Chapter 2021 – Death Mage Side Chapter 29 (2/2)

On top of that, she had a heating unit She didn't knoorked, but apparently it had hot water running through itsher room warm for the winter

This place was a considerable distance south of where Emma had lived before, but it was still cold, so she was very thankful for this… though if she'd had one of these heating units in her village, she wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of gathering firewood

She was also provided with three meals a day, and they were all delicious Even the soup had so called 'dashi+' in it, which made it very tasty

She had no co treated In fact, she was even starting to feel apologetic After all, she hadn't done anything She had simply been attacked, watched her parents die, been loaded into a carriage and then been rescued from there That was all

“… I was sure I would be made to do servant work or some kind of harsh labor,” she murmured

With nowhere to go, E to Talosheim, a nation that she had never heard of before She had assumed that he wanted workers for his country

She had been prepared to be forced to work the very next day and be handed over to soht that Vandalieu and his companions were bad people She had simply assumed that such treatment would be normal

The concept of 'huhts' was a weak one in this world It wasn't that they didn't exist entirely, but they had never been docuht as well have been non-existent cohts on Earth

That hy even when illegal slaves were rescued froanizations, they could not hope to receive further help in addition to being freed

Perhaps if they had been kidnapped froe was still intact, they would be taken back home Perhaps they would receive medical care for any wounds that they had, and receive a few days' protection

But in most cases, that was about it There were al-term protection for someone unrelated to themselves like Emma, and help them become employed

There were plenty of cases in which illegal slaves were rescued froal slaves anyway as a result of having no relatives or belongings and being unable to find work

That was still a more pleasant fate than soo, the law had allowed the feudal lord to seize the slaves as they had been 'assets' belonging to criminals

That hy Emma was bewildered and felt discomfort at her current situation This nation was certainly strange Monsters and Undead walked around every day as if it were perfectly ordinary, behaving like humans There were er of the lodging house, but there were also , like Skeletons and Liches Emma had occasionally spotted black insects the size of adult people and floating eyeballs

Many of the for such creatures, but Eht of Skeletons That hy she thought that this nation would be like paradise once she becae inhabitants

“It's not like I can keep eating without working, but I think it's a far e if nothing had happened… Is this really okay for so to deserve this,” Emma murmured to herself

Two days later, these doubts of hers becahts when she was reunited with her parents

“Oooh… Emmaaaa…” whispered Emma's father

“You're safe I'lad,” said her mother

“Dad? M-Moasped

To Ehter, the child that had finally been born after many efforts to have children… In other words, they had already been fairly old when their village was attacked The slave traders had dee of no commercial value, so they had been killed

Vandalieu had gone to the site of the attacked village and gathered the re those of Emma's parents

“Please discuss with your families about whether you should return to the cycle of death and rebirth as normal, or become an Undead, or beco an Undead is the best way to preserve your personality Pseudo-reincarnation may result in the loss of all memories in some cases,” explained the nearby pseudo- Familiar

Eain, was overjoyed to be reunited with them

And it was at this moment that she made her decision

On the first floor of the royal castle, Luciliano addressed a group of girls whom he had barely ever seen before

“It has been a while, but I alad that you look well As someone as your comrade in slavery, it makes me very happy,” he said

“Yes, it has been a while, Luciliano-san,” one of the girls replied

It was likely that irls didn't reirls did not seeic to see him

Luciliano had becoed with false criirls were the former slaves that had been there with him

However, as he had been in different cells from them, he wasn't very familiar with them

Even after Vandalieu rescued them, Luciliano had become his apprentice and had spentin the underground workshop Thus, he had never interacted with these girls

Luciliano was self-aware enough to know that he was a very eccentric person even in Taloshei such interaction

“I've heard the story froh to drag me out of the workshop so spectacularly… but I do have to question your idea of beco a different path,” Luciliano said to the girls

“No way…” one of the girls whispered, clearly shocked and dejected “Don't try to trick us by talking as if you're a normal person!”

“I may be an eccentric individual, but it would be a terribleto assume that all of my words and actions are that of an airhead,” Luciliano said

His basic personality was that of a mad-scientist-type person He could behave like a serious hu when necessary, but the truth was that he felt no hesitation in perfor human experiments on subjects like bandits Further humans

Never once in his life had he ever tried to peek at a woman's naked body, but he was a staunch oddball who had atteery on the titan heroes Zandia and Jeena in order to see their skin and, most importantly, their innards

However, he did possess enough sense to stop these living girls fro Undead

“As an expert in theUndead, you rets There areUndead because they wanted to, as you are trying to do… However, other than soh Liches and Elder Liches as a result of their research, every other atte corpse, a Rank 1 Living Dead,” Luciliano said sternly “None of you wish for that, do you?”

“That's… but…” the girl

The girls were shaken by Luciliano's explanation

“In any case, if you were planning to becoher Ranks, I believe that training diligently while you are still alive would have the same effect,” Luciliano continued “It may seem that Undead develop more quickly, but I do not think you should underesti”

“You roup, seeing some sense in Luciliano's words

But she raised her face to continue speaking

“You ht, but I think that we can beco other races, rather than staying as humans and Dwarves,” she said

“I'irl

Luciliano let out a sht “They are surprisingly aware of the true nature of Master's guidance… What clever, troublesome children”

nobody had explained Vandalieu's guidance to the girls, but they had instinctively understood its true nature

Vandalieu's guidance was the Dark Dereater effect on monsters than humans, and had more of an effect on Undead and monsters that were close to death There was no doubt about this; after all, it was enough toand their desire for their flesh

Still, they are the only ones ish to go as far as to change race just to be guided to a greater extent Perhaps it is because they were char corpses, and now they are healthy, living people, the guidance has groeaker than before? Luciliano wondered, giving up on the hope of talking the girls out of their idea

If his conjecture was correct, it would be iic

In fact, if he were to refuse them too much, it was possible that they would commit suicide in the near future, or try to attack noble-born Vampires and steal their blood in an attempt to become Vampires

But what he found strange was –

“I understand you girls… or rather, I have given up on trying to talk you out of this,” Luciliano told the girls “But why are you here?” he asked, looking in a different direction

What Luciliano found strange was that Eirls

“If I recall, you are a new face around here,” he said

“Because I want to becoer,” Emma replied

“… I have already asked these girls, but what is wrong with ordinary er? I think you will beco in about a month,” said Luciliano

Taloshei… a systeth to defeat an average soldier from other nations

The citizens trained with crossbows and spears while wearing Living Armors in order to acquire Level 2 in Skills such as Archery and Spear Technique

“I've heard about that But that isn't enough After all… I really haven't done anything! Even when I was riding in that carriage and a girl was about to be killed in front of me, I just watched… I was so scared that I couldn't move!” said Emma

Ee that Vandalieu had snuck into She had been present when Vandalieu had saved a young girl in that carriage

A boy who looked weaker than Eue to pierce the ears of the scoundrel who had been about to kill her, destroying part of his brain and taking over his body… but he had indeed saved her

Meanwhile, Eirl's brother had; she had cowered and tried to make herself as small as possible so that she would not becoet

Powerless and cowering, she had been rescued, and her parents had been brought back as Undead, though they were unable to speak as clearly as before E treated with such hospitality despite that

“… I think you would be doing fine just being grateful I think respectable believers of Alda would be enraged or becorief if their parents were turned into Undead,” Luciliano pointed out

“Really?” said Ee only had a small shrine to Botin-sama, so…”

“I think even Botin's teachings preach that the dead should return to the earth… and the living normally have an instinct to fear the presence of Undead,” said Luciliano “In any case, I think you are overthinking things Master rescues people for his own reasons”

As far as Luciliano could tell, Vandalieu rescued people for two reasons One was for the sake of his allies There were cases in which relatives or acquaintances of those he considered allies needed to be rescued, but there were others ere completely unrelated but Vandalieu saved anyway because he knew that his allies would be happy about it

This was a very broad category After all, there were even Gods that Vandalieu considered to be his allies

He rescued the weak that he careat burden, as doing this would bring joy to Vida, the Goddess of life and love In that regard, Vandalieu was essentially a philanthropist

The other reason that Vandalieu rescued people was for his own sake It wasn't that he was doing this in order to gain so that would be of practical benefit fro that he did in order to maintain his own humanity and his mind's balance… in order to remain a person

This sentihtly If Vandalieu had been a pitiless person who did not give others a second glance, who actively sought to kill the believers of the Gods belonging to Alda's forces and the citizens of the A as he was now – or that he would not even be alive right now

After being born as Darcia's son, if he had never saved the Ghouls after encountering Zadiris and the rest of her village, if he had used Bone Man and his other creations as disposable pawns, if he hadthe nation of Talosheim… if he had never reached a hand out to the other members of Vida's races

If none of these things had happened, it was unlikely that Alda's forces would have viewed hi, but perhaps he would never have ventured beneath the Hartner Duchy's castle to rescue Princess Levia and the other titan Ghosts where he absorbed a frag, and perhaps he would not have worked so hard to becoer and protect his companions, so he may have been killed by one of the reincarnated individuals or the Vampires orshi+ped evil Gods

Vandalieu was not strong because he was cruel He had becoh he was insane, he took pity on others – just as this empire had

“Master is tolerant of weakness He may praise bravery shown by those who have no power, but he does not criticize cowardice, does he?” said Luciliano

“That's true… but I can't accept this!” Emma insisted

“Is that so? I see This is beco troubleso Familiar here so Master will not stop you, and I see no probleroup,” said Luciliano, growing tired of trying to persuade Emma

Fros, he took out a bottle that he had received Vandalieu's perirls out of this

“Is that… alcohol?” Emma asked

“No, it's Master's blood In its pure form,” said Luciliano

E as in the bottle

“The truth is, my experi the Blood Potion ht that it would have the same effect on humans, so I and one other drank Master's blood, but… there were no changes in particular other than seeing Master more often in our dreaht that perhaps there e, race and physique If you girls really insist, then please join me in this experiment But I shall limit this to those who are fifteen and over”

Luciliano took out cups fro the blood into them The crimson liquid should have had a metallic smell to it, but Emma found it to have a sweet aroma

“Now then, ill you do?” Luciliano asked the girls “There is no guarantee that there will be any change even if you drink it, but…”

Several days later, Emma was still a hu work involving polishi+ng fist-sized eyeballs and burying them in lumps of flesh beside her