The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

「O Prophesized Holy Son, thank you for gracing us with your presence and descending upon the【Capital of the Sun】, Talosheim. Please grant salvation to us, who only await to return to dust!」(Mysterious Undead)

As the mummy-like Undead pressed his hands together in prayer with these words, Vandalieu was dumbfounded for a short while. He quickly came back to his senses when Darcia called out to him.

『Hey, Vandalieu, are you alright?』(Darcia)

「! Ah, yes. I’m fine, I was just a little surprised. Could you please explain? Err...」(Vandalieu)

「Of course, o Holy Son. I am the Lich Nuaza.」(Nuaza)

A Lich. These were people with magic-related skills that retained their knowledge and techniques after death and became Undead monsters. This Lich, named Nuaza, continued speaking.

「The tragic sight before the Holy Son right now is the t.i.tan race’s fortress city-nation of Talosheim, renowned as the【Capital of the Sun.】This city flourished through the secrets left behind by the fallen hero Zakkart and the blessings of the G.o.ddess Vida. But as you can see, due to the destruction in the wake of the sudden invasion by the Mirg shield-nation two hundred years ago, it is now a Devil’s Nest. Please grant salvation to us, who only await –」(Nuaza)

「I’m sorry, but could I have you explain the details further?」(Vandalieu)

Conversing with this Undead required patience, but it was also important to interrupt it and guide the conversation from time to time.

To summarize Nuaza’s explanation, the t.i.tans had partic.i.p.ated in the battle between the G.o.ddess Vida and Alda a hundred thousand years ago. Though they were defeated, the surviving t.i.tans gathered here and built this city-nation.

This place was in the middle of the Boundary Mountain Range that was mostly made up of Devil’s Nests, and the hours of the day that this place received the sun’s light were short. But thanks to the secrets and knowledge left behind by the hero Zakkart, the city received abundant blessings from the sun.

And then the t.i.tans used their naturally robust bodies to open up the land, cultivated it, made affluent fields of crops, used the name of their ancestor to name the city Talosheim, the【Capital of the Sun】and worshipped the G.o.ddess Vida and the hero Zakkart.

They trained their bodies, improved their martial skills, stepped into Dungeons in search of materials they lacked to find an abundance of stone to use in building, and then erected a st.u.r.dy, beautiful, white fortress.

The t.i.tans obtained stone, metal and meat by fighting monsters.

And then they discovered a tunnel in the eastern mountain range that had been built in ancient times, so they constructed a highway leading to the Orbaume Kingdom and began commercial trading.

The products of their Dungeons sold for high prices in the Orbaume Kingdom, bringing prosperity and wealth to Talosheim.

However, that prosperity was laid to waste by the sudden appearance of military forces from the Mirg shield-nation.

「With no prior notice, an army simply appeared one day over the mountain range and marched onto Talosheim.」(Nuaza)

The following is what could be deduced from the stories told later to supplement Nuaza’s explanations by Sam and his daughters who had been employed by n.o.blemen of the Mirg shield-nation in their past lives, and Kachia who was waiting for Vandalieu and his party’s return.

About two hundred years ago, the Mirg shield-nation was ordered to wipe out the nation of the t.i.tans in the name of the Amid Empire and the Church of Alda.

To preserve the relationship between the shield-nation of Mirg, which had been building up its power as a nation, and the Amid Empire. To remove some of the power that the nation had gathered by forcing it into conflict with the t.i.tan nation. To act in accordance with their religious worshipping of the hero Bellwood*. These were the reasons behind the Mirg shield-nation’s invasion.

Bellwood was the representative of the three heroes that had fought on the side of Alda, the G.o.d of Law and Fate. Vandalieu learned for the first time that Bellwood had constantly said that the heroes being carelessly brought here to share the knowledge and technology from other worlds was robbing the people of this world of the opportunity to make progress on their own. He believed that while it might produce good results in the short-term, it would have disastrous effects in the long term.

Because of this, Bellwood had frequent disagreements with the hero Zakkart, who was doing his best to spread the knowledge, technology and culture from his own world, such as finding rice seeds and using magic to selectively breed them to advance the cultivation of rice, before Zakkart was revived as an Undead by the G.o.ddess Vida.

And so with the battle between Alda and Vida as an opportunity, Bellwood and the other heroes went around and destroyed as much of the technology and culture that Zakkart had built as possible.

The Amid Empire that considered themselves Bellwood’s descendants and the Church of Alda that praised him as a saint lived with policies and doctrines based around him and his beliefs, even today. Of course, only the heroes and the G.o.d that summoned them could tell which technologies were from other worlds and which were developed in this world, so the Amid Empire used ambiguous criteria to determine which technologies were left by Zakkart and which were not.

Incidentally, this is the justification that the Amid Empire used for its attempted invasions on the Orbaume Kingdom, whose civilization utilized the cultivation of rice.

With these political and religious reasons, the Mirg shield-nation’s forces, led by the military personnel of the Amid Empire, completed the difficult task of finding a safe route across the Boundary Mountain Range and marched on Talosheim with an army of over ten thousand.

It was certain that the Amid Empire wanted to take the riches of Talosheim for itself, in addition to the above-mentioned reasons.

And for the reluctantly-dispatched troops of the Mirg shield-nation, the t.i.tans were not humans, but a race inferior to humans birthed by the corrupted G.o.ddess. There was no doubt that they pillaged and slaughtered the t.i.tans with no mercy.

A large number of Talosheim’s villages were burned and taken, but their warriors’ bravery and excellence didn’t shine only when fighting against monsters.

They didn’t have any experience in large-scale battles against other civilizations, but their warriors’ swords cut down the Mirg shield-nation’s soldiers with ease, and their knights’ shields crushed the flesh and bone of the Mirg shield-nation’s knights, along with their thin spears.

Best of all, there were numerous heroes in Talosheim.

The【Sword King】Borkus, who could defeat any monster, no matter how powerful, with a single sword.

The【Saint of Solace】Jeena, the young leader of the Church of Vida who excelled in the use of life-attribute magic.

Ogbahn, the【Hungry Wolf】who preferred solitude and had solo-cleared every single Dungeon in Talosheim.

Barigen, the【Dual-Halberd】who held a halberd in each hand and swept through his enemies like a windstorm.

Zandia, the young Second Princess who possessed an affinity for every attribute of magic in spite of the t.i.tan race’s general inapt.i.tude with magic, the one renowned as the【Tiny Genius.】

『Do all of their names contain dakuten because t.i.tans are a race created by Vida, just like Ghouls?』

So Vandalieu thought, but reading the serious mood, he didn’t mention it out loud.

Because of these heroes, Talosheim was able to push back the Mirg shield-nation’s advancing army, but the enemy had a hero as well.

The hero that partic.i.p.ated in the war to reinforce the Mirg shield-nation’s forces, the A-rank adventurer who was a candidate for the next ascendancy to S-rank – the【Divine Spear of Ice】, Mikhail. With him joining the fray, the scales tipped in the Mirg shield-nation’s favor once more.

「The legendary magic spear of ice that was one of the Mirg shield-nation’s national treasures,【Ice Age】, was a legendary-cla.s.s Magic Item said to have been created as a weapon for heroes by an ice G.o.d who served Peria, the G.o.ddess of water and knowledge. With this weapon in the hands of Mikhail, the t.i.tan warriors fighting alongside the heroes fell, one by one. The fortress walls were finally broken and the savages of the Mirg shield-nation poured into the city.」(Nuaza)

The only thing the people of Talosheim could do was to have the women and children who couldn’t fight escape through the trade tunnel to the Orbaume Kingdom with their First Princess and her bodyguards.

「Though I was but an apprentice, I fought until the very end as a member of the Church of Vida. However, without being able to send a single arrow flying into the detestable Mikhail or defend Jeena-sama or Zandia-sama, I died.」(Nuaza)

And the Mirg shield-nation didn’t stop their destruction and pillaging after Nuaza died. Mikhail attempted to destroy the treasure of the G.o.ddess Vida that had been hidden deep beneath Talosheim’s royal castle.

But the G.o.ddess had personally stationed a Dragon Golem underground to protect the treasure. Even Mikhail, whose ascendancy to S-rank had been all but confirmed, could not destroy the treasure.

In fact, the Dragon Golem’s right arm and wings were destroyed, half of its tail was cut off and its head was crushed, but at the cost of all of Mikhail’s companions being slaughtered. Mikhail himself sustained a serious wound; all he was able to do was to throw his magic spear at the still-moving Golem to imprison it briefly, and then use that opportunity to escape with his life.

Though the Mirg shield-nation was victorious, they were exhausted due to the fierce resistance of the t.i.tans and the hero that led them was on the verge of death. Unable to maintain their occupation of Talosheim, they decided to make a retreat.

Even if they slaughtered every last t.i.tan in Talosheim, there would be no end to the monsters attracted from the nearby Devil’s Nests to the city by the smell of blood.

Nuaza didn’t know what became of the victorious Mirg shield-nation and Amid Empire after that, but it wasn’t a victory that they could have celebrated.

The desperate medical treatment of Mikhail was unsuccessful; he died several days after his return to the Mirg shield-nation. Many of the Mirg shield-nation’s other elite individuals had also perished in the battle, and many had become unable to continue serving as soldiers.

On top of that, since Talosheim’s First Princess had escaped with the truly valuable treasures and all of the city’s funds, the amount of money and goods that the Mirg shield-nation gained were lower than the estimate that they had made before the war. It didn’t even compare to the enormous cost that they had paid for their victory.

And since the First Princess had made it to the Orbaume Kingdom, the Kingdom learned of the invasion of Talosheim and dispatched soldiers against the Mirg shield-nation and the Amid Empire as divine punishment for the immoral, unjustified attack on the nation of t.i.tans that it had been allied with.

During the battle of Talosheim, the Mirg shield-nation had sent reinforcements from border due to the unexpected difficulty of the battle. The border’s defenses were easily broken through because of the lack of soldiers; many of Mirg’s fortresses fell and its cities were occupied.

The Amid Empire was forced to hastily dispatch soldiers in order to protect the country that was supposed to be its shield.

The Amid Empire had been steadily invading the Orbaume Kingdom and expanding its territory, but with this defeat, all of the land that it had conquered was taken back in one movement. Most of the wars that had occurred in the last two hundred years were apparently the Amid Empire’s efforts to recapture that land once more; it had finally gained some new territory in the most recent one.

The population of monsters in the Boundary Mountain Range had been controlled by the adventurers of Talosheim, but with Talosheim’s destruction, their numbers suddenly multiplied and monsters overflowed from the Dungeons now that there was n.o.body to clear them.

As a result, the Devil’s Nests expanded and it became difficult for the Mirg shield-nation to even go near the Boundary Mountain Range, let alone find a safe route back to Talosheim to take back the national treasure lost there.

In summary, the invasion of Talosheim was a historical failure for the Amid Empire and the Mirg shield-nation in particular.

When Nuaza learned this, despite having the face of a mummy, he broke into a smile that covered his whole face –

「Serves them r–!」(Nuaza)

He accidentally overdid it and almost pa.s.sed on to the afterlife.

Since his nation had fallen and he had lost his own life, it was only natural for him to feel this way.

Vandalieu was exasperated at the foolishness of the Amid Empire and the Mirg shield-nation.

They shouldn’t have attempted a sudden, brute-force invasion. Talosheim had a tunnel in the mountain range to the east that allowed safe pa.s.sage to the Orbaume Kingdom. They should have instead maneuvered between Talosheim and the Orbaume Kingdom, formed a non-aggression pact with Talosheim without necessarily having the intention of breaking it and then pa.s.sed through the tunnel and launched a surprise attack on Orbaume.

If they had done that, they could have purchased materials, including provisions, to maintain a supply line while taking an advantageous battle.

As they had prioritized their strange national policies and religious beliefs, the Mirg shield-nation had lost far more of their strength than expected and suffered a counter-attack from the enemy nation instead. Even Vandalieu, who didn’t even possess any experience with military simulation games, could come up with this plan. Was the Amid Empire run by idiots?

It wasn’t as if Vandalieu agreed with Rodcorte, but he really thought that this could only be expected from the Empire of an inferior world.

「Mhmm, mhmm. The Mirg shield-nation and the Amid Empire never do anything good. They should just all die out.」(Vandalieu)

「Boy, I do believe that Sam-dono and his daughters were humans of the Mirg shield-nation...」(Zadiris)

『Bocchan, there are some humans like Kachia-san in the Mirg shield-nation, so I don’t know about killing all of them.』(Saria)

『That’s right. Well, we were chased out of that Devil’s Nest by the Mirg shield-nation, but that doesn’t mean that all the people there are bad.』(Rita)

『We were born in the Mirg shield-nation, but if you were to order it, Bocchan, I would not hesitate to run over and kill my fellow countrymen. But please do not forget to keep your views open.』(Sam)

「Holy Son, even we only feel hatred for the Mirg shield-nation and Amid Empire of two hundred years ago. For us t.i.tans, that is long enough for parents’ and grandparents’ generations to have pa.s.sed; for humans, it is long enough for even their great grandparents’ generations to have pa.s.sed. Even the G.o.ddess tells us not to direct our hatred towards their descendants.」(Nuaza)

『That’s right, Vandalieu. Don’t forget the kindness that you showed in Evbejia. I’ll be happy as long as you don’t forget how to be kind.』(Darcia)

As the hatred that had been gathering at the bottom of Vandalieu’s heart like sediment was dragged out and manifested itself in his words, he received remonstrations from every direction. Incomprehensible. No, he could comprehend it, and he knew that what everyone was saying was right.

「Yes, I’ll moderate myself. By the way, what is the Prophesized Holy Son?」(Vandalieu)

Putting a lid on the hatred in his heart, Vandalieu pressed Nuaza to continue. Nuaza explained what had happened to the t.i.tans after the war.

Half of the t.i.tans revived as Undead within a month from the hatred of being killed and the fact that their bodies weren’t buried. Seeing the soldiers of the Mirg shield-nation who had also revived as Undead, they began killing each other again, even though they were already dead.

And they were victorious. However, their feelings of wanting to protect their home country were strong even after becoming Undead, so they didn’t leave on an expedition to take revenge on the Mirg shield-nation.

However, they were anxious about whether the First Princess and the people had managed to safely escape to the Orbaume Kingdom, so some of them headed towards the tunnel.

But the tunnel had been collapsed with its entrance sealed. They had planned right from the beginning to use a hidden mechanism to destroy the tunnel to prevent the Mirg shield-nation’s army from giving chase once the t.i.tans had already traveled through.

The fact that the tunnel had been sealed meant that the First Princess and the others had made it through. The t.i.tans had no way of knowing what difficulties she and the others were facing in the Orbaume Kingdom, but they decided to trust in the Kingdom that was their allied nation and Duke Hartner, with whom they had done business directly.

They were Undead, and though they believed that they had retained their sense of reason, they didn’t know if that was true or how long it would last. If they were to chase after the First Princess and the other t.i.tans in this state, they would be more likely to hinder them than to be of any help.

The great majority of the Undead t.i.tans thought this way.

Even so, some left to cross the mountain range and never returned. A few dozen of the t.i.tans that didn’t chase after the First Princess lost their attachment to this world and faded away.

And so when Nuaza and the other t.i.tans returned to the city of Talosheim that no longer had living citizens, they simply spent their days guarding the ruins.

『That was the slow road that led to our ruin.』(Nuaza)

There were numerous Devil’s Nests surrounding Talosheim, and Dungeons that the adventurers used to venture into day after day in search of materials.

But Nuaza and the other Undead gathered at the center of the ruins, at the royal castle and in the area around it, never venturing outside. Of course, they didn’t go out to hunt monsters themselves or venture into Dungeons.

Because of this, the monsters continued to multiply and the corrupted Mana released by those monsters, the source of evil, acc.u.mulated and expanded the Devil’s Nests for two hundred years and finally even reached this place, the center of Talosheim.

If any monsters other than the Undead t.i.tans entered the central area of Talosheim, Nuaza and the others would exterminate them. Their skills... their Ranks as monsters were quite high. They were monsters created by the spirits of elite t.i.tan warriors inhabiting the remains of their own bodies, and their memories and personalities from while they were alive were preserved to a certain extent, as Nuaza’s were.

For them, killing a hundred or two hundred of the monsters overflowing from the Devil’s Nests that they used to hunt in and the Dungeons that they used to clear was nothing but a way to pa.s.s the time.

However, perhaps because of a problem related to their mental or emotional states, there were none proactive enough to attempt to purify the Devil’s Nest that had spread into the ruins.

Though since they were monsters themselves in the first place, they wouldn’t have been able to purify it entirely.

In the Devil’s Nest that gradually encroached into Talosheim, the monsters multiplied at a rate far beyond any normal creatures. And as the monsters multiplied, the struggle for survival between them grew fiercer and as the powerful monsters survived, they were the ones to multiply and increase in number.

In contrast, the number of Undead of Talosheim might decrease, but was never able to increase.

Regular groups of Undead would turn the corpses of the adventurers or monsters who killed them into Undead; their numbers would increase by the number of people that they killed. But adventurers visiting this place were non-existent.

And since Nuaza and the Undead t.i.tans had retained their personalities from when they were alive, they didn’t see the Undead monsters as their companions and killed them the moment they began to move.

One day, when a group of a thousand or more powerful monsters closed in on this place, Nuaza and the other Undead of Talosheim would return to dust.

『We believed that this would happen one day. As the years and months went by, our numbers gradually decreased. There is no purpose for stray Undead who have forgotten their regrets and hatred to exist. While acting as gravekeepers of our own land, praying that the Princess and the others who made it to the Orbaume Kingdom would find good fortune, we have simply waited to be destroyed. However, that one fateful day, the G.o.ddess gave us a prophecy.』(Nuaza)

It happened when Nuaza finished the fifty-year-long process of restoring the statue of the G.o.ddess that had been destroyed by the Mirg shield-nation’s soldiers.

『From the west shalt cometh a white child, leading my forgotten children. That child shall guide thee to prosperity and glory.』(Nuaza)

Nuaza heard a voice filled with a deep love, and he instinctively felt that this was a prophecy from the G.o.ddess.

At the same time, he remembered a legend that had been pa.s.sed down from their ancestors. The founder of Vampires was born between the G.o.ddess Vida and the hero Zakkart. When he was defeated by the hero Bellwood, he left behind a certain prophecy.

『Though I may perish here, I shall be reborn once more, rise up with my brothers and bring ruin to the disciples of the arrogant G.o.d!』(Vampire founder)

And then Nuaza was certain that the white child of the prophecy was unmistakably the legendary founder of the Vampires.

And more than a hundred years after the prophecy was made, Nuaza had met a white child emanating a divine aura (the effects of the Death-Attribute Charm), leading the Ghouls who were a race created by Vida but treated as monsters by human society.

「O Holy Son, you are the white child in the prophecy, the second coming of the son born between the G.o.ddess and the hero. Rise up with us, and bring prosperity and glory –」Nuaza)

「No, let’s wait a minute, you’re getting the two prophecies mixed up.」

As Nuaza was overcome with emotion, Vandalieu hastily restrained him.

He had been bewildered at being referred to as the Prophesized Holy Son, but with this strange prophecy made by the Vampire founder added onto that, simply being bewildered about it would be dangerous. At this rate, he might become forced to become the leader of an anti-Alda resistance.

Vandalieu hated the G.o.d Alda and those who followed him; he did consider them his enemies, but they were so powerful that he was hesitant even to fight against just a single High Priest and his dozen or so subordinates.

No matter how composed and rational Undead looked, they were fundamentally creatures driven by desires and urges. If they got too excited, their minds mind turn towards,「Let’s attack the Mirg shield-nation!」

And Vandalieu doubted this prophecy, rather, the one made by the Vampire founder.

There was a chance that the prophecy was something that Nuaza had simply hallucinated after becoming an Undead, but its contents matched Vandalieu and the Ghouls too perfectly for that. He had no intention of guiding the Undead to prosperity and glory, but what Vandalieu and the Ghouls would achieve from now on might lead to prosperity and glory for Nuaza and the other t.i.tans.

If Vandalieu had heard a prophecy while he was living on earth, he probably wouldn’t have believed it, but since he knew that a G.o.d did in fact exist (even if that G.o.d was a good-for-nothing G.o.d), it wasn’t strange to imagine that the G.o.ds whose names appeared in myths would give prophecies to those who followed them.

But why were the prophecy of the G.o.ddess and the prophecy made by the Vampire founder getting mixed together? They didn’t seem related to each other at all.

「Hmm, Vandalieu is indeed white, and we Ghouls do have our roots in the G.o.ddess Vida. While the G.o.ddess’s prophecy may refer to us, I do believe that the prophecy of the Vampire founder’s rebirth is unrelated.」(Zadiris)

It seemed that Zadiris agreed with Vandalieu and began to remonstrate Nuaza, but Nuaza didn’t seem to be fazed in the slightest.

『It matters not. For us who cannot rid ourselves of our attachments and turn to dust, nor scorch our souls with hatred, who have only submerged ourselves in our feelings of resignation, your mere arrival gives us hope, o Holy Son.』(Nuaza)

Vandalieu wasn’t unhappy to have a person(?) that he had only just met for the first time to trust in him so much, but his feelings of confusion were stronger. He had no plan or strategy to lead them and say,「I understand, prosperity and glory is right this way.」

However, it was convenient that Nuaza and the t.i.tans had a good impression of him, considering his original plans.

「Well then, would it be alright if I brought the six hundred or so Ghouls that I led here to move into Talosheim?」(Vandalieu)

「Ooh! You would reside in our city, Holy Son?! These are the ruins of a dead nation; n.o.body would object. Isn’t that right, everyone?!」(Nuaza)

In response to Nuaza’s question, the Undead t.i.tans who had been kneeling silently suddenly let out cheers that sounded like groaning.

『We will welcome the Holy Son and his companions! UOOOOH!』

『Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! Gaah, ah, ah, ah!』

『Kill them! Kill them! Kill all who would get in their way!』

『Kill them all!』

A moment ago, the ruins had been silent like a graveyard, but now it was full of delight and bloodthirst. The Undead t.i.tans lifted their weapons into the air, stomped their feet, their fighting spirit welling up as if they were about to head into battle right this moment.

It was such a change that one had to question where their docility had gone, the fire of their emotions were inextinguishable once sparked. This was just another quality of Undead creatures.

Most Undead had such fires sparked in them from the moment they rose, so not many knew about this, however.

「B-boy? It seems that some of them are saying quite dangerous words...?」(Zadiris)

「They mean they’re going to kill everyone that gets in the way of our migration into Talosheim.」(Vandalieu)

『I concur, but there is such a thing as over-enthusiasm...』(Sam)

『That sounds very convincing when Father says it, doesn’t it?』(Saria) [Sarcastic]

「Let’s see then, those who are willing to help, follow us.」(Vandalieu)

And so several hundred Undead t.i.tans charged into the Devil’s Nest that separated the center of Talosheim and the temporary camp that the Ghouls had set up outside, with enough force to stomp the ground flat.

They slaughtered the Needle Wolves and Raptors that attacked them while cutting down trees that were in the way. Though the distance they covered was only around two kilometers, they turned the fortress city-nation from the center to the front gate into a safe ruin where not even a single mouse moved.

Was it Vandalieu that was amazing for inspiring them, or were they the amazing ones for being able to do this just from the uncertain hope that Vandalieu had offered them?

「I think it’s the latter.」(Vandalieu)

After that, since there was now a safe path through, Vandalieu led the pack of Ghouls, who were surprised by the Undead who seemed driven crazy by their fighting spirit, in their migration into the center of Talosheim.

They had chosen the central area that contained many buildings that had been government buildings such as the royal castle, the church and government offices instead of a residential district. This was because the st.u.r.dy buildings of the central area were in better condition.

The central area had been exposed to the fierce battle that had taken place two hundred years ago, but what the Mirg shield-nation had focused on trying to destroy was the Church of Vida and, most importantly, Vida’s treasure that had been hidden below the royal castle. That was why they didn’t destroy the buildings made of solid stone.

In addition, the Undead had been guarding the buildings of this central area for two hundred years, not allowing monsters to take up residence and damage them, so they would be usable once cleaned.

The t.i.tans’ buildings were too large for the Ghouls, their furniture and implements had all decayed except for those made of stone, and the things that were left didn’t match the Ghouls’ size, so a considerable amount of remodeling was still required and new furniture needed to be built.

But there was a mountain of materials to be found here.

First, the timber from the trees that the Undead t.i.tans had cut down was gathered and lined up.

「【Wither.】Get up. Cut. Get out.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu used the death-attribute magic spell【Wither】to remove some water from the trees and have them dry up, turned them into Wood Golems, used【Golem Trans.m.u.tation】to have them cut themselves into appropriate sizes and then removed the souls possessing the wood again.

With this method, the Devil’s Nest’s trees turned quickly into usable timber. And then the Ghouls built part.i.tions between rooms and furniture. The Ghouls were originally native to a Devil’s Nest forest; since they  didn’t need particularly elaborate furniture, this work was finished in several days.

Vandalieu went around using【Golem Trans.m.u.tation】to repair parts of the buildings that had fissures and parts that had crumbled. Seeing this, the Undead t.i.tans who had been craftsmen while they were alive exclaimed,『We won’t lose, either!』and,『We cannot allow only the Holy Son to perform all of the labor!』They dropped their weapons and began to work as well; this was something that Vandalieu hadn’t included in his calculations.

Speaking of things not included in Vandalieu’s calculations, Nuaza had said that he was only an apprentice priest. As such, he was only the Church’s representative among the t.i.tans (Those of priest status or above either never revived as Undead or had already faded away). He wasn’t in a position to make decisions and speak for all of the Undead t.i.tans.

Therefore, there was a considerable number of Undead t.i.tans other than the ones who had helped with the migration still remaining in the buildings. Most notably, one of Talosheim’s heroes, the【Sword King】Borkus, had turned into an Undead and was apparently still guarding the inside of the royal castle.

That was certainly one capable person... capable corpse that Vandalieu wanted as his ally.

「If I could have him act as a mediator for the Undead, there will be fewer troubles between the races after I get to the Orbaume Kingdom, too.」(Vandalieu)

The Ghouls had already secured plenty of living s.p.a.ce, so there was no need to have Borkus vacate the royal castle. Even so, Vandalieu requested Nuaza to accompany him to convince Borkus to become his ally and headed towards the royal castle, giving a puzzled look towards Zadiris, Saria and the others who had refused to follow him.

【The level of the Strengthen Followers skill has increased to level 5!】

【The level of the Carpentry skill has increased to level 2!】

【You have acquired the Cooking skill!】

Monster explanation:

【Orcuses】

These are mutated Orcs, created by being submerged in death-dttribute Mana before birth. Their base Rank is Rank 4.

Their physical strength is about the same as that of Orcs, but their tenacity, endurance, dexterity and their intelligence in particular is superior to Orcs.

They possess the【Dark Vision】,【Superhuman Strength】,【Physical Damage Resistance】and【Bad Eating】skills from birth. Because of these, once an Orcus becomes an adult, his offensive and defensive capabilities exceed those of a fully-armed Orc even if the Orcus has no weapons and armor equipped.

However, they possess lower levels in the【Endless s.e.xual Stamina】and【Breeding】skills, and some do not even possess these skills at all. Their reproductive abilities are only a little superior to humans.

Their appearance is that of an overweight human with a black or grey-furred wild boar’s head, and only male individuals exist at present.

Though this is a conjecture, their lifespans are estimated to be roughly equal to those of humans.

As the Orcus race has only just been born, it is unknown what kind of superior races of Orcuses may exist.

If one were to report the existence of Orcuses to the Adventurers’ Guild with proof, they would be rewarded handsomely for reporting the existence of a new race of monsters, but that would be difficult at present.