The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time
chapter-24

The day after finding out about the existence of a large pack of Ghouls led by a Dhampir through Luciliano’s report, Marshal Thomas Palpapek was in the office of the villa that he was staying in, battling against a mountain of documents.

Normally, organizing and dispatching a monster extermination force would be the work of the region’s ruler and Adventurers’ Guild. However, in this case, the size of the extermination force was unusually large, and knights and soldiers of the nation’s army would be participating as well as adventurers. The local ruler, Viscount Berno Balchesse, had handed over command to Marshal Palpapek and begged him for assistance.

Of course, that didn’t mean that there was no work for Viscount Balchesse to do. But as everything was under Marshal Palpapek’s jurisdiction, it was his signature that was needed as the final approval for each document, and if there were any mistakes, it would be his responsibility.

This arrangement had been decided this morning.

In order to increase the number of participating personnel beyond what was originally planned, order documents needed to be sent to request the use of knights and soldiers of the nation’s army.

As the numbers of soldiers and knights were being increased, the budget for equipment also needed to increase.

On top of that, more provisions would be required to feed those soldiers and knights.

More spies needed to be dispatched to keep watch on the Devil’s Nest.

The negotiations with the Adventurers’ Guild were handled by the finance minister, not the marshal. Thus, everything needed to go through the noblemen working under the finance minister, only adding to the height of the mountain of documents.

The silver lining was that the Amid Empire had recently won a battle over the Orbaume Kingdom while suffering few losses, so there were plenty of funds to work with.

Well, even requesting the use of that budget required the marshal to read through and sign yet another document.

「This looks terrible. Seeing you having to spend your already short lifespan on such tedious work, I cannot suppress my sympathy for you, Thomas.」

Noticing the cold night air and a voice coming from a window that he had no recollection of opening, Marshal Palpapek finished his signature that he was in the midst of writing before putting down his pen.

「If you feel that way, won’t you help me? My immortal friend.」

As he looked up, there was a single bat in front of him.

「I believe that I have helped you plenty, my friend. Or could it be, Thomas, that you have realized the emptiness of being famous in human society and come to desire eternity?」

Flowing words spoken in a composed tone came from the mouth of the bat. Ordinary people would have been surprised at the bat that was calling the marshal by his first name, but the marshal gave an unimpressed response.

「No, I have no intention of becoming one of you, and I am sure that you people wouldn’t want that, either. Do not speak such insincere words, Vampire.」

This bat was a familiar sent by a Vampire.

Marshal Thomas Palpapek was the second son born to the Palpapek family of earls. The shield-nation of Mirg* had been entrusted the role of being the nation with the most powerful army, defending the Empire from the Orbaume Kingdom’s army for generations. Even considering the long history of the Palpapek family of earls and their involvement in Mirg’s military affairs, Thomas had been an exceptional young man.

TLN*: The Mirg nation has always been referred to as the shield-nation of Mirg/Mirg shield-nation in this novel. I’ve omitted the “shield” part up until now because it didn’t make any sense, but now that it’s finally been explained after 20-something chapters, I’ll start adding it to my translation.

But no matter how exceptional he was, he was still only the second son. Even so, if the family’s eldest son had been a great failure, then perhaps he could have become the one to succeed the family. However, though the eldest son was a little inferior to Thomas, he was still a fine man.

It was clear in everyone’s eyes that Thomas was superior in both the literary and military arts. Thomas and the eldest son both understood this as well.

However, no matter how clear the difference between them was, because it was a「moderate」difference, the family would not go to the lengths of denying succession to the elder son to make Thomas an earl.

No matter which of the brothers rose to the position of marshal, strongholds, soldiers and knights wouldn’t change. The vassals that had supported the Palpapek family of earls wouldn’t change, either.

Including small-scale skirmishes, war with the Orbaume Kingdom continued to occur once every few years, but the shield-nation of Mirg was a shield, after all. The ones standing in the position of Mirg’s marshal were only in charge of defensive battles; the ones in command of the glorious battles of invasion had always been the other marshals or generals of the Amid Empire.

And so, no matter how superior Thomas was to his elder brother, a future where he would succeed the family of earls was impossible.

At this rate, Thomas would be adopted as a son-in-law by a noble family with a court rank of baron or lower that had only daughters, or become a vassal who served his older brother.

At that time, a Vampire appeared before him.「Do you not want to succeed your family of earls? Can you bear the fact that your elder brother who is inferior to you will stand above you merely because he was born a little earlier?」Thomas collaborated with the Vampire who whispered these words to him, succeeded his family of earls in place of his elder brother who perished in an unforeseen accident and rose to the position of marshal.

「Kukuku, indeed. A collaborator in a nobleman’s position as high as yours is precious, after all.」

The Vampire implied that without his position as marshal, Thomas would be worthless. Unable to endure any more idle talk, Thomas spoke.

「You know what needs to be done, don’t you?」(Thomas)

「I certainly do. It is to do with the Dhampir born between the traitor Valen and a Dark Elf woman, is it not? We went to the lengths of providing you with the information, but it seems that you have let him slip away, haven’t you?」(Vampire)

Thomas wasn’t knowledgeable about the details of Vampire clans and factions, but he did know that they were largely divided into two main factions: Those who followed the evil gods, and those who followed the goddess Vida.

And this Vampire belonged to the faction that followed the evil gods. However, they were not planning humanity’s ruin or anything of the sort.

After the Demon King Guduranis was destroyed, the surviving evil gods who had lost their ruler broke up, acting on their own as they pleased.

There were those who searched for the fallen Demon King’s sealed flesh in order to resurrect him.

There were those who plotted revenge against the humans and gods that had brought about the Demon King’s ruin.

There were the lazy who simply indulged in inactivity and delicious food.

There were those who had decided that there was nothing of worth in this world and departed for others.

There were even those who struggled with the other evil gods for power.

And then there were those who had abandoned their original goals and simply did everything they could to satisfy their own desires. The evil god that the Vampire here was serving belonged to this group.

But for that evil god and the Vampires that served him, Dhampirs, which were half-Vampires, were apparently creatures that needed to be eliminated for various reasons.

Dhampirs weren’t decisively problematic for them. If Dhampirs were to join the humans and begin hunting Vampires, it would be an eyesore. In order to preserve the noble pride of the Vampires. As an example to other Vampires in the faction. Also, simply because it was interesting to torment and kill Dhampirs in front of other Vampires who spoke of things like romance and love.

Those were the reasons.

The owner of the bat in front of Thomas was a Vampire whose name and face Thomas did not know. He had been ordered by an even higher-ranking Vampire to hunt down this Dhampir that had been born between the Subordinate Vampire Valen and a Dark Elf.

These Vampires had finished Valen, but had deliberately allowed the Dark Elf who was pregnant with the Dhampir to escape. Of course, this was not an act of compassion.

The Vampires had wanted to see this Dark Elf and Dhampir die gruesome deaths at the hands of the humans. The evil god that they served would be particularly pleased by such a show.

That was why they had given Thomas information regarding the Dhampir. But in the end, only the Dark Elf mother had been killed and the Dhampir’s whereabouts had been unknown. They had assumed that the child who was of breastfeeding age at the time would have starved to death somewhere after its mother had died.

But it had survived and now it was the Ghoul King in a Devil’s Nest far from Evbejia. When contacted by Thomas with this information, the Vampire had felt the emotion of surprise that he had almost forgotten recently, and dispatched a familiar.

「… At that time, there were many uncertain factors.」(Thomas)

As the Vampire pointed out Thomas’s shortcomings, Thomas made a sour-looking face as he remembered those times.

When Thomas first heard the information about the Dhampir, he had passed that information to a promising party of adventurers called the『Five-colored Blades』that were trying to capture the Dhampir at the time. Thomas had intended for them to build up achievements for themselves.

He had planned to use this opportunity to make strong connections, having the『Five-colored Blades』accept his requests in the future and making it known that they were adventurers that were for the marshal’s personal use, and if things went well, he would have made them his subordinates.

However, by coincidence, High Priest Goldan of the Amid Empire’s Church of Alda had been staying in a village near Evbejia and intervened as a result.

In addition to that, the Dark Elf had never given up the Dhampir’s location, even as she died. This caused High Priest Gordan to lose his temper. Ignoring the attempts of Thomas’s subordinate to stop him, he executed her.

And then the『Five-colored Blades』that had been crucial to Thomas’s plans had left Evbejia after the Dark Elf’s execution without searching for the Dhampir.

Because of that, Thomas had no choice but to leave the search for the Dhampir to High Priest Gordan, whom he didn’t have a single ounce of control over. In the end, he was unable to finish the Dhampir off, allowing the Dhampir the opportunity to survive.

「The most uncertain factor is how the Dhampir that was of breast-feeding age was able to stay hidden from the High Priest’s search and survive until now.」(Vampire)

「Precisely. He even leads the Ghouls and seems to have undergone a Job change somewhere to acquire the Job of Spiritualist.」(Thomas)

「Spiritualist, you say? No matter how much he has grown, it is uncertain if he is even three years of age, is it not?」(Vampire)

「Indeed. Apparently he was able to see that the Live-Dead was a familiar being used by the hired adventurer.」(Thomas)

Thomas, Viscount Balchesse, the knights and the others were under the assumption that Vandalieu had known what the Live-Dead was because he had attained the Job of Spiritualist.

Not even in their wildest dreams would they imagine that Vandalieu was a user of death-attribute magic, magic that had never existed in this world until now.

「A Spiritualist… He has chosen quite a unique Job. I do not believe that his father Valen had the talent. Then perhaps it is from his mother’s blood? Well, it is fine. He will soon be exterminated. Isn’t that right, Marshal-dono?」(Vampire)

「Of course. I will eliminate the problematic Dhampir along with the whole pack of Ghouls. I am even going to be calling those irritating religious fanatics of the Church of Alda for this, after all.」(Thomas)

For Thomas, it was absolutely necessary to meet the demands of the Vampires. He didn’t desire immortality, nor did he feel any gratitude to them for helping him attain his court rank. He needed the Vampires’ power for his plans.

Thomas’s homeland, the shield-nation of Mirg, had always been a part of the Amid Empire ever since it was founded. The royal family of Mirg was considered only equivalent to marquesses in the Amid Empire; the nation was forced to endure difficult defensive battles and the glorious victories in battle were always stolen by the Empire.

Mirg was suppressed by the Empire even in peaceful times, and when it tried to build up strength as a nation, the Empire would interfere and hinder it.

Just when Mirg would manage to build up some strength despite that, a pointless expedition would be forced upon it for some reason or another and its power would be weakened again. The Titan extermination two hundred years ago had been particularly terrible. Many soldiers and heroes of that time were lost, as well as a holy lance that was a national treasure. They received no notable spoils of war in return, nor did they gain any new territory.

After having been treated so terribly, it was only natural for the royals and noblemen of the Mirg shield-nation to dearly wish for independency.

And Thomas’s plan was to deliver that wish to his homeland with his own two hands. And then he would rise to a more important social position in the newly independent Mirg shield-nation… No, Mirg Kingdom.

For that purpose, he needed to increase the Mirg shield-nation’s strength while weakening the Amid Empire, little by little.

The power of the Vampires, who viewed the Amid Empire as their enemy, was absolutely essential for that.

「But that would mean calling the High Priest, would it not? He is currently a candidate to become the next Cardinal. Are you planning to allow him to add more to his achievements?」(Vampire)

「Other than him, I am also planning to have the【Green Wind Spear】Riley participate as well.」

「Hooh, the man who left the【Five-colored Blades】that departed the Mirg shield-nation? I wonder how much use a C-class adventurer who obtained a Title because of the Heinz’s work can be.」

「He is already a B-class adventurer. But if you are so concerned, why not join us as well? We are planning to journey across the plains for three days in the sunlight until we reach the Devil’s Nest, however.」

「Kukuku, I must decline that proposition. We do have『confidence』in you, after all. More importantly, did you contact me just to report this information?」

「No, there is something I wanted to confirm, just in case. It is about the Dhampir. The Golem transformation incident in Evbejia… Is that not the Dhampir’s work?」

The mysterious incident that occurred one year ago, in which a town’s outer walls, the ruler’s house and the building of the Adventurers’ Guild had turned into Golems and walked out of the town.

The investigation was still continuing with the help of the Mages’ Guild, but they hadn’t even figured out just how the crime was committed, let alone caught the culprit. All they had managed to do was come up with theories that were full of holes.

Was this not the crime of the problematic Dhampir? That was what Thomas suspected. He had not mentioned it in the morning in front of Viscount Balchesse and Luciliano, however, because he had no positive evidence and even thought it was a preposterous theory himself.

「Do not be so foolish.」(Vampire)

In fact, Thomas’s theory was nothing more than a poor joke to the Vampire.

「You humans consider Dhampirs dangerous as they have fewer weaknesses than us Vampires, but it seems that you overestimate them. The qualities of a Dhampir, especially those to do with the abilities of a Vampire, are heavily influenced by the Vampire parent. If the parent excels in the use of magic, then the child will as well. If the parent has the ability to transform into a bat, then the child has a high chance of possessing that ability as well.」(Vampire)

「Conversely, if the parent is not particularly gifted in magic for a Vampire, then the child will have similar qualities. I know that much.」(Thomas)

As the Vampire and Thomas were saying, a Dhampir’s talent as a Vampire depended on the Vampire parent.

The Vampires that followed the evil gods found it ironic that Dhampir children with the mixed blood of other races were the ones that inherited the Vampire parent’s qualities so strongly, however.

「Though Valen was indeed exceptionally resistant to the sun, he was a Subordinate who was not particularly strong for his age other than that. I heard that he was only able to cast simple spells. His Jobs were Apprentice Thief, Thief and Fighter; it is unimaginable that he had dormant talents. And even if Valen did possess some qualities, a child that was one or two years old at the time would not have been able to make use of them.」(Vampire)

「I suppose that is true…」(Thomas)

「Is the mother not more suspicious? That Dhampir is apparently a Spiritualist. Perhaps he has borrowed the power of his mother’s spirit?」(Vampire)

Those with the Spiritualist Job can communicate with spirits and gain knowledge from them. Those with advanced ability with the Job can take it a step further and use magic that those spirits had used while they were alive.

The Vampire wondered if the Dhampir, who had become a Spiritualist at a young age, could be making use of secret alchemy techniques that his mother had used while she was alive. But this time, it was Thomas who refuted his theory.

「I investigated the mother; she was a D-class adventurer and while she could use spiritual magic, she seemed to have no understanding of alchemy. I cannot imagine that she knew any secret alchemy techniques.」(Thomas)

「Then I am sure that it was just a coincidence that this incident occurred around the same time. Is your business with me finished? Well then, I will excuse myself. Even we who live for all eternity cannot afford to spend our time idly.」

With those words, the bat flapped its wings silently and took off out the window. Thomas snorted as he watched it fly away while closing the window, and then let out a whisper.

「A coincidence, is it?」

The shield-nation of Mirg was investigating the Evbejia incident not merely as something that concerned only that small town in some remote region, but as a major event that shook the whole country. The reason for that was because if what happened in that town were to happen at the citadel…

No matter how sturdy the forts, no matter how tall and thick the walls, all of it would be meaningless. No, if the Golems decided to attack the humans inside instead of leaving like they had in Evbejia, even an elite army would sustain heavy losses, unable to make free use of their strength.

The attacks would come from the walls, ceilings and floors. How would troop formation be maintained in such a situation?

To prevent such an event from occurring, the mystery of how the town’s outer walls had turned into Golems had to be solved.

However, even the upper ranks of the Mages’ Guild had been unable to come up with an answer.

In the first place, Golems were things that an alchemist spent effort and Mana to create.

In order to create a Golem, materials had to be prepared and divided into separate parts for the arms, legs, and torso, all kinds of catalysts and spirit powders needed to be applied for the different parts while casting spells, and then an artificial core needed to be implanted inside to make it move.

After all of that, one would have produced a Golem.

That was why it was impossible to make Golems from the outer walls of the town that had already been built, the ruler’s house and Adventurers’ Guild building that had been in use and the earth of the fields that the farmers had been plowing every day to produce crops.

If there was an alchemist who could do this, then not only the shield-nation of Mirg but the entire Amid Empire would do their best to apprehend him. If that was impossible then they would cover up his existence.

「Indeed, it is just a coincidence after all.」

There was no way for a Dhampir who was three years of age at most to be such an exceptional individual. Thomas took on the facial expression of Marshal Palpapek once more as he picked up his pen and turned his attention back to the documents.

Perhaps if Luciliano had realized that Vandalieu had turned the Ent-made outer wall of the Orc village into Golems, if he had figured out that Vandalieu possessed an abnormally large Mana Pool, then Marshal Palpapek might have come to a different conclusion.

Well, even if he were to figure it out now, it would already be too late.

His mistake was the poor choice of relying on his【common knowledge】to deal with the【unprecedented】situation of a Dhampir child being a King that had united the Ghouls.

Around the time Marshal Palpapek was having a private conversation with a Vampire, Vandalieu and the other Ghouls were traveling back towards their home village.

The one hundred or so captive Ghoul women that they had rescued were in poor physical states after having been left in poor living conditions for so long and because their food intake had been deliberately restricted to keep their strength low. Some of them had limbs that had been broken and then healed at crooked angles. They weren’t in any state to walk long distances.

The female adventurers who were aspiring to undergo the Ghoul transformation ritual weren’t any better off; they were considerably weakened as well.

More than a hundred women in this state had to be carried through a Devil’s Nest that monsters dwelled in. It was quite the difficult task.

The one carrying out the task was Sam and the other carriages created by Vandalieu.

「Get up, combine, transform.」

The remains of the Ent-made Wood Golems that the Orcs had destroyed. Vandalieu turned them into Wood Golems once more and used the【Golem Transmutation】skill to have them combine into a single piece of wood. And then, using Sam as a model, he created carriages from them.

Normally, making a carriage using only wood with no metal parts wouldn’t go very well, but because the Ent logs were as hard as iron while still possessing the properties of wood, and because the entire carriage was a Golem, it moved without any problems. In fact, the wheels turned on their own without needing anything to pull the carriages.

Fortunately, there was an incredible amount of ruins lying around to be used as materials. Under Bugogan’s orders, the Orcs had probably cut down enough Ents to make them extinct in this Devil’s Nest.

「If you were to live in a human city, boy, I am sure you would be able to make a living doing this.」(Zadiris)

「Building carriages? The materials here are good, but I’m sure they’re not particularly worth selling if you compare them to something built by a specialized craftsman.」(Vandalieu)

「No, I am talking about the lumber. In human cities, they pay gold to obtain lumber, don’t they? With this technique, you could even create lumber from sawdust, could you not?」(Zadiris)

「I can definitely make lumber as long as the wood hasn’t been burned to ashes, but…」(Vandalieu)

Unlike metal, one could not put a piece of wood that had already been cut into a furnace to melt it to have a piece of usable material again. That was why carpenters devoted their time to improving their technique.

However, if Vandalieu used his【Golem Transmutation】skill, he could freely turn already-cut pieces of wood back into a larger piece of timber, even though he didn’t possess such techniques.

If he wanted, he could turn branches and sawdust produced by sawing fallen trees into lumber that could be used to make pillars or floorboards.

Even the Ghouls who possessed no monetary system knew that this was an innovative technique.

「But I don’t really want to make that my occupation.」(Vandalieu)

「Hmm? Why is that? Could you not make a large profit by doing so?」(Zadiris)

As Zadiris asked the unenthusiastic Vandalieu these questions, he answered with a sigh.

「Getting to the point of being able to make a large profit seems like it will be very troublesome.」

What Vandalieu was able to do was essentially wood scrap recycling. Since it was a recycling process, the timber he produced would be second-hand goods. On Earth, people might think of it as regenerated wood and he might be able to play the ecologically-friendly game, but Lambda hadn’t seemed to have even invented steam engines, let alone reached technologically advanced civilization. It was doubtful how much value ecologically-friendly products would have or if people would even understand the concept of ecological friendliness.

Considering that, what kind of price would second-hand goods made from scraps sell for…?

On top of that, this process was impossible without the【Golem Transmutation】skill. He would soon be learning Alchemy, but he wouldn’t be able to create a Magic Item that would allow others to use this skill.

In other words, Vandalieu would have to do everything personally.

In the end, if he tried to profit by using the【Golem Transmutation】skill to create ecologically-friendly timber, there was a chance that he would be working long hours for little gain.

For Vandalieu, who had lived with a luxury complex, this was an unacceptable choice.

「Well, if it was high-quality lumber like ebony on Earth, I might be able to earn a lot and I could do the same with building stones, so with marble… Ah, but if there is something like a Stonemasons’ Guild, they might investigate the source of my stones. For lumber, there might be something like a Lumberjacks’ Guild, too…」

「It seems that human society is complicated. Boy, let us leave the deliberation at that, shall we?」

Zadiris patted Vandalieu’s head with these words, as he had begun to use his brain to contemplate the potential troubles.

Incidentally, the Ent lumber that Vandalieu had used to create the carriages was worth ten times more than common wood like cedar and pine in human society, but Vandalieu would not learn that for quite some time to come.

【Vandalieu has acquired the Carpentry skill! The level of the Strengthen Follower skills has increased!】

『Bocchan! Leave the women to me!』

And Sam’s Rank had increased from the great amount of Experience Points that he had earned in yesterday’s battle.

The Level 3 Ghost Carriage had run over and killed Rank 5 Orc Generals and the Rank 7 Noble Orc Bugogan in addition to the Rank 3 Orcs. There was no doubt that a huge amount of Experience Points had been poured into him.

Thanks to this, the dangerous spikes that Tarea had attached to the carriage had fused with the carriage’s body, and he was now a Rank 4 Blood Carriage.

And with the skills he had gained when his Rank increased,【Size Alteration】and【Comfort Maintenance】, he was particularly useful for transporting the weakened women.

【Size Alteration】was a skill that changed the size of Sam’s body, allowing him to grow from his original size of being a three-horse carriage to a four-horse carriage, or shrink to a two-horse carriage.

【Comfort Maintenance】was a skill that allowed him to maintain comfort inside the carriage at all times, no matter what the conditions were like outside.

And thanks to the【Impact Resistance】skill, the carriage didn’t vibrate at all when traveling normally.

His race had changed into a dangerous-sounding one, but Sam’s convenient features were steadily increasing.

Because of the Experience Points earned in yesterday’s battle, Vigaro and Sam weren’t the only ones whose Ranks had increased. Many of the Ghouls had increased in Rank to become Ghoul Warriors or Ghoul Grapplers.

Among Vandalieu’s servants, Saria, Rita and Bone Bird’s Ranks had also increased.

Though Saria and Rita had Ranked up, their races hadn’t changed; they were still a Living High-Leg Armor and Living Bikini Armor.

This was probably because the two of them hadn’t been able to fully manifest the powers that their armor possessed before, but with the Experience Points that they had gained, they were now able to manifest them to some extent.

The fact that their races hadn’t changed was because they had developed, but still weren’t using the suits of armor to their full potential.

『I want to hurry and become a powerful monster, a maid who wouldn’t have to let Bocchan allow his enemies to cut his flesh and bones in order to break the enemy’s bones*!』

TLN*: There’s a Japanese phrase that translates to something like, “Let your enemy cut your flesh and you will break his bones.” It’s apparently similar to the English phrase that goes, “Give an inch to take a mile.” In Vandalieu’s case, he let both his flesh and his bones to be cut to beat Bugogan, so this variation on the phrase is something of a pun/joke/humor thing.

『I know that you want to say that that’s not what a maid does, Bocchan. But both Rita and I are serious about this!』

It seemed that the two of them had been greatly shocked by the sight of Vandalieu lying on the ground, covered in blood with his torso cut open.

This had renewed their drive to become stronger. This was very promising news.

『Gueeeh.』

Bone Bird had become a Rank 4 Specter Bird. The Spirit Form that had covered its bones was even brighter, and from a distance, it would look like a sparkling bird of good omens.

But apparently the people of some regions considered the appearance of such a monster to be a bad omen. Vandalieu could only hope that there were no such regions in the Orbaume Kingdom.

And the heaviest luggage that would be problematic to transport back to the village… the spoils of war, the corpses of the enemies. But this problem was the easiest to solve.

After all, it was simple to have the spoils of war walk the distance on their own.

『Bufuuh.』

『… Giih… Bugiih…』

With the【Preservation】spell cast on them after draining their blood to suspend their decomposition, the Orcs, Kobolds and the corpses of the beasts that the Orcs had been using didn’t need to be carried after they had been turned into Zombies.

In fact, since they could carry the weapons and armor they had used while they were alive and the belongings that they had stolen from adventurers, they were luggage carriers rather than luggage themselves.

Even though they were Zombies, their decomposition had been halted with death-attribute magic and not even one day had passed since they died, so their flesh and organs were still nice and fresh.

After getting back to the village, Vandalieu would take the spirits possessing them back out and they would turn back into normal corpses and there would be no problem in harvesting materials from their bodies and eating their meat.

But monsters didn’t know this; to them, these were Zombies, not prey. And so the Zombies wouldn’t be attacked by monsters and there was no need to have someone watch them to make sure monsters wouldn’t take them away.

One problem was that the Zombies walked slowly, but since the weakened Ghoul women were being transported, it didn’t matter that the Zombies were slow.

「Having Vandalieu turn all the prey that we hunt into Zombies from now on would make them easier to transport back to the village!」

Vigaro and the others approved of this method.

After Vandalieu regained his composure from Zadiris’s soothing words, he walked on, not paying any attention to the Zombie of Bugogan who was letting out a moaned『Bugoh…』

It’s not that there was no space for him to ride on Sam or one of the other carriages. He was turning three soon, so he wanted to start building up his physical fitness.

『Say, Vandalieu. What do you think about me becoming an Undead or Golem? And then I would become strong and fight with you. Don’t you think that would be wonderful?』

「I’m happy that you feel that way, but I don’t know about that. If you stay in the same vessel for too long, the shape of your spirit can change so I don’t know if that might affect me resurrecting you later.」

If a creature’s spirit stayed in a certain vessel for a long time, the shape of its spirit would change to match that vessel.

For example, Sam was originally a human man, but if Vandalieu were to remove his spirit from the carriage that he possessed, his spirit would likely resemble the carriage, not his appearance from when he was alive.

That was how easy it was for spirits that had lost their bodies to change shape. Strong malice, hatred and lingering regrets were necessary for a spirit to maintain its original shape.

「And since you have almost no malice or hatred, I think you’d be influenced really easily by the shape of your vessel, Mom. That’s why I think it’s better not to do that.」

Honestly, Vandalieu couldn’t believe that. The fact that Darcia had almost no hatred and malice.

How could she not lose herself to hatred and malice after having been killed in such a cruel way?

He had once asked her directly, but she had only told him,「Because Vandalieu is alive and doing well.」

『I see, well then, make sure you don’t do anything like letting your enemy cut your flesh and bones to break his bones*, okay?』

TLN*: The same phrase as earlier.

If Darcia’s words were true and Vandalieu still being alive was the reason she worried about him without feeling any malice towards those who had killed her, then that only made his desire for revenge on them burn even stronger.

『Don’t do anything dangerous against the people who are coming with an extermination force this time, either.』

But now wasn’t the time for that. It was nowhere near, not even close to the time for that. Vandalieu suppressed his desire for revenge back into the bottom of his heart.

「Yeah, I promise. I won’t do anything dangerous.」

• Name: Bone Bird
• Rank: 4
• Race: Specter Bird
• Level: 37
• Passive skills:
  • Dark Vision
  • Spirit Form: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Superhuman Strength: Level 2
• Active skills:
  • Silent Steps: Level 1
  • Swift Flight: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Projectile Fire: Level 2 (NEW!)

• Name: Sam
• Rank: 4
• Race: Blood Carriage
• Level: 72
• Passive skills:
  • Spirit Form: Level 3
  • Superhuman Strength: Level 3
  • Rough Road Travel: Level 2
  • Impact Resistance: Level 2
  • Precise Driving: Level 3
  • Comfort Maintenance: Level 1 (NEW!)
• Active skills:
  • Silent Steps: Level 1
  • High-Speed Travel: Level 1
  • Charge: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
  • Size Alteration: Level 1 (NEW!)

Monster explanation:

【Blood Carriages】

Chariots covered in an indescribable amount of death and hatred, so much that they are stained pure-red with the blood of both their enemies and allies on the battlefield and turned into Undead to become Blood Chariots… These are the carriage version of those.

Normally, the body of a carriage wouldn’t be covered in such an indescribable amount of death and hatred, so Sam may be the first instance of a Blood Carriage appearing in Lambda.

Blood Carriages are Undead that feel only the urge to murder and think only of crushing living things to death, so they they do not allow anyone to ride them even if there is space for them to do so.

However, Sam allows people to ride him (mainly Vandalieu) and even does everything he can to make his journeys comfortable for his passengers. Perhaps because he has been training using his【Precise Driving】skill every night so that there will be no problems when they cross the mountain range in the future, he has acquired the【Comfort Maintenance】and【Size Alteration】skills.

In addition, his strength in battle has been improved due to the spikes and armor that Tarea has installed. Furthermore, this additional equipment was fused with the carriage that is Sam’s body when his Rank increased.