Death Mage 223 – The destruction of joyful life and the Demon King"s party welcomes the lost lambs

That species had the trait of toying with its prey.

Whether it was because they could absorb Mana more efficiently by inflicting suffering upon their prey, or because it allowed them to display their strength to the individuals around them, it was originally a necessary behavior.

But the species evolved once more, and as they gained intelligence, they began to experience pleasure when carrying out this behavior.

As the entire species found the greatest pleasure in playing with and tormenting others, one of them finally attained divinity.

That was Hihiryushukaka.

Unable to resist the flames that were burning him, Hihiryushukaka let out a scream of terror and defeat.

With every pa.s.sing moment, the flesh that was his vessel and the Demon King"s tentacles turned to ash and crumbled, and a part of his very existence was erased as if someone were cutting away at his soul.

Hihiryushukaka had blocked the first attack directed at him when he first took over this vessel by using the Demon King"s shadow as a shield, preventing damage to his soul. But it was impossible to shield himself against three cannonb.a.l.l.s coming from three different cannons, and he was now on the verge of being burnt to ashes.

Even after being taken over by an evil G.o.d, Birkyne"s body possessed the characteristics of a Pure-breed Vampire. Thus, the wounds inflicted by the light-attribute dead spirit magic imbued in the cannonb.a.l.l.s were barely regenerating at all; his flesh was simply being burned away.

So, this is destruction! This is what it means to be erased! This is the primitive fear that Guduranis once inflicted upon the G.o.ds! … How dare he, how dare he do this to me! Hihiryushukaka thought.

Having no Mana and being barely able to move, the fear in his mind turned into hatred and envy.

These emotions were, of course, directed at Guduranis and Vandalieu.

So, this is the despair and fear that they inflicted! Upon the G.o.ds of this world, upon Zakkart and his friends, upon my servants Ternecia and Gubamon! And now me, the evil G.o.d of joyful life! Even though it is I who should be gaining joy from toying with others" lives. Even though that was the reason I became a subordinate of the Demon King!

Hihiryushukaka had become one of the Demon King Guduranis"s subordinates for this reason. By becoming a subordinate of Guduranis, who was more powerful than Hihiryushukaka and possessed the ability to break souls, he could feel the joy of toying with all of the G.o.ds and creatures in this world.

As the Demon King"s subordinate, he would take joy in the despair of those who were invaded and destroyed.

This was also his reason for trying to kill Vandalieu. It was true that he felt a sense of danger after the appearance of another being who possessed the ability to destroy souls, something that Hihiryushukaka himself did not possess. But more importantly, he felt envy.

He could accept the Demon King possessing this power. But he could not accept that a mere Dhampir, who had only received half of the blood of a Vampire that was one of his servants, possessed the ability to toy with souls.

He had been unable to overlook the humiliation he felt towards this fact.

That was why he had ordered his servants to erase Vandalieu, but… this was the result.

There was no way to corner him… My servants gave him time to become more powerful, and they were killed by him one by one. Even I knew that I had little hope of winning, but I was cornered in such a way that I had no choice but to bet everything I have on that small hope.

The Vampire organization that worshipped the evil G.o.d of joyful life, which had ruled the darkness of the Bahn Gaia continent for tens of thousands of years, had been forced to the brink of destruction by Vandalieu over the course of a little more than ten years.

Among the three who ruled over the three separate factions of the organization, Ternecia and Gubamon had been destroyed, and Alda"s forces had begun to make a move as well.

Birkyne had restructured the organization, but even he had intended to go into hiding after forming a nonaggression pact with Vandalieu. If this had gone as planned, Birkyne would have likely survived, but… Hihiryushukaka couldn"t allow that to happen.

Even if Vandalieu didn"t try to meddle with Hihiryushukaka"s affairs, the fact that Alda"s forces were in motion would not change. They were looking for enemies to use as nourishment for their hastily-made, developing heroes as if they were starving carnivores.

The n.o.ble-born Vampires and Subordinate Vampires that Birkyne had abandoned would be devoured by these heroes. And among these heroes, one of them capable of defeating Hihiryushukaka and sealing him away could emerge.

Even if this did not happen, once the battle between Vandalieu and Alda"s forces reached its conclusion, the next target would be Hihiryushukaka and the rest of the remnants of the Demon King"s army, regardless of who won the battle.

The only uncertain thing about this was whether it would be Alda"s forces that had defeated the powerful enemy that was Vandalieu, or Vida"s faction with its power fully restored.

Even if Birkyne could manage to hide on the world"s surface, Hihiryushukaka would one day be cornered in his Divine Realm.

In order for Hihiryushukaka to survive, he needed to kill Vandalieu here, take the Demon King"s fragments from him, acquire their power and defeat the heroes of Alda"s forces.

… He also had the foolish idea of simply holing himself up in this Dungeon along with Birkyne"s body, as he had been prepared to take over Birkyne"s body at any moment.

And now, Hihiryushukaka was on the brink of defeat and destruction.

Have I been defeated because I am the evil G.o.d of joyful life?! Why can I not have victory by taking joy in toying with life?!

Birkyne"s plan against Vandalieu and the fighting ability that Hihiryushukaka possessed now that he was using Birkyne"s body as a vessel were both things that an ordinary hero would have had no hope against.

But Birkyne had created this plan without seeking Hihiryushukaka"s aid, and Hihiryushukaka had attempted to utilize his plan in order to kill Vandalieu.

If the two of them had joined their knowledge and power… become one as Darcia and Vida had done and challenged Vandalieu together, the result may have been different.

But Hihiryushukaka would never realize this. After all, he was an evil G.o.d who took joy in toying with others" lives. Those below him were not comrades, companions or even confidants; they were p.a.w.ns to be used, things to be toyed with and tormented.

“CURSE YOU! JUST HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IS THERE BETWEEN YOU AND ME?!” he screamed.

The three Cannonball-type Demon King Familiars imbued with the magic of the light-attribute Ghosts exploded with a brilliant light and tremendous noise, sending a shockwave across the Dungeon.

“A wall,” said Vandalieu, using the "Dungeon Creation" Skill to create a wall.

Normally, no wall would be able to withstand such force and heat unless it were made of Orichalc.u.m, but the wall of a Dungeon was an exception.

“Van-sama!” Eleanora said happily, diving into Vandalieu as she and the others quickly leapt onto the other side of the wall.

“Little girl, making use of the confusion in order to cling onto Vandalieu-sama… Well, it is fine,” said Isla.

“Try not to cause him too much trouble,” said Bellmond.

The entirety of the Dungeon floor was shaken by a ma.s.sive shockwave.

If the buildings of this Dungeon were the same as those in the real city of Morksi, destruction and fire would have consumed it.

“Fighting inside a Dungeon was the correct decision. Cannon and Cannonball-type Demon King Familiars have a lot of firepower, but the blast waves are incredible,” said Darcia.

“I-indeed,” Eleanora agreed.

“I hope the shaking hasn"t reached the bas.e.m.e.nt where the exit is. Juliansan and Natanisan are there… Well, Taresan, Levisan and Orbisan are with them, so I think they"ll be alright,” Darcia said.

“Yes, I think they"ll be fine,” Eleanora said with a stiff nod.

She had tried to leap at Vandalieu and wrap him in her arms, but he had already been scooped up into the protection of Darcia"s arms. Unable to stop her momentum, Eleanora had ended up embracing Darcia with Vandalieu squeezed between them.

Not bothered by this, Darcia had caught Eleanora and protected her along with Vandalieu.

Incidentally, Vandalieu was unable to speak, as his face was currently buried in Eleanora"s chest.

“Darcisama, the flames have not stopped yet, but the shockwave seems to be over,” said Bellmond.

“Ah, you"re right,” said Darcia, releasing Eleanora from her arms. “Eleanorsan, sorry for surprising you like that.”

“N-no… I apologize for my behavior,” said a crimson-faced Eleanora as she staggered away.

She was confused, feeling something mother-like in Darcia, upon whom Vida had descended.

“CURSE YOU! JUST HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IS THERE BETWEEN YOU AND ME?!” Hihiryushukaka"s ugly, echoing voice screamed enviously, shattering this atmosphere. “Vandalieu, the new Demon King! You have been reincarnated here from another world to take lives, toy with them, destroy souls and bring chaos in your quest to invade and rule over this world!”

A half-melted tentacle appeared at the top of the wall. Isla reflexively swung her sword and cut it down, but a second and third tentacle crept over the wall, and there were more tentacles behind them.

“What is the difference between you and me?! I know everything! That you have taken nourishment in human blood, that you have turned the dead into Undead, that you have turned plants and animals into monsters, that you have created new races and even the fact that you have created an imitated method of reincarnation! The only difference between you and me is that you are strong and I am weak… that you have won and I have been defeated!” Hihiryushukaka"s voice continued. “Am I wrong, Vida?!”

In the next moment, Hihiryushukaka appeared at the top of the wall, climbing over it with tentacles. He was in a pitiful state. The part of him that was Birkyne"s body had almost completely turned into ash; he appeared to be a ma.s.s of tentacles emerging from a pile of charred remains. It wasn"t even clear how he was managing to speak.

Fl.u.s.tered, Chipuras vanished, and Daroak and Berkert flew off somewhere as well.

“Am I wrong, my former worshippers! You may believe that Vandalieu is different because he treats you well; he is kind and compa.s.sionate. If you think this, then remember that your masters were the same in the beginning! They fed you and tamed you!” Hihiryushukaka screamed. “Watch carefully. Once he rules this world, Vandalieu will one day become arrogant and oppress you… He will oppress everything that exists!”

Birkyne"s incredible regenerative ability that could grow back lost limbs seemed to have been exhausted; Hihiryushukaka fell from the top of the wall in the same pitiful state, laughing loudly.

Vandalieu and his companions had been listening to his words silently, but Isla and the light-attribute Ghosts suddenly spoke up.

“Vandalieu-sama, it doesn"t look like he is trying to curse us or planning to enrage us in order to create an opening,” said Isla.

“I checked the corpses of Birkyne"s confidants, thinking that he had hidden something within them, but it was a needless fear. There was nothing of the sort,” Chipuras reported.

“Miles"s battle with the Dwarf n.o.ble-born Vampire took some time, but he was victorious,” said Daroak.

Hihiryushukaka stopped his laughter, surprised by the business-like actions of Vandalieu"s companions. “W-what are you fools talking about?”

“We thought that you would try something, but I suppose you are merely voicing your grudges now that you are on the verge of death. With that being the case, there is no value in listening to you,” said Bellmond.

“That"s right. To say that the only difference between Van-sama and others is power alone… You could never be described as sane to begin with, but it seems that the "Soul Devour" Skill has made your soul collapse significantly and caused you to lose your mind entirely,” said Eleanora.

The two of them surrounded Hihiryushukaka from either side.

“The way you"re saying it isn"t quite right, but you"re not entirely wrong,” said Vandalieu.

Unlike his companions, he had taken in Hihiryushukaka"s resentful words that were essentially a desperate accusation.

He had in fact used the blood of the bandits he killed for nourishment in the past. More recently, he had turned the stray dog Fang into a h.e.l.lhound and carried out Juliana"s pseudo-reincarnation.

He had the feeling that all of his actions would have drawn bioethical questions if he were on Earth.

“But I"ve already been told as much by Asagi and Heinz, and I have great reason to question whether you are qualified to lecture me,” Vandalieu continued. “To begin with, I never fought you thinking that I am on the side of justice and that you are evil. I am killing you and your worshippers because you are a nuisance. That goes both ways, doesn"t it?”

From the very beginning, Vandalieu had never thought that there was some great cause or justice behind this battle. It was nothing more than a fight to the death.

“I have two more things to say,” said Darcia. “In the end, the thing that shows the difference between you and Vandalieu the most is the fact that you never called me by my name. And… don"t try to have a say in how I raise my child!”

With that, everyone but Vandalieu raised their weapons and brought them crashing down upon Hihiryushukaka all at once.

“A say in how you raise your child?!” Hihiryushukaka repeated in astonishment.

In the next moment, he let out his dying scream. With his body destroyed, his soul was devoured by Vandalieu along with the Demon King"s shadow and completely annihilated, leaving not a single fragment behind.

This was the end of Hihiryushukaka, the evil G.o.d of joyful life that had brought disasters across Lambda for a hundred thousand years, and the three Pure-breed Vampires that had ruled over the darkness of the Bahn Gaia continent.

Even after being devoured, the Demon King"s shadow… the fragment of Guduranis"s soul continued to exist. It had been weakened from being used as a shield by Hihiryushukaka, and now that its host Birkyne was no more, it was now nothing more than a hollow, false image.

Thus, it tried to become the shadow of Vandalieu, the one who had devoured it.

But within Vandalieu, another Vandalieu already existed.

“h.e.l.lo. I"m the other Vandalieu. Nice to meet you, shadow who is trying to become yet another me,” it said.

This was the "false image Vandalieu," the one that had appeared at the Trial of Mirrors in the Trial of Zakkart and merged with the real Vandalieu.

This image had become one with Vandalieu. Thus, it continued to exist as a part of Vandalieu"s persona.

The Demon King"s shadow froze, unable to comprehend the situation that it found itself in. But the false image Vandalieu continued speaking to it.

“I don"t think introductions are necessary. After all, you are already me,” it said.

TLN: The following is confusing because the Demon King"s shadow uses 我/ware to refer to itself, while Vandalieu uses 俺/ore. Both of these mean I/me in English.

“I (ware) am… I (ware) am… I (ore) am…?”

The Demon King"s shadow asked itself, "What am I (ware)?" And it could answer, "I (ore) am me (ore)."

I (ware) am not me (ware), but me (ore), and I (ore) am not me (ware). I (ore) am me (ore), a part of me (ore), and me (ore).

“I (ore) am me (ore), and the same me (ore) as me (ore).”

With that, the false image of Guduranis vanished, and Vandalieu gained a new part to himself.

《You have acquired the Demon King"s shadow!》

《You have acquired the Demon King"s tentacles!》

《The Demon King"s physical fragments have combined into the Demon King"s body!》

《You have acquired the "Forceful Vitality Enchantment," "Soul Binding," "Dominate Created Undead" and "Life Erosion" Skills!》

《The "Forceful Vitality Enchantment," "Soul Binding" and "Dominate Created Undead" Skills have merged with the "Dark King Magic" Skill!》

《The "Life Erosion" Skill has merged with the "Mutation Induction" Skill!》

《 "Group Binding Technique" has transformed into "Shadow Group Binding Technique!"》

《The Levels of the "Monstrous Strength," "Dark King Magic," "Chant Revocation," "Enhanced Agility," "Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed," "Enhanced Body Part (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs)," "Mana Enlargement," "Increased Mana Recovery Rate," "Strengthened Attack Power while activating Magic Cannon," "Enhanced Attribute Values: Reigning," "Golem Creation," "Hollow King Magic," "Soul Destruction Fighting Technique," "Greater Multi-Cast," "Embodiment," "Coordination," "Super High-speed Thought Processing," "Commanding," "Throwing," "Dead Spirit Magic," "Demon King Artillery Technique," "Shadow Group Binding Technique," "G.o.d Devourer," "Demon King," "Abyss," "Soul Devour," "Group Thought Processing," "Group Control" and "Soul Form" Skills have increased!》

《"Strengthen Subordinates" has awakened into "Super Strengthen Subordinates!"》

Having defeated Hihiryushukaka, Vandalieu and his companions had increased their Skill Levels and possessed awakened Skills, but they left all of that aside for now and returned to the fake orphanage.

“"Princess Knight"… Iris and Juliana are princess knights, so it"s still fine. It should still be fine…!” Eleanora muttered.

“Dannsama, "Imperial Butler" refers to a butler of the emperor rather than an emperor that is a butler,” Bellmond stressed to Vandalieu.

“Perhaps you two should be more proud of your awakened Skills than worried about your new race t.i.tles?” suggested Isla, looking at them with an exasperated expression.

“I don"t think you need to dislike magical girls so much. I think "Magical Girl" is a good Job,” Darcia whispered gently.

But all of them completely ignored her words. It was possible that Bellmond was continuously speaking into Vandalieu"s ear to prevent herself from hearing Darcia"s words.

All of them were highly wary of becoming magical girls.

“We can"t let our guard down, even though we did our best to prevent Birkyne from calling us magical girls!” said Eleanora. “And even without that, I"ve recently acquired the "Leader"s Mistress" t.i.tle… Well, the "leader" is Van-sama, so it"s fine.”

“I think that "Leader"s Mistress" t.i.tle will be removed once we stop our infiltration of the organization, so I don"t think you need to worry about it too much,” said Vandalieu. “Anyway, let"s think about the new race t.i.tles and Jobs later.”

Despite all of his flaws, Hihiryushukaka had been a physical incarnation of an evil G.o.d, so defeating him had caused Rank increases and large Level increases of Skills. It would likely take an entire day to examine all of the changes, so it was decided to leave it until later.

Gufadgarn, Melissa and the people of the orphanage, who were now freed from Birkyne"s brainwashing and Vandalieu"s spirit form, were waiting inside the fake orphanage.

“Congratulations on your victory,” said Gufadgarn.

The children were crying in confusion, and the orphanage"s head and the nuns were trying to console them, but it didn"t seem like there were any large problems.

“I already told your clone, but it seems that the brainwashing has been removed. As you can see, Birkyne"s orders are no longer in effect… though it seems that they still have their memories from when they were brainwashed,” Melissa whispered to Vandalieu.

She had undergone some degree of training against brainwashing and interrogation, and she had diagnosed the orphanage"s people based on the knowledge she had gained from that.

“But you should ask them and examine them yourself to find out more details. Even with my training from my previous life, I wouldn"t know what symptoms people would have after being brainwashed by the Demon King"s shadow. Gufadgarn said that she doesn"t know, either,” Melissa added.

“Guduranis did not use roundabout methods such as manipulating others with his shadow. Until Birkyne did so on the people of this orphanage, I never imagined such a thing was possible,” said Gufadgarn.

Guduranis had possessed tremendous power; unlike Birkyne, he had been able to control others through power and fear alone, though it was possible that he had used his shadow outside of Gufadgarn"s knowledge. Gufadgarn had never been closely a.s.sociated with the first Demon King; in fact, she had held an insignificant position in the Demon King"s army.

But a small amount of black smoke had apparently come out of the ears and noses of the orphanage"s people around the same time that Vandalieu and his companions defeated Hihiryushukaka.

It was likely that this black smoke was the fragments of the Demon King"s shadow that Birkyne had planted in their minds, though it wasn"t clear whether he had planted the shadow in everyone he manipulated or only in the orphanage"s people in order to have better control over them as hostages.

“If the brainwashing"s effect was to produce responses to Birkyne"s voice, presence or use of the Demon King"s shadow, it"s probably fine now. Their brains weren"t altered that much either, were they?” said Melissa. “By the way, sorry to change the subject, but… was that big explosion made by those Demon King Familiars? I managed because we were far away from the blast, but if it were at close range, we would have died if I were too late to put up my "Aegis."”

“You"d be fine, Melissa,” said Vandalieu.

“That"s right. You won"t ever be "too late." Have some confidence in yourself,” Darcia told her encouragingly.

“… That amount of trust is troublesome. Especially coming from both mother and child,” Melissa groaned quietly as she stepped back.

With Vandalieu being her guider and Darcia being her race"s ancestor, it seemed that she had no choice but to live up to their expectations.

“Well, there"s no guarantee that I"ll use them again,” Vandalieu added. “By the way, do you know where Miles, Eisen and the others went?” he asked as he looked around, realizing that more than half of the companions that were supposed to gather here were absent.

“Vandalieu-sama, it seems that they are in the back garden. Look,” said Eleanora, pointing at the part of Pete"s tail that was visible in the shadow of the fake orphanage. “It seems that they were thoughtful enough to stay hidden there so that they don"t scare the children.”

“… I see,” said Vandalieu. “Well then, I"ll help calm the children down and explain the situation –”

“I don"t think that"s a good idea,” said Melissa. “It might be better to leave the orphanage"s head and the nuns deal with that for a little longer.

According to Melissa, the ones who had taken action first immediately after the brainwashing was undone was Holly, the head of the orphanage, and the nuns Seris and Vestra. Confused, they had burst into tears and started blaming themselves.

But upon seeing the children burst into tears as well, they had come to their senses and put their own emotions aside in order to take care of the children.

That was why Melissa and Gufadgarn had waited for Vandalieu rather than try to help calm the children down.

“Well, even if I were to try and help, I"ve never taken care of children before,” said Melissa.

“I could have made them stop crying,” said Gufadgarn.

“… You mean you would have just told them, "Please stop crying," right?”

Despite these words, Vandalieu did doubt whether watching silently was the right thing to do, but one of the children, Marsha, noticed them. Still crying, she came running over.

“Onii-chan, I ate some weird wobbly stuff!” Marsha wailed.

“… That would be the spirit form I put in your mouth so that you wouldn"t bite your tongue. It"s fine, you didn"t swallow it. I just undid my "Embodiment,"” Vandalieu told her.

“I didn"t swallow it?! Really?! I won"t get sick or anything?!”

“You won"t, you won"t.”

Relieved, Marsha burst into tears again, louder than ever. “I"m so glad!”

It seemed that to her, this was the most serious thing that had happened today.

Vandalieu was relieved that the brainwashing had been undone without any side effects like memory loss.

Matthew ran over next. “Vandalieu!”

“Matthew, if you"re wondering about the wobbly stuff in your mouth, you didn"t swallow it,” said Vandalieu.

“That"s not what I want to talk about, you dummy! There"s something I want to tell you,” Matthew said, lowering his head with a serious look on his face. “I"m sorry. It"s all my fault!”

Vandalieu opened his mouth, intending to tell Matthew that he didn"t need to worry about having been controlled by Birkyne and luring him here.

But Matthew meant something else.

“I"m sorry about tomorrow"s festival!” he said.

Vandalieu had visited the orphanage today to help with preparations for tomorrow"s festival. But apparently, the festival had never existed to begin with.

“That stupid Birkyne guy came and told us to invite you over to help prepare. So, we invited you over, but he appeared again this morning and… you know the rest,” Matthew mumbled.

From this explanation, it seemed that Birkyne had thought of numerous events to shorten the distance between Vandalieu and the orphanage in order to make the orphanage"s people function as hostages.

Of course, this had all begun from the time when Matthew attempted to steal from Vandalieu"s food cart and Vandalieu subsequently made donations to the orphanage. It seemed that Birkyne had used the Demon King"s shadow to move in and out of the city more frequently than Vandalieu had thought.

Birkyne had likely decided that the orphanage"s people would serve as hostages after the incident in which Aggar and the other corrupt guards attempted to kidnap the children. It seemed that he had decided not to go ahead with the fake festival and simply lay his trap for the day of the preparations. But that wasn"t the important part.

“In other words, there were no preparations for any festival…” Vandalieu muttered, staggering in shock.

He had never expected that Birkyne would have left such a cruel parting gift after his soul was devoured.

“Yeah, sorry. We never expected you to be so excited to make preparations,” said Matthew. “By the way, why were you looking forward to it so much?”

“… Even if I was alone in my real childhood, I would be able to feel a sense of unity and accomplishment if I helped prepare, right? That"s why,” said Vandalieu.

“Huh? I don"t get what you"re saying. It"s too complicated.”

Matthew had lived at the orphanage for as long as he could remember, so it was apparently difficult for him to imagine the loneliness that Vandalieu had felt as a school student on Earth.

But even Darcia, Vida"s incarnation, didn"t know about the festival. This now made sense, as the festival had been made up to begin with.

“The Communal Church"s Priestess Paula didn"t know about it either, so I was sure that the peaceful faction and fundamentalists held different festivals on different days, but I guess that wasn"t the case,” said Darcia. “Umm, Vandalieu, how about we have a celebration for defeating Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka instead of the festival? If everyone at the orphanage is okay with that.”

“Seriously?! Will there be tasty food?!” Matthew exclaimed, immediately clinging onto Vandalieu.

The rest of the children, who had now calmed down, heard "tasty food" and looked at Darcia, their eyes shining with expectation.

“Yes, of course. The festival will be tomorrow, though,” said Darcia.

“Yay!”

Around half of the children cheered loudly in excitement.

Despite recently having become able to eat until their stomachs were full, the words "tasty food" seemed to have an effect on the children.

The other half of the children were telling Vandalieu and the others about what they had seen.

“Onii-chan, do that thing again where you turn black and fly through the sky!”

“Hey, Vandalieu-oniichan, where did those shiny old guys go?”

“Darcineechan, there was a huge centipede, a centipede. I"m telling the truth!”

“More importantly, there were a bunch of bee-women! And the "Starving Wolf" Michael!”

Rather than the fear they had felt while being manipulated by Birkyne, it seemed that they were more interested in Vandalieu sending Birkyne flying with a kick using "Soul Destruction Fighting Technique," Pete, Quinn and Miles, also known as the "Starving Wolf" Michael who ruled over the red-light district and the slums.

The children also seemed to be interested in the others.

“Ah, this old woman is scary!” one of the children cried, looking at Isla.

“W-what?! I was hiding in the little girl"s shadow so that I would not scare the children… It seems that the children of human societies are more delicate than I thought,” Isla muttered.

“Who are those girls? Are they new girls at the orphanage?” asked another child, looking curiously at Gufadgarn and Melissa.

“I do not live at the orphanage,” Gufadgarn said in a flat tone.

Birkyne had tried to order the children to commit suicide, but before that, he had ordered them to be silent. Perhaps their emotions had been paralyzed at that point.

… But perhaps Isla, half of whose face and body could still be seen behind Eleanora, was still very scary for them.

“I"m Eleanora, and the one behind me is called Isla. It"s alright, she"s not scary,” Eleanora said gently.

“I am known as Bellmond. Nice to meet you, everyone,” said Bellmond.

Seeing how the children were, it seemed that Birkyne had been telling the truth. He had only ordered them to approach any Dhampirs they encountered, and had not brainwashed them to force any other large changes in their behavior.

As most of the children had calmed down, the orphanage"s head and the nuns were now free of work. The three of them bowed to Vandalieu.

“Vandalieu-san, everyone…” the orphanage"s head murmured. “Thank you for saving our children and nuns.”

“Thanks to you, all of us were saved, Vandalieu-san,” said Vestra.

All of them had swollen, bloodshot eyes, but it seemed that they were no longer filled with the confusion and emotions that Melissa had described earlier.

“No, Birkyne"s target was me,” said Vandalieu. “Don"t blame yourselves too much… but that said, you seem to be handling it better than I expected.”

With Birkyne"s brainwashing undone, they had remembered who they truly were, and the fact that they had been offering orphans to an evil G.o.d on the Vampires" behalf.

It wasn"t that they had offered every child in the orphanage. However, Seris and Vestra were actually Subordinate Vampires, and had lived longer than their appearances would suggest. Many children had been sacrificed to Hihiryushukaka over that time.

“Yes. We were very confused immediately after our memories returned, and I was so filled with regret that I thought of using these claws to end my own life, but… the children were right in front of me,” said Holly, extending her claws.

Vandalieu and the children were all shocked to see this.

“Are you a Vampire as well?” Vandalieu asked.

“No, I am a Dhampir, though I had forgotten this fact until moments ago…” murmured Holly, who looked to be somewhere in her forties or fifties.

Apparently, as one of his experiments to create special Vampire servants who could operate in daylight, he had conducted an experiment where he turned pregnant women into Vampires.

He had likely thought that under these special conditions, the women would give birth to a special kind of Vampire who did not possess the typical weaknesses, such as the weakness to sunlight and silver.

But the majority of the women had miscarried, and Holly, the only successfully-born baby, had been born as a Dhampir, not a Vampire.

The reason he had not disposed of her after that was because… perhaps Birkyne had not wanted Ternecia and Birkyne to know that his own plans had created a Dhampir, even if it were unintentional. Or perhaps he had refused to write the experiment off as having achieved nothing…

In any case, Birkyne had destroyed the orphanage"s head"s crimson eye and brainwashed her, making her watch over the other children in the orphanage when she was a child. As Dhampirs did not age, he had created wrinkles and saggy skin on her face using drugs when she was an adult, then made her the head of the orphanage in Morksi.

“That was why you always wore gloves, never showed any skin other than your face and only talked to my mother instead of me,” said Vandalieu.

It was currently January, the coldest time of the year with snow falling periodically. And although Vandalieu hadn"t noticed anything strange as he had always been actively playing with the children, now that he thought about it now, Holly had always kept her distance from him.

Birkyne had likely been afraid that his plans would be exposed if Vandalieu had somehow noticed the mismatch between the appearance of Holly"s face and the age of her body.

“Indeed, though when I was under his command, I didn"t think to question why I was doing that…” Holly murmured.

“Even I didn"t notice. Your back is unusually straight, but I thought it"s not that rare at your age,” said Darcia.

As Birkyne had planned, n.o.body had noticed that Holly was a Dhampir. But perhaps thinking that this distance from Vandalieu had decreased her effectiveness as a hostage, Birkyne had made Seris and Vestra stand in front instead during the negotiations in the chapel.

“Vandalieu-san, until this morning, I thought that I was three times as old as Seris and Vestra, but the truth is that the two of them have lived for twice as long as I have. I must add "-san" to everyone"s name from now on,” said Holly.

“Director Holly, you don"t have to worry about our age! Please speak to us as you always have,” said Seris.

“Up until now, we"ve also been under the impression that we were eighteen years old. Even though we"ve now remembered that we"re over ninety, we still don"t really feel that way,” said Vestra.

As the two of them were Subordinate Vampires, they did not age.

Even if Birkyne had tried to apply drugs to their faces to make them look older like he had done to Holly, there was a large difference between a Dhampir"s "Rapid Healing" and a Vampire"s "Rapid Regeneration." While Holly had to apply the drugs once a month to maintain the aged appearance of her face, Seris and Vestra would have needed to apply them every day.

Acquiring such large quant.i.ties of drugs may have caused suspicion. That was why the two of them had been rotating around the various orphanages operated by Birkyne under the setting of being freshly-trained nuns sent from a nearby monastery.

It seemed that their memories were sealed away every time they moved between orphanages, resetting them to being freshly-trained nuns.

“… Sorry for the stupid question, but how did he trick you about your Statuses? You can see them yourselves, can"t you?” asked Melissa.

Vestra sighed. “Yes, we were able to see our own Statuses. But we couldn"t perceive them correctly. We were fooled into believing that our ages, races and Skills were all exactly as Birkyne had told us. That"s true for both of us and the director.”

It seemed that the brainwashing of the children that were used as livestock had been simple, but Birkyne had been more careful in the brainwashing of the orphanage"s head and the nuns, who were his tools.

“Knowing him, he probably did not erase your memories entirely because he wanted to see you suffer in self-hatred one day when you regained them,” said Gufadgarn.

“Probably. I mean he was the Demon King"s shadow all along, but that was the kind of guy he was,” said Eleanora.

This probably wasn"t wrong; after all, Holly and the nuns had wanted to kill themselves when the brainwashing was removed.

“More importantly, we need to discuss what to do from here on out… Can I believe that you no longer intend to commit suicide?” Vandalieu asked.

Holly and the nuns nodded quietly.

“When we started crying, the children burst into tears as well. We were then busy desperately trying to comfort them, so we missed the timing for killing ourselves. No matter what we do, the sins that we have committed will not change, but… the G.o.ddess forbids suicide,” said Holly.

Darcia, Vida"s incarnation, gave her an approving smile.

“Vestra and I were desperately trying to stop each other from harming ourselves, so I don"t really know what"s going on anymore,” said Seris.

“The children were telling us to stop fighting… It"s hard to believe that we"re in our nineties, isn"t it? And… now that we are in a calm state of mind, you people don"t intend to let us atone for our sins through death, do you?” said Vestra.

“Of course not,” said Vandalieu.

If the three of them had been intent on trying to atone for their sins through death, Vandalieu had intended to brainwash them through "Mental Encroachment" or turning them into Undead after their deaths to have them remain in this world.

They were innocent; the one at fault was Birkyne, the one who had been controlling them. And since there was no heaven or h.e.l.l in this world, death would only atone for one life"s worth of harm.

Furthermore, Vandalieu was no protector of the law or impartial judge. He was a ruler whose decisions were guided by his emotions.

“If you believe that you have sinned, then I will accompany you for your atonement. For decades or centuries, until you are satisfied that you have completely atoned. I will stop all who may try and kill you, including yourselves,” said Vandalieu. “With that out of the way, shall we get started right away?”

“Huh? Straight away? Where are we going…?” Holly asked.

“To Birkyne"s hideout. I got the location from his confidants. After that, we"re going to some orphanages, mines and brothels. We can go around very quickly using Gufadgarn"s power to travel,” said Vandalieu. “There are some facilities that are likely to continue operating as normal even if abandoned, but there are others that are in danger.”

“See you later, Vandalieu. Leave the food cart and tomorrow"s feast to me!” said Darcia.

“Nee-chan, where are you guys going?!” asked Matthew.

“It"s alright. We"re going to bring some new friends,” said Vandalieu. “Now then, first of all, we"re heading to Birkyne"s base.”

With the three confused adults of the orphanage accompanying him, Vandalieu and his companions began teleporting around the endangered facilities that were now abandoned with Birkyne"s death.

Job and Race description (Written by Luciliano):

The Job changes and Rank increases experienced by Eleanora, Bellmond and Isla on this occasion have, of course, resulted in new Jobs and race t.i.tles.

It can be a.s.sumed to be related to Master"s transformation staves… or rather, transformation equipment.

Incidentally, the Job changes were done after the battle against Hihiryushukaka.