Chapter 81 - 156-158

Chapter 156: The birth of the queen bee of purgatory, and the Six Horn Battle-Demons standing in the way

Several remarkable things happened in January as Cuoco Ragdew, a former nobleman of the Amid Empire who had fled to Talosheim, welcomed the new year.

The first thing that happened was Vandalieu, the emperor, had formally granted him the position of baron. Not just Cuoco, but all of the other noblemen who had fled to Talosheim as well, had been given the position of baron to begin with… though this hadn't been made official yet.

Apparently, in the worlds that Vandalieu had lived in during his previous life and the one before that, there were systems of government that Cuoco couldn't comprehend, where no nobles existed. With that being one reason, Vandalieu felt no need to use an aristocratic system in Talosheim, a nation that didn't use an aristocratic system to begin with, and until recently, there hadn't been anyone desiring court ranks.

That was apparently why he had postponed making a decision on whether or not to adopt an aristocratic system.

But it seemed that Chezare, who was effectively a prime minister, and Kurt, who was currently Cuoco's superior, had managed to convince him.

For noblemen, their court ranks were not simply things that represented honor, authority and wealth; they were important guarantees of the social positions and well-being of their descendants. Vandalieu had apparently been told that with these guarantees, the defected noblemen's loyalty would grow stronger, and this would be a good point for persuading nobles of other nations as well.

And Vandalieu had apparently nodded, saying, "Well, there were second-generation politicians and entire families serving as elite bureaucrats, so I suppose it's fine."

There had apparently been some voices of dissention at the fact that a part of the emperor's authority would be taken by a group of newcomers, but… they soon disappeared after being convinced that nothing would happen to the ruler of this nation just from court ranks being acknowledged. Cuoco agreed with this as well.

He was someone who had given up on his children inheriting his court rank to begin with, so court ranks had little value to him, however.

The thing that was even more remarkable than this was the cake.

"Your Majesty, I believe that a steady supply of cakes with that white, fluffy, cream-like substance is truly necessary for this nation. No, I am sure of it!" Cuoco insisted, having come to the Cemetery Bee nest that was filled with the buzzing of wings.

"Cuoco, did you come all the way here just to tell me this?" Vandalieu asked.

"So, you like cake, Cuoco-kun," Pauvina said in a serious tone.

She was likely remembering the deeply-moved reactions of Cuoco's entire family as they ate the slices of cake at the party of her recently-celebrated sixth birthday.

"Yes, though that is not all. I have had an interest in this place since a long time ago," Cuoco said.

He seemed to take no notice of the fact that he was being called with the 'kun' honorific by a girl who was about nine years old if her age was converted to human years; his eyes were shining as he looked at the Cemetery Bees moving about busily and the breeding farm that had been built into the nest.

"In ordinary cities, this is very difficult to obtain. Even if one does obtain it, it is often already in the form of salted fish or candied chestnuts. If one wants to obtain it in a fresh state, they would need to make a contract with a specialized merchant or personally travel to the countryside. That is how high-quality this product is. But in Talosheim, it is sold as candied chestnuts, skewered meat and deep-fried food at carts for the commoners to enjoy at the price of a single Luna. The secret lies here!" Cuoco shouted.

"You're too loud! You're scaring the insects, be quiet!" said the 'Insect Swarm' Bebeckett… or rather, the Patchwork Zombie with Bebeckett's soul inside, scolding Cuoco.

Her own corpse's head had been crushed by Ervine, and her muscles and organs were lacking because of the insects infesting her body before that, so it hadn't been of any use even as a Zombie.

Thus, Vandalieu and Luciliano had carefully selected materials to create a new body for her.

Incidentally, Rickert and Ervine's souls had been eaten by Vandalieu and extinguished after he made them spit out the information they had. Although they were plenty capable enough to be useful as Undead, there were problems with their personalities. Ervine in particular was likely to do things involving sacrificing his own allies like he had done while alive.

Even after dying and being charmed by Vandalieu, his personality wouldn't undergo large changes right away.

Of course, Vandalieu could have corrected their personalities over a long period of time or used the Mental Encroachment Skill to brainwash them, but… at the end of the day, Vandalieu had decided that they weren't valuable enough to be worth the effort to do that.

Incidentally, Vandalieu hadn't gained any Skills or anything by eating their souls. The same had been true when he ate familiar spirits, so it seemed likely that he wouldn't gain anything from eating people's souls no matter how strong they were.

Unlike those two, Vandalieu had seen value in Bebeckett. As for what she was doing here, she was beekeeping and raising insects.

For a long time, the Cemetery Bees had been hunting hornworms and bees that were either not monsters or monsters of low Rank, providing Talosheim's food stores with their meat.

Bebeckett, who had once been a beekeeper while she was alive, had started raising insects to supplement the Cemetery Bees' hunting and gathering.

With this, there was a steady supply of fresh insects, and the high-quality bees had become even more available for the commoners in the city.

"Kukikuki, I'm raising nice, plump hornworms and bee larvae for His Majesty, bububuh… so don't interfere," said Bebeckett, making clicking and buzzing noises with the Demon King's jointed legs that had been transplanted into her sides and monster wings that had been transplanted onto her back.

Cuoco quickly apologized, not intending to anger her.

"Is it really that much of a high-class product?" Vandalieu asked once Cuoco had calmed down.

Bees had been considered a high-class product in Japan, but at least in terms of image, Vandalieu had thought of it as being below things like A5-rank Matsusaka beef, Kobe beef, caviar and truffle.

But Cuoco nodded, as did Luciliano, who had been silently writing notes while observing Bebeckett.

"Of course," Cuoco said. "It is difficult to find living specimens in city areas, and the capture of even ordinary bees that are not monsters comes with a risk."

"There are always a few adventurers that are D-class and below that end up dead every year because they underestimate hornets. They think that it's easy for them to collect the nests of bees that are not even monsters to collect rewards greater than those for hunting Orcs and Huge Boars," said Luciliano.

It seemed that even in the world of Lambda, there were dangerous hornets. And in some cases, adventurers apparently lost their lives to them.

"As for adventurers that are Class and above, they don't even consider it because hunting monsters is easier and more efficient. Capturing bees alive takes time, you see. And although hornets are dangerous, they don't attack humans indiscriminately like monsters do, so finding them is troublesome. And on top of that, unlike monsters that can be hunted in Devil's Nests all year round, bees have seasons," Cuoco explained. "Though there are apparently E-class adventurers called hornet hunters that are well-versed in capturing hornets."

"Wealthy individuals such as nobles tend to not eat insects, so even if it is a high-class product, there is no guarantee that it can be sold at a high price," Luciliano added. "That is why raising bees on a large-scale is usually not profitable. The only one who is capable of doing something like this is you, Master."

"… The two of you seem to get along," Vandalieu remarked.

"They're perfectly in-sync," said Pauvina.

The two of them took no notice of these comments. It seemed that they didn't actually have any interest in each other.

"So, have you come to see the insect breeding farm, Cuoco?" Vandalieu asked.

"Yes, that is my main objective. I had an idea for a new dish that uses bee larvae. I was thinking of making that my side business," Cuoco said.

Perhaps because his family had once been on the verge of financial collapse, it seemed that he intended to earn his keep properly this time.

"But everyone also asked me to come and ask when they will receive their court ranks," he added.

The 'everyone' that Cuoco mentioned were the noblemen from the occupying army in the Sauron region who had defected to Talosheim when Vandalieu abducted Duke Marme.

��They asked you? They could have come and asked Master themselves," said Luciliano.

"They still seem to be hesitant to do that," said Cuoco. "Considering what you did to Duke Marme and the others…"

Pauvina blinked curiously. "Van, did you do something?" she asked, her curiosity piqued by Cuoco's suggestive tone. "Other than the human experiments," she added.

"I haven't done anything other than the human experiments," said Vandalieu.

"Right? That's normal, so I don't know why they won't come and talk to you. How strange," said Pauvina.

"I agree," said Vandalieu.

Both of them seem perplexed. Cuoco's face twitched as he watched them. He looked at Luciliano, using his eyes to silently ask him, "Are they serious?" But Luciliano responded with a look that said, "Pauvina is serious." Cuoco fearfully looked up at the three-meter-tall girl.

The skin of Duke Marme's head from the neck up had been removed by Isla. Although his vassals had done horrible, oppressive things to Vida's races and the people, they hadn't been killed on the spot; they had been taken to the workshop beneath the royal castle and used as subjects for human experiments.

The theme of these experiments was, "What happens if raw fragments of the Demon King produced by Vandalieu are transplanted into living humans?"

Hair transplant with the Demon King's fur, breast enlargement with the Demon King's blubber and direct blood transfusions with pure Demon King blood would be convenient if they were possible, so Vandalieu and Luciliano had thought to experiment with them.

The result was that the experiments succeeded in torturing the subjects and causing them to suffer.

Duke Marme and the other subjects had displayed intense rejection responses to having fragments of the Demon King transplanted into them while they were still alive.

But they had been unable to die; they acquired the Demon King Encroachment Degree Skill and the Level of the Skill increased in the blink of an eye. Their personalities and bodies had been taken over by the Demon King fragments.

Fortunately, even though the subjects had shown no signs of being under the influence of Guidance: Dark Demon Path, they began calling Vandalieu the 'main body' and were obedient to him once they had been taken over.

Vandalieu named the people taken over by the fragments this way 'monster-people' for convenience, but they were vastly weaker than the subjects had been before they had been absorbed by the fragments. If Vandalieu wanted to create fighting forces, it would be far more effective to mass-produce Living Armors.

And the fragments tried to reunite with Vandalieu at every opportunity, so he'd had no choice but to return the fragments to his own body. When he did so, the subjects had died rather than regaining their sanity.

"I would think that seeing people they knew meet such grotesque fates would be enough reason for them to feel fear, even if they didn't know those people well…" Cuoco muttered.

"I didn't intend to make you tremble in fear as well, Cuoco… even the empire has done things like torturing prisoners and executing criminals in cruel ways," said Vandalieu.

In Talosheim, experiments had been conducted in place of these, yielding the precious information that transplanting raw, unprocessed fragments of the Demon King into humans that were not under Vandalieu's guidance was dangerous.

"And as for grotesque fates, it's not as bad as the former and current Bebeckett is it?"

"Th-that's true!" said Cuoco with a startled nod, having once seen what Bebeckett had looked like when her body was infested by insects.

The truth was that the monster-people that Duke Marme and the other subjects had transformed into were not that grotesque. Those accustomed to seeing Vandalieu and Legion would simply think that they had a few strange parts.

"I personally don't think that this view is ordinary, however," said Luciliano. "By the way, Master, why don't you answer the question?"

"Ah, the matter of court ranks. At this point, I'm going to go around the nations within the Boundary Mountain Range, and then I'll be giving a formal greeting at Vida's resting place as I formally become the emperor. I'm planning to sort out the court ranks after that," said Vandalieu.

"I see… You are surprisingly thorough about going through the formalities," said Cuoco.

It seemed that after seeing Vandalieu appear in cities to interact with the citizens on his own without any guards, personally appear in schools to teach them and mingle with the children to accept lessons with them, Cuoco and Luciliano had thought that Vandalieu wouldn't be so concerned about being formal.

In fact, there had been many first rulers in Lambda's history who had brought prosperity to their nations but disliked formalities and ceremonies, so they had likely assumed that Vandalieu would be the same.

"Well, that's because I intend to live a long life," said Vandalieu. "I'll be thorough if I have the time for it."

As a Dhampir born to a Dark Elf, he had a long lifespan, so he could remain an emperor for millennia, never mind centuries.

When that time came, he would feel awkward if his strange behaviors were to become ceremonies and traditions. If their origins were questioned in the future, he wanted to avoid having to always answer, "Those were my youthful indiscretions…"

"So, please tell everyone to wait a little longer," said Vandalieu.

"No, no, it's helpful that you are thorough about these things. I'm sure everyone will feel relieved, too."

The fact that Vandalieu was fussing over formalities meant that it was unlikely that he would take away court ranks on a whim. Cuoco knew that the nobles who had defected to Talosheim would likely be thinking this.

"I will warn you, I think that Master intends to conduct punishment as usual for any noblemen that he thinks have done a 'certain amount' of bad deeds, so I don't think it is a good idea to feel too at ease," said Luciliano.

"That is clear from seeing the fate of Duke Marme and his vassals," said Cuoco. "And I did not recommend any fellows that thought of themselves as having 'high-class' blood."

Having acquired the status of baron through the achievements of his grandfather who had been an adventurer, he was naturally a newcomer to the world of the empire's noblemen. And because his family had always been on the verge of collapse due to financial problems, he had never thought of himself to have 'high-class' blood. Of course, the same went for his wife and daughter.

The noblemen who had come to Talosheim were the ones among those serving the empire's occupying army that he had recommended as 'having promise.' They were all insignificant, poor noblemen whose families had been at risk like his, so they all understood the commoner way of thinking.

Of course, even Cuoco couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't become impudent and arrogant in the future.

But they were unlikely to do so if they were reminded of the fates of Duke Marme and his vassals.

"… Other than the removal of the skin of Duke Marme's head, I didn't intend to make an example of them," said Vandalieu.

"Indeed," Luciliano agreed. "It was a meaningful medical experiment, not meaningless torture."

Cuoco averted his gaze from the apprentice and his master.

And his gaze landed on the enormous girl.

"It's normal for someone to get angry at you if you do something bad, right?" Pauvina said curiously.

But no matter how Cuoco thought about it, such poor treatment didn't fall into the category of 'someone getting angry at you.'

Perhaps because it had become a little quieter now that Cuoco had fallen into silence, Vandalieu and the others noticed a wet popping sound among the noises made by the Cemetery Bees.

"This sound - it seems that the hatching is starting," said Vandalieu.

Vandalieu had put Quinn, the queen of the Cemetery Bees, through a pseudo-reincarnation. The lid of the chamber containing her was moving, being pushed from within.

She was trying to leave the chamber, having completed her transformation.

"This is most interesting! I must record what kind of form she has evolved into!" Luciliano exclaimed.

"The birth of a being that will be important to my family's insect cooking business," said Cuoco. "I must witness this!"

"But us men should leave," said Vandalieu.

"Why?!" Luciliano and Cuoco shouted.

"Shut up and come heeere!" said Bebeckett, grabbing Luciliano and Cuoco with her enormous insectoid front legs and forcibly removing them from the nest.

Vandalieu went to follow them outside, but Pauvina grabbed him by the back of the neck and held him like a kitten.

"You have to stay here, Van!" she said. "I heard from Borkus and Vigaro that if you're not there at times like this, you'll be resented for years."

"Weren't they saying that in regard to their wives' childbirth?" said Vandalieu.

But now that he thought about it, he realized that it might be best for him to stay.

Growing wings and molting were necessary growth processes for insects, but at the same time, they were life-endangering tasks. It was possible for their bodies to change shapes as they molted, and it was possible for them to die when the processes failed, though this was rare in insectoid monsters.

Because Quinn was a Cemetery Bee queen being reborn as another queen, the worker bees would assist with her emergence.

But as she had undergone a pseudo-reincarnation while immersed in death-attribute Mana, it was difficult to imagine that she would be reborn as an ordinary queen bee. In fact, she had already been abnormal as a larva. Thus, it was possible that there would be complications that the worker bees couldn't handle.

Thus, it wasn't an incorrect decision for Vandalieu to be present just in case something happened.

Several seconds after Vandalieu convinced himself of this, the chamber's lid was broken, and a hand appeared from within.

It had the shape of a human's hand, but it was covered in an exoskeleton that made it look as if it were wearing a gauntlet, and there was soft-looking fur growing on the wrist.

Three more such hands emerged, breaking the lid more and making the hole in it larger.

"Ooh, pretty…" said Pauvina as she watched on.

There was what appeared from afar to be a woman wearing armor with bee motifs on it.

Her overall body structure was similar to a human woman. But she had four arms, and although she had two legs, they were the legs of bees from the knees down. Her limbs were covered by an exoskeleton, with soft, cotton-candy-like fur covering the joints.

Her head was similar to a person's as well. She had hair, what seemed to be two eyes at a glance and her nose and mouth were shaped like those of a person's. But there were two antennae growing from her forehead, and her eye sockets contained not eyeballs, but a countless number of compound eyes. Since they were all gathered together, she simply appeared to have large eyes, however.

And her wet bee wings became straighter as they dried. Below those, where a human's tailbone would be, there was a bee's abdomen protruding like a tail.

But unlike those parts, the front of her body was no different from that of a human woman. Even her face was like that of a woman in her mid-twenties, excluding her antennae and compound eyes.

Though this was only true if one disregarded that she was slightly taller than Pauvina.

"She's so big!" Pauvina exclaimed happily.

"Well, she was enormous even as a larva," said Vandalieu, having known that there was no way that she would have become smaller as an adult.

The worker bees swarmed around Quinn and began performing care on her body.

"… Ah…"

Quinn opened her mouth and took repeated, large breaths, leaving her body to the worker bees. It seemed that she wanted to say something, but because she wasn't accustomed to her body that had undergone large changes to its structure and functions, she couldn't.

But Vandalieu and Pauvina could imagine what Quinn wanted to say. After all, in a way, both of them were like childhood friends who had been with her since before her pseudo-reincarnation.

"I do feel a little hesitant," said Vandalieu.

"Van, don't be shy," said Pauvina.

"Yes, yes."

Vandalieu extended his tongue and began licking Quinn's exoskeleton and back along with the worker bees. Just as he had done while she was a larva to ensure that mold didn't grow on her body.

"Is your current form the one that you wanted?" Vandalieu asked the happy-looking Quinn.

She nodded. It seemed that Vandalieu had managed to guide her successfully.

A few days after Quinn emerged as a new race of monster called the Gehenna Queen Bee, Vandalieu left Talosheim to visit the nations within the Boundary Mountain Range with a delegation.

During those few days before he left, he used the Labyrinth Construction Skill to try and create an A-class Dungeon.

He hadn't created Dungeons that were B-class and above up until now because there were the training grounds with the Undead dummies, so he hadn't felt the need to create more Dungeons. However, the more important reason was the fact that Dungeons were dangerous.

If Dungeon difficulty increased to B-class and above, there would be less people in Talosheim capable of clearing them. With that being the case, it would be uncertain as to whether the monster numbers within the Dungeon could be kept stable and low enough so that monster rampages didn't occur.

Vandalieu's close friends would be able to clear a B-class Dungeon's Rank 7+ monsters in a stable manner. But there was no guarantee that Vandalieu and his companions would always be in Talosheim. If the monsters grew in number while they were away, a monster rampage could happen, causing great damage to the city.

That was what Vandalieu had been wary of.

The monsters in the Dungeons created by Labyrinth Construction had no souls; they did roughly obey the commands of Vandalieu, their creator. However, making them obey the command of "Don't multiply anymore" would be impossible.

Of course, even if soulless monsters increased in number, it wasn't clear as to whether a monster rampage like those of ordinary Dungeons would occur. But this couldn't be tested.

A-class Dungeons were even higher in difficulty than B-class Dungeons, and there were only a handful of them on the Bahn Gaia continent. As for why Vandalieu was trying to create one now, it was because the explorers of Talosheim had become more capable overall, and because an A-class Dungeon was necessary to test everyone's current abilities before facing the Trial of Zakkart.

However, even after spending a considerable amount of time and Mana, he could only manage to create a B-class Dungeon.

"Hmm, I wonder why that is? I even pictured a Dungeon with mostly insectoid monsters so that it would be more compatible for us," said Vandalieu after having spent all of his time until right before his departure on this Dungeon creation attempt.

"I don't have a sense of what it's like to create a Dungeon, but… Maybe you didn't spend enough time?" said Privel, who was among the people who had come to see him off.

But Vandalieu had the feeling that it wasn't because he hadn't spent enough time on it. "Even if I spent more time and Mana on it, I don't think there would be any change," he said. "It's just like the way it's impossible to pour water into a vase that's already full to the brim."

"Then it is possible that your Skill's Level is not sufficient," said Gizania.

Vandalieu considered that this could be the case.

Vandalieu's Labyrinth Creation Skill was Level 7. Compared to his other Skills, one could consider it a considerably high Level.

But B-class Dungeons were ordinarily considered to be quite high-difficulty Dungeons. Considering that, it was possible that Vandalieu couldn't create an A-class Dungeon with his current Skill Level, no matter how hard he tried.

"This is a bit of a silly result, but there is apparently an A-class Dungeon in the Majin nation, so I suppose we'll test ourselves there," he said.

"I am sure you will be able to create an A-class Dungeon soon enough… though it would be problematic if you were to create Dungeons in large numbers in order to practice for that," said Myuze.

"I know that. I won't make Dungeons that we can't manage," said Vandalieu.

The lower-class a Dungeon was and the lower the Ranks of its monsters were, the faster the monsters spawned. Thus, Vandalieu couldn't simply create Dungeons for practice.

"If I recall, you created very small Dungeons in the Hartner region and Sauron region, didn't you, Vandalieu-sama?" said Tarea. "Aren't those…?"

"Tarea, even if I create really small Dungeons, only a few Rank 1 monsters would come outside at most, so nothing will happen," Vandalieu assured her.

In fact, those Dungeons were being used by the local inhabitants who had discovered them as places where they could regularly hunt Horn Rabbits, so the monsters almost never overflowed outside.

"Your Majesty, it is time."

"You're right. Well then, everyone, I'll be off for a while."

"See you later! We'll be clearing the Dungeon for training while you're gone, so do your best!"

"Even if the Trial of Zakkart appears while you are away, I hope that you will return before you enter."

"Please leave the city to us while you are away."

And so, Vandalieu put Talosheim behind him.

But unlike the delegations of ordinary nations, he would not have large numbers of carriages traveling around with him.

The only carriage was the Nightmare Carriage, Sam. The guard outside was Knochen.

"Now then, let us go!" said Sam.

Due to the effect of the Space Expansion Skill, the inside of Sam's carriage was sixteen times larger in volume than it appeared. Vandalieu, who could equip Undead, insects and plants, would be riding in that. It was more of a small army than a delegation.

"Ooooohn!"

Behind the carriage was Knochen, a flying mass of nearly a hundred million bones.

Even Hurricane Dragons, considered to be a superior type of Dragon, would hesitate to come near.

The first place that Vandalieu and his party were headed to was not Zanalpadna, the nation that was closest, but the Kijin nation.

For some reason, contact had come from Zanalpadna, the Noble Orc kingdom and the Majin nation, telling Vandalieu that they'd had plenty and that they would be waiting for him at Vida's resting place. The same went for the Ghoul, High Goblin and High Kobold nations.

Though Vandalieu was confused as to what they meant by 'plenty,' he went straight to the Kijin nation, which was on the west side of the mountain range from Talosheim.

Vandalieu got out of the carriage outside the castle built into the cliff face and the walls protecting the city from land monsters.

"Excuse me," he said, politely calling out to the guard. "My name is Vandalieu, the king of Talosheim, the one who has promised to visit your nation. I have come to greet the nation as I assume the position of emperor. Please allow me inside."

"Your manners get full marks, Vandalieu," said Darcia, praising the king who was her son for personally stepping forward and naming his business.

"Your Majesty! You aren't supposed to say that yourself!" Princess Levia said hastily. "Darcia-sama, please stop him!"

"Princess Levia, our lord is always like this, so I believe that he will always be like this in the future as well," said Bone Man.

"If you don't make him behave as he should from the beginning, it's hard to have him behave properly all of a sudden," said Kimberley.

Bone Man and Kimberley already seemed to be content with just watching from afar, not intending to butt in.

The Kijin gate guard… the enormous man with brown skin and a large, muscular body that wasn't at all inferior to Vigaro's, was standing in a daunting pose, seemingly unperturbed by this disturbance.

"I know. We could see you approaching from the skies from quite a distance away," he said in a deep voice that sounded like boulders being rubbed against each other.

"Kuooohn," Knochen groaned.

As the gate guard said, the fortress-sized Knochen following behind Vandalieu's carriage had been visible from the Kijin nation, which was on the side of the mountain range.

"Then please hurry and -" Vandalieu began.

"But first, I shall have to test your strength!" said the gate guard… or rather, the man that Vandalieu had thought was the gate guard.

With a burning desire for battle in his eyes, the Kijin raised his weapon, a metal club as long as the height of his entire body.

"I am the 'Great Metal Club' Gidoumaru, the Second Horn of the Kijin nation's prided Six Horn Battle-Demons!" he declared, his voice forceful enough to make a child cry. "If you wish to meet the king of my nation, you must first defeat me! But even if you defeat me and enter the gate, you will find your path blocked by the other four members of the Six Horn Battle-Demons, who possess even greater strength than I! Unless you defeat them and the defeat Oniwaka-sama, our leader and general, you will never meet our king!"

It seemed that he was a high-ranking member of the Kijin nation, not a gate guard.

Vandalieu pondered Gidoumaru's words for a moment, then asked a question. "Umm, why?"

There were all kinds of meanings to his question of 'why,' but Gidoumaru's answer was brief.

"This is the custom, so please oblige," he said.

"Very well. Let's fight," said Vandalieu.

"Thank you for your understanding."

Both of them bowed, then prepared to fight.

Darcia and Princess Levia watched on, dumbfounded at this unexpected development, including Vandalieu's quick agreement to fight.

"I wonder if it can't be helped because it's a custom?" said Darcia.

"Perhaps he is a national figure?" said Princess Levia.

"By the way, that person is the Second Horn, isn't he? What about the First? Do you know who he is, Nee-san?" Rita asked.

"Rita, if I'm not mistaken, one of the people from the Kijin nation that Vandalieu met in the Noble Orc kingdom said that he was one of the Six Horn Battle-Demons," said Saria.

"Vigaro and Gorba fought the Ghoul king in the Ghoul nation, too. I suppose that's just how it is," said Borkus. "Go get him, kid!"

And so began the battle for visiting the Kijin nation.

『The level of the Labyrinth Construction Skill has increased!』

Name: Quinn

Rank: 9

Race: Gehenna Queen Bee

Level: 0

Passive skills:

Status Effect Resistance: Level 5

Rapid Regeneration: Level 1

Egg Spawn: Level 10

Endless Sexual Stamina: Level 3

Mana Enlargement: Level 5

Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 5

Deadly Poison Secretion: Stinger: Level 1

Enhanced Physical Ability: Exoskeleton: Level 1

Strengthened Attribute Values: Under Servitude: Level 1

Active skills:

Mana Control: Level 1

Space-Attribute Magic: Level 1

Bee Swarm Coordination: level 10

Bee Swarm Commanding: Level 10

Unique skills:

High-speed Bee Swarm Development

Zanalpadna's Divine Protection (NEW!)

Quinn is a queen specimen of Gehenna Bee, a new race of monster that was born from receiving Vandalieu's guidance and undergoing a pseudo-reincarnation at his hands.

Her Rank as an adult is 9, and she is instinctively able to cast beginner-level space-attribute magic. But as she is a queen bee, her body itself is not that strong. Her Vitality, Mana and Intelligence are appropriate for her Rank, but she has almost no combat capabilities.

Her characteristic qualities are displayed in her ability to command her worker bees and other subordinates.

With her Egg Spawn Skill, she is able to lay up to ten Gehenna Bee eggs in a single day, and she possesses the Bee Swarm Coordination and Bee Swarm Commanding Skills which have greater effects than the ordinary Coordination and Commanding Skills in exchange for only working on bees.

Bee Swarm Coordination displays its effects when bees conduct their usual roles, so its effects are seen even if… or rather, only when, Quinn is doing nothing.

In addition, with the Unique Skill called High-Speed Bee Swarm Development Skill, she is able to expend a large amount of Mana to make the eggs and larvae she lays develop into adults within seconds. But this Skill is to be used in emergency situations; she cannot make habitual, frequent use of it.

She has received the divine protection of Zanalpadna, the evil god of carapaces and compound eyes, so she has the potential to grow even more.

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Chapter 157: The Kijin nation and a kindred-spirit

The battles against the Six Horn Battle-Demons, including Kidoumaru, were fierce. They proved that the Kijin race's image in human societies as 'an inferior race of Majin with even their brains filled with muscle, incompetent in the use of magic' was wrong.

The Second Horn Kidoumaru had been exactly as human society imagined Kijin, wielding the large metal club that was likely the source of his Title of 'Great Metal Club,' and wearing clothes made of fur. But he was an exceptional user of Club Technique; he had not merely been boasting of his strength.

The Third Horn was in stark contrast to Kidoumaru; he was a stout, plump, black-skinned Kijin wearing a loincloth, the 'Thousand Hands' Gasuke. He was an exceptional user of Unarmed Fighting Technique, his skill focused on the use of palm strikes and tackles.

The Fourth Horn was a thin, blue-skinned Kijin woman known as the 'Starlight' Shagara, a fearsome Kunoichi that used Light-Attribute Magic to conceal herself as she attacked.

The Fifth Horn was the 'Fool Commander' Zanjou, a famous commander who commanded five trained Ogres that he had tamed, manipulating them like his own limbs. And the Sixth Horn, Dowan 'the Undefeated,' was a fearsome shield-bearer, fully clad in a warrior's armor.

"Even if I cannot defeat you, I shall at least land one strike!"

A spirited halberd swing closed in on Vandalieu. But he slashed at the halberd's wielder with his tongue!

"GUBUH?!"

Upon being struck by the tongue, the halberd's wielder lost his balance and fell onto the ground, and the halberd never reached Vandalieu.

"I-impossible… to think that you would really attack with your tongue…"

The halberd's wielder was greatly surprised and shocked, but he seemed to have received little real damage. He tried to get up right away, but he was astonished to find that his body wouldn't move as he wanted it to.

"That's probably because my tongue's paralyzing venom has taken effect, or because your head got shaken up. You should be able to stand again in a little while, Oniwaka-san," Vandalieu said to Oniwaka, who was the leader of the Six Horn Battle-Demons and first child of Tenma, the current king of the Kijin nation.

The Kijin who had come to watch the battles began murmuring among themselves.

"So, Oniwaka-sama is too young after all…"

"But on his own? Well, yes, the child fought five of the Six Horn Battle-demons on his own and shows no sign of fatigue; how terrifying."

"Yes, to think that he would challenge the Six Horn Battle-Demons in a marathon match… I am amazed."

"That's enough!" said King Tenma, his voice echoing across the plaza in front of the place where the matches were being held. "Vandalieu-dono is the victor of these battles! Here, us Kijin acknowledge Vandalieu-dono as the emperor, as the champion chosen through the trial! That is fine with everyone, is it not?!"

The consecutive battles that had begun with Kidoumaru had been a trial to acknowledge Vandalieu as the emperor.

The Kijin gathered here shouted in agreement and cheered. Meanwhile, Sam and the others breathed sighs of relief.

"I am glad that Bocchan was able to win without killing anyone," said Sam.

"It is a relief that he did it not just without killing anyone, but also without causing anyone any injury," said Saria.

"A fight to the death and a sparring match are difficult in different ways, after all," said Rita.

What they had been worried about was not the possibility of Vandalieu being killed or injured at the hands of the Kijin. They had been worried that he might kill or injure the Kijin, and they had also been worried about the possibility that he would make some kind of mistake and lose.

The five members of the Six Horn Battle-Demons were indeed strong, but they had only displayed abilities that were a little inferior to those of the 'Light-speed Sword' Rickert.

Thus, even if it turned into a fight to the death… if it were a fight to the death, Vandalieu would certainly be victorious.

"Van-sama wouldn't lose a fight to the death, but he might have lost any other kind of battle," said Tarea.

"Yes, I thought it might have been fine since it's not a board game, but I did worry a little," said Darcia, who had been made visible through the Visualization spell.

"Danna-sama does not have a high rate of victory in matches in which there is no risk of death, such as board games and gambling," said Bellmond.

Vandalieu's strength was a little specialized in battles to the death. This was shown by his recently-invented Death Cannon and Flame Prison Death.

But this was a 'custom,' a crude trial. Thus, the Six Horn Battle-Demons had been filled with fighting intent, but they hadn't possessed the intent to kill Vandalieu.

They hadn't explained this, but there was a tacit understanding that things would not escalate beyond a test of Vandalieu's strength during the battles.

Their equipment was Obsidian, but genuine. They had fought seriously. But they couldn't use martial skills. They could use magic, but spells that would cause large damage to structures were forbidden. They wouldn't attack the opponent on the ground, and if it seemed that the opponent would not be able to stand up, that would be the end of the match.

Oniwaka and the five members of the Six Horn Battle-Demons had always faced challengers in these matches with this tacit understanding.

Vandalieu had followed this tacit agreement without any large doubts. No, it seemed that he had imposed even stricter rules on himself.

Martial skills were a given, but he had fought without using any spells other than Danger Sense: Death, Flight and Out-of-body Experience, and without using any of the Demon King fragments.

"… Why didn't you use your spells or the fragments of the Demon King?" the defeated Oniwaka asked, still lying on the ground. "I heard that you can use them in the same way that you extend your tongue."

"Because I thought it would be better not to use them," Vandalieu replied. "The city would be damaged if I made a mistake; I'm not good at holding back when using my spells."

Vandalieu's Mana was vast. Thus, a direct hit even from a Mana Bullet made with what he considered 'just a little bit' of Mana would turn the average monster into lumps of meat.

There was no need to even consider what would happen if he used Dead Spirit Magic with Princess Levia and the other Ghosts.

There was the option of creating poison and illnesses, but Vandalieu had had the feeling that this wouldn't be suitable for a trial. Of course, there were also races like Ghouls within the Boundary Mountain Range that possessed the ability to produce venom from birth, so he had used his Skill to do the same.

"As for the fragments, everyone was using genuine weapons but they were made of Obsidian. I decided to match those weapons," said Vandalieu.

Even if he had held back while using the Demon King's fragments, an equal exchange of blows would be impossible without equipment of at least Mythril or Adamantite quality.

Vandalieu would likely not have been able to use the fragments in the city even if the Six Horn Battle-Demons and Oniwaka had been equipped with more powerful equipment than Obsidian. Magic Items made of Mythril contained more powerful Mana than poorly-cast offensive spells, and Adamantite swords could cut through boulders like tofu.

That was why Vandalieu had matched their equipment.

One might think it impressive that he still won the battles after matching them so much, but he had defeated Kidoumaru and the others by using Out-of-body Experience to create spirit clones, the Materialization Skill to create physical clones and then coordinated them in battle to win.

Thus, he had turned what was supposed to have been one-on-one battles into many-on-one, with only the battle against the Ogre Tamer, the 'Fool Commander' Zanjou, being many-on-many.

No matter how exceptional Kidoumaru and the others were as warriors, there were limits to their stamina. On the other hand, there was no limit to Vandalieu's clones.

Battles were indeed decided by numbers.

"Also, it's beneficial for me to gain experience in fighting against a variety of opponents. I have gained valuable experience thanks to you. Let me give you a hand," said Vandalieu, extending a hand to Oniwaka.

But Oniwaka simply glared at the hand with a frustrated look, then looked away without taking it.

"Oniwaka-sama, I did tell you. He is not an opponent that you can defeat," said Gankaku, the First Horn of the Six Horn Battle-Demons, who had been dispatched as the Kijin nation's representative in the battle against Bugitas's army. He helped Oniwaka onto his feet. "Sorry about that," he said with a small bow of his head to Vandalieu, who was still holding his hand out. "You have shown your strength to Tenma-sama and everyone else here, but my words are not enough to convince Oniwaka-sama. And when Oniwaka-sama tells me that I have not seen your strength with my own eyes, I have nothing to say."

"… What do you mean?" Vandalieu asked, restoring his posture as if nothing had happened.

But it was not Gankaku, but King Tenma who answered. "It is customary in this land for the nations' kings to be chosen by gods, but the gods look at things more deeply than we do. Therefore, there are often times when the gods make decisions that go beyond our understanding. Thus, there is a rule that one who is discontent with the one who is to become king may challenge him, just once. This whole business came about because Oniwaka insisted that this rule should be applied to the emperor."

Gankaku hadn't stood in Vandalieu's way apparently because he didn't have any feelings of discontent… or rather, because he had clearly known that he would be defeated.

No, it was possible that the other members of the Six Horn Battle-Demons didn't really feel any considerable amount of discontent towards Vandalieu becoming emperor.

"Muh, I apologize. What Gankaku said was so difficult to believe that… no, I thought that perhaps only a tenth of it could be true," said Kidoumaru as he scratched his head, having become able to move because he was the first to have been defeated.

"Nobody would blame you," muttered Princess Levia and the others as they nodded.

Meanwhile, King Tenma apologized. "Leaving aside Gankaku's tales, I intended to acknowledge you if Budarion and even Godwin-dono acknowledged you, but… my child has acted insolently. Please think of it as a youthful indiscretion and forgive these actions," he said.

It seemed that Godwin was popular among the people of the Kijin nation, even more so than Budarion.

But Oniwaka was still not satisfied. "Chichi-ue! I cannot acknowledge someone like this taking the seat of emperor!" he shouted, his discontent expressed clearly on his well-featured face as he stood with Gankaku's support.

His face was red to begin with as he was a red Kijin, but it had become even redder.

"Oniwaka! What are you saying after having been defeated in the challenge! What is it that you refuse to acknowledge?!" King Tenma shouted angrily at his child, his fangs bared.

Vandalieu flinched and instinctively took a defensive stance in response to King Tenma's enraged shouting.

But Oniwaka gave an immediate reply. "I cannot acknowledge someone with no muscles such as this one as emperor!" he declared, glaring straight back at Tenma as he pointed a finger at Vandalieu.

Vandalieu silently collapsed onto the ground.

"Tch! You have always thought of nothing but that! Muscle this, muscle that, only ever being attached to Gankaku and Kidoumaru instead of me!" shouted King Tenma, who had a well-trained but thin and lean body.

"I have always loved Godwin-dono's muscles!"

"Hmm, Godwin-dono I can understand!"

As the parent and child shouted at each other, Darcia and the others were hastily waking Vandalieu up.

"Oniwaka-san, please don't mention that anymore! It's the one thing that Vandalieu is concerned about the most!" Darcia pleaded.

"Oh, Bocchan has collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, and now he is squirming at Darcia-sama's words," Sam remarked.

"Father, he is just spasming!" said Rita.

"Kid, don't feel so down. It'd be unnatural if you were all brawny at your age," said Borkus.

"That is right, my lord. Bones are the essential parts of people," said Bone Man.

"Kuooohn," Knochen groaned in agreement.

"I'm kinda sorry about Tenma-sama and Oniwaka-sama," said Kidoumaru.

"Oniwaka-sama has always looked up to macho people," said another Kijin. "That is the reason Oniwaka-sama participated in this trial despite being so young…"

Even as everyone tried to comfort Vandalieu, the argument between parent and child continued.

"This is not even an era in which things can be resolved through muscle alone! Powers that are possessed by none other, such as the ability to use magic and strange abilities and freely wield the fragments of the Demon King, are necessary!" shouted King Tenma. "In fact, our nation was so preoccupied during the previous battle that we could only send out Gankaku on his own!"

The Kijin nation was built into a cliff face on the west side of the Boundary Mountain Range. From ages past, its duty had been to hold believers of Alda back if they were to cross the mountain range, as well as to defend the other nations from the monsters of the five B-class Dungeons in its surroundings and the Devil's Skies above.

Thus, the Kijin of the Kijin nation valued fighting and strength. That was their natural disposition, and they also had the influence of their guardian deity Garess, the god of warriors. They had prided themselves in their fulfillment of their task using their strength.

To begin with, the Kijin were a race of warriors with exceptional physical strength. There were some with magic-related qualities, but they were few in number overall.

Thus, in the Kijin nation, individuals were initially trained as warriors, then the ones with the qualities for using magic were selected and trained as mages as well. That was the policy that had been in place.

And then the recent battle had occurred. In order to suppress the tenacious Kijin nation, Ravovifard, the evil god of release, had released the instincts to fight, kill and feed in the monsters living in the surrounding Dungeons, forcibly causing a monster rampage… from all of the Dungeons at the same time.

The Kijin nation was constantly well-armed enough to deal with monsters overflowing from up to three of the Dungeons, but they didn't have the numbers to deal with monsters overflowing from all of them.

King Tenma and the Six Horn Battle-Demons, Oniwaka and the other warriors and dauntless fighters had fought, barely able to protect their nation… if it were an ordinary human nation outside the Boundary Mountain Range, it would not have been strange for such a monster rampage to wipe out the entire nation, every citizen becoming food for the monsters. Defending their nation from such a dangerous situation was a great enough feat to be left in history.

But King Tenma regretted the fact that he had only been able to dispatch a single warrior to the battle against Ravovifard, the source of the evil in the land, and his priest Bugitas.

And the one who had defeated the evil god while the Kijin were unable to make a move was not Budarion, the one expected to become the next emperor, nor the highly-respected Godwin. It was an unidentified Dhampir.

Naturally, they had been quite shocked, but King Tenma had taken the opportunity to reflect upon his nation's policies rather than feel doubt or anger.

"Oniwaka, as young as you are, you should already know. You should know that the coming era is one of magic and knowledge. Our nation must train more mages of better quality. That is how we will fulfill our duty of protecting this land… and you are something of a mage yourself," said King Tenma.

"That's… It's true that it was a mage who defeated the evil god. But that doesn't lower the value of muscles!" said Vandalieu.

"That's right, that's right!" Oniwaka agreed.

"Curses, you stubborn… Vandalieu-dono?! Why are you agreeing with Oniwaka?!" King Tenma exclaimed.

"Wow, Bocchan crawled towards Oniwaka-san so excitedly!" Rita exclaimed.

"He used the Demon King's jointed legs, which he didn't even use in the battles," said Tarea.

Oniwaka let out a small scream and flinched as Vandalieu crawled towards him, but Vandalieu took no notice of it and spoke to the wide-eyed King Tenma as if remonstrating him.

"The wonder of muscles, as well as their value, are not decided by the era. Magic is indeed important, but if you value combat, I think that muscles should not be neglected," Vandalieu said, his praise for muscles evident even with his flat tone of voice.

Indeed, muscles were wonderful. Magic was powerful, but it was cast by living creatures, and they could not ignore muscles, stamina and physical strength.

Whether in Dungeons to defeat monsters or on the battlefield, even the most exceptional mages would be of no use if they could not see the battles through to the end due to a lack of stamina.

Vandalieu had never believed in the phrase, "A healthy mind resides in a healthy body," but he had never doubted that it would always be a good thing to have physical strength and stamina in a battle to the death.

"Have you understood how wonderful muscles are, too?" Oniwaka asked.

"Of course, my comrade," Vandalieu said with a nod.

Oniwaka's eyes became moist with emotion. "Kuh… I only looked at your exterior aspect, not what is inside. And yet you call me a comrade!"

He grabbed and squeezed Vandalieu's shoulders. It seemed that he had managed to make amends with the leading candidate to be the next king of the Kijin nation.

"Well, it's your first time meeting me, so it can't be -" Vandalieu began, but Oniwaka pulled him into a passionate embrace.

"Forgive me! My kindred-spirit!"

Oniwaka was thinner than Kidoumaru and the others. But he was certainly far burlier than a human.

The air was squeezed out of Vandalieu's lungs by this embrace. As there was no air in his lungs, he used Out-of-body Experience and Materialization to produce a clone to speak to King Tenma.

"And as for a policy to improve magic… fighting like me is impossible," the clone said.

He was not just praising muscles; he hadn't forgotten to be realistic.

"Indeed," King Tenma muttered, taken aback. "You are entirely correct. No matter how much we perfect our magic, things like producing countless clones, controlling them like parts of one's own body, attacking by extending the tongue are impossible… never mind controlling fragments of the Demon King. It seems that I lost my mind after hearing Gankaku's stories. How could I have possibly thought that such strange techniques and spells could be learned?"

"Th-that's right! That's exactly right, Chichi-ue!" Oniwaka exclaimed.

The parent and child came to a mutual understanding. Meanwhile, in the arms of the child, Vandalieu silently felt depressed.

"Many of us Kijin are not well-suited for magic, but we are a physically superior race. Developing that characteristic is what will allow us to fulfill our duty, Chichi-ue," said Oniwaka.

"That is exactly right, Oniwaka. I was wrong. However, as we are now, I do not know what we should do if something like before were to happen again…" King Tenma grimaced, even as he nodded in agreement to Oniwaka's words.

He had believed in the strength of his nation's warriors. That was likely why he had received such a great shock from being forced into a one-sided, defensive battle.

Perhaps that was why he had thought that things were no good as they were now.

Oniwaka, Gankaku and Kidoumaru were all unable to provide an answer to King Tenma's worries. Everyone knew that beings like Ravovifard did not appear frequently.

However, the Kijin nation had fulfilled their duty for about a hundred thousand years. And they had to continue fulfilling their duty for tens of thousands of years more, until Vida and Zantark recovered.

Kijin were not immortal like Majin and Vampires, but they were a race with long lifespans. Thus, it was probably alright to postpone making a decision now.

"Umm, if that is the case, could you not invite members of races more proficient in the use of magic to live here? This nation is not isolated like Talosheim once was in the past," Princess Levia suggested, raising her hand as she floated about in this heavy atmosphere.

"No, it is true that races such as Elves have more individuals with exceptional qualities for magic than us Kijin, but…" King Tenma murmured.

"But there are no citizens in our nation," said Oniwaka.

As the Kijin nation was a nation of defenders, there were no citizens that would need protecting in a time of emergency. All of the nation's inhabitants were Kijin, and the system was such that every single individual would be able to fight when needed.

That was why training Elves, humans and Dwarves as mages would be difficult.

"That's not what I meant," said Princess Levia. "I was thinking that it would be good if you made international exchanges and invited Majin, Lamia, Noble Orcs and Ghouls from other nations… Not with marriages, but just for limited time periods of perhaps a year or several months. Of course, in exchange, you would send warriors to the nations from which you invite people."

Tenma, Oniwaka and the other Kijin froze for a moment…

"We never thought of that…!" they muttered.

Why hadn't Tenma, Oniwaka and the others not thought of what Princess Levia had come up with very quickly? That was because of their old preconceived notions.

Each race within the Boundary Mountain Range had its own nation. There were various reasons for this, such as maintaining a stable population of believers for the gods and ensuring that each race could continue existing on equal terms. This was all needed to protect the inside of the Boundary Mountain Range from the forces of Alda.

Also, the gods had created a system where children born between parents of different races would be born as a member of the main race of the nation in which the child was conceived.

For example, if the Noble Orc Budarion and the Arachne Princess Kurnelia were to mate in the Noble Orc Kingdom, all of their children would be Noble Orcs. If they were to mate in Zanalpadna, the children would all be Arachne.

Incidentally, when neither parent belonged to the main race of a nation in which they conceived their children, the children would be born of both races in equal ratios.

But as Budarion was a Noble Orc, creating children with Princess Kurnelia in a third nation would result in all of the children being born as Noble Orcs.

Leaving that aside, due to this system, each nation had avoided migrations on a scale greater than individuals studying abroad or marrying into other nations' families. This was because a decrease in the population of a nation's main race was equivalent to a decrease in that nation's fighting strength.

And the fighting strength that each nation possessed had been sufficient up until now.

That was why nobody had ever thought of this idea. Despite thinking that things were no good as they were now, King Tenma had never thought of it. While one could attribute that to a lack of flexibility, it was likely due to the strong sense of responsibility he felt for his own nation to fulfill its duty alone.

But as Princess Levia said, with a system of exchanging fighters between nations for limited periods of time, no nation would lose fighting strength. In fact, the overall strength of each nation would increase.

Of course, there would be more quarrels due to differences between the races, and it would take time for them to start operating effectively. But it wouldn't take more than a hundred years for every race to become accustomed to this.

"Thank you. We will implement that brilliant idea immediately. That is fine, isn't it, everyone?!" King Tenma asked the other Kijin.

The Kijin shouted in approval of King Tenma's decision and raised their fists into the air.

"I am glad that I could be of use," Princess Levia said with a smile, her flames shining brighter than usual.

With the nation surrounded by multiple Dungeons, they could gain great profits, but there was a great danger as well. As the First Princess of the old Talosheim, Princess Levia likely understood how the Kijin felt.

And so began Vandalieu and his companions' visit to the first of the nations in the Boundary Mountain Range.

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Chapter 158: The troubled Perseus

A warm welcome awaited Vandalieu and his party after he was acknowledged as emperor by the Kijin. The only ones who had held doubts about Vandalieu were Oniwaka and the Six Horn Battle-Demons excluding Gankaku; the other Kijin had apparently been friendly towards Vandalieu from the beginning.

The ancestor of the Kijin race, who was born between Vida, the goddess of life and love and Zantark, the war-god of fire and destruction, was the twin of the ancestor of the Majin race.

And so, the ancestor of the Kijin race was the older brother or sister of the ancestors of the Vampires and Ghouls, who were born afterwards. Thus, the Kijin race respected the Majin as older brothers and sisters, while Vampires and Ghouls were like close younger brothers and sisters. That was one of the reasons Godwin had gathered so much respect in the Kijin nation.

Vandalieu, a half-Vampire and king of Ghouls, was like a sibling to the Kijin race.

The first day was simply a welcoming feast. After that, with King Tenma left aside as he had drunken himself unconscious, businesslike discussions took place with his queen Yura and his concubines.

It seemed that in the Kijin nation, where there were many muscle-heads and berserkers, women often served in civil-official-type roles.

"I would really like to have that person and Oniwaka learn a lesson from His Majesty the Emperor. Oniwaka in particular is still called by a childhood name… I wonder when Oniwaka will become an adult," Yura said, letting out a troubled sigh.

Apparently in the Kijin nation, people were called by childhood names rather than their real names until they became adults. Oniwaka was apparently a childhood name, and his real name was something else.

In order to become acknowledged as an adult, a Kijin needed to exterminate a single monster from one of the B-class Dungeons around the nation on their own.

Even the weakest monsters that appeared on the shallower floors of B-class Dungeons were Rank 6. Kijin had a base Rank of 4, so this was quite a difficult task for them.

"Does this… not mean that there are some Kijin who cannot become adults?" asked Princess Levia.

Even if they were a race that was suited for battle, there would be weaker individuals. It was impossible for every single member of the race to be strong.

"Well, from time to time," said one of King Tenma's concubines. "In such cases, they often migrate to other nations. If they stayed in this nation while being weak and a monster rampage were to occur, there would be no guarantee that they would survive."

"And in other nations… other than in the Noble Orc kingdom, Drakonid nation and Majin nation, they would still be useful as fighters, and they would be welcomed as brothers," said another concubine.

In the event that something were to happen, those that couldn't protect themselves would expose others around them to danger. That was why such individuals left the nation.

"That's quite strict. But I suppose it can't be helped? The monsters outside the Dungeons around here seem strong, too," said Orbia, who was floating around to the side, nodding to herself.

"I understand that, but… in other words, even you ladies?" asked Kimberley, staring at Yura and the concubines.

If their words were true, that would mean that even the women possessed the strength to defeat a Rank 6 monster on their own, so this reaction wasn't unreasonable.

And the Kijin nation's total population was about ten thousand. There were still non-combatants such as pregnant women and young children, but other than them, all of the Kijin were capable of fighting.

"Wouldn't the Amid Empire be defeated if it fought a war against this nation…? Well, I get the feeling that the same is true for the Noble Orc kingdom and Majin nation as well, though," said Kimberley.

"No, that should not be the case. There are several factors that determine the outcome of a war other than pure strength; we learned this in the previous battle against Bugitas's army," said Bellmond.

Indeed, even if the Amid Empire were to fight the Kijin nation, it would not be defeated. The Kijin nation had the responsibility of managing the Dungeons around it, so it would not be able to invest all of its fighting forces into the war. And like Bugitas, they were missing much of the knowledge and technology required for wars… such as how to maintain supply trains and deliver information.

If there really were a war… the Kijin nation would dispatch several thousand warriors and trample over the empire's vassal nations at the start. But without proper supply trains and messenger networks, they would be counterattacked and forced to retreat by the empire's army, the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords and A-class adventurers.

But there was no realistic way for the empire to cross the Boundary Mountain Range and counterattack the Kijin nation, so the war would inevitably end there.

It was highly likely that there wouldn't be a victor or a loser.

… But even the Kijin nation would need to send its warriors across the Boundary Mountain Range, whose mountains pierced the heavens, so this was a fruitless hypothetical situation.

"It is an honor to be compared in such a way against the empire, where Alda is the chief god," said Yura. "I want Oniwaka to become a fine warrior that can be of use in a battle against the empire, but…"

"No, Oniwaka-san is quite skilled. He stayed conscious after being attacked by Bocchan's tongue!" said Rita.

"That's right, Bocchan could defeat a Dragon with his tongue if he wanted to!" said Saria.

"Now, now. Bocchan said that defeating a Dragon like that would be impossible without using the Demon King's proboscis. You are exaggerating," said Sam. "Isn't that right, Bocchan?"

Vandalieu was sleeping soundly… or rather, lying lifelessly, on Tarea's lap with Bellmond's tail covering him like a blanket. He twitched slightly from time to time.

"Van-sama is still over there," said Tarea.

She pointed at a group of semi-transparent Vandalieus, who were busily exchanging documents with the Kijin nation's chief civil officials.

"Is this expression's meaning correct?"

"Yes, there are no problems with it. Incidentally, what is the meaning of this expression?"

"Is it alright if we hold the next meeting after our challenge of the Trial of Zakkart has finished?"

"About the Dungeon that you may clear for us, the Ogres' Nest is suitable for our schedule."

"What about Tarea's homestay host?"

Vandalieu was not exchanging opinions in this meeting; he was creating documents with main points written on them and acting as civil officials, focusing on making arrangements with the other nation's civil officials.

Perhaps it could be said that there was no time to voice opinions.

As for why he was doing this, the way Vandalieu and his companions spoke was a little different from the way that the people of the Kijin nation spoke.

The language of the champions, Japanese, had spread in this world after the Demon King was destroyed. That was true within the Boundary Mountain Range as well, but differences in speech were bound to arise after over a hundred thousand years of isolation.

Even those differences were more like different dialects; there were no problems when it came to everyday conversation. But it would be problematic if there were cases where word A was thought to mean B in Talosheim but meant C in the Kijin nation.

That was why Vandalieu had asked Kurt to come with him multiple times to make sure things were in order.

"Fuh, I'm finished. Thank you for your hard work," said one of Vandalieu's spirit clones.

"No, thank you," said one of the Kijin.

"Excuse me, I feel a little dizzy…" said another.

Vandalieu and the Kijin bowed towards one another. Though they were the chief civil officials, they were Kijin of this nation so they were warriors as well, but their faces were pale.

It wasn't that they were tired from the extreme meeting that had taken place at the feast; it was probably because they had been continuously looking at the same face that had multiplied like an amoeba. Facing each other with serious expressions was something that needed a little getting used to.

"Now then, the feast seems to be in full swing, so… Huh? Why is my body with Tarea and Bellmond? If I recall, I left it with Borkus," said one of Vandalieu's spirit clones, having realized quite late that his physical body was lying in Tarea's lap with Bellmond's tail as a blanket.

"That's because Borkus drank himself unconscious partway through the feast… even though he is an Undead," Tarea said, pointing at the table by which Borkus was lying face down in a slumber along with Kankaku and Kidoumaru.

"… He's not snoring," Vandalieu remarked.

"I assume he got drunk on his mood. He just assumed that he would have to be drunk after drinking this much," said Tarea.

"Ah, someone who gets drunk on air."

Undead generally didn't become intoxicated by drinking alcohol, but if they had experienced drinking until they fell unconscious before, they could become drunk on the assumption that they would become drunk.

"Borkus often drank himself unconscious when he was still alive…" Princess Levia murmured softly as she recalled those times.

"Perhaps if we drank when we were still alive, we might have understood what it is like to be drunk," said Saria.

"Nee-san, even if we can't get drunk on alcohol, we can get drunk on blood!" said Rita.

"Our people are generally dangerous, but these two seem quite dangerous too," said one of the Kijin.

"Vandalieu, you mustn't drink yourself unconscious, even after you become an adult," said Darcia.

"Yes, Mom," said Vandalieu's physical body. "By the way, this is really comfortable, so can I just sleep like this?"

"Danna-sama, if you have returned to your physical body, please get up," said Bellmond.

『The Levels of the Enhanced Physical Ability (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs), Parallel Thought Processing, Materialization, Coordination and High-speed Thought Processing Skills have increased!』

High in the night sky, there was something looking down at the royal capital city of the Mirg shield-nation, which could be considered one of Lambda's great cities.

The city was surrounded by plain but sturdy walls with patrol towers, barristers and defense installations. It would clearly have a strong advantage in defensive battles. It was likely to also be equipped with mechanisms that allowed the drawing of water from underground sources.

The thing floating in the sky was an organism with the form of a sphere made of flesh mannequins entwined around each other - Legion.

"The walls and several of the city's buildings form a magic circle that produce a barrier in the sky in times of emergency. It seems like it will be difficult to attack it from the front."

"Really? I think you're just overestimating it, Enma. If we rammed ourselves into those walls, it would collapse like a sugar sculpture."

"Sugar sculptures are delicious, aren't they?"

As they exchanged this dangerous-sounding conversation, they searched for the building that was their objective.

"Baba Yaga, Jack, you two help, too. It's hard to find the target just by the shape of the roof, you know?"

"What about Enma?"

"From this angle, I can only see the slums. Our target is in the upper-class nobles' area, isn't it?"

"We must go lower!"

"Valkyrie, keep your voice down."

"Hmm, maybe it's that one? Though we can't be sure without checking the family crest from up close."

Why was Legion here alone in the skies above the royal capital of the Mirg shield-nation, an enemy nation? That was because Vandalieu had sent them here on an errand.

As they had once been the Eighth Guidance, a cult that worshipped the Undead that was Vandalieu in Origin, they had no desire to be separated from him. But since he had directly asked this of them, they wouldn't refuse.

But as a reward for this errand, they had been promised that they would be taken when Vandalieu faced the Trial of Zakkart.

"We can't be equipped, after all. If we didn't at least get that as a reward…"

"Even while we're doing this, Privel, Gizania and the others are gaining more experience."

"We're going into the royal capital for that reward. It's not a time of emergency now, so the barrier won't be up now."

"Then we'll leave the control of our body to you, Ghost."

Legion used the Size Alteration Skill, reducing their body size to as small as possible. Once they were small enough to be held by an adult, they silently dropped towards the ground.

"Leave it to me," said Ghost, who was now in charge of controlling their body, as he lowered Legion into a deserted back alleyway and glided towards their destination.

In order to deliver a letter.

Sarua Legston, the first son born to Alsard Legston, the head of the Legston family of earls in the Mirg shield-nation, was an extremely ordinary baby.

He had been born a little prematurely and caused his parents and the other adults around to worry, but he developed normally after that and his first birthday was approaching in this year's spring.

There had been no halo over his head at birth, nor had a clergyman prophesized that this child would become a great man in the future, nor had he developed particularly quickly, nor was he particularly smart.

But it was possible that in the future, he would possess the fighting strength worthy of a nobleman involved in military affairs, and he might work as a military civil official or as a reliable commander.

Sarua, the child with these possibilities within him, witnessed something one night. Perhaps it was a coincidence that would not happen more than one in ten thousand times, or perhaps it was his fate.

Sarua, who had awoken during the night for no particular reason, saw someone enter his room who was certainly not one of his parents or the wet nurses that he was used to seeing.

The wooden door opened slightly without a sound, and something flesh-colored poured in like a liquid sauce squeezed out of its container.

Sarua heard a few quiet voices.

"Are the lights on?"

"It's a baby's room. It's probably kept dimly lit in case the baby starts crying."

"Don't speak. What will you do if it wakes up?"

As the thing that had intruded gathered into a sphere about the same size as Sarua, it left through the door, unaware that Sarua was watching them.

However, even when tomorrow came, nothing notable happened. His parents and grandparents didn't die mysterious deaths, and the servants moved about just as they had done the previous day.

It seemed that nobody in the house had seen that strange intruder other than Sarua. And even though he cried more than he had done the previous day, as he was still less than a year old, the wet nurses merely measured his temperature and checked to see if anything was wrong with him.

It was that night that Sarua learned of that intruder's objective and who it was working for.

He woke up from an afternoon nap to see that it was not a wet nurse, but his father Alsard and his grandfather Cecil that were in his room.

"But Oyaji, do you believe that letter?" Alsard asked.

"There is no choice but to believe it. There were several things written in there that only Chezare and Kurt know," said Cecil.

It seemed that the two of them had come here to hold a private conversation under the guise of wanting to see Sarua's face. The details of why this was were unclear, but the room of a baby who could not yet speak was probably the most convenient place for Alsard and Cecil to hold this conversation.

They continued talking, not realizing that Sarua had woken up.

"That's true, but… It's possible that they were tortured and forced to give up these details," said Alsard.

"No, that's impossible," said Cecil. "The first half of the letter is in Chezare's handwriting, and the second half is Kurt's. There's no doubt about it."

"I know that. But if that's the case, then the fact that Earl Palpapek is a terrible traitor is -"

Sarua, whose mind was wandering with drowsiness, ignored the conversation that he could not comprehend and tried to fall back asleep.

No matter how important the topic of conversation was, since he couldn't understand it, it was no different from a lullaby.

"The Dhampir Vandalieu… so, the fate of the Legston family and this child depends on him," said Alsard.

The moment Sarua heard his father speak his name, his consciousness and memories awakened.

Vandalieu?! That's right, I'm… Samejima Yuuri, the 'Perseus' Samejima Yuuri!"

Two lives and deaths on Earth and in Origin, and a request from Rodcorte to eliminate Amamiya Hiroto… Vandalieu. These memories and personality returned to him.

The 'Gungnir' Kaidou Kanata, who had dirtied his hands with numerous crimes despite being a member of the Bravers, had been killed by the 'Metamorph' Shihouin Mari to avenge her mother. Samejima Yuuri was one of the three reincarnated individuals who were killed in the riots caused by Kanata's death.

That was the identity of Sarua Legston in his previous life.

Up until this moment, Sarua had been nothing more than an ordinary baby, but now, his consciousness and senses were rapidly transforming into the memories and personality from his previous life.

He hadn't understood the words spoken in conversation by his father and grandfather, but now he could understand most of them.

That conversation and the information given to him by Rodcorte… Combined with his knowledge of the events that had occurred before and after the 'Gungnir' Kaidou Kanata was destroyed by Vandalieu, he put together his current situation in his mind.

My third life might be… over…?

As a result of his evaluation of the situation, he realized that his life was in danger.

Samejima Yuuri… Sarua, was one of the three reincarnated individuals who had refused to have anything to do with Vandalieu despite Rodcorte��s offered rewards. Thus, he hadn't intended to get involved with Vandalieu even when his memories and personality returned.

He was a noble of a nation that considered Dhampirs monsters and the mothers who gave birth to them witches. He was even the first son of the family of the vice-commander of the expedition army that had been dispatched to Talosheim, the nation that was ruled by Vandalieu.

And Sarua's uncles Chezare and Kurt had sworn loyalty to Vandalieu and become his influential vassals, Chezare having done so after becoming an Undead while Kurt had done so while still alive.

And last night, a letter from those uncles had been delivered. It contained an accusation that Vampires worshipping an evil god had connections to the current marshal, Thomas Palpapek, and an offer to defect to Talosheim.

It had likely been delivered by that strange intruder. It seemed that Vandalieu's reach had grown beyond what was detailed in the information that Sarua had been given.

He knew that at this point in time, it seemed impossible that he would be able to avoid getting involved with Vandalieu.

If his father and grandfather accepted the offer, he would become a son of one of Talosheim's benefactors, nephew of Vandalieu's influential vassals. He would likely meet Vandalieu himself. And eventually, Vandalieu would realize that he was a reincarnated individual.

He would need behave as would naturally be expected of a child of his age, conceal his qualities for magic, not use his cheat-like abilities and seal the lips of the other reincarnated individuals who knew that he was a reincarnated individual…

It's impossible. Maybe I could do it for a day or two, but spending my entire life as an act that I can't make a mistake in is impossible. There's no guarantee that I'd be able to keep the other reincarnated individuals quiet, either. No, my companions from the Bravers have likely changed their names and faces as well, so maybe they won't notice?

No! If Rodcorte tells everyone, ���Sarua Legston is the 'Perseus' Samejima Yuuri," there's no point in having a different face!

After all, he was the eldest son of an influential noble family of a vassal nation of the Amid Empire. Even in this world, where ways of spreading information hadn't been developed yet, it was possible that he would be found just by having his full name known.

No, wait. Judging from the conversation of these two, they seem to be leaning towards accepting the offer, but they haven't decided yet. There might be a chance that they'll reject it - wait, isn't that the worst possible scenario?!

Refusing the offer to defect to Talosheim would mean that the family would remain as a noble house of an enemy nation, one deeply involved with its army at that.

Even in such a case, it was unlikely that Sarua would face Vandalieu directly. He would need at least twenty or thirty more years before he could command armies on the battlefield as an adult… It was possible that this nation would be destroyed before that could happen.

It had already dispatched its army once, and even after everything that had happened, it still persecuted Vida's races, including Dhampirs.

And if Sarua recalled, the Mirg shield-nation's role was to act as a shield… a defense for the empire. A peaceful reconciliation with the nation of Talosheim ruled by Vandalieu wouldn't happen.

Well, there are actually numerous secret weapons, and there might be a chance that the empire can win against Talosheim, but… either way, geographically speaking, it's this nation that will become the battlefield.

If that was the case, there was no telling what would become of the family in this house, regardless of the outcome.

If pathogens were released, it was more than likely that this family would get caught up in it and perish.

Now that things have come to this, I have to escape from this family… there's no way I can do that. I'm just a baby who's less than a year old.

Sarua had retained his experiences and cheat-like ability from his previous life, but unlike Vandalieu, who had been born as a Dhampir, his body was that of an ordinary human.

There was a vast difference in physical strength and Mana between him and Vandalieu when he was a baby.

Escaping the Legston family on his own was impossible. If he just wanted to leave the house, he might be able to manage it, but it would likely just end up being a slow method of suicide.

Even if I did leave, I suppose the age needed to be able to survive in society is about fifteen? Things won't postpone themselves for that time. And then there's the problem of where to go afterwards…

It would be meaningless for him to leave the house and then stay in the Mirg shield-nation. There would still be the possibility of him getting caught up in things and getting killed immediately.

With that being the case, he would need to flee to another vassal nation of the empire that was far from the Boundary Mountain Range, to the Orbaume Kingdom to the east or outside the continent, but… none of these options were simple for a boy concealing his identity after fleeing from his family.

No, now that I think about it, it's all useless if Rodcorte tells everyone my true identity anyway, isn't it?! What should I do… Suicide is… impossible, so is there another option?

After dying in Origin, Sarua had been in a state of despair before he reincarnated in Lambda. Having become tired of living, he thought it bothersome that he would have to live a third life.

But he felt that he couldn't commit suicide now that he had been reborn and was living once more. It was probably because he had a body now, causing him to feel an instinct to exist that he hadn't felt in a soul-only form.

In other words, in order for me to survive, my family has to defect to Talosheim and I have to make a peaceful reconciliation with Vandalieu. Personally, I don't really remember having arguments with that guy, and he should think the same. Come to think of it, I wonder what the other reincarnated individuals are doing?

Where had Skanda and Urðr, who had died at the same time as Sarua, been reborn? Were there any other reincarnated individuals who had died after them?

I'm curious, but now that I think about it, we didn't make any plans for me to receive any additional information from that god. Will we be reunited naturally, like on Origin? … Ugh, I'm starting to feel overwhelmed…

After thinking this far, Sarua lost consciousness. Before he could check his Status, he developed a teething fever and spent the next few days unconscious, and the next time he woke, his memories from his previous life were gone again.

The body and brain of a baby less than a year old hadn't been able to fully cope with the sudden awakening of those memories and personality. It wasn't until several months later that he regained his memories and personality again.

He was different from Vandalieu, whose control over his own body had been taken from him in Origin and unconsciously learned the feeling of thinking with just his soul and spirit after dying and becoming the Undead.

The day after the feast, Vandalieu and his companions decided to clear the Ogres' Nest, a D-class Dungeon near the Kijin nation.

This was so that Vandalieu could later use the Labyrinth Creation Skill to teleport back to this Dungeon and return to the Kijin nation quickly for the next meeting and visit, and if an emergency were to arise.

It would have been easier to create a small, one-chamber Dungeon with Labyrinth Construction. But it seemed that creating yet another Dungeon in an environment that already had multiple Dungeons nearby was something that the Kijin nation would like to avoid.

"The goddess created the Boundary Mountain Range in order to protect our ancestors. A hundred thousand years ago, the mountains were apparently like solid masses of Mana. Of course, no matter how much Mana there was, it was the Mana of Vida, the goddess of life and love, so it would not turn the land into Devil's Nests," said Oniwaka. "But that wasn't true of the Mana of the gods who served her."

The evil gods who were the ones who originally create monsters and the monsters like the Noble Orcs who worshipped them gradually polluted the Mana in their surroundings unconsciously, just by existing.

Gufadgarn, the evil god of labyrinths, deliberately gathered that power into a particular area of land and created Dungeons.

Mububujenge, the evil god of degenerate corpulence, and Zozogante, the evil god of the dark forest, were also capable of creating Dungeons. But there were no gods who could create as many or as great a variety of Dungeons as Gufadgarn.

He had likely decided that it was better to create Dungeons in a place where it was easy to manage them rather than have them appear spontaneously all around the area contained within the Boundary Mountain Range.

"And the three most particularly dangerous places… the Dungeons on the eastern side of the mountain range were left to the Drakonid race, the A-class Dungeon in the flat area between the mountains to the Majin race, and us Kijin were entrusted with maintaining this area, the western side of the mountain range. What do you think! Amazing, isn't it!" said Oniwaka, proudly explaining why his nation was surrounded by Dungeons.

"Yes," Vandalieu agreed. "Dungeons are treasure troves of products including the items contained within the chests that spawn in them, but obtaining them comes with a considerable amount of danger. Rather than pushing the responsibility of managing them onto designated warriors, the entire country has taken that responsibility for over a hundred thousand years. I think that's amazing."

Unlike adventurers that belonged to the Adventurers' Guild, Kijin did not receive rewards just for defeating monsters. For those like Oniwaka to make a living, they needed to bring back materials stripped from monsters inside the Dungeons.

No matter how strong the Kijin were, things would be tough for them since the materials they brought back would not be enough to live on. Despite that, the Kijin race had continued this harsh lifestyle for a hundred thousand years. They had likely received support from the other nations, but their way of life was something to be admired.

"I wish the people of the Hartner Duchy could learn from your example," said Vandalieu.

The Hartner family, who had handled the sealed Demon King's fragment poorly, could learn something from the Kijin.

"Your Majesty, if they had managed things properly, we wouldn't be here now," said Princess Levia.

"That's true," said Vandalieu. "Then let's be thankful for their negligence."

"I heard from Borkus yesterday that things are strange on the outside," said Oniwaka. "Apparently it's the humans getting what they deserve, though."

"As a former human, this talk hurts my ears," said Kimberley.

"Come to think of it, we were humans living on the outside," said Sam.

The ones exploring the Ogres' Nest were Vandalieu, the Ghosts, Sam who was in charge of transport and Oniwaka, who was guiding them and explaining various things. They proceeded through a desert inside the Dungeon as they shared this conversation.

Quinn was riding inside Sam's carriage as well, but she was busy taking care of the Gehenna Bee eggs that she had laid.

Incidentally, Darcia was continuing the discussions from yesterday with Yura and the others. Borkus, Bellmond and the others were there to watch over her. Tarea was on her own today, exchanging smithing techniques with the arms smiths of the Kijin nation.

"I heard that this would be the case, but it really is only Ogres that come out, isn't it?" Princess Levia remarked.

As the Dungeon's name might suggest, the monsters appearing in the Dungeons were demi-human, Ogre-type monsters. Ordinary Ogres were Rank 4, but there were inferior races such as Rank 3 Lesser Ogres, and other varieties of Ogres such as Desert Ogres and Frost Ogres that were adapted to living in deserts and cold climates.

Incidentally, the Dungeon Boss was apparently often an Ogre with a higher Rank, such as an Ogre Soldier or Ogre Grappler.

This was an excellent Dungeon for Ogre Tamers looking to tame Ogres… For those that weren't Ogre Tamers, it was apparently of questionable value, as the variety of materials that could be obtained were not great considering the Dungeon's difficulty.

"But it's easy to clear since there's only one type of monster that comes out," said Vandalieu.

"Yeah. The main reason we chose this Dungeon was because there are only ten floors. Unlike me, you could likely clear it very quickly, since you were able to defeat the Six Horn Battle-Demons," said Oniwaka, exchanging words openly with Vandalieu with a completely different attitude from his attitude towards Vandalieu at the beginning.

As Vandalieu immediately knew the layout of a Dungeon's floor just by stepping onto it due to the effects of the Labyrinth Creation Skill, he wouldn't normally need a guide.

But Oniwaka's mother Yura had whispered to him, "Go with him to deepen your friendship," so they were going through the Dungeon together.

Though Oniwaka had intended to follow Vandalieu even if he hadn't been told this, as he respected him as a kindred-spirit.

"By the way, I wanted to ask. When you fought us, you used the no-attribute spell Flight, but you didn't use Strengthen Physical Ability. Why not? I know you have a lot of Mana, but since you're good at holding back, you should have been able to increase your strength a reasonable amount and defeat us more quickly," said Oniwaka, making casual conversation to deepen their friendship.

"Now that you mention it…" several people whispered.

Even Sam, the one who had known Vandalieu the longest among everyone here, had never seen him use Strengthen Physical Ability.

"What's the matter? Is there some kind of reason for it?" asked Oniwaka, flustered upon realizing that the atmosphere had changed.

"No, there's no particular reason behind it," said Vandalieu in the same light-hearted tone as before. "The reason I've never used Strengthen Physical Ability before is simply because I'd die if I made a mistake when controlling my Mana."

"You'll die?!" Oniwaka shouted in surprise.

But he wasn't the only one. Even those who knew just how immortal Vandalieu was were surprised.

"Eh?! You'll die?! You didn't die even when your head was cut off!" Orbia exclaimed.

"Impossible! Bocchan, who did not die even when his heart was stopped?!" shouted Sam.

"Yes, I'll die," said Vandalieu. "Even if I used just ten thousand Mana for Strengthen Physical Ability, if I made a mistake in balancing how my muscles and bones were strengthened, my bones will break and my organs would rupture."

In this world, possessing a Mana pool of ten thousand would be enough to be known as a first-rate mage.

Vandalieu already possessed the No-Attribute Magic Skill at Level 9. If he were to use ten thousand Mana all on the Strengthen Physical Ability spell, just how much would his body be strengthened?

His body would transcend its limits, and one misstep would result in his own destruction. After all, it was equivalent to squeezing all of the Mana out of a first-rate mage and strengthening his body with it.

"I'm not that outstanding other than my Mana," said Vandalieu. "My Strength, Agility and Stamina were all lower than the Six Horn Battle-Demons, weren't they? Of course, I think the worst that would happen is my limbs exploding if I tried and failed now, though."

And with the Demon King's exoskeleton and blood's support, he would be able to withstand it better.

But rather than taking this risk and mustering all of his concentration to control his Mana to cast Strengthen Physical Ability, he could fight better without using it.

That was what Vandalieu thought.

"Then couldn't you use Strengthen Physical Ability with your spirit clones?" Kimberley asked.

"Kimberley, Strengthen Physical Ability is a spell that strengthens the physical body, so I can't strengthen my clones with it even after using Materialization on them," said Vandalieu.

"I see… more is not always better. Just like how it becomes more difficult to move if you have too much muscle," said Oniwaka.

"Yes, Mana is like muscle," said Vandalieu.

Vandalieu and his companions continued clearing the Ogres' Nest, exchanging a conversation that mages would fiercely object to if they were to hear it.

Incidentally, the Dungeon boss was an Ogre Gorilla, an ape monster with muscles all over its body and horns growing from its head. That apparently happened from time to time as well.

Name: Sarua Legston

Race: Human

Age: Approximately 8 months old

Title: None

Job: None

Level: 0

Job history: None

Attributes:

Vitality: 4

Mana: 10

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Stamina: 1

Intelligence: 1

Passive skills:

Death-Attribute Resistance: Level 5

Augmented Mana: Level 6

Active skills:

Space-Attribute Magic: Level 8

Mana Control: Level 10

Archery: Level 5

Dagger Technique: Level 5

Throwing: Level 3

Unarmed Fighting Technique: level 6

Coordination: Level 5

Survival: Level 6

Silent Steps: Level 6

Surpass Limits: Level 3

Unique skills:

Perseus: Level 8

The God of Reincarnation's Fortune

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