n

nA week after Vandalieu left, Cashew, leader of the『Wind Chasers』who had obtained the rights to explore the Dungeon first from the Adventurers’ Guild, entered said Dungeon with his companions in high spirits.

nThe prestige and advancement for their party that came with the rights to the first exploration were not the only reasons that they wanted it so badly. The treasures inside the Dungeon were a big draw for them as well.

nThe Ranks of the monsters that appear in Dungeons and the quality and value of the items that one could obtain from them are fixed to some extent. However, that only applies for Dungeons that have already been discovered and have adventurers enter them regularly.

nThe longer a Dungeon went with nobody entering and clearing the monsters out, the more the monsters multiplied and killed each other, increasing the levels of those who won such internal conflicts and possibly even increasing their Rank. This would make the Dungeons more difficult, but the value of the items inside would also increase accordingly.

nThis would be especially true of this Dungeon, as it was an unexplored Dungeon that nobody had ventured into. The first exploration of any Dungeon is a high risk venture, but one that yields high reward.

nFor this reason, Cashew and his companions had checked their equipment and prepared for the dangers, while at the same time anticipating great rewards for their efforts.

nHowever, what they found was disappointing. On the first floor, only Goblins appeared, with a few Goblin Soldiers and Archers mixed in. They lit their lanterns and proceeded with caution through the second floor, and it gave them no trouble. The third floor was a simple matter of watching their steps through the mud.

n「Most of the monsters appearing are Rank 1. There’s the occasional Rank 2, but they’re few in number.」

n「Isn’t this one of those low-difficulty F-class dungeons?」

nDungeons are Ranked by the Adventurers’ Guild based on their difficulty. This sets a standard for how many adventurers of the same class would need to form a party to clear it.

nAn F-class Dungeon is the easiest of Dungeons, a labyrinth used as a training ground for novice adventurers.

nOf course, the rewards that could be harvested from such a Dungeon would be nothing but pocket change for Cashew and his companions, who were D-class adventurers.

n「But why have the Dungeon’s stairs turned into ramps? The hardest part about this Dungeon is getting up and down those.」

n「Who knows? Maybe it’s to train your legs?」

nHowever, once they passed the third floor, they no longer had the leisure to make such idle chat. As they descended into the fourth floor, they were forced to fight for their lives.

n「OOOOOOOOOGH.」

n「DIIIIIIIIIE!」

n「Why are there Rank 3 Zombie Soldiers and Wraiths coming out all of a sudden?!」

n「Cashew! There’s a Skeleton Archer aiming at us from further inside!」

n「Hyiih! There’s even a Stone Golem coming this way!」

nUp until the third floor, Vandalieu had cleared the monsters once, so there were few Rank 2 monsters. However, he had not defeated a single monster on the fourth floor.

nIn addition, the Stone Golems that Vandalieu had created to avoid traps had been added to the Dungeon’s repertoire of monsters.

nAnd since Cashew and his companions did not possess the【Death Attribute Charm】skill, the Undead attacked them fiercely.

nCashew’s party, the『Wind Chasers』, were aiming for a promotion to C-class, so they had fought not only Rank 3 monsters but even Rank 4 monsters in the past, and they had even combined all of their members’ strength to defeat a Rank 5 monster on one occasion. They were veterans that would be able to defeat Rank 3 monsters, even if they were outnumbered two to one.

nHowever, they were not strong enough to be able to continuously fight against an endless swarm of them.

n「Shit! We’re retreating for now!」

nDeciding to make a tactical retreat before sustaining too many losses, Cashew and his party returned to Terow and gave up on conquering the Dungeon on their own, joining forces with the『Steel Wings』and the『White Stars』before challenging the Dungeon once more.

nWith fifteen D-class adventurers gathered together, they were to get through the fourth floor without difficulty and barely managed to conquer the fifth floor. However, they fought an incredibly difficult battle against the Rank 6 Black Skull General and the ten Rank 4 Cursed Armors.

nIn the end, they were forced to retreat as well and the Adventurers’ Guild commissioned a C-class party for the first clearing of the Dungeon. However, those C-class adventurers were disappointed.

n「I had high hopes since this was an uncleared Dungeon, but this is all we get, huh.」

nThey defeated the Black Skull General safely, but there was no treasure desirable for C-class adventurers in the treasure storage room; the items there were only worth loose change in their eyes.

nThe weapon and shield used by the Black Skull General was using a problematic Mana absorption ability during the battle, but they fell to pieces as soon as he was defeated, so the adventurers were unable to claim them for themselves.

nUndead monsters have a higher chance to yield Magic Stones, but most monsters at Rank 4 and above drop Magic Stones anyway.

nThey would dismiss this Dungeon as a failure in their disappointment and put it behind them, but they would have never imagined in their wildest dreams that an infant who was not even an adventurer had ventured into the Dungeon and cleared it before them.

nAfterwards, this Dungeon was classified as an E-class dungeon and the explanation given for the fact that powerful monsters had appeared below the fourth floor was that the Dungeon had simply been left alone by adventurers for too long.

nAnd then the Dungeon was used to train new adventurers.

nThey were products carefully created by adding metal armor on the outer surface of a monster’s hide, but lined with soft monster fur so as to not damage delicate skin. In addition, the mana imbued in them granted all kinds of resistances, so even though they appeared to be thin, fragile items, they were actually sturdier than the average plate armor.

nThe blue high-leg leotard armor has a V-shaped split above the pointed crotch region, leaving the navel and important internal organs beneath it completely exposed. The chest part would probably only cover two-thirds of one’s breasts, and the back is also left bare until just above the buttocks.

nThe bikini armor is just as lacking in surface area. It also does not cover more than two-thirds of the breasts, and the bottom part is cut quite low, as if it has been taken into consideration that a beast-person with a tail may wish to wear it.

nBut unlike the swimsuit-like torso portions, the shoulder armor, wrist covers and leg guards are properly made. This imbalance causes the wearer to have an immodest appearance, though perhaps they would be a stimulating sight for anyone who sees them.

nThough, this only applies if a woman is wearing it.

n「It wasn’t anything to be concerned about after all.」

nVandalieu gave an earnest nod as he examined the high-leg armor and bikini armor before him.

nIndeed, they were just suits of armor.

nThe high-leg armor housed the spirit of Sam’s eldest daughter, Saria. The bikini armor was inhabited by his second daughter, Rita.

nBoth of them were of marriageable age, and according to Sam, they were his two adorable daughters who took after their mother.

n『…』

nHowever, now that they inhabited these suits of armor, only these suits of armor could be seen, even for Vandalieu, who possessed an affinity for the death attribute.

nHowever, since their spirits had the appearance of burnt corpses, this was probably for the better.

nHe had also said this when he had used his daughters to haunt these suits of armor to create Living Armors – Even though these suits of armor were very revealing, not even the tips of his Sam’s daughters’ pinky fingers would be exposed if they were to be inhabiting these, so there was absolutely no need to worry.

nEven if one were to try to peek at their chests, they would see not cleavage, but the inner lining of the armor on the other side.

n「Well, I guess it’s good enough that I’ve increased my number of Rank 3 allies. Now then, let’s get on with the experiments.」

nWith these words, Vandalieu began to pour an excess amount of Mana into Saria and Rita. The two of them soaked up hundreds of thousands, millions of Mana colored black with the death attribute.

n『…!』

nThe two of them began to tremble, as if writhing in agony, but even after this continued for quite a while, there was no further change. When Vandalieu checked their statuses, neither their levels nor their Rank had changed. They were still a Living High-Leg Armor and a Living Bikini Armor.

nAlthough for some reason, this process apparently felt pleasant for them.

n「As I thought, it’s no good.」

nHe had tried the same thing on Bone Man and the others, but they hadn’t undergone any change… Though he did get the feeling that their bones were shinier and the cracks in them had disappeared afterwards.

nBut the Skeleton General and the Living Armors he had encountered in the Dungeon had become visibly stronger.

n『Maybe you haven’t met the requirements for them to increase their Rank.』

n「Requirements?」

n『Yes, I’m not very knowledgeable about how monsters increase their Rank, but if it’s like how people’s Jobs work, I think there are requirements besides increasing their level.』

nAccording to Darcia, Job changes sometimes required several conditions other than reaching a certain level. For example, even if an adventurer with the Apprentice Mage Job reached level 100, their skill with magic had to be of a certain standard to advance to being a Mage – to be precise, they required at least one skill at level 2 or above.

nThere are other examples that are not limited to skill requirements. A Job change to Knight requires one to be knighted and one must possess a magic sword in order to become a Magic Swordsman; certain ceremonies or prestige and possession of certain items could also be requirements.

nAlso, one needs to be a beast-man to become a Beast-fighter, a requirement that one must be born with.

nDarcia’s suggestion was that perhaps there were similar requirements for monsters to increase their Rank.

n「So then, that Skeleton General and those Living Armors had reached the required level to increase their Rank, but weren’t able to do so because they didn’t meet the other requirements. And then when I poured my Mana into them, those requirements were fulfilled and they increased Rank, is that right?」

n『That might be the case.』

n「I see.」

nIt did make sense now that Darcia said it. Goblins did not become Goblin Mages and then learn how to use magic; Goblins with talent for magic who then became proficient with it increased their Rank to become Goblin Mages.

nIn other words, there was no easy shortcut such as pouring Mana into the monsters to have them increase their Rank.

n「Well then, if any of my Undead don’t increase their Rank after reaching level 100, I’ll try it out then. Saria, Rita, thanks for participating in my experiment. Make sure you practise using weapons with everyone later.」

nAs Saria and Rita were maids, they naturally had no knowledge about fighting. Therefore, it was necessary to have them undergo training so that they could learn the skills that they needed.

nFor that purpose, Vandalieu decided to have them choose weapons for themselves. As they were beginners, he had expected them to choose swords or spears, but…

n『…』

nSaria chose a halberd and Rita took a glaive. They were the items that they had discovered in the Dungeon, and though Vandalieu was unsure exactly what effects they possessed, they were considerably powerful Magic Items. However… he had the feeling that they were not exactly ideal for amateur fighters.

n「Are you sure you want those?」

nIn response to Vandalieu’s question, Saria and Rita swung their weapons through the air and reassured him that it was fine. Perhaps it should be expected of Living Armors, but they were able to lift these heavy weapons in a way that they would definitely not have been able to do in their previous lives.

n「If you say so, but if it’s too difficult, make sure you change to a sword or a spear. If you prefer heavy weapons, there’s a cudgel as well.」

nAs Vandalieu said that, the two of them happily (probably) began their training to polish their skills with Bone Man and the others.

nIt was a general rule that skills leveled up as one used them, so they were to make use of the fact that Undead needed no sleep or rest in order to carry out their training.

nWith that said, nobody present knew how to use a halberd or a glaive, not even Vandalieu, so the training simply consisted of trying swinging it downwards, stabbing it forwards like a spear and slashing sideways.

nThis was far less efficient than real battles, but being on a continuous journey while also constantly looking for sources of Experience Points such as Goblins and bandits would be too tiring for Vandalieu, even if the Undead could handle it. Also, he wasn’t particularly keen on contributing to the maintenance of peace in the country of Mirg.

n「Well then, I’ll take care of these walnuts that we picked up yesterday.」

nThe sun was still high in the air and Vandalieu wasn’t feeling tired, so a nap could come later. Being the only one to slack off didn’t sit well with him either, so he began preparing some walnuts.

nHe had more than enough food, but having salt as his only option for seasoning was getting dull, so he planned to make sauce using the walnuts.

nHe had a vase full of walnuts that had been picked yesterday afternoon. They were still unripe and the fruit was still intact, so eating them as they were was out of the question. He spread them over the ground.

n「They’ll need about a month or so, huh.【Decomposition.】」

nAnd then he used death-attribute magic to speed up the decomposition process by a month. The unripe fruit turned black and muddy.

nWashing away this decomposed fruit with spring water that he had used Golems to collect caused the seeds to come out. Peeling their shells finally yielded the walnuts, but he had to be careful not to be impatient and crush them by accident. If that happened, the broken fragments of the shell would become mixed with the walnuts and less of the walnut would be usable.

nAnd so he used Earth Golems to cook them lightly, using a fire that he created by making Golems from firewood and having them rub against each other. Doing this made it easier to break the shells.

n『Now all you need to do is split the shells with a knife once they’ve cooled down.』

nSo Darcia advised. As a member of a race that lived in the forest, she was knowledgeable about how to use things that the forest provided.

nVandalieu used【Heat Leech】to cool the walnuts down and then used his nails to split the walnuts. Darcia had told him to use a knife, but lately he had become able to grow his nails to a certain length at will, so he decided to put this ability to practical use.

n「In the future, I might have to use these to fight or something.」

nHis late father had been a master of close-quarters combat, and had been good at fighting using his claws. Could this be a hereditary trait as well? As Vandalieu wondered this, Darcia opened her mouth as if she had just thought of something.

n『Future, huh… Do you have something you want to become in the future, Vandalieu?』

n「Future? I want to become a high-class adventurer, build up achievements and become a nobleman. And then I want to become well-known in society.」

n『… The first part is childish, but I have to question the second part.』

n「But that’s what I need the most, societal fame.」

nVandalieu answered her question while loudly splitting the walnut shells with his nails.

n「When Amemiya Hiroto and the others are reincarnated here in the future, even if Rodcorte tells them about me, they won’t be able to do too anything reckless if I’m well-known in society.」

nVandalieu had recently come to realize that he had something in common with Amemiya Hiroto and the others – unable to return to Earth, they would have to live on Lambda until they died.

nEven with cheat-like abilities, Amemiya and the others would not so easily be able to make the entirely of society their enemy. By being reincarnated here, they would have parents and siblings in this world. They would also likely find friends, and perhaps even lovers.

nIf Vandalieu was well-known in society, they would not be able to lay their hands on him carelessly, as that would cause trouble for their family and everyone involved with them. If Vandalieu was a nobleman, even more so.

n「Mom, if I have political power and fame, society will become my shield.」

n『Hmm, I think I meant something different with my question. If you didn’t have to worry about that Amemiya* person and the others, what would your dream be?』

nTLN*: It seems I mistranslated Amemiya’s name. To be fair, it can be read in multiple different ways and there is no way of telling the correct reading unless the phonetic reading is given (which it wasn’t until this sentence). Both Vandalieu’s Japanese name and his doppelganger’s name are actually pronounced “Amamiya” – in other words, exactly the same. I’m going to leave Amemiya spelled this way to help differentiate (and continue italicizing it).

n「If I didn’t have to worry about those guys…」

nVandalieu realized what Darcia was trying to ask. In short, she wanted to know his future dreams, what he wanted to become and what desires he wished to see fulfilled. Innocent dreams, such as children of Earth wishing to become major leaguers or soccer players or movie stars.

nHowever, the problem was that Vandalieu was not a dreaming child.

nHe had a feeling that he admired pilots, a long time ago. However, after coming to live with his uncle’s family, he came to admire bodybuilders. He dreamed of owning log-like upper arms and clear abdominal muscles. He imagined that if he became this strong, he could escape his uncle’s control.

nBut he felt that this still didn’t answer Darcia’s question.

nSo what was the answer? In Origin, all he could dream of was his own freedom.

n「… I want to be happy, I guess.」

nAfter thinking for a short while, the answer he came up with was a very simple one.

nAs Vandalieu mashed the peeled walnuts on top of the stone plate, he looked into the distance.

n「I want to be happy, build up a warm family and relationships with others and live in luxury.」

nIt was such a common, vague dream, but it was what Vandalieu truly wanted. It was the ideal that he had yearned for, even before he died on Earth.

nWith that said, the luxury he had in mind wasn’t driving around in a Cadillac or Ferrari with a beautiful woman in a passenger seat, wearing top brand clothes and wristwatches, or owning a mansion in the center of the city.

nVandalieu hadn’t consciously realized it yet, but he had a deep-rooted complex when it came to luxury.

nOn Earth, when he was called Amamiya Hiroto, his uncle had raised him sternly so that he could become independent once he became an adult.

nFor this reason, he had prohibited any good treatment towards Hiroto and disallowed him any luxuries. Leaving him as the only one to not receive any Christmas or birthday presents was only the beginning of this.

nAnd so, during Vandalieu’s time on earth, he had been denied everything that his uncle had deemed a「luxury.」

nGames and toys were luxuries, so even if he borrowed them from friends, he was not allowed to play with them. Whatever was trending at the time was a luxury, so it was banned. Everyone has a yoyo? Spinning tops are popular? Collecting erasers of different shapes was a game? All banned. If you have any, throw them away right now.

nSteaks and cakes were also luxuries. Hamburger patties are steaks, so they are a luxury and are banned. Don’t eat them, even when the school provides them. If you eat it, you have to throw it up. Bulk packs of products? Making a saving is a luxury, so those are banned. Steak-flavored snacks are banned. Ah, what a pain, but sweet foods are also banned.

nEating out is a luxury, so it’s banned, whether it’s fast food or whatever. Traveling is a luxury, so school trips are banned, spending leisure time doing what one wants is a luxury, so you have to stay at home by yourself, new clothes are a luxury…

nAs if allergic to luxuries, his uncle had banned every single luxury possible. If the cup ramen and buns from the convenient store so much has had the words「luxury」or「high quality」on them, he would be struck with an open palm and be shouted at with words such as「Indulging in such luxuries when you don’t even have parents, don’t act so spoiled!」

nIt was the absolute worst after a documentary about needy children overseas aired on television. He didn’t do anything, but he was suddenly shouted at and asked why he wasn’t feeling embarrassed about being so spoiled when there are children suffering like this around the world, and then received multiple strikes.

nBecause of this, all his clothes were handed down from his uncle’s children of the same age, and at some point he began having to cook all his own food. His normal behavior was strange, so he was unable to make any friends and nothing good came from having his teachers notice him.

nIn addition to this, his uncle believed that striking a child with a fist might be considered abuse, but using an open palm is discipline, so his uncle never regretted his own actions.

nOf course, his aunt and cousins did nothing to stop his uncle; abandoning him was safer for them than trying to interfere.

nIf this treatment was because his uncle’s family were poor themselves, then it could be justified. However, they had money. They had Vandalieu’s inheritance from his parents and their life insurance. Also, the reparation fees paid by the person who had caused the accident that took their lives.

nThe total amount was enough to raise three children from birth, put them all through private university and still have money left over.

nIn such conditions, the treatment of Vandalieu was inexcusable.

nHe managed to save money from his part-time job to go on the high school trip, but the boat was sunk by terrorists which only added insult to injury.

nIt was even more infuriating to think that his uncle had promised that the remainders of his parents’ inheritance would be his once he left the house, but now his uncle’s family would keep all of it.

nAnd then he had lived his second life in Origin as a laboratory animal. He didn’t even have freedom in this second life, let alone luxuries.

nThat was why Vandalieu wanted to become happy and live in luxury in this third life. First of all, he wanted to live in a society where he could spend money.

n「I’ll decide what’s a luxury and what isn’t when I arrive in the Orbaume Kingdom, though.」

n『Really? I think if you become a high-class adventurer, you’ll become rich just from that.』

n「Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll kill High Priest Gordan and Heinz properly.」

n『Y-yeah, thanks. But you don’t have to force yourself, you know?』

n「Alright. I’ll become strong enough to be able to kill them easily, alright, Mom?」

n『So is it alright for me to feel relaxed about that? Still, don’t push yourself, okay?』

nFor some reason, Darcia had the feeling that Vandalieu didn’t quite understand what she was trying to say, but she gave up, knowing that her chances of making him understand were low. In fact, becoming a nobleman in the Orbaume Kingdom meant that it was likely that High Priest Gordan and Heinz, who lived in the Amid Empire and its nations, would become his enemies anyway.

nIf Vandalieu decided that it was necessary to kill them, then it probably was.

nThe walnuts were complete after adding some herbs that he had obtained from the forests. Vandalieu wanted to add nice-smelling oil to this, but he had no such oil available. Still, knowing that tonight’s dinner would taste better, he gave a satisfied sigh.

n「It sure would be nice to eat some rice instead of burned, hard bread.」

nThankfully, Vandalieu’s uncle’s luxury allergy hadn’t extended to banning rice. Vandalieu hadn’t thought anything special about eating rice when eating it on Earth, but now that it had been more than twenty years since he had last eaten it, he missed it.

n『Rice? I think I heard that they make it in the Orbaume Kingdom. The countries are sometimes called Amid of Bread and Orbaume of Rice.』

n「Seriously?!」

nThe Orbaume Kingdom scored some points in Vandalieu’s heart.

nVandalieu turned sixteen months old in October. As autumn began to turn into winter, he finally reached the eastern end of the country of Mirg.

nFurther east than this, the land was ruled by nature and filled with Devil’s Nests. Vandalieu had to get through that and then cross the mountain range.

nHowever, as it was ill-advised to attempt to cross the mountain range during winter, Vandalieu decided to hide in the surrounding forests while attacking nearby bandits until spring, just as he was doing now in a thicket near a Devil’s Nest, waiting for the sun to go down.

nThis was Vandalieu’s plan.

n「Now that I think about it, I’ve never been skiing before. With my current physical ability, I wonder if I’d be able to learn it quickly.」

nOn Vandalieu’s status screen, his physical ability, even the Agility that had been his lowest attribute, was now higher than that of a normal adult male. However, it would be reckless for an inexperienced person to attempt to ski on a normal slope.

n『Skiing? Is that also something from Earth?』

nSam, the dim white silhouette sitting in the coachman’s chair, speaks up. This was his spirit form that he had now that he was a Ghost Carriage. He was holding the reins of similarly spiritual horses.

nHis body was not well-defined, like a ghost in a ghost photograph, but Vandalieu thought that it was much easier to talk to him now compared to before, when he wasn’t visible at all.

n「It’s a sport on Earth. You put planks on your feet and slide down snowly hills. You don’t have it in this world?」

n『I have never heard of it. Though I have heard of sledding.』

nAfter talking to Sam and Darcia, Vandalieu came to realize that on Lambda, sports such as the ones on earth didn’t really exist. To be more specific, there were no sports that one enjoyed for the sake of competition and leisure. They competed in swordsmanship and archery skill, but on the assumption that such skills will be used to fight monsters and participate in wars. The same went for athletics and horse-riding.

nThe only exceptions were the things that royalty and noblemen learned for the sake of knowledge.

nBall sports such as baseball and soccer, and leisure sports such as surfing and skiing didn’t exist in Lambda.

nIt could be assumed that this was because there were many powerful monsters, so there wasn’t as much freedom as there was on earth. It was better to become able to fight than to waste one’s physical ability on such sports.

nWith that said, even if competitive sports were not developed, it was surprising that sledding had not progressed into the invention of skis after ten thousand years. This sort of thing was probably the reason that Rodcorte considered this to be an inferior world. Well, it was possible that there was a snowy country that Sam didn’t know about.

n「Sam, skiing is –」

nAs Vandalieu began explaining what skiing is, he heard a faint voice.

n「A woman’s scream?」

n『That is what I thought it sounded like.』

nAnd then the wind brought a faint, pleasant scent that stimulated Vandalieu’s appetite. The smell of blood.

nIn the direction that this wind came from, a woman had let out a scream and was bleeding. In other words, she was being attacked by something.

n『What shall you do?』

nThe reason Sam asked this was because Vandalieu’s party’s options were not limited to the normal ones of「go to help」and「avoid getting involved.」

nIn the country of Mirg, all of them were considered monsters that should be exterminated. It was easy to imagine helping this poor woman and being thanked by being brought to an adventurer group that had received a request to exterminate them.

nTherefore, if Vandalieu logically considered the risks, he would ignore the scream and continue on with his journey.

nWith that said, now that Sam had learned about Vandalieu’s personality and goals, he doubted that Vandalieu would choose such an option.

n「Sam, head upwind. Bone Bird, scout up ahead. Bone Man, Saria and Rita, get in the carriage.」

nVandalieu’s decision was『for now, help out if it seems dangerous, and then think about what to do afterwards.』

nIt seemed like a wait-and-see approach, but he couldn’t decide「let’s help her」and bring the woman back to life if she had already been killed. But on the other hand, he could easily choose the alternative of「let’s stop helping her」at any time and kill her to make sure she didn’t talk.

nTherefore, this choice was logically correct, Vandalieu thought.

n「Geeeh.」

nBone Bird gave a cry as it flapped its spirit wings and took off into the air, and Bone Man, Saria and Rita who had been busy with their combat training jumped into the carriage.

n『As you wish, Bocchan.』

nThe spirit horses began to run at a gentle pace. Sam was one of the few Undead who could speak to Vandalieu, and though he offered his opinions sometimes, he never opposed Vandalieu’s commands.

nAnd then Vandalieu magically linked Bone Bird’s vision to his, allowing him to see what Bone Bird saw.

nAs Bone Bird flew higher and higher, he could see several humans doing something at the boundary at which the forest ended and a grass-covered plain began.

nBecause Bone Bird had no eyeballs, or perhaps because Vandalieu’s magic was still not advanced enough, its vision was worse than that of a living bird.

nEven so, he could vaguely make out the humans’ situation. There were five of them in total… no, six.

nAmong them, three of them were standing. One of them was collapsed on the ground. One more was straddling that person, and another was crouching down next to her.

nOther than the one lying on the ground, all of them were men. Three of them were wearing metal armor. One was in leather armor and the other was in robes. It was one of the ones in metal armor was straddling the person on the ground.

nJudging from the fact that their equipment was all different, they were likely adventurers. They did seem quite cautious about their surroundings, but that caution was directed towards the Devil’s Nest to make sure that no monsters came out of there to attack them; they were not expecting any attack to come from the thicket.

nMade of only bones and a faintly glowing spirit form, Bone Bird would be difficult to spot in the middle of a sunny day, so there was no chance that it would be noticed while it was scouting.

nThe one lying on the ground was a woman with long hair and an unusual skin color… grey-brown. She was half naked and bleeding.

nThe man crouched down next to her reached his hand out to her chest.

n「Sam, use Silent Steps and go as fast as you can. Let’s kill them all, guys.」

nThis scene caused Vandalieu’s blood to rush into his head. And then he calmly decided to kill slaughter all of these men. They seemed to be adventurers, but they were a lowly, bandit-like group.

nVandalieu felt sad. To think that there would be more guys like the Blue-flamed Sword Heinz in a place like this; did the adventurers of this country have no morals?

n『Certainly, Bocchan.』

nSam swung the reins up and down, and the carriage’s speed suddenly increased. However, this didn’t cause the carriage to shake, and the sound it produced was unbelievably small.

nThe【Rough Road Travel】skill made it possible to use the【High-Speed Travel】skill even on the unpaved surface of the field. The noise that was supposed to be produced by the hoofs of the spiritual horses that were a part of Sam’s body was erased by the【Silent Steps】skill. In addition, the carriage should have been shaking violently, but this was prevented by the【Impact Resistance】skill.

nSam was a carriage filled with cheats. Vandalieu thought that he could become a high-class limousine.

nBone Bear, Bone Wolf and Bone Monkey were running alongside the carriage at wild speeds.

n「Bone Man, you wait for my signal and then use your bow to get a pre-emptive strike on the one in leather armor. He’s probably a Thief, so he’ll be hard to track down if he gets away. Sam could probably chase him down, but just in case. I’ll make the robed one that looks like a Mage powerless. The rest of you, take each of the armored ones on two-on-one.」

nAs Vandalieu spoke, he gave a sideward glance at Bone Man, who was nocking an arrow in his bow.

n「Right, let’s save that girl.」

nThat was the good thing to do.

nMonster Explanation:

n【Living Armors】

nThese are suits of armor inhabited by evil spirits. Most of them are inhabited by spirits of soldiers, knights or adventurers who experienced fighting with armor on during their lifetimes, but few of them retain their memories and personalities. Most of them simply attack the living indiscriminately.

nTheir strength depends on the armor they inhabit and the weapons they hold, but Living Armors made from chainmail and half-plate armor are Rank 3. Ones made from full-plate armor are classified as Rank 4.

nThere are rare cases where Living Armors are made from Magic Items, but in those cases, the Rank depends on the features of those Magic Items.

nAs proof that one has eliminated a Living Armor, the Magic Stone that almost always drops regardless of the Living Armor’s Rank is used. The materials that can be obtained from Living Armors are the armor that was possessed and the weapons and shields that were used. Since they are covered in Mana, there is a chance that these items become Magic Items. Using these items as they are is dangerous, as there is a chance that the bearer becomes cursed, but purifying them makes them safe to use.

nSaria and Rita are inhabiting suits of armor that are Magic Items, but as they are maids who never experienced using weapons during their lifetime, their skill levels and Rank are appropriately low.

nHowever, this does not harm the functions of the armor itself, so their defensive and resistance skills are unaffected.

nSkill Explanation:

n【Mental Corruption】

nThis is a skill that represents mental derangement, the depth of one’s trauma and the severity of phobias. It also functions as a skill that protects one’s mind from the effects of poison, curses and magic.

nHowever, many organizations that encourage the acquisition of this skill are connected to underground organizations or are underground organizations themselves. In urban areas, this skill is considered to be an illness, and specialized facilities exist to treat it.

nMany individuals who possess this skill are abnormal sadists and murderers, soldiers and adventurers who have experienced horrific battles and assassins who have become unable to feel discomfort and guilt when killing people. However, as there are also many artists and inventors who possessed the skill and have left behind their names and deeds in history books, there are few cases where one is imprisoned simply for possessing the skill.

n