Chapter 92: The troops led by a herbivorous man vs the Red Wolf Knights' Order
『Vandalieu has reached level 100 in Insect User!』
『You have Job-changed to Tree Caster!』
『You have acquired the Plant Binding Technique skill!』
『The Farming skill has been combined with the Plant Binding Technique skill!』
『The levels of the Rapid Healing, Superhuman Strength, Plant Binding Technique and Thread Refining skills have increased!』
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 7 years old
Title:[Ghoul King],[Eclipse King],[Second Coming of the Demon King],[Guardian of the Cultivation Villages],[Holy Son of Vida],[Taboo Name]
Job: Tree Caster
Level: 0
Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker, Venom Fist User, Insect User
Attributes:
Vitality: 644
Mana: 446,023,946
Strength: 239
Agility: 273
Stamina: 374
Intelligence: 903
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Rapid Healing: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 7
Status Effect Resistance: Level 7
Magic Resistance: Level 4
Dark Vision
Death-Attribute Charm: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Chant Revocation: Level 4
Strengthen Followers: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 6
Strengthen Subordinates: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 4
Enhanced Agility: Level 2
Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 4
Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed: Small
Enhanced Physical Ability (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs): Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Thread Refining: Level 2 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Bloodwork: Level 2
Surpass Limits: Level 6
Golem Transmutation: Level 7
No-Attribute Magic: Level 5
Mana Control: Level 5
Spirit Form: Level 7
Carpentry: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Engineering: Level 4
Cooking: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Alchemy: Level 4
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 5
Soul Break: Level 6
Multi-Cast: Level 5
Long-distance Control: Level 7
Surgery: Level 3
Parallel Thought Processing: Level 5
Materialization: Level 4
Coordination: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
High-speed Thought Processing: Level 3
Commanding: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Farming: Level 3 → Plant Binding Technique: Level 3 (COMBINED!)
Clothing: Level 2 → Thread-reeling: Level 3 (COMBINED!)
Throwing: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Scream: Level 3
Dead Spirit Magic: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Insect Binding Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Blacksmithing: Level 1 (NEW!)
Unique skills:
God Slayer: Level 4
Grotesque Mind: Level 4
Mental Encroachment: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Labyrinth Construction: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
There were no new Jobs this time.
A short while after finishing his Job-change, Vandalieu returned from the Immortal Ent forest.
"Mom, everyone, I've become a plant-binding-type* man," Vandalieu announced.
"Really? That's amazing, Vandalieu," said Darcia, praising Vandalieu no matter what he did despite not understanding his joke.
"No, wait, Van. What does herbivorous mean?" asked Basdia, giving him a perplexed look.
"They're a type of person that was growing in number in the world I used to live in," Vandalieu replied.
Considering those called "herbivorous men" on Earth, Vandalieu was more of a "carnivorous man*", however.
"Actually, with the Plant Binding Technique skill I gained after my Job-change, I've been able to do things like this," said Vandalieu.
And then a Monster Plant popped out of his head.
"I see, so it is a plant version of the Insect Binding skill," said Zadiris, commenting on the skill while ignoring Vandalieu's joke. "But will the insects and plants not consume each other?"
"That never happened in the Monster Plant fields or the Immortal Ent forest, so I wouldn't think so," said Vandalieu.
"Hmm, I see."
Another plant's roots appeared right before Zadiris's eyes.
"Boy, this… appears to be a very ordinary plant," she said.
"Yes, it is a very ordinary plant," said Vandalieu. "My Farming skill combined with the Plant Binding Technique skill, so I've become able to cultivate plants inside my body as a result."
"… Are they not acting as parasites to you?" Zadiris asked.
"Uwah, look, Onee-san, Bocchan's head is full of flowers!" Rita exclaimed.
"Rita! If you say it that way, it makes it sound like Bocchan is a useless person, doesn't it?" Saria exclaimed indignantly. "There are other ways to say it, aren't there! Like saying that it's wonderful and spring-like!"
"Umm, you two, I know that you don't mean anything bad, but I think there's another way to say it, isn't there?" said Darcia.
It seemed that the phrases "head full of flowers" and "spring-like" didn't have particularly good meanings in Lambda, either.
"It's fine," said Vandalieu. "They just use up a little of my Vitality."
"Vandalieu-sama, unlike your Mana, your Vitality isn't very high, is it? You must be careful with it and not be wasteful with it," said Eleanora, as if teaching him how to use his pocket money.
"Okay," said Vandalieu. "But I'm raising plants that have medicinal compounds, so there's no need to worry. For example…"
A white mushroom sprouted from Vandalieu's head.
"If I'm not mistaken, that's a mushroom that can be used for Potions, isn't it?" said Kachia. "If I recall, it has healing properties even if you eat it as it is… But it's a bit… It looks more and more like they're parasitizing you."
It was a convenient mushroom, but it didn't seem to be very popular with Kachia and the others.
"This is training for my skill as well, so go ahead and take some," said Vandalieu, offering the the mushroom to everyone as a present. He produced more mushrooms from his head, plucked them, cut them into even pieces with his claws, used his Thread Refining skill to produce thread from his mouth and bundled the mushroom pieces together.
Incidentally, he had recently become able to produce thread from his mouth (or, more accurately, from the tip of his tongue) and his fingertips. Perhaps for this reason, his Thread-reeling skill included the Sewing skill. He could make fabrics more freely than before, so it was very convenient.
Vandalieu could also quite freely control the properties of the thread produced by Thread Refining, so he was planning to use it to make swimsuits.
He could produce threads with adhesive properties, threads that could cut flesh and bone on contact or transparent thread, but for now, he was using it to make clothing.
"Wow, thank you," said Rita. She, Kachia and Eleanora, the ones who used to be humans, were happy with the mushrooms.
"… Hmm? Does this have some medicinal effects?" asked Zadiris.
"Van… These aren't very tasty," said Basdia.
The pure Ghouls, perhaps because they had no custom of giving flowers as gifts, seemed perplexed.
Munch, munch, munch. Rapiéçage was eating them. Pauvina and Jadal saw her and ate them as well.
"Ugh, they're so bitter," said Pauvina. It seemed that her memories of human society were somewhere very far away now.
Vandalieu produced sweet fruit for Pauvina and Jadal to eat. Darcia seemed to have entered parenting mode.
"Vandalieu, I'm happy, but when you're giving presents to girls, you need to think about what they would like," she said.
"Yes, Mom," said Vandalieu.
"You can't think of it as too troublesome," Darcia continued. "Your father used to say that thinking about things like this was the enjoyable part of courting girls."
"… Mom, what kind of things was Dad doing?" Vandalieu asked.
"If I recall… He was apparently seducing girls in bars in order to gather information. Getting along well with the prostitutes, things like that. Come to think of it, you're the same, Vandalieu."
Darcia smiled as her words gave glimpses the wrongdoings of Valen, Vandalieu's father. As to be expected of the former dog of a Pure-breed Vampire.
"Well, I gave dresses and tuxedos to Braga and the other Black Goblins for their weddings, and I baked them cakes as well," said Vandalieu.
Wedding parties were only held for the wealthy people of Lambda, but one had been thrown for the wedding ceremonies of the Black Goblins.
This was the debut of the wedding dresses and tuxedoes made of honey silk as well as a cake decorated with cream made from goat milk. Everyone had loved it.
The dresses were particularly popular with the people from the First Cultivation Village; many of them had sparkling eyes and said they wanted to wear them as well. Even for the Ghouls, whose fashion sense was quite different from that of humans, the frills and laces were fresh ideas. They gave their opinions to Vandalieu, telling him that they were beautiful, though they did wish that they revealed more skin.
"Kid, make one for this girl as well!" Borkus requested.
"You foolish Oyaji! I don't have anyone to marry!" Gopher told him.
"Then a tuxedo for my grandson!"
"He doesn't have someone to marry, either!"
This was the exchange between Borkus and Gopher, a father and his daughter, who were also communicating physically with dull sounds of them hitting each other.
Doing as he was told, Vandalieu had tried to measure Gopher's size, only to be rejected. But he and everyone else interpreted that as embarrassment.
A grown woman would certainly feel reluctant to wear a dress with all kinds of frills and laces. When Vandalieu had made them for Marie and the other wives of the Black Goblins, things had gone better than he had expected so he got carried away and perhaps added too many.
The cake had cream and butter made from goat's milk, which had a problematic smell, but it was well-received by everyone.
According to a documentary on goat farming that Vandalieu had seen on Earth, he remembered that goat's milk simply absorbed smells from its surroundings easily, so it would not smell bad if machines were used to squeeze it from the goats quickly. With this in mind, he had thought of squeezing the milk from the goats in a sterilized room while continuously casting Deodorization, so the goat's milk didn't smell.
In fact, he had added large quantities of a sweet flavoring made from vanilla beans that he had found in the Eclipse King's Orchard.
Dessert was covered by the Cemetery Bees' honey and sugar created from a plant-type monster from the Eclipse King's Orchard that offered a maple-syrup-like sap.
Perhaps it was a far more luxurious cake than one made from normal cow milk and sugar.
"Ah, but you mustn't lose your mind over women; your father used to say that you shouldn't fall for women, but make them fall for you," said Darcia. "Well, he did fall for me properly, though."
"… I wish Dad would have acted more normally and said more normal things," said Vandalieu.
It was probably a good story. Probably…
Although Vandalieu's internal image of his father had now tilted in a strange direction and sunk a little.
"Well, leaving that aside… I'm going to the Seventh Cultivation Village tomorrow so I'm going to make preparations now. I have to make use of the opportunity they created for me," said Vandalieu.
"You are going to welcome more new citizens to Talosheim, aren���t you? This is truly auspicious, Your Majesty," said Princess Levia with a gentle smile.
As snow started falling, the ordinary lifestyles of the villagers, who were eating fried Gobu-Gobu for breakfast, were broken by the sudden visit of the Knights' Order.
"I am Pablo Marton, the man who leads the Red Wolf Knights' Order in the name of Duke Hartner!" a voice shouted. "Inhabitants of the Seventh Cultivation Village, come out at once!"
The Red Wolf Knights' Order was one of the three great Knights' Orders that protected the Hartner Duchy. The village chief, the Oyaji of the jack-of-all-trades store and Kasim's party all hastily ran outside to see what was happening.
In the plaza, there were the young men who had been acting as the village's gatekeepers, who were now cowering, as well as a large number of fully-armed Knights.
Dozens of knights with metal armor under their surcoats, armed with shields, longswords and spears… Nearly one hundred of them. The villagers were overwhelmed by their presence.
"We humbly welcome you in this snowy season. We apologize for not being able to come out and greet you. What business did you have on this day?" asked the village chief, surprised and wondering what on earth this was about.
"I have come to collect taxes in the name of Lord Lucas, the next duke of the Hartner Duchy! Each person must offer a hundred thousand Baums, right this instant!" Pablo demanded, a nervous look on his face.
The villagers were shocked by the amount he was requesting.
"A hundred thousand Baums?! There is no way we would have such an amount!"
"And what do you mean, right this instant?! We were promised that we would be exempt from taxes for five years!"
A hundred thousand Baums was an amount of money that even many noble families didn't have. Of course, it was certainly an amount that the people of the cultivation village couldn't make even if they worked frantically for an entire year.
Even Kasim and his party, who had become D-class adventurers, couldn't earn this much in a year.
Such a tax was being demanded not of each household, but each individual. It was absurd.
"What are you thinking? Even if we sell our houses and fields, it's impossible! You know that much, right?!" Fester shouted.
The nervous-looking Pablo opened his mouth to reply. "The five-year exemption from taxes that Lord Belton established has been invalidated," he said.
Those who couldn't pay poll taxes were taken away as debt slaves.
Seeing the knights' attendants preparing ropes behind Pablo, the faces of the villagers grew pale. Even though debt slaves were treated reasonably well, there was no difference in the fact that they were bought and sold between owners. Families would be torn apart and, depending on the owner, they could meet fates worse than death.
And if they were not sold, they would be treated like criminal slaves and sent to places where they would be worked to death. The slave-run mine was no more, but there were other final destinations for unsold slaves.
"That is nothing more than tyranny!" Lina cried.
"That's right, that's right! Even Alda teaches that you should watch your limits!" Kasim shouted.
Everyone grew angry, but Pablo and his men responded by drawing their swords and pointing them at the villagers.
"Your name was Lina, wasn't it? You have been charged with embezzlement and fraud!" Pablo declared. "Until the investigation is completed, your qualification as an Adventurers' Guild employee is void. There is also a suspicion that the three adventurers known as Kasim, Zeno and Fester are accomplices in the Guild employee's fraud. Your qualifications as adventurers are void as well! We have permission to deliver your punishment on the spot if you make any attempt to escape!"
"No way!" Lina cried, almost screaming.
"Fraud?! There��s a limit to how far you can go with false accusations!" Fester shouted in rage.
"Calm down! They'll cut us down on the spot!" said Kasim trying to calm them down.
A middle-aged man protected by a knight on either side approached them.
"Hand over your employee badge and your Guild Cards."
The administrative official accompanying the Knights' Order confiscated the identification items of the distraught Lina and frustrated adventurers.
Pablo seemed nervous again as he looked at the villagers, who were now wearing expressions of resignation.
This is strange… Things are going too well.
Lucas had expected Pablo to force the village to reveal its hidden military force after being cornered for these absurd reasons.
The Red Wolf Knights' Order had gained total control over the people, and that was the end of it. Lucas had expected the behind-the-scenes negotiation with the Adventurers' Guild to be the one thing that would take time, but the Guild Master of the Adventurers' Guild headquarters, who had been taking bribes from Lord Belton, quickly changed to Lord Lucas's side.
However, there were no signs of any armed forces, despite Pablo and his men having thought that the ones who had killed Karcan and his men would be hiding in this village.
At this rate, things will end with the villagers all being tied up and dragged off. Is this not enough provocation? Maybe I should cut some people down… No, perhaps they're hiding in another cultivation village. I suppose getting that information out of them comes first, thought Pablo.
Some villagers were hanging their heads in defeat, thinking that they had no choice but to obediently become slaves, while others were desperately trying to think of a way out of the situation, but they couldn't come up with any answers. But before anything happened, a group of several people, who had calmly walked through the unmanned gate, appeared.
"Who are you… people?" Pablo had thought that the armed forces had finally arrived, but these people were what looked like five ordinary villagers. It was only after his question that he realized that the one standing at the front was a child who was less than ten years old.
"Vandalieu?! What are you doing here at a time like this!"
"Oi, that guy isn't a villager! He's just a passer-by!"
After noticing Vandalieu, Kasim and his friends hastily raised their voices so that he wouldn't get caught up in this mess. But it was one of the people behind Vandalieu who responded to their words.
"Everyone of the Seventh Cultivation Village, do you remember me?" asked this person. "Village chief-san, my father has always been in your care. Kasim, Zeno, Fester, I've talked to you before as well, haven't I?"
The villagers opened their eyes wide in shock at the sight of this young man, whose face had ordinary features that could be found anywhere.
"You're the son of the First Cultivation Village's chief, Sebas. You're Sebas!"
"There's no doubt about it; that's Sebas! But why is he here? After the First Cultivation Village was deserted, they were supposed to have gone to another land for cultivation."
"Why are you with Vandalieu?"
The young man's name was Sebas. He was the son of the First Cultivation's village chief. He had joined Vandalieu at the slave-run mine and become a citizen of Talosheim.
"Everyone, listen to me. The cultivation project is a complete lie. Everything is a conspiracy conducted by the Hartner family. We've been cheated. Nobody from the First Cultivation Village was sent to another land for cultivation. We were sent to the slave-run mine to the south! We're not cultivators, we've been abandoned!" he said to the villagers of the Seventh Cultivation Village, pointing at Pablo with a hateful expression on his face.
The villagers were astounded and looked from Sebas to Pablo.
Sebas was a friend that they knew. Pablo and his men, on the other hand, while seemingly being important knights, were making unreasonable demands and trying to turn the villagers into slaves. It was clear as to which story should be listened to.
"You're the son of the chief of the First Cultivation Village, and you were in the slave-run mine?!" Pablo repeated.
He and his men weren't trusted by the villagers, but this wasn't a problem at all.
The problem was that a young man, who was in the slave-run mine where all of the soldiers and slaves were supposed to have turned into Skeletons, was standing here.
"In other words, you are a runaway slave. I shall hear your explanation later. Give up quietly!"
With Pablo's words, swords and spears were pointed at Sebas. It seemed that they had already realized that this was no group of ordinary people.
The knights formed a semi-circular surround as they closed in. Seeing this, the villagers were wearing expressions of resignation once more.
Even if there was a conspiracy or whatever else, there was no changing their fates. This was something planned by the man who was about to become the most powerful person in the Hartner Duchy, and even the Adventurers' Guild had a hand in it. Complaints from people like them, who were refugees from another land, were futile.
At this rate, even bringing up the fact that the Church of Alda was exempt from tax would be pointless.
"Everyone, please listen to me," said Vandalieu, who had remained silent up until now. "We will defeat these knights. Completely independent of the desires of the people of this village, I will fight them and defeat them."
Hearing the young boy's flat-toned declaration, the knights snickered. They knew that they couldn't judge an enemy's ability by their appearance and age, but there was no way that they could be defeated by this small, thin boy who could almost be called a toddler and a group of unarmed villagers.
That was what they thought.
The people of the Seventh Cultivation Village seemed to agree; they all shouted at Vandalieu to stop his reckless behavior, but he ignored them and kept speaking.
"After I do this, please decide whether you will follow us back or not. Now then -"
"No, I'll decide now. I'm going with you guys!" said a voice, interrupting Vandalieu. It was Fester's voice.
He got back onto his feet from his kneeling position, picked up the sword that he had cast onto the ground along with its sheath, and pointed its tip at Pablo and his men.
Rather than stopping him, Kasim picked up his shield and Zeno picked up his weapon s they got to their feet as well.
"There's no helping it. I suppose we'll join you," said Kasim.
"Well, I suppose it's better than becoming a slave," said Zeno.
Fester blinked in confusion at the fact that his companions weren't stopping him, and then gave them a manly smile. "Sorry for making you accompany me all the time," he said.
"No, wait a second," Vandalieu said hastily. "Why are you doing this? You don't have to decide now, you can decide afterwards."
He thought that they should make a decision afterwards, but their minds were set.
"Vandalieu. After this, let's go on adventures together in the next world!" said Fester.
"No, no, no, we can do that in this world," said Vandalieu.
Fester turned to Lina. "Lina, try to find an opportunity to run. Sorry about this. Even though I promised to make you happy…"
"Fester… No, I'll come with you," said Lina. "I at least know how to defend myself. And then… let's be together on the other side."
Fester looked touched. "You…"
"Umm, if you're going to be together, won't you be together here?" said Vandalieu. "I'll make you a dress, a tuxedo, a cake or even curry."
"Sheet, I can't let my daughter and my son-in-law die before me! I'm going to do this too!" shouted the Oyaji of the jack-of-all-trades store.
"Me too! Even if we're spared here, I have no idea what will become of my children! You saved my life before, so I'll use it for your sake now!" said the former stonemason Ivan, whose life Vandalieu had saved before.
The villagers continued standing up one after another, and even the Red Wolf Knights' Order felt a little flustered. But the one panicking the most was Vandalieu.
"So then, Your Majesty, what will we do?" asked one of the other people with Vandalieu.
"… Ah, there's no other choice," Vandalieu replied. "I'll support the villagers, and you guys go with the plan."
"Certainly."
"I suppose it was a mistake to think I could do the same thing as I did in the slave-run mine," Vandalieu said with a sigh.
"SILENCE!" Pablo roared before gathering his men and giving them orders. "Cut them all down! Capture that one called Sebas and the other few people over there, alive!"
Things had gone a little differently than he had expected, but he had set his sights on the man who seemed to know something. All there was left to do was to dispose of the others in the way.
Upon receiving the orders, the knights who had surrounded Sebas and the others moved first. As knights, they were experienced with real battles, and unlike the Equestrians led by Karcan, they were as capable as strong D-class adventurers; they had a solid chance of defeating Rank 4 monsters in one-on-one combat.
"Capture us alive? … Go ahead and try!"
"Do you think you feeble knights can defeat us, when we have received the blessing of Eleanora-sama?!"
"I'll avenge my siblings who died in the slave-run mine!"
Sebas and his companions glared at the knights with shining crimson eyes as they bared their fangs and met them in combat.
Their movements were faster than those of beasts; their bodies were strong in the face of the knights' swords and spears, and their claws were sharp.
"Th-these guys aren't human?! They're Vampires!"
"That's impossible; it's still the middle of the afternoon!"
By the time the knights realized it, it was too late. They had already allowed Sebas and his companions to draw close.
When they were rescued from the slave-run mine, they had still been humans, but the next day, they had asked Eleanora to turn them into Subordinate Vampires.
After that, they acquired the Sunlight Resistance skill thanks to the effect of Vandalieu's Eclipse King Title, and now they obeyed Vandalieu.
But Subordinate Vampires had a base Rank of 3. These former villages had been Vampires for less than half a year; they wouldn't be a match for these numbers who outnumbered them nearly three to one. Even if they caught the knights by surprise, the knights would regain their formation before the Vampires would cut through.
However, the Vampires were citizens of Vandalieu's nation.
"Th-they're strong!"
Due to the influence of Strengthen Followers and Strengthen Subordinates, their Attribute Values had increased and they were as powerful as Rank 5 monsters. In addition, Vandalieu had already applied enchantments to them, and Dark Copper fibers had been weaved into their clothes, giving them extraordinary defense against bladed weapons. Even if the knights outnumbered the Vampires three to one, once their formation was broken, they wouldn't be able to defeat the Vampires.
"Damn it, take that child as a hostage and -" one of the knights began.
"That's impossible for you."
"Eh -"
The knight's head went flying.
Braga, who had been hiding and waiting for things to begin, moved like a shadow and decapitated the knight. With the effect of his unique skill, Human Slayer, he was able to use an attack effective for killing the human he targeted, and even gained a damage bonus.
If he took the average knight by surprise, decapitating him was as easy as harvesting an ear of rice.
And then he concealed himself like fog before the other knights spotted him.
"There was something here just now!"
"There are other enemies! Watch your backs!"
"Iron Rend, Embrace of the Flame Spirits."
"GYAAAAAH!"
As the knights watched their backs, Vandalieu killed them from the front.
The knights could not avoid being severely wounded by the frontal attacks of Vandalieu, who had the Superhuman Strength, Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed: Small, Enhanced Physical Ability (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs) as well as a level 5 Unarmed Fighting Technique skill. He had already shown Kasim and the others his Dead Spirit Magic, so he was using that without holding back as well.
Some knights were turned into burnt corpses as Princess Levia embraced them, while others had their stomachs slashed open and convulsed on the ground to be finished by Pain Worms that crawled towards them.
Click-click-click!
Buzz-buzz-buzz!
The Lance Centipede Pete used his horn to pierce a knight's torso straight through his shield, while the Cemetery Bees' venomous stingers and powerful jaws turned other knights into masses of meat.
The villagers were fighting hard as well.
The moment the villagers decided that they would "follow Vandalieu," they had been acknowledged as Vandalieu's citizens. As a result, they received the benefits of Strengthen Followers due to the Eclipse King Title, causing a steep increase in their Attribute Values. They weren't quite as strong as the knights, but they were at least as strong as ordinary soldiers; if they decided to put everything into escaping, it would have been difficult for the knights, who were equipped with heavy weapons and armor, to give chase.
"Come on, important knight-sama, over here!"
"How can you be so pathetic for such a young person, you simpleton!"
The knights chased the villagers who were running around while provoking them. One of the knights stopped to fire an arrow, while another tried to attack with a martial skill.
"You lowly villagers, die by my arr - OOOOOH?!"
"Curse you, Fl - AAAAAAH!"
The ground beneath their feet, which had been turned into a Golem by Vandalieu, roared as it rose, causing the knights to fall into the hole it left behind.
And then the Golem returned to its original position on top of the knights, who had fallen two or three meters deep. After they were buried alive, Vandalieu sent monsters resembling earthworms and mole crickets after them, as well as the roots of plant-type monsters, before they suffocated to death so that they could become Experience Points.
"How dare you fire my daughter!" shouted the Oyaji of the jack-of-all-trades store.
He, Ivan and some others were throwing objects at the administrative official who was accompanying the knights. It was an extremely primitive method of attack, but their physical strength they had trained through daily work on the farms was increased even further by their increased Attribute Values. The rocks and hoes thrown by them wouldn't be a joke if they made a direct hit.
The administrative official gave a pathetic scream. He was nothing more than an ordinary craftsman. "Wait, I only did this because it was my job, because I was paid to!"
If a strong-willed government official had been dispatched, it was possible that he would have sided with the villagers, so this man had been selected after careful consideration. But now that was backfiring.
"Kuh, you coward!" shouted a knight. He and two others were now unable to move, as they were forced to stay where they were to protect this ordinary worker.
"Eat this! Triple Thrust! TRIPLE THRUST! TRIPLE THRUUUST!"
"Stone Wall! Stone Shield! Cranial Strike!"
���Rapid Fire! Consecutive Fire!"
In terms of their Attribute Values, Kasim and his friends, the D-class adventurers, had become as strong as Class adventurers.
They weren't powerful enough to overwhelm the knights, but they fought with spectacular coordination and had already defeated two of the knights.
"Please run and lead the knights away while you have their attention."
"Aim for that administrative official; throw anything you can find at him."
"Fall back for now and change places with Kasim."
These were the orders of Vandalieu, who had used Spirit Form Transformation and stretched his arms to string-like shapes to connect himself to every villager.
Using the vision from Lemures positioned all over the place, Vandalieu was constantly monitoring the situation. He followed up on the individual dangers detected by Danger Sense: Death, and used Rapid Healing to treat small injuries.
He was even casting his enchantments, Energy Absorption and Bloodshed Enhancement, and providing Mana to Kasim's party as well as Sebas and the other Vampires.
Just to be absolutely safe, he was giving the villagers the benefits of his Commanding and Coordination skills as well, so there were no ordinary villagers in this place anymore.
"What is this?!" shouted Pablo.
Barely a minute after he had given his men orders, they were in the inferior position. In fact, his subordinates were letting out their dying screams one after another as they were scattered.
In order to defeat the mysterious armed group that had defeated fifty of Karcan's men, Pablo had brought nearly one hundred men with him and each of them was at least as strong as Karcan himself. And yet, they were being slaughtered in a one-sided fashion.
The battlefield was an irrational place, but wasn't this a little too irrational?
"Those who aren't injured, step to the front and use your martial skills! Those who can use healing magic, treat the wounded! Don't engage the villagers; slay the monsters and the adventurers first!" Pablo shouted.
He was still the captain of the Knights' Order. He had seen that the ones who were defeating the knights were Sebas's group, Kasim's party and Vandalieu, so he was commanding his knights to stop attacking the villagers.
As he regained his composure, he looked for the mysterious child who, unbelievably, seemed to be the enemy commander.
But as the knights stepped forward to try and use their martial skills, an Ent suddenly appeared out of nowhere (or at least, that's what it looked like to Pablo) and attacked by swinging its branches that were full of apple-like fruits; several knights were hit directly by the fruits and sent flying away.
The ones who were trying to recite incantations for healing magic were surrounded in what looked like black fog that seemed to be interfering with their magic; they were unable to cast their spells.
And then Pablo heard groaning and viscous sloshing sounds.
He could see Stone Golems, Death Iron Golems and around thirty Skeletons who had entered the village from the forest.
They were the Golems that Vandalieu had stationed around the Seventh Cultivation Village; he had called them here now. The Skeletons were the Undead created from the skeletons of Karcan's subordinates who had been slain by the Golems.
"M… Make your own decisions on how to deal with the enemy!" Pablo shouted. He was essentially telling his men that there were no options left, and that he was now relying on every one of his men's individual efforts.
And then he joined the battle at the frontline as well, in this inferior position with no hope of turning things around.
Kasim and the others joining the battle was something that Vandalieu hadn't expected, but the biggest unexpected thing for Lord Lucas and Pablo was that they were desperately lacking in military power to deal with the problem on their own.
Job Explanation:
[Insect User]
A Job that can be acquired after successfully taming a certain number of insectoid monsters. One must have the trust of the tamed insectoid monsters.
This Job provides bonuses to Vitality, Strength and Stamina. It also provides bonuses to skills that cannot normally be obtained such as Insect Binding Technique, Parallel Thought Processing, Long-distance Control and Thread Refining.
These are all skills that alter the skill owner's mental state and make it difficult to maintain a normal level of sanity, so the Job grants the Mental Corruption skill and causes a gradual loss of sanity.
For those who possess different mental structures from ordinary people and those who have already lost their sanity, this is not a problem.
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Chapter 93: The Monster who won't give up
For the people of the Second to Sixth Cultivation Villages, this winter day was an unforgettable day indeed.
"I have something important to tell everyone," said the savior of the villages. He was accompanied by the people of the Seventh Cultivation Village and those of the First Cultivation Village which was supposed to have been deserted, as well as several knights in armor who were tied up and being pulled along.
"Everyone, listen to me," Sebas pleaded. "We've all been deceived by the Hartner family! When we became unable to maintain the First Cultivation Village, us villagers were told we were being sent to a new land to cultivate. We followed them, only to be thrown into the slave-run mine! We had no crimes or debts, yet we were turned into slaves! Because of the harsh labor we were forced to do in the mine, my father, the village chief…!"
"My little sister and brother as well…! There's no difference between the Hartner family and those bastards from the Amid Empire!"
"My Nee-san was treated as a plaything by the men… they're nothing but demons!"
Those from the First Cultivation Village, including Sebas, the village chief's son, spoke of the sorrow they had endured at the slave-run mine. Even though they were from another village, they were friends who had been living in this cultivated land, just like the rest of the villages. Each village had many who recognized their faces. The other villagers got the feeling that the color of their eyes was a little different, but that was within acceptable limits of error.
Thus, no matter how difficult it was to believe their words, it was impossible to completely reject them.
"And Lord Lucas… No, Lucas, who is about to become in charge of the Hartner Duchy, tried to destroy this cultivation project! Come on, talk!" Sebas said to Pablo, who had been captured alive.
Pablo gave a groan before revealing everything, except for the details regarding Froto, the fake priest sent by Karcan.
My body, even my mouth, moves against my will. Why in the world?!
Vandalieu had used Spirit Form Transformation, split his claw into string-thin parts that extended to the knights who had been captured alive and then used Materialization inside their bodies.
He was secreting various drugs from his claws in real-time, forcing them into a state where they couldn't remain silent.
But thanks to the numerous resistance skills that existed in Lambda, it was possible to resist the effects of drugs in ways that were scientifically impossible.
"It's best to give up. You people don't want to end up like Kinarp, do you?" Vandalieu whispered to them, ensuring that they didn't regain their willpower and strength. He was also using his Mental Encroachment skill to inflict mental damage on them while slowly injecting more venom into them, little by little, and this was slowly beginning to take effect.
"I-I am… Pablo Marton, the captain of the Red Wolf Knights' Order. In order to have Lucas-sama succeed the duke family, I created secret plans and ordered my subordinates to sabotage the cultivation villages…"
Hearing Pablo's confession and seeing the crest on the armor that he was wearing, the trust the villagers of the cultivation villages had in the Hartner Duchy plummeted to the ground.
The concept of human rights was underdeveloped in Lambda, and those of royal or noble status were considered to be like a superior race to commoners.
With that said, commoners still felt anger and dissatisfaction when trampled underfoot for absurd reasons.
However, even if they did feel anger and dissatisfaction, there was a difference in power that prevented them from doing anything about it. It was meaningless for poor people living in cultivation villages to even think about opposing the Hartner family, who essentially ruled an entire nation.
But there was no guarantee that they could keep living quietly like this. The next duke had dispatched a Knights' Order and demanded impossible amounts to be paid in taxes and then told the villagers to tie ropes on themselves and become slaves because they had been unable to pay.
It was difficult to imagine that the Hartner family would stay silent after the Knights' Order had been repelled, and the villagers couldn't just hope for the Hartner family to change its way of thinking. If they were going to be turned into slaves, didn't they have no choice but to run away and become bandits or something?
Vandalieu whispered to the sorrowful villagers.
"I'm sure you can no longer live in the Hartner Duchy. If you don't mind, won't you all come to me like Sebas and the others have?"
"Us survivors from the First Cultivation Village are all living under his rule," Sebas continued. "We're living rich lives in a place where even the Hartner family can't touch us. We're eating until our stomachs are full every day, and there's even work for us to do!"
The villagers stirred and their eyes shone with hope.
"Chief, me and my family are going to follow this child!" said Kyne, the hunter from the Fifth Cultivation Village.
Other villagers who had been directly saved by Vandalieu, just like Kyne, raised their voices. The village leaders thought about the offer and then came to a decision.
"Alright. Everyone, we must make preparations. This place could not become our second home. I am sure it will be difficult to start over again, but we have the Guardian of the Cultivation Villages with us! We can make a new beginning anywhere! Isn't that right?!"
Vandalieu repeated this process for all of the cultivation villages.
And so, it was decided that over a thousand villagers would migrate to Talosheim.
The villagers, who were now receiving the benefits of Vandalieu's Strengthen Followers skill, were working away to prepare for their migration.
The Red Wolf Knights' Order had been carrying messenger pigeons to contact Lord Lucas, but they had been seized as well.
"Now then, please write that 'everything is in order,'" Vandalieu requested. "Ah, I don't recommend that you include a secret code to tell them that there is an emergency situation," he added. "They probably won't make it in time anyway… But if by some chance they do, and I have no choice but to do what I have to in order to protect everyone, that would be bad for you, wouldn't it?"
Pablo showed no signs of resistance. Even he knew that the Hartner Duchy would suffer the least damage if Vandalieu and the others simply left.
Things might be different if the Five-colored Blades came, but they were adventurers, nothing more. They were unlikely to move to match Lord Lucas's needs.
And the mastermind of all of this was a Dhampir. The ones who had been acting unreasonably were Pablo and his men. Even if the Adventurers' Guild learned of the situation, they were unlikely to side with the knights, who were the ones who had carried out injustice.
The Adventurers' Guild probably wouldn't cause any direct trouble in the Hartner Duchy, though… unlike the monstrosity before Pablo's eyes.
"What are you thinking? Why are you doing such a thing?" Pablo asked Vandalieu, the fearsome monstrosity in the form of a child.
What Vandalieu had done in this incident was different to repelling Karcan's men, who had disguised themselves as bandits.
Unlike Karcan and his men, Pablo and his knights had been clearly recognizable as the Red Wolf Knights' Order, and announced that they had come under formal orders from Lord Lucas, who represented Duke Hartner. Despite that, Vandalieu had incited the villagers, used military power to resist and slaughtered all of the knights except for a few.
If this incident were to be discovered, the people might praise Vandalieu, but a bounty would be put on his head for treason and he would be hunted all over the nation. If he was caught, he wouldn't simply become a criminal slave; he would be unable to avoid execution.
That was how serious Vandalieu's crime was.
Why would he risk all of that to save the people of the cultivation villages? The rewards simply didn't make the risks. Considering the dirty methods that Vandalieu had used, Pablo couldn't imagine that he had been driven by a sense of justice.
So just why had he done this?
Pablo's questions weren't an attempt to negotiate or gather information. The monstrosity before his eyes was simply so incomprehensible that he couldn't help but ask.
"For the sake of my own happiness."
The response Pablo received was also beyond his understanding.
"For the sake of your happiness? How does saving them lead to your happiness?" he asked.
Pablo couldn't imagine that Vandalieu stood to gain much here. Just what would he be able to do after gathering a group of poor cultivation villagers who had nobody supporting them? Even if he turned all of them into Vampires, it was unlikely that this was worth the risk of opposing the Orbaume Kingdom.
"Why do you doubt that saving everyone will lead to my happiness?" Vandalieu asked. It seemed that he couldn't understand Pablo's doubt, either. "I was simply passing by and there were people who were in trouble, so I helped them 'a little.' Those people were happy, and I became happy as well. And then while I was helping them 'a little,' we became close to each other and I made friends. And then people came to try and kill those friends and use dirty methods to take everything from them, so I helped them 'a little' once more. Is it really that strange?"
This was the only reason Vandalieu had for being an ally of the cultivation villages. As a result, he had acquired the Title, 'Guardian of the Cultivation Villages,' but that was merely a result that followed everything else.
It is said that even chance meetings are due to fate, and good you do to others is good you do to yourself. Vandalieu did have a little self-interest in mind, but if he were the kind of person who would consider wanting the villagers to be happy to be a detestable ulterior motive, he never would have gotten involved with other people to begin with.
It just so happened that Vandalieu's idea of 'a little' was relatively large. He had the fighting ability to lightheartedly dispose of Goblin Barbarians, Orcs and bandits. He had the magic and Mana to lightheartedly treat the injured and sick, remove the poison contaminating the fields and dig a well.
Vandalieu hated the idea of ���the responsibility of those with power," but he wouldn't detest helping people 'a little' out of kindness.
In other words, this was normal.
"How can you give such a stupid excuse! For such a trivial reason, you turned us, the Hartner Duchy, into your enemies?! It is even possible for the entire kingdom to turn on you!" Pablo shouted, seemingly unable to accept this answer.
"Well, for such a trivial reason, you have all been exterminated," said Vandalieu.
Pablo's eyes widened as he fell into silence.
Won't this person's eyeballs fly out of their sockets if he keeps this up? Vandalieu thought as he continued speaking.
"The misunderstanding I don't want you to make is the assumption that I didn't intend to make the Hartner family my enemy from the beginning," he said. "You people did a lot of things to others, so I simply did some things back."
"A lot of things, you say?" Pablo wondered if Vandalieu was referring to the Karcan's reckless behavior, but he was wrong.
"Your ancestors murdered Titans from Talosheim including Princess Levia, and sent the rest of the refugees to become slaves in a mine. Even after two hundred years passed, you did not stop treating them as slaves. That's why I released the spirits of Princess Levia and the others, and rescued the refugees from the mine. You people had connections to the Pure-breed Vampires, so I revealed that. You people tried to destroy the cultivation villages, so I stopped you from doing that. You people caused everything. I simply acted in response."
"What?! Then, all of the incidents that have been happening…!"
"Yes, I am the main culprit."
This wasn't something that was easy to believe, but the monstrosity before Pablo's eyes had already accomplished a great number of unbelievable things.
Pablo had been unaware of the conspiracy that had occurred two hundred years ago, but he could imagine that the Duke Hartner back then had started something.
In fact, Pablo and his men had been trying to do something similar in the cultivation villages, so it would have been stranger to think that the duke's family of the past hadn't started anything.
"Demon…" Pablo muttered.
"Demon?" Vandalieu repeated. He was bewildered; he didn't understand why he was being called a demon.
"Yes, you're a demon," said Pablo. "It would be stranger if you were not a demon. What you have done to the people you said you are protecting is not what can be considered sane. You turned the slaves you rescued into Vampires, produced insects and plants from your body one after another, fanned the fires of anger and dissatisfaction the people felt for the Hartner Duchy, spoke pleasant words to them and incited them against us. And why have the people of the cultivation villages, who have seen the countless monsters and those who have transformed into Vampires serving you, accepted that so easily?!" he demanded.
"Perhaps because everyone is open-minded?" Vandalieu suggested.
"There is no way that is possible! You are manipulating them, aren't you?!" Pablo shouted.
"No, I really have no idea," said Vandalieu. "Though I do think that everyone is very open-minded."
None of the people of the cultivation villages felt any apprehension about the fact that Sebas and the others had been turned into Subordinate Vampires by Eleanora, or the fact that Vandalieu used insectoid and plant-type monsters. Especially those of the Seventh Cultivation Village.
Vandalieu had thought it strange, as Death-Attribute Charm wasn't affecting them, but hadn't read too much into it, assuming that it was because they were believers of Vida - the same assumption he had made with Gopher and the other Titan refugees.
The truth was that it was the effect of the Strengthen Followers skill.
The moment the people of the cultivation villages chose to follow Vandalieu, they had become his followers. They felt a sense of familiarity and unity with Sebas and the other Vampires, as well as Pete and the rest of the monsters, because they were all Vandalieu's followers as well.
The Strengthen Followers skill wasn't a skill that was supposed to work on members of other races, so nobody, not even Vandalieu himself, knew this.
However, even if Vandalieu was aware of this, he probably wouldn't think of it as a bad thing.
"Well, I do admit that I stirred them up and instigated them, but is that a bad thing?" Vandalieu asked. "After all, right after you people tried to slaughter everyone in the cultivation villages, you tried to force unreasonable demands on them and turn them in the slaves, intending to kill them if they disobeyed, didn't you?"
"Th-that is, Karcan… You people…"
"You people are responsible for Karcan, so this was simply our response."
As Pablo looked at Vandalieu, his vision blurred. His sweat, his cold sweat, had dripped into his eyes.
He had decided that the Dhampir in front of him was a monstrosity after all.
Vandalieu was speaking logically and politely; in fact, Pablo even felt like Vandalieu had a point.
But looking at Vandalieu's eyes, Pablo knew it. He knew that a monstrosity was before him. This monstrosity showed no hesitation to defy the absolute authority of the Hartner Duchy. He wasn't a champion of justice or a hero for the refugees.
He was a demon who tempted people.
Demons in fairy tales tempted people extremely kindly, and then they would guide the people on a path of evil!
"By the way, are you almost finished?" Vandalieu asked.
Pablo was startled by the question. He wondered just what kind of conversation he had been having with this demon.
He hadn't been negotiating or gathering information. So, was it just idle talk? Impossible; it wasn't as calm as that. Every time he had opened his mouth, he had been staring at the monstrosity before his eyes with more and more interest, hadn't he?!
The monstrosity stood up from the log he had been sitting on, and his claws drew close to Pablo.
"For some reason, I am told that I'm insane, so I wanted to try talking to a normal person who is in a completely opposite position to mine," said Vandalieu. "There were many points that I could understand. I felt like I did most of the talking in the end, but the time I spent on this conversation was very valuable."
"What are you planning to do? What will become of me?" asked Pablo.
"Please provide my apprentice with more valuable time… as a guinea pig," said Vandalieu. "Don't worry. It will be over much quicker than the time I spent as a guinea pig."
The moment Pablo thought he felt a liquid dripping onto his face, his consciousness blacked out.
『The level of the Grotesque Mind skill has increased!』
Immediately after a messenger pigeon delivered a message that read, "Nothing abnormal, everything is in order," contact with the Red Wolf Knights' Order ceased.
Spies were sent to investigate. What they found were empty cultivation villages and traces of a large number of people moving south.
Lord Lucas sent more spies to learn more details, but they didn't gain any solid information at all. He tried hiring a capable Spiritualist who was said to be living in Niarki, but it seemed that she had already closed her shop and either moved to another duchy or back to the Elf village where she was born.
In the city that was abandoned… or rather, forced to be abandoned, two hundred years ago, in a place a short distance away from the cultivation villages, a small-scale Dungeon with a single floor had appeared. Also, the tunnel that led to the southern region of the continent where Talosheim was should have been impossible to pass through as it had collapsed. But there were traces that the boulder at its entrance had moved. These were the only things that the spies were able to learn.
"Could it be that all of these events were caused by someone who crawled into the duchy from Talosheim?!"
In spring, Lucas shuddered when he saw this report. He had formally succeeded the Hartner family. Of course, now that he had become the duke, he knew of the absurd betrayal his predecessor had committed two hundred years ago.
Royalty and nobles created all kinds of enemies and allies through all sorts of methods. But when a new individual took over the family's headship, it was common for them to set the previous generation's deeds aside and mend previous relationships. There were some cases where a predecessor had said that certain families should never be forgiven, but even then, reconciliation usually happened a few generations later.
But grudges of other races, especially those with long lifespans, were different. Even if the humans had changed generations, the other race's individuals were often still alive.
Titans had lifespans of three hundred years. And although this news arrived late, the spies that the Hartner family had sent into the Amid Empire delivered information to Lucas that an expedition army of six thousand men sent by the Mirg shield-nation into the continent's southern region had returned as a swarm of thousands of Undead.
There was something in Talosheim. And that something was deeply malicious towards the Hartner family. There was no doubting that.
Lucas had no way of knowing how that something was related to the cultivation villages, however. He didn't know that it was simply because the cultivation villages were close to Talosheim.
"The appearance of small-scale Dungeons, the religion of Vida spreading among the farming villages, all of it is the doing of that someone…" Lord Lucas murmured. "Curse you, ancestors. Thanks to you, the Hartner family has earned the hatred of a monstrosity!"
Lord Lucas announced that the Red Wolf Knights' Order had moved to exterminate disaster-designated monster races that had settled into the ruins of the slave-run mine, where all of the men under Pablo's command lost their lives in exchange for those of the monsters. He also announced that the cultivation villages had been unable to be saved.
And then he decided to build a fort in the city of Niarki to be prepared to fight the monster to the south of the continent.
Incidentally, around this time, the Five-colored Blades were investigating the small-scale Dungeons when they ran into and defeated some Vampires who had come to do some investigating as well. With the information they gained from these Vampires, they followed the trail of the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia and left the Hartner Duchy.
『Vandalieu has gained the 'Monstrosity' Title!"』
Pan-fried gyoza, boiled gyoza, steamed meat dumplings, steamed buns, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, taiyaki, yakitori, hot dogs, frankfurters, kebabs, Cuban sandwiches, fresh spring rolls, chapati with meat, fish and vegetables, waffles, crêpes, sherbet, fruit juice, hornworm skewers… All kinds of food that could be found at food stands on Earth and in Origin were lined up, ready to be eaten.
With this food in front of them, everyone's eyes sparkled as if they had laid eyes on some high-class dishes, then they cheered.
"Wonderful…! I've never seen any of these dishes before!"
"I can't hold back anymore! Itadakimasu!"
And then they began eating with an intense vigor. Talosheim's usual members, with the addition of Luciliano, Kasim, Fester, Zeno and Lina, were here to enjoy the food.
The dishes had been cooked by the craftsmen who had migrated from the cultivation village. Everyone was taking the food from the plates one after another and eating as if in a frenzy, even though they weren't being pressed to eat quickly.
"This gyoza, there are meat and vegetables inside?! What juicy bread! I see, it's so delicious because the ingredients are wrapped in this thin bread!"
"Even gyoza is considered bread in Lambda, I see," Vandalieu noted.
"Hey, bearded old man, this stir-fried bread called soba with vegetables and seafood is delicious!" said Kasim. "Those people from the country called 'Earth' were pretty clever to think of stir-frying bread together with other ingredients!"
"Kasim-kun, I am still in my twenties!" Luciliano said indignantly. "And that is not bread; they are called noodles!"
"Cotton*?" Fester repeated. "They're made of cotton?! Cotton is edible, huh."
"Fester, it's good, so eat it. If you don't, your question can't be answered, can it?" said Lina.
"This round one is… hah?! It's hot, but it's good… Umm, there's something creamy instead it. This fish bread is… hot! It's sweet?! Why is a bread with fish sweet?!" Zeno shouted.
"Zeno, where is your usual composure gone!"
It seemed that the food was well-received by Talosheim's new citizens. Braga, Eleanora, Zadiris and the others who were already accustomed to eating this food were also enjoying it.
"The taste is different this time, but it is still delicious," said Eleanora.
"Yes, it seems that the takoyaki is filled with jam, and the yakisoba's sauce is tare made with fruit and spices rather than soy sauce and mayonnaise," Zadiris observed.
There were many dishes that weren't difficult to reproduce as long as the method of making them were known and the ingredients were gathered. As for the necessary cookware, Vandalieu could make as many as was needed, as he was able to freely change the shape of wood and metal with Golem Transmutation.
He did have to work hard to make the equipment required to make Cuban sandwiches, which were made by putting ingredients between two buns and cooking it from both above and below, and kebabs, which were made by wrapping slices of meat into a cylindrical shape.
"So, what do you think?" Vandalieu asked. "If I continued selling these for three months at a food stall, do you think the Commerce Guild would accept it?"
He hadn't given up on becoming an adventurer.
But he thought that he would have to use a bit of a roundabout method to do so. That roundabout method was to register at the Commerce Guild.
When he registered at the Adventurers' Guild, his Status would be inspected, but Kasim and his friends knew of a way to avoid this - by presenting the registration card of another Guild.
The Commerce Guild, Mages' Guild, Workers' Guild - any Guild would do. If he already had a registration card of another guild, that meant his social status had already been checked.
And then Vandalieu would be able to have his Guild Card made without having his Status looked at by the Guild employee.
Incidentally, Darcia, Kachia and Borkus hadn't known of this registration method. The Adventurers' Guild was the Guild that was easiest to register at, so there was never a need to use such a roundabout method.
Kasim and his friends had only learned of it through the only son of a traveling merchant, whom they had met at the adventurer training school. They had remembered that this person had said, "I showed them my Commerce Guild registration card, so they didn't have to take my blood."
Incidentally, that only son of a traveling merchant had registered at the Adventurers' Guild not because he had been trying to seriously become an adventurer, but because the adventurer training school was the cheapest way to learn to defend himself.
Vandalieu had chosen the Commerce Guild as the Guild he would register at before registering at the Adventurers' Guild.
This food-sampling feast was to get everyone's opinions on whether the food could be used to sell in order to fulfil the Commerce Guild's registration requirement of "conducting business."
"I'm sure it will sell. There's no way something this delicious wouldn't sell!" said Borkus.
"Oyaji, the bits of food are falling out of the other side of your mouth," Gopher told him.
"We agree!" said Sam.
"I'm sure they will sell, Bocchan!" said Rita.
"I know you're not using miso or soy sauce so that they don't stand out, but I think there won't be a problem," said Vigaro. "There might be some who prefer it like this."
The reason he hadn't used things like miso, soy sauce and mayonnaise was because it would be problematic if the Church of Alda learned that these flavorings were being used.
It probably wouldn't become such a severe issue in the Orbaume Kingdom, but people with extreme opinions existed everywhere.
It would be problematic for Vandalieu to get involved with such people before he even entered society.
"S… weet…" Rapiéçage groaned.
"It's delicious. I'm sure everyone will buy them!"
Still, it was a relief that the food was quite popular, though.
"It is indeed delicious to the point of being emotionally moving," said Luciliano, who had experienced receiving special requests for him by name from multiple noblemen and wealthy merchants. However, he was wearing a difficult expression. "But there is a problem with selling it at stalls, Master," he said.
"Why?" Fester asked, before Vandalieu could even respond. "It's so delicious. I'd definitely buy it!"
"How much would you buy it for?" Luciliano asked in turn.
"How much, you say, that's -"
"Yes, the problem is the price," said Luciliano. "For example, this gyoza, these ingredients that are seasoned with these spices are expensive. The same goes for the steamed meat dumplings and the meat buns. The yakisoba is also full of luxurious ingredients, the kebabs and hot dogs… there is even butter in the Cuban sandwiches. Takoyaki uses a lot of oil, okonomiyaki requires fresh seafood, taiyaki needs jam and honey… There is an abundance of expensive flavors."
"No, it doesn't really matter if he sells it cheap, does it? Vandalieu's objective is to register at the Guild, not to make a profit," Kasim pointed out. "It's not like he's struggling to make a living."
It was true that Vandalieu wasn't trying to make a living out of his food stand's sales, nor did he actually need to make a profit. In fact, what he wanted was to be conducting a business, so he wouldn't care at all if he made a loss.
But Luciliano thought differently. "That is a naïve way of thinking," he said. "If one sold dishes like this at a price that is clearly below the market, at a price that the masses can afford… What would the owners of other stores think?"
"… No matter how I think about it, I get the feeling that it'll cause trouble," said Kasim.
"Exactly," said Luciliano.
"… Relationships with people are troublesome, aren't they? Then how about doing business in towns and villages that don't have any food stalls?" Vandalieu suggested.
"Master, I do not believe there would be a Commerce Guild in such places," said Luciliano.
"Umm, there isn't a need to be a big success, so can't you just make and sell the same thing as the other food stands?" Lina suggested.
"Hmm, but it will hurt my conscience to make bad food and take money for it," said Vandalieu.
Lina's suggestion was quite a safe option, but Vandalieu felt opposed to it. Lambda's stall food typically didn't taste very good. Of course, it was true that Vandalieu was picky with his food.
The amount and affordability normally took priority over the taste, and it was important to be able to make it quickly with a limited amount of working space, so it wasn't very delicious.
"Wouldn't it be better to set up a permanent store rather than a food stand?" Luciliano suggested. "The food that you make, Master, is all things that even members of royal and noble families would eat."
"… The image I had of royalty and nobles has crumbled again," said Vandalieu. He felt dizzy just imagining dressed up, wealthy men and women having a banquet, giving elegant laughs of "fufufu" and "ohoho" as they conversed over yakisoba and takoyaki.
"Once I decide on a place to set up business, I suppose I'll examine the prices of things being sold there before coming to a decision. Either way, I won't be able to do business until I get rid of some of the Pure-breed Vampires, so it will be some time in the future," said Vandalieu.
"By the way, Van, why is your physical body lying down and not moving?" asked Basdia, who had noticed that the physical Vandalieu was lying face-down in the corner of the room, completely still.
"… That is the one in charge of handling the depressing thoughts," replied the spirit-form Vandalieu.
Who's the one who called me 'Monstrosity?' If I find them, I'll stick my claws in their ears and make their teeth rattle*.
Name: Kasim
Race: Human
Age: 16 years old
Title: None
Job: Warrior
Level: 70
Job history: Apprentice Warrior
Passive skills:
Augmented Stamina: Level 2 (NEW!)
Augmented Vitality: Level 2 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Farming: Level 1
Club Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Shield Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Armor Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Name: Zeno
Race: Human
Age: 16 years old
Title: None
Job: Thief
Level: 67
Job history: Apprentice Thief
Passive skills:
Detect Presence: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Intuition: Level 1 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Short Sword Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Archery: Level 2
Trap: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Erase Presence: Level 2 (NEW!)
Dismantling: Level 1 (NEW!)
Unlocking: Level 1 (NEW!)
Name: Fester
Race: Human
Age: 16 years old
Title: None
Job: Warrior
Level: 72
Job history: Apprentice Warrior
Passive skills:
Enhanced Muscular Strength: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Active skills:
Fishing: Level 1
Swordsmanship: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Dismantling: Level 1
Armor Technique: Level 1 (NEW!)
Surpass Limits: Level 1 (NEW!)
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