late teenage years to Vandalieu.
In fact, the three of them were young men who had graduated from the adventurers' school and turned fifteen this year.
"Really? Well then, Vandalieu, what may you - I mean, what are you?" Kasim asked.
"Kasim, he won't understand what you're asking him if you say it like that!" said Zeno.
"In other words, he wants to ask who you are, where you've come from and whether you're a person or not," said Fester.
"Fester, you're being so rude! To the one who saved our lives!" Zeno reminded him.
Vandalieu didn't understand why the three of them were so flustered, but for now, he decided to answer their questions.
"I'm a Dhampir, and I lived with my mother in a forest far away from people. I don't know where my father is or whether he's alive. My mother died of illness recently, so I'm heading to a town with an Adventurers' Guild to fulfil her last wish of me becoming an adventurer."
He had no intention of honestly telling them about his past, so he told them the lies that he had prepared in advance.
"A Dhampir?!"
"Ah, it's true, his left and right eyes are different colors and he has claws. It's my first time seeing one."
"Hey. Do you have fangs as well?"
The three of them seemed to think that this explanation was enough to account for Vandalieu's strange features.
The human rights of Dhampirs were recognized in the Orbaume Kingdom, but it wasn't as if half-Vampire children were born frequently, and even if the nation acknowledged Vandalieu as a person, whether the Vampires would accept him was another matter entirely.
Because of this, many people had never actually seen a Dhampir.
Even these three, who had attended the adventurers' school in the city, had only heard about Dhampirs' racial characteristics like their odd-colored eyes, claws and fangs.
Because of this, it seemed that they had brushed aside all of the other strange things about Vandalieu by telling themselves, "It's because he's a Dhampir."
Could it be that Dhampirs are considered rare in the Orbaume Kingdom? Vandalieu wondered.
"Yes, I do have fangs, but… More importantly, are you fine with not cutting and taking the Goblins' ears?" he asked them.
"OH YEAH!" the three of them exclaimed, suddenly returning to their senses. Kasim and Fester hurriedly began cutting the ears off the Goblin Soldiers to prove that they had killed them, while cutting open their chests to check if they had produced any Magic Stones.
They even took the handles of the Goblin Soldiers' spears as well as the Barbarian's club to use as fuel. Their greed was enough to surprise even Vandalieu, but this was normal for novice E-class adventurers.
On first glance, the equipment that Kasim's party was using seemed to be equipment suited for adventurers who had been working for a long time, but they had simply been handed down to them by senior adventurers. In other words, they were secondhand goods.
Kasim's shield was made of bronze, but his mace was made of stone and his armor was made of thick hide, called heavy leather armor.
Zeno's knife and Fester's sword were cheap products made by pouring metal into molds, and they were wearing cheap light leather armor.
Their appearance was such that if they were dirty and had lost their registration cards, it wouldn't be surprising if they were mistaken for bandits.
In contrast, Vandalieu had done his best to make his own appearance inconspicuous. He was wearing clothes that he had spent a lot of effort in making from the civilian clothing that he had stolen from the Mirg shield-nation's fort near the tunnel's exit last year. He was also carrying luggage that looked heavier than his own body weight. At first glance, the only thing that looked to be of value was the contents of his luggage.
However, the only valuable item he had was the pair of sandals that he was wearing right now.
They were an excellent product that Tarea had created so that he could use his claws without discomfort. The soles had been made by sewing Ogre and Earth Dragon hides together, and the laces had been made from Rock Dragon tendons.
Selling these sandals would yield enough money to replace all of Kasim's party's equipment with brand-new items.
"Umm, you can take the Goblin Barbarian's Magic Stone and proof of extermination -"
"No, I'm not an adventurer yet, so please go ahead," said Vandalieu.
"No, we can't do that. A Rank 3 Magic Stone sells for a hundred Baums, and the proof of extermination is worth three hundred Baums!"
"… That thing is called a Goblin Barbarian?" It was only now that Vandalieu realized that the Goblin he had decapitated was not an ordinary Goblin.
But although the adventurers spoke to him about money, he had no idea whether it was a large amount or not.
"Well then, can you please lead me to a village or town?" Vandalieu requested. "Also, it would help if you could tell me about the places people are living and the Adventurers' Guild. I'm a little ignorant about this world, you see."
Kasim's party seemed to agree to this request.
"Alright. We'll lead you to the village we're using as our base."
And so Vandalieu got a foothold for entering a place where people lived for the first time.
Name: Kasim
Race: Human
Age: 15 years old
Title: None
Job: Apprentice Warrior
Level: 72
Job history: None
Passive skills:
None
Active skills:
Farming: Level 1
Club Technique: Level 1
Shield Technique: Level 1
Armor Technique: Level 1
Name: Zeno
Race: Human
Age: 15 years old
Title: None
Job: Apprentice Thief
Level: 65
Job history: None
Passive skills:
Detect Presence: Level 1
Active skills:
Short Sword Technique: Level 1
Archery: Level 2
Trap: Level 1
Name: Fester
Race: Human
Age: 15 years old
Title: None
Job: Apprentice Warrior
Level: 71
Job history: None
Passive skills:
Enhanced Muscular Strength: Level 1
Active skills:
Fishing: Level 1
Swordsmanship: Level 2
Dismantling: Level 1
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