The Death Mage That Doesnt Want A Fourth Time 93 (1/2)

For the people of the Second to Sixth Cultivation Villages, this winter day was an unforgettable day indeed

“I have so ies He was accoe and those of the First Cultivation Village which was supposed to have been deserted, as well as several knights in ar

“Everyone, listen to me,” Sebas pleaded “We’ve all been deceived by the Hartner family! When we becaers were told ere being sent to a new land to cultivate We followed them, only to be thrown into the slave-run mine! We had no crimes or debts, yet ere turned into slaves! Because of the harsh labor ere forced to do in the e chief…!”

“My little sister and brother as well…! There’s no difference between the Hartner family and those bastards from the Amid Empire!”

“My Nee-san was treated as a plaything by thebut demons!”

Those froe chief’s son, spoke of the sorrow they had endured at the slave-run e, they were friends who had been living in this cultivated land, just like the rest of the villages Each village had ot the feeling that the color of their eyes was a little different, but that ithin acceptable limits of error

Thus, no matter how difficult it was to believe their words, it was impossible to completely reject them

“And Lord Lucas… No, Lucas, who is about to becoe of the Hartner Duchy, tried to destroy this cultivation project! Come on, talk!” Sebas said to Pablo, who had been captured alive

Pablo gave a groan before revealing everything, except for the details regarding Froto, the fake priest sent by Karcan

My body, even ainst my will W-why in the world?!

Vandalieu had used Spirit For-thin parts that extended to the knights who had been captured alive and then used Materialization inside their bodies

He was secreting various drugs fro them into a state where they couldn’t remain silent

But thanks to the numerous resistance skills that existed in Las in ways that were scientifically impossible

“It’s best to give up You people don’t want to end up like Kinarp, do you?” Vandalieu whispered to theth He was also using his Mental Encroache on the more veno to take effect

“I-I ahts’ Order In order to have Lucas-sama succeed the duke family, I created secret plans and ordered es…”

Hearing Pablo’s confession and seeing the crest on the arers of the cultivation villages had in the Hartner Duchy pluround

The concept of huhts was underdeveloped in Lambda, and those of royal or noble status were considered to be like a superior race to commoners

With that said, coer and dissatisfaction when trampled underfoot for absurd reasons

However, even if they did feel anger and dissatisfaction, there was a difference in power that prevented theless for poor people living in cultivation villages to even think about opposing the Hartner family, who essentially ruled an entire nation

But there was no guarantee that they could keep living quietly like this The next duke had dispatched a Knights’ Order and demanded iers to tie ropes on themselves and become slaves because they had been unable to pay

It was difficult to iine that the Hartner fahts’ Order had been repelled, and the villagers couldn’t just hope for the Hartner fa to be turned into slaves, didn’t they have no choice but to run away and beco?

Vandalieu whispered to the sorrowful villagers

“I’er live in the Hartner Duchy If you don’t mind, won’t you all come to me like Sebas and the others have?”

“Us survivors fro under his rule,” Sebas continued “We’re living rich lives in a place where even the Hartner fa until our stomachs are full every day, and there’s even work for us to do!”

The villagers stirred and their eyes shone with hope

“Chief,to follow this child!” said Kyne, the hunter froe

Other villagers who had been directly saved by Vandalieu, just like Kyne, raised their voices The village leaders thought about the offer and then came to a decision

“Alright Everyone, we must make preparations This place could not become our second hoain, but we have the Guardian of the Cultivation Villages with us! We can ht?!”

Vandalieu repeated this process for all of the cultivation villages

And so, it was decided that over a thousand villagers would rate to Talosheim

The villagers, ere now receiving the benefits of Vandalieu’s Strengthen Followers skill, orking away to prepare for their ration

The Red Wolf Knights’ Order had been carrying eons to contact Lord Lucas, but they had been seized as well

“Now then, please write that ‘everything is in order,’” Vandalieu requested “Ah, I don’t recommend that you include a secret code to tell theency situation,” he added “They probably won’t make it in time anyway… But if by some chance they do, and I have no choice but to do what I have to in order to protect everyone, that would be bad for you, wouldn’t it?”

Pablo showed no signs of resistance Even he knew that the Hartner Duchy would suffer the least dae if Vandalieu and the others simply left

Things ht be different if the Five-colored Blades ca more They were unlikely to move to match Lord Lucas’s needs

And the mastermind of all of this was a Dha unreasonably were Pablo and his men Even if the Adventurers’ Guild learned of the situation, they were unlikely to side with the knights, ere the ones who had carried out injustice

The Adventurers’ Guild probably wouldn’t cause any direct trouble in the Hartner Duchy, though… unlike the monstrosity before Pablo’s eyes

“What are you thinking? Why are you doing such a thing?” Pablo asked Vandalieu, the fearsome monstrosity in the form of a child

What Vandalieu had done in this incident was different to repelling Karcan’s uised themselves as bandits

Unlike Karcan and his nizable as the Red Wolf Knights’ Order, and announced that they had come under formal orders from Lord Lucas, who represented Duke Hartner Despite that, Vandalieu had incited the villagers, used hts except for a few

If this incident were to be discovered, the people ht praise Vandalieu, but a bounty would be put on his head for treason and he would be hunted all over the nation If he was caught, he wouldn’t simply become a criminal slave; he would be unable to avoid execution

That was how serious Vandalieu’s crime was

Why would he risk all of that to save the people of the cultivation villages? The rewards si the dirty ine that he had been driven by a sense of justice

So just why had he done this?

Pablo’s questions weren’t an atteather information The monstrosity before his eyes was simply so incomprehensible that he couldn’t help but ask

“For the sake of my own happiness”

The response Pablo received was also beyond his understanding

“For the sake of your happiness? How does saving them lead to your happiness?” he asked

Pablo couldn’t iaina group of poor cultivation villagers who had nobody supporting them? Even if he turned all of them into Vampires, it was unlikely that this orth the risk of opposing the Orbaudom

“Why do you doubt that saving everyone will lead to my happiness?” Vandalieu asked It seemed that he couldn’t understand Pablo’s doubt, either “I was si by and there were people ere in trouble, so I helped them ‘a little’ Those people were happy, and I beca them ‘a little,’ we became close to each other and I made friends And then people came to try and kill those friends and use dirtyfrom them, so I helped thee?”

This was the only reason Vandalieu had for being an ally of the cultivation villages As a result, he had acquired the title, ‘Guardian of the Cultivation Villages,’ but that waselse

It is said that even chance ood you do to yourself Vandalieu did have a little self-interest in mind, but if he were the kind of person ould consider wanting the villagers to be happy to be a detestable ulterior otten involved with other people to begin with

It just so happened that Vandalieu’s idea of ‘a little’ was relatively large He had the fighting ability to lightheartedly dispose of Goblin Barbarians, Orcs and bandits He had the htheartedly treat the injured and sick, re a well

Vandalieu hated the idea of “the responsibility of those with power,” but he wouldn’t detest helping people ‘a little’ out of kindness

In other words, this was normal

“H-how can you give such a stupid excuse! For such a trivial reason, you turned us, the Hartner Duchy, into your enedoly unable to accept this answer

“Well, for such a trivial reason, you have all been exterminated,” said Vandalieu

Pablo’s eyes widened as he fell into silence

Won’t this person’s eyeballs fly out of their sockets if he keeps this up? Vandalieu thought as he continued speaking

“TheI don’t want you to make is the assumption that I didn’t intend to ,” he said “You people did a lot of things to others, so I sis back”

“A-a lot of things, you say?” Pablo wondered if Vandalieu was referring to the Karcan’s reckless behavior, but he rong

“Your ancestorsPrincess Levia, and sent the rest of the refugees to become slaves in a mine Even after two hundred years passed, you did not stop treating them as slaves That’s why I released the spirits of Princess Levia and the others, and rescued the refugees from the mine You people had connections to the Pure-breed Vampires, so I revealed that You people tried to destroy the cultivation villages, so I stopped you fro I simply acted in response”

“What?! Then, all of the incidents that have been happening…!”

“Yes, I am the main culprit”

This wasn’t so that was easy to believe, but the reat nus

Pablo had been unaware of the conspiracy that had occurred two hundred years ago, but he could i

In fact, Pablo and hissies, so it would have been stranger to think that the duke’s fa

“D-demon…” Pablo muttered

“Demon?” Vandalieu repeated He was bewildered; he didn’t understand why he was being called a demon

“Yes, you’re a deer if you were not a demon What you have done to the people you said you are protecting is not what can be considered sane You turned the slaves you rescued into Vampires, produced insects and plants froer and dissatisfaction the people felt for the Hartner Duchy, spoke pleasant words to theainst us And why have the people of the cultivation villages, who have seen the countlessyou, accepted that so easily?!” he demanded

“Perhaps because everyone is open-ested

“There is no way that is possible! You arethem, aren’t you?!” Pablo shouted

“No, I really have no idea,” said Vandalieu “Though I do think that everyone is very open-minded”

None of the people of the cultivation villages felt any apprehension about the fact that Sebas and the others had been turned into Subordinate Vampires by Eleanora, or the fact that Vandalieu used insectoid and plant-type e

Vandalieu had thought it strange, as Death-Attribute Char the that it was because they were believers of Vida – the same assuees

The truth was that it was the effect of the Strengthen Followers skill

The es chose to follow Vandalieu, they had become his followers They felt a sense of familiarity and unity with Sebas and the other Vampires, as well as Pete and the rest of the monsters, because they were all Vandalieu’s followers as well

The Strengthen Followers skill wasn’t a skill that was supposed to work on members of other races, so nobody, not even Vandalieu himself, knew this

However, even if Vandalieu are of this, he probably wouldn’t think of it as a bad thing

“Well, I do adated theht after you people tried to slaughter everyone in the cultivation villages, you tried to force unreasonable de to kill them if they disobeyed, didn’t you?”

“Th-that is, Karcan… You people…”

“You people are responsible for Karcan, so this was simply our response”

As Pablo looked at Vandalieu, his vision blurred His sweat, his cold sweat, had dripped into his eyes

He had decided that the Dhampir in front of him was a monstrosity after all

Vandalieu was speaking logically and politely; in fact, Pablo even felt like Vandalieu had a point

But looking at Vandalieu’s eyes, Pablo knew it He knew that a monstrosity was before him This monstrosity showed no hesitation to defy the absolute authority of the Hartner Duchy He wasn’t a chaees

He was a demon who tempted people

Demons in fairy tales teuide the people on a path of evil!

“By the way, are you almost finished?” Vandalieu asked

Pablo was startled by the question He wondered just what kind of conversation he had been having with this demon

He hadn’t been negotiating or gathering information So, was it just idle talk? Impossible; it wasn’t as calm as that Every ti at the monstrosity before his eyes with more and more interest, hadn’t he?!

Theon, and his claws drew close to Pablo

“For some reason, I a to a normal person who is in a completely opposite position to mine,” said Vandalieu “There were many points that I could understand I felt like I didin the end, but the time I spent on this conversation was very valuable”

“W-what are you planning to do? W-ill become of me?” asked Pablo

“Please provide ,” said Vandalieu “Don’t worry It will be over ”

Theonto his face, his consciousness blacked out

『The level of the Grotesque Mind skill has increased!』

Ie that read, “Nothing abnorhts’ Order ceased

Spies were sent to investigate What they found were ee nu south

Lord Lucas sent ain any solid infor a capable Spiritualist as said to be living in Niarki, but it seemed that she had already closed her shop and either e where she was born

In the city that was abandoned… or rather, forced to be abandoned, two hundred years ago, in a place a short distance away frole floor had appeared Also, the tunnel that led to the southern region of the continent where Talosheih as it had collapsed But there were traces that the boulder at its entrance had s that the spies were able to learn

“Could it be that all of these events were caused by someone who crawled into the duchy from Talosheim?!”

In spring, Lucas shuddered when he saw this report He had formally succeeded the Hartner family Of course, now that he had become the duke, he knew of the absurd betrayal his predecessor had coo

Royalty and nobles created all kinds of eneh all sorts of methods But when a new individual took over the family’s headshi+p, it was coeneration’s deeds aside and mend previous relationshi+ps There were some cases where a predecessor had said that certain faiven, but even then, reconciliation usually happened a few generations later

But grudges of other races, especially those with long lifespans, were different Even if the huenerations, the other race’s individuals were often still alive

titans had lifespans of three hundred years And although this news arrived late, the spies that the Hartner family had sent into the Amid Empire delivered information to Lucas that an expedition ar shi+eld-nation into the continent’s southern region had returned as a swarm of thousands of Undead

There was so was deeplythat

Lucas had no way of knowing how that soes, however He didn’t know that it was sies were close to Talosheim

“The appearance of s the far of that someone…” Lord Lucas murmured “Curse you, ancestors Thanks to you, the Hartner family has earned the hatred of a monstrosity!”

Lord Lucas announced that the Red Wolf Knights’ Order had nated monster races that had settled into the ruins of the slave-run mine, where all of the e for those of the es had been unable to be saved

And then he decided to build a fort in the city of Niarki to be prepared to fight the monster to the south of the continent

Incidentally, around this ti the seons when they ran into and defeated so as well With the inforained from these Vampires, they followed the trail of the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia and left the Hartner Duchy

『Vandalieu has gained the ‘Monstrosity’ title!”』