Chapter 34: My first time getting a Job, but I won't go into a Dungeon yet
Munching on skewers of tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops meat, everyone other than Vandalieu drank the two-hundred-year-old Talosheim-made sake that had been found several days ago while Vandalieu drank dinosaur blood instead. He raised the dinosaurs that had been given to him as presents as Zombies to turn them into a moving dinosaur exhibition. And so his third birthday was enjoyable for everyone, even without a cake.
Vandalieu asked Darcia and the former adventurer Kachia, but it seemed that the cakes as Vandalieu knew them didn't exist in Lambda yet. Though milk existed, there was no fresh cream, and though bread existed, there was no fluffy sponge cake.
Cakes in Lambda were apparently pieces of bread made of wheat flour with large quantities of butter, sugar, jam and honey spread over them.
If possible, Vandalieu wanted to make a cake with plenty of whipped cream for his next birthday for everyone to enjoy, but he was lacking the essential ingredients of wheat and milk.
Perhaps treasure chests and storage rooms in Dungeons could contain wheat seeds and milk?
The Titans of Talosheim hadn't domesticated animals like cattle and horses. They hunted monsters for meat, and as for labor strength, the Titans themselves were stronger than farm horses and cattle.
The only things they domesticated were bird-like monsters called Gigas, which were apparently a replacement for chickens.
They were about as large as Titan children… In other words, just a little smaller than the average human. Apparently they laid an egg every day. Incidentally, they were carnivores that possessed sharp beaks and talons. As Rank 2 monsters, they were not particularly strong, however.
『When I was alive, I used to put a raw Giga egg in my mug every morning and drink it up!』(Borkus)
Borkus laughed as he said this. Incidentally, the eggs were apparently of similar size to ostrich eggs.
The domesticated Gigas had either perished or run away during the war two hundred years ago, but apparently they still inhabited the Devil's Nests and Dungeons now, so they decided to capture some and start breeding them again.
Fortunately, there were mountains of meat to use to feed them.
(Huh? What was I thinking about again? … Oh yeah, cakes. Eggs are necessary to make cakes, and I also need -)
「Holy Son, what is the matter? You have been loitering in front of the door for some time now.」(Nuaza)
Vandalieu had been escaping from reality while standing outside the room used for the Job-changing ritual in the building that had once been the Adventurers' Guild, but Nuaza's voice brought him back to reality.
「Ah, no, I was just thinking a little about the future…」(Vandalieu)
「I see, that is a good thing. However, were you not intending to undergo the Job-changing process today?」(Nuaza)
「… I haven't finished my mental preparations.」(Vandalieu)
There were no requirements for the Job-changing ritual.
If the Adventurers' Guild was functioning correctly, he would normally pay a fee to the Guild to use the room. Afterwards, he would submit the Guild registration document… his Guild Card. But in these ruins, there was no need to pay or submit anything.
He simply needed to enter the room and place his hand on the crystal ball in the center of the magic circle inside.
And then he would choose from the list of jobs displayed inside his head.
And then it would be over.
He didn't need to register himself on an employment website, apply for a Job, write a resume and attend an interview.
Well, that was to only natural, as this was quite a different kind of Job-change.
「… It was once explained to me that Jobs are engraved onto the soul, but there is no pain involved.」(Nuaza)
Wrongly assuming that the cause of Vandalieu's nervousness was a misunderstanding of the process, Nuaza smiled as he said this… It was probably a smile. It merely looked like the skin of his dried face was stretching, however.
However, Vandalieu couldn't comment on the facial expressions of others. And even though he paced back and forth in front of the door, it did nothing but pass the time.
「… You're right. Well then, here I go.」(Vandalieu)
And so he had Nuaza open the door and then entered the room.
The room had nothing inside other than a magic circle drawn on the floor of the room with a round crystal ball that had been set on a pedestal at its center. The crystal ball had a constant, faint glow, giving off a mysterious feeling.
「… Now then, will any Jobs appear for me?」(Vandalieu)
He gently floated into the air with[Flight]and reached out for the crystal ball. He wouldn't have been able to reach the crystal ball otherwise, as it had been placed at a height appropriate for Titans.
Come to think of it, the long-armed Vigaro and the taller women like Basdia would have been able to reach this crystal ball, but just how had Zadiris managed it? Perhaps she had used wind-attribute magic to fly.
Vandalieu touched the crystal ball with such meaningless thoughts running through his mind, and words appeared in his mind in the same way as when he opened his Status screen.
『Jobs that can be selected:[Death-Attribute Mage],[Golem Transmuter]』
「Uwah, they're there!」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu was so surprised that a Job-change would be possible for him that he accidentally undid his magic. He fell onto the floor.
He had thrown his head back reflexively, so the back of his head hit the floor with full force. His[Danger Sense: Death]gave him a warning.
Children's skulls are fragile things.
「Holy Son, I heard something - Holy Son?! Are you alright?!」(Nuaza)
Vandalieu stayed on the floor while waiting to recover with his���Rapid Regeneration]skill and the no-attribute magic spell,[Healing Power Enhancement.]Nuaza, surprised to hear a noise, entered the room and gave a reaction as if he were the first one to discover the scene of a locked room mystery*. As he rushed towards Vandalieu, Vandalieu waved his hand to signal,「I'm fine, just leave me as I am.」
Since Vandalieu had hit his head, he didn't want to be moved until he had recovered.
After overcoming various difficulties, Vandalieu had sworn yesterday on his third birthday that he would live on. Despite that, he almost met a foolish end by hitting the back of his head on the floor out of surprise. Having managed to avoid that, he touched the crystal ball once more.
『Jobs that can be selected:[Death-Attribute Mage],[Golem Transmuter]』
His potential jobs were really displayed there.
He had thought his chances of being able to undergo a Job-change to be slim because of his curse, but there were even two different Jobs that he could choose from. He would normally be happy about this, but…
「Is this some kind of trap?」(Vandalieu)
Resisting the inner urge to dance with joy, Vandalieu calmly considered the situation.
Rodcorte, who had cast the[Cannot learn existing Jobs]curse on Vandalieu, had wanted Vandalieu to fall into despair give up on his vengeance and commit suicide. Wasn't it strange that it was possible for him to obtain a Job so easily?
「Now that I think about it, why am I even able to undergo a Job-change at all? The same thing goes for the curse that prevents me from obtaining Experience Points independently. If he wanted me to fall into despair, he should have just cursed me so that I can't level up or undergo a Job-change.」(Vandalieu)
If Vandalieu had been prevented from leveling up and gaining a Job at all in the first place, there wouldn't have been any loopholes. He would be like a monkey that couldn't grow wings and fly no matter how hard he tried.
Could the fact that Rodcorte hadn't done this be part of some kind of ingenious trap? Would he eventually be cornered if he picked one of these displayed Jobs now?
Perhaps they would offer pitiful bonuses for his Attribute Values and cause him to gain passive skills that only served to hinder him.
Vandalieu didn't know if they existed or not, but[Shortened Lifespan]or[Ill luck]would be bad passive skills to have. Skills couldn't be directly sealed away once learned in this world, so it would be a huge problem to gain such skills.
But then, would Rodcorte set such a roundabout trap?
Everything that this god had done so far was setting up the fundamentals in a sketchy way and then leaving everything else up to the people that he reincarnated. He was certainly not an all-knowing, omnipotent god.
It was normal in this world for people to possess levels and acquire Jobs. Looking it the other way, if something didn't have levels or Jobs, it wasn't a person.
Rodcorte had set things up so that the people he reincarnated, including Vandalieu, would reincarnate in Lambda after dying in Origin. It was likely that he was unable to make Vandalieu, who was already set to be reborn in Lambda, an exception to the rules that people possessed levels and Jobs.
Wasn't this the reason why the curses that had been placed on Vandalieu were[Unable to gain Experience Points independently]and[Cannot learn existing Jobs?]Even a god couldn't ignore a world's rules, which was possibly why the curses had ended up like that with loopholes in them.
Also, Rodcorte didn't exist in the world of Lambda himself. He did govern the circle of transmigration for reincarnating the dead, but his name didn't appear anywhere in the myths of this world.
So it was possible that he could only look down at Lambda from a distance, and he might not even be particularly knowledgeable about the world.
「In other words, I'm able to make use of these large loopholes because Rodcorte is crude and ignorant, I guess?」(Vandalieu)
He felt suspicious and precautious when he remembered Rodcorte from time to time, but in the end, he arrived at the conclusion that gods weren't all-powerful.
The next thing he thought was unusual was the fact that Jobs that weren't particularly creative that nobody had acquired before had appeared for him even though he hadn't done any training to obtain these Jobs, but after thinking for a while, he realized that it wasn't unusual at all.
「My death-attribute magic is a type of magic that has never existed in Lambda before. Considering that, I guess it's not strange for there to be Jobs that nobody has ever acquired before, either.」(Vandalieu)
The Job system had been created by the gods, but that didn't mean that the gods had created every single Job themselves. It was a system that had existed for well over a hundred thousand years, after all.
For example, the aristocratic system hadn't existed in the age of the gods, so Jobs such as[Knight]and[Holy Knight]also hadn't existed.
In the future, if someone reincarnated from another world invented guns with gunpowder in this world, Jobs like[Musketeer]and[Gunman]would appear.
… Though Vandalieu had been surprised that the[Golem Transmutation]skill had never been used in this world before. How were Golems created in this world, then?
Vandalieu puzzled over this as he wasn't particularly knowledgeable about Golems in Lambda, but deciding to find that out later, he turned his attention to other things.
「So the problem is, which do I choose, but…」(Vandalieu)
[Death-Attribute Mage]and[Golem Transmuter.]Neither of them had "apprentice" at the start of their names, so they should both be fairly difficult Jobs to level up. The bonuses that Vandalieu would obtain from them would probably be large to compensate for that, but it would likely take him between several months to a year before he could undergo the next Job change.
He could assume that the[Death-Attribute Mage]Job, as its name suggested, would put an emphasis on the use of death-attribute magic. Jobs with names that consisted of "Attribute + Mage" existed for other attributes as well.
The mage jobs of other attributes provide large Attribute Value bonuses to Mana and Intelligence, but the bonuses to other things are small. Most notably, they provide almost no bonus to Strength. As for skill bonuses, they provide a large bonus to the attribute of magic in the Job's name, a moderate bonus to magic-related skills such as[Mana Control]and a small bonus to magic of the other attributes. On the other hand, they make it more difficult to acquire martial-type skills.
Assuming the[Death-Attribute Mage]followed the same pattern, this Job would be the correct choice as it would increase Vandalieu's skill with the death-attribute magic that he had been using up until now. However, it would make it take longer to acquire non-magic skills.
The[Golem Transmuter]Job had no analogous Jobs, so nothing was known about it. It would likely provide a bonus to the[Golem Transmutation]skill. Vandalieu didn't know what bonuses it would provide to his Attribute Values. He did think that it would provide a bonus to his Intelligence, however.
The[Golem Transmutation]skill was a convenient skill that he had used well up until now. He wouldn't stop using this skill ten years or even a hundred years from now.
「… I'll choose[Death-Attribute Mage.]」(Vandalieu)
After considering his options, Vandalieu chose[Death-Attribute Mage.]
His goal right now was to defeat the Dragon Golem beneath the royal castle and obtain the resurrection device. That was why he chose to prioritize improving his death-attribute magic, which would be more directly useful in battle.
He would soon obtain the[Alchemy]skill, and since the[Golem Transmutation]skill was something that originated from death-attribute magic in the first place, it was possible that the[Death-Attribute Mage]would provide a bonus to it anyway.
As he selected his Job, the words[Golem Transmuter]disappeared from inside his head, and the words[Death-Attribute Mage]grew larger.
And then he felt the sensation of something growing hot deep inside his chest.
「This is… more amazing than I thought it would be.」(Vandalieu)
There was so much power filling up his whole body that Vandalieu couldn't help but to let out his voice. In particular, his head had become wonderfully clear, as if his brain cells had undergone a software version upgrade.
[The levels of the Death-Attribute Magic skill, the No-Attribute Magic skill, the Chant Revocation skill, the Mana Control skill and the Spirit Form skill have increased!]
[You have acquired the Alchemy skill and the Automatic Mana Recovery skill!]
And thanks to the announcements in his head, he realized that he many of his skills had leveled up and he had gained some new ones.
In a single moment, the[Death-Attribute Magic]skill that hadn't increased past level three despite being used thoroughly as well the skills that had stayed at level 1 for a long time had increased , and he had even learned the Alchemy skill that he had been training for almost a year now.
「The skill bonuses that a Job provides are amazing.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu experienced the reason why the Ghouls had been in a daze after undergoing their Job-change.
He opened his[Status]to check his Attributes and skills to see…
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 3 years old
Title:[Ghoul King]
Job: Death-Attribute Mage
Level: 0
Job history: None
Attributes:
Vitality: 50
Mana: 124,906,320
Strength: 45
Agility: 22
Stamina: 49
Intelligence: 112
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 1
Rapid Healing: Level 2
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Status Effect Resistance: Level 4
Magic Resistance: Level 1
Dark Vision
Mental Corruption: Level 10
Death-Attribute Charm: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Chant Revocation: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Strengthen Followers: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 1 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Bloodsucking: Level 3
Surpass Limits: Level 3
Golem Transmutation: Level 3
No-Attribute Magic: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Mana Control: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Spirit Form: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Carpentry: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Engineering: Level 1
Cooking: Level 1 (NEW!)
Alchemy: Level 1 (NEW!)
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
「Ooh… my Attribute Values increased by more than I thought they would, and my new skills are there.���(Vandalieu)
He had heard that mage-type Jobs didn't provide much of a bonus to Vitality and Strength, but they had increased by about ten percent. Even if he took into account that some of it might be related to his race and that his body was still developing, it was still a considerable amount.
Notably, his Intelligence had reached three digits. No wonder his head felt clearer.
And though this was bonus had little impact as Vandalieu's Mana pool was over 100,000,000 to begin with, it had increased by another ten million. Job-changes were amazing, providing ten million Mana just by acquiring the Job!
… The bonuses to Attribute Values were probably calculated as a percentage of the original values. In the case of Vandalieu's Mana, it had increased by around ten percent.
His skills had increased as well, and he could even feel it in the[Flight]that he was using now. Up until now, he had always had the option of floating lightly like a jellyfish or forcibly using his Mana to fly at a high speed, but now he felt as if he could fly more efficiently.
The increase to the level of his[Mana Control]skill probably had something to do with this.
He wanted to skip with joy, but he apparently looked insane when he tried to skip and he wanted to avoid being forced to rest some more.
And so Vandalieu quietly lowered himself to the floor and left the room just as quietly.
Now then, the next thing to do was level up!
With that said, because of Vandalieu's[Cannot gain experience independently]curse, his level wouldn't increase no matter how many monsters he defeated.
Therefore, he would have to visit Devil's Nests and Dungeons with his Undead subordinates. He hadn't created any new Undead companions since he started living with Zadiris and the other Ghouls, so he wondered if he would be alright with the same members as before, but there was an unexpected rush of people wanting to accompany him.
『It's your first time visiting the Devil's Nests and Dungeons around here, right? Then it'd be best if a veteran like me guides your way. The A-class adventurer, the[Sword King]Borkus, will teach you the structures of the Dungeons and the most efficient way to earn Experience Points, so just follow me!』(Borkus)
『What are you saying, Master? If you do that, you'll end up killing the ones that the Holy Son's supposed to kill as well. Holy Son, if it's monster-hunting you're after, leave it to me, the Scout Zran!』(Zran)
『No, no, what he truly needs is a Healer. The Holy Son can heal his Undead, but the only magic he has to heal himself is no-attribute magic. Though I am still inexperienced, please leave this to me, Nuaza, as I am able to use life-attribute magic.』(Nuaza)
As if trying to make the best first impressions possible, the Undead Titans appealed to Vandalieu one by one, trying to convince him to let them accompany him. The number of applicants was… all of them.
「Now that I think about it, you've never come on a hunt together with me, Van. How about taking this opportunity? I can teach you unarmed combat techniques, too.」(Basdia)
「No, it should be me doing that, since I'm the one who's teaching Saria and Rita, right?」(Vigaro)
「Hey, aren't you interested in how adventurers fight? If you're happy with me, I can teach you.」(Kachia)
「Ah, then me too.」(Ghoul)
「Well then, me as well.」(Ghoul)
And so the Ghouls came to convince him as well…
「I wanna go too!」(Braga)
「Me too, me too!」(Zemedo)
「I also want to go.」(Memediga)
「Fugofugoh.」(Gorba)
Even Braga, Zemedo, Memediga, Gorba and the other monster children raised their hands. Would the fetus inside the Live-Dead raise its hand as well? Vandalieu was so popular that he almost started fantasizing that this would happen.
It was only June, but their enthusiasm was like the middle of summer*.
Was this a moteki*? Was it really a moteki?
「You children can come later. After you become ad… after you gain more skills.」(Vandalieu)
If Vandalieu were to carelessly say,「After you become adults」, they would definitely reply,「But you're still a child, King!」so he quickly corrected himself. In fact, the Black Goblin Braga was already bigger than Vandalieu.
『Oka~ay.』(Children)
The children were surprisingly obedient. Even though their bodies were larger than Vandalieu's, his Attribute Values were still higher, and they hadn't finished learning their skills.
However, what other criteria would he need to use to choose who would accompany him? Both the Undead Titans and the Ghouls were far more experienced in combat than Vandalieu. They could fight much better than he could, as he just used his Mana to brute-force his way through battles.
This had been fine up until now, but he would need to learn an effective way to fight and coordinate with his allies in order to defeat that Dragon Golem.
And any of the Ghouls and Titans could become his teachers.
Of course, they had plenty of fighting strength. Vandalieu was planning to clear a D-class Dungeon first, so bringing Borkus or Vigaro would be overkill. Vigaro would be of the same or higher Rank as the Dungeon's boss. As for Borkus, any monster in a D-class Dungeon would be small fry for him, including the boss.
「Right, let's decide this with Reversi.」(Vigaro)
『Bring the boards and pieces!』(Borkus)
「No, wait a moment. With this many people, it would take days to make a decision with Reversi.」(Vandalieu)
While Vandalieu was contemplating, it seemed that everyone else wanted to settle things with a Reversi tournament. Now that things had come down to this, perhaps it would be best for him to use[Golem Transmutation]to make a lottery system.
「Boy!」(Zadiris)
As this thought occurred to Vandalieu, Zadiris suddenly ran up to him. Was she hoping to accompany him as well?
「Bilde has gone into labor!」(Zadiris)
So he thought, but it was an urgent report.
「How is she?」(Vandalieu)
Bilde had become pregnant in September last year. Now it was late June. It was a little short of the normal duration of pregnancy, but it wasn't a fatally premature birth.
Vandalieu had been periodically monitoring the condition of the unborn babies using[Spirit Body Transformation]in place of ultrasound scans, so there shouldn't have been any problematic diseases like in medical dramas, so he was calm.
He was calm, but Bilde was finally giving birth after Vandalieu had dealt with the Ghouls' low fertility and used magic to prevent miscarriages. There was no way that he could be uninterested by this.
「There should be no problem. Well, this is her first childbirth, so this could take some time. Well then, let us go.」(Zadiris)
「… I'm sorry?」
However, he hadn't expected that he would be dragged along to the event. Zadiris suddenly picked him up and took him with her. As to be expected of the Ghoul chief possessing the[Superhuman Strength]skill, even though she looked like she was in her mid-teenage years.
『Ah, but we haven't come to a decision yet!』(Borkus)
「Well, I guess it can't be helped with these circumstances.」(Vigaro)
And so everyone watched Vandalieu leave… What was it that couldn't be helped?
『Bocchan, if a man shows weakness at a time like this, you will be dominated*, so I humbly suggest that you take a firm attitude.』(Sam)
「Sam, why would Bilde dominate* me?」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu and Bilde weren't married, nor was the child in her belly related to him.
『Bocchan, do your best!』(Rita)
「No, the one giving birth is Bilde, not me.」(Vandalieu)
Both Sam and Rita seemed to be seeing Vandalieu off. Saria was waving her hand.
「Umm, what position are you calling me to take?」(Vandalieu)
Since there were no problems with Bilde's health, there shouldn't have been a need for Vandalieu to be there, since he didn't have any specialist knowledge in regards to maternity and gynecology, nor was he a midwife.
「Hmm, if there is a sudden emergency, I want you to help. Also, Bilde said she wants you to hold her hand.」(Zadiris)
… The position of doctor and husband?
「I understand.」(Vandalieu)
Ghouls didn't have the concept of marriage, so Vandalieu would just think of it as Bilde relying on and trusting in him. And he was the Ghoul King, after all.
Vandalieu was content with that.
Well, this was an adventure in itself as well. Childbirth was life-threatening even on Earth, where medical science was more advanced.
… This wouldn't earn him any Experience Points, however.
Chapter 35: A new life has been born, so let's adjust our living environment
The room that Zadiris had prepared for Bilde's childbirth was one of the countless rooms in the ruins of Talosheim.
The room had been cleaned and a rug made of the soft fur from a Needle Wolf's belly had been laid out on the floor, and Bilde was lying on top of it.
「First,[Sterilization.]Bilde, are you alright?」(Vandalieu)
There were three other Ghoul women in the room other than Bilde. They were likely women who had experienced childbirth before, acting as midwives.
「V-Van.」(Bilde)
Probably due to the pains of labor, Bilde's breathing was rough and there was sweat on her forehead as she realized that Vandalieu was there and reached a hand out towards him. Vandalieu took that small hand… that was still bigger than his own, and she gave his hand a squeeze.
「I-I'm going to do my best and give birth to a healthy baby, okay?」(Bilde)
What was a man supposed to say in response to this? This was a difficult question to answer in Vandalieu's position. He was aware of his own expressionlessness and flat tone of voice, so he thought he might come off as cold if he just said,「Do your best」, so he hesitated. Trying to sound as reassuring as possible, he said…
「It's alright, I'm here with you, so just relax.」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu didn't have a doctor's license, nor had he ever witnessed childbirth before, so he didn't know what exactly was alright or on what grounds Bilde could relax, but encouraging her was the top priority right now.
In fact, his expressionlessness was convenient in situations like this. His lack of confidence didn't show on his face.
「Okay!」(Bilde)
It seemed that Vandalieu had succeeded in encouraging her. She definitely seemed to be in pain, but she still smiled.
When Vandalieu thought about the fact that had made her smile, the pain of her claws digging into his right hand seemed to be a trivial matter. Ah, they pierced his skin.
… But he could see a faint shadow of death on her face.
「Control your breathing, short breaths in, long breaths out.」(Midwife)
「Check your Status if you can; has your Vitality dropped?」(Midwife)
「I will make sure to deliver your baby. Rest assured.」(Zadiris)
Looking at everyone else, Vandalieu realized that Bilde wasn't showing any strangeness or visible signs of her condition worsening. She showed no signs of being ill, and there shouldn't have been anything abnormal with the baby, either.
「I'm going to examine you a little, okay?」(Vandalieu)
But Vandalieu could definitely see the shadow of death, so he used[Spirit Form Transformation]to transform his unoccupied left arm into spirit form and placed it inside Bilde's abdomen.
And then he found that the umbilical cord had wrapped itself around the baby's neck. At this rate, the baby would be strangled.
『I'm glad Zadiris called me over here.』(Vandalieu)
Thinking this, he loosened the umbilical cord from around the baby's neck… though it would have been easier to do it with his right hand.
「How is everything, boy?」(Zadiris)
「It's fine, I've resolved it.」(Vandalieu)
The bones of Vandalieu's right hand were creaking and Bilde's claws had dug into it so that her paralyzing venom was entering, but there was now no problem with the mother or the child.
「Alright! The rest is up to your effort, Bilde!」(Zadiris)
After that, just as Zadiris said, the childbirth continued with Bilde's efforts while Vandalieu offered her encouragement while having his right hand squeezed.
It took six hours for the child to be born, and Vandalieu learned just how great the mothers of the world were.
A gray-brown baby with a wrinkled face. She was the first new Ghoul born into the Ghoul community in a long time.
「Look, it's a girl. I can't give your whole name to her, Vandalieu, but is it alright if I borrow half of it?」(Bilde)
Bilde was holding her child, looking visibly exhausted but incredibly happy.
Vandalieu was fine with it, but would the child's real father not mind? Bilde looked so happy that Vandalieu was hesitant to ask.
「I don't mind.」(Vandalieu)
And so this was the reply he gave.
Vandalieu would ask about this later to learn that newborn Ghouls were generally named by their mothers, or their names would be decided after consulting with the chief of the tribe. Since Bilde was the mother, nobody would say anything about her decision to give her child half of Vandalieu's name.
「Will you hold her?」(Bilde)
「With pleasure.」(Vandalieu)
Now he took the peacefully-sleeping baby with both arms… The bone fractures of his right hand still hadn't healed and it still didn't move very well after having paralyzing-venom-secreting claws piercing it for hours on end. So he took the baby with his left arm and placed her on top of his knees.
「She's light and very warm.」(Vandalieu)
The baby's body felt very light to Vandalieu. But this baby would grow up and live for three hundred years. As this thought occurred to him, he got a sense of how mysterious life was.
The birth of a new life was an emotionally moving event. Vandalieu felt this for the first time in his three lifetimes.
When he had lived on Earth, even when watching that kind of documentary that told him,「This is how a new life is born」, his only reaction to that was,「Hmm.」After all, he was just watching a complete stranger on a screen or the birth of an animal, so he hadn't felt emotionally moved at all.
But he had experienced death twice… Including the time after he became an Undead, three times. And now that he was trying to bring Darcia back to life, he could really feel the emotion of this event.
He decided to do everything he could to protect this child. He wasn't the child's father, but he was the Ghoul King, after all.
「And so I'm postponing my trip to the Dungeons.」(Vandalieu)
Borkus and Vigaro made lonely-looking faces when Vandalieu told them this, but they understood that it couldn't be helped.
The remaining nine women would give birth one by one in the near future. If an unexpected situation arose while Vandalieu was in a Devil's Nest or Dungeon, he wouldn't be able to deal with it.
「It's been so long since I've heard a baby crying!」(Vigaro)
『You can take your time to calm down first, but make sure you show the baby to us as well.』(Borkus)
「For a new life to be born in these ruins that were merely waiting to turn into dust, this is a truly happy event.」(Nuaza)
『How great, now we can have some drinks.』(Titan)
『If there's any alcohol to be had.』(Titan)
「There is, though it's not very tasty!」(Titan)
For Vigaro and the other Ghouls who had been troubled by their problem of low fertility, it was clearly a happy event, but even Borkus and the other Undead Titans were truly genuinely happy to see the birth of this baby.
Incidentally, one might have questioned whether it would be hygienic to allow the baby near the Undead, but it wasn't a problem. Vandalieu had already cast the[Sterilization],[Bug Killer],[Deodorization]and[Preservation]spells on all of the Undead Titans.
Once a drain system was established, Talosheim would become a fortress city as hygienic as any city of the Amid Empire. There were relatively few people living in the city considering its size, so it would never lose the feeling of being a ghost town, however.
「Also, I want to strengthen Talosheim's defenses and use[Alchemy]to make the Magic Item that that will increase the Ghouls' fertility. I'll leave the adventures and training for in between those.」(Vandalieu)
Those dedicated to the path of being a warrior or a mage might have scolded him for his lack of dedication, but nobody here scolded Vandalieu.
「Alright! We'll just decide on the order we'll do things here!」(Vigaro)
『This is perfect. Nobody's gone into the Dungeons for two hundred years, so who knows what they'll be like inside. The number of monsters will probably have increased, so I'll thin them out for you!』(Borkus)
『It could be that they have been abandoned for so long that new, unknown levels have appeared in them.』
「What will we do about the unarmed* fighting lessons? For now, I suppose we'll go over the basics.」(Basdia)
『Jyuh! My lord, in that case, I shall increase my Level and work hard to catch up to my companions!』(Bone Man)
「We'll be taking this time to learn our skills as well!」(Child)
In this moment, Vandalieu realized once again just how much kindness he was surrounded by in this third lifetime of his.
The first thing to do was to create the Magic Items to fix the Ghouls' fertility problem. Strengthening Talosheim's defenses would have to be done after the forest Devil's Nest was completely removed from the city, otherwise they would be up to their necks in Raptors and Needle Wolves.
「Holy Son, please give us a few more days.」
So he was told. It seemed that the problem was indeed the number of monsters, not their strength. Though the Needle Wolves weren't problematic, the Raptors were intelligent enough to run away if they knew they couldn't win a fight, so exterminating them was likely very difficult.
「I am thinking of making two kinds of Magic Items.」(Vandalieu)
「One to make the sperm and egg cells survive longer, and the other to prevent fetuses from dying before they reach a certain size, if I recall? Creating Magic Items with both functions would be difficult, after all.」(Zadiris)
In the building next to the (temporary) maternity room, Vandalieu was discussing the creation of the Magic Items with Zadiris, Tarea, Basdia and several other Ghoul women.
「Regarding that, I'm thinking of making the Magic Item that makes the sperm and egg cells survive longer something that is easy to put on and take off.」(Vandalieu)
「Indeed, if it were something that stayed on permanently… we would produce children endlessly.」(Tarea)
「You're right, it'll be hard for everyone's habits to suddenly change.」(Basdia)
Up until now, Ghouls had experienced difficulties in getting pregnant, and even if they did, most of their children were not born successfully. Because of this, they had no marriage system and it was natural for their society to do their utmost to try and create children. Even after Bilde and the others became pregnant, they hadn't shown any signs of holding back.
Even if Vandalieu were to create the Magic Items, they wouldn't suddenly say,「Alright, let's do proper family planning from now on.」
There were no convenient contraceptive devices or pills like on Earth, so that would make this only more difficult.
Well, there wouldn't be problems in having a large number of children for a while. In fact, it would be a good thing; Talosheim still had plenty of space and there was a near-endless supply of food.
However, reproducing to the point of filling up all of the land would be a problem. Unlike Braga and the other monster children, Ghouls did not age to maturity in the span of a single year.
「There will definitely be problems. Having one child is already a handful, but having two or three children at once…」(Tarea)
「And there are many who are raising a child for the first time, including Bilde.」(Zadiris)
There were no nurseries like on Earth, nor were there books, television programs or the internet to refer to in order to learn how to raise a child. As Tarea and Zadiris had experienced raising children before, they were concerned that there would be mothers who would suffer from maternity-related anxiety.
Well, that didn't necessarily mean that having only one child would prevent maternity-related anxiety, however.
「So then I think it would be best to explain about contraception while I make the Magic Items.」(Vandalieu)
「You're right. Unlike humans, our lifespans are long. It's good for us to have many children, but we should be fine having a child once every five or ten years.」(Basdia)
For humans, especially for those living in farming communities, there would be circumstances where they wouldn't have the luxury of spacing out their children because it was a lot of work to raise them, and they probably didn't understand the concept of family planning anyway.
Because medical technology was not well-developed, there would be a strong notion that they should have as many children as possible while they were still young and healthy. But as Basdia said, Ghouls had long lifespans so it would be easy to convince the Ghouls to adopt this policy.
Humans would have opposed this strongly, however.
「But can the men hold themselves back? I think once every five or ten years is impossible.」(Basdia)
「That is why it will be an accessory that can be put on and taken off. It can be put on only when wishing to have children.」(Tarea)
It would be a reverse-contraception device.
「So what kind of accessory will you make it?」(Basdia)
「Right now, I'm thinking of making it a pendant or a band that goes around the thigh.」(Vandalieu)
The shape and part of the body that the Magic Item would be worn on was very important. These factors would affect the difficulty of creating the item with[Alchemy], the materials required and the strength of its effect when completed.
For example, if there were a Magic Item that allowed one to walk on air as if it were the ground, would it not be likely that most people would expect such a Magic Item to be a pair of shoes?
At the very least, nobody would think it would be a pair of glasses.
In contrast, if there were a Magic Item that allowed one to see through objects while it was worn, most people would expect it to be a pair of glasses, not shoes.
In this way, certain shapes and where the Magic Item would be worn would make it easier to create the item and produce a stronger effect, depending on what kind of effect was desired.
Something that granted physical strength would be a ring or armlet. Something that granted some kind of vision would be glasses or, alternatively, a circlet. Something that let one run at high speeds would be shoes or an anklet.
Of course, Magic Items such as socks that allowed one to see in the dark apparently existed, but creating such items would require a high level in the[Alchemy]skill and expensive materials.
At present, there were more Alchemical materials available than food. The reason for this was that anything that they obtained from hunting monsters, they had to use themselves.
There was no Adventurers' Guild to take Magic Stones to, so Braga and the other monster children had been playing with them like marbles.
However, Vandalieu, the only one who could create a death-attribute Magic Item, had a skill level of 1 in[Alchemy.]Creating a band that went around the thigh close to the abdomen or a pendant that would hang similarly close was the limit of his ability.
He also had the option of making it a belt, but the Ghouls didn't have a culture of wearing belts, so it might have made the use of the Magic Item unpopular.
… Vandalieu would find it difficult to create an item that would be worn even closer to the relevant body parts than that.
「So, are there any colors or designs that you like?」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu had included Basdia and the other women in this discussion to ask them this. Since they would be the ones wearing it, it would be best to ask them for their preferences in color or shape.
… Because of its intended function, it would be constantly worn during intercourse, after all.
「Let's see… Everyone likes white, black, silver and gold.」(Basdia)
「I don't think anyone likes seeing red unless it's in battle.」(Woman)
「I think everyone likes things that look like wings. Also, hearts, maybe.」(Woman)
Basdia and the others offered their opinions on what Ghoul women liked. Vandalieu had no confidence in his sense of fashion, so this was greatly helpful.
Incidentally, in Lambda, the heart was apparently a symbol of the goddess Vida. As to be expected of the goddess of the light-attribute.
However, a black heart would be a bad omen, so perhaps silver would be better?
「For now, we shall try making some.」(Tarea)
「I'm counting on you.」(Vandalieu)
The ones actually making the objects would be Tarea and the other Ghoul craftswomen. Creating a Magic Item required the[Alchemy]skill, but that was simply imbuing an object with magic. The object itself was generally made by another craftsman.
There were some alchemists that did everything on their own, from gathering materials to creating the items themselves, but those were exceptionally unusual.
「So what will you do for the Magic Item that keeps the fetus alive? It would be problematic for this one to be something that can be easily taken off.」(Zadiris)
Zadiris had been whispering,「Gold and silver? Youngsters these days sure like their shiny things…」But now she asked this question, and Vandalieu replied,「This is a little problematic.」
As Zadiris said, it would be better for this Magic Item to be difficult to remove. If it accidentally came off and was lost or the mother forgot to put it on and the baby died, it would be seriously problematic.
But that didn't mean that it could be something put inside the body…
The two of them nodded as they thought about this…
「How about a tattoo?」(Zadiris)
「A piercing, after all?」(Vandalieu)
『Eh?』(Both)
They both looked at each other after coming up with totally different answers.
「Boy, a piercing would be too far from the abdomen. A tattoo will not disappear, and it can be applied anywhere.」(Zadiris)
「The piercing wouldn't be on the ears, nose or lips, but on the belly button. As for tattoos, who would apply the tattoos to begin with?」(Vandalieu)
It seemed that Ghouls hadn't come up with the idea of piercing their belly buttons. And Vandalieu hadn't thought of the idea of making a Magic Item out of a tattoo engraved onto the body.
And then after discussion, they settled on using belly button piercings.
「If we use tattoos, won't they become strangely distorted when the stomach expands? The baby would have grown big enough by the time that happens, but re-applying the tattoo every time you want to become pregnant wouldn't be an option. In that case, I think piercings are better.」(Basdia)
And so Basdia's opinion was accepted.
Incidentally, the idea that piercings were applied on the neck and above was something that not only Ghouls, but the entirety of Lambda possessed. Belly button piercings would spread and become greatly popular, starting in Talosheim, but that would be a story set in the distant future.
From then on, Vandalieu lived a lifestyle that was more lenient than usual, but still harsh on a three-year-old boy.
He would typically rest one day a week, and if one of the pregnant women went into labor on that day, he would still have to attend. He would take three hours' rest the next day to compensate. With this as the basic rhythm of his lifestyle, he spent his time continuing to repair and maintain the city of Talosheim as well as training in unarmed combat while waiting for Tarea and the other craftswomen to create prototypes for the Magic Items.
The repairing and maintenance were simple.
「Get up, join together, get out.」(Vandalieu)
He just needed to use[Golem Transmutation.]The pieces of rubble on the ground would grow arms and legs to move, join together, change their shape and return to their original form.
Constructing a building from scratch would still be difficult, but fixing one that had crumbled a little was simple. Thanks to the[Carpentry]skill, Vandalieu had a general idea of what he needed to do.
In Lambda, apparently the same skill was used to build both pit-dwellings for Ghouls and stone houses for Titans.
Not only did Vandalieu repair the buildings, he also used the[Engineering]skill to repair and maintain the roads and sewer system.
Talosheim had no waterworks system, but it did have a sewer system. They used a water-purifying Magic Item to purify used water while gathering the waste in one spot to ferment and use as manure.
Of course, since two hundred years had passed, this system was unusable without some work being done on them.
Vandalieu turned the ground surface into Golems to expose the sewer pipes, turned those pipes into Golems as well to repair the cracks and remove any blockages and applied the[Anti-Degradation]spell that he had learned after his skills leveled up before putting the ground back.
He supplied Mana to the water-purifying Magic Items.
He had Bone Man and the other Undead exterminate the unknown sludge-like monsters that had grown in the vats that were used for fermenting waste.
With all of these completed, the sewer system finally became usable again.
They would have to draw water to use from wells and waterways, but it was very convenient to simply be able to discard any used water.
After being alive in Lambda for three years, Vandalieu realized just how great the sewer systems of Earth were. He was especially appreciative of this because he had been Japanese.
After making everything usable again, he intended to have them maintained automatically by Golems.
Vandalieu was thoroughly taught the basics of unarmed combat by Basdia.
「Your physical strength is almost no different to an adult Ghoul's, Van. Let's practice as if it were a real battle.」(Basdia)
He learned numerous patterns as well as how to defend and dodge… with his body.
Basdia swept his legs, kicked him, threw him around, stomped on him… he was surprisingly overwhelmed one-sidedly. Even though he wasn't using any magic, it made him doubt whether he really had the strength of an adult Ghoul.
「You have an aptitude for this and you're sensitive to bloodthirst, but your attacks are forced and monotonous, Van. You'll become stronger if you move more quickly and use some feints. Also, you have to always predict your opponent's next movement.」(Basdia)
Basdia knew that Vandalieu panicked when scolded harshly and that he disliked being taught in a spiritual way. So while she hadn't gone easy on him in the training, she made sure to speak in a gentle tone while teaching him.
And so Vandalieu was able to take these lessons with composure.
He had been completely reliant on magic for defense up until now, and his attacks had been monotonous in that he simply used his overwhelming amount of Mana to push his way to victory. Some of this couldn't be helped because of how young his body was, and he himself thought that there was no other way. He had never even gotten into a fight as a Japanese person, and after that he had become a laboratory animal in Origin who could do nothing but rampage around like a beast. He had been under the impression that unarmed fighting and martial arts were too distant for him to reach.
But thanks to his father in this world, he apparently had surprisingly strong muscles.
「What's really amazing is how you don't close your eyes. I took three months to learn not to close my eyes even when my face was attacked, but you haven't been closing your eyes right from the beginning, Van. You have incredible talent.」(Basdia)
「Thank you.」(Vandalieu)
His forehead and cheeks had been hit, though lightly, so his face was pinker than usual, but Vandalieu's eyes stayed open.
Knowing that he could close his eyes and use[Spirit Form Transformation]to see using his spirit-form eyes seemed to influence his instincts and reflexes.
The pregnant women would go into labor every few days, and Vandalieu attended every single baby's delivery.
Things like the umbilical cord wrapping around the baby's neck didn't happen every time; they proceeded normally - that is, with the usual struggles, drama and emotions that humans experienced - and the babies were born safely.
Things seemed to proceed well for the Ghouls after birth as well, including Bilde. This was likely to do with the fact that Ghouls had more robust bodies than humans and the fact that this place was half-Devil's Nest.
The veterans who had experienced childbirth before like Zadiris and Tarea were teaching them various things regarding life after giving birth, so it seemed that things would go well.
It was the middle of July when things became truly busy with the Magic Item creation process.
Imbuing magic in the items that Tarea had created turned out to be quite difficult. Repairing an entire castle wall would have been far easier than this.
「At this rate, making three Magic Items in a day is my limit, huh…」(Vandalieu)
「Your skill is still level 1, is it not, boy? This is a sufficient pace.」(Zadiris)
「If you make them too fast, the pace at which I make the items will not be able to keep up. Making accessories is outside my area of expertise, after all.」(Tarea)
There were roughly six hundred Ghouls needing these Magic Items. At this rate, it would take over three hundred days to make Magic Items for everyone.
However, not all of the Ghouls wanted children right now, so there seemed to be no need to hurry.
「And by your calculations, you would be making Magic Items for Tarea and I as well. Or could it be that this is your roundabout way of making a confession? Hmm?」(Zadiris)
「Oh my, I mustn't; even though I look young, I am over two hundred and sixty years old. However, if Van-sama wished for it…」(Tarea)
「You shouldn't tease a three-year-old boy. If you say such things too often, I'll really take you up on your words in a decade or two.」(Vandalieu)
The creation of the Magic Items continued with enjoyable conversations like these, using the powdered organs and Magic Stones of defeated monsters.
Ah, the Magic Stone that Vandalieu just crushed, was it a Noble Orc's?
And Vandalieu tried various things in his spare time.
「And the fish and…[Fermentation.]」
Since there were no soy beans, he tried making fish sauce from fish. He hadn't gone out of his way to invent fish sauce in Origin, but he succeeded making it after three tries now.
The fish sauce was smelly and a little harsh, but herbs could be added to make it lighter.
Next, he tried using walnuts and acorns to make walnut miso and acorn miso, and found it a little difficult. He succeeded in fermenting it using magic, but he wasn't entirely satisfied with the resulting flavor.
The researchers who squeezed the Mana out of Vandalieu had tried using him to make miso before, so this was one of his strong points, but it was his first time making it from walnuts and acorns.
「It's not as tasty as it was said to be on Earth, I guess? But it contains the walnuts' flavor and acorns' fragrance, so I suppose this is alright as it is?」(Vandalieu)
Vandalieu didn't know that the walnut miso on Earth didn't use salt and walnuts as a substitute for miso, but simply added walnuts to already-made miso.
However, he had made something with a flavor that he was content with, so he cast[Maturation]on it to deepen its flavor and shared it with everyone.
Also, wasabi and ginger were discovered in the partial-Devil's Nest Talosheim, so they were quickly cultivated. Well, for ginger, it was just a matter of turning the areas where it grew into fields and occasionally applying fertilizer… This alone allowed them to harvest ginger every week. Devil's Nests were truly wonderful places.
The cultivation of wasabi took some intervention. Wasabi released a toxic component that prevented other plants from growing in its vicinity, but the components affected the growth of the wasabi itself and prevented it from growing larger.
Vandalieu came up with a scheme where he imbued stakes with the[Detoxification]spell that neutralized the wasabi's toxic components in the area where the stakes were planted.
… It was quite a failure, but also something of a success. The Ghouls and Titans would have to go around the Devil's Nests and find new wasabi to use.
Also, Vandalieu tried creating Jenga. All he needed to do was turn some lumber into Wood Golems and split them into pieces of the same size; it was even simpler than making boards and pieces for Reversi.
「This fish sauce, could this be the legendary soy sauce? The sauce spoken of in legends, the one that the champion Zakkart tried and failed to create…」(Nuaza)
『Whatever it is, it's tasty.』(Borkus)
Soy sauce was more difficult to create than miso; even the champion Zakkart had difficulties in recreating it.
He had apparently succeeded in recreating miso, but Bellwood had set the miso warehouses on fire before miso could become widespread. That would explain why almost nobody knew that miso existed… Bellwood didn't allow it.
Ginger and wasabi had apparently been used in food from the beginning. But everyone was happy that it was cultivated and could be harvested reliably.
And Jenga became a trending thing in Talosheim just as Reversi had. No carpenters among the Titans had become Undead, so the Ghouls and Undead Titans approached Vandalieu with monster meat and offered him a trade for Jenga pieces.
「Could it be that I could live a peaceful life just by making flavorings and toys?」(Vandalieu)
The trading was primitive, but it seemed that life would become fulfilling for him.
The first stage of Magic Item creation was completed, and around the time Talosheim had returned to its appearance of being a white fortress city, it was the end of summer in September, when the footsteps of autumn could be heard.
「Now then, I'll be going into the Dungeons starting today.」(Vandalieu)
And so Vandalieu was finally beginning his adventures to earn Experience Points.
[The levels of the Alchemy, Carpentry, Engineering and Cooking skills have increased!]
A long dining table had been prepared in a dark, unknown location.
A red fluid was poured into wine glasses and shared among those gathered here.
They were dressed in elegant clothes that would sell for enough money for a normal family to live in luxury for a year and over-decorated with jewelry.
One might think that this would be some banquet for noblemen, but the ones gathered here were not noblemen in the normal sense of the word.
An air of elegance and nobility appeared to be drifting from them.
The men and women here were beautiful, perhaps ephemeral in appearance.
It was possible that everyone here possessed both profound beauty and intelligence.
But in reality, they were cold-hearted, merciless, cruel demons who thirsted for blood.
「Now then, let us begin the meeting. The first topic of discussion is… the aforementioned Dhampir.」(Vampire)
With his crimson eyes sparkling with joy, the Pure-breed vampire who led the discussion moistened his throat with the fresh blood that had been poured into his glass.
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