The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

Chapter 319 - Death Mage 319 - A little bit of effort from the Great Demon King

Before Vandalieu and Pauvina returned to the Cursed Mansion – Silkie Zakkart Mansion – a carriage bearing the coat of arms of the house of Duke Alcrem stopped in front of it.

Several servants stepped out of the carriage. They and the coachmen were scared and perplexed by the presence they could sense beyond the open gate and trees, something that was observing them, even though there was nobody there.

But the carriage’s passenger pressed them on. They reluctantly pushed a woman on a wheelchair inside, leaving her in the mansion’s care, and then left.

Everyone was reacting with surprise after hearing Vandalieu and Pauvina’s stories after they got back from the Adventurers’ School… but the news that Vandalieu had made a friend was what surprised them the most.

“You’ve already made a friend? That’s amazing! Let’s have a celebration today!” said Darcia, tears of joy brimming in her eyes.

“Bocchan said so many times about how worried he was about school life… I am overjoyed! So overjoyed that my face is collapsing!” said Sam, whose spirit form had become blurry at the edges.

“Let us contact our nation,” said Bellmond, wagging her tail happily. “Incidentally, is that friend of yours a girl? Kanako and Zadiris have asked me to let them know immediately if you were to make any female friends.”

“Hey, I get that it’s a great thing, but it’s not something to make that much of a fuss about, is it?” said Natania, the mountain-cat-type Beast-kin who had been able to return to the Adventurers’ Guild after receiving artificial limbs from Vandalieu.

“That’s not true, Natania-san. We found a true, lifelong friend in Miriam-san while living in solitude in our home village, and the joy we felt then still has not faded,” said Arthur, the enormous, fierce-looking swordsman.

“Indeed, our lives were changed greatly that day,” agreed Kalinia, his younger sister who was beautiful but had terrifying eyes.

“A school is a small, closed-off society. I have heard that it is a frightening place, where those who are cast out of the light are scorned just for being alone. Making friends in such a place can only be described as truly auspicious,” said Borzofoy, the Dwarf with a slim build and thinning hair.

These three knew the importance of making friends.

“Wait! Our meeting wasn’t that dramatic!” protested Miriam, unconvinced. “I was just a rookie adventurer who got lost, and Arthur-san just protected me when an Ogre was about to kill me, and… Huh? Now that I think about it, it was pretty dramatic, wasn’t it? But leaving that aside… ‘True, lifelong friend?’ Your description of our relationship has become even more grand, hasn’t it?!”

“I-I see. I was betrayed by my companions and lost my limbs, but I was really happy when I gained true companions in Juliana-san, Master, and everyone else. It’s the same as that happiness, huh,” said Natania, tears welling up in her eyes and her tail swaying gently as she remembered how important it was to have trustworthy companions and how happy she was to have them.

“You could invite your friend for tea parties, study sessions, strategy meetings… Ah, which room should we use? That room can only be entered by pressing three different wall carvings, and that other one’s walls come closing in if something heavy isn’t placed on one of the floor’s tiles… And more importantly, I wonder if the good tea utensils are still unbroken?” said Silkie, restlessly thinking about inviting the first proper guests in about a century.

“I think a garden party is a good idea too, you knooow?” suggested Eisen, not wanting to be outdone.

Pete and Pain, who had made themselves smaller, were making hissing and squeaking noises as they jumped and flew around her feet.

“Anyway, what shall we do for tonight’s dinner?” asked Sam.

“I shall help with meal preparations!” said Silkie.

“Thanks, everyone,” said Vandalieu. “Let’s all make a big feast together.”

It seemed that he wasn’t at all hesitant or questioning about such a grand celebration being held just because he had managed to make a friend, even though he would be turning thirteen later this year.

If Nuaza, the head of the Demon Empire of Vidal’s Church of Vida, were to suggest that today be made a national festival, Vandalieu might have even agreed to it. That was how happy he was that he had made a friend at school.

But it wasn’t as if there had been no problems at school at all.

“The truth is, my friend’s name is Elizabeth Sauron; she’s the youngest sister of Duke Sauron,” Vandalieu said.

“Oh my. What a small world,” said Darcia.

“That would make her a true princess. I really do need to let Kanako and the others know…” said Bellmond.

Despite the shocking news, nobody showed any signs of great surprise. Arthur and the others were surprised to hear Duke Sauron mentioned, but that was all.

“There’s also a boy named Alex who just stared at Pauvina but didn’t do anything else,” Vandalieu added.

“Really?! Pauvina-chan, were you scared? Are you alright?” asked Darcia, her expression immediately turning into one of serious concern.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t scared, but it was a little creepy,” said Pauvina.

It seemed that a suspicious student harassing Pauvina was a more serious matter than Vandalieu’s friend having blood ties to the Sauron house.

“Are you really okay? You can tell me if you’re having a hard time, and I’ll go and make a complaint to the school! Vandalieu told me that ‘monster parent’ refers to people who are allowed to frequently do that sort of thing,” said Darcia.Please visit fr𝐞𝐞w𝒏.𝒸𝑜𝔪 website to read fastest update

TLN: This is a reference to Darcia’s ‘Monster’s Parent’ Title – both ‘Monster’s Parent’ and ‘monster parent’ are the same in Japanese.

“Mom, are you sure you aren’t misremembering what I said?” said Vandalieu.

“It’s alright! I’m going to go and talk to him directly tomorrow!” said Pauvina. “I’ll bring Van with me, though.”

“I see. If we leave Master alone, he might do something to this Alex boy. Having him somewhere you can see him is a good idea. As expected of you, Miss Pauvina,” said Simon.

“Simon, I won’t make any excuses since I’m aware of my past behavior, but I’m not going to do anything to this student named Alex,” said Vandalieu. “For now, anyway.”

“Hmm? Is there some reason you’re going so far as to say that?” Simon asked.

“Yes,” said Vandalieu. “But let’s continue this in the living room, not here in the entrance hallway.”

“Ah, yes,” said Darcia. “Baldiria-san arrived just a little while ago. Could you adjust her ‘artificial arms?’”

“Yes, I should do that. And I wanted to ask her a few things, anyway.”

Still chatting merrily, the group moved to the mansion’s living room. In there was the ‘Knight of a Thousand Blades’ Baldiria, one of the Five Knights of Alcrem.

She had lost both her arms in the battle to retake the former Scylla territory in the Sauron Duchy, and she had come to Vandalieu, who was known to be an exceptional maker of artificial limbs, in order to receive focused treatment.

However, although Baldiria was supposed to be missing both arms, her arms were perfectly fine. And nobody, including Vandalieu, was surprised to see this. Baldiria losing both her arms had all been a farce, after all.

“Should I be saying ‘long time no see?’” said Baldiria.

“You met me through my Demon King Familiars,” said Vandalieu.

Baldiria’s arms had, in fact, been severed. But she was carried to the rear immediately afterwards, where a special Blood Potion was administered and her arms were reattached. However, the public story was that she had lost her arms, and she had traveled to Orbaume by carriage so that this story could be maintained.

Incidentally, Vandalieu’s first apprentice, Luciliano, had created fake arms that looked exactly like Baldiria’s. With these secretly placed on the ground on the battlefield, the deception was perfect.

With this, the Sauron house that had planned the operation to retake the former Scylla territory was in a great deal of debt to Duke Alcrem, and if he were to suggest a similar operation in the future, Duke Alcrem would have a reason to refuse.

“I overheard you talking. Elizabeth Sauron, huh. It’s possible that she hates the nobles of the Alcrem Duchy,” said Baldiria.

“Was Duke Alcrem involved in the struggle for succession of the Sauron house, too?” asked Darcia.

“No, rather than being involved in it… At the time, we did not have the luxury of choice, Darcia-onee-sama,” said Baldiria.

He and the other members of the ‘Heart Warrior Brigade’ had begun working with the Adventurers’ Guild in Orbaume, and they had been keeping an eye out for information regarding outsiders who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere or newcomers with unusual names, but it seemed that they hadn’t gained any useful information today.

“There doesn’t seem to be any signs of them,” said Vandalieu. “At the very least, there are no signs of Rikudou and the others having been reincarnated in the regions where there are Demon King Familiars. I asked the gods to let me know if they find out anything about them, but they haven’t contacted me yet,” said Vandalieu.

He had prayed to the gods and made offerings to them while telling them of how dangerous Rikudou was and asking them to let him know if he was reincarnated.

The offerings he made were cola, potato chips, curry, and pizza. This might have looked like some kind of joke to someone from Origin, but these were the divine meals directly requested by Lambda’s gods (especially Zuruwarn).

Vandalieu was sure that these offerings would be highly effective.

“Shall we conclude our debriefing session, then? What shall we do for dinner?” asked Sam.

“Let’s see. Hiroshi said he wanted to try eating dinosaur meat, so I’ll let everyone out into the dining hall for dinner. Let’s have dinosaur steak and sashimi made with ammonite and nautilus,” said Vandalieu.

“Dinosaurs are extinct in their world, aren’t they. I’m sure the children will be delighted!” said Silkie.

The next day, training was being held for the newcomers at the Adventurers’ School to prepare them before they entered the practical training Dungeons and Devil’s Nests outside Orbaume.

Naturally, stamina was something that all adventurers needed, even mages.

Adventurers needed to perform strenuous exercise while wearing their equipment and carrying portable food supplies, water, and the parts of the monsters they had collected as proof of extermination.

Thus, the first kind of training that was carried out at regular Adventurers’ School was aimed to improve the students’ stamina. Students were not allowed to learn how to handle weapons unless they were deemed to have enough stamina.

But this was the Hero Preparatory School. Its students were not those who wanted to be regular adventurers; they were students who had enrolled because they wanted to go beyond becoming an adventurer – because they were aiming to be heroes. Those without sufficient stamina had already been filtered out by the entrance examination.

Thus, the stamina training at this school took the form of practice battles that were carried out over long periods of time.

Those aiming to become mages and archers had to go through an unusual obstacle course, where they had to climb over various obstacles while shooting spells or arrows at the targets set up around the course.

For mages and archers, the ideal situation was one where they could provide long-ranged attacks and support from a safe distance while their frontline allies protected them, but this ideal situation was often not possible to maintain in real battles.

Those who were rendered helpless in the worst-case scenarios would never become heroes.

Dandolip, also known as Randolf ‘the True,’ was the instructor for the students who wished to become long-ranged fighters.

“Run, run, run! Shoot your targets! Keep control over your breathing!” he shouted. “There’s no need to hit the center of the targets! Even grazing the edges is fine! What you’re doing right now isn’t battle; it’s escape! Pretend that you’re running around while attacking just to fend the enemy off! If you don’t want to be caught and turned into a monster’s food or plaything, run like your life depends on it! Recite your incantations! Draw your bowstrings!”

Randolf was using spiritual magic to turn parts of the ground into a pond and make trees grow here and there, ensuring that the students couldn’t learn the course and get used to it, forcing them to use their brains as they ran.

Even the other instructors were giving him looks of admiration, as no ordinary instructor would be capable of using spiritual magic in such a skilled way.

But Randolf glanced at the training that was being done by the students who wished to be frontline fighters and sighed.

What the hell is he doing?

Vandalieu was among the students who wished to be frontline fighters… He was capable of using no-attribute magic, but it seemed that running about while taking care not to destroy the targets would be too troublesome a task for him.

The training for the frontline students was simple – they were just having practice battles against each other, over and over. They put on protective equipment and fought against the instructors or against each other with training weapons. Regardless of who won or lost, they would begin another practice battle immediately afterwards.

It was training designed to help them build the endurance required in real battles by repeating this process over and over.

Vandalieu was no exception to this.

He’s worse at it than I thought he would be, Randolf thought.

He was watching Vandalieu fight practice battles against other students and instructors using a practice spear… a wooden stick with a rounded end.

“UOOOOOH! SEII! DARYAAH! FUNGYUUUH!” his opponent shouted in exertion.

Vandalieu had incredible physical capabilities. Ordinarily, the attacks of the other students and instructors wouldn’t land on him, and he would be able to defeat them with a single blow. But that would be immature, and it would show too much of his true skill.

Thus, he was holding back.

He was deliberately pretending that the battle was even, not dodging attacks that he could have dodged and slowing down his own attacks so that his opponent could dodge them.

Vandalieu was good at holding back like this. He had done practice battles in the past, such as with the children of Talosheim. Holding back in practice battles like this wasn’t a problem for him.

The weapon he was using was a spear, and he didn’t have the ‘Spear Technique’ Skill for using it, but it was a practice spear that even had a wooden tip. He handled it perfectly fine using ‘Staff Technique.’

“UOOOOH! Why! Why won’t my sword land?!” his opponent shouted in frustration.

“I’m obviously going to dodge if you aim for my head. Even with a training sword, you could cause an injury, after all,” said Vandalieu.

It seemed that he was worse than a useless actor when it came to making sure that his opponent didn’t know he was holding back.

Despite the strenuous exercise, Vandalieu didn’t sweat or run out of breath; he just continued the practice battles disinterestedly with no expression on his face whatsoever. Naturally, both the instructors and the students could tell that he was holding back.

This injured their pride, prompting them to try reckless attacks on Vandalieu, but that didn’t change anything.

The students and teachers who had become unable to move after spending all their strength and stamina fighting Vandalieu were lying on the ground.

Vandalieu’s current opponent was the last instructor left.

“Ugh.. I-I’ve been defeated…” he said, tossing his weapon aside and collapsing onto the floor.

With that, Vandalieu had wiped out all of them.

Vandalieu placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “Your skill was impressive. However, when your opponent raises their weapon for a big swing, you have the habit of trying to take them down before they can finish their attack. You should be more wary of that.”

“Yes…” sniffled the instructor, whose face was covered in tears and mucus.

“Also, I have to mention your use of the ‘Surpass Limits’ Skill,” Vandalieu added. “I think saving it or using it repeatedly in short bursts would be more effective.

“Yes… Thank you!” the instructor said, and then he passed out.

Vandalieu carried him off the training grounds and laid him down.

“Now then, I don’t have any more opponents for practice battles… What should I do?” he murmured to himself.

With no students or instructors left to have practice battles against, Vandalieu looked around as if he were lost.

I don’t care, Randolf thought as he returned his gaze to his own students.

• Name: Elizabeth Sauron
• Race: Human
• Age: 13 years old (turns 14 years old later this year)
• Title: Princess, Illegitimate Child
• Job: Magic Swordsman
• Level: 49
• Job history: Apprentice Mage, Warrior, Mage
• Passive skills:
  • Fatigue Resistance: Level 1
  • Mental Fortitude: Level 1
  • Poison Resistance: Level 1
• Active skills:
  • Housework: Level 2
  • Etiquette: Level 1
  • Horseback Riding: Level 1
  • Spear Technique: Level 1
  • Surpass Limits: level 3
  • No-Attribute Magic: Level 1
  • Mana Control: Level 3
  • Earth-Attribute Magic: Level 2
  • Fire-Attribute Magic: Level 2
  • Life-Attribute Magic: Level 2
  • Swordsmanship: Level 2
  • Shield Technique: Level 1
  • Dismantling: Level 1
  • Surpass Limits: Magic Sword: Level 1

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