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 G.o.ddess of life and love and Zantark, the war-G.o.d 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 G.o.dwin 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-cla.s.s Dungeons around the nation on their own.
Even the weakest monsters that appeared on the shallower floors of B-cla.s.s 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 n.o.ble 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 n.o.ble 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 va.s.sal 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 cla.s.s 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 G.o.d,” said Yura. “I want Oniwaka to become a fine warrior that can be of use in a battle against the empire, but…”
“No, Oniwaksan 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 doc.u.ments 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 doc.u.ments 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, j.a.panese, 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 a.s.sume he got drunk on his mood. He just a.s.sumed 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 a.s.sumption 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?”
“Dannsama, 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 st.u.r.dy 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-cla.s.s n.o.bles’ 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.