Chapter 279: The true ruler who has an enormous statue of himself built

Death Mage 230 – The true ruler who has an enormous statue of himself built

On the way back from meeting with Priestess Paula, who served Vida at the Communal Church, Darcia was called out to by a young man who called himself Edmond. After hearing what he had to say, she smiled.

“Edmond-san, I understand what you are saying, but I must refuse,” she said.

“Please wait! This is something that will be beneficial not only to me, but to you and to the Ghouls as well,” said Edmond, who had brought her to a restaurant to discuss business. “As you can see, I am a merchant, but I have investigated Ghouls a considerable amount. In the materials I came across, I read that Ghouls have difficulties in having children. But mating with a human has far higher chances of a pregnancy compared to mating with another Ghoul.”

“Yes, you are correct, but…”

“Then if you open a store for the sacred prostitution of Ghouls, it becomes a place to worship Vida, solves the problem that plagues the entire Ghoul race and brings in profit! All of these things are achieved, and everyone benefits!”

Darcia forced a smile onto her face.

“There are records that describe holy prostitutes who served in temples of Vida, the goddess of life and love, and granted love upon her believers, aren’t there!” Edmond continued.

“Umm, there are, but… that was practiced thousands of years ago,” said Darcia.

At the very least, this was the case for human societies, although circumstances may have been different for settlements of Vida’s races and the nations within the Boundary Mountain Range.

“That is why we should revive the practice in today’s age! We will build a Church of Vida, and have Ghoul prostitutes work there. I am sure that the Ghouls will be happy to do such work, and there will be plenty of customers desiring to engage with beautiful Ghoul prostitutes! And we will have them provide a ‘charitable donation’ as a fee for the service… Don’t you think this is a great idea?!”

That was the business idea that Edmond wanted to discuss. He wanted to build a Church of Vida with a number of private rooms, have Ghoul women work there under the guise of sacred prostitution, providing the male visitors with a night’s worth of love and taking a certain amount of money from them as a charitable donation.

In other words, he wanted to build a special brothel that used loopholes in a number of laws and conventions.

“I will provide the money for the construction of the building and various other expenses. You will only need to use your connection with the ‘Starving Wolf’ to make necessary arrangements in the red-light district, and your son just needs to bring in Ghouls, with the story that he has tamed them,” said Edmond. “The question is, how many Ghouls can we gather… You interact with them, don’t you? The groups of Ghouls that have disappeared from around this region. Those two Ghouls you brought were from those groups, isn’t that right?”

It seemed that Edmond was under the impression that Darcia’s hidden village of Dark Elves interacted with groups of Ghouls. Vandalieu advertised the Gobu-gobu and baked Kobold meat being sold at his food carts as using Ghoul knowledge; this appeared to support Edmond’s hypothesis.

“… Who knows? I don’t know what you are talking about. As my son has reported to the Tamers’ Guild, he tamed those two Ghouls outside the Devil’s Nests, and I haven’t heard anything to suggest otherwise,” said Darcia, still wearing a forced smile.

Vandalieu’s report to the Tamers’ Guild had been almost meaningless – he had told them that he had met Zadiris and Basdia by coincidence while training Fang and the rats.

If one witnessed a monster that would be designated as a disaster, they would be obligated to provide an accurate report, but for reporting how they encountered monsters they tamed, this kind of report was enough. That was especially true as the Ghouls around this area were generally about as dangerous as Orcs of the same Rank.

Though Ghouls were slightly more proficient in combat, it was balanced out by the fact that Orcs were more aggressively harmful to humans, so they were considered to be roughly equally dangerous.

“I also heard that report from the Guild, but… if that is true, I think that you should be more informed about your son’s personal relationships, considering that you are his mother,” said Edmond.

“My son is very sociable,” said Darcia.

Her smile was now so forced that it looked like it had been pasted on over her mouth.

“Hmm… Considering that he made the effort to declare that Gobu-gobu and baked Kobold meat are Ghoul knowledge, don’t you think that he is trying to create some kind of business related to Ghouls?” said Edmond.

“I don’t know. The food cart business is my son’s project, and I have no input in it,” said Darcia, continuing to maintain her fake smile.

She thought that Edmond had a sharp intuition, but at the same time, she was irritated.

Edmond’s intuition was indeed sharp. However, he was observing Vandalieu and Darcia’s movements too systematically. This likely included the connection to the ‘Starving Wolf’ Michael, the support of the slum quarter’s inhabitants, the way Darcia had summoned a familiar spirit and acquired the Title of ‘Holy Woman,’ and the things that Vandalieu had done.

He was likely assuming that all of these things had been carefully planned as part of a larger plan.

… That’s not the case at all, though, Darcia thought to herself.

The connection with the ‘Starving Wolf’ Michael, Miles, was being used effectively because Joseph, former Deputy Guild Master of the Commerce Guild, had designated a back alley of the red-light district as the location of Vandalieu’s food cart. Vandalieu’s relationship with the orphanage and the inhabitants of the slums would likely have been much different if Joseph had not harassed him.

And as for Vandalieu’s actions… overall, things had gone according to plan. But the truth was that none of the small details had gone according to plan, including the fact that he was now selling Gobu-gobu and baked Kobold meat.

It wasn’t as if Vandalieu had some plan related to the Ghouls that would develop from this point.

“Edmond-san, I understand very well what you are saying. But we cannot accept your request,” said Darcia.

She was smiling, but she made her refusal of Edmond’s proposal very clear.

“Will you not change your mind? I think it is a beneficial suggestion to everyone involved,” said Edmond.

“No, I won’t change my mind.”

Indeed, Edmond’s suggestion would be beneficial. If it were carried out, he would be able to earn money, and there would be a new environment in which it was easier for Ghoul women to have children.

But that only applied to ordinary Ghouls, the Ghouls that Edmond knew of.

Basdia, Zadiris and all of the other Ghouls who had been taken to Talosheim no longer suffered from a difficulty in having children; the problem had been resolved long ago by Magic Items that improved their bodies’ ability to have children.

There was no point in looking for human fathers for Ghoul children, abusing loopholes in human society’s laws in the process.

And it was questionable as to whether the facility would become a place of worship for Vida. Indeed, there were historical records of previously existing sacred prostitution systems in Churches, in which believers were given love. However, it was completely different… no, entirely the opposite, if a brothel was disguised as a Church and prostitutes were disguised as sacred prostitutes in order to operate a business and bring in customers.

This would potentially even give the authorities a negative impression of the Church of Vida, that the Church was a cover for prostitution. And there was no doubt that the anti-peaceful faction of Alda, which was losing influence due to the peaceful faction, would be delighted to use this as a weapon.

Not only that, but even other believers of Vida might distance themselves from the Churches.

To resolve the problem of human societies mistakenly thinking of Ghouls as monsters, having people actually interact with Ghouls would be a straightforward method, but it would be an effective one. Darcia knew this, but… that didn’t mean that they needed to build a brothel disguised as a Church.

Most importantly… Darcia felt that Edmond was the kind of person who couldn’t be trusted.

From his words, it was clear that he took everything too lightly except the earning of profits… Well, he was a merchant, so perhaps it couldn’t really be helped.

And it was questionable as to whether he had any intention of protecting the Ghouls if there were any serious problems… if the Ghouls were to be harmed by fanatical believers of Alda or human supremacists who wouldn’t accept a gathering of Ghouls inside the city.

“Edmond-san, I do believe that money is needed for religion. I do not feed myself with air, and Churches cannot be operated for free,” said Darcia. “But I think that it is mistaken to use religion for money.”

Until not long ago, Darcia had been a mere spirit who hadn’t needed to eat anything at all, but she put that aside for now.

Edmond sighed. “… Although you have received a god’s divine protection and a familiar spirit, you say the same things as everyone else. Then let me give you a warning. Rodriguez!”

An older man, whose name was apparently Rodriguez, stood up from another seat in the restaurant. He was lightly equipped, wearing leather armor, and a sword hung at his waist.

With movements that showed no sign of physical decline due to his age, he approached Darcia.

“This man’s name is Rodriguez. He is a former B-class adventurer, but by some fate, he is now serving as my bodyguard. He is a powerful man who was known in the past as the ‘Strong Sword,’ and he is of a completely different quality to the ‘Strong Arm’ who was ridiculed by your son and his friends yesterday,” said Edmond.

“I can kind of see that, but what’s the warning you wanted to give me?” Darcia asked.

She hadn’t seen Gordon herself, but she could tell that Rodriguez was a considerably strong individual… but that was all.

She showed no sign whatsoever of being surprised, overpowered or afraid.

Edmond was slightly irritated by Darcia’s response to Rodriguez despite his confident introduction, but he continued speaking. “No, it is just that… no matter what kind of idealistic thoughts you may have, they will sometimes be taken away by those with power. I wanted to warn you that there are numerous instances of this happening across the world.”

Edmond was trying to pressure Darcia, as if to say that he would have Rodriguez take Darcia’s idealistic thoughts away by force if she rejected his proposal.

But he had picked the wrong target for this. Darcia had engaged in physical combat against an evil god who had been physically incarnated in a Pure-breed Vampire’s body, and even cornered him. To her, Edmond’s threat was nothing more than a toddler saying, “I’m a scary bad guy, you know!”

“But I believe that there are also numerous instances of people trying to take things by force being defeated, having all of their possessions stripped from them and sold off as criminal slaves,” said Darcia, still smiling.

“… I see. Indeed, there are often bandit extermination commissions available at the Adventurers’ Guild,” said Edmond. “Rodriguez, what do you think?”

“I think that it is exactly as this lady says, Edmond-san,” said Rodriguez.

“Yes, the truth is that those doing the exterminating suffer greater losses than… Wait, what did you say?” said Edmond, thinking that he had misheard.

“Edmond-san, I think that Darcia-san here speaks the truth,” Rodriguez repeated.

Darcia smiled at Rodriguez, taking no notice of the petrified Edmond. “I am, aren’t I? Well then, I will excuse myself now.”

“We apologize for calling out to you and stopping you,” said Rodriguez, stepping out of Darcia’s way and bowing like a gentleman. “We will pay the bill, of course.”

“Oh my. Thank you very much. Thank you for the delicious tea,” said Darcia.

As Darcia casually walked towards the door, Edmond returned to his senses and tried to call out to her, but Rodriguez put a hand over his mouth to stop him.

Once Darcia had left, Rodriguez sighed in relief and let Edmond go. “Sorry, Edmond-san.”

“Seriously! What the hell was that? We agreed beforehand that you would pressure her, didn’t we? And we agreed that her son would likely refuse our proposal, so we would speak to the mother first,” Edmond complained. “So why in the world would you do that?”

“Edmond-san, we assumed that she would be like any other clergyman at the Church… that she had no experience in combat, even if she did have the ability to summon a familiar spirit. But we were wrong,” said Rodriguez, his face pale. “That woman who is not even an adventurer, who normally spends her time working at the skewer cart, is clearly far more powerful than I am. I could see it in her movements. The Levels of her combat-related Skills are definitely higher than mine.”

“No way…! You have a Level 8 ‘Swordsmanship’ Skill, and she is more powerful than you…?!” Edmond whispered, staring in shock at the door through which Darcia had left.

“Edmond-san, I owe you a debt of gratitude. My son is alive today because of the medicine that you bought with your money and connections. I’m willing to risk my life for you. If we were to be attacked by an Elder Dragon, I would gladly die if it could buy you even a single second more to escape,” said Rodriguez. “But I have no intention of going out of my way to step on an Elder Dragon’s tail, even if it’s to protect you.”

Vandalieu and his companions were working inside the Dungeon, the fake city in which human-shaped Golems made of stone and earth simply walked back and forth.

The buildings dirtied during the battle against Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka needed to be cleaned, and the broken Demon King Familiars needed to be replaced and repaired.

Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka had been unable to destroy the Dungeon itself, but the cannon-type and cannonball-type Demon King Familiars were disposable. Naturally, cannonball-types exploded when fired, but the cannon-types expended all of their Mana upon firing and were damaged by the recoil.

And the smoke and soot from the explosions had stained the Dungeon’s buildings black. The buildings being dirty didn’t affect the function of the Dungeon, but in case more enemies were lured into this Dungeon, having clean buildings would make it easier to fool them into thinking it was the real city of Morksi for longer.

The next time the Dungeon was used, it was possible that Vandalieu and his companions might be able to attack while they were still confused, then split them apart and crush them separately as they had done with Birkyne.

Thus, when removing the soot from the buildings, it was also important not to over-clean them and make them cleaner than the real city’s buildings.

“I understand that, but… can’t you do anything about the snow and the cold?” asked Tarea, who had activated her transformation staff and was now wearing a bodysuit.

“I cannot,” said Gufadgarn, shaking her head. “I have set this Dungeon to have the same weather and air temperature as the real Morksi. If it snows in Morksi, it snows in this Dungeon, and if it rains it Morksi, then it rains here.”

“I’ve already been told that, but can’t you change it while we don’t have any enemies in here?” Tarea complained.

“That is not impossible. But this Dungeon floor is more than twice the size of the average Dungeon floor,” said Gufadgarn. “If I were to change the temperature of the Dungeon to a more reasonable temperature, it would take over a day to turn the temperature and weather back to normal. Thus, I would like for you to manage your own warmth on your own.”

“I suppose it is troublesome to warm up or cool down an entire city. It cannot be helped; I shall receive my warmth from Van-sama,” said Tarea.

“I thought that your transformation equipment would be quite effective against this kind of temperature?” said Basdia.

Tarea’s clothes looked very cold indeed, consisting of a mini-skirt and a bodysuit, but they had been enchanted with cold-resistant properties.

In fact, if she were to stand under a snowy sky in the middle of winter with her transformation equipment activated, she would feel merely a little cold, taking no notice of the freezing-cold air.

“It’s a matter of warmth in the heart. Why don’t you go and train your juniors with your mother and the others?” Tarea suggested.

“I’ve already done my lessons for today. I’ll leave the training of Juliana and the others to Mother and Kanako,” said Basdia.

“… Alright, that should do it,” Vandalieu murmured, having finished creating more cannonball-type Demon King Familiars and loading the self-propelled-artillery-type Demon King Familiars. “Tarea, as you already know, my body temperature is quite low and wouldn’t provide you with any warmth.”

“Main Body, about these legs that you have attached to me… I think that they will be broken by the recoil if I were to fire,” said a self-propelled-artillery-type Demon King Familiar, wriggling the Demon King’s jointed legs that had been attached to it.

“That’s good enough, as long as you can move before firing your first shot,” said Vandalieu. “So, Mother, how was the talk with that Edmond person?”

“Umm, about that… Tarea-san and Basdia-san, you should listen too,” said Darcia. “He doesn’t seem to be a corrupt merchant, but…”

She explained the proposal that Edmond approached her with during the day.

“How do I say this… It might have sounded like a good proposal to the me from years ago, when I was getting desperate…” said Basdia, before Vandalieu could say anything.

“It is a questionable proposal, isn’t it? Though in the past, we might have listened to it. And I don’t think that everyone would have been as delighted as this Edmond person seems to think,” said Tarea.

Ghouls did not want the fathers of their children to be just anyone. Ghoul women had their own preferences as well.

They desired strength in their partners.

It was unclear as to what kind of clientele Edmond was targeting, but unless they were male adventurers or knights, Ghoul women wouldn’t be interested. It was possible that they wouldn’t even consider merchants with no ability in combat and pathetic drunkards to be men.

And Ghouls were liberal when it came to sex, but that didn’t make them professional prostitutes. If they were to take customers as partners, it was likely that there would have been all kinds of problems.

“Also, it would likely make Earl Morksi and Bachem-san become extremely worried. Bachem-san in particular seemed to be getting some idea of who Basdia and Zadiris actually are,” said Vandalieu.

Bachem of the Tamers’ Guild had provided Vandalieu with the familiar collars that he had applied for, having written that Basdia was a Ghoul Warrior and Zadiris was a Ghoul Mage.

But that was only because although he didn’t think that they could possibly be Rank 4 and 5, he didn’t know what their races truly were. Thus, he had been unable to deny the contents of Vandalieu’s application.

If Bachem didn’t trust Vandalieu, it was possible that he would have rejected Vandalieu’s application by force.

… But even with Bachem’s trust, it would be beyond his limits to accept the bringing in of large numbers of Ghouls to work as sacred prostitutes at a Church of Vida.

“You’re right. But don’t worry, I made sure to reject Edmond-san’s proposal. He was a little persistent, but it’s a good thing that his bodyguard Rodriguez had good eyes,” said Darcia. “So you can’t trap them in a labyrinth or turn them into meatballs or fertilizer.”

“… As you wish,” said Gufadgarn.

That was the moment that Edmond and Rodriguez managed to avoid their ends in the labyrinth, the fate that the corrupt guard Aggar had suffered.

“Incidentally, what happened to that alchemist, Jessie?” Basdia asked. “After she took venom from me and Mother, I thought she was pestering Van to teach her how to make artificial limbs like Simon and Natania.”

“I explained that there was nothing in terms of alchemy for me to teach her, but she is quite unwilling to give up,” said Vandalieu.

“The skill needed to make those artificial limbs isn’t alchemy, but blacksmithing, after all,” said Tarea.

Seeing Natania and Simon’s performance in the duel with Gordon, Jessie’s interest had shifted to the artificial limbs that moved like real ones and could be disassembled and reassembled at will.

But the artificial limbs themselves were nothing more than ordinary artificial limbs made of metal. It was the user’s spirit form that provided their movement.

“What a nice young lady, talking to everyone without paying attention to the pressure that the Mages’ Guild is trying to put on Van,” said Darcia. “Don’t you think that it would be best for her to give correct information regarding the Ghouls and the artificial limbs to the Mages’ Guild to remove any misunderstandings?”

“Mom, I think that will be quite difficult, but… it might be good to allow her to watch one of our training sessions in exchange for submitting a report about the Ghouls,” said Vandalieu. “She’s currently… with Simon, for some reason.”

From the response given by the Demon King Familiar embedded in Simon’s artificial arm, Jessie was with him right now. They had apparently bumped into each other while Simon was going around meeting landlords, looking to rent a room and move out of the slums.

And she was now following him around, having asked him to show her his artificial arm.

“… Well, we’ll be meeting Simon again at the store in the evening, so let’s talk to her then if she’s still with him,” said Vandalieu.

“It seems likely that she will be with him as long as he doesn’t actively get rid of her,” said Basdia.

“I don’t think he would try to do that. She’s the daughter of the Guild Master of the Adventurers’ Guild, after all,” said Darcia.

It was unclear as to whether this was a fated romance between Jessie and Simon, or a sign of some kind of trouble.

“By the way, Van, how are your Experience Points? They should be in the middle of building a statue of you in Talosheim,” said Basdia.

“… I am getting more day by day,” said Vandalieu.

Ever since he acquired the ‘Demiurge’ Job and become a demigod, he had frequently begun to gain Experience Points and gain Levels even when he wasn’t doing anything.

Considering that the reason for that was likely related to the ‘Demiurge’ Job… it had been concluded that the people’s worshipping of Vandalieu was likely becoming Experience Points for him.

This had been confirmed when Vandalieu had tried having Gufadgarn pray to him, and he had instantly Leveled up.

Thus, there was now a good reason for the long-standing request of the current head of Talosheim’s Church of Vida, Nuaza, to build an enormous statue of Vandalieu. The statue-building plans had finally started.

Even now, Talosheim’s citizens were building the statue of their own will, ignoring the placards reading “Don’t build the statue” and “Make the statue more compact!” held up by the Demon King Familiars.

The Sun Giant Talos was helping the project, putting himself to use as living construction machinery. The Pure-breed Vampires had come all the way from Vida’s Resting Grounds to help, and even each of the kings of the nations in the Boundary Mountain Range had visited the construction site in a gesture of goodwill.

It seemed that each nation’s kings and representatives had chosen stones of various sizes to be used for the statue, in a ceremony to symbolize their contribution to the statue’s construction.

“O great Vandalieu, please grant us your great mercy and forgive us for building this statue of you,” said Gufadgarn.

“This is the will of the nation’s citizens, Vandalieu,” said Darcia.

“You’re right,” said Vandalieu.

In order to not become a tyrant, he needed to respect the will of his citizens. He had no choice but to give up on trying to stop them from building an enormous statue of him.

“Ordinarily, it would be the opposite… nations’ rulers would be forcing their citizens to build statues of them,” said Tarea.

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“Come to think of it, there’s apparently a plan proceeding on the Dark Continent to build an enormous stone statue of Van that won’t lose in size to the one in Talosheim. It’s being spearheaded by Tiamat,” said Basdia.

“Even on the Dark Continent? I’d like to stop that from happening,” said Vandalieu. “But there is no pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar there, so I can’t tell them directly.”

“Knowing Tiamat-sama, perhaps she wants a statue of you about the same size as her,” said Darcia. “Oh my, what is that light?”

A dazzling light had suddenly appeared in the Dungeon’s equivalent to the city’s plaza. Singing voices could be heard as well.

Kanako and Zadiris, with their transformation staves activated, were giving singing and dancing lessons to Juliana and the other half-Minotaur girls who had been her subordinates in their previous lives.

“That’s it! That’s the way! Everyone, you have the qualities needed! You are the magical girls of the future!” said Kanako.

“Indeed, the future… I am looking forward to seeing you several months to a year from now,” said Zadiris.

“Yes! We will do our best to become magical girls like you! Isn’t that right, everyone!” said Juliana.

“Yes! We will become magical girls!” the other half-Minotaur girls shouted.

Before their reincarnation, most of them had been knights including Juliana, but they were now burning with a desire to become a knights’ order of magical girls.

“What a heartwarming sight. I wonder if they will become races like ‘Magical Princess Knight Half-Minotaur’ in the future?” Basdia wondered, casting a rather distant gaze towards the future magical girls’ lesson.

“Maybe so. They are still children, so there’s still some stabilization that will happen before next year when they will probably become adults… and it’s even possible that they will become a different race rather than half-Minotaurs,” said Vandalieu.

But Tarea was casting a suspicious gaze towards Zadiris. Zadiris was using her ‘Light Princess Magic’ to create spotlights and dancing light effects as if it were a real performance, raising the morale of the students.

“What I am more curious about is why that person is seriously trying to quit being a magical girl,” said Tarea. “It is very suspicious.”

Zadiris would train more magical girls, stop transforming once there were enough, and then aim to gain a race title and Jobs that were unrelated to princesses and magical girls.

That was supposed to be her plan, but… everyone except for her knew that she was getting deeper and deeper into it.

The back alley in the red-light district. Up until a month ago, it had been nothing more than a gloomy place with a suspicious air about it, with nothing there except several food carts visited by people coming from the slums to work, looking to buy foul-tasting but cheap food.

But now, it had been reborn as a rather strange but lively street, filled with the energetic voices of the owners of food carts with pink hearts drawn on them as they called out to customers.

“Welcome, welcome! Today’s Gobu-gobu soup has a pretty good flavor, you know!”

“How about a Kobold sandwich? There are two varieties available – black bread that has some texture to it, or the slightly pricier soft white bread!”

There was one visitor who had been traveling, and hadn’t been in the city of Morksi for several months.

“Huh? There wasn’t a street like this when I came here in the fall, was there?” he said to himself, blinking in confusion.

And then there were others who heard rumors about it and had come here on dares and bets.

“So, this is the rumored Vida Street! Alright, I’ve got to conquer all of the Gobu-gobu dishes!” one man said.

“Alright, go! I’ll give you a hundred Baums if you can eat it all without throwing it up!” said another.

The man ate the Gobu-gobu, which was more delicious than he had expected, and was given a hundred Baums by his friend.

This back alley was becoming one of Morksi’s famous spots, with the food carts bearing Vida’s holy symbol selling the Gobu-gobu and baked Kobold meat that had saved the slum quarter’s food cart owners.

And the skewer cart about halfway down the alley, with its Dhampir owner and his beautiful Dark Elf mother operating it, had become a full-blown tourist attraction.

After Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka’s defeat, Eleanora, Bellmond and Melissa no longer had any reason to continue concealing their identities and being a part of the criminal organization, so they had come to help because they were free.

“Here you are, five regular sauce skewers and five walnut sauce skewers. Sorry to keep you waiting,” said Eleanora, handing a customer his order.

“We have meat and mushroom skewers with Walking Mushroom sauce today. How about trying one?” said Bellmond, calling out to another customer.

“Well, this is better than being thought of as the criminal organization boss’s mistress or illegitimate child,” said Melissa. “Apple sauce steak, here you are.”

Basdia, Zadiris and for some reason even Jessie had joined them as well.

“There’s quite some skill in controlling how you cook the meat, isn’t there, Van?” said Basdia.

“You’re so good at this, Basdia-san! When I try to make it, half of it becomes burnt before I know it!” said Jessie.

“… Jessie, from what I can see, it seems to me that this is because you are always distracted partway during the cooking,” said Zadiris.

“Jessie, I’m starting to feel more and more anxious about you helping me,” said Vandalieu.

Incidentally, Natania was at the house, taking care of Juliana and the other half-Minotaur girls, along with Rita and Saria.

Eleanora, Bellmond and Melissa weren’t dressed in disguise as the criminal organization boss’s bodyguards or secretary-lovers; they were dressed in ordinary warm clothing suitable for the winter weather. But even so, they were unmistakably beautiful.

Thus, male customers came forward to buy skewers, one after another… Vandalieu was continuing to hunt in the Devil’s Nests, so the meat and sauces were very good for the price, so there were also customers who came purely for the food.

Meanwhile, Jessie felt slightly out of place; she wasn’t astoundingly beautiful and actually had a rather unsophisticated air about her.

“Don’t say that, Master! I’ll do my best!” Jessie said persistently.

“I haven’t accepted you as my apprentice yet,” said Vandalieu.

“Master?!”

“… I’ve already explained that even if I did make you my apprentice, I would have almost nothing to teach you.”

Maybe it really is necessary to bring Jessie to Simon and Natania’s training and let her observe the artificial limbs closely, Vandalieu thought.

“Jessie-san, you can’t be causing trouble for Master. And your old man would worry if he were to find out that you’re wandering about the red-light district,” said Simon.

“Don’t worry about my father, Simon-san. I’m an adult, not a child. I’m free to work where I like,” Jessie told him.

“But still, parents will worry about children no matter how old they get. I’ve made my parents worry about me a fair amount as well. You can’t be too inconsiderate to your parents.”

“Simon-san… Are you talking about your family that you haven’t met in over ten years?”

“Yes. But I’ve finally prepared myself to send them a letter, though the last time I wrote to them was about ten years ago, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they thought I was dead.”

“I’m sorry for saying such inconsiderate things…”

“No, don’t worry about it. Everyone’s got their own circumstances. I was being too nosy myself.”

Simon and Jessie had apparently had deep conversations after meeting by coincidence while Simon was going around meeting landlords, and they were beginning to get into another deep conversation now.

“It seems like there’s been some drama,” said Darcia.

“It seems so,” Vandalieu agreed, feeling like they were listening in on something private.

“So, this is what it looks like when two people go off into their own world. They’re so focused on each other that they can’t hear our voices,” said Basdia, looking impressed.

Incidentally, Simon was working as a sort of bodyguard to stop drunkards from harassing Darcia and the others rather than helping with the food cart, but he wasn’t really being of much use.

But Fang was working hard in his place. A small growl from the gray dog the size of a cow was enough to startle a nearby drunkard, who sobered up immediately and ran away.

“The reincarnated individuals haven’t approached us yet, and there isn’t any sign of them doing reconnaissance, either? The air seems normal, and Fang isn’t reacting either, so it seems that ‘Sylphid’ isn’t around… Maybe it’s a good time for me to be more proactive rather than just waiting?” Vandalieu wondered to himself as he watched the drunkard flee.

Just then, he heard an announcement in his head.

《You have acquired the Title ‘True Ruler of the Red-light District!’》

“Why?” he murmured as he continued cooking the meat for the skewers.

Name: Darcia

Race: Chaos Elf Source

Age: 0 years old

Title: Witch, Holy Mother, Monster’s Parent, Vida’s Incarnation, Empress Mother, Holy Woman (NEW!)

Job: Transforming Fighter

Level: 25

Job history: Magical Girl, Life Empress Mage, Magical Idol, Magic Staff Clothing User

Passive skills:

Dark Vision

Magic Resistance: Level 10

Physical Resistance: Level 10

Status Effect Resistance: Level 10

Monstrous Strength: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Super Rapid Regeneration: Level 5

Vitality Enlargement: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)

Mana Enlargement: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Super Self-Enhancement: Vandalieu: Level 1 (Awakened from Self-Enhancement: Vandalieu!)

Self-Enhancement: Guidance: Level 10

Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Strengthened Attribute Values: Ruling: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Allure: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)

Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with a bow: Medium

Strengthened Defense Power while equipped with non-metal armor: Medium

Strengthen Followers: Level 1

Strengthened Attribute Values: Transformation: Level 4 (NEW!)

Active skills:

Cooking: Level 5

Housework: Level 5

Hunting God Archery: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Hearth-Style Dagger Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Infinitely Changing Fighting Technique: Level 2 (Awakened from Unarmed Fighting Technique!)

No-Attribute Magic: Level 5

Fine Magic Control: Level 1

Life Empress Magic: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Water-Attribute Magic: Level 10

Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 10

Spiritual Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Dismantling: Level 2

Spirit Form: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)

Surpass Limits: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Chant Revocation: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Coordination: Level 7

Goddess Descent: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Clergyman: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Dancing: Level 3

Singing: Level 3

Surpass Limits: Magic Staff: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Staff Technique: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)

Unique skills:

Vida’s Incarnation

Life Attribute Gods’ Divine Protection (Those allied with Vida)

Chaos Elf Founder

Vandalieu’s Divine Protection

Divine Metal Skeleton

Demon Eye of Regeneration: Level 5

Chaos

Skill explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Infinitely Changing Fighting Technique

A superior version of the ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ Skill, allowing the user to make full use of the ability to transform their body with the ‘Chaos’ Skill.

It is unlikely for it to be possible to awaken this Skill merely by mastering unarmed combat and being able to transform parts of one’s body into monster or beast body parts.

It is likely that one must not only wield their transformed body parts, but be able to use them masterfully in their unarmed combat as a condition for awakening this Skill.

It is possible that Mimic Slimes and such could also acquire this Skill, rather than it being limited only to Chaos Elves, but they would need a master to teach them in the use of tails, talons and wings.

Skill explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Life Perversion, Demonic Element Encroachment, Imitation Reincarnation, Servant Creation

Skills that Master acquired when acquiring the ‘Demon King’ Job. From their names, these are possibly things that the Demon King Guduranis carried out immediately after making his appearance in this world, turned into Skills.

He perverted life from its natural form, encroached upon the world by corrupting its Mana, created an imitation of the circle of reincarnation, and created monsters that served as his servants.

Ordinarily, these Skills would have allowed the recreation of these feats. However, they have all combined with the Skills that Master already possessed.

… In other words, Master is either capable of or has already accomplished the things that the Demon King Guduranis has accomplished.

As to be expected of the Demon King, I suppose.

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