The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time The Death Mage That Doesn't Want A Fourth Time 12

Warning from the author:

This chapter contains elements of cannibalism. Readers who are uncomfortable with this, please proceed with caution.

「A toast! A toast to the savior of our chief!」

「Delicious, the meat that the savior gave us is so good!」

Vandalieu had saved the chief Zadiris, and the Ghoul community in the Devil’s Nest had welcomed Vandalieu on the authority of Vigaro, the leader of the warriors.

The Ghoul village was far larger and more civilized than Vandalieu had expected.

The trees of this forested Devil’s Nest were densely packed, but they had been cleared away to create a plaza, and pit-houses with roofs made using the leaves of trees were lined up in rows.

Vandalieu wondered if the buildings didn’t get too humid, but as this wasn’t the Amazon rainforest or a subtropical region, it was probably not a problem.

A well dug in the ground served as their water source, and there were fields for growing food, though they were primitive and only large enough to be called household vegetable gardens. There was also alcohol made from fermenting plants harvested in the forest, and a warehouse where meat from the prey they hunted was preserved and stored.

The Ghouls’ lifestyle was similar to the people of indigenous cultures that lived in forests that Vandalieu had seen in TV programs on Earth. At the very least, they were far more civilized than monsters such as Goblins and Kobolds that relied entirely on hunting and gathering to sustain themselves.

『And they’re living far more human-like lives than I have.』

Vandalieu, who also relied entirely on hunting and gathering other than the spoils from the bandits, realized just how important it was to have a stable lifestyle after seeing how the Ghouls lived. A person only lived a normal life when the necessities of life like food and water were readily available.

And the Ghouls were using the meat as well as the bandits’ wine that Vandalieu had offered to host a banquet.

There were about a hundred of them in total. There were around ten members absent on a several-day-long trip to hunt Goblins, so that number was going to increase even further. Vandalieu wasn’t particularly well-informed on how monsters lived, but it wasn’t difficult for him to imagine that this was the most civilized of the monster villages in the Devil’s Nest.

Incidentally, the leader of the warriors hunting the Goblins was apparently Zadiris’s youngest daughter. For some reason, though she was a woman, she was born with more talent as a warrior than as a mage.

And so the Ghoul men with lion-like heads and arms that were longer than their legs and the Ghoul women who were no different to humans other than their grey-brown skin praised Vandalieu, who had saved Zadiris and offered them food and drink, as they enjoyed the feast. This sight was enough to calm Vandalieu as he thought,「I did good.」

Even though he knew where the meat had come from, that feeling didn’t change.

Eating together with everyone made the food taste better.

「Vandalieu, you should eat too.」

Vigaro offered him a skewer with some well-cooked meat on it, but Vandalieu shook his head.

「I’m a little hesitant about eating human meat.」

Indeed, the meat that Vigaro on the others were roasting on skewers and boiling with herbs was the flesh of the five adventurers that Vandalieu had killed when he saved Zadiris. In other words, it was human meat.

Though the Ghouls weren’t Undead as he had thought that they would be, their love for eating human flesh was just as he had imagined.

「Really? They’re more delicious than Poison Toad legs, you know?」

Vigaro tilted his head as he eyed the roasted Poison Toad leg that Vandalieu was eating, but Zadiris, who was sitting next to Vandalieu, chided him.

「Do not be so forceful about it; Vandalieu is a Dhampir, so even if he drinks human blood, he does not consume the flesh.」

「Is that so? Then how about alcohol?」

「Vandalieu is only one year old; alcohol is nothing short of poison for him. Are you trying to test his resistance skills at a banquet?!」

「One year old?! Is that right? I thought he just had a small body and he was surely older.」

Vigaro opened his eyes wide in surprise, but it was not strange for one to think that Vandalieu was older than he looked based on the way that he talked. In fact, it was to be expected that one would make that a.s.sumption.

「Well, he is a boy who uses magic, tames the Undead and defeated five adventurers. It is not strange for you think that he is merely an adult with a small body, but...」

「Is that so? I’m still just an inexperienced one-year-old boy, though.」

「Doesn’t look that way.」

「It does not seem that way.」

Zadiris and Vigaro spoke at the same time as they shook their heads. But Vandalieu thought,「They’re probably right,」and paid no further attention to it.

In fact, even if one ignored the magic and Undead, n.o.body would look at Vandalieu and think that he was an innocent one-year-old. He was expressionless, with lifeless, dead-looking eyes and his presence was difficult to notice. As Darcia had been killed when he was only six months old, his hair had grown freely since then, and the only thing he was wearing was an inadequate cloth rag.

No matter how one looked at him, he would appear to be a ghost.

「Chief, may we greet the savior?」

「Please, we are begging you.」

But it seemed that wasn’t the case for the Ghoul women. Several Ghoul women were gazing at Vandalieu with their sparkling yellow eyes.

As Vandalieu received their attention, he simply blinked. In all his lifetimes up until now, he hadn’t been popular with anyone other than spirits, so he was surprised.

「Hmm, boy, these are the youngest of the women in the village; I am currently teaching them various things.」

The women that Zadiris was introducing did indeed appear young. Most of them appeared to be in their mid or late teenage years. However, Zadiris, whom these women were calling their chief, had the appearance of a young girl.

「How cute; his hair looks like a mane!」

「Such pretty eyes, they’re different colors as well!」

But they were certainly younger than Zadiris mentally. As soon as Vandalieu was introduced to them, they began taking turns to hold him in their arms, as if competing against each other.

「H-hey, you should not be so rough with him.」

They were lifting him into the air by the legs and holding him upside down; it was quite the rough treatment for a one-year-old. But Vandalieu was a Dhampir, stronger than a grown man, so he was unharmed.

Though he was unharmed, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he found such treatment unpleasant. However, Vandalieu showed no sign of anger towards their treatment of him.

『Huh? Could it be that I’m... popular?』

He had never been pampered by members of the opposite s.e.x in any of his previous lives. Now that he was in his third life, he was experiencing romantic popularity for the first time?! Vandalieu’s thoughts had stopped completely in this moment, so he wasn’t in a state to get angry over how roughly he was being treated.

All of these Ghoul women were beautiful and as they were living in a village in the Devil’s Nest, their clothing left much of their skin exposed. Even human men would have a hard time keeping their eyes off them.

If they didn’t mind the fact that the Ghoul women were eating human flesh, that is.

「My name is Vandalieu. Nice to meet you.」

Vandalieu didn’t care in the slightest.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t as if those human adventurers had attacked and tried to rape a human girl and then tried to sell her off as a slave. The one that they had attacked was Zadiris, whom society had labeled as a monster.

Of course, selling her as a slave was illegal, but for that they would have only been charged with「bringing an untamed monster into a town」; it would be a very different charge compared to illegally selling a human girl as a slave.

And at the moment that Vandalieu attacked, those adventurers were merely trying to rape a female monster. That was not an illegal act. What kind of country would enforce a law that made it illegal to s.e.xually a.s.sault a female monster? Well, perhaps such a law would be enforced, but only to prevent strange diseases from spreading.

Ethically, it might be frowned upon by female adventurers and guild receptionists. But it wasn’t technically against the rules.

In the first place, adventurers existed to exterminate monsters and protect the people. And though the Ghouls could trace their roots back to the G.o.ddess Vida, they were defined as monsters in the Amid Empire and its nations.

So it was perfectly legal for them to rape monsters before killing them.

Therefore, Vandalieu killing the adventurers was an unwarranted attack, and taking the equipment from their bodies was exactly what bandits did.

However, thinking further, one would ask,「so what?」

The reason for that: Vandalieu was a Dhampir. In the Amid Empire and its nations, he was not considered a person, but a「monster.」

In other words, he was in the same boat as Ghouls. He was a creature that attacked and harmed humans.

With that said, what was so strange about him attacking a group of careless adventurers, killing them all, stealing their equipment and sharing their flesh with his companions afterwards?

In any case, for those adventurers, Vandalieu was in the same category of creatures as Goblins and Poison Toads. There was nothing unusual about what happened to them.

If Vandalieu had been planning to fight for Dhampir rights in the Amid Empire, then he might have been concerned about it, but... he had no intention of doing that. He wouldn’t do it even if someone begged him to; it was such a troublesome task.

He felt more intimate with the Ghouls welcoming him than he did with humans. If the Ghouls were so happy about eating human flesh, then should he have been saving bandits’ corpses? He should do that from now on.

「I wish my child would become as strong as Vandalieu, too. He’s already thirty years old, but he’s still dependent on his parents.」

「Hey, can you stroke my tummy? So that my child will grow up to be as strong as you.」

「My name is Bilde. If my next child is a boy, can I name him after you?」

Suddenly, Vandalieu’s heart dropped. They were apparently all mothers or women who were about to become mothers. Their stomachs were still flat, so he hadn’t noticed.

He hadn’t really thought that he would be able to form relations.h.i.+ps with them, nor did he really hope for it. In any case, he was still just a one-year-old child. Even so, he felt his mood plummeting.

At the same time, he felt a hatred for his own personality for being disappointed over such a thing that he hadn’t felt even when killing the adventurers.

「Hey! He is already tired and limp, hurry and let go of him, you fools!」

But from someone else’s point of view, it seemed that he had simply lost his strength.

Ghouls are Undead monsters that were Rank 3 at lowest. They show greater intelligence and societal structure than subhuman-type monsters such as Goblins, Orcs and Kobolds, and the physical appearance of the two genders are very different.

All of them possess yellow eyes and grey-brown skin, are physically strong, secrete paralyzing venom from their claws and enjoy eating meat. They are creatures full of vim and vigor, also possessing resistance to pain and poison.

The males have the heads of lions and are suited to being warriors, as they surpa.s.s the females in physical strength and the potency of their paralyzing venom.

On the other hand, the females resemble beautiful women and though they are physically weaker than the males, many of them possess qualities suited for using magic, and most of them are able to cast simple spells.

However, females that are excellent warriors and males that were mages also exist.

Sometimes, Ghouls perform a special ritual to transform human corpses into a member of their own.

High-level Ghouls such as Ghoul Warriors, Ghoul Berserkers and Ghoul Mages exist, and in the past, even higher-level Ghouls such as Ghoul Tyrants and Ghoul Elder Mages have been seen.

『This is all that I know about Ghouls... Do you plan to stay in the Ghoul village until spring?』

「Yes. Also, Mom, Ghouls aren’t Undead; they originated from Vida like Vampires.」

Darcia had a worried look on her face, but as Vandalieu replied to her, he was expressionless as usual.

『That’s what makes me more worried. If they were Undead, they would be more friendly because of your skills, but that’s not the case, you know? If they get hungry and try to eat you, what will you do?』

To Darcia, who had only just woken up and so had not seen the Ghouls for herself, that was a very real possibility that she was worried about.

「I think it’s fine. Probably. At the very least, I don’t feel the『presence of death』here like I did when I snuck into Evbejia.」

Because of the Ghouls’ friendly behavior, he let his guard down to some extent, though not completely.

However, neither Darcia nor Vandalieu himself had realized that his Death-Attribute Charm skill was working fully on the Ghouls.

「Also, I need to wait until spring in a suitable place regardless. Zadiris and the others have told me I can stay here as long as I like.」

Vandalieu had already confirmed with the top members of the community that it was alright for him to stay in the village until spring. The charm-type skill and the meat offering had been greatly effective.

「Also, I want to have Zadiris teach me various things in the time leading up to winter.」

『That can wait until you get until the Orbaume Kingdom... I can’t say that, can I?』

「Yeah, because I’ve realized that there is a problem with the Guild Cards.」

Vandalieu ran his eyes across the five Guild Cards that he had left in the carriage, which was now considerably emptier now that he had given the Ghouls the alcohol. The Guild Cards were something that all of the adventurers had been carrying, and they had the adventurers’ names and their D-cla.s.s status written on them.

Of course, he was planning to dispose of them later, but he had heard some very important information from the adventurers’ spirits, so he had done a little research before that.

Guild Cards had the function of displaying one’s status to other people. Normally, one would have to use a special spell or Magic Item to see the status of others.

The owner of a Guild Card could apparently adjust how much of their status was displayed. They could decide whether to display just their name and current job, or show their job history up until now, or even show their attribute values and skills. That was up to the owner of the cards.

However, when creating a Guild Card for the first time, all information is revealed to the Guild staff member.

「Which means, the moment I become an adventurer, my skills and curses will be revealed.」

『Hmm, that’s quite a problem. Normally you would be happy since they would pay you a reward.』

The Adventurers’ Guild paid out rewards to adventurers who discovered and acquired unknown jobs and skills.

And the【Death-Attribute Magic】and【Death-Attribute Charm】skills that Vandalieu possessed were unknown skills.

Darcia had first heard of them when Vandalieu had explained about his previous two lives. To be more accurate, she had learned of her son’s skills and noticed that there were skills that she had never heard of before.

『You’d also become famous the moment you register at a Guild. And you’d definitely get noticed by the Mages’ Guild. I think even your curses would receive a lot of attention.』

「But I can’t forget my skills or remove my curses, so I think it’s best if I gain some knowledge, skill and strength before I register myself.」

For Vandalieu to survive in this world with no parents, he needed to secure his own social position, and for that, he needed to register at a Guild. And since every guild used Guild Cards, Vandalieu’s skills and curses would become known.

However, as Guilds were organizations that protected their members, Vandalieu wouldn’t be unjustly imprisoned or kidnapped for the sake of investigating his unknown skills and curses. Even though Vandalieu possessed unknown skills and curses, n.o.body would be able to do anything about it, whether they were Guild members or not.

At least, not officially.

Vandalieu knew well that not everybody in this world upheld rules and morals.

『I suppose there’s no choice. It seems that Zadiris person can use magic, so have her teach you lots of things. Even if you can’t learn the magic itself, I’m sure you’ll learn something that you can apply to your Death-Attribute Magic.』

「Yes, Mom.」

And so Vandalieu came to spend some time living in the Ghoul community.

【The Death-Attribute Charm Skill has increased to level 3!】

【You have acquired the Strengthen Followers skill!】

At first glance, it was a blue-purple, fin-shaped, inexplicable object. It gave a wet sensation when touched, and it was partially soft.

At the very least, it was an object that one would not presume to be food.

Was it really edible? Was this some kind of joke? Vandalieu wondered this as he tentatively tried a mouthful.

It had an unusual texture and its flavor was a strange mix of bitter and spicy, and a bizarre scent that was neither unpleasant nor pleasant ran through his nostrils.

If he hadn’t asked what it was made of, he wouldn’t have been able to tell whether it was meat, fish or even a vegetable.

「How is it, Van? How does the Gobu-gobu taste?」

「... It’s delicious.」

As the tall female Ghoul who called him by a shortened nickname asked him his opinion, Vandalieu gave an insincere compliment without thinking. His seemingly incurable lack of communication skills was displaying itself once more.

「Van, what have you been eating up until now? None of us Ghouls think that this stuff is delicious.」

But as Vandalieu was expressionless as usual, the compliment didn’t have any effect. As he tried to say something back to the female Ghoul who was watching him with pity in her eyes, he realized that his diet wasn’t something that he could readily mention.

「... The rear legs of big frogs.」

Other than his mother’s milk and blood, those had been the most delicious.

「Well, there are a number of tasty monsters and fruits to be found in Devil’s Nests. You’re only a year old, so don’t worry about it.」

The name of the Ghoul talking to him and patting his head was Basdia. She was the leader of the warriors who had been out to hunt Goblins and come back in the early morning, Zadiris’s youngest daughter.

She was a beauty, over 190cm tall with toned muscles and feminine curves, appearing to be in her mid-twenties. On Earth, she might have been a beautiful athlete or martial artist.

And she also resembled Zadiris. Anyone seeing the two of them would think that they were sisters, born a long time apart. Anyone would a.s.sume that Zadiris was the younger sister, and Basdia the older one.

「Humans don’t make Gobu-gobu, huh. Can you eat a lot of delicious things in human villages? That would explain why the adventurers were so delicious.」

「No, I think they just don’t know how to make Gobu-gobu.」

「They don’t know? Why is that? The ingredients can be found anywhere; don’t adventurers often hunt them?」

The ingredients that could be found anywhere that Basdia was referring to were Goblins and Gobubu gra.s.s juice.

Gobubu gra.s.s was a purple-colored weed known as the Goblins of gra.s.s. When crushed, it released a purple juice. It was a kind of magic gra.s.s, but it wasn’t directly harmful. It simply grew in people’s fields, sucking up all the nutrients in the process. This made the gra.s.s the natural enemy of farmers.

And though it was a magic gra.s.s, it wasn’t tasty enough to be used in food and it didn’t have any medicinal uses, so it was quite a problematic plant.

Its high rate of reproduction and the damage it caused without having a single beneficial use led to it being named Gobubu gra.s.s.

And everyone knew that Goblin meat smelled terrible and wasn’t particularly edible. The same went for their blood and organs. Goblin blood tasted so bad that if Vandalieu had the choice between drinking Goblin blood and crushed insect juice, he would choose the latter.

Such Goblin meat was pickled for a whole day in the juice produced by crus.h.i.+ng Gobubu gra.s.s. This neutralized the smell of the Goblin meat, producing something that was neither tasty nor disgusting. This Gobu-gobu could be preserved for around a year.

「During times when we can’t find prey to hunt, we make do with this Gobu-gobu.」

「It doesn’t take as much time or skill to make as dried meat, and it makes a convenient emergency food that you can store... But humans wouldn’t go so far just to eat Goblin meat.」

As Vandalieu said, rather than devising a way of somehow making Goblin meat edible, humans would rather focus their efforts on farming or hunting more delicious creatures.

「Is that how it is?」

Satisfied with this explanation, or perhaps having given up on trying to understand it, Basdia returned to her task of chopping up Goblin meat that had already had its blood drained with a butcher’s knife. She still had to make Gobu-gobu with a dozen more Goblins’ worth of meat.

Basdia was the most skilled among the young Ghouls, even including the males, but her social position within the village wasn’t very high. The social status of Ghouls was determined by strength for men, and skill in magic and number of children birthed for women. Basdia was unskilled in magic and hadn’t given birth to a child yet, so no matter how skilled she was at fighting, she would never be able to rise to the top positions.

Vandalieu thought about how the people of Earth would furiously label this way of thinking as discrimination as he ate the rest of the Gobu-gobu. Well, he didn’t have time to complain about the society of Ghouls, who were technically monsters.

「I want to hurry and give birth to a child so I can become important. If that happens, I won’t be hunting Goblins and making Gobu-gobu, but going out to hunt more worthy prey and focus my spare time on becoming stronger.」

Housework, making various everyday things, maintenance of the fences that surrounded the houses and villages and such were apparently tasks for Ghouls of low social position, and hunting Goblins and gathering Gobubu gra.s.s for making Gobu-gobu were included in that.

Surprisingly, Ghouls that were able to create weapons and armor were respected in the village, even if they were weak or had no children.

「You want to become important and strong?」

「Yeah. I like strong people, so I want to become strong.」

Basdia looked like a female warrior at first glance, and her personality matched her appearance.

「There’s also my age to think about.」

Basdia had apparently turned twenty-five this year. The physical appearance of Ghoul women didn’t stop changing until they birthed their first child, so she was worrying that her physical age might double Zadiris’s at this rate.

As Vandalieu looked at her... looked up at her, he thought that she didn’t need to worry about that.

「If you were a little older, Van, I would receive your seed.」

「Bugh!」

「What’s wrong, did the Gobu-gobu get stuck in your throat? Are you alright?」

Basdia dropped the butcher’s knife that could decapitate a cow in surprise and raised Vandalieu into the air. She had no signs of embarra.s.sment showing on her face.

「No, I was just surprised that you said such a ridiculous thing in such an earnest tone.」

n.o.body could blame Vandalieu for being surprised at Basdia suddenly saying that she would receive his seed. However, Basdia gave a puzzled turn of her head.

「According to Mother, when there is a Ghoul woman who’s struggling to get pregnant, sometimes we capture a human man alive and have him give his seed in exchange for letting him leave alive. Apparently the seed of other races like humans have a higher chance to produce a child. Human men are cooperative about it, so this is apparently quite successful.」

「Well, if their lives are depending on it, I’m sure it’s no surprise that they cooperate.」

If any man was given the choice between dying and making a child, wouldn’t he choose the latter? Not to mention that Ghoul women were exactly like human women other than their skin color and eyes. On top of that –

「Ghoul women are all attractive, too.」

All of the Ghouls that Vandalieu had seen since yesterday were beautiful. If their lives would be saved and they would get to have s.e.x with one of these Ghouls, wouldn’t any man repeatedly shout「YES!」unless they had an incredibly firm sense of virtue or believed in the G.o.d Alda?

At the very least, Vandalieu knew that he would do so.

「Even from humans’ point of view? I’m happy about that, but that’s impossible for me.」

「Why is that?」

「I’m already twenty-five years old. In the human race that most adventurers belong to, once you are past twenty-five years of age, you are made fun of as a middle-aged woman.」

As Lambda’s medical technology was underdeveloped compared to Earth’s or Origin’s, the life expectancy was short. There was magic instead, but the only ones who could leave their fates in the hands of magic were those with some degree of wealth. And few mages were able to use magic related to obstetrics and gynecology.

And in this world, producing offspring was an important task. As mechanical technology was underdeveloped, the driving force in all industries was people. People plowed the fields, made the clothes, cut the stones used to build houses, fought to defend their countries – all of these required the people’s labor.

Therefore, it was common for the average person to be married before the age of twenty-five. It wasn’t uncommon for female adventurers to pa.s.s that age before marriage, but that was because those female adventurers were wealthy and had connections, or actually had partners that they weren’t officially married to.

Of course, the pregnancy rate for women in this world wasn’t lower than for those of Earth; one could still bear children in their forties, but women past their mid-twenties were called middle-aged women, encouraging them to hurry up and have children.

But Basdia had no way of knowing these exact societal circ.u.mstances, so her perceptions were based on vague stories that she had heard from Ghouls who had eavesdropped on human conversations.

「I don’t think it’s something you should worry about too much. I think you’re still very young, Basdia-san.」

Vandalieu wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about human society either, so he had wondered,「Aren’t the humans of this world worrying about their age too much?」As he had only lived on Earth as a high-school student and only made it to the age of twenty in Origin, it was difficult for him to understand the importance of leaving descendants behind.

「I’m happy that you’re saying that.」

As Basdia smiled, she looked truly beautiful and attractive. Vandalieu was close to her beautiful skin as she was holding him, and if he was an adolescent, he would probably be unable to help but to stare at the deep cleavage between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

The fact that she could become so beautiful while eating only meat was probably because of the biological differences between Ghouls and humans.

「Now that I think about it, I heard from Mother that you are able to use unusual magic, Vandalieu. Isn’t there a spell that you could use to make yourself able to give me your seed? I have heard that there is a Life-Attribute spell that can cause the rapid growth of one body part.」

「... I think that’s a bit impossible.」

However, it seemed that Basdia’s complex was deeper than Vandalieu had thought. He thought about capturing a bandit or adventurer alive and offering him to her next time, but that in itself made him feel uncomfortable.

「I see, I am sorry that my daughter asked the impossible of you.」

Zadiris, hearing Vandalieu’s story in her own house, lowered her head a little. Of course, her daughter producing a child was a matter of great concern to her as well.

「It will take around ten years for you to grow old enough to give her your seed normally, Vandalieu. At her current age, she will be able to wait that long. I may have pressured her too much in my desire to see my first grandchild... I am more surprised that you know what “seed” and such words mean, boy.」

「Well, I don’t think it’s that unusual.」

Now that Zadiris mentioned it, a normal one-year-old infant wouldn’t understand the meaning behind having one’s seed asked for. Realizing this, Vandalieu gave a vague explanation. He had good impressions of Zadiris, Vigaro and Basdia, but he was still hesitant to tell them about his past lives.

「More importantly, what do you mean by first grandchild...? Well, I suppose I understand even without you explaining.」

Vandalieu, hearing the pleasured voices of men and women coming through the gap between the leaf ceiling and wooden walls of the pit dwelling, gave a shrug of his small shoulders.

The owners of the voices were Ghouls of the village. It seemed that Ghouls didn’t have a system or the values for marriage, and it was common to spend the night with multiple members of the opposite s.e.x.

This was because of the fact that Ghouls lived in a dangerous Devil’s Nest, the fact that the women’s aging didn’t stop until they became pregnant, and the fact that it was very difficult for them to get pregnant despite their long lifespans.

If every Ghoul had only one partner, the village couldn’t be maintained.

Vandalieu guessed that this was the reason that Zadiris didn’t have a grandchild yet.

She had apparently given birth to two males before Basdia, but since DNA testing didn’t exist in this world, there was no way to be sure that they were the fathers of any children.

In fact, at the banquet yesterday, n.o.body had introduced their husband, wife, grandchildren or grandparents.

「Indeed, that is how it is.」

Zadiris didn’t deny it. This was how Ghoul society worked.

「Well, I know who Basdia’s father is.」

「Who is it?」

「It is Vigaro.」

Basdia was twenty-five years old. That meant that Zadiris had been 265 years old when she had given birth to her. At that age, even Ghouls were considered to be very old, and considering the physical burdens, it was unusual for one to produce children at such an age.

However, at the time, they had fought Kobolds and drank the alcohol that the Kobolds had stolen from humans.

「That alcohol was much stronger than the alcohol we make in the village. I became drunk on it and the next time I opened my eyes, the sun was rising and I was in the same bed as him.」

「... I see.」

It was the story of a conception without a single trace of romance.

「You should be wary of alcohol, boy. Even if you drink, do not become consumed by the alcohol. Now then, shall I teach you the basics of magic?」

Though weakened by her old age, Zadiris was a Ghoul. Of course, she couldn’t use Death-Attribute Magic, but the basics that she could teach were likely to be beneficial for Vandalieu.

And while Vandalieu was learning the basics of magic from Zadiris, Bone Man, Saria and Rita were being taught how to fight by the Ghoul warriors.

Sam, Bone Bird and the other Undead were helping with things around the village. Helping with the hunting in the Devil’s Nest gained them experience points, speeding up their growth.

And so Vandalieu began his first non-self-taught lessons.

Name: Vigaro Rank: 5 Race: Ghoul Barbarian Level: 78 Job: None Job level: 100 Job history: None Age: 167 years old Pa.s.sive skills: Night Vision Pain Resistance: Level 4 Superhuman Strength: Level 4 Paralyzing Venom Secretion (Claws): Level 1 Active skills: Axe Technique: Level 4 Hand-to-hand Fighting Technique: Level 2 Commanding: Level 3 Coordination: Level 2

Name: Basdia Rank: 4 Race: Ghoul Warrior Level: 17 Job: None Job level: 100 Job history: None Age: 25 years old Pa.s.sive skills: Night Vision Pain Resistance: Level 2 Superhuman Strength: Level 2 Paralyzing Venom Secretion (Claws): Level 3 Active skills: Axe Technique: Level 2 s.h.i.+eld Technique: Level 1 Bow Technique: Level 2 Javelin Technique: Level 1 Silent Steps: Level 1 Coordination: Level 1 Status Effects: Infertility

Monster Explanation:

【Ghoul Warriors】

These are Ghouls with enhanced fighting ability. They lead small groups of Ghouls and, in cases where other higher-ranking Ghouls aren’t present, entire tribes.

They not only fight with their venomous claws, but they are proficient in the use of hand-to-hand fighting techniques and weapons, and employ martial arts in battle. As their appearance is not very different from regular Ghouls, there are cases where unsuspecting adventurers are overwhelmed by them, so caution must be taken.

The right ear is used as proof of exterminating them. Materials that can be obtained from them include their fangs, claws and their livers which can be used in medicine.

For a normal Ghoul to become a Ghoul Warrior, he or she must possess multiple martial-type skills at level 2 or higher. However, most Ghouls meet that requirement before reaching level 100.

As Basdia has more physical ability than talent for magic, she focused on that and became a Ghoul Warrior. Though this has caused her to receive the status effect of infertility, it has had no negative effect on her attribute values or skills.

Monster explanation:

【Ghoul Barbarians】

These are Ghouls that have increased their rank and then polished their martial skills and increased their Superhuman Strength skill even further. They possess larger bodies than most Ghouls, and enjoy swinging their weapons to mow down their enemies in battle. Many Ghoul Barbarians lack intelligence, thinking only about combat.

Because of this, most of them have low social positions and are simply made use of by Ghoul Mages. The qualities of Ghoul Barbarians are possessed only by males; there have been no confirmed cases where a female Ghoul has become a Ghoul Barbarian.

The right ear is used as proof of exterminating them. Materials that can be obtained from them include their fangs, claws, tendons that can be used to make bowstrings and their Mana-soaked manes.

For a Ghoul to become a Ghoul Barbarian, he must possess the【Superhuman Strength】skill at level 3 or higher and a level 4 skill in the use of a two-handed weapon.

Unlike other Ghoul Barbarians, Vigaro is relatively intelligent and stands in a position to become the next chief. In addition, he has an exceptional ability for commanding others, so while most Ghoul Barbarians enjoy fighting alone, Vigaro always leads his companions to battle.

These factors make him more difficult to defeat than most Ghoul Barbarians.