The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

After spending three days moving the mountain range, Vandalieu continued to make small adjustments to it.

“Unlike the Boundary Mountain Range, the skies above the Ark Mountain Range are not Devil’s Skies, so it doesn’t provide any defense against flying enemies,” he said.

Devil’s Skies were areas of the sky that had been turned into Devil’s Nests by miasma. Devil’s Skies often had extremely different environments, such as having clouds that could be walked on as if they were solid ground, floating islands formed by airborne particles consolidating into solid masses, or entire zones that consisted of poisonous gas.

The more severely contaminated ones might have gravity working in multiple directions or distortions in space that formed wall-less labyrinths; they were treacherous Devil’s Nests to even enter.

The monsters spawning in them also differed from Devil’s Nests at ground level. There were bird-type monsters; Dragon-type monsters such as Wyverns; enormous humanoid monsters such as Cloud Giants; Stalkers whose bodies consisted of vapor; Gizumo, which were clouds that had turned into monsters; monsters that were like jellyfish that floated in the sky rather than in the water; and Undead such as Skeletons and Zombies that could fly.

And in many cases, the monsters knew the Devil’s Skies well and had adapted to them. Even in a Devil’s Sky where the slightest movement would change gravity’s direction from down to up or right to left, the monsters inhabiting it could navigate through it freely to attack anyone who dared enter. These environments were extremely dangerous to adventurers.

To begin with, Devil’s Skies were far above the ground… at a height where clouds floated, at least two thousand meters up. It was difficult to even reach them. Thus, few adventurers were even capable of challenging the monsters inside, and the Adventurers’ Guild had little information regarding them.

Even so, this world’s skies weren’t entirely covered in Devil’s Skies, due to the fact that it was difficult for miasma to become concentrated in the air – even more so than underwater, which fortunately made Devil’s Skies relatively rare.

Devil’s Skies generally did not form naturally. One exception was the skies over vast areas of land that were contaminated with miasma to such an extreme extent that there was nowhere for the miasma to escape except into the air above it, such as the Demon Continent and the Demon King’s Continent. The other was the skies above mountain ranges with rows of mountains that had become Devil’s Nests and were tall enough to reach the clouds, such as the Boundary Mountain Range.

And because the sky was far from the ground and monsters were too adapted to living airborne, there were few cases where monster stampedes originating from Devil’s Skies caused significant damage at ground level. Thus, nations and research institutions didn’t spend large amounts of funds and resources to send troops into the sky to explore and cull the monsters. Only a handful of reckless adventurers seeking fame or adventure ever dared venture into them, and that had always been the case in human society for tens of thousands of years.

On the Demon Continent, the Moon Giant Deeana led volunteers to hunt in Devil’s Skies because it was easier to procure food from them than on the ground.

“It would have been much easier if the Devil’s Skies moved with the mountain range,” lamented Sam.

Indeed, the Devil’s Skies that had been above the part of the Boundary Mountain Range that was now the Ark Mountain Range remained in their original positions. This couldn’t be helped, as the mountain range and the sky were separate entities.

“But even with Devil’s Skies there, wouldn’t the Five-colored Blades or the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords that Vandalieu is worried about be able to get through without a problem?” asked Bilde, who had come to take Kachia’s place.

“Well, I suppose that might be true,” Vandalieu replied. “No matter how great a challenge Devil’s Skies pose to ordinary adventurers, they wouldn’t be difficult for those with the strength of A-class adventurers to traverse, as long as they have a method to reach them in the first place.”

Even in Devil’s Skies, spawned monsters would be about Rank 10 at most. Such monsters would be defeated in the blink of an eye by Heinz or any of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords.

“But that’s what I’m aiming for,” Vandalieu said. “If Heinz or the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords defeat the monsters, their spirits will notify me of their approach.”

By strategically positioning split entities of himself such as Demon King Familiars, Vandalieu had created a network where any spirits created in the Boundary Mountain Range would immediately become guided by him. And he had already also done the same in the Ark Mountain Range.

In other words, the monsters themselves served as a warning system. Even Heinz and his companions wouldn’t be able to cross the mountain range without defeating a single monster.

And there were no Devil’s Skies at higher altitudes, so he had Demon King Familiars floating in these areas, as well as a large number of Ghosts and other monsters created from the spirits of monsters.

He had given up on turning the skies above the Ark Mountain Range into Devil’s Skies through methods such as using the Demon King’s Demon Eyes, as he had found that this would take too much time.

“Then what if they invade by destroying the mountain range itself?” Bilde asked.

“If they do something as flashy as destroying the mountain range, that itself will serve as a warning… To begin with, I’ve turned the mountain range itself into Golems, and splitting, breaking up, or creating a hole in the mountain range would end up killing a lot of monsters anyway, so I think we would definitely notice,” Vandalieu explained.

Heinz and his companions, or the stronger individuals among the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords, would likely be capable of destroying mountains. But that didn’t mean that they could do so with ease. They would have to use Skills such as ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ and ‘Surpass Limits,’ and expend a considerable amount of stamina and Mana in order to accomplish the feat.

The mountain range itself had been turned into Golems, so they would be able to sense the preparations being made to perform the act of destroying a mountain.

“And if they try to invade by traveling through space via something like Teleportation, we have Gufadgarn. There is no human who is as capable as her when it comes to space-attribute magic,” Vandalieu added.

“I shall be certain to meet the great Vandalieu’s expectations,” said Gufadgarn.

Even if the enemy tried to invade through methods such as Teleportation, doing so whilst evading the gaze of Gufadgarn, the Evil God of Labyrinths, would be incredibly difficult. At the very least, there was no space-attribute god more powerful than her among the gods on Alda’s side.

“So everything is fine?” asked Pauvina.

“Yes, everything is fine, Pauvina,” Vandalieu reassured her. “With that said, we don’t have that many precautions against a large-scale surprise attack.”

“Why not?” questioned Juliana, who had been the leader of a battalion of knights in her previous life. “Even if its name has changed, the enemy is still the Amid Empire. I believe that we should not let down our guard.”

In her previous life, she had been the youngest daughter of the Alcrem house and had received a high level of education; she had learned of the history of war between the enemy nation and her own.

But there was too great a difference between the history that Juliana had learned and the situation of the present day.

“The reason for that is because the Holy Nation of Amid is seeking to end my life,” said Vandalieu. “They are not seeking military accomplishments, land, treasures, or prisoners with which to demand a ransom.”

It was not people who moved Amid now, but Alda, the God of Law and Fate.

Alda was a god, and unlike mortals, he did not place any value in politics or common interests between people, nor did he care about the losses the nation would suffer or profits the nation would make as a result of war.

“Of course, the people of the Holy Nation of Amid will probably still seek those things, and I’m sure the Demon Empire ruled by myself and the Orbaume Kingdom as it is now are hindrances to Alda, so our nations will likely become targets of attack,” Vandalieu said. “But if they can’t kill me, nothing will be a victory to Alda.”

What moved the Holy Nation of Amid was the objective of killing Vandalieu. Thus, it was difficult to imagine that they would seek to attempt a surprise attack to inflict great damage upon the Demon Empire of Vidal before it could be detected by Vandalieu.

Such an attack might succeed in chipping away at some of the fighting forces on Vandalieu’s side, but it would not be a decisive blow. And it would incur losses on their own side before the fight against Vandalieu even began.

The Five-colored Blades and members of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords were capable of splitting mountains, but even their stamina, willpower, and Mana had limits. They did not have ways to rapidly replenish their Mana like Vandalieu, either.

They would surely avoid attempting to achieve their main objective – killing Vandalieu – in such an exhausted state.

With that said, nothing could be said for certain. The forces of Alda… or rather, the Holy Nation of Amid, did not have much time.

However, Vandalieu did have preparations in place. One of them was granting his divine protection to the warriors of the nations within the Boundary Mountain Range other than Talosheim – such as the High Goblin nation and the High Kobold nation – and having them acquire the ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ Skill.

By doing this, even if these nations came under a surprise attack by the Holy Nation of Amid without warning, news would reach Vandalieu as long as even a single one of their warriors successfully activated ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ – though it was not so important as a method of sending information to Vandalieu, as there were already Demon King Familiars in every nation. However, it also directly raised the capabilities of each nation to defend itself.

“Then I have another question… Why is it that you are drinking Bilde’s blood, but not ours?!” Juliana demanded.

“She’s right, Van. Even Rowen-san came here all prepared,” said Pauvina.

“No, please don’t pay me any attention,” said Rowen.

Indeed, it wasn’t only Bilde who had come to Sam’s carriage – there was Juliana, Pauvina, and for some reason, Rowen as well – the female swordsman from the Drakonid nation.

And yet, Vandalieu had only sucked blood from Bilde so far. However, it wasn’t that he was hesitant to suck blood from Pauvina, who was like a younger sister to him; or Juliana, who was like a younger sister to Pauvina; or Rowen, whom he was acquainted with but not more than as friends.

“That’s simply because I’ve barely used any Mana,” Vandalieu said. “All I’m doing now is minor adjustments, after all.”

It was a matter of necessity. He had completed the majority of the task itself shortly after sucking Bilde’s blood, so there had been no reason to suck blood from Juliana and the others.

Vandalieu even sucked blood from Darcia, his own mother, so it wasn’t that he had any hesitation to suck the blood of his relatives.

And although he sucked blood from dead bandits like it was a snack, Vandalieu thought of that as something completely different from sucking blood from Juliana and the others.

“I don’t care whether it’s necessary or not, so just suck our blood, Van. If we sit around waiting for the next opportunity to have you suck our blood to recover Mana, we might be waiting for years,” Pauvina complained.

“If you’re concerned for our physical well-being, there is no need for that! Our bodies are already those of adults!” said Juliana, throwing her ample chest out in pride.

Pauvina mimicked her, striking the same pose.

“That much is plain to see. I’m truly happy to see how you two have grown,” said Vandalieu, nodding earnestly as he looked up at the casually-dressed Pauvina and Juliana.

Pauvina hadn’t been born when Vandalieu arrived in Talosheim, and Juliana had only just been reincarnated around two years ago.

Pauvina had been larger than Vandalieu since she was four months old, and Juliana had grown at a rapid pace as well. Now, Pauvina had the appearance of a fifteen-year-old girl, except that she was three meters tall, and Juliana was a two-meter-tall child.

Anyone who didn’t know the circumstances would never believe that Vandalieu was older than them.

“And at this rate, Rowen-san…” said Juliana.

“No, really, please don’t worry about me. Once I get back, I’m going to give the elders another nice, firm punch,” said Rowen, clenching her fist.

She was only here because the elders of the Drakonid nation had clamored, “Someone from our nation must be sent to be by Vandalieu-dono’s side!”

It seemed that she had already given them a punch before she left.

“I suppose you’re right,” said Vandalieu, having been convinced. He nodded and extended his tongue. “The Level of my ‘Blood Rule’ Skill has increased, too. Now then, going in order–”

His tongue split, and the tips turned into proboscises that resembled needles – like the mouths of butterflies.

“W-wait!” Rowen shouted. “I don’t need – AAAH!”

“I suppose I’ll have rebanira for dinner tonight?” Bilde murmured to herself.

This was a first experience that would need more iron than sekihan could provide.

Meanwhile, in the Mirg shield-nation, the soldiers had somehow managed to succeed in exterminating the monsters that had fled the mountains that were now known as the Ark Mountain Range before they reached the villages and cities, barely avoiding imminent disaster.

The inhabitants of the villages and cities near the border rejoiced at the news that the monsters had been slain, and those who lived a little further away breathed a sigh of relief.

The high-ranking officials of the Mirg shield-nation also breathed a sigh of relief – but for a different reason.

They were relieved because the success in defeating the monsters was due to the reinforcements that had come from the Holy Nation of Amid.

The strongholds and fortresses of the Mirg shield-nation were sturdy, and they were protected by capable guards and knights. But they had been stationed there under the assumption that they would be fighting against the Orbaume Kingdom’s army – not the monsters of the Boundary Mountain Range.

Even so, the knights and guards would not have been defeated by monsters of Rank 5, 6, or 7. The knights had experience in slaying monsters, too.

As the Alcrem Duchy discovered that Lesser Wyverns were relatively easy to tame, they had been training more and more Dragon Knights, and the Mirg shield-nation had trained its own Dragon Knights that rode Wyverns.

But Rank 10 Storm Dragons fleeing the mountain range because it was moving? That was a scenario that nobody could have predicted.

These monsters had scales harder than Obsidian coating their bellies, which were considered to be a weak point for many other Dragon species, and their Breath attacks were storms that could send a Wyvern flying like a leaf in the wind just by grazing him. They were considered to be among the most powerful kinds of Dragon.

But as the men engaged in this hopeless battle to defend the fortresses from these Storm Dragons, heroes from the Holy Nation of Amid had arrived.

In the blink of an eye, these heroes who possessed divine protections granted to them by the gods had slain the Storm Dragons that even the most experienced Dragon Knight would have had no chance against, and they had swept the battlefield clean of the other monsters as well.

Thanks to them, the damage to the strongholds and fortresses had been kept to a minimum, and the destruction of the cities and villages had been avoided.

But at the same time, it had become very clear just how great the forces of the Holy Nation of Amid were. If the Mirg shield-nation were to point its swords at the Holy Nation of Amid, it would have to face these heroes who were capable of easily defeating monsters that its own soldiers stood no chance against.

Some of the higher-ranking officials in the Mirg shield-nation believed that the Holy Nation of Amid would collapse in the near future, and were plotting the Mirg shield-nation’s independence from its suzerain state.

Originally, those desiring the Mirg shield-nation’s independence had always been a minority. But that had only been because its suzerain state, the Amid Empire, had built a solid governmental system.

But the remaining high-ranking officials believed that even if they were to succeed in achieving the Mirg shield-nation’s independence, it would simply fall along with the Holy Nation of Amid.

After all, the Mirg shield-nation shared a border with the Orbaume Kingdom, unlike the other vassal states of the Holy Nation of Amid. It was difficult to imagine that the Orbaume Kingdom would forget its grievances with the Mirg shield-nation just because it had achieved independence.

But it was also difficult to imagine that the Mirg shield-nation could defeat the Orbaume Kingdom on its own. With that being the case, it had no choice but to continue fighting against the Orbaume Kingdom with the support of its suzerain state, just as it had always done. Or so the higher-ranking officials believed, but… they had been forced to rethink the situation entirely.

The Mirg shield-nation was named as such because it was a shield against the Orbaume Kingdom. That was supposed to have continued to be true, even after the Amid Empire became the Holy Nation of Amid. It was supposed to have been true until the day the Holy Nation of Amid captured the Orbaume Kingdom and achieved its goal of unifying the Bahn Gaia continent.

But that future had come crumbling down with the astonishing event that was the moving of the mountain range.

This event resolved one of the main arguments of the independence backers – that the Mirg shield-nation’s suzerain state merely used it as a convenient shield while reaping all the benefits of safety. After all, the Mirg shield-nation would no longer function as a state against the Orbaume Kingdom unless the mountain range were to move again.

But at the same time, the reason for it to exist as a vassal state had also been lost. To begin with, was it even possible to continue maintaining a state of war against the Orbaume Kingdom? What about the costs of maintaining the strongholds and fortresses? Would it need to convert to an agricultural state? Or would the nation simply dissolve entirely?

There was no end to questions like these, but according to the heroes, it seemed that the Holy Nation of Amid had no intention to force the Mirg shield-nation into anything. All it asked in return was faith.

That in itself made the Mirg shield-nation’s high-ranking officials worried for the future of the Holy Nation of Amid, but they decided to observe the situation for now. Things had changed too much in too short a period of time. They were apprehensive of making the decision now – the decision to steer towards obedience or towards independence.

“Most importantly, that grotesque Elder Dragon and enormous centipede flying over the moving mountain range… they serve the emperor of the Demon Empire of Vidal or whoever he is. This is for the sake of protecting the nation from them,” said the king of the Mirg shield-nation.

Of course, he didn’t believe that if his nation cut ties with the Holy Nation of Amid and surrendered to the Demon Empire of Vidal, it wouldn’t have to fight against Vandalieu.

There were deep grudges between the Mirg shield-nation and the Orbaume Kingdom… particularly the Sauron Duchy. And two hundred years ago, it had been the Mirg shield-nation that had invaded and destroyed Talosheim.

And more recently, it had invaded Talosheim a second time. This invasion had occurred under the orders of the Holy Nation of Amid, making it impossible for the Mirg shield-nation to refuse, but it couldn’t be denied that the high-ranking officials at the time were in favor of it. And the Mirg shield-nation’s officials had a vague inkling that the emperor of the Demon Empire of Vidal was the Dhampir of whom rumors had been whispered back then – the one who had led the Ghouls over the Boundary Mountain Range and escaped to Talosheim.

Not a single person had come back alive from that invasion, so there was no certain information. But they were unable to stop themselves from imagining the worst-case scenario.

If they were in the position of Duke Sauron or the emperor of the Demon Empire of Vidal, they would never forget their animosity. If they surrendered, that surrender would never be accepted, or even if it was, it would be under worse conditions than being completely trampled over.

That was what they believed, and that was why they had no intention of surrendering. They evaluated things by their own flawed standards. It was a very human way of thinking.

And the Mirg shield-nation’s high-ranking officials remained unaware that the exceptional individuals among their soldiers and adventurers were receiving divine protections from the gods one after another and swearing loyalty not to their own nation, but to the Holy Nation of Amid.

In his Divine Realm, Rodcorte was granting his divine protection to the new potential heroes, one after another.

Beside him was Alda, holding one of his stakes.

“That’s right. You just need to do as you’re told,” Alda said threateningly.

In order to bolster his own forces, he had removed some of the huge number of stakes he had impaled Rodcorte with – just enough to barely allow him to move – and then ordered him to grant people his divine blessing, under the threat that he would impale him with more stakes if he refused.

“Guh, wait–” Rodcorte groaned.

“I do not recall giving you permission to speak,” said Alda, driving the point of the stake in his hand straight into Rodcorte’s forehead.

Rodcorte’s Divine Realm was filled with his echoing scream, which sounded like the scream of someone dying. But Alda took no notice, twisting and gouging the stake deeper into his forehead.

“I’ve no doubt that you are plotting to deceive me and do something that is of no good whatsoever, but I shall not let you. The only thing you are permitted to do is listen to and obey my words. Do not do or say anything else. I will not be deceived again,” Alda said.

He did not intend to allow Rodcorte to even speak, no matter what – no matter whether it was to try to flatter him or to curse him.

If he didn’t allow Rodcorte to do anything, Rodcorte would be unable to deceive him or conceive any more ill-advised conspiracies.

I have shut the entrance to my Divine Realm that was in my Dungeon in the Farzon Duchy. There is no chance that Vandalieu would be able to invade my Divine Realm, Alda thought. But I suppose I should have some of the other gods create Dungeons of Trials in the Holy Nation of Amid. No matter how many divine protections we grant to raise the potential of individuals, there is no use if they do not gain any experience.

Oblivious to the fact that Rodcorte’s familiar spirits were making moves of their own, Alda continued down a path that only he could see – the path to his envisioned ideal world.

Having finished making the final adjustments to the Ark Mountain Range, Vandalieu was now attending Elizabeth’s coronation ceremony.

The building of Churches and a hot spring town was a policy of the Sauron Duchy. Vandalieu was (at least on paper) nothing more than a supporter of that policy; nothing could get started until Elizabeth became duchess.

As the head of the Church of Vida in the Sauron Duchy had resigned, Elizabeth made her vows to and received her crown from Darcia instead.

“Eli-chan, how wonderful a person you’ve become…” said Amelia, with tearful eyes. “Are you watching, dear?” she asked.

“Yes I am, with these eyes right here,” replied Vandalieu, who was standing next to her.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“I’m also watching from the right,” said another Vandalieu on the right side of the venue.

“Watching intently from the left, too,” said another on the left.

“And from the ceiling,” said another on the ceiling.

Naturally, the Vandalieus other than the one next to Amelia were Demon King Familiars.

These Demon King Familiars were all watching and recording from different angles so that this coronation ceremony, Elizabeth and Darcia’s big moment, could be replayed as film later.

“‘Goddess Descent,’” Darcia whispered quietly.

Responding to her will, Vida descended upon her as a pillar of light. The sight of this alone was enough to elicit voices of admiration from the audience, many of whom were worshipers of Vida, as well as the people who had gathered outside the venue.

“By the name of the Goddess of Life and Love, I hereby declare and grant my blessing to the birth of the new Duchess of Sauron,” said Darcia, with Vida present in her body.

She pressed her lips against Elizabeth’s forehead, and Elizabeth’s entire body began to glow faintly.

“Th-thank you!” Elizabeth stammered.

And with that, she became a duchess with the blessing of one of this world’s great gods. Although her existence was not very well-known among the citizens of the Sauron Duchy, this moment immediately ensured that she would have the citizens’ support.

The loudest of her supporters were Bakunawa and Pete.

“Congratulations, Onee-chan,” Bakunawa said, and Pete hissed with joy.

The two of them were floating over the city’s buildings, pressuring the nobles and citizens who didn’t think of Elizabeth fondly as if demanding, ‘You still won’t accept her?’

There was also a group of very strange Undead praising Elizabeth outside the venue.

“Long LIVE ElizaBETH SauRON-sama!”

“LONG live the DUCHess! Long LIVE EliZAbeth-SAma!”

“By the NAME of THE great VanDALIEU, I swear MY eterNAL loyalTY!”

There was a masked Zombie with a strangely crooked neck standing in front of the others… Urgen Tercatanis, who had been turned into an Undead after his execution. Behind him were the Zombies and Skeletons that Vandalieu had created from the evil people he had destroyed in the Orbaume Kingdom.

Although bandits or thugs had no such use for such people, criminal organizations did need members who could take care of accounting and paperwork. Vandalieu had turned these people into Undead, given them training, and was now making them serve as Undead civil officials.

These were elite Undead civil officials who had even managed to accept Vandalieu’s difficult orders of ‘Prioritize Elizabeth-sama’s orders over mine.’

Vandalieu had made adjustments to them so that they could disobey their creator – him – if Elizabeth ordered them to, even if they cried tears of blood and experienced untold mental anguish in order to do so.

… If he didn’t do this, there would be the risk that they would always prioritize Vandalieu’s will, causing unintended interference in the Sauron Duchy’s affairs.

But they would certainly be useful – they were civil officials that would never betray Elizabeth, never leak information, never engage in corruption, and were capable of working with no sleep or rest.

And their existence served as a warning to others of the consequences of betrayal. Anyone who even thought of taking advantage of Elizabeth’s young age and naivety to engage in corruption behind her back would think twice, trembling in fear of the fate of being turned into Undead like these civil officials.

And so, Elizabeth’s rule over the Sauron Duchy began in what could be described as an almost perfectly solid state.