The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

This chapter was sponsored by: Nicholas S. ($30), Ceb N. ($5), Anthony R. ($100), Michael Y. ($15), Simon S. ($50) [Extra length]

《The Levels of the Multi-Cast, Armor Technique, Shield Technique, Unarmed Fighting Technique, Group Binding Technique and Surpa.s.s Limits: Fragments Skill have increased!》

Vandalieu had recently been having very unpleasant dreams. His life was going very well - He had achieved one of his life goals, the resurrection of his mother Darcia, and he had recently changed Jobs to Spirit Warrior. And yet, despite that, he was seeing extraordinarily terrible things in his sleep.

He wasn"t entering the dreams of others to hand them something (like a divine protection), nor had his senses become entangled with those of one of his Demon King Familiars.

They were dreams of a fight to the death against the Five-colored Blades, led by the detestable "Blue-flamed Sword" Heinz. However, if that was all, the dreams would not have been that unpleasant… There were several unpleasant things in the dream, and these made the dreams very unpleasant for Vandalieu.

First of all, he could not move his body freely. His field of vision and even his mouth did not reflect Vandalieu"s will. No matter what he tried, his body was controlled by someone else.

Well, it was a dream, so perhaps this could not be helped. However, the unpleasant parts of the dream could not be excused with "Because it"s a dream."

"I don"t know why you"ve appeared here… nor do I know why you carry the Demon King"s fragments," said the Heinz in Vandalieu"s dreams.

Heinz and his companions were slightly older in Vandalieu"s dreams than they had been when Vandalieu encountered them in the city of Niarki and when they fought against Ternecia. The magic sword that emitted blue flames hadn"t changed, but it seemed that the rest of the party"s equipment had been replaced by higher-quality items.

Perhaps this was the reason, but the Five-colored Blades in Vandalieu"s dream were very clearly stronger than when he had observed them through Lemures.

Back then, the Five-colored Blades had allowed Ternecia to escape from a five-on-one situation despite having her cornered, but if they had been as they were now, they would certainly have been able to slay her without giving her a chance to flee.

I don"t really hate that part of the dream, either. In fact, it"s realistic and rea.s.suring that they"ve become stronger than they were four years ago. But what I can"t accept is… the fact that "these guys" are treating me as an ally, Vandalieu thought.

The "these guys" that Vandalieu referred to were the Pure-breed Vampires Ternecia and Gubamon, who were quietly cackling beside him. He fiercely refused to accept this.

They had never considered him as an ally, let alone fought alongside him.

"But we shall defeat you today!" Heinz declared as he and his companions faced Vandalieu with resolve in their expressions.

Against Vandalieu"s will, the Vandalieu inside the dream moved in unison with Ternecia and Gubamon to engage the Five-colored Blades in battle.

It was true that Vandalieu had transplanted parts from the Live-dead Ternecia into Bellmond and Eleanora, and that he had used the Demon Eye of Destruction recovered from Gubamon as one of the materials for Darcia"s new body.

But why did he have to fight alongside these enemies whose souls he had destroyed, even if it was a dream?

The thing that made this even more unpleasant was that the Vandalieu in these dreams was far weaker than the present Vandalieu.

Among the fragments of the Demon King, I mainly use only the blood and horns. The ink sacs and suction cups are thrown in only occasionally, and I"m not using the eyeb.a.l.l.s or antennae. I can use Dead Spirit Magic, but I can"t summon Princess Levia and Orbia herself, nor can I call on Pete and the others from Group Binding Technique. I can"t use Dark King Magic or Hollow King Magic like Death Cannon or Hollow Cannon. Most importantly, the Levels of my other Skills and my Attribute Values are much lower! Vandalieu cursed in his mind.

He wasn"t looking at his Status in the dream, but the dream Vandalieu"s movements were clearly slower and feebler than the current Vandalieu"s, and his attacks were of poorer quality.

He wasn"t even using the advanced Unarmed Fighting Technique martial skills that the current Vandalieu was capable of performing.

And for some reason, he had become unable to use Soul Devour. Even when he landed blows upon Heinz, Delizah and Jennifer, there were no signs of any damage to their Mana. It seemed that he could hinder their activated Heroic Spirit Descent Skills; there were shattering sounds as his attacks landed, but he didn"t feel the sensation of actually destroying the heroic spirits" souls, so there was no point in this.

On the other hand, Heinz and his companions had clearly become more skilled than they had been when Vandalieu observed them fighting Ternecia. Their Attribute Values had become higher, of course, and they were even attacking Vandalieu with martial skills that he didn"t know.

On top of that… this wasn"t the first time that Vandalieu was having this dream. He had had dreams of this scenario numerous times. Each time, Vandalieu and the two Pure-breed Vampires had killed Heinz and his companions.

But every time Vandalieu had this dream, every member of the Five-colored Blades was growing stronger. To be more precise, it wasn"t that their actual ability was increasing a significant amount. At first, they had seemed to be hesitant to attack, but that behavior had disappeared as Vandalieu kept having these dreams.

Using their experience from the previous day, they would come up with plans, prepare items… Yesterday, Vandalieu had been using surprise attacks with Sharp Tongue - an Unarmed Fighting Technique martial skill utilizing the effects of the Body Extension: Tongue Skill - to great effect. But in the dream that he was having now, it was largely ineffective.

The puppets created from ink using the Demon King"s ink sacs were seen through straight away.

The Five-colored Blades were clearly learning from their experiences.

Perhaps they were learning how to fight against Ternecia and Gubamon as well as Vandalieu; they had become able to deal with the use of the Demon Eyes, spells and even martial skills that utilized the fragments of the Demon King.

Despite that, Ternecia, Gubamon and the Vandalieu inside the dream were not learning anything from the previous battles. They were showing the same openings they had shown in the previous dreams, and in tonight"s dream, they were being wounded because these openings were being utilized.

It feels as if I"ve become an enemy in a video game that only moves according to a thought-process routine that someone has programmed, and Heinz and the others are the game"s players. It might not be surprising for this to not make any sense. It"s just a dream, after all. But… even for a simulation inside my dreams, isn"t it too favored for my enemies? Vandalieu complained to himself in his mind as he watched Gubamon fall beside him, his Demon King"s carapace shattered and his Demon Eye of Destruction crushed.

But it seemed that Heinz did not hear these words.

It wasn"t that he wanted to talk to Heinz and his companions in a dream. He at least wanted to convince Jennifer and Diana to leave the Five-colored Blades, and ask them what relation they had to that Dhampir girl, but these things were meaningless to ask in a dream.

However -

"If you hold the Demon King"s fragments in the real world as well… no matter what your circ.u.mstances are, even if you are the child of the woman that I let die, we must defeat you. The Demon King"s fragments… We can"t leave them be!" Heinz declared, seemingly shaking off his doubts as he closed in on Vandalieu.

It was extremely unpleasant for Vandalieu to hear such things without being able to respond.

This unpleasant feeling filled Vandalieu as Heinz cut through the wall of the Demon King"s blood, the Impact-Negating Barrier, deflected a futile Unarmed Fighting Technique martial skill and buried his sword inside Vandalieu"s body.

But the blade of Heinz"s magic sword cut through Vandalieu"s body, diagonally downwards from the shoulder. Vandalieu felt himself fall to his knees… felt the strength leave his body. In the corner of his vision, he could see pieces of what was Ternecia just moments ago, lying on the ground. The pieces showed no signs of regenerating.

It seemed that Heinz and his companions had finally achieved victory in tonight"s dream.

"… From the bottom of my heart, I pray that this is just an illusion, and that things are different in reality," said Heinz, averting his gaze from Vandalieu and closing his eyes.

Indeed, things were different in reality. The real Vandalieu had become far stronger than the one that had been defeated in this dream. He had absorbed numerous fragments of the Demon King and increased his Attribute Values as well as his Skill Levels. He even had the Gyubarzo staff, and he had true companions at his side.

He would never allow a situation where things were so convenient for Heinz.

I"ll definitely kill you, Vandalieu thought, and he got the feeling that his mouth finally managed to move; the dream Vandalieu managed to utter the same words.

But in the next moment, Vandalieu"s consciousness faded.

《The Levels of the Rapid Regeneration, Enhanced Agility, Surpa.s.s Limits: Fragments, Transcend Limits, Materialization and Abyss Skills have increased!》

《Spirit Form has awakened into Soul Form!》

《Artillery Technique Skill has awakened into Demon King Artillery Technique!》

Heinz turned his gaze back towards Vandalieu in surprise, but Vandalieu was already turning into dust and disappearing.

"Heinz, are you alright?" Edgar asked.

"Y-yeah, it"s nothing," Heinz replied, but he looked dumbfounded; it certainly did not look as if it was "nothing."

After arriving at the 50th floor, Heinz and his companions had suffered ten consecutive defeats against Vandalieu and the two Pure-breed Vampires that had appeared there.

Approximately four years had pa.s.sed since they fought Ternecia. During that time, Heinz had awakened his Guider Skill, and the entire party had undergone Job changes, gained divine protections and even acquired Heroic Spirit Descent. Despite that, they had been defeated ten times.

That was because the Vandalieu that could not possibly exist in the real world and the two Pure-breed Vampires had displayed incredibly advanced coordination, and yet each of them was prepared to sacrifice their allies without a moment"s hesitation.

The carelessness and hysteria that Ternecia had displayed in reality had been absent during these battles, and Gubamon had remained calm throughout, never making any poor decisions as a result of anger or fear.

More importantly, Vandalieu had been an absolute anomaly. He had the appearance of a young boy, but he had created countless clones, freely cast spells that Heinz and his companions had never heard of, unleashed elemental spells (though these were actually Dead Spirit Magic Spells) while simultaneously using the Demon King"s fragments, and attacked with a tongue that was coated in a deadly, venomous saliva and extended several meters.

On top of that, he had turned the ground, walls and ceiling into Golems. These Golems themselves were nothing more than small fry that Heinz and his companions could defeat with a single light swing of their weapons, but they had not been able to avoid losing their footing when the ground beneath them began to move.

However, the greatest reason that Heinz had suffered defeat to Vandalieu and the two Pure-breed Vampires ten times was a mental problem.

Long ago, Heinz"s party had captured and handed a witch… a Dark Elf woman who had given birth to Dhampir, over to a high priest of Alda at the request of the Adventurers" Guild. Facing the boy who might be her son, Heinz"s limbs had trembled and his swordsmanship had been dulled.

That had been taken advantage of, until yesterday.

"Are you really alright, Heinz? I have said it many times, and I think you know this yourself, but that was not the boy we met in the Adventurers" Guild in Niarki. It was just an illusion," said Diana. "And if the real him also possesses the Demon King"s fragments, multiple of them, then… we must defeat him, as we have done up until now. That is the right thing to do. And doing so will become an act of atonement for you."

The fate of those infested by the Demon King"s fragments, no matter who they were, was a loss of sanity and going on a rampage in a desire for the other fragments. Those with multiple fragments would undergo this process faster, and would become a greater threat once they did so.

The only thing that others could do for such individuals was to kill them as quickly as possible… This was common sense in human society.

"… I do understand that. That"s why I was praying that things are different in reality," Heinz managed to say.

"Diana says that, but I personally can"t believe that that was the real one," said Jennifer, controlling the tone of her voice so that it was bright, but not unnaturally so. "I mean, think about it. He cast spells that we don"t know as well as strange elemental spells, created countless clones and used his tongue like a frog. In what world does a Dhampir like that exist? And those were all separate abilities from the Demon King"s fragments, weren"t they? Don"t lose hope."

"I don"t think the chance that he coincidentally found the Demon King"s blood and got infested by it is zero, but I think the other things are simply impossible no matter how you think about it," Delizah added. "The fact that he had other fragments… No matter what kind of a genius he was, casting spells like that with Chant Revocation at that age… Turning the surrounding walls and pillars into Golems at will… All of those would be impossible, even for the kinds of mages whose names are written in legends."

It seemed that Jennifer and Delizah believed that such a Vandalieu could not exist in the real world. At the very least, this Vandalieu could not possibly be the Dhampir they had met in the city of Niarki, the son of the witch - Dark Elf - that Heinz was thinking of.

Heinz finally managed to take his mind off Vandalieu and got to his feet.

"Alright, once we"ve had some rest, we"ll move on to the next floor - ugh!" he groaned mid-sentence, staggering.

"What is the matter, Heinz?!" asked Diana.

"Th-that"s… It seems that he turned his own blood into poison as he was dealt the fatal blow…" Heinz muttered.

"That brat! How can he use such a cowardly trick when he"s just an illusion!" Edgar spat.

"Diana, neutralize the poison! If Heinz dies here, we might have to start over from here tomorrow!" said Jennifer.

Diana managed to neutralize Vandalieu"s parting gift that put Heinz on the verge of death, and the Five-colored Blades headed for the entrance to the next floor.

Watching them, Curatos, the G.o.d of records, felt disappointment at the failure of his plan.

Because the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne was still alive, Curatos had not reproduced him. However, Curatos had reproduced Vandalieu, even though he was quite possibly still changing and becoming even more of an anomaly right this moment. He had done so to make the Five-colored Blades realize that Vandalieu was just as evil as - no, more evil than - the Pure-breed Vampires.

Unlike the Dhampir girl Selen who was under the protection of Heinz and his companions, Vandalieu played with lives, defiled the dead and put the entire world in danger. Curatos had wanted to show that to Heinz and his companions.

That was why Curatos had made Vandalieu use the Demon King"s fragments at the beginning of the first battle. He had wanted to show the Five-colored Blades that Vandalieu possessed the Demon King"s fragments and make them realize that Vandalieu was the one who had taken the horns from Ternecia, the one they had let escape.

However, this had not been enough to make Heinz and his companions completely change their perception of Vandalieu.

"As there is the trial on the 65th floor, there is no need for impatience," Curatos murmured to himself. "If they still possess doubts after that, there is also the option of recreating the Mirg shield-nation"s battle against Talosheim and showing it to them."

Curatos was the G.o.d who governed records. It was a simple matter for him to show Vandalieu"s wickedness to Heinz and his companions.

He knew that this would not be a pleasant experience for them. But it was necessary.

"Because eventually, they must awaken Bellwood who slumbers in the Labyrinth of Sin, a place that even my lord Alda cannot step foot into," Curatos reminded himself. "But… was that just a coincidence?"

Curatos was slightly suspicious. Had he programmed the recreated Vandalieu to attack with a trap even after it was destroyed?

But Vandalieu had been known to cast a spell that turned his own blood into a deadly poison, so Curatos turned his attention to planning the structure of the trials of the 51st floor and beyond, convincing himself that the recreated Vandalieu had simply happened to do so the moment before it was destroyed.

"That"s an unpleasant, or rather, scary dream," said Kanako, who had been transformed into a Chaos Elf by Darcia.

That was her opinion about the dream that Vandalieu had just had, which he had told her immediately after waking up.

"… I didn"t feel like it was scary, though," said Vandalieu, blinking several times in surprise.

"No, we thought they were scary when we heard about them, too!" said Isis.

"Yeah, Hitomi-chan said she thought they"re scary, too," said Jack.

"They are scary, right?" said Kanako, putting her hands on her hips as the others agreed with her. "I mean, they"re dreams where you fought enemies that were weak at first but got stronger and stronger, and in the end, you were killed. Those are nightmares! Like a horror story!"

"I see. If you think about it that way, they are indeed scary dreams," said Vandalieu.

"… It seems like you imagined it and understood, but you"re still not convinced, right, Onii-chan?" said Kanako.

Vandalieu narrowed his eyes as he ignored a certain part of Kanako"s sentence, then nodded. "Well, yes. It"s just a dream, after all."

A dream where he was wounded and eventually killed. No matter how vivid and realistic the dream was, Vandalieu had not felt any fear, as his constantly-active Danger Sense: Death had given no response.

It was a spell that detected any kind of danger of death, and since it had not given any response, Vandalieu had known that he would not actually die, no matter how gruesome a death he died in the dream. As he had been sure of this, he felt no fear, even if he did find the dreams unpleasant.

"But if it was a dream of Heinz killing Mom and everyone else, then I probably wouldn"t have been able to stay calm, even with no response from Danger Sense: Death," Vandalieu added.

Another large reason why he had felt no fear was that the ones dying in the dream were only himself as well as Ternecia and Gubamon, who had been hated enemies and certainly could not be called his friends. No matter what kind of horrible fates those two met, Vandalieu felt nothing.

If they had been Darcia, Eleanora, Zadiris, Borkus or any of his other companions, he would not be as composed as he was now.

Kanako hesitated a little before asking: "… Onii-chan, am I included in that "everyone?""

"There"s no way that you wouldn"t be included," Vandalieu replied immediately, ignoring a certain part of her sentence once more. "Kanako, you are one of my companions and a citizen of Talosheim."

"Th-thank you so much, Onii-chan!" she cried emotionally, embracing Legion and rubbing her cheek against the cheek of Vandalieu, who was buried inside Legion with only his face sticking out.

Kanako"s behavior seemed to set Legion"s members off, too.

"Vandalieu, what about us?" asked Isis.

Berserk gave a questioning growl.

"Yeah, what about us?" asked Baba Yaga.

Legion moved forward, burying the top half of Kanako"s body in them as well.

A minute later, Legion realized that Kanako was performing a frantic dance with just her legs, and released her. She gasped for air, shoulders heaving, before finally speaking again.

"So, Onii-chan, there"s a reason for this sneaky event where the younger sister goes to wake up her sleeping Onii-chan," Kanako said.

"… Was it that kind of event?" Vandalieu asked.

Kanako suddenly averted her gaze.

"Kanako just came in while Vandalieu was sleeping with us, right?" said Pluto.

"Who"s the one who saw us and screamed?!" said Isis.

"It can"t be helped! Anyone would be shocked if they saw Onii-chan buried inside Legion up to his neck!" Kanako shouted defensively.

Indeed, due to his recent unpleasant dreams, Vandalieu had been sleeping with Legion… buried inside them from his neck down.

Incidentally, he had slept with the Patchwork Hydra Zombie Yamata the previous night, and with the larvae in the Gehenna Bees" nest the night before that. It was like a reverse body pillow effect.

"Ah, these dreams are to be kept a secret from Mom. I don"t want to make Mom worry over something unimportant like this," said Vandalieu.

"Yes, yes," Kanako said quickly. "So, the reason I"m here is, I wanted to put you in a good mood so that I could ask you to make a personal transformation staff for DarciMama too, Onii-chan."

"… I think Vandalieu would operate the same as always if all you did was put him in a bit of a good mood after waking up," said Shade.

"Shade"s right. Especially since you"re trying to put him in a good mood all the time anyway," Enma pointed out.

"Ugh, I"ve become such a cheap woman…!" Kanako lamented, hanging her head.

"By the way, it"s become pretty difficult to ignore now, so I have to ask. Why are you calling me "Onii-chan?"" Vandalieu finally asked.

Kanako recovered immediately, looking energetic again in an instant. "About that, Darcisan turned me into a Chaos Elf, didn"t she? I didn"t gain an Orichalc.u.m skeleton, but thanks to her, my Night Vision has turned into Dark Vision, I"ve gained the Rapid Regeneration Skill, I"ve become able to change the shape or color of a part of my body using Chaos… So, when someone transforms another person into a member of one of Vida"s races, they"re like parent and child, right? That"s why Darcia is Mama, and you"re Onii-chan," she said happily.

"… You don"t have to force yourself, you know. You"re my former cla.s.smate, Kanako-san," said Vandalieu.

"No, I"m not really forcing myself," said Kanako. "Ah, could it be that you"d prefer "Nii-san" or "Ani-gimi?""

TLN: I"m sure you"ve all heard "Nii-san" before; "Ani-gimi" is an uncommon and very formal way to refer to your older brother.

"No," said Vandalieu, immediately shaking his head.

"Really? But Aniki or Ani-ue doesn"t really work with my gender…"

"Please call me by my name."

"Hmm, I see. Vandalieu, you"re developing your secondary s.e.xual characteristics and you"ll go into p.u.b.erty soon, and you"ll eventually have twice as many women as you do now. So I was thinking that I should make you seem as impressive as possible," Kanako explained.

It seemed that she was having similar worries to the Four Drakonid Elders of the Drakonid nation.

"I don"t think I"ll have twice as many. I postponed those kinds of talks with the people from the Drakonid nation, too," said Vandalieu.

"But Vandalieu, Schneider and the others are going around the villages of Vida"s races on the Amid Empire side of the continent, so won"t you have more relationships from that?" said Pluto.

Her point was reasonable, though it was unlikely that there would be a candidate from every village.

"… So, a personal transformation staff for Mom," said Vandalieu, forcibly returning to the original topic. "I won"t ask why you want me to make one and give it to her, since I can imagine your reasons."

"You can, right?" said Kanako with a nod, making no attempt at hiding them.

Having been resurrected as "Vida"s incarnation," Darcia had gained a pa.s.sionate popularity among the nations inside the Boundary Mountain Range.

There was a movement to erect a statue of Darcia beside the statue of Vida in every nation"s Churches, and although sermons and festivals were being held back for now because she had only just been resurrected recently, there were many proposals to hold them once a certain amount of time had pa.s.sed.

Schneider had heard the news of Darcia"s resurrection through a Goblin communication device. He had said that Vandalieu, Darcia or both might need to come to the villages that the Storm of Tyranny could not persuade.

That was how great an impact the G.o.ddess"s incarnation had. If Darcia were to wield a transformation staff, the popularity of magical girls would not remain among children and a small group of fans; it would spread among all of the people inside the Boundary Mountain Range… and even possibly among Vida"s races that lived on the outside, as well as believers of Vida in human societies.

There was no way that Kanako would miss that possibility.

"Which means the answer is no after all, right? Well, it can"t be helped, can it," said Kanako.

"Yes, it hasn"t been long since Mom"s resurrection, so it will take some time to complete," said Vandalieu.

"You"re right. No matter how effective transformation staves are, you won"t let your mother become an exhibition… wait, you will?!" she asked startled.

She had actually come here a.s.suming that the answer would be no, but Vandalieu had already begun work on creating a transformation staff for Darcia.

"Kanako, since I"m the emperor, I fully understand that my mother will draw a lot of attention," said Vandalieu. "In any case, transformation staves are liquid metal clothes that serve as armor and magical support equipment, what you would have called "media" in Origin. They"re not dubious items."

That was how Vandalieu perceived transformation staves. It was true that the post-transformation clothing of the transformation staves was a little revealing by Earth"s standards.

But Zadiris and Zandia had always worn highly-revealing clothes from the beginning. Darcia had also worn tight clothes that revealed the curves of her body back when she was a Dark Elf.

That was why Vandalieu did not really mind… though there were technical problems involved as well. Increasing the surface area of the cloth too much would add a lot of weight, as they were made of liquid metal, and it would become more difficult to maintain the bonds between the fibers of the clothing.

That was why he did not really have any objections to giving Darcia a transformation staff. In fact, he was building it with the desire of making it his mother"s best outfit.

"Then is it alright for DarciMama to become a Magical Girl?" Kanako asked.

"Mom is free to make her own choice as to whether to take that Job, and it"s up to her whether she wants to use a transformation staff," Vandalieu replied. "As a severe mother-con, it"s only natural for me to try to provide her with the best equipment possible."

"Even if you"re aware that you are one, you don"t have to actually say it out loud…" one of Legion"s members muttered.

"Then I"ll do my best to invite her on-stage once her transformation staff is done!" Kanako said happily.

It seemed that the possibility of Darcia becoming a magical girl and making a stage debut was now on the table.

"By the way, where"s Melissa?" Vandalieu asked.

"No way! You prefer Melissa over me?!" Kanako cried.

"No, that"s not what I mean. I was just asking because I thought that it"s unusual for you two to not be together."

"Melissa is out shopping with Doug today. She said she wants to buy new clothes because her skin color"s different now. She also said she wanted to have a meal with him to cheer him up from the fact that he"s still a human despite drinking Vandalieu"s blood," said Jack. "I think it"s just a date, though," he added.

"You"re right, Jack. Melissa and Doug have gone out on a date," said Hitomi.

It seemed that the two of them were busy with their own matters.

Suddenly, Vandalieu realized that Kanako had never invited Melissa to join her idol activities.

Though past events had brought them together as companions that got along well with each other, perhaps their private lives were separate.

Incidentally, Doug had tried drinking Vandalieu"s blood together with Luciliano to see if they would transform from humans into a new race, but this had ended in failure.

This was a reproduction of the ritual in which a Pure-breed Vampire turned a human into a n.o.ble-born Vampire, but no change had happened to them after they drank Vandalieu"s blood while bathing in the sunlight.

If one were to ask Vandalieu, he would have said this was an obvious outcome, however. In fact, he would have liked to ask in return why they thought that doing this would bring about a transformation in the first place.

"Never mind Doug and Melissa"s date; where is DarciMama?" asked Kanako. "I want to hurry up and invite her into my idol unit."

"She was in a Dungeon until early morning, increasing her Level and testing her new body out, and she"s inside the Job-changing room of the Explorers" Guild now because she"s Level 100. It seems that she"s having a hard time deciding which Job to take," said Vandalieu.

Meanwhile, as Vandalieu expected, Darcia was struggling to choose a Job, having made the Demon King familiar accompanying her wait outside the Job-changing room.

"What a hard choice… Who knew there would be so many! What should I do?" she murmured to herself.

Darcia"s resurrection had reset her Job history. When she touched the crystal ball, a countless number of available Jobs had been displayed in her head, far more than she could have imagined.

There were apprentice Jobs of every kind, mage-type Jobs, warrior-type Jobs and even multiple creation-type Jobs. There weren"t any peculiar Jobs that Vandalieu had made appear, nor were there any special Jobs like Guider Jobs, but there were many Jobs that Darcia had never heard of.

This was because Darcia"s Attribute Values and Skill Levels were high, thus meeting the requirements of acquiring numerous Jobs even though it was her first Job change. But the biggest factor was that unlike Vandalieu, she did not bear the "Cannot learn existing Jobs" curse.

"There"s even the Spirit Warrior Job. Vandalieu has already acquired this Job, so it"s alright… and it doesn"t seem like there are any other Jobs that Vandalieu hasn"t acquired yet."

It was unclear as to up to which point the "Cannot learn existing Jobs" curse deemed Jobs as "existing," but the truth was that if someone else were to acquire a Job, Vandalieu would certainly become unable to acquire it. Worried about this, Darcia had asked Vandalieu which Jobs were currently available to him at this point in time.

"The "Wild Spirit" and "Dark Battery Cannoneer" Jobs that he said were there when he acquired Spirit Warrior aren"t there," Darcia continued to mutter to herself. "Then I just need to choose a Job from here, but… which should I pick? Should I start with the reliable "Mage" Job? Or should I choose a Job that seems like it will increase the Levels of superior Skills? It wouldn"t be bad to improve my water and wind attributes, which haven"t awakened yet… I haven"t learned Armor Technique or Shield Technique yet, but maybe I should take Demon Eye User to become more skilled in using the Demon Eye of Regeneration."

The Spiritual Magic Skill that Darcia had once possessed was only Level 2, as real spirits did not exist in Vida"s Divine Realm and she had only managed to practice with fake spirits. The Levels of her Skills allowing her to use water- and wind-attribute magic were Level 10, but they had not awakened into superior Skills yet. Perhaps she ought to improve those?

Or should she acquire a combat-type Job with the aim of awakening superior Skills that would allow her to fight in close-quarters combat? Or should she take Guardian Warrior in order to make use of the resilience granted to her by Divine Metal Skeleton, and acquire the Armor Technique and Shield Technique Skills… thus making up for her weaknesses?

As a third choice, perhaps Demon Eye User was a good idea.

The Demon Eye of Destruction taken from Gubamon had become the Demon Eye of Regeneration, a Demon Eye with the complete opposite properties, as a result of the reconstruction of Darcia"s body. The cause of this was unknown, but it was likely because Vandalieu had combined the root of life with all kinds of materials, or because Darcia"s mind had spent time in the Divine Realm of Vida, the G.o.ddess of life and love, or a combination of all of these factors.

Darcia considered the benefits of becoming skilled in the use of this Demon Eye. It was a Demon Eye that regenerated those that it gazed at, allowing her to use it to heal others, but there were also all kinds of other uses for it.

If she stared at them for a while, cracked vases, torn paintings and broken swords would all return to their original form; she could even restore such items from numerous fragments, as long as they were a certain size… though she wasn"t able to regenerate missing Orichalc.u.m from broken fragments, which would allow her to produce infinite quant.i.ties of it.

But even that might become possible to some extent if she improved her skill in the use of the Demon Eye of Regeneration.

"But still… Hmm…"

Looking from option to option, Darcia was having difficulty making a decision. She had never had problems deciding when she was a Dark Elf, since there hadn"t been so many Jobs, but…

"But I"m happy just to be able to change Jobs at all. I"ve heard that there are people who struggle after going to the Adventurers" Guild because no Jobs appeared… but are there any Jobs that look like they"ll give bonuses to both combat-type and magic-type Skills?" Darcia wondered. "I want to be useful when Vandalieu goes to the Orbaume Kingdom, after all."

Soon… Likely sometime after next year, Vandalieu would go to the Orbaume Kingdom.

His objectives there were things that he had failed to achieve before - creating allies within the kingdom, registering at a Guild like the Commerce Guild to obtain identification and guarantee his place in society, setting up a base to gather intelligence… as well as the objective of disposing of Murakami and those with him, who had apparently been reincarnated there. If possible, he also wanted to erase the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne.

Vandalieu had also explained that he wanted to unite the believers of Vida inside the kingdom as the "Holy Son of Vida" if he could.

"It"ll be after me and Vandalieu"s bodies become stable, and he"s received the Demon King"s fragments from the Pure-breed Vampires that are sleeping in Vida"s Resting Grounds… so the start of next year, I suppose," Darcia murmured. "I want to become able to fight alongside Vandalieu by then. Not that I know if there"ll be an opportunity for that."

While Vandalieu was away from Talosheim, it was possible that the Storm of Tyranny might ask her to help convince the members of Vida"s races on the outside.

They were having trouble convincing the elder chieftains of the hidden Dark Elf villages, including the one that was Darcia"s birthplace.

The truth was that Darcia was actually related to one of the elder chieftains. From that chieftain"s point of view, Darcia was just one out of his many dozens, many hundreds of descendants; he had only met her once when Darcia was a child, but that was the extent of the relationship between them.

Well, she did imagine that Schneider and Dalton were relying on her status as Vida"s incarnation.

"If possible, I want to take Vandalieu with me and have him meet Mother and Father, though. Ah, oh no. I need to focus on choosing a Job right now," said Darcia, starting to look for a convenient Job once more.

But she was having trouble finding such a Job among the ones available to her.

Should she try out several Jobs that gave widespread bonuses, or should she stop here and consult Vandalieu first?

As Darcia pondered this choice, one Job suddenly caught her eye.

"… Magical Girl, the Job that Zadiris-san and Kanako-san have acquired. If I recall, it"s a Job that apparently gives bonuses to combat-related Skills as well as magic-related Skills. And it seems like it would be easy to gain popularity from those around me… Maybe it would help me with my work as the incarnation of the G.o.ddess?" she wondered. "The problem is that I"m not a "girl…" Well, that"s fine, right? I"m 0 years old again now that I"ve gained a new body, after all."

And so, Darcia changed Jobs to Magical Girl.

Far away, in Vida"s Resting Grounds, Vida may have been shouting, "Wait a second! You might become known as the G.o.ddess of magical girls!" But these words did not reach Darcia"s ears.

Job explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Magic Cannoneer

This seems to be a Job that mainly provides bonuses to creating a cannon barrel and projectiles with the Demon King"s fragments and using either magic or the power of another fragment to fire the projectiles. It can likely be a.s.sumed that another Job would appear if one were to mainly use artillery with kinetic energy provided by gunpowder, such as Cannoneer or Gunman.

As for Attribute Values, it seems to help increase Stamina and Strength, while making it difficult to increase Agility.

Based on its name, the "Dark Battery Cannoneer" Job that appeared when Master changed from this Job would appear to be a superior version of this Job, but… it also seems that there are other factors mixed in.