Chapter 26: Overcoming the difficulties, standing before a new land
This mountain range… Apparently, its official name was the Boundary Mountain Range. It wasn't the boundary between the Amid Empire and Orbaume Kingdom, but supposedly the boundary between the world of humans and the world of monsters. For this reason, the mountain range was mostly unexplored land and there were Devil's Nests all over it. Passing through it with these numbers would cause monsters to assume they were prey and attack.
However, since Vandalieu and the Ghouls were avoiding the Devil's Nests and building their own road through, the monsters that attacked them were the weakest ones living on the edges of the Devil's Nests.
「I defeated a wolf that looked like a hedgehog!」(Vigaro)
「I have never seen that monster before, have I? I wonder if it is tasty?」(Tarea)
「Looks delicious, looks delicious!」(Basdia)
In addition to that, they were monsters so unintelligent that they didn't understand how dangerous it was to attack a pack of hundreds of Ghouls, so they were killed immediately and offered their meat to use as food and fur to use to make more cold-weather clothing.
Their stores of Orc meat had decreased considerably recently, so this was very welcome.
However, there were still times when large monsters attacked.
「It's a flock of Wyverns!」
Today, a flock of Wyverns was attacking them from the sky. These creatures whose front limbs were also their wings were the lowest form of Dragon-type monsters and were less intelligent than other Dragons. Scholars in this world were disputing over whether they should be classified as demi-Dragons.
They didn't breathe fire or use magic, but they were Rank 5 monsters that were exceptionally adept at maneuvering through the air with sharp fangs and claws that were just as dangerous as they looked.
If their flight could be prevented, they would be about as strong as a Rank 4 monster, but this was a mountain range at an (estimated) altitude of over two thousand meters. No matter how one looked at it, the Wyverns had the terrain advantage.
Despite them being unintelligent compared to other Dragons, they were plenty intelligent compared to animals. They gathered together and attacked in large numbers and aimed for the back of the line of carriages and other places where the defense seemed thinnest, so they were quite problematic.
There were five Wyverns in the flock today. It was quite a troublesome number to deal with.
「GAAAH!」
As a command came out in the Ghouls' battle language, the warriors simultaneously fired their arrows while the women released various spells.
But since the Ghouls had been living in a forest and their prey had been creatures that would approach to try and eat them, their proficiency with long-ranged attacks was relatively low.
There were quite a number of Ghouls with the[Archery]skill, including Basdia, but their levels with this skill wasn't very high.
「GUEEEEEEH!」
「GYAOOOOOHN!」
The one they could rely on at times like this was Bone Bird, who had become a Rank 4 Specter Bird.
Since Bone Bird had reached Rank 4 and was strengthened by the[Strengthen Followers]skill, even the Wyverns couldn't let their guard down against it. As if instinctively sensing this, two of the five Wyverns flew towards Bone Bird. They had decided to commit two Wyverns of the flock to quickly take it down, rather than simply keep it busy with one Wyvern.
Preventing Bone Bird's movements would remove its biggest strength, its mobility, so the Wyverns had made the correct decision.
However…
『SHAAAAAAH.』
As the transparent『Lemures』vanished, they released their powerful bloodthirst.
「Gyaoh?!」
「Gyugiih?!」
The Wyverns were thrown into confusion by the bloodthirst that attacked their natural instincts. Three of them turned their bodies around to try and get away, while the movement of the other two faltered.
「Aim at those two!」
「Nikuuuuh!」
A flood of arrows and spells assaulted the two Wyverns. With their movements slowed, they were simply practice targets, and their scales weren't hard enough to block the spells and the arrows fired with the Ghouls' Superhuman Strength.
The three Wyverns had chosen to escape and defenselessly turned their backs towards Bone Bird. Bone Bird fired spirit feathers at one of them and mangled its neck with its talons.
「GYAAOOOOooh…」
Three Wyverns fell onto the mountain's surface while the other two fled in a hurry. Vandalieu raised his hand towards the two that were escaping, but then lowered his hand again without doing anything.
「You have to save your Mana, Van, so helping us with your Lemures is enough.」(Basdia)
『This great journey will become difficult if you were to collapse, Bocchan. Please take care of yourself.』(Sam)
「Yeah, I know.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu had been thinking of testing whether he could use death-attribute Mana to erase the lift force that the Wyverns needed to fly. But since he was responsible for making the roads, if he were to collapse from running out of Mana, the Ghouls would have to stop moving while he recovered. If a landslide or something occurred in such a situation, it would be a huge problem. And so Vandalieu had to pay much more attention to his Mana pool than usual while they were crossing this mountain range.
Even Vandalieu's Mana pool of 110,000,000 Mana wasn't enough to face the entirety of nature.
「And I think that's plenty of meat.」
As the young Ghoul woman who had poked her head out from a carriage said, the three Wyverns would provide enough nourishment to keep the Ghouls' hunger and fatigue at bay for today. Though they were the lowest class of Dragons, they were still Dragons, so their meat was delicious and nourishing. Their organs could be used as materials for Alchemy, but they were nutritious to eat as well.
In addition, their scales, bones and wing membranes could be used as materials to make armor, while their fangs and claws could be turned into weapons.
「But to defeat three Wyverns out of five… If you took these to the Adventurers' Guild, you could live in luxury for a while.」(Kachia)
「Could you defeat them, Kachia-san?」(Vandalieu)
「No way. I wouldn't even want to fight one of them.」(Kachia)
Kachia shook her head as she spoke. She had been a female adventurer that Bubobio had captured and turned into his private property, but now she was a Ghoul. Noble Orcs were individually stronger than normal Orcs, but they weren't as fertile, so she had been rescued by Basdia's group of Ghouls before becoming pregnant and then undergone the Ghoul transformation ritual.
「The Guild considers us dead and I'd much rather be a Ghoul than treated as a woman that monsters used as their plaything. I don't even have a family, anyway.」(Kachia)
Back then, she had been mentally broken, but she had recently recovered enough to say such things. But it seemed that she still feared men to some degree, so she was riding in Sam's carriage.
Since Vandalieu was a child and Sam was an Undead, they were apparently fine for her.
They stopped to dissect the Wyverns' bodies and Vandalieu set Bone Bird and Lemures in the sky to keep watch.
The fact that they were under such dangerous attacks at least once a day showed just how harsh crossing this mountain range was. Normal adventurers wouldn't have lasted more than a few days.
If it weren't for Vandalieu's abnormal amount of Mana and the[Status Effect Resistance]skill that prevented him from being affected by altitude sickness, he wouldn't have lasted very long either.
But monster attacks were also an opportunity to obtain fresh food.
The next problem was more complicated.
「Gyah… Gyaaah!」
「Uu, kyauun!」
With the carriages stopped, a black Goblin child tried to take tottering steps to get down from the carriage, but instead fell onto the ground and burst into tears. Surprised by that, a black Kobold child burst into tears as well.
「Ah, hey, you can't get out of the carriage.」
「What is it? Are you hungry? You're such a greedy child, aren't you?」
Two Ghoul women each picked up one of these children and began to breast-feed them. They were this Goblin and Kobold's mothers.
Many of the Ghoul women Vandalieu had rescued from the Noble Orcs' village had been pregnant. Well, that was the purpose that they had been held captive for, so it was only to be expected.
Vandalieu had indirectly suggested that it would be possible for him to use death-attribute magic to cause abortions for them, but the mothers had rejected his offer.
「If we care for them from the time they are born, they will grow up to obey us.」(Zadiris)
Apparently that's how it was. If times were peaceful, they wouldn't have gone so far as to use their own wombs to raise Goblin and Orc children, but in this time of crisis, they apparently declined abortion to increase their numbers as much as possible.
Because the villages of the Ghoul women that had been held captive had their men wiped out, they had to compensate for the loss in working force.
Incidentally, all of the Goblins, Kobolds and Orc children were born with black skin and fur. Goblins normally had green skin and Orcs had a light pink tone. Kobolds normally had black fur sometimes, but all of them being black was unusual.
Vandalieu guessed that his Mana was the cause of that.
Thinking that it would be bad if the fetuses that the Ghoul women had decided to give birth to were affected by the Ghouls' departure from the Devil's Nest, he used[Mana Transfer]to transfer his thick Mana to the pregnant women and their unborn children.
As a result, the fetuses developed at the same quick pace as they would have done in the Devil's Nest and were born healthy. Though they were black, for some reason.
It wasn't a bad thing, and nobody intended to complain that they were ominous or anything. But just in case, he examined them with[Appraisal]to find -
[Black Goblin Baby]
[Anubis Baby]
[Orcus Baby]
These were the names displayed for the Goblin, Kobold and Orc babies.
For some reason, they were new races.
「I wonder what this means? Tell me please, Darwin-sensei.」(Vandalieu)
「Who is that, Van? Was it one of the horrible researchers in that world called Origin?」(Basdia)
「No, it was a very famous person in the history of another world.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu, who had inadvertently created new races of monsters, looked up at the heavens with a distant gaze, but he was likely looking to the wrong person to answer his question.
「Well, it is alright, is it not? They seem cleverer than normal Goblins, stronger than normal Kobolds and more well-behaved than normal Orcs.」(Zadiris)
「Don't worry about it, those children just need to be trained by the men. That's how it was for me, too.」(Vigaro)
「Yeah, I've only been trained by Vigaro as well.」(Basdia)
Zadiris didn't seem deeply concerned with the birth of the new races, while Vigaro and Basdia told Vandalieu about the relationship that Ghoul men had with children.
Well, even if Vandalieu were to be concerned about it now, it was too late. He had already shared his Mana with all of the pregnant women.
『That reminds me, I used to give you milk like that too. You would be reserved at first, but then you would start drinking it in a daze…』
「Hello, anyone? He suddenly seems to be in agony!」(Kachia)
『It is fine; Darcia-sama was just reminiscing of the times when used to breast-feed him. Hearing that is what is causing Bocchan his agony.』(Saria)
『Bocchan, you're still a child so there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Please have some more confidence.』(Rita)
As Kachia couldn't see Darcia, she was naturally surprised to see Vandalieu silently agonizing over something. But this was just a regular scene for Saria and Rita.
Even Zadiris and the other Ghouls who couldn't see Darcia weren't surprised at this point.
The problem of the rush of babies was that Darcia would reminisce of the past, causing Vandalieu to suffer in embarrassment!
But this rush of babies would soon be over. Monsters reproduced quickly; the women who had been held captive would give birth to the last of the children soon. Monster children developed quickly, so they would stop being breast-fed a month after that.
「Vandalieu, if the child in my belly is a boy, can I really name him after you? There are two pairs of dakuten* in your name, so it'd be perfect as a lucky charm.」(Bilde)
As Vandalieu could tell from looking at the large abdomen of Bilde, who had been pregnant for seven months, she and the nine other Ghouls pregnant with Ghoul children would be giving birth soon.
Incidentally, Ghouls apparently developed at the same pace as humans.
「If I solve the birth rate of Ghoul children, I'll be dealing with this for years more to come…」(Vandalieu)
As a spirit, Darcia's memories were a little broken so some things caused her to repeat the same words over and over again. As Vandalieu wondered if he simply had to get used to this, his eyes became distant again.
And the last problem was taking care of the Ghouls whose physical conditions had deteriorated from having left the Devil's Nest. They were paying attention to make sure that nobody was becoming sick. Tarea had become particularly weak.
「Uu, I am terribly sorry, Van-sama.」(Tarea)
Tarea had aged to the point that Vandalieu felt the urge to answer with,「You promised not to say that, otottsuan.*」
She had been healthy while living in the Devil's Nest. She had even been excited about the migration, but when they left the Devil's Nest, her body and mind had both grown weaker.
「How pitiful, show a little more spirit, will you?」(Zadiris)
「Kuh, it is just unnatural for you to be so healthy when you have aged even more than me.」(Tarea)
It seemed that her old age was indeed the cause of this. However, Vandalieu had used[Youth Transformation]to revert Zadiris's physical age to match her mid-teen physical appearance. Since Ghouls had the unique characteristic of not aging after pregnancy, nobody had noticed this, however.
「*Cough cough*, we were even able to obtain Wyvern materials, but I am in no condition to use them. When I was a human, I touched them once; they are materials that I yearned to use.」(Tarea)
「Once we arrive at the new Devil's Nest, you'll become healthy and be able to make equipment again.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu patted Tarea's back and comforted her while checking to see if he could see the shadow of death. When her time came close, he intended to use[Youth Transformation]on her as well.
Having strange rumors float around would be a cheap price to have Tarea regain her health.
「Thank you very much, Van-sama. But instead of worrying only about me, you also have to take care of that girl.」
Tarea pointed at the Live-Dead that was lying down nearby. The Live-Dead that Luciliano had abandoned showed no signs of movement other than its heartbeat and breathing; since it was just like a living corpse, it needed someone to take care of it.
The Live-Dead was an Undead in the sense that it didn't have a soul. But since its body was living, it would starve to death if it didn't eat, become sick if left in unsanitary conditions and develop bedsores if left lying in the same position for too long.
Even though it didn't have a soul, treating it like that wouldn't be pleasant to see and might even have negative effects on the unborn child.
The Live-Dead had been made pregnant by the Noble Orc Bugogan and Vandalieu had thinned out the monster genes and had the spirit of the woman whose corpse had been used to make the Live-Dead possess that fetus. That fetus was now developing inside the Live-Dead.
It was only the second month of pregnancy, but there was already a small bulge in the Live-Dead's abdomen, perhaps due to what was left of the Noble Orc's genes.
「… Well, taking the Wyverns apart will probably take a while, anyway.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu pulled the Live-Dead next to Tarea along with the entire rug that it was lying on. Kachia silently wondered how those thin arms and legs were so strong, but he also possessed the[Superhuman Strength]skill. Since his physical strength already exceeded that of an adult man, there was no need to use magic for a task like this.
Since everyone else around were Ghouls who had been born with the[Superhuman Strength]skill and Undead, Kachia was the only one to be surprised by this, as she had been a human until two months ago.
「What shall we talk about today… Oh yeah, let's talk about what we're going to do at the Devil's Nest we're going to.」
Taking no notice of Kachia's feelings of surprise, Vandalieu began talking to the Live-Dead, or more accurately, to its abdomen.
In a television program on Earth, he had seen that talking to unborn children was good prenatal care. If he remembered correctly, it was a documentary about how geniuses were born.
Though Vandalieu's uncle had banned luxuries from Vandalieu to a bizarre extent, he was surprisingly open-minded about things that he didn't consider luxuries. Thanks to this, Vandalieu was able to watch television, though not often, and even access the internet… His uncle's standards of what was a luxury and what wasn't varied from day to day, so Vandalieu had to be cautious and didn't feel a shred of gratitude towards his uncle for that, however.
When they arrived at the Devil's Nest, they would repair parts of the ruined city, find beast monsters with delicious meat. If there were remains of an old public bathhouse then Vandalieu wanted to repair that too and soak his body in the baths, and next time he would definitely succeed at fermenting walnuts and acorns to make something close to miso. Vandalieu talked to the baby about these bright future prospects without mentioning the bitterness of his past lives. He accidentally let some of his knowledge from other worlds slip, causing Kachia to tilt her head in confusion at the mention of miso, but Vandalieu took no notice of it.
「When we are doing things like this, we really seem like a family, don't we?」(Tarea)
「… What kind of family structure is this supposed to be?」(Kachia)
Tarea smiled as she spoke while Kachia questioned her words. It was easy to tell at a glance that all of them were of different races, but if one ignored that, then perhaps the scene could be imagined as the older sister (Tarea) and younger brother with a large age-gap (Vandalieu) looking after the pregnant mother (the Live-Dead).
「Muh, that Tarea, getting ahead of me and calling Van her family.」(Basdia)
「Hah, do not worry about it. I am sure she thinks she has become his grandmother.」(Zadiris)
「I can hear you, you know! Uu, Van-sama, I am being teased by Zadiris who is thirty years older than me~」(Tarea)
「Yes, yes, everyone is my family.」(Vandalieu)
And so the Ghouls' journey across the mountain range went smoothly, thanks to Vandalieu's skillful management of his Mana.
[You have acquired the Engineering skill!]
Half of the month of May had passed and it was now the time of year that people on Earth would have just finished enjoying Golden Week when Vandalieu and the Ghouls finally arrived in front of the Devil's Nest ruins.
The Devil's Nest ruins were in a basin between two mountain ranges, wide enough to take three journeys to cross by foot. It was easy to imagine that when people had lived here, there were crop fields expanding in all directions.
「It took us about three months to get here. To get to the Orbaume Kingdom, I'd have to cross another mountain range so let's say it takes another three months… Even if the Mirg shield-nation hadn't sent that extermination force, it might have taken me about a year.」(Vandalieu)
「No, I think it would have been even faster if you, Sam and the Undead were to travel alone.」(Basdia)
Vandalieu, who was now almost three years old, gave a sigh as he thought about how far away the Orbaume Kingdom was.
And then he got fired up again, knowing that this was where it really began.
From here on out, he would enter the Devil's Nest ruins and work hard with everyone to make it a place that the Ghouls could live in.
Vandalieu looked up at the Devil's Nest ruins that had a mysterious atmosphere to it that would strike fear in the hearts of novice adventurers.
There were tall stone ramparts that had once been sturdy, but now they were crumbling in places and eroded by the plant life. What had once been a town was visible beyond them, a tragic sight of countless ruined buildings.
And the white castle that was still towering into the sky somehow resembled a fleshless skeleton.
But what was even more ominous about it was that despite it being a ruin with nobody living there, there was a thick presence floating in the air. The stirring of trees could be heard despite there being no wind, and harsh cries echoed across the ruins.
It froze the spine to think that these noises weren't necessary made by living things.
This Devil's Nest definitely contained monsters that even Zadiris and Darcia wouldn't know about. And some of those monsters might be of a high Rank.
Vandalieu had confirmed that there were a lot of Undead, but that didn't mean that all of the monsters would be Undead. It was even possible that Dragons inhabited this place, and there might be dangerous Dungeons as well.
This was the place that the Ghouls had to build a village to live in and find a source of food and materials.
Vandalieu had used the Undead insects to survey the area, but there were a lot of things that he couldn't see properly through the shared vision of the insects' compound eyes and many of them had been unexpectedly crushed by monsters or mysteriously stopped responding to him.
From here, Vandalieu would have to use his own eyes and ears to challenge this dangerous, unknown world.
「I've started to get excited.」
This unknown adventure caused Vandalieu's heart to throb not in fear, but excitement.
Since he had always lived in a limited world on Earth and in Origin, he felt excited every time he visited an unknown land. He didn't like that they had only come here because they were running away from the extermination force, but that didn't make the new world that expanded into the horizon before his eyes appear any duller.
「Well then… Let's set up camp just a little outside the ruins.」(Vandalieu)
「Everyone, make preparations to set up camp!」(Zadiris)
「Station some lookouts! We're close to a Devil's Nest, so don't let your guard down!」(Vigaro)
And so the Ghouls earnestly began their preparations to set up camp.
Because a new adventure was awaiting them, they had to make sure that their physical conditions and Mana were at their maximum.
Incidentally, after the rush of babies, the population of the group was closing in on six hundred.
Orcs were generally born one at a time, but Goblins and Kobolds were typically born in groups of three, and apparently that didn't change even if they were born from the wombs of another race.
And so there were around fifty Black Goblins, a hundred Anubises and sixty Orcuses.
Their population now exceeded what Bugogan's village had achieved.
「King, help me with my study.」
「King, King! I picked up a strange bone! I'm giving it to you!」
「Fugoh? King, did you get smaller?」
And perhaps because of the influence of the death-attribute mana that they had received before they were born, or perhaps simply because they learned from their parents, they were very attached to Vandalieu.
Vandalieu was happy about this, but…
「I wonder if a nobleman can be a Ghoul King on the side?」
Vandalieu whispered these words to himself as he looked up at the Orcus that was already larger than him at the age of two months.
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 2 years, 11 months old
Title:[Ghoul King]
Job: None
Level: 100
Job history: None
Attributes:
Vitality: 48
Mana: 113,807,904
Strength: 42
Agility: 17
Stamina: 47
Intelligence: 89
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 1
Rapid Healing: Level 2
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 3
Status Effect Resistance: Level 4
Magic Resistance: Level 1
Dark Vision
Mental Corruption: Level 10
Death-Attribute Charm: Level 3
Chant Revocation: Level 1
Strengthen Followers: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Active skills:
Bloodsucking: Level 3
Surpass Limits: Level 3
Golem Transmutation: Level 2
No-Attribute Magic: Level 1
Mana Control: Level 1
Spirit Form: Level 1
Carpentry: Level 1 (NEW!)
Engineering: Level 1 (NEW!)
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing Jobs
Unable to gain Experience Points independently
Monster explanation:
[Black Goblins]
These are a new race of Goblins created by having death-attribute mana applied to them before birth. Their base Rank is Rank 2.
Their abilities are greater than those of Goblins, and all of their attribute values are also higher. As they possess the[Dark Vision],[Status Effect Resistance]and[Enhanced Agility]skills from birth, they can move around in complete darkness as if it were in the middle of the day, they are resistant to poison and illnesses and they are very fast.
They are smarter than regular Goblins, possessing intelligence equivalent to that of Kobolds, and if taught, any individual Black Goblin can learn martial skills and use weapons.
Normal Goblins have a lifespan just short of twenty years, while Black Goblins can live about twice as long.
Only their fertility and urge to breed are weaker than those of normal Goblins, possessing lower levels in the[Breeding]and[Endless Sexual Stamina]skills, and some do not even possess these skills at all. Black Goblin children also take longer to develop to maturity.
While normal Goblins living in a Devil's Nest require only a month to reach adulthood, Black Goblins require six months.
They are physically a little larger than normal Goblins, and as their names suggest, they have black skin. They have pointed ears and slanted eyes like normal Goblins, but they have a somewhat more human-like appearance.
As this race has only just been born, it is unknown if there are any superior races of Black Goblins.
If one were to report the existence of Black Goblins to the Adventurers' Guild with proof, they would be rewarded handsomely for reporting the existence of a new race of monsters, but that would be difficult at present.
Skill explanation:
[Status Effect Resistance]
This is a skill that provides resistance against not only poison, illnesses and curses, but also fatigue, stress, sleep, hunger, asphyxia, pain and any other condition that causes the skill's owner to not be in peak form. However, it does not provide resistance against the effects of having expended too much Mana or wounds caused by taking damage.
Those with a high level in this skill can always be in peak form despite any negative effects they may be under. However, it does not nullify the negative effects, so there is a limit to this skill's effect.
Those who possess this skill are Centaurs, Titans, Drakonids, Demons and others of the races created by Vida, so most who do possess it do so from birth.
After acquiring this skill, one can increase its level by experiencing things that affect his or her status.
However, it is difficult for one who does not possess this skill from birth to acquire it. The reason for this is that one would need to endure negative status effects for a certain amount of time.
According to the Adventurers' Guild's records, there are two ways to do this. One method is to come under the effects of poison and illness at the same time and endure that, and the other method is to acquire separate resistances for each and integrate them together to gain the Status Effect Resistance skill.
According to those records, there has never been a person who has survived the first method, and none have acquired the skill in less than ten years using the second method.
In addition, the effects of the[Mind Corruption]skill cannot be mitigated by this skill. This is because the status of one's mind being corrupted is considered a normal status for that individual.
Chapter 27: In a new land. Apparently I am the Prophesized Holy Son
The Spies that Marshal Palpapek had sent out to follow the Ghouls' tracks came back soon after reaching the Boundary Mountain Range, just as he had expected.
The report they gave was a strange one, something like,「The mountain range was too precipitous for carriages to pass over, but for some reason there were traces of carriages passing over them.」
Could the Dhampir have turned the carriages into special Magic Items? No, probably not.
「However, the fact that they crossed the mountain range is a fact. With that being the case, giving further chase would be impossible.」(Thomas)
After receiving this report, Thomas Palpapek readily gave up on the Dhampir extermination that the Vampire had requested of him.
In the first place, for him, dealing with the Dhampir wasn't something that he absolutely had to succeed in doing.
It was not as if the Vampires would kill him for failing; he would not lose his own life. His position as the marshal and his court rank as earl were solid and firm.
He would simply use another opportunity to fulfill the Vampires' requests, endure the finance minister's unpleasantries and focus on dealing with this political opponent. This mistake was certainly one that he could recover from.
Of course, he was angry at the Dhampir and his pride had been scarred. But even so, Thomas Palpapek wasn't a naïve enough man to try to finish the Dhampir with no regard for the costs.
「That is how it is. Sorry, but I will not be able to assist you people any further with finishing this Dhampir.」(Thomas)
That was why he wore a calm expression as he delivered this information to the Vampire's familiar that had come to his room as usual. Though the Vampire often mocked Thomas with his words, he would have also expected that Thomas would give up on the chase.
Defeating that Dhampir shouldn't be a completely necessary task for the Vampires, either.
「… According to your theories, that Dhampir is the Ghoul King and he is now headed beyond the mountain range, correct?」(Vampire)
That was why Thomas felt a little surprise when the Vampire spoke not words of ridicule, but this question in a sour tone.
「That is right.」(Thomas)
「Tch, things have become troublesome. Oi, you really cannot assist us any further? You cannot try to make something happen?」(Vampire)
Even through the familiar, Thomas could hear clear impatience in the Vampire's voice that he never would have expected. It was as if the Vampire had made some huge blunder.
「Send out a request for adventurers, or stir up that religious fanatic, you cannot do anything?」(Vampire)
「To be making suggestions that you yourself know to be impossible, you seem to be quite flustered.」(Thomas)
Indeed, it was possible to send out a request to the Adventurers' Guild without mobilizing the soldiers and knights, as long as the funds were there. However, one would have to risk their life just to cross the mountain range. What kind of whimsical people would accept a request that required them to cross this mountain range that contained an unknown number of Devil's Nests, eliminate a Dhampir who was traveling with hundreds of Ghouls and then cross the mountain range again to return home?
Even if he offered enough money to bring his family of earls to ruin, it was likely that none would accept it.
Even the renowned religious fanatic High Priest Gordan had wanted to give chase, but the Church had persuaded him otherwise and he had already left this land for his next holy task.
「What is the matter? Are you saying that there is something special about this Dhampir?」(Thomas)
「… It has nothing to do with the likes of you!」(Vampire)
With a shout that didn't even attempt to conceal the Vampire's irritation, the familiar took off through the open window. Thomas had a puzzled expression on his face, but he decided that if it had nothing to do with him, he was better off not knowing. And so he stopped giving the matter any further thought.
Even though there were dealings between him and the Vampires, it was not as if he wanted all secrets to be shared. In fact, there were many things that he was better off not knowing.
There was certainly something special about that Dhampir. If there wasn't, there was no way that it could have survived as a breast-feeding infant and then brought the Ghouls together.
However, this level of「something special」wasn't enough for Thomas to pay the Dhampir any particular caution as the nation's marshal. The Orbaume Kingdom contained powerful monsters. This country was constantly exposed to a huge number of threats. The Dhampir was only one more threat added to that number.
It was not a pleasant incident, but it was nothing to become flustered about and make a commotion over.
As long as the nation's military strength and economic power were gradually increased while keeping their guard up, there was nothing to fear.
No matter how much power that Dhampir and the Ghouls amassed, they wouldn't be able to destroy a fortress in a single instant like a high-Rank Dragon would.
Noticing that the black tea in his cup had gone stone-cold, he called a servant to replace it. He decided that after drinking this tea, he would take a rest and stop paying any further thought to the Vampire who seemed like he would be busy soon.
The Vampire whose familiar had flown out of the marshal's house… Sercrent Ozba was a man whose appearance suited his position as a nobleman of Vampire society.
But right now, he was clicking his tongue over and over, scratching his head and violently swirling the red liquid inside his glass.
「Foolish, so foolish, damn it all!」(Sercrent)
If other Vampires could see Sercrent loudly grinding his fangs together, they would question his nobility, but he didn't have the luxury of worrying about his manners right now.
As Thomas Palpapek had guessed, the appearance of a Dhampir wasn't a threat to the Vampires who followed the evil gods. It was an event*.
Leaving cases where the parent was a Pure-breed aside, Dhampirs didn't pose a threat when the Vampire parent was a Noble-born or Subordinate Vampire. They would simply execute both parents, and the one who had succeeded in doing so would be praised by the high-ranking individuals that ruled the faction.
It was just a game like that.
However, there were some exceptions.
Those exceptions were when the Dhampir matured to adulthood, amassed his own power or headed to the Bahn Gaia continent's southern region… The warhammer's handle that was separated from the head by the mountain range.
Sercrent had been commanded by the Pure-breed Vampire that was his『parent』to at least prevent these from happening.
As adult Dhampirs possessed roughly the same strength in battle as their Vampire parents while having almost none of the weaknesses of Vampires, there was a high chance that they would become troublesome enemies.
If such Dhampirs gathered power, they would be able to use their strength to create powerful organizations. There had been a case where an entire country was ruined and the Vampire community hiding that country��s shadows was annihilated. The leader of the mercenary group that had achieved this feat was a Dhampir. Though that fact wasn't widely known in human society, it was a well-known story among Vampires.
And the southern region of the continent beyond the Boundary Mountain Range was still inhabited by Vampires who followed the goddess Vida. Though their overall numbers were low, many of them were surviving Pure-breed Vampires. There were even whispers that some of them had fought alongside the True Ancestor against the god Alda and the champions a hundred thousand years ago.
If Dhampirs were to join the faction of Vampires that followed Vida, in the worst case scenario, there could even be a war between the two factions. Though it was difficult to believe, the Vampires of the Vida faction felt no shame in recognizing Dhampirs as Vida's children, even if they possessed mixed blood. There was no knowing what they would do.
But Sercrent didn't have to worry about that. The traitor, the Subordinate Vampire whose only redeeming quality was his strength against sunlight, had already been dealt with. He had passed information about the Dark Elf mother to Marshal Palpapek, and as a result, that religious fanatic had burned her at the stake.
He had not managed to finish off the crucial one, the Dhampir, but there was no way for an infant of breast-feeding age to survive on its own.
That should have been the case, but for some reason, it had appeared in a Devil's Nest and was even leading a pack of Ghouls. Even so, the marshal had mobilized the army to eliminate it, so Sercrent had thought that would be the end of it.
That was why he hadn't stepped out to deal with it personally, nor had he dispatched his subordinates to do it.
However, Sercrent's expectations had proved to be naïve. The Dhampir had somehow led the Ghouls across the mountain range.
It was possible that they were simply traveling along the mountain range while slipping through the sight of the marshal's Spies, but even Sercrent knew that relying on that possibility without any confirmation was dangerous.
「This cursed, audacious, mixed-blood child! You have done things in the wrong order!」(Sercrent)
How could he gather power before even becoming an adult and cross that extremely dangerous mountain range?! Sercrent murmured these words, to which Vandalieu would undoubtedly reply,「Because you guys drove us into a corner!」Deciding to report to the Noble-born Vampire that was his superior, he stood up and rearranged his disheveled hair with a comb.
He really didn't want to report his failure, but he was bound by magic in such a way that he couldn't neglect to do this.
Sercrent was the one pulling on the strings attached to the back of the Mirg shield-nation's marshal, Earl Thomas Palpapek, but he was just another Vampire in a management position.
「Ah, jeez, why have the materials been processed so badly?! There's pieces of meat still stuck to the Wyvern hides, and this Needle Wolf fur is full of holes! I am sure you just used your claws to make this mess. Did you forget about all the times I told you to use knives?!」(Tarea)
After coming down from the mountain range, Tarea had become incredibly lively. She seemed to have become a different person after her condition had improved.
It was almost enough to make Vandalieu think that her weakness had simply been caused by altitude sickness. However, Tarea's old age hadn't changed, so he would use[Youth Transformation]on her once things had settled down.
「Well then, we'll be going to take a look inside the Devil's Nest.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu had recovered his Mana after resting overnight and had decided to do a reconnaissance inside the Devil's Nest before bringing everyone inside. He could have scouted with Lemures and Undead bugs, but he would be able to see the most with his own two eyes.
And there was also a need to test how much the Undead of the Devil's Nest ruins were willing to obey him.
The scouting members were Vandalieu, Sam, Saria, Rita, Bone Bird, Zadiris and several Ghouls of Rank 4 and above.
The rest of the Ghouls would be protected by the Ghoul warriors led by Vigaro as well as Bone Monkey and the rest of the Undead.
「Leave everything to us!」(Vigaro)
「Make sure you come back safely, Van. It's a man's job to go out, hunt prey and then return to where the women are waiting.」(Basdia)
「Yes. Basdia, please take care of her as well.」(Vandalieu)
Leaving the Live-Dead in Basdia's care, Vandalieu departed with his party. He looked as if he was going on an excursion, but he was aware of the heavy responsibilities placed on him.
In the Devil's Nests ruins that he was stepping into, he had to secure a source of food for the six hundred or so Ghouls and monsters. Vandalieu was the one who had led them here, after all.
Since Vandalieu could stop decomposition with death-attribute magic, there was no cost to preserving food other than some of his Mana, and it seemed that there was a clear stream of water flowing from the mountain range into the waterways of the ruins, so water wouldn't be inconvenient to find either. Even so, his heavy responsibilities were heavy indeed.
「Do not be so nervous, your shoulders are stiff… They are very stiff, boy.」(Zadiris)
「Ah, right there, fuu… This is heaven.」(Vandalieu)
The boy who would soon turn three years old was having his shoulders massaged by the woman who would turn two hundred and ninety three this year (post-Youth-Transformation). Now that Vandalieu thought about it, this might have been the first time he was experiencing someone massaging his shoulders. His eyelids fluttered in response to the intense pleasure.
「Ah, no, I can't fall asleep when we're about to leave. Sam, let's go.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu immediately erased the sleepiness that he was feeling with his passive skill,[Status Effect Resistance.]
『Certainly.』(Sam)
And so Vandalieu and his party stepped foot into the Devil's Nest ruins.
The Devil's Nest ruins consisted of smaller Devil's Nests with different properties. The central area was a Devil's Nest with no signs of life other than vines and moss, and it was surrounded by a Devil's Nest of ruins that had been swallowed by a forest.
Though they were all part of the same ruins, since there were clearly different regions, it was highly likely that the monsters that appeared in the regions would be different.
And that quickly proved to be true.
「JUGAAAAAH!!」
With a strange-sounding roar, a monster that looked like a three-meter-long wolf with countless needles growing from its back attacked them. It was one of the monsters that had attacked the Ghouls on their journey across the mountain range; Vandalieu and the Ghouls had been calling them「Needle Wolves.」
They were about Rank 3 in strength and though they were wolf-like in appearance, they didn't form packs and mostly appeared on their own.
『EIYAH!』(Rita)
「Gyubih?!」(Needle Wolf)
And though they were ferocious, they were not very intelligent. Normal adventurers would struggle to deal with those fangs, claws and the needles that covered the fur of their backs, but it was a foe that the Living Bikini Armor Rita could easily turn the tables on.
Incidentally, though the Needle Wolves were like wolves, their meat was rich and delicious. Also, the fur on their bellies was soft and fluffy, making it perfect to use in clothes and rugs.
「I've just thought of this, but could it be that these things aren't hedgehog-like wolves, but wolf-like hedgehogs?」(Vandalieu)
『That could be the case; they do not form packs, after all.』(Sam)
Well, either way, one Needle Wolf provided almost two hundred kilograms of food including its organs, so they were good prey to hunt.
As the Ghouls prepared to drain the blood from the Needle Wolf, a spray of water came from the river… the waterway.
「SHAAAAH!」
Three sharks with bodies over two meters long leapt at the Ghouls from the water with their mouths open, teeth bared.
「UOOOOH?!」(Ghoul)
「Fish aren't supposed to fly!」(Ghoul)
Stepping in front of the Ghoul warriors who were surprised at the sight of flying sharks attacking them, Zadiris chanted her[Air Attack]spell, creating a fist of air that punched one of the sharks hard.
Vandalieu blasted a second shark with a[Mana Bullet]with as much Mana as he could fit into it, while Rita took the head of the third with a[Single Flash]from her glaive.
『Father, this is my first time seeing fish this large.』(Rita)
『This may be a dolphin or a whale creature that I have heard stories about.』(Sam)
「Hooh, Sam-dono, you are well-informed. In the Devil's Nest that we came from, there were no such large fish or aquatic monsters. And you lot, why did you lose your presence of mind just from seeing these whales fly?! Have you all been slacking since your Ranks increased?!」(Zadiris)
「Sorry, Chief.」(Ghoul)
「Grr, we have embarrassed ourselves. Next time, we won't be surprised by flying whales.」(Ghoul)
「No, I think they're sharks?」(Vandalieu)
Sam had always lived in an inland area with no nearby ocean and only knew about aquatic creatures from what he had heard from others, while Zadiris was only familiar with river fish. As Vandalieu explained that they were sharks, not whales, he remembered seeing a low-budget movie with similar scenes. He named these monsters「Flying Sharks.」
「For now, let's avoid draining monster blood near the waterways.」(Vandalieu)
Since sharks were sensitive to the smell of blood, if they drained monster blood near the waterways, they might have to fight an endless stream of Flying Sharks.
Draining the monsters' blood was only to make them weigh a little less anyway, since he could preserve the meat using death-attribute magic.
They decided to get away from the waterway, take apart the Flying Shark whose head had been cut off and take only the liver and fillets of meat with them. They tossed these in the back of Sam's carriage along with the Needle Wolf before continuing their journey.
『Bocchan, why are we taking the fillets with us?』(Sam)
「If you prepare it right, I think it's a food ingredient that's good for the body.」(Vandalieu)
If Vandalieu recalled, shark fillets were good if they were dried after having the skin removed? He had a good feeling that they would be high-quality ingredients… Though he didn't have high hopes for the liver oil as they weren't deep-sea sharks.
They headed deeper into the Devil's Nest, aiming for the region that the Undead appeared in, and as they passed by a half-collapsed building -
「Ah, an enemy attack from inside the building.」(Vandalieu)
Just as Vandalieu said that, a number of large creatures covered in scales jumped out of the building.
They possessed eyes with vertical-slit pupils like reptiles, mouths filled with teeth just as sharp as the Flying Sharks and stood upright on their rear legs that had claws like knives. They were only around two meters tall, but other than that, they were exactly like dinosaurs.
However, Vandalieu pinpointed where they were hiding in advance with[Sense Life], so though they were planning to take the Ghouls by surprise, the Ghoul warriors reacted immediately and defeated them one-sidedly.
「Oooooh…」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu gazed at the motionless dinosaurs with an emotionally-moved expression on his face.
He had felt the same way when he saw Wyverns for the first time, but this was a real dinosaur… Creatures that could only be seen as extinct fossils on Earth and in Origin.
In elementary school on Earth, Vandalieu's uncle had forced him to cancel his participation in the school excursion to the museum. For him, dinosaurs were a symbol of prehistoric times, and seeing an impressive dinosaur skeleton in a museum one day was one of the things he had wanted to do before he died.
「Boy, I think we should be moving on…?」(Zadiris)
「King, these huge lizards, do they taste good?」(Ghoul)
『Let me see, they do not seem to be of a Dragon race…』(Sam)
However, for Zadiris and the others, since they were not Dragons, they were simply Rank 3 or 4 lizard monsters, so they were puzzled to see Vandalieu acting like this.
「… If we can collect enough to use as materials and have some left over, maybe I can make skeleton specimens for my own personal museum.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu only realized the confusion of the others quite some time after his dreams grew.
After the dinosaur… Raptor attack, Vandalieu and his party were attacked several more times.
They were attacked by small-fry monsters like Goblins that could be found anywhere and enormous Dragonflies. Even the Ents that Vandalieu had only rarely encountered because of the deforestation by Bugogan's village had slow movements, so they were not difficult enemies to defeat as long as they were careful of the branches and vines that they swung to attack.
They also fought some stronger monsters of Rank 4 and above including another Raptor attack, an enormous, five-meter-long Saber Tiger and a Horn Bull that attacked by shooting the thirty-centimeter-long horns that grew all over its entire body.
And what they learned through all this was -
『There are quite a lot of monsters in this Devil's Nest.』(Sam)
『Really. It's good that there is a lot of prey, but we're hardly making any progress.』(Saria)
There were so many monsters, and most of them were ferocious. Monsters attacking of their own accord made it more convenient for Ghouls to hunt them, and if they were of this strength, small groups led by Ghouls of Rank 4 or higher wouldn't have any problems defeating them as long as they didn't let their guards down.
But since the attacks were so frequent, Vandalieu's party hadn't even traveled one kilometer since entering the Devil's Nest ruins. Even taking into account the fact that there were crumbled buildings and roads that they couldn't pass through because they had been overgrown with vegetation, it was a pace so slow that it was hard to say that the search was making any progress.
「Is it because adventurers don't come here that there are so many monsters?」(Vandalieu)
「That is probably part of the reason, but there are probably no Ghouls in this Devil's Nest. That is why even though the Needle Wolves are unintelligent, the Goblins that are supposed to be cowardly and seemingly intelligent monsters like Raptors attack us. They do not know how powerful we are.」(Zadiris)
Adventurers didn't come to thin the monster population in these Devil's Nest ruins that was sandwiched by the Boundary Mountain Range on both sides. That was why the monster population here just kept growing.
In addition, since Ghouls didn't inhabit this Devil's Nest, the monsters didn't know how strong Zadiris and the Ghouls were and simply attacked these「intruders.」
If these theories were correct, the Ghouls would have to hunt the monsters in the adventurers' place for a while. If the monsters learned how strong the Ghouls were and stopped attacking them, this place could become a perfect environment to build a village in.
「Well, it seems that most of the monsters have stopped attacking us already.」(Zadiris)
Zadiris glanced at the line of Living Dead walking in succession behind Sam - Vandalieu had turned the prey that wouldn't fit into Sam's carriage into Undead.
Many monsters were ferocious and wouldn't even hesitate to kill other members of their own race. Even so, they would not bare their fangs aggressively at members of their own race unless they were starving, cornered or the conditions greatly favored them for the fight.
The sight of members of their own race that had been killed and turned into Undead was easy-to-understand proof to the monsters that Vandalieu and his party were stronger than them.
Needle Wolves and Goblins still continued to attack them recklessly, however.
「Also, let's make sure to avoid the waterways as we proceed.」(Vandalieu)
「Indeed, those creatures were sensitive to the smell of blood.」(Zadiris)
Wary of the Flying Sharks, the line of Undead proceeded to make their way towards the center of the Devil's Nest ruins.
The center of the Devil's Nest ruins that they arrived at was indeed in ruins, but at the same time, it was a pleasant sight that could be called a work of art.
An enormous castle still towered towards the sky, and surrounding it were numerous buildings that still retained much of their past glory.
And as if to make up for the almost complete lack of life in the area, there were human-skeleton-shaped monsters all over the place.
『Skeletons, and with that size, they must be those of the Titan race that I have heard about. It appears that this was once a country of Titans.』(Sam)
The height of the Skeletons was well over two meters, and some were even around three meters tall. They didn't simply possess a long and narrow spine; their bones were thicker and more solid-looking than those of humans.
And though Vandalieu and the Ghouls hadn't noticed it from the outside where the damage to the buildings had been severe, but the buildings and implements in this Devil's Nest were all built very large. The large buildings made of stone had a typical height of four or five meters between the floor and the ceiling. Closer inspection of the bucket-like object that one of the Ghoul warriors had picked up revealed that it was actually a broken cup.
If Kachia was here, she might have remembered that two hundred years ago, there had been a nation of Titans here. The Amid Empire had ordered the Mirg shield-nation to attempt an invasion to wipe the Titans out.
Titans. They were the first race that the goddess Vida had birthed following the battle with the Demon King.
After the Colossus god Zerno's heart was destroyed, the Sun Giant Talos was the only one of his followers with a noble spirit and sense of virtue that didn't turn to worship the evil gods. The Titans were the race born between him and the goddess.
They possessed large, robust bodies; Titan shield-bearers were even more reliable than castle walls, and yet it was said that if the Titans were to go on the attack, any castle walls would crumble before the might of this warrior race.
「Well, it's my first time seeing the real thing, though.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu had been born in the shield-nation of Mirg that was part of the Amid Empire, which discriminated against the races created by Vida. He had never even entered a town through the front entrance before. This was his first time seeing Titans.
He wasn't the only one. Adventurers belonging to a race created by Vida were rare in the Amid Empire, Sam who had been the employee of a nobleman, Zadiris and the other Ghouls were also seeing Titans for the first time.
「… The real thing you're referring to are just bones though, King.」(Ghoul)
However, it seemed that there was someone who disagreed that seeing only a Titan's bones was the same as seeing a Titan.
「There are some that aren't made of just bones, you know.」(Vandalieu)
But that Ghoul went quiet as Vandalieu pointed at a Titan Zombie emerging from deep inside one of the buildings. Well, it was possible that he still didn't agree but just thought it was pointless to point it out again.
More importantly, he was more concerned about whether they could be so relaxed surrounded by hundreds of Undead, but like in the Dungeon that Vandalieu had once visited, there was no problem.
Many of the Undead were armed with rusted greatswords, axes or spears with broken tips, but they didn't raise them and simply moved out of the way to create a path for Vandalieu and his party. One after another, they kneeled and bowed their heads.
This behavior extended to Zadiris and the other Ghouls as well; they didn't show any signs of hostility.
「The Undead are really being submissive even though they have not been tamed. It is one thing that they are not attacking us, but to see them behaving so defenselessly towards us is a surprise.」(Zadiris)
「Yes, I was surprised the first time this happened, too.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu had been prepared to use his magic in case these Undead would be hostile towards the Ghouls who weren't Undead like Sam, but it seemed that this was a needless worry.
This was just to make him feel at ease, but he used the no-attribute magic spell[Appraisal]to find -
[Skeleton Warrior (Titan), Rank 3. A monster created by a Titan warrior turning Undead after being killed. Hates all living things, especially those that killed it.]
The information he found was unexpected. Since his no-attribute magic was level 1, when he had tried to use the same spell on the Raptor corpses, yesterday, it only gave him,[The corpse of a dinosaur-shaped monster], so he hadn't been expecting anything this time, so he was surprised by the information provided.
As he tried this on the other kneeling Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers, he learned short descriptions about the monsters in addition to their names.
However, as he tried using[Appraisal]on random weeds, it only gave him,[Weed: A weed.]
It seemed that when Vandalieu used[Appraisal]on Undead, he could learn information beyond what the level of his skill normally allowed him to learn.
『So, Bocchan, what shall we do?』(Sam)
「Let's see, I think they'll listen to what I say, so first I'll ask them if there's someone like a mediator for the Undead and bring up the idea of migrating.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu considered the information that he had learned from using[Appraisal.]Unlike Bone Man, who Vandalieu had created, these Undead seemed to be corpses possessed by the spirits of the original owners of the bodies.
Vandalieu thought that he might be able to communicate with them, but nobody would normally think of the idea of negotiating with the Undead.
But Zadiris and the other Ghouls were accustomed to Undead Sam who they could easily converse with and understand, so they voiced no objections and Vandalieu's idea was, in fact, correct.
From a partially-collapsed temple-like building deeper in the ruins, a monster that looked different from the other Undead appeared.
『Ooh… Could this be…』(Mysterious Undead)
An Undead that looked like a mummy whose body was made of nothing but skin attached to its bones, wearing a robe that seemed to be that of a priest despite its ripped sleeves and yellow stains, walked directly towards Vandalieu and his party.
The three-meter-tall Undead let out strange groaning noises as it approached, perhaps as if emotionally moved or perhaps something else. The Ghouls raised their weapons in bewilderment, while Saria and Rita showed confusion on their faces… no, in their behavior.
But as if he hadn't seen this; he stopped in front of Vandalieu and collapsed onto his knees to kneel as he spoke.
『O Prophesized Holy Son*, thank you for gracing us with your presence and descending upon the『Capital of the Sun』, Talosheim. Please grant salvation to us, who only await to return to dust!』(Mysterious Undead)
Zadiris and the other Ghouls only showed more confusion in response to the Undead's words, but Vandalieu simply looked at him silently.
With that said, he simply appeared calm because his eyes constantly looked dead with his expressionless face. In reality, he was incredibly bewildered, with the strange feeling that he would be receiving another Title.
[The level of the Death-Attribute Charm skill has increased!]
Monster explanation:
[Anubises]
These are mutated Kobolds, created by being submerged in death-attribute Mana before birth. Their base Rank is Rank 3.
All of their body's characteristics are superior to normal Kobolds, and their intelligence is no exception. They lack the claws that Kobolds possess on their hands and feet, but they are able to use their fingers more skillfully instead.
They possess the[Dark Vision]and[Status Effect Resistance]skills from birth, and they possess a large amount of Mana, so many of them possess greater aptitude for magic than normal Kobolds.
Their urge to breed and fertility is lower than normal Kobolds, being born in groups of three at most. While normal Kobolds need only three months to develop to maturity, Anubises require ten months.
Their appearance is that of humans with dark skin and the black-furred heads and tails of dogs. If they conceal their heads and tails well, they could be able to disguise themselves as humans.
Though this is a conjecture, it is estimated that while the lifespan of normal Kobolds is about thirty years, the lifespan of Anubises is more than double that.
As the Anubis race has only just been born, it is unknown what kind of superior races of Anubises may exist.
If one were to report the existence of Anubises to the Adventurers' Guild with proof, they would be rewarded handsomely for reporting the existence of a new race of monsters, but that would be difficult at present.