Chapter 41 - 86-88

Chapter 86: The Eclipse King's Orchard

Dealing with Immigration had gone better than expected, so Vandalieu decided to clear the Dungeon in the Immortal Ent Forest and inspect his skills earlier than he had planned.

"I'm going to follow you this time!" Darcia exclaimed. "I was so lonely, but Vandalieu… I think it's too early for you to become independent of me."

"I mean, you were still asleep when I got back, weren't you, Mom?"

Darcia, who was a weak spirit, spent most of her time sleeping in the small bone fragment that she inhabited. It just so happened that she had been sleeping when Vandalieu returned.

However, he did think that it might have been for the best for Darcia to not be present at the time.

"So, I was thinking, what if you turned me into a Fire Ghost like Levia-san?" asked Darcia. "I was burned to death as well; I'm sure I'm suited for it."

"Wait, I've acquired a way to create Homunculi, so wait just a little more," Vandalieu told her.

"But if I become a Ghost, I can help you and always be with you, Vandalieu," she said.

"I'm begging you, please wait a little longer," said Vandalieu. "Also, something might happen to you if evil gods are around."

I have to hurry with this, he thought.

"Aren't there any evil gods, any wicked gods?*"

"… Boy, why are you holding a hatchet in one hand?" asked Zadiris. "Also, I do not think that there would be any evil gods in a Dungeon that has only just appeared."

"No, I thought there was a sliver of hope that there would be," said Vandalieu. He stopped his namahage* impression and looked up at the Dungeon that had appeared in the Immortal Ent forest.

The members who were exploring this Dungeon were Pauvina and the other youths, the women minus Eleanora, Bone Man, Vigaro, ten Cemetery Bees and Luciliano, the baggage-carrier.

"But I am someone who works with my mind, Master," Luciliano protested.

"You don't actually have to carry the baggage," said Vandalieu. "Watch our spells from behind and if you have any advice, go ahead and give it to us."

Although Luciliano was a unique Class adventurer, his ability in battle was quite unimpressive. However, although he had apparently been partially excommunicated, he was a mage who had studied under a master at the Mages' Guild. He might have knowledge or ways of thinking that Vandalieu and the others didn't have, as they were mostly self-taught.

"And you're supposed to be my apprentice, aren't you? Please watch my magic and if you think that there's somewhere else I could apply it, let me know," said Vandalieu.

"I shall do that, Master," said Luciliano.

Thinking that this was impossible, Vandalieu faintly hoped that Luciliano would give up.

"But if the inside is too narrow or the monsters are strong, we'll come back and start again," said Vandalieu.

"I know," said Kachia. "But it's alright, I've become much stronger than I was last time!"

"You won't cry?" Vandalieu asked her.

"I won't cry! I definitely won't cry!"

They entered the Dungeon while teasing Kachia to find that there was a forest inside. It was different to the Devil's Nest forest, the forests full of broad-leaved trees near Talosheim and the forests filled with giant ferns in Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah; it was a coniferous forest with pine and cedar trees.

"While you were away, we ventured into the first floor to ensure that a monster rampage did not occur, and this was how it appeared, my lord," said Bone Man. "The monsters… were like that."

Bone Man was pointing at an enormous, brightly-colored mushroom that completely destroyed the feeling of this place being a coniferous forest… a Rank 3 Poison Mushroom.

They looked like giant mushrooms with limbs, but despite their charming appearance, they were vicious monsters that attacked living things and killed them, leaving spores on their corpses in order to reproduce.

There were three of them standing there.

"They're standing up," said Vandalieu.

"… At this distance, they're within range of bows and arrows, but why are those monsters just standing there?" Basdia asked.

"Perhaps it's because there are so many of us that they are on guard now?" Darcia suggested.

"No, they would run if that were the case," said Zadiris. "Well, I suppose we should try and attack them."

Basdia, Zadiris and Kachia cast their spells to try attacking them. All of them were spells intended to test the waters, so none of them had much power.

The Poison Mushrooms remained motionless and took the attacks from the front. They were cut by blades of wind and the fragrant smell of burning mushrooms drifted into the air.

"They're not moving," Vandalieu remarked.

"Hmm, how eerie," said Zadiris.

"This is how the monsters have been," said Bone Man. "Incidentally, I also defeated four of them with my bow and arrows, jyuuh."

"I threw my axe to defeat a few of them as well," said Vigaro. "They were different monsters to these ones, though."

"So you defeated them… There's something that I'm curious about, so please try defeating those Poison Mushrooms," said Vandalieu.

"Very well, leave it to me." Zadiris, who was holding the staff that Vandalieu had taken from the mansion of the Mages' Guild's Guild Master, used the Blade of Light spell to defeat the Poison Mushrooms in the blink of an eye.

Vandalieu looked at the defeated person-shaped mushrooms for a while before tilting his head in confusion.

"Those Poison Mushrooms have no souls," he said. "I wonder why."

"Indeed, I can't see them," said Darcia.

"Isn't that because they're plants?" Bilde asked.

���Even plants have souls, Bilde," Vandalieu told her.

He didn't know about other worlds, but plants in Lambda had souls. To be more precise, a soul resided in every living thing.

It was true that he didn't know if microscopic organisms and viruses had souls; he couldn't see them without an electron microscope. But plants had souls, so it was difficult to imagine that Poison Mushrooms wouldn't have them.

"Also, Poison Mushrooms we defeated in other places had souls," Vandalieu pointed out.

"Then why in the world don't they have any?" Darcia wondered.

"Aren't the souls still somewhere inside?" Vigaro asked.

"No, they're already dead," said Vandalieu. "But let's check whether there are Magic Stones."

Magic Stones normally appeared in the parts of the monster where their hearts were when they died. Thus, if Magic Stones were present in a monster's body, it was certain that the monster was dead.

Cutting open the Poison Mushrooms' bodies revealed that Magic Stones had indeed appeared. These Poison Mushrooms were unmistakably dead.

"Hmm, I don't understand," said Vandalieu. "It's not like I broke their souls, but they were able to exist without them. Luciliano, do you have any ideas?" he asked.

"Master, I am a mage, not a Spiritualist, so I could not possibly know," Luciliano replied.

"Jyuuh~ I did not pay it much attention earlier, but thinking about it again, it is strange after all," said Bone Man. "Could it be because this is a Dungeon that you created, my lord?"

"Indeed, it is difficult to say as I have never heard of an artificially-created Dungeon before, but… Well, apart from Undead, only Spiritualists and you can see whether they have souls or not, boy," said Zadiris.

They couldn't be certain of anything. It was unclear as to what principles and mechanisms were at work to generate monsters inside Dungeons, so they didn't know anything at all.

"Well, as for why they have no souls, the next time I have the opportunity to meet a god, I'll ask," said Vandalieu, but there was no telling whether any gods would even answer his question.

This question was stepping into the realms beyond mortal knowledge.

Dungeons generated monsters one after another thanks to the Demon King Guduranis's circle of transmigration system. The countless souls flowing through the system were used to create the monsters of the Dungeons.

This applied for Dungeons created by the evil gods as well

But Vandalieu didn't have his own circle of transmigration system, nor did he know of a way to use the other systems.

Because of this, the monsters in the Dungeon created by Vandalieu were like soulless robots with living bodies. The exceptions were monsters that had entered the Dungeon from outside or monsters whose empty bodies had been possessed by exterior souls.

The same applied for Heinz��s Skeleton Caverns near the city of Niarki; the monsters had been programmed to move based on Vandalieu's hatred and obeyed this programming the moment they were born. Other than the monsters in this initial monster rampage, the monsters of that Dungeon didn't have souls.

But this information was only known to the gods, so Vandalieu and his companions couldn't even make such conjectures. They had no choice but to put this matter aside for now and continue on.

"Well, isn't it fine?" said Darcia. "You can still earn Experience Points, can't you?"

Vandalieu shook his head. "We can, but since they're just standing like scarecrows, we won't get practice for our skills," he said. "It would be better if they just attacked us normally."

There were Poison Apes nearby, apes with venomous saliva, motionless like the Poisonous Mushrooms. The moment Vandalieu finished speaking, as if a switch had been flipped, they attacked his party.

After being surprised by the Poisonous Apes but defeating them without incident, Vandalieu and his party investigated why they had suddenly begun moving by examining other monsters.

"Stop, turn over, paw, stay, come, stop… Yes, the only ones that work seem to be 'stop' and 'come,'" said Vandalieu, watching the Rank 4 Poison Ents freeze like dolls and attack by swinging their branches based on his commands.

"How surprising… is it different from taming them?" asked Kachia.

"Yes, it is," Vandalieu replied. "They don't obey any other commands. For example, please take me around this place three times."

There was the sound of buzzing wings.

The Cemetery Bees grabbed Vandalieu's legs, flew up and took him around three times before letting him back down on the ground.

"And now… take me around this place three times." Vandalieu tried giving the same command to the Poison Ents, but they stayed frozen, not moving an inch."As you can see, they don't respond to my words."

"Wouldn't one normally tell them to spin around three times?" Luciliano muttered. His words were ignored as everyone gave these strange monsters bewildered looks.

"It does seem to be different from taming," said Basdia.

"Isn't it because they have no souls? I don't know much about soulless creatures, though," said Kachia.

"Perhaps they do listen to some of Vandalieu's commands because he's the one who created this Dungeon?" Darcia suggested.

"Indeed, now that I think about it, they seem quite similar to Golems," said Basdia.

"Similar to Golems?" Luciliano repeated. Feeling relieved that he hadn't been ignored this time, he began explaining. "Golems are puppets created by Alchemists; although there are various ways to create them, the one thing they have in common is that they produce Golems with no souls. Thus, in order to move, they require direct orders from the Alchemist that is their master or they must be provided with artificial personalities with orders given to them beforehand. It is said that Golems as useful and capable of making decisions as humans existed in the age of the gods, but now, even those that merely respond to the sound of their masters' voices and are able to obey a number of simple commands are considered high-class products, Master."

"The Golems that Van creates are quite different, though," said Basdia.

"… No Alchemist is capable of creating Golems as capable as Master's," said Luciliano, his mouth twitching. "If they could, the world would undergo a revolution."

After coming to Talosheim and seeing the Golem surveillance network and Golem factories that used Golems in place of machines, Luciliano had experienced several occasions of shock that nullified his previous knowledge.

Luciliano had become Vandalieu's apprentice after admiring the way that he used the many beautiful, fearsome Ghosts to cast a spell to cave in a five-hundred-meter-tall rocky mountain without any incantation, but not even a few days had passed since coming to Talosheim and had already seen numerous things that overturned concepts that mages took for granted. He didn't even want to count them anymore.

"Leaving that revolution aside, it does seem that the reason the monsters are behaving so strangely is the fact that they have no souls," said Luciliano.

Vandalieu, who didn't have a good idea of these concepts that mages took for granted, simply accepted this explanation and nodded.

He also decided to cut down these Poison Ents with his claws for now. "They won't make for good training like this, so I'll have them attack us normally," he said.

From then on, the monsters attacked the party normally like monsters in any other Dungeon. Vandalieu didn't know how it worked, but all of the monsters seemed to be this way even as they moved down the floors, so it was likely that all of the monsters in the entire Dungeon would be like this.

"Later on, we'll have to check whether the monsters still behave like this when Vandalieu isn't here," said Vigaro.

"You are right," Zadiris agreed. "If we need the boy to give them orders every time, they will not make for good training."

"… You can gather materials and Experience Points safely, so why would you go out of your way to make it more difficult?" Luciliano wondered.

Vigaro and Zadiris were of a warrior race, but Luciliano gave them a perplexed look, seemingly unable to understand. A Dungeon where monsters of Rank 4 and greater could be hunted - every nation would want this Dungeon if they knew about it.

"What are you saying?" asked Zadiris. "You are an adventurer, are you not?"

"I am an adventurer, but not all adventurers like adventures," Luciliano replied.

"Hmm, I suppose there would be a lot of people who would continue doing this because they can't gain Experience Points any other way. And even if our skills don't level up, we gain levels… I might have been pretty happy with this before I became a Ghoul," said Kachia. She seemed to agree with Luciliano.

It seemed that not all adventurers were warriors. This fact surprised everyone other than these two.

"What did you say?! Are adventurers not always full of fighting spirit?!" Zadiris exclaimed in shock.

"I thought everyone was as reckless as me," said Vigaro.

"Are they not?" asked Levia. "Borkus in particular was always saying that combat was the daily bread of warriors in Talosheim."

"Jyuuh, I was so surprised that my jaw… My lord, please pick it up for me," said Bone Man.

"It's hard to believe. What do you think, Van?" Basdia asked.

It was not only the Ghouls, who had only encountered adventurers who had come to hunt them, who thought that adventurers all loved fighting; Princess Levia had believed this as well.

"The adventurers I know are Mom, Kachia, Borkus and the others… I think that people like Kachia are in the minority," said Vandalieu as he picked up Bone Man's jaw.

It seemed that one couldn't gain good knowledge with a small view of the world.

Vandalieu's party descended from the third floor to the fourth floor, checking whether there were any monsters or traps.

There were some differences between the floors of this Dungeon, such as the leaves of the trees and patches of wetlands, but they were mostly forests.

Other than the top few floors, the monsters were mostly plant-type monsters of Rank 4 and above. The next most common monsters were insects, amphibians, reptiles, animals and fish in that order.

Many of the monsters had the ability to inflict poison and disease, so anyone trying to clear this Dungeon without preparing properly beforehand could run into unexpected difficulties. If they weren't Undead, that is.

There were quite a few traps, too. Pitfalls, webs that fell from overhead, vines that dragged the victim's legs up into the air. There were even logs with spikes that came flying from the side when tripwires were carelessly triggered.

They weren't the kinds of traps that would be found in ruins; they were mostly the kind of traps that would be used in guerilla warfare.

"If the difficulty of the Dungeon was formally classified, I suppose it would be considered Class," said Luciliano.

"Class, huh. The only Class Dungeon around before this was Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah, so everyone should be happy," said Vigaro.

"It's been packed every day," added Basdia. "Lately, it's not been unusual for there to be more people trying to clear the Dungeon than monsters inside it."

"Actually, nobody goes to clear the D-class Dungeons except for the stonemasons and fishermen nowadays, so they're pretty empty," said Kachia. "I'm not going to them these days, either."

There were four other Dungeons near Talosheim, but there was only one B-class Dungeon and one Class Dungeon, so Basdia and Kachia had been finding it troublesome to find a place to train.

"The Class Dungeon is packed full of people?! … Are the people here monsters?" Luciliano wondered.

Normally, Dungeons of Class and above wouldn't be packed. There were few adventurers who could progress to Class and beyond.

D-class Dungeons, on the other hand, would be contested hunting grounds for the many D-class adventurers.

The only times when Class Dungeons were full of people was when the first couple of floors contained desirable items for veteran D-class adventurers, or when certain products or monster materials were selling for a higher price than normal.

Nobody could blame Luciliano for being amazed.

"Things weren't like this two hundred years ago, though…" said Levia.

"Until Vandalieu brought Levia-san and the others back, it was like the whole nation except for me and the children were adventurers," said Darcia.

"And us Undead do not tire," said Bone Man. "We can train in the Dungeons for days on end, jyuuh."

"On top of that, I train in the Dungeons, and the ingredients for fish sauce, miso and soy sauce can only be gathered in the Dungeons. Everyone's working hard," said Vandalieu.

As a result, the tireless Undead and the normally-lazy Ghouls visited the Dungeons often. Everyone leveled up, and until the former slaves moved into Talosheim, most citizens were about as capable as Class adventurers in battle.

"Without the Dungeons, we'd have to walk about half a day away from the city to find monsters of Rank 5 or higher," said Basdia. "I don't want to leave Jadal alone for too long."

"Raising children is difficult, isn't it? But this place is right inside the city, and you could make day trips if you're just venturing into the first few floors, couldn't you?" said Darcia.

"Also, the trading post is close by, so moving materials there won't be too hard," said Bilde.

The three housewives were having a dangerous conversation.

"Working women do need to consider the distance and methods of transport," Vandalieu agreed. "The next time I make a Dungeon, I'll make it closer to the city… I wonder if I can dismantle Garan's Valley and Doran's Aquatic Caverns and rebuild them somewhere else."

"It would be convenient if you could, but I have never heard of Dungeons being moved in such a way," said Zadiris.

Luciliano gave a hollow laugh. "Master appears to be very free, but I wonder who I am supposed to discuss things with."

"Jyujyujyuh, it appears that my lord's apprentice has finally realized that superficial efforts will not make him worthy," said Bone Man.

After that, Vandalieu and his party continued through the endless Dungeon, inspecting his new skills and investigating whether the Dungeon's products and monster materials were usable.

Bloodwork was simply a superior version of the Bloodsucking skill.

The amount of Stamina and Mana recovered by drinking blood was dramatically greater than through Bloodsucking, wounds healed faster and it seemed to increase his Attribute Values as well, though only by a few percent.

Also, this skill was apparently quite famous; Luciliano was familiar with its details.

"It is a skill that indicates that one has consumed enough blood for the skill to become a superior skill, and many who possess the skill are apparently assaulted by a powerful thirst for blood," he explained. "But… you are perfectly fine, aren't you, Master?"

Due to the skill's properties, many who possessed it were powerful Vampires, and the reason they manipulated humans in the shadows was to maintain a reliable source of blood to drink.

"I can drink as much blood as I want by hunting whatever monsters are available, can't I?" said Vandalieu.

The thirst for blood wasn't something he had been avoiding. Although he would have had a tough time on Earth or in Origin, Lambda was full of threats; there were always monsters to hunt.

And unlike Vampires, who valued the blood of virgins, Vandalieu didn't care whether the blood came from a middle-aged man, a bandit or an Orc. He didn't have any particular preferences when it came to the taste of blood.

He didn't enjoy strong-smelling Goblin blood or the blood of animals with bad-tasting meat, however.

"Speaking of which, what are the Vampire Zombies working under Eleanora doing for blood?" Zadiris asked. "I have not seen them drinking blood very often."

"When they were training in the Dungeons with us, they were drinking monster blood," Vigaro told her.

"They sometimes drink a little of my blood, too," said Vandalieu. "The Vampire Zombies… don't they absorb some whenever they eat raw meat?"

"I suppose I shouldn���t have asked this question in a country of Undead…"

Luciliano had been treated like an outsider in human society, but he was astounded to find that in Talosheim, he was a normal person. He was worried that he would lose his Title of 'Degenerate.'

Next was the inspection of Vandalieu's Insect Binding Technique, but this turned out to be simple as well.

"It's really going inside," said Vandalieu.

"Is that really alright?" Basdia asked.

"There doesn't appear to be any particular problems," Vandalieu replied.

There was a large, vividly-colored, venomous-looking earthworm in his hand. And then it slowly dug its way inside his hand.

"Umm, wasn't that a Pain Worm? It's only Rank 1, but it has tiny, poisonous needles growing all over its body," asked Kachia.

"So it seems," said Vandalieu.

"How can you be so calm about it?

Basdia and Kachia's voices sounded a little strained as they watched the Pain Worm disappear completely inside Vandalieu's hand. But there wasn't a single wound on his white, unhealthy-looking, candle-wax-like skin.

"My Vitality hasn't gone down, either, so it does seem that there isn't any problem with this," said Vandalieu.

"Jyuuh? Are you saying that you consumed that creature?" Bone Man asked.

"No, I don't think that's the case," Vandalieu replied. "Look, it can come out whenever it wants to, too."

The Pain Worm slowly emerged from Vandalieu's other hand. It plopped onto the ground, but Pete leapt out after it, grabbed it in his mouth and returned to Vandalieu's hand.

"It's difficult to believe, but it seems that Insect Binding Technique is a skill that allows one to equip insects to the body," said Basdia.

"Equip insects… will they actually be useful? It's not like you can punch enemies with insects, right?" said Vigaro.

"Well, that explains the mystery of why Pete settled in my hair," said Vandalieu. "As for whether they'll be useful, they probably will be. Cemetery Bees, can you enter my body in the same way?"

Showing no signs of hesitation, the Cemetery Bees silently entered Vandalieu's body. They forced themselves mercilessly into Vandalieu's head despite their size, so it looked quite grotesque, but Vandalieu didn't feel any discomfort or pain.

And then once the Cemetery Bees were completely inside him, Vandalieu was able to control them as if they were a part of his body. He could poke their heads out from his hands or their poisonous stingers from the tip of his tongue. In the same way, he was able to produce Pete from anywhere in his body on command.

"I see, so I can control any insect-type monster that I've tamed," Vandalieu concluded. "By the way, what's wrong?"

Everyone except for Vandalieu's apprentice touched their own heads cautiously as they looked up at him.

"It's just that they were completely inside your head, so I was wondering if it's really alright," said Basdia.

"My lord, it may be fine for you, but to those watching, it appears as if you are being consumed by the insects, jyuuh," said Bone Man.

"… I'll make sure to avoid using this in front of people. By the way, what about Luciliano?"

"He's fainted over there, but… I suppose we can't blame him," said Kachia.

Insect Binding Technique was a skill that allowed Vandalieu to equip insects inside his body, and if those insects were tamed, then he could produce them or a part of their bodies from his own at will.

But if the insects stayed equipped for more than a few hours, they would begin taking the nutrients they required from the host's body. In other words, Vandalieu had to eat a lot in order to avoid losing Vitality to them.

That was the kind of skill it was.

It would probably be another excellent skill for Vandalieu alongside Dead Spirit Magic.

"What if I equipped the insectoid monsters that I've tamed, entered a city and registered at the Tamers' Guild?" Vandalieu wondered.

"I am a Ghoul, so I do not know much about Guilds, but I believe that it would be best to give up on this idea," said Zadiris.

"Vandalieu, I don't think it's a good idea, either," said Darcia. "I'm sure you'll shock everyone."

"It'll be more than a shock," said Kachia. "Luciliano hasn't even woken up yet."

"There should be relatively harmless monsters like Pixies living somewhere, shouldn't there?" asked Vandalieu.

At the very least, it seemed that there were no Pixies in this Dungeon.

"Are Pixies insects?" Darcia wondered.

"For now, I'm going to tame useful-looking insectoid monsters and equip them," said Vandalieu. "It's probably best to test how many I can fit at the same time, too."

"Umm, try to make sure they're cute ones, okay?" said Kachia.

"I'll see how it goes." Vandalieu nodded, but he couldn't really imagine what Kachia had in mind.

What were these cute insects that Kachia mentioned? Bees and centipedes didn't seem to fit the criteria, so woodlice, perhaps?

The focus of this expedition was the inspection of the Labyrinth Construction skill, but not all of its details could be seen immediately. As Vandalieu examined this skill, more new effects revealed themselves.

First, whenever Vandalieu descended to a new floor, he could see its overall layout. The moment he took his first step, a map would appear over his head.

He could also change the structure of floors that had already been cleared. He could build walls, set traps and even create staircases connecting floors, though only when both floors had already been cleared.

"Oh, there's a wall of trees appearing right in front of us!"

"To think that you could make pitfalls and even stairs…"

"It uses up quite a lot of Mana though," said Vandalieu. "Small traps and walls cost ten thousand, and ten million for stairs that lead both up and down."

"But it's not a lot for you, is it, Van?" asked Basdia.

"That's true."

"That's amazing, Vandalieu," said Darcia. "If you used it to create walls on all sides, we could rest safely, couldn't we?"

Depending on their layout, the walls of any Dungeon could be made of trees, cliffs, stones, bricks, unidentified metals or even like the internal organs of an enormous creature, but the thing that they all in common was that their structure couldn't be altered artificially.

The cliffs of Garan's Valley and the minerals of Doran's Aquatic Caverns could be temporarily broken and chipped, but they would return to normal after a few days at most. Even disarmed traps would be replaced, although it was a mystery as to who had set them.

If this weren't the case, high-class Dungeons would collapse during battles between high-Rank monsters and the mighty adventurers challenging them, so perhaps it was only natural that they had self-repairing functions.

Building additional walls or setting traps was impossible. It was certainly difficult to bring the materials to do so into a Dungeon, but even if one did take the effort to do these things, they would be destroyed by monsters or simply disappear eventually.

Even in Dungeons that were like labyrinths with stone walls, monsters wouldn't destroy the walls unless they happened to hit them during battle. But they would destroy any artificially-built walls without hesitation.

Even if monsters didn't destroy them, they would be identified as foreign objects and the Dungeon's self-repair function would cause them to disappear as if they were damage caused to the Dungeon.

Even though Vandalieu could use his Golem Transmutation skill to mine rock and minerals, he couldn't make large changes to the structures of Dungeons.

However, the walls made by Labyrinth Construction changed the Dungeon itself, so it was highly likely that they would stay there.

"Monsters destroyed the walls you made with Golem Transmutation, but they simply avoided and passed by the walls you made with Labyrinth Creation," said Darcia.

"Truly amazing, Your Majesty," said Levia. "If you can use this skill in other Dungeons, there is no telling how much easier everyone's lives would become…"

"No, it's not really that big a deal," said Vandalieu, feeling shy about being praised.

But the great discovery came after this.

It seemed that Vandalieu and those with him could teleport freely to any cleared floor in the Dungeon.

From the twenty-third floor to the first floor. From the first floor to the seventeenth floor. Whether it was the mid-boss's floor or the Dungeon's deepest floor where the boss was, they could go anywhere except for the Dungeon's treasure chamber.

And it wasn't only the entrances to the floors that they could teleport to. They could teleport to any point in a cleared floor.

Even the Magic Items installed in Dungeons through advanced Alchemy weren't capable of doing this.

"Teleporting is interesting, isn't it?" said Vandalieu.

"I suppose this makes you invincible in any Dungeon you have already cleared once, boy," said Zadiris.

"Yeah, I think any adventurer who works in Dungeons would want this ability," said Kachia.

With the materials, treasure and tamed monsters in hand, Vandalieu and his party left the Dungeon.

"To place the spirits around you into the soulless monsters… is this not an artificial reincarnation?" said Luciliano, trembling unnaturally in shock and fear.

"My lord, it seems that your apprentice is going to begin foaming at the mouth soon. Should you not have held back a little?" Bone Man suggested.

Vandalieu thought that Luciliano was overreacting.

In his mind, there was nothing different from this and creating Golems or Undead. Also, the monsters that were following him now were important to him.

"I want fruits and spices, after all," said Vandalieu. "I can't hold back."

The Dungeon had contained all kinds of plant-type monsters, and among them, there had been Ents and Monster Plants formed from trees that produced fruit.

There were wild strawberry, watermelon and capsicum Monster Plants as well as Ents that produced pears, cherries, raspberries, blueberries, coffee, citrus fruits, bananas, mangoes, avocadoes and sap that could be turned into syrup.

There were even monsters bearing fruits that Vandalieu didn't know. He didn't know whether these fruits existed on Earth.

"Jyuuh. In that case, it cannot be helped," said Bone Man as he quickly joined Vandalieu in enjoying the fruits that he had never seen before. Despite being made of bones, he was quite the big eater.

The next day, this Dungeon was named the 'Eclipse King's Orchard.'

Name: Luciliano

Race: Human

Age: 29 years old

Title:[Degenerate]

Job: Slave

Level: 81

Job history: Apprentice Mage, Mage, Life-Attribute Mage, Undead User, Alchemist

Passive skills:

Mental Corruption: Level 2

Mental Fortitude: Level 3

Augmented Mana: Level 4

Mana Cost Reduction: Level 3

Detect Presence: Level 2

Fatigue/Hunger Resistance: Level 1

Active skills:

Life-Attribute Magic: Level 7

Earth-Attribute Magic: Level 3

No-Attribute Magic: Level 3

Mana Control: Level 7

Alchemy: Level 5

Staff Technique: Level 2

Silent Steps: Level 1

Etiquette: Level 1

Mining: Level 1

A rare research-type adventurer. He is Class, but his actual ability in combat is equivalent to a D-class adventurer. His high-level magic is specialized for creating Undead.

The Undead he makes are Live-Dead that he creates by granting life-force to fresh corpses, so they are different from the specimens that Vandalieu creates.

Incidentally, he lost his qualifications as an adventurer when he became a slave.

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Chapter 87: Actually, let's get on with creating a currency

After clearing the Eclipse King's Orchard, the forest of Immortal Ents became much livelier. The trees that had fruits hanging from them all year round were like treasure boxes of fruit.

There was also a large reformation in Talosheim. Traveling to Dungeons had become easier; people no longer had to venture beyond the walls to reach them.

Garan's Valley, Doran's Aquatic Caverns, Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah and Barigen's End Life-Mountain had all been moved inside the city.

It seemed that Vandalieu's Labyrinth Construction skill was able to move Dungeons that he had previously cleared.

"Moving them at the speed of someone walking at a brisk pace, it costs about ten thousand Mana every minute, but… I regenerate about ten thousand Mana every second with the Automatic Mana Recovery skill, so with enough time, I can move Dungeons anywhere," said Vandalieu.

The Dungeons' entrances followed behind him with the sound of something being dragged along the ground, but there were no changes to the insides.

Everyone, not just Luciliano, was dumbfounded to see this.

Vandalieu was even able to teleport from the entrance of any Dungeon he had previously cleared to the entrance of any other previously-cleared Dungeon. Unlike teleportation between Dungeon floors, this teleportation only worked for himself, but… since the Ghosts following him and the insects he had equipped were treated as a part of him, he could bring them along.

He had even been able to teleport to the Dungeon that he had cleared years ago, before he had even met Zadiris and the Ghouls, so it seemed that he was able to go to any Dungeon anywhere as long as he had cleared it before.

"I suppose we should go and clear the Dungeon I made in Niarki next time," said Vandalieu.

"More importantly, Master, should you not simply just create lots of small Dungeons all over the place?" Luciliano suggested. "You can create them, can't you?"

"Well, it does use up a considerable amount of Mana, though," said Vandalieu.

He had tried creating a small Dungeon just to test this ability out, but it turned out to be much more difficult work than moving an existing Dungeon. Creating a single Dungeon required an hour of concentration and consumed 100,000,000 Mana.

The resulting Dungeon was a Dungeon with a single floor, filled with only Rank 1 monsters such as Horned Rabbits and Big Frogs.

"It seems that when creating Dungeons, the amount of Mana, time and the effect it has on my mental state depends on the skill's level," said Vandalieu.

The Eclipse King's Orchard had been formed as a result of the hundreds of millions of Mana that he had poured into the ground on numerous occasions. The thirty-floor Class Dungeon, Heinz's Skeleton Caverns, had been created as a result of him reaching such a mental state that his consciousness disappeared and his Mana pool ran empty; he had no recollection of what had happened afterwards.

It seemed that Vandalieu wasn't yet able to freely create Dungeons of the difficulty he desired. It appeared that the Dungeons' interior structures were also similar to the areas surrounding the places they were created in. That was why the Eclipse King's Orchard was a forest environment.

However, Vandalieu was able to change the Dungeons' difficulty and number of floors after they had been built. He spent time during the next day pouring Mana into the one-floor Dungeon to find that it had become a two-floor Dungeon. He could probably increase the difficulty of Dungeons in the same way.

And wouldn't he become able to make the Dungeons more freely once his skill leveled up? There wasn't any pressing reason for him to become able to create high-difficulty Dungeons right away, so this was probably fine for now.

The Labyrinth Construction skill's features were as follows:

· Allows Vandalieu to create Dungeons. However, freely changing its floors, difficulty and interior structure was impossible at this point in time.

· Gives Vandalieu knowledge of the layout of a Dungeon's floor by stepping foot into it.

· The monsters appearing in the Dungeons have no souls. Because of this, Vandalieu is able to exercise limited control over them. In order to tame them, he must have appropriate spirits possess their bodies.

· Allows Vandalieu and his allies to teleport between previously-cleared floors in a Dungeon.

· Allows Vandalieu to alter the structure of previously-cleared floors in a Dungeon. He can place or remove walls, doors and traps, as well as create stairs that connect separate floors.

· Allows Vandalieu to move Dungeons. This has no effect on the interior structure of the Dungeons.

· Allows Vandalieu to teleport from the entrances of previously-cleared Dungeons to the entrances of other previously-cleared Dungeons. However, only the insects he has equipped and astral-type Undead can accompany him when he teleports in this way.

Vandalieu altered the structure of Doran's Aquatic Caverns, installing stone pipes to draw saltwater in order to create saltpans outside the Dungeon.

"It would be convenient if other people could freely teleport between Dungeons as well, but… I wonder if I could make a Magic Item for that?" Vandalieu wondered as he munched on a delicious fruit similar to an apple.

『The levels of the Labyrinth Creation, Strengthen Followers and Death-Attribute Charm skills have increased!』

Around the same time, Rodcorte was spending all of his time and energy on his circle of transmigration system, which was now producing frequent errors.

"What in the world is the meaning of this?! A large number of Lambda's souls have left the system? Did Vida's races do something?!"

Hundreds, thousands of souls were leaving Rodcorte's control at a time.

This was something that had occurred countless times before when races like Vampires, Ghouls and Majin who were capable of turning members of other races into members of their own races caused souls under Rodcorte's control to be taken in by Vida's system.

However, this didn't happen very frequently. At the very least, hundreds or thousands of souls would not leave Rodcorte's control within a single day.

The cause of this was that Vandalieu had made large numbers of the spirits accompanying him possess the soulless monsters of the Eclipse King's Orchard in order to tame them.

Vandalieu had done this thinking that it was no different from creating Undead and Golems, but as Luciliano had pointed out, it was equivalent to reincarnating these souls. In the same way that he had made a spirit possess the Live-Dead's fetus in order to create Pauvina, he was making spirits possess living monsters rather than corpses or inanimate objects.

Vandalieu was merely a mortal, but he had started performing the work of a god.

He had to perform everything manually, but it was equivalent to running his own circle of transmigration system.

Vida's races generally needed the consent of members of other races in order to convert them to members of their own race, but in Vandalieu's case, the spirits were completely charmed by him. Under his command, they were happy to be reborn as plant or insectoid monsters.

And so, a new circle of transmigration system had been born in Lambda, one that trespassed on Rodcorte's authority, one that was more unstable and more arbitrary in function than Vida's circle of transmigration system that Alda was apprehensive about.

"What in the world is happening…!"

But Rodcorte was pressed to deal with the errors in his own system. It would be some time before he learned the truth.

Incidentally, this also caused frequent error in the Demon King's circle of transmigration system, but it had already been producing errors every day; its normal working state was one that was producing errors. Thus, unlike the breaking of Sercrent's soul, this was not considered a particularly great problem by the remnants of the Demon King's army, including Hihiryushukaka, the God of Joyful Life.

Around the time of year where every region would be conducting their harvest festivals, the Five-colored Blades were trying to make a harvest of their own.

"GUAAAAAAH! Curse you, humans!"

They were harvesting not produce and fruit, but the head of a nobleman of dark nights who had grown fat from drinking the blood of the people, a Vampire.

"Guh, how did you know about this place, about our existence?!" shouted a man named Chipuras. He had served as the Sub-Master of the Commerce Guild for ten years, retired due to old age and was now a good-natured old man who provided advice for young, aspiring merchants.

But none would consider him a good-natured old man if they could see him now, crimson-eyed and baring his fangs like a beast.

"It's all thanks to a good-willed informant," said Heinz.

"Tch! Those traitors?! They sold us out after receiving Ternecia-sama's blessings?!" Chipuras, who was no longer acting like a merchant, readied his claws with a movement unbefitting of his obese body.

Most of the Subordinate Vampires and Noble-born Vampires working under Chipuras had already been defeated by Heinz's companions. He had very few allies remaining now. But although his eyes showed hatred, they didn't show despair.

"I could have forgiven you if you were simply keeping that Dhampir as a pet, but now that you have caused me so much disgrace, I shall kill all of you and present your heads as a present to Ternecia-sama!" he shrieked.

Chipuras's movements were far quicker than one would expect from his appearance, but Heinz saw through it immediately and his magic sword sliced deep into Chipuras's stomach.

"Blue Light Flame Blade!"

This was a martial skill of Radiant God Swordsmanship, Heinz's awakened superior skill that he had gained after moving to the Orbaume Kingdom and becoming a part of Alda's peaceful faction.

The martial skill that unleashed Heinz's light-attribute and life-attribute Mana in addition to the magic sword's normal attack power would cause a fatal blow to a Vampire even with a light graze.

This martial skill had sliced deep into Chipuras's round belly. Even a Vampire with an astounding amount of Vitality wouldn't be able to resist this.

"Gufuh, gufufufuh, that will not work on me~! Diamond Rend!"

"What?!"

Instead of being defeated, Chipuras sneered and used an advanced martial skill of the Unarmed Fighting Technique in an attempt to tear Heinz to pieces. He swung his claws with the strength of a Colossus; Heinz barely managed to use the Swordsmanship martial skill, Flowing Willow, to stop the attack and opened his eyes wide in shock to see that Chipuras was unharmed.

"Kuhaha! Because of the divine protection of Hihiryushukaka, the Evil God of Joyful Life, I have been granted the Light/Life-Attribute Nullification skill!" Chipuras cackled. "Your sword technique has no effect!"

It was probably because of this skill that Chipuras, who was supposed to be a Vampire, remained unharmed despite the fact that the mansion's walls had been destroyed and the sunlight was hitting him directly.

"Hahahaha! I am a Vampire Marquis! I am one of Ternecia's three most powerful chief vassals; even if you are A-class, did you think that a human like you could defeat…" Chipuras faltered mid-sentence, a suspicious look on his face. "You bastard, what are you playing at?"

Heinz had raised his sword, facing Chipuras directly.

"Are you listening to what I am saying? Your powerful Radiant God Swordsmanship and your light and life-attribute magic will not work against me!"

Ignoring Chipuras, Heinz focused and sharpened his mind.

"… Transcend Limits… Transcend Limits - Magic Sword…"

The image in his mind was one of a single blade.

"… Familiar Spirit Descent!"

Heinz was enveloped in a pillar of light that descended from the sky, and wings made of light sprouted from his back, a sign that a Familiar Spirit of Alda had descended upon him.

"You bastard! Can you not tell that your efforts are futiiiiiile!" Chipuras shouted.

Against Chipuras, who possessed the Light/Life-Attribute Nullification skill, there was little meaning in Alda's Familiar Spirit descending upon Heinz.

However, it was angry words rather than scornful laughter that were coming from Chipuras's mouth. Unable to withstand the pressure that grew stronger as Heinz's power became greater, Chipuras activated his own Transcend Limits skill, giving his body an explosive increase in physical strength.

"Diiie! Endless Twin Claw-Blades! Ice Beast Pack Assault!"

Chipuras used a martial skill in which the claws of both of his arms were swung in rapid succession, with beasts of ice conjured by water-attribute magic filling in the gaps between his attacks with their claws and fangs.

This was Chipuras's consecutive attack that would result in certain victory. This was the trump card that he had used to climb the ranks of the Vampires' twisted society, where one couldn't survive on resourcefulness alone.

The moment this swarm of blades reached Heinz, he swung his magic sword.

"Evil-Crushing Blue Radiant Flash!"

Chipuras's claws, which were harder than Adamantite, fell apart as if they were made of glass, along with the beasts of ice. The blade of the magic sword sank into his body as if being absorbed, and silently pierced through it!

This fearsome slash didn't stop there. The ceiling and walls of the mansion were cut apart and erased.

"Im… possible…"

Heinz heard the two pieces of Chipuras, who had been cut in half in a line from his head to his crotch, falling to the ground behind him. He exhaled and returned his magic sword to its sheath.

"Even if you have a nullification skill that transcends resistance skills, I won't lose so long as I have a will to carry out justice," he murmured.

"That's all well and good, but I wish you'd fight a little better," whispered Delizah, the female Dwarf Shield-Bearer.

She had charged into the mansion with Edgar and the others; she was looking not at Chipuras, whose two separate halves were burning in blue flames, but at the place where the mansion's walls had been.

The mountain beyond that spot had also been cut. It had been cleanly split in two.

"The mountain beyond the mansion belongs to Chipuras; there aren't any people there so it should be fine," said Heinz.

"That's not the problem, is it, now?" said Delizah.

"I only split the mountain; I haven't cut down too many trees, so Diana probably won't be angry, will she?" said Heinz.

Delizah put her face in her hands. "Ah, you justice meathead."

Heinz undid his Familiar Spirit Descent. "Justice meathead" was his nickname among his companions.

In reality, he had defeated Chipuras, an enemy whose nullification skill that rendered everything ineffective except for the attack power of the magic sword itself, by repeatedly strengthening himself a ridiculous number of times before unleashing the most powerful attack possible in order to cut through with raw power.

The shockwave he had produced wasn't that great, but it had been enough to cut through a mountain.

"You did it, or maybe I should say, you've gone and done it," Delizah muttered.

"Edgar, where are Jennifer and Diana?" asked Heinz.

"They're gathering Magic Stones from the Vampires we defeated," Edgar replied. "As for the big one there…" He looked towards Chipuras's corpse disappointedly before returning to his usual, serious expression. "I don't think we're getting anything out of him."

"But how many Noble-born Vampires is that now? I'm sure that informant called Kinarp can go to heaven now," said Delizah.

Thanks to the informants, including Kinarp, the former Guild Master of the Mages' Guild, the Vampires who had been hiding in the shadows of the Hartner Duchy were being hunted down one after another. The impact of this was spreading to the other duchies as well.

At the personal request of Lord Belton, the Five-colored Blades were conducting an investigation of the incident in which the Demon King's seal had been removed in the underground cemetery that very few people knew about, while also hunting down the Vampires.

They were doing this because it seemed likely that there would be Vampires who worshipped evil gods behind the removal of the Demon King's seal, but they still had no leads.

In any case, they were hunting down big targets one after another, so they were being paid considerably well for their work as adventurers.

"Heaven, huh… I have to wonder about that." Heinz frowned.

He was frowning because of the state that Kinarp and his subordinates were in. They were currently little more than mannequins with beating hearts and moving lungs. They looked into empty space with saliva hanging from their mouths.

But when they were asked questions about information on the Vampires, they were able to speak fluently as if they had regained their sanity.

Kinarp and his subordinates had clearly been broken and manipulated by someone.

"Don't feel sorry for them, they got what was coming to them," said Edgar. "They're guys who would kidnap us… I mean, kidnap Selen and present her to this fatty that you just cut in two. More importantly, how much do you think Lord Belton knows?" he asked. "Considering the incident with Baron Ikus as well, I think it's certain that he's hiding something."

Baron Ikus, who had been severely injured when the castle sank, had recently breathed his last breath without regaining consciousness. Edgar believed that Lord Belton had conducted a premeditated murder on his own subordinate. Baron Ikus had been running a pseudo-secret-intelligence-organization so he likely knew a lot of secrets, and he was a traitor to humanity with ties to the Vampire who was the prime suspect for the crime of removing the Demon King's seal.

It would be problematic for Lord Belton if Baron Ikus didn't die silently.

In fact, there were several noble families in the Hartner Duchy whose heads and children had suddenly gone somewhere to rest because they had fallen sick. They would almost certainly be announced to have entered priesthood and be spending the rest of their days living religious lives or to be dead from their illness.

That was why Edgar was saying that there was still more than meets the eye, but Delizah shook her head.

"I don't know about that," she said. "That lord, he seemed like he was keeping appearances up, but now it's more like he's trying to extinguish the fire under his own ass. Even the fact that he gave us this personal request and pays us generously with every Vampire we hunt is all to try and recover his fallen image, isn't it?"

"True… thanks to that rich kid, there's a rumor spreading in town that we're the duke's best friends."

Thanks to this, it seemed that the Adventurers' Guild would soon abolish its unfair rule change against Dhampirs, however.

"I don't mind being anyone's friend as long as the evil Vampires and the followers of the evil gods are defeated," said Heinz. "The problem is the Demon King's seal. I can't imagine that it was the doing of the man named Kanata. But I suppose as long as we're searching based on the information given by Kinarp, who was manipulated by someone, we won't arrive at the truth."

Edgar and Delizah nodded in agreement. Jennifer and Diana weren't here right now, but they would probably think the same.

Lord Belton having an ulterior motive wouldn't be the end of the world, but ignoring the Demon King's fragment that had escaped the seal could indeed result in the world's destruction.

This was true even if there were other pieces of the Demon King whose seals had been broken.

Naturally, the Demon King had been sealed away in the age before Vida gave birth to her new races. Even the Pure-breed Vampires, who were feared now, had been normal people back then, fighting alongside the gods and the champions against the Demon King. It wouldn't be strange to think that the Pure-breed Vampires knew of the places where the pieces of the Demon King had been sealed.

Members of Vida's races, such as the Pure-breed Vampires, had betrayed her and sided with the remnants of the Demon King's army. It was only a natural course of events for them to be removing the Demon King's seals and using his fragments simply for power.

This was the result of the battles between heroes and great evil that had been written in a hundred thousand years of history.

"It seems that this man named Kanata possessed a powerful unique skill, but it's difficult to imagine that there was someone controlling him," said Heinz. "His actions were simply too… how to describe it? Senseless."

"That's true, it's strange, isn't it?" said Delizah. "He repeatedly performed flashy, crudely-executed crimes before reaching Nineland, even made the effort of going to the Adventurers' Guild and declaring his name, and then suddenly he was a corpse buried in the collapsed underground cemetery."

Nobody knew Kanata's past, where he had been born or what Jobs and skills he had. And yet, his actions before he reached Nineland had been those of an outlaw who simply possessed great power. But he had somehow entered the underground cemetery that had been concealed in a very specific location.

It was completely incomprehensible.

"This is just my intuition, but the man named Kanata might just have happened to be there and actually has no relation to the one who removed the Demon King's seal," said Heinz.

The thing that Heinz found suspicious was the information that he had gained from informants other than Kinarp and his subordinates… information that there was a Noble-born Vampire woman who had betrayed Birkyne, and that she and her new master were out there somewhere.

There was a beggar who had seen that Vampire woman… the one allegedly known as Eleanora, going in and out of Kinarp's mansion.

From a distance, the beggar had seen a beautiful woman with red hair entering the mansion's back entrance, holding a large number of shopping bags. Nobody, not even the beggar who had happened to be given leftover foods at a spot a little distance away from the mansion, had given her a second glance.

But Edgar, who had heard that there was a beautiful, red-haired woman in the city of Niarki from one of the underlings of the Fangs of Dark Nights, felt that something was wrong when he heard about this information from the beggar.

And upon conducting an investigation, they had found that she had vanished on the day the castle sank.

"It didn't look like the underling knew the name of this Eleanora's master," said Jennifer. "It seemed as if he had been forbidden to speak the name by a Pure-breed Vampire."

"That must be an extremely powerful individual," said Diana. "It could be a newly-awakened Pure-breed Vampire. I think it is likely the one responsible for breaking and manipulating the minds of Kinarp and his subordinates."

The two of them had returned after collecting all of the materials.

Now that the party had all gathered together, Heinz began speaking. "Even if it is a Pure-breed Vampire, we cannot simply leave someone who has undone a seal to release a fragment of the Demon King," he said. "I cannot allow the existence of someone who plays with life and desecrates souls. There is no more big prey left in Nineland; let's chase after the Vampire called Eleanora starting from tomorrow… though this means we'll have to leave Zakkart's Trials for later."

"It's fine; the world is in danger, isn't it?" said Jennifer. "There's no doubt that we're going to be victorious whichever one we go after, anyway."

"I'm sure Martie would forgive us as well," said Delizah.

The party seemed to agree with Heinz's decision, except for Edgar, the only one with doubt in his eyes.

The time that a woman resembling the Vampire Eleanora was spotted in Niarki was the exact same time that the Dhampir called Vandalieu appeared. Well, there is no information about Vandalieu in Nineland, but… in the end, Vandalieu's route… If he is the son of that Dark Elf from back then, I never managed to find out how he crossed the border between the Mirg shield-nation and the Orbaume Kingdom, passed through the Sauron Duchy into the Hartner Duchy and then came all the way to the city of Niarki. Are Heinz and I just overthinking things?

Edgar wondered whether Vandalieu had come to Niarki through the same route that the Five-colored Blades had taken; he would have never imagined that Vandalieu had crossed the Boundary Mountain Range that very few had ever crossed before.

That was why he never bothered thinking about finding Vandalieu's trail in the cultivation villages to the south of Niarki.

Vandalieu was munching on the fruits that were similar to apples, together with Pauvina and Rapiéçage.

"Van-sama, it seems that you are often eating fruits these days?" said Tarea.

"Yes; they're very hard, fresh, very hard fruit with sweet juice," said Vandalieu, mentioning the important feature of the fruit twice.

"… It looks like your jaw will get tired," Tarea remarked.

"But they're delicious, you know?" Pauvina told her.

"S… weet…" Rapiéçage groaned.

These apple-like fruits were very delicious, but… their flesh was as hard as a cow's thighbone. With the Superhuman Strength skill, Vandalieu and the others could bite into them normally, but normal people would be literally unable to make a dent* in them.

They were so hard that the average Ghoul and Titan would soon get tired jaws while trying to eat them. Pete, the centipede monster that Vandalieu had equipped, didn't even pay the fruits any attention.

"They're very hard, but for some reason, one of the Ents I brought from the Eclipse King's Orchard keeps giving them to me frequently," said Vandalieu.

Every time Vandalieu passed by, this Ent would always give him this fruit. He accepted them, and thus, he had begun to eat multiple of these fruits every day.

Pauvina and Rapiéçage were happy with this, though.

"I am sure that this Ent was a well-known fruit merchant who sold a lot of fruit when it was alive," said Tarea.

Vandalieu didn't really remember if there had been a spirit like that, but he wasn't really concerned whether this theory was right or not. It was currently nothing more than an Ent that he had tamed.

"Now then, I have to come back to the real world and work hard in casting coins for the new currency," said Vandalieu.

It seemed that Vandalieu's rest and escape from reality had ended.

He exhaled as he looked at the numerous failed products in front of him… the stone containers that were filled with a blackish-purple, muddy liquid.

The problem with introducing a new currency to Talosheim was the metal used as the raw material.

Vandalieu had brought back coins of the Baum currency of the Orbaume Kingdom with the exception of the most valuable platinum coins (which weren't usually handled by anyone other than royalty, nobles and wealthy merchants). The Undead Titan blacksmith, Datara, had accurately determined the relative ratios of the metals in the coins.

As Talosheim would one day be trading with the duchies of the Orbaume Kingdom with the exception of the Hartner Duchy, it was important to match the value of the coins with the Baum.

However, there were no stable sources of gold and silver in Talosheim.

Gold and silver couldn't be mined in Doran's Aquatic Caverns. Gold and silver nuggets sometimes appeared in the Dungeon's treasure chamber, but a sufficient amount to create coins couldn't be harvested with this method in a stable manner. It was unknown as to what principles the Dungeon used to decide what treasures it generated in the treasure chamber, so they couldn't rely on it too much.

Even the Labyrinth Creation skill couldn't freely manipulate the contents of the treasure chamber.

Thus, Vandalieu had to create coins using the iron and copper that could be reliably mined, but if Vandalieu used iron and copper to create coins with the same value as the gold coins that were worth a thousand Baums and ten thousand Baums, they would end up too large and heavy; they would be nothing more than large lumps of metal with not even a shred of convenience.

Vandalieu had considered making paper money rather than coins, but he was still only able to produce sturdy Japanese paper in small amounts, and the printing technology available was still crude. Thus, it was better to use coins after all.

"The name of the currency was decided quickly though," Vandalieu remarked.

The currency was known as the Luna. It was a play on words; the coins of the capital of the sun that was ruled by the Eclipse King were named after the moon.

The design of the coins had been mostly decided; there were already prototype coins for the one-Luna copper coin, the five-Luna copper coin and half-Luna iron coin. Datara had produced these coins with such quality that they were not at all inferior to the copper Amid and Baum coins.

And then Vandalieu had come up with the idea of making metal in order to create coins worth ten Lunas or more.

"When you mentioned the idea, I thought you were just being crazy as usual," said Datara.

"Well, it should be considered an idea that isn't confined to the limits of common sense!" Tarea exclaimed.

Pauvina blinked upon hearing their words. "… The two of you are saying the same thing," she muttered.

She was a clever girl.

The creation of metal that Vandalieu had in mind wasn't making an alloy like bronze, but using iron and bronze to create a new magical metal. Thus, both Datara and Tarea's opinions were correct.

Magical metals were metals filled with Mana, with Orichalcum at the top of the list followed by others such as Mythril, Adamantite, Damascus Steel and Obsidian. Other than Orichalcum, it had been more or less established that all of these were created from lesser metals.

Mythril and Adamantite were produced when regular silver and gold were soaked in Mana for tens of thousands of years, becoming naturally refined.

Damascus Steel and Obsidian were refined from ordinary metals by skilled blacksmiths.

Datara could apparently create Obsidian if he had the materials. It was refined by using iron as a base and forging it for a whole day while adding a very tiny amount of Mythril or Adamantite. But he had said that staying up all night to make produce two or three swords' worth of Obsidian was the best he could do; it would be impossible for him to create a currency with it.

Of course, Vandalieu didn't have the Blacksmithing skill, so it was impossible for him to mass-produce this metal with Golem Transmutation.

Thus, Vandalieu had been trying to create a new magical metal by pouring Mana into metal equal to the amount contained within Mythril and Adamantite.

It would normally be impossible, but Vandalieu had thought that he could do it by pouring hundreds of millions of Mana into the metal and using Inanimate Aging, the spell that made time flow faster for its target.

And it turned out to be actually possible. The iron and copper had essentially been soaked in death-attribute Mana for tens of thousands of years, transforming into magical metals… liquid metals.

"Hmm, I did manage to make new magical metals, but I can't turn this into coins, can I?" said Vandalieu.

"They are liquids, after all," said Datara.

The metal was the same weight and size as what Vandalieu had started with, but he was troubled by the fact that they were black and purple, mercury-like liquid metals.

"Shall we call them Death Metal and Dark Copper for now?" Vandalieu suggested.

Although they were liquid, they were indeed magical metals; it was certain that they would possess special properties. Depending on their special properties, they would have their uses.

Whether or not they could be turned into coins.

It would be interesting if I could make armor out of liquid metal; I wonder if it's possible?

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Chapter 88: The king pulls the strings

At first, Vandalieu hadn't known how he should use Death Iron and Dark Copper, the liquid metals that he had created with his Mana. But once it was heated, it turned out to be unexpectedly easy to process.

"This is a metal that one could only dream of!" Datara cried.

The weights of Death Iron and Dark Copper were the same as the iron and copper that they had been created from, but since they were liquids, they could easily be shaped by pouring them into molds.

They became harder as they heated up. At iron and copper's respective melting temperatures, Death Iron and Dark Copper turned into solids resembling solid iron and copper at room temperature.

Of course, they returned to their liquid forms when they cooled, but if they were struck with hammers and forged in this solid state, they remained solid after cooling.

Datara poured Death Iron and Dark Copper into molds, heated them to a temperature where they became easily-manipulated solids and then used his hammer to forge them. After doing this, they didn't return to their liquid forms even after their temperatures dropped.

The swords and spears made from Death Iron were harder, tougher and sharper than those made from steel. But even when their blades were chipped, as long as the broken fragments were recovered, they turned back into liquid and fused back into the blade to restore its original shape.

On the other hand, Dark Copper was more suited to being used for armor; it absorbed impacts well, withstood slashes and resisted Mana as well. And like Death Iron, if it was damaged, the broken parts turned back into liquid and fused back into the armor.

Also, perhaps because they were metals that had been transformed by death-attribute Mana, both metals had properties that made them easy to enchant with death-attribute spells. It was simple to create swords enchanted with Healing Negation and Deadly Poison or shields enchanted with Energy Absorption.

"For some reason, it seems that only the Holy Son, us Undead and the Ghouls can forge it, but that's part of its charm!" said Datara.

Perhaps Death Iron and Dark Copper were affected by Death-Attribute Charm; only Vandalieu was able to use it to create items. Anyone could use the completed products, however.

But he now had Datara, the other Undead Titans helping Datara and the Ghosts who had been trapped in the underground cemetery in Nineland, so this wasn't a problem.

Incidentally, if Vandalieu wanted to turn completed products back into liquid metal to turn them into something else, he would heat them up, then use Heat Leech to remove the heat energy, and the equipment would return to liquid form after cooling down.

By pouring Death Iron and Dark Copper that had been heated to the perfect temperatures into molds and hammering them a few times to harden them, Datara succeeded in creating coins.

And so, the thousand-Luna Dark Copper coins and hundred-Luna Death Iron coins were created.

"Is it alright for them to be this small?" Vandalieu wondered, holding up one of the Luna coins between his fingertips. It seemed that he was worried about the fact that they were about as big as Japanese one-Yen coins.

"I am sure they will do," said Chezare, full of confidence.

"But they were originally copper and iron, you know?" Vandalieu told him.

"You are right… I am not so sure that we can trade these for hundred-Amid gold coins once we begin trading with other nations in the future," said Tarea. "This metal was originally copper, after all."

"Indeed, it is copper," said Sam.

"But they are harder than gold or silver, and they are pretty," said Zadiris. "I personally prefer these."

"Unlike gold and silver, these coins can be combined to make armor in times of danger," said Basdia. "I think this metal is better, too."

"I prefer hard metals as well," Vigaro added.

Because the metals were originally made from iron and copper, Vandalieu, Tarea and Sam were worried about whether the coins could be exchanged for gold and silver coins in the future.

On the other hand, the Ghouls were ignorant about monetary economies and valued metals not for their scarcity, but their properties when they were turned into weapons and armor.

And then there was a third group of individuals smiling wryly, knowing that the other two groups were both wrong.

"I don't know if coins of this size would be considered of equal value to Amid and Baum gold coins, but -" Rita began.

"I think people will happily make the trade," said Saria.

"Your Majesty, not only merchants, but even nobles and royalty would produce mountains of gold… no, mountains of platinum coins in order to obtain these coins of Death Iron and Dark Copper," said Princess Levia.

For some reason, these three seemed to think that the Death Iron and Dark Copper coins would have a lot of value.

"Vandalieu-sama, I agree. After all, these are magical metals that nobody in the world can create except for you. Not only the Mages' Guild, but every nation will want it," said Eleanora.

Indeed, the value of Death Iron and Dark Copper was unclear, but it would certainly be high. Just as Eleanora said, they were metals that had been created by Vandalieu, probably for the first time in the world's history!

Even if their base materials were copper and iron, which were worth far less than gold and silver, Vandalieu was the only one who could create them. That was why its preciousness was unfathomable. Nobody could decide how much they were worth in gold or silver.

"I see," said Vandalieu. "Then I suppose these sizes are alright for now… but before we begin trading in the future, we need to think about how to exchange money."

In the future, it was possible that trading with foreign nations would result in the Death Iron and Dark Copper coins being depleted extremely quickly. There was also the possibility that they wouldn't even be given a second glance, though.

And so the circulation of the Luna currency began, and for now, things were going smoothly.

"This is ten Lunas, and this is fifty Lunas, huh… Oh, the Death Iron coins shine like a rainbow when you hold them up in the sun."

"The purple color of the Dark Copper coins is pretty as well, isn't it? I wonder if I should gather more."

"Bufuh~ I'm going to make a necklace out of Death Iron coins."

The Ghouls and Orcuses, who weren't used to a monetary economy, seemed to be more interested in the coins' visible beauty rather than their convenience.

"Receiving money is something that we are truly grateful for, and even providing us with work… Thank you, thank you."

"I'm really glad I didn't die at the mine."

"Our hard work from now on will become our earnings… but I don't want to be a miner anymore. I suppose I'll go and be a farmer."

"At the farms, they apparently teach you singing and dancing for some reason as well. I'm tone-deaf, you know."

"I suppose I'll go to the tofu factory."

"I can sew, so I suppose I'll be a seamstress."

"I shall start a business. It brings back memories of the days when I was selling fish in the Sauron Duchy."

The ones who had been made to work in the slave-run mine, like Gopher and the other former refugees as well as those from the First Cultivation Village, had some experience with living in societies with monetary economies, so they accepted Lunas without any problems.

These non-fighting, creation-minded people were precious in Talosheim. Up until now, only a few of the Ghouls and Undead who were formerly craftsmen had been involved in Talosheim's farming, fishing and other industries.

As former slaves in a mine, Gopher and the others had the Mining skill; now that they were free, it was only natural that very few of them would want to continue doing the work that they had been forced to do for two hundred years… and miners in Talosheim needed to know how to fight. Because of this, it seemed that they would be employed in Talosheim's newly-created factories or in the farms.

The same went for those from the First Cultivation Village, but they were previously working as leatherworkers, seamstresses and merchants; it seemed that they wanted to find work similar to their previous jobs.

It was doubtful as to whether there was work for them in the Golem factories that had Golems instead of manufacturing robots or farms with Monster Plants, but there were plenty of other jobs available.

Vandalieu just needed to provide the Golems with a little of his vast Mana pool and they would work on and on. But in the end, they were just Golems.

They would accurately repeat the movements and protocols they had been provided, but their applications were limited. Most importantly, their ability to detect temperature differences that were too low to damage their mineral bodies and their ability to determine the current state of the product were too weak. Also, they were not suited to performing precise work.

These flaws would be made up for by people, finally allowing Vandalieu to get closer to producing the items that could be produced in Earth's factories.

It was the same concept behind the reason why tofu made by a craftsman tasted better than tofu produced entirely by machines.

"People are needed after all," said Vandalieu, feeling earnestly glad that he had visited the Hartner Duchy.

Incidentally, a tax system had also been implemented. Income taxes had been introduced.

"Your Majesty, you cannot be serious with these instructions!" Chezare protested.

In Lambda, unlike those such as adventurers and mercenaries, each normal citizen was taxed a certain amount as a poll tax. This would include a tax of 40-50% of their harvests in the fields and their profits from their businesses.

In the new Talosheim, this poll tax had been abolished and an income tax was collected from everyone's earnings. With this system, even those who earned little could theoretically pay taxes.

Of course, this included a rule where those whose incomes were too low were exempt from paying taxes and a system where those with higher yearly incomes were taxed higher percentages of their incomes.

The minimum tax was 5% and the maximum tax for those who earned the most was 20%.

"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" Chezare urged Vandalieu. "This tax system is one normally used for the Adventurers' Guild and merchants of the Commerce Guild. In order to apply this to each individual, we must determine each citizen's income! And the taxes are far too low for what the nation requires!"

Nobody could blame Chezare for voicing these opinions. With such a low-percentage tax system, the nation would become poor in the not-so-distant future and become unable to maintain its structure.

But Vandalieu remained calm as he responded to Chezare's concerns. "The head of most of the ongoing projects in Talosheim is me, you know?" he pointed out.

"… You are right," said Chezare.

Vandalieu's Mana was essential for operating the Magic Items enchanted with the Fermentation spell used for creating miso and soy sauce, as well as to provide power for the Golems in each of the factories.

Most of Talosheim's other industries were practically impossible without Vandalieu as well. The Golems, Monster Plants, Immortal Ents and Cemetery Bees were all giving their blessings to Talosheim because Vandalieu was here.

The supply distribution center in the remains of the Adventurers' Guild was also only functioning because Vandalieu was providing it with the products to distribute.

The members of the Church, the stonemasons, the carpenters and the blacksmiths - Vandalieu was the leader of all of these groups.

That was why determining the incomes of each citizen wasn't difficult. It was possible that it would become difficult in the future, but he simply needed to set up a system to do so before then.

And it was unlikely that the nation would fall into poverty because the taxes were too low. In the end, the citizens were buying various things from Vandalieu, the nation's king, as they lived here.

Actually, it was unlikely that things would be 100% problem-free, but Vandalieu had no choice but to simply use trial-and-error and make improvements whenever problems arose.

"I understand," said Chezare. "Well then, please leave the details to me."

"… Chezare, won't you quit being the general and become the nation's prime minister?" Vandalieu asked him.

"No, I am a person who belongs in the military, Your Majesty," Chezare replied.

But was it really alright for a military person to be doing so much work that a civil official should be doing?

Some time passed after this conversation, and the end of summer was in sight. Vandalieu was having a nighttime meal to take a break from work in the underground chamber beneath Talosheim's royal castle, the place where he had defeated the Dragon Golem and obtained the materials he had used to create Rapiéçage.

"Umm, Your Majesty, what is this?" Levia asked.

"This is ramen, Princess Levia," Vandalieu explained as he showed her the contents of his bowl - various ingredients and some noodles submerged in a white soup. "It's a dish that's similar to udon, but not quite. Incidentally, this is the tofu ramen I made at Braga's request. The soup base is misodare with tofu, and the noodles are made by combining wheat flour and soybean flour in a certain ratio, and I've used fried tofu and freeze-dried tofu in place of pork fillet. For condiments, there's onions."

It was an incredibly tofu-filled… soybean-filled ramen. This was the time for isoflavones (whatever this meant)*.

If there was one thing that Vandalieu wanted to quickly get his hands on, it was spring onions. And wouldn't the soup taste better with sesame seeds added to it?

"It looks very delicious, doesn't it? Vandalieu is so good at cooking. Why don't you have a bowl as well, Princess?" Darcia suggested. Her tastes now matched those of her son, thanks to the Mental Encroachment skill.

However, it seemed that Princess Levia hadn't been asking about the ramen. "Thank you for the offer, but I was not referring to the ramen -"

"Then were you referring to this? This is a wedding dress," said another Vandalieu separate from the one who was eating ramen… A Vandalieu who had been produced by using Out-of-body Experience and creating a clone. He was holding up the wedding dress that he was in the middle of making.

Using countless needles and threads, Vandalieu was trying to create a wedding dress straight out of thread.

"Making dress paper and things like that turned out to be troublesome, so I'd thought about how I could do it, and recently I realized that I could simply make thread directly into clothes without using dress paper," he said.

"I'm in the middle of doing that," said another Vandalieu. "Incidentally, these dresses are for Braga's brides, Marie and Linda."

"I've already taken their measurements," said yet another Vandalieu. "Also, the material I'm using is the honey silk from the Cemetery Bees."

Four Vandalieus' arms, which had divided into thin, thread-like lengths, were manipulating countless sewing needles.

Vandalieu wanted to make Golems and Cursed Tools to do this one day, but it was precise work, so he had no choice but to do it himself for now.

"With this, I can make clothes without any seams."

"Frills, frills… Laces, laces… Flells, flells*."

"But working alone, making two or three dresses in one day is my limit, so I need to make a sewing machine soon. This is cutting it close. I suppose I should make a pedal-operated one?"

Based on what Vandalieu had seen in Nineland and Niarki, the clothes of Lambda were inferior to those of Earth. There were more dyes available and they were more vividly-colored, but the designs of the clothing were limited.

Vandalieu had put Undead Insects on Eleanora as she walked around Nineland, and through their eyes, he had seen secondhand clothes being sold in the marketplace. As someone who had lived in modern Japan, he had thought that they looked considerably unfashionable.

Vandalieu had only been a high school student back then; although his conduct hadn't been bad, it hadn't been particularly good, either. He had seen quite a few things in places such as the lost-and-found center.

That was why he planned to make various things. Things like bras, garter belts and stockings in particular. As for swimsuits, he planned to begin work on those once he found a fiber that wouldn't turn transparent when wet.

Also, as someone aiming to achieve physical beauty equivalent to that of a Hollywood action star, he needed to find the right time to make men's boxer underwear as well.

"It's really pretty, isn't it? I'm sure everyone will be happy, and when we begin trading with other nations in the future, I think everyone will buy them," said Darcia.

"Yes, I think they are very wonderful," said Princess Levia. "But it wasn't that… I was wondering what that is…" Her gaze was directed at the mass of meat that was being carried out of the resurrection device.

It was an armful of meat with no hands, no legs and no head. There were throbbing blood vessels running along its red exterior surface, making it clear that, unbelievably, this thing was alive.

"Ah, don't pay that too much attention -" Darcia began.

"That's my seventh failed recreation of Mom," said Vandalieu.

"NOOOOO! DON'T SAY IIIIT!" Darcia cried.

"I'm not saying that that's your true form, so calm down," Vandalieu told her.

Vandalieu had thought of the idea of using Golem Transmutation to manipulate liquid Death Iron and Dark Copper to replace the resurrection device's damaged parts. As a result, the resurrection device had started working again, but… when he tried to recreate Darcia's body with it, the device produced only lumps of meat.

He had gone through a lot of trial and error, but no matter what he did, the device only created lumps of meat that bore no resemblance to Darcia.

"As you can see, there is only meat and blood vessels… if there were organs, I would add an Orichalcum skeleton after it was finished. It seems making unnatural, temporary repairs to a resurrection device that was incomplete to begin with isn't going to be enough to recreate Mom," Vandalieu concluded.

He had used the machine seven times, but there was nothing he could do to stop the device from producing mysterious masses of meat. According to legend, the device was supposedly capable of creating bodies that were complete apart from their souls, but Vandalieu's results were nothing close to that.

"But you know, it's kind of… You say that, Vandalieu, but it's like I'm being told that this really is what I look like, so it's hard," said Darcia.

"I'm sorry, I…" Levia began.

"It's alright, it's just something that I've fooled myself into thinking. I'm sure that it's because the device is incomplete," said Darcia.

"Well, it does function, so I'm thinking of trying to make it more and more complete," said Vandalieu. "Please wait a little longer, Mom."

I suppose it doesn't work without the damaged parts being replaced by the originally-used materials. Unlike other materials, I still can't make detailed shapes out of Orichalcum, so… Should I make a Homunculus after all?

The level of Vandalieu's Golem Transmutation skill had increased, but not enough for him to be able to create precisely-shaped components from Orichalcum. The work needed to repair the device wasn't on the level of hand-making a semiconductor, but it was about as precise as trying to write letters on grains of rice. It wasn't simple to do.

Perhaps it was better for Vandalieu to find an evil god, make a contract and create a Homunculus to use as Darcia's body.

He had gained the knowledge he required to do that at the Mages' Guild in Nineland. Things like sacrificing virgins would be a tall obstacle for Vandalieu, but perhaps he could discuss this requirement with the evil gods.

I wonder if you can negotiate with gods? I probably wouldn't be able to threaten them.

In reality, he had already eaten an evil god, but as Vandalieu was unaware of this, he was under the impression that every god was certainly a superior being to him.

"I'll find the perfect evil god for the job," said Vandalieu.

"Levia-san, it seems that my son is going to run off to a bad religion; what should I do in this situation?" Darcia asked.

"Umm, I-I think it will probably be fine!" said Levia.

Vandalieu had only been trying to reassure Darcia, but it seemed to have only made her more anxious. He hadn't said that he would necessarily join the evil gods, so why was she so worried?

『You have acquired the Blacksmithing, Thread-reeling and Enhanced Physical Ability: Hair skills!』

『The Clothing skill has been combined with the Thread-reeling skill and the Enhanced Physical Ability: Hair skill has been combined with the Enhanced Physical Ability: Claws, Fangs, Tongue skill!』

『The levels of the Cooking, Enhanced Physical Ability: Hair, Claws, Fangs, Tongue and Thread-reeling skills have increased!』

Time passed, and it was now October.

After finishing creating his currency and treating Gopher and the other former slaves with Youth Transformation, Vandalieu dropped by the cultivation village's harvest festival.

He treated the villagers who were in poor health, and in return, he was treated with not the thin porridge made from rice and millets that he had been given before, but a dish resembling fried rice with proper ingredients, which had been made by stir-frying vegetables and meat along with southern rice.

"You're eating a lot; how many bowls is that?"

"This is my third."

Vandalieu had given the villagers three Horned Rabbits and a sack of walnuts as presents, so he wasn't holding back.

"Man, things were really crazy after you came back," said Fester. "Something happened at the slave-run mine, you see. The outer walls were destroyed, the mine turned into an empty area of land and all of the soldiers and slaves turned into skeletons."

"What did you say, is that true, I can't believe it," Vandalieu said with his usual expressionless voice and flat tone; he was the perpetrator - the main perpetrator at that - of this incident.

Both his expressionlessness and flat tone were nothing out of the ordinary, so it seemed that the others hadn't noticed.

… The fact that Vandalieu's expression didn't change and reveal his true emotions unless he put conscious effort into it came in handy at times like this, too.

"Yeah, the wall was apparently destroyed from outside, so it was probably monsters that appeared. They didn't find any footprints or tracks, though."

"So the soldiers and slaves killed by the monsters probably turned into Undead."

It seemed that this was the conclusion reached by the Knights' Order that had investigated the incident. Vandalieu's effort of using Golem Transmutation to make monster bones resemble Titan skeletons had paid off.

"Fortunately, it seems that the monsters that destroyed the outer wall moved south from where the mine was afterwards, though."

Those investigating seemed to have thought that monsters were the culprits since there were no traces of armed forces having moved in the area, and since there were no monster tracks, the monsters had simply flown off somewhere else.

I'm sure that there will be some who have made the connection between this event and the fact that the Demon King's seal was removed, but… I'm sure they won't know.

Nobody would dream that Vandalieu simply happened to have removed the champion's seal and released a part of the Demon King (his blood) during his quest to rescue the slaves at the mine.

In fact, Heinz's party and members of the Church of Alda were just as perplexed about the incident at the slave-run mine as Vandalieu had expected they would be. Considering the timing of the incidents, they probably weren't unrelated, but they wondered, why had the second incident occurred there?

For the Hartner Duchy, it was quite an important location, as it was the duchy's only source of mineral resources other than Dungeons. However, it was doubtful as to whether it would be a likely place targeted by the one who had undone the Demon King's seal, or the Demon King's fragment itself.

It wasn't as if there had been other sealed fragments of the Demon King, nor were there other evil gods involved. As long as they didn't realize that the one who had removed the Demon King's seal was someone related to the former refugees of Talosheim, they would only be able to wonder about how strange it all was.

And it seemed that they hadn't realized this fact yet.

The fact that this cultivation village had gone unchecked was proof that those investigating the incident hadn't come anywhere near the truth.

Vandalieu's familiars, the Lemures in the sky over the village, confirmed that no lookouts of spies had been stationed here.

"Thanks to that, the adventurers and knights passed through the highway from Niarki, so Oyaji-san was all excited about it," said Kasim. "Now he's downhearted about the fact that we don't know if traveling merchants will come this way anymore, though."

Kasim and his friends, who didn't know about the various things happening behind the scenes, were being carefree and enjoying the festival. Seeing them was truly therapeutic for Vandalieu.

"Things are hard on Lina though, since she has more work to do now."

"Come to think of it, weren't you three included in the group sent to exterminate the Skeletons in the mines?" Vandalieu asked.

Actually, because of the Lemures, Vandalieu already knew that Kasim and his friends had been a part of the extermination force, but he decided to ask because he thought that it would be unnatural if he didn't.

"Of course we were. Just by participating, we were paid a reward that we can use for something other than food."

"Skeletons are Rank 2. They're enemies that even we can defeat, and there were lots of people in the extermination force."

"And the men of the village… and even some of the women, have started hunting Goblins to make the Gobu-Gobu that you taught us about. They go out in groups of five and hunt them with handmade spears and bows, so there haven't been any Goblins appearing near the village lately."

Vandalieu had been watching through the Lemures, so he already knew this, but the people of the village were sturdy. In fact, it was their sturdiness that had brought them this far.

"But there was something different about those Skeletons," said Kasim. "They were attacking the other guys normally, but when it came to fighting us, they were like…"

"It was like they were training with us. No, both our weapons and theirs were real, so we did defeat them properly," said Fester.

"It was supposed to be a real battle, and even though it was a real battle, it kind of felt like training as well. Also, I felt like there was something watching over us from somewhere as well," Zeno added.

How to fight enemies wielding long weapons, enemies faster than them, enemies that outnumbered them, enemies that included both Archers and Shield-bearers? Kasim's party felt that they had been tested on these subjects one after another.

Of course, this had been the result of Vandalieu having given the Skeletons instructions, using the Lemures and Undead insects that he had left behind. He had used a countless number of winged insects and made them form letters to give orders to the Skeletons.

"I've heard that Undead tend to repeat the actions that they performed when they were alive. Perhaps those Skeletons were previously instructors for new adventurers?" Vandalieu suggested.

"I see," said Kasim. He and his friends seemed satisfied with this explanation. It seemed that they now assumed that the gaze that Zeno felt was also that of one of the Skeletons.

The truth was that none of those Skeletons had been good people while they were alive, however.

"Come to think of it, what happened to that priest-san?" Vandalieu asked. "I haven't seen him around."

The priest of Alda's peaceful faction who had left the village, saying that he was heading for the city of Niarki… or rather, the simple life-attribute mage and spy who was disguised as a priest, Froto. This man was nowhere to be seen in the village that was crowded with people for the harvest festival.

"We have no idea, either. It's not just this Seventh Cultivation Village; it seems that the people of the other cultivation villages haven't seen him, either," said Kasim.

"I asked the people in the extermination force, and they said they didn't know of any priests like that. How about you, Vandalieu? Didn't you see him when you went to the city?" Fester asked.

"Fester, it's awkward for me to approach the Church of Alda," Vandalieu told him. "Unfortunately, I didn't see him there."

"I see… I hope nothing has happened to him."

The three young adventurers looked worried.

Vandalieu nodded in agreement. "Me too. But I think he's probably doing fine, though," he said.

He still didn't know that Froto had been a spy. Even the Lemures would have been noticed if they got too close no matter how transparent they were, at most, they could only watch people's movements from afar.

The Fangs of Dark Nights in the city of Niarki had been eliminated by Edgar, one of the members of the Five-colored Blades, faster than Vandalieu had expected, leaving him with no way to gather further information.

As a result, Vandalieu was under the impression that Froto was an unusually virtuous clergyman despite being a believer of Alda.

"By the way, what are you going to do now?"

"Starting from tomorrow, I'm going to go around all of the cultivation villages and indulge myself in the harvest festivals," said Vandalieu. "After that, I was thinking of going to the city to get some essentials and visit some distant relatives of my mother."

"Distant relatives of your mother, do you mean -?!"

"No, my father was the Vampire among my parents."

"Ah, is that right? No, I was sure that…"

If Eleanora had been present, there might have been a misunderstanding. Vandalieu knew that this bothered her quite a lot, so he was glad that he had come alone.

"Oi, the main event is starting soon," said the oyaji from the jack-of-all-trades store, calling Vandalieu over. "The stone statue is going to be put in the shrine, so come over here!"

And so, that day's conversation ended there.

Incidentally, the quality of the statue of Vandalieu created by the former stonemason Ivan was… questionable. As the entire thing was made of stone, it had failed to portray the color of his hair, skin and odd-colored eyes, so it was possible that nobody would know that it was a statue of Vandalieu unless they were told.

Skill explanation:

[Automatic Mana Recovery],[Increased Mana Recovery Rate]

Those with the Automatic Mana Recovery skill recover Mana automatically no matter what they are doing… When they are resting, exercising or even in the middle of reciting the incantation for a spell.

The Increased Mana Recovery Rate skill is a skill that increases the rate at which Mana recovers while resting.

Their names are similar, but they are separate skills.

Automatic Mana Recovery restores a fixed percentage of the skill owner's total Mana pool, while Increased Mana Recovery Rate reduces the amount of time required for Mana to recover regardless of the amount of Mana that needs to be recovered. Thus, those with large Mana pools often desire the Automatic Mana Recovery skill.

However, the Automatic Mana Recovery skill has the flaw of being difficult to acquire, and even after acquiring it, it requires training by expending all available Mana to increase the total Mana pool. In addition, the rate of natural Mana recovery is dependent on one's health and mental condition, but many mages are aware that sleeping is a way of drastically increasing it, so they tend to be fixated on the environment in which they sleep and the number of hours they sleep.

The fact that well-known mages carry pillows for traveling is even detailed in their biographies.

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