The seven bandits sat in their simple hideout, drinking the alcohol that they’d stolen from their victims today.

  「Today’s haul was pretty good, wasn’t it?」


  「Yeah, if we take it to the village everyone else will be happy as well.」


  It looked as if they were farmers sharing a drink after finishing their work in the fields, but they were definitely bandits.

  The proof of that was the fact that the wine that they were drinking was taken from merchants who had been too stingy to hire adventurers to escort them, along with their lives.

  Their equipment was old; their leather armor had numerous patches where they had been previously repaired and their weapons consisted of handmade spears, woodcutting hatchets, bows and arrows - they were incredibly poorly equipped. In addition, they hadn’t received any formal training; if you looked at it one way, their method of fighting came from experience in real battle and brawls. If you looked at it another way, they were just a group of people who merely swung their weapons around.

  In fact, most of their jobs were Farmer, so they hadn’t received training for battle. The reason that they were bandits was their poverty.

  The young men from a village that had become poor for to various reasons had left the village to commit crimes. Such cases were not rare in Lambda.

  「Well then, I suppose someone should stand watch so we can sleep.」


  The bandits’ base simply consisted of several tents put up in a meadow with long grass, in a spot where they had cleared some of the grass away. They did have a lookout tower, but they didn’t seem to have any intentions of using it.

  In fact, there was nothing in this meadow but wild deer, so they were safe as long as they kept a fire lit. The reason they still kept watch is because sometimes a stray Goblin came to attack.

  But even such a Goblin would scream loudly as it approached them, so they had little motivation to stand guard.

  That was why they had no way of knowing if any enemy were to approach them quietly, concealing the sound of their footsteps.

  「Hic, I’ve drank a little too much - UOH?」


  The bandit on watch who had apparently drank too much wine was snatched up by Bone Bear’s paw that had risen up from the wall of grass and disappeared.

  Muffled sounds came from inside the tents, but nobody came out. Instead, Bone Man, Bone Monkey and Bone Wolf with Bone Bird on his back emerged from the long grass.

  And behind them was Vandalieu.

  「There are six left. Finish them quickly.」


  The air was filled with the sound of rattling bones.

  The bandits never returned to their village.

  For Vandalieu, finding the hiding place of bandits was easier the more atrocious their crimes were, as he could use the spirits of their dead victims as sources of information.

  The victims who were attacked by their bandits and had not only their belongings taken, but also their lives. Their regret and hatred towards their assailants was fierce, and having bugs find the spirits was a simple task.

  Even if the spirits were far away, he could use the【Spirit Communication】technique to summon them to hear what they had to say.

  And then he would send out the Undead using the information he got from the spirits, and the hideouts would be found within a few days.

  With this method, Vandalieu had already found four groups of bandits operating in the area around Baronet Bestero’s territory.

  After finding them, he continued to gather information such as how many of them there were and how they were armed. The villager bandits that he had attacked today were the smallest, most poorly equipped group out of the four.

  「Nice, the training’s successful. Good work, everyone.」


  Vandalieu was emotionless as he confirmed that the bandit group had been exterminated, but he was in a good mood as he praised the Undead.

  Of course, the Undead, being made of only bones, were unable to smile, but the blue glow in their sockets seemed to flicker in happiness. Their MVP was Bone Bear, who had killed the one on lookout duty with a bear hug and then buried another bandit with his claws.

  Bone Man had stabbed two of them to death with his dagger, and Bone Monkey and Bone Wolf had taken one each, strangling and biting them to death.

  「Err, it’ll be fine. You’ll be able to fly soon!」


  Bone Bird was the only one to be depressed. Vandalieu had made a Golem of the earth and buried one of the bandits from the neck down, and Bone Bird had defeated this bandit by diligently stabbing him with its beak repeatedly.

  With only one wing, it was just a burden, but there was no helping it. Bone Bird couldn’t fly.

  It was obvious that wings made of only bones and no feathers would not be able to fly.

  「If you keep gathering experience and rank up again, you’ll definitely be able to fly. Believe in yourself!」


  As Vandalieu encouraged Bone Bird, it flapped its wings with a rattle to express its happiness, as if to say that it would try its best.

  After looking at Bone Bird happily and giving it a pat on its skull, Vandalieu examined the treasure that the bandits had gathered.

  The first thing that caught his eye was the wagon with three barrels of wine still left in it. They were the leftovers of what the bandits had been drinking.

  Evbejia prided itself on its wine, so it was probably of reasonably high quality.

  「… I wonder if there’s anything else.」


  But to a one-year-old, it held less value than water. He had no way of selling it for money and his companions were all made of bones, so it was completely useless. At best, he could perhaps use it for cooking.

  No, it was probably possible for him to drink it. Even as a one-year-old, Vandalieu possessed the Status Effect Resistance skill at level 3, so he would likely not become drunk unless he consumed a very large quantity of it.

  『No~? You can’t drink alcohol at the age of one. What if you become a drunkard later in life?』


  However, his guardian would not allow it, so he decided not to drink it.

  「Well, I might as well take at least one barrel back. There’s even a wagon for it. And next is -」


  Vandalieu searched around the wagon and inside the tents, but concluded that they were「completely broke」compared to normal adventurers or soldiers. They had apparently stolen cloth purses from the merchants who had normally stored copper and silver coins in them, but there was a whole pile of pouches filled with only seeds and oats that would normally be fed to pets and livestock on Earth. There were some dried river fish. The rest were items for the bandits’ daily necessities.

  The special feature was perhaps the vase filled with about five kilograms of salt.

  It was a considerably meagre treasure, but perhaps that was to be expected. They were merely seven men that were normally farmers.

  They would have been unable to aim for targets with a larger payout - the kind that would hire adventurers as escorts.

  But for Vandalieu, it was a decent harvest in its own way.

  「This is a great result. I was getting sick of eating only meat and blood, and the salt that Mom had ran out ages ago. And I’m glad I got my hands on some cloth.」


  Vandalieu’s lifestyle up until now had been sustained through hunting the deer in the forest. Darcia’s emergency stores of wheat, cheese, vegetables and salt had been used up relatively quickly after her death. In the first place, it was only one person’s worth and it was for the journey that she had been planning, so it was only an amount that she would have been able to carry.

  And as Vandalieu developed, the amount that he ate also increased.

  It would be problematic to use blood for all of his dietary needs, and if he became too much like a vampire, he would become weak to the sun so that would be problematic. That was why he wanted to eat normal food as well. But meat that was simply cooked after having its blood extracted was dull as well and there were times when he could only get his hands on the meat of raccoons and foxes and such, whose meat was not tasty. Though it was much better than the times he only had Goblin meat available.

  The clothes he was wearing were not really clothes, but furs that he had wrapped around himself.

  He was like a barbarian child.

  「If I use the bandits’ spare clothes, I might be able to make proper clothes for myself. There’s also money, but… well, will I get a chance to use it?」


  The Amid was the currency of the Amid Empire and its countries. One Amid was worth about a hundred yen on Earth. There was a half-Amid copper coin, a one-Amid copper coin, a ten-amid copper coin, a 100-Amid silver coin, a 1,000-Amid gold coin and a 10,000-Amid platinum coin.

  In addition, there was apparently also paper money used only by wealthy merchants and nobles, notes worth 100,000 Amid and 1,000,000 Amid. To be more accurate, they may not be actual notes, but something like handwritten government bonds.

  The bandits had saved up about 1,000 Amid, about twice the monthly income of a worker living in an urban area.

  But if Vandalieu were to enter a town, guards or adventurers would kill him without any questions asked, so it was doubtful whether he would get a chance to use it.

  However, it might be possible to exchange it after moving to another country, so he decided to keep it.

  「Hmm? What’s this pouch?」


  He realized that there was another leather pouch beneath the pouches containing the money. It was light and something clinked around inside softly when he moved it.

  He untied the string and looked inside to see two transparent, colored stones inside. They looked like some kind of gem, but they were not very pretty.

  「Mom, do you know what this is?」


  『These are Magic Stones. You can collect them from monsters, and from this size and color, I think they’re from Goblins. If I remember correctly, they sell for ten Amid each.』


  The Mana in monsters’ bodies crystallized in the moment they died, and the Magic Stones were apparently the result of that. They were used as ingredients in various magical items and spiritual medicines such as potions, or used as sources of power for even normal people with low Mana to use magical items.

  If used as sources of power in this way, they became normal stones after the Mana they contained was depleted, so they were consumable items. But with alchemical refining, Mana could be imbued into the stones again, so they could be used over and over.

  Nobody would bother refining the Magic Stones of Goblins and they would be used as disposable items, which was why their value was low.

  『Incidentally, it’s more common for low-rank monsters to not even drop Magic Stones when they die. The probability for a Rank 1 monster to drop one is about one in a hundred. On the other hand, higher-rank monsters are almost certain to drop Magic Stones when they die. Rank 5 monsters and above will definitely drop them.』


  Incidentally, Darcia had apparently thought it pointless to tell Vandalieu about Magic Stones earlier because he had been fighting nothing but a few Rank 1 Goblins at a time.

  Also, it seemed that there were some low-rank monsters that easily dropped Magic Stones, and also monsters that dropped Magic Stones of far higher quality than their original rank. But to Vandalieu, who was focusing on hunting bandits for now, this was all just information for future reference.

  He wanted to register with an Adventurer's Guild and become an adventurer as soon as possible.

  「Finally, let’s check the status of Bone Man… Oh, just by killing two of those weak Bandits, you’ve gained thirty levels. You too, Bone Bear. The rest of you too. Just by killing a single man each, you’ve gained more than 10 levels!」


  Just by ambushing and killing one or two bandits that had failed as farmers and couldn’t even fight properly, their levels had risen this much. The amount of experience they got from Goblins or the monsters in the forest couldn’t even be compared to this amount.

  If this applied to not just the Undead but all monsters, than that meant that humans were a very good source of experience of the monsters. It would also explain why monsters were so aggressive against humans.

  「Alright, I’ll wipe out all the Bandits in this area and increase everyone’s levels.」


  After seeing this explosive increase in level, he couldn’t go back to hunting small monsters.

  There were still many Bandit groups left in the area around Baronet Bestero’s territory. One of them had the same number of people as the one they had killed today, one of them had more than ten people, while another one had around twenty.

  The Undead would surely reach Rank 3 after they were all exterminated.

  『Since you were able to kill us, the guys to the south will be a piece of cake.』


  『The guys west of here are from three villages over. They have a lot of people, but it should still be easy.』


  『But the guys up north are professional bandits. Their leader was apparently a guard in some city, and I’ve heard that he’s gathered himself a bunch of strong underlings. They extorted some money out of us as well.』


  While learning some information from the spirits of the dead bandits, Vandalieu used the Earth Golem to bury their bodies. After loading up their loot on the wagon, Vandalieu left, leaving the tragic scene behind him.

  Around a month had passed since Vandalieu’s first Birthday. It was the season in which he had to get rid of mosquitoes every evening using【Bug Killer】, and he was finally ready to take on the largest and most highly-trained bandit group in Baronet Bestero’s territory. They moved while making sure no travelers or guard patrols on the highway found them and trained in forests or in areas with high, thick grass to polish their skills.

  「Our opponents are in a different league from the bandits we’ve been killing up till now. Their leader is a ex-soldier, and his subordinates have been trained under him to some extent. In other words, we can’t just raise our weapons and scare the enemy, we actually have to『fight』them.」


  「Oooooooooh~」


  「Gurururuuuuu~」


  The Undead listening to Vandalieu literally had fires of determination burning in their eye sockets. Because of the experience they had earned from killing all the bandits, Bone Man had increased his rank to become a Skeleton Solider, while Bone Monkey, Bone Bear and Bone Wolf had become Bone Beasts.

  They had also gained the skill【Superhuman Strength】and, perhaps because they had been killing bandits by ambushing them, they had also gained【Silent Steps.】When this skill was used, the sounds of their bones hitting and grinding against each other completely disappeared. In addition, Bone Man had gained the skills 【Swordsmanship】, 【Archery】 and 【Shield Technique.】


  They were all still level 1 skills, but the results were pretty good considering that they had obtained them after fighting in practice battles against golems for a month.

  「…」


  Bone Bird, however, was still at Rank 2. But it was at Level 90, and if today’s plan went well, it would also rank up.

  「That’s why we need to be extra careful today. We have a lot of spare bones for you, but make sure your skulls are not damaged or broken. Also, if there are any humans that don’t look like bandits… For example, humans that are tied up with rope or humans that are in cages, don’t kill them. Lastly, we’ll begin the plan as soon as I cast the support magic.」


  Speaking in his usual indifferent tone and expressionless face, Vandalieu didn’t show his internal nervousness at all as he cast the spells.

  「First,【Bloodshed Enhancement】to their weapons, fangs and claws. Then【Energy Absorption】to their armor and bones.」


  【Bloodshed Enhancement】 was a magic spell that boosted the attack power of whatever it was cast on; even shields and armor could damage the enemy if they came in contact with them.

  【Energy Absorption】 was a defensive spell that could absorb magic, heat, electricity and even motion energy, and in Lambda it was effective against both magical and physical attacks.

  Both of these spells had very strong effects, but since both were not that hard to use with the Death Attribute, mastering them was easy for Vandalieu.

  「Ooooh…」


  The first to move among the Undead surrounded by dark blue magic was Bone Man. He headed towards observation tower the bandits’ base - a small gathering of simple huts surrounded by a wooden fence - loading an arrow into the bow taken from Orbie and his companions and pulling back the string.

  The bandits in the observation tower were holding bows with quivers on their backs and seemed completely unmotivated.

  「Man, we’re really unlucky. Getting guard duty on the day before we’re supposed to withdraw.」


  The bandits were planning to take all that they had earned up till now and move to a new location. They were planning to pick up the ransom money for the hostages along the way and then go on to a new territory or even a new country, and start their jobs as bandits all over again.

  Other bandit groups had been disappearing lately and they had heard rumours that a Lord had become fed up with the deterioration of public order on the highway and put together a subjugation team. If that was the case, then it really was time to leave.

  They had decided to get rid of things that would get in the way of traveling, and were in the middle of a party to consume all of the excess food and liquor they had in one go.

  These bandits were the unlucky ones that were unable to participate in the party, and they were too distracted by their own misfortune to notice anything.

  「Gahhh!?」


  Bone Man’s arrow cut through the night and buried itself in one of their throats. Letting out a short scream, he lost his balance and fell from the tower.

  Seeing one of their own guards fall down with a arrow in his neck, the bandits that had been drunk and enjoying themselves woke up from their stupor.

  「Enemy attack!」


  「Wake up, you bastards! Get your weapons!」


  As they bandits tried pick up their axes, maces and spears…


  「Guwoooon!」


  「Uooooooooh, uooooooh!」


  Destroying the wooden fence and scattering splinters all over the place, Bone Monkey and Bone Bear charged in.

  「It’s the Undead! Monsters! We’re being attacked by monsters!」


  「Calm down, you idiots! Those of you specializing in axes and maces, move forward! Those who have swords and spears, fall back! Archers as well!」


  The leader of the bandits calmly gave his subordinates clear instructions, a halberd in his own hands.

  This man had experience fighting with Skeletons and Zombies from when he was still a soldier. He knew that his subordinates could deal with Undead effectively if they used blunt weapons like clubs or axes rather than bladed weapons like swords or spears, even if they weren’t very skilled at fighting.

  「A few Rank 1 or 2 monsters are no match for twenty of us! Get ‘em!」


  The bandits’ morale that had been withering because of the sudden attack and death of one of their own was recovered thanks to the instructions from their boss. They rushed at the boorish Undead who had rained over their festivities.

  「Guooooo!」


  「Ghyaa!?」


  A bandit that had raised his axe went flying as Bone Bear stood up on its hind legs and delivered an attack with its front paws.

  With a crunch, Bone Monkey crushed a bandit’s skull like an egg.

  The fangs of Bone Wolf pierced the legs of the bandits, and when they fell down it ripped out their throats.

  「Oooh… Oaoooooh~」


  Bone Man put away his bow and drew the long sword that he had taken from the other bandits they had defeated to cut his way into the bandits’ ranks.

  「Hiiii!? Gyaaah!」


  Bone Man against the bandits. Both sides had never received any formal training in swordsmanship, and soon Bone Man came out as the clear winner.

  Their fighting skill was about the same, and the longsword that Bone Man was using was an iron sword with a crude casting. In fact, the enemy’s weapons were of better quality.

  However, the strength of a Rank 3 Skeleton Solider was far above that of an average human, and especially because of the 【Superhuman Strength】 skill, Bone Man was far stronger than the bandits.

  As humans lacked physical strength and special abilities, they honed their skills and learned martial arts and magic in order to fight against monsters. A human going up against a monster while possessing the same amount of skill as the monster had no chance of winning.

  「Ooooh…」


  Bathed in the blood of his enemies, Bone Man shivered from the feeling of getting experience by taking a life, and wanting to earn even more, jumped at his next prey.

  「Boss! These aren’t Rank 2 monsters!」


  「We can’t handle them! Help us, boss!」


  Hearing the pitiful screams of his subordinates as their number decreased, the leader clicked his tongue.

  『Those useless fools! If it’s come to this, I have to get away by myself.』


  The bandit leader chose to run without hesitation. He didn’t think about fighting the Undead for his men for even a second.

  He didn’t even have enough skills to even fight one-on-one with a Rank 3 or higher monster in the first place.

  He had certainly been a soldier at point in his life, and even had a level 2 skill【Halberd Technique】that allowed to him to use the Halberd. But in the end, he was just an ex-security guard. According to the Adventurer's Guild, his fighting prowess was at most a E-class.

  It was said that to win a fight one-on-one with a Rank 3 monster, you needed to be at least D-class.

  If he made well use of his subordinates, he could defeat maybe one of the Undead. But there were four Undead. No, five.

  「…」


  The leader noticed Bone Bird, who was finishing off the bandits that had fallen unconsciousness by stabbing them with its beak, but considered that to be an exception.

  Even if he did manage to defeat one of them, there would be no point as they would be finished off by the rest. There was no point in retaliating if there was no hope of winning.

  「All of you! Don’t back down, push forward!」


  Giving that unreasonable order to his men, the leader himself began backing off carefully so as not to be noticed by them. He would just jump in the carriage he had taken from the merchants and run away. If he could get away, he form another bandit group.

  「Get up.」


  His hopes of getting away were shattered as a wooden wall grew from the ground behind him.

  「Uoh?! What?! An alchemist?!」


  He had heard a shrill voice like a small girl’s through the dying screams of his men and the resentment filled roars of the Undead. He realized that this was the doing of the owner of the voice, and looked around for it’s owner.

  He found him almost immediately.

  A small child stood some ways away, wearing a rag. It was easy to tell that he was a baby.

  「Are you telling me this is all this kid’s doing!?」


  The leader’s eyes opened wide, but there was no denying the child’s - Vandalieu’s - strangeness.

  The white hair and odd-colored deep crimson and purple-blue eyes. And even on this bloodstained battlefield, the weak, ghost-like presence. If the child hadn’t said anything, he could approached the bandit leader all the way up to his feet without the leader noticing.

  「Are you the one controlling these Undead? I-in that case, I give up. I surrender. I’ll let you have all the treasure, go ahead and hand me over to the Adventurer’s Guild or wherever.」


  Throwing down his Halberd, the leader put up both hands and gave up.

  If he couldn’t win, he would run. If he couldn’t run, he’d live by giving up. Stubbornness and pride wouldn’t get you even one Amid.

  「Surrender?」


  「Yeah, that’s right.」


  Forcing a smile to his face, the leader replied to Vandalieu who spoke in a flat tone.

  「There’s a bounty on my head. And I also have information about the other bandit groups in this area. And the half the money made from selling criminal slaves goes to your pocket. Don’t you see? If you capture us alive, it’s a lot more profitable for you.」


  The things that the leader said were all true. This was man that was willing to sell off other people in the same trade if he was able to live.

  Also, depending on the severity of their crimes, the bandits that were captured alive were sold off as criminal slaves. Most of them were overworked in mines and the army, doing odd jobs and labor. Half of the profits earned from them were not to be underestimated, and depending on the number of bandits captured alive, it could be worth even more than all the treasure that the bandits had gathered.

  「… Are you an idiot, perhaps?」


  But what came was an insulting reply; a baby asking about his mental capacity.

  「What did you say!?」


  「As you can see, I am a Dhampir. If I took you to the Adventurer’s Guild to hand you over, I would just be killed. I would be dead before you could be sold as a criminal slave.」


  In the Amid Empire and its countries, where the people worshipped Alda, the God of Law and Fate, Dhampirs were treated as monsters rather than people. Even if he entered the city with the intention of handing over the bandits, the guards or adventurers would prioritize dealing with the Dhampir over the bandits.

  The bandit leader was not an adventurer and he was unaware of the Dhampir panic that had happened a while ago, so he was late in realizing that he was talking to a dhampir.

  「Then make me one of your subordinates! I’ll be really useful. Your Undead are pretty strong, but you do need one human subordinate as well, right?!」


  In that moment, Vanadalieu’s impression of the bandit increased slightly as he thought that he was more clever than he looked.

  In fact, Vandalieu had been been feeling the same thing from quite a while back. The Undead that followed his every command. The spirits of Darcia and the others. Their presence alone could not solve the small inconveniences of his day-to-day life.

  However, using the man in front of him to solve them was unthinkable.

  「While it is true that I need a living companion, I don’t need a bandit who would sacrifice his men to run away. But I can make you one of my subordinates after you’ve died.」


  Pointing at the leader that had first expressed hope and then despair, Vandalieu asked Bone Bear and the others.

  「Do it.」


  「Please wait! I-I don’t want to die!」


  「…? Wasn’t it same for the people that you killed?」


  This man was oblivious to many things. By the time this thought occurred to Vandalieu and he turned around to talk to the leader again, Bone Bear had already crushed his neck.

  「Gu, guru?」


  Crap, did I kill him too early? Bone Bear seemed to ask, but Vandalieu waved a hand to say「It’s fine, it’s fine」and exhaled heavily.

  「Ahh, that was nerve-wracking. It was my first time talking to anyone besides Mom, so I was pretty nervous.」


  He had suffered from stranger anxiety in all three worlds: Earth, Origin and Lambda. He wished that he could have avoided having this kind of face-to-face conversation in this bloodstained place.

  「The smell of blood is so strong that I’m getting hungry. But I don’t want to get closer to being a vampire by sucking the blood of the bandits, so I have resist. Resist… For now, I’ll check if there are any survivors.【Sense Life.】」


  To distract himself from his hunger caused by the smell of blood, he used a death-attribute spell that detected all the life in the vicinity.

  Ignoring the reaction from bugs, weeds, germs and fungi, he searched for reactions from animals, humans containing magic or large monsters.

  There were… three large animals behind the large hut, probably horses. There was also a reaction from the basement of the hut. From the reaction, it was human.

  He had heard from the spirits that the number of bandits had been nineteen. The number of corpses was also nineteen.

  「There’s someone in the basement of the hut, is it a new guy?」


  『No, that one is not my subordinate. It’s a peddler I caught a few days ago. Ugeh. I let him live because it seems like he has a family business or something in a town over in Viscount Maggio’s domain, and ransom money can be Expected. My Neck.』


  Because of the shock and fear he had received at the time of his death, the neck of bandit leader’s spirit was still twisted. Vandalieu wrinkled his eyebrows as he processed the information he had given.

  Things had become a little troublesome.

  Name: Bone Man.

  Rank: 3.

  Race: Skeleton Soldier.

  Level: 39.

  Passive skills:

  Dark Vision.

  Superhuman Strength: Level 1 (NEW!)

  Active Skills:

  Swordsmanship: Level 1 (NEW!).

  Shield Technique: Level 1 (NEW!).

  Archery: Level 1 (NEW!).

  Silent Steps: Level 1 (NEW!)

  Name: Bone Monkey/Bone Wolf/Bone Bear/Bone Bird.

  Rank: 3.

  Race: Bone Beast.

  Level: 24~32.

  Passive skills:

  Dark Vision.

  Superhuman Strength: Level 1 (NEW!)

  Active Skills:

  Silent Steps: Level 1 (NEW!)

  Appendix 7 — Luciliano’s report 2 - Kasim’s spring

  In Talosheim’s royal castle, a strange conversation was taking place.

  “Can nothing be done about it, Master?” asked Luciliano. He had been persistently pestering Vandalieu over a certain strange difficulty.

  “Zandia, can nothing be done about this apprentice?” asked Vandalieu, consulting Zandia as she passed by.

  Zandia… the Titan Zombie girl who was Talosheim’s second princess and had been praised as the ‘Tiny Genius’ when she was alive.

  “Eh? Am I supposed to carry him away with an iron-claw grip like Jeena-nee?” asked Zandia.

  She had become a Zombie at a young age, but as a Titan, she was two meters tall.

  “But Master, I really am at a loss here,” Luciliano insisted, despite Zandia picking him up by the head and lifting him into the air.

  “What is this guy having so much trouble with?” Zandia asked, directing this question to Vandalieu rather than the still-lively Luciliano.

  She had once experienced Luciliano peeping on her during surgery out of academic interest.

  “He said he wants to hear from wild Undead… Undead that aren’t under my influence, from Zombies in particular. He won’t listen to what I’m saying,” Vandalieu said.

  “I’d think that might be impossible,” said Zandia.

  “You’re right,” said Vandalieu.

  Zandia couldn’t be blamed for immediately thinking that Luciliano’s request was impossible.

  “I do understand how he feels, since Undead change completely under your influence, Your Majesty. The research I do is different, but I am a mage,” Zandia said.

  Undead would undergo rapid changes from the moment they were charmed by Vandalieu and placed under his guidance.

  This was particularly apparent in inferior, low-Rank Undead. Rank 1 Living Bones and Living Dead were Undead that simply moved around meaninglessly and didn’t even possess much of an instinct, let alone wills. But even they would clearly recognize Vandalieu and obey his commands to the best of their abilities.

  Rank 2 Zombies had heads filled with nothing but hatred for the living and a desire to devour their flesh, but ninety percent of that would be erased and replaced with feelings of affection, loyalty and fear for Vandalieu. This was even true for Cursed Weapons and Living Armors, which were considered to have nothing but a desire to kill.

  And many Undead partially regained their memories and personalities from while they were alive as their Ranks increased under Vandalieu’s influence, becoming able to speak words.

  Undead in their natural state were completely different creatures.

  Zandia assumed that as an Undead researcher, Luciliano would want to study not only the Undead that had undergone such changes, but Undead in their natural state as well.

  Having finally been understood, Luciliano nodded… or rather, since he couldn’t, he expressed his agreement by clasping his hands together and shaking them up and down. “Indeed, that’s right,” he said.

  “But you know that there’s no way you could hear what an Undead in its natural state has to say, right?” Zandia said.

  “Indeed, that’s right,” Luciliano said again.

  Undead in their natural state, especially low-Rank Undead, never communicated with the living.

  Conversation was possible with Ghosts who possessed their memories and personalities from while they were alive in addition to their hatred and regrets. There had also apparently been very rare cases where Zombies and such would stop attacking those they had been close to while alive and express desires such as asking them to “run away” or “kill me”… assuming that these were not the delusions of the witnesses.

  But even with these exceptions, the kind of academic investigation that Luciliano wished to carry out would be impossible.

  “In other words, you want to conduct a detailed investigation on an Undead that isn’t under His Majesty’s influence, but in order to do that, His Majesty needs to ‘guide’ the Undead? That’s impossible. There’s a contradiction there,” said Zandia.

  “That’s right. Ah, by the way, please let go of Luciliano, now,” said Vandalieu.

  Luciliano was released from the grip of Zandia’s hand, which was relatively small compared to the rest of her body. He swayed on his feet, but he didn’t collapse.

  “So nothing can be done about it after all?” he said.

  “I don’t know any Undead in their natural state to begin with,” said Vandalieu.

  Most Undead were charmed by Vandalieu just by being near him. There was no way that he could be acquainted with any Undead in their natural state.

  “And anyway, you can create Undead as well, can’t you, Luciliano? Couldn’t you just create one and ask it yourself?” Vandalieu asked.

  “Yeah, you can make Live-Dead and stuff, after all. Isn’t that a good idea?” Zandia agreed.

  “You know that the Undead created by ordinary mages including myself are nothing more than puppets made of corpses with life forcibly embedded inside them,” said Luciliano. “I am not sure what you are expecting me to investigate with such puppets.”


  As he said, the Live-Dead and other Undead he created were nothing more than puppets with no instincts or anything. Such puppets were unsuitable for pursuing his current interest.

  “So please, do something!” Luciliano begged, not knowing when to give up.

  “Muh…” Vandalieu seemed troubled as he shook his head.

  Indeed, he really was troubled. As he didn’t normally show any facial expression, he often deliberately made obvious movements to express his emotions to others.

  “What is it about Undead that you want to research, anyway? Depending on what it is, His Majesty or I might be able to help you. Ah, but I’m not going to show you my body, okay?” said Zandia.

  “… I was only interested in the remodeling that Gubamon had carried out in your bodies,” said Luciliano, scowling at the fact that he was still being treated like a peeping tom.

  “Leaving that aside, what is it that you’re interested in now?” Vandalieu asked.

  Luciliano’s expression straightened up. “Something that is so fundamental that nobody thinks to question it. The heads of inferior Undead are filled with either nothing or a simple hatred for the living and a desire to kill, so they are completely unsociable. So then, why do they -”


  Meanwhile, there were loud noises of battle echoing repeatedly across the training grounds that were a little distance away from Talosheim’s town area.

  This in itself was not unusual. The training grounds’ dummies… or rather, Undead acting as dummies, were the heroes from nations that worshipped Alda and heroes that worshipped Alda personally among the hero Zombies recovered from Gubamon.

  As Undead, they were weaker than they had been while alive and they were equipped with Obsidian equipment that conserved stamina, but their fighting abilities were undoubtedly first-rate.

  And what was happening here was training through real combat. Of course, the Undead hero dummies attacked the trainees.

  The walls of the training grounds had almost been broken several times before, so there were now restrictions on what martial skills and spells could be used. But even so, the fierce, echoing sounds of battle always made it clear just what kind of high-level training was taking place.

  But today, the sounds echoing across the training grounds were not the sharp noises of swords clashing, but heavy, repeated crashes that sounded like a gong being struck.

  “Shield Bash! Shield Bash!”


  A female Elf Zombie, who was unusually lightly-equipped compared to the other dummies that had Obsidian equipment, used her round shield to unleash two Shield Bashes in quick succession.

  “UOOOOOH!” roared the young man… Kasim, who was equipped with armor and a large shield made of Dark Copper, as he managed to use his shield to stop the Shield Bashes.

  And as the Elf Zombie lost her balance, Kasim used the mace in his right hand to try and turn the tables on her.

  But the Elf Zombie pulled her arm back quickly and unleashed a third Shield Bash. “Not good enough! Shield Bash!”


  “GUAH?!”


  A third thunderous, gong-like crash echoed out as Kasim’s shield was finally repelled, exposing his entire body. But surely the Elf Zombie wouldn’t strike with a fourth Shield Bash. Or at least, that’s what Kasim thought.

  But although the Elf had lost her blood from becoming a Zombie, her toned leg turned with the same skill that it had done while she was alive.

  “Thrusting Kick!”


  Her shoe, which was made of Obsidian and designed for unarmed combat, crashed into the stomach of Kasim’s metal armor. Off-balance, he was unable to hold his ground and was sent flying backwards like a football.

  “I-I’ve lost,” Kasim gasped as he lay on his back, barely managing to voice his surrender.

  Hearing these words, the Elf Zombie relaxed her stance and offered out a hand, going into coaching-mode. “Kasim-kun, you have to use your shield more proactively. Also, it’s fine to take a defensive stance, but you can’t shut yourself away. The enemy isn’t a storm; rather than waiting for an opportunity, you have to go and create one.”


  Kasim gave a bitter smile as he took the Elf Zombie’s hand to stand up. “I know that, but it’s impossible for me to become able to fight like you right away, Gerda-san,” he said. “As expected of someone who was called the ‘Dual-shield Princess.’ The way you handle your shields is amazing, and your footwork is like that of a master’s as well, isn’t it? You’re really incredible.”


  Kasim was looking at the Elf Zombie, the hero Zombie Gerda who had once been known as the ‘Dual-shield Princess,’ with shining eyes.

  “That’s a Title. I’m just an Undead now,” Gerda said.

  She was an Elf hero who had lived in an era even before the foundation of the Amid Empire. She wielded two small Adamantite shields, one in each hand, using them for both offense and defense and finishing her enemies off with her kicks. Her unique fighting style had been well known in her time.

  She was recognized as a shield-bearer by those around her, but she was actually more like a martial artist that used her round shields as weapons. However, because of her high proficiency with the Shield Technique Skill, her defensive abilities were beyond those of most shield-bearers.

  “And in terms of just my physical strength, I’m stronger than I was when I was alive, you know?” Gerda said. “My Enhanced Muscular Strength Skill turned into the Superhuman Strength Skill when I became a Zombie. My movements have become slower as a result, though.”


  “But you’re still amazing, Gerda-san,” said Kasim, unable to conceal the way his eyes were sparkling.

  Gerda, who had been staring at Kasim with dead, lifeless eyes, suddenly averted her gaze. Her eyes narrowed, as if she had looked at an object that was too bright for her. And she immediately let go of Kasim’s hand. “You don’t have to imitate what I do. You only have one shield, and your Unarmed Fighting Technique Skill is low Level, isn’t it, Kasim-kun? With your shield, I think it’s best to thrust the edge into your opponent’s arms or legs to stop their movement. Try it against a demi-human-type monster,” said Gerda.

  Kasim’s eyes followed the hand that had just let go of him with a disappointed gaze. As if avoiding him, Gerda turned around to return to her original position.

  She was a training dummy; once she was finished giving advice, she would return to her original position and stand there like a statue, unmoving. She would wait there until it was time to change places or the next training candidate came.

  “Can I practice against you again next time instead of a monster?!” Kasim shouted in her direction.

  But there was only silence in response from Gerda.

  Having washed away his sweat at the public bathhouse after training, Kasim met up with his friends Fester and Zeno in the plaza connected to the main road, where they engaged in a deep conversation.

  In this plaza, where there were statues of Vandalieu of various ages lined up in a row, there were benches as well as tables and chairs for enjoying Reversi and shogi. It was a place for the citizens of Talosheim to relax.

  Thus, there were a lot of people here, but the background noise naturally drowned out spoken words, so it was the perfect place to have a non-sinister confidential conversation.

  “The truth is, I… like Gerda-san,” said Kasim, confiding in his two friends.

  “We know,” Fester and Zeno replied quietly.

  “Eh?! How, I haven’t told anyone yet!” Kasim exclaimed, sounding surprised.

  Zeno sighed. “Kasim… You go to the training grounds every day that we’re not in a Dungeon or a Devil’s Nest, and you only ever train with that Gerda-san.”


  “And you always boast to us about how great Gerda-san is,” Fester said with a grin. “How she’s so pretty, how her legs are beautiful and how her ears are so long… Even I’d notice after all of that.”


  “Was I that easy to understand?” said Kasim, his face falling as he realized that his two friends had already known about his feelings.

  It seemed that Kasim had unconsciously spoken about Gerda very fondly. Meanwhile, Zeno and Fester looked refreshed.

  “So, what are you going to do? It’s not going to just end at telling us about it, right?” said Zeno.

  “Wait, are you really alright with this? Gerda-san is a Zombie, right?” said Fester.

  In ordinary human societies, this would be a big problem. It wasn’t just a matter of love that transcended race. Someone in Kasim’s position would be lucky to merely be chased out of their village or town. Depending on the nation, they might be interrogated and burned at the stake.

  But this was Talosheim. The ruler of the nation himself was a user of strange Undead, the one serving as general and prime minister was an Undead, and the captains of several Knights’ Orders were Undead as well. It was a nation where in this very plaza where Kasim and his friends were sitting, numerous Zombies and Skeletons could enjoy pleasant conversations under the watch of the statues of Vandalieu.

  Vandalieu had completely stopped the Undead of this nation from decomposing and even erased the rotten smell of their bodies with Deodorization. It wasn’t rare to see Zombies that couldn’t be told apart from the living without being close enough to be breathed on.

  And these Undead were the natives of Talosheim that had been living here since even before immigrants from the cultivation villages like Kasim and his friends came here.

  And because Vandalieu had implemented plans to have the citizens interact peacefully… Things like seminars, board game tournaments and festivals, even the immigrants who had been emotionally distant from the Undead at first were now friends with them.

  With that being the case, though this was just a natural course of events, there were some who developed romantic relationships with Undead. But this wasn’t without its problems.

  The largest problem was that Undead couldn’t have children. The deed itself was possible, but as their reproductive organs had stopped functioning like the rest of their internal organs, this was the obvious result.

  The desire to have children was not limited to royalty and nobles; even farmers and townspeople would naturally want to have children, raise them and have their grown-up children take over their farms and businesses. This societal notion was firmly-rooted in the world of Lambda.

  There were problems such as when families had too many children and struggled to get by, or quarrels over who would succeed family businesses and farms, but this was necessary in Lambda, whose civilization still required people to perform large roles in every industry.

  And even for couples who couldn’t have children despite their best efforts, they could adopt the children of relatives or have their apprentices take over their businesses.

  But when the inability to have children was made clear from the very start, there was a tough hurdle to get over, unless the couples sought out children to adopt or people to take over their businesses beforehand.

  But there was also an occupation that was completely unrelated to such societal notions. That occupation was the occupation of being an adventurer.

  “If you’re talking about the issue with children, none of that has mattered ever since we became adventurers, right? I mean we’re registered with the Explorers’ Guild rather than the Adventurers’ Guild now, but it’s all the same in the end, isn’t it?” said Kasim.

  Being an adventurer was a hazardous occupation with a high mortality rate. And many who took up this occupation were those who had already been defeated in the struggles to succeed their families or never had families to succeed to begin with.

  Neither of these applied to Kasim and his friends, but they had already talked to their families and discussed the possibility of being unable to succeed their businesses when they became adventurers in the Hartner Duchy.

  Kasim assured Fester that this wasn’t a problem, but it seemed that this wasn’t all that Fester was worried about.

  “No, there’s more. I’ve heard that they don’t sleep at night so they have a different sense of time, that there are problems with their eating habits and that because poison and disease don’t affect them, they either don’t worry at all or worry too much if you get sick,” Fester said, fluently listing the various problems that those having relationships with Undead faced. “You need to be prepared if you want to seriously date someone of another race.”


  Kasim and Zeno stared at Fester in disbelief.

  “Fester, using his brain?! You sound like a proper, decent married person!” Kasim blurted out.

  “To think that Fester has straightened up so much… Kuh,” Zeno muttered.

  “Kasim, I am a proper, decent married person! And Zeno, why do you have tears in your eyes! I’m just telling you what I happened to overhear at the Explorers’ Guild!” said Fester.

  While Kasim trained at the training grounds, Fester had been going to the Explorers’ Guild to take simple requests that he could complete on his own, and also to visit Lina while she was working.

  During the victory feast in the Noble Orc kingdom, a marriage interview had been suggested to him, and for some reason, as a result of discussing this with Lina, it had been decided that both of them would have a marriage interview with the girl that was looking to marry him. The girl, who was a good person even if one didn’t take her circumstances into account, had got along well with Lina, so talks were proceeding in the direction of accepting the marriage.

  But Fester still lacked the means to provide for both. He was working hard for the sake of his two brides and for the children that would come in the future.

  Incidentally, Zeno was accepting requests, going to Dungeons and having practice battles with the Empusa Berserker Gaol, who had migrated to Talosheim. He was still unaware that Gaol considered these to be dates.

  It seemed that Zeno was the most ignorant of the three when it came to love.

  After calming down Fester, who was in a bad mood, Kasim began to think deeply about the problems one by one.

  “Like Fester says, there are all kinds of problems,” he said.

  But all this did was reaffirm to him that the feelings for Gerda within him would not stop.

  “But still, I don’t think anything will start until I confess to Gerda-san,” said Kasim.

  “You’re right,” said Zeno.

  “So, I think I’ll confess to Gerda-san tomorrow!” Kasim declared.

  “What a rapid development,” said another voice.

  “I see… Alright, I’m cheering for you!” said Fester.

  “Yeah, do your best, Kasim,” said Zeno. “But isn’t it best to talk to Vandalieu about it first? Gerda-san is a training dummy at the moment, right?”


  There was a partial slavery system in Talosheim. One of those forms of slavery was the role of the training dummies filled by Gerda and other Undead. The first training dummy, the ‘Divine Spear of Ice’ Mikhail, had become a criminal slave. Ever since then, the other Zombies who became training dummies had also been treated as criminal slaves.

  It seemed that the strict surveillance system that Vandalieu had set up for Mikhail back then was really troublesome work.

  Now, though they were still strictly monitored, these Undead were treated as people.

  But as she had the social position of a criminal slave, Gerda was property of the state. Zeno’s suggestion of consulting Vandalieu was a reasonable one.

  “That’s true, but I’m kind of shy…” said Kasim.

  “Now, now, there’s no need to be so reserved. I understand the situation, so do your best,” said the fourth voice again.

  “Uwah, this isn’t a statue! It’s the real one!” shouted Zeno.

  The statue of Vandalieu standing closest to Kasim and his friends was actually Vandalieu himself, camouflaged as a statue!

  “Disguised as a stone statue, its real identity is -”


  TLN: Vandalieu is probably making some kind of reference here, but I don’t know what it is.

  “Vandalieu, isn’t it? You haven’t disguised yourself as a stone statue with the Demon King’s ink recently, so why today?” Fester asked.

  His bold declaration having been interrupted, Vandalieu’s face fell as he climbed down from the pedestal. “I was hiding from Luciliano for a little while… Leaving that aside, I’ve been listening to the story. I’m sorry for eavesdropping. Though it’s not really to make up for it, I’m cheering for you, so do your best with your confession tomorrow. I’ll make it so that Gerda can converse with you normally, Kasim.”


  “Yeah, thanks,” said Kasim.

  And then the preparations for his confession to Gerda were made.

  Vandalieu reserved the training grounds for that time and gave him a handwritten document. It was a form of written permission for Gerda to speak to Kasim freely during his confession.

  And Vandalieu himself waited outside with Zeno and Fester. This was because if Vandalieu was personally present, Gerda might feel a non-existent pressure.

  Incidentally, depending on the result, Gerda’s status as a criminal slave could be lifted, but this was apparently more convenient for Vandalieu.

  Mikhail was responsible for the destruction of the former Talosheim. But although the other hero Zombies that had become training dummies had just been followers of Alda or gained military fame by persecuting members of Vida’s races, they hadn’t been directly involved with Talosheim.

  In Gerda’s case, she had lived in an era when the letter ‘A’ of the Amid Empire didn’t even exist.

  With that said, it was unclear if she could simply be acquitted, and more importantly, the Undead were acting as training dummies because they had wanted a way to atone.

  It wasn’t like Vandalieu felt a strong desire to punish them, and there wasn’t even a legal basis for making them criminal slaves, so if they agreed to stop, it was something to be congratulated.

  Gerda took the written document, smelled it and tasted it. “This smell and taste; these letters have definitely been written in Vandalieu-sama’s blood. I see… But Kasim-kun, I can’t reciprocate your feelings,” she said, shaking her head.

  “No way. Why does even Gerda-san know?!” shouted Kasim.

  He was surprised that Gerda used the smell and taste rather than the handwriting or the seal to confirm the authenticity of the document, but that surprise vanished before the shocking realization that his sweetheart had already known of his feelings before he could confess.

  “I died unmarried, but I did live for over a hundred years, you know. For some reason, I can’t remember very well, but I have dated someone before,” Gerda said, seeming to struggle with her words a little. “And… When you collapse during training, you wait for me to reach my hand out to you instead of standing up yourself, and your face looks really happy when our hands touch.”


  “Ugh, so you knew…!” Kasim staggered as he realized that his ulterior motive had been seen through. But he didn’t back down. “So, why? I won’t do any of that in the training grounds anymore! And if there’s anything else bad about me, I’ll fix it!”


  “No, it’s not like I dislike it or that you’re bad,” said Gerda. “I’m very happy about your feelings towards me.”


  “Then -”


  “It’s impossible for me. I’m a Zombie; I’m dead! I might look like I’m alive because my body’s decomposition has been stopped, but my cold hands could never offer you any warmth!” Gerda said.

  A young man who came to her for training every day, far less experienced than herself. Gerda had feelings for that man.

  But every time she saw her own pallid face reflected in his shining eyes, every time his warm hands touched her cold ones, she was painfully reminded that they were different beings… they were not an Elf and a human, but a dead person and a living one.

  She was too different from him. She shouldn’t get any closer to him than she already was. For his sake as well. That was why Gerda rejected Kasim.

  But Kasim didn’t give up.

  “Then I’ll offer you my warmth, Gerda-san!” he declared as he extended his hand to Gerda, his voice loud enough to be heard outside the training grounds.

  Gerda instinctively tried to step back, but this was too slow compared to her usual movements.

  “So please go out with me!” Kasim grasped both of Gerda’s hands and pulled her close to him.

  Gerda saw her own lightless, dead eyes reflected in Kasim’s that were burning with passion.

  “… You’ll regret it one day. Whether that’s in a year, ten years or fifty, you’ll definitely regret it. Are you alright with that?” Gerda asked.

  “Maybe I might, but I won’t make you regret it, Gerda-san,” said Kasim.

  These were inexperienced words with no foundation to them, trying to convince an Elf Zombie who had lived for over a hundred years before dying. But despite that, they sounded attractive to Gerda.

  As if Kasim’s passion had infected her.

  “Alright… I’ll give you fifty of my years, a hundred, or even an eternity,” Gerza said.

  “Really?!”


  “But can I make one request?”


  “Yeah, anything! If it’s something I can do, I’ll do anything!” Kasim declared.

  There were no lies in his words. If Gerda asked him to become stronger than her, then he would challenge himself for years without giving up.

  “Then… if you can, get one, no, two more other than me. Both Undead,” said Gerda.

  “Alright! Whether it’s two people or three… eh?”


  This was an unexpected request for Kasim.

  Luciliano was writing notes, outside for once, in the plaza crowded with people at that.

  “Why do Undead form groups? If I think about it, this is actually quite the mystery. There are Undead that happen to become Undead in the same place or close to each other, or Undead that happen to group together by chance, and then there are Undead like Living Armors that often coordinate with others like them. But why do other Undead form groups?” Luciliano wondered.

  “Is that right?” Vandalieu asked.

  “Apparently,” said Jeena. “Though I’ve never seen them personally.”


  “At adventurers’ school, we learned that if we see one Undead*, we should assume there are more,” said Fester.

  “Come to think of it, we’re counted as animals rather than people in the outside world,” said Zandia.

  (Note: Fester uses the counter for animals here rather than for people here.)

  Incidentally, Zeno was looking at Kasim with a pitiful gaze.

  Perhaps not caring about the response of his company, Luciliano continued talking. “Living Dead and Bones do not possess many of their memories, senses of self, knowledge or even their instincts. Their heads are empty other than the desire to attack and devour the living. So why do these Rank 1 or 2 Undead form groups? There is a strategic benefit. But I didn’t think that such inferior Undead understood such strategy.”


  “You’re right; Undead don’t coordinate with the other Undead around them, and they don’t cooperate with each other to find prey,” said Zandia.

  “Weak Bone Rabbits form groups, but I’ve heard that it’s to increase their chances of surviving if they’re attacked,” said Jeena. “But Living Dead and Zombies have no self-preservation instinct. Even we feel pain differently from how we did when we were alive.”


  “I see, that’s very informative,” said Vandalieu.

  “… Vandalieu, you seem like you’d be the most knowledgeable, so why are you the least knowledgeable?” asked Kasim.

  “Because Master has apparently never seen Undead in their natural state,” said Luciliano. “Leaving that aside, your passion has unraveled one part of the mystery. Kasim-kun, I offer you my heartfelt respect.”


  According to Gerda, the reason Undead formed groups was because Undead “felt kind of lonely,” rather than for strategic reasons. It was such a simple reason that nobody had thought of it.

  Luciliano, Vandalieu and Legion, who wasn’t here, concluded that this was likely because spirits naturally desired the company of those similar to themselves.

  Because the instincts of Undead were faint, their minds were like small islands floating on a sea of nothingness. Were they not trying to fill that void by surrounding themselves with others like them?

  Weren’t they stabilizing their hollow selves by acknowledging others that were in the same state as them?

  At the very least, there was no doubting that they felt some kind of unconscious sense of fellowship with those around them.

  Zombies, who thought of nothing other than devouring the flesh of the living, didn’t distinguish between their prey and their companions. But they didn’t think to destroy the bodies of other Zombies that got in their way in order to defeat them.

  But when they had feelings of strong resentment and regret, this was just a weak behavior that could be ignored.

  “That’s how it is, so I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Well, more verification is needed, so it would be helpful if I could hear from you frequently,” said Luciliano.

  “You’re saying it like it’s someone else’s business,” Zeno pointed out. “Well, it really is someone else’s business, though.”


  “Hmph,” Luciliano said quietly, looking up from his notes. “Master, what if we simply choose a few partners for him? It would solve the problem immediately,” he said, making a suggestion that was quite considerate towards Kasim.

  But Kasim, who had simply been hanging his head up until now, rejected it right away. “Stop! It’s true that it would solve the problem immediately, but what about my feelings?!” he shouted.

  “Hmm, should we set up some marriage interviews? If you tell me what types and personalities you like, I can even choose from the corpses and spirits I have in stock to create Undead for you,” said Vandalieu.

  “… I appreciate the thought,” said Kasim. “Ugh, Gerda-san. What am I supposed to do…”


  Kasim had confessed his earnest feelings and received approval. But the condition of finding multiple other partners had been named.

  “It’s a complicated problem. When I gave Vandalieu a high-five outside the training grounds, I didn’t think things would turn out like this,” said Fester.

  This was a problem that he hadn’t expected despite being the one to point out all kinds of problems that would come from having a relationship with an Undead.

  A frivolous man might come to a clear decision with ease, quickly calling out to other Undead and collecting partners. But Fester knew that Kasim didn’t have such a shrewd personality.

  Wasn’t he feeling conflict over having to date other Undead girls while he still had feelings for Gerda?

  “Is there any way? Other than Vandalieu’s extreme method,” Fester said, looking towards Zandia and Jeena.

  But there was no favorable answer.

  “Even if you ask if there’s a way… there isn’t anyone I can introduce to him,” said Zandia.

  “Neither do I,” said Jeena. “Of course, I can’t marry him. His-Majesty-kun is cuter, easier to carry around and he carries me around as well,” she added, picking Vandalieu up like a kitten.

  “That’s true for me as well, but he’s not asking for that, Jeena-nee,” said Zandia, taking Vandalieu back from her.

  “I feel like I’ve started to understand why Vandalieu is so popular with the Undead, other than his charm and guidance,” Zeno muttered.

  Though he and his friends couldn’t see them, there were countless spirits floating around in Vandalieu’s surroundings. There was nobody better than Vandalieu for Undead wanting the company of others like themselves.

  And so, a page recording the young Kasim’s struggle with love was added to Luciliano’s research report.