Chapter 31: Submerged in water, Vandalieu's fatigue faded away and he was enveloped in warmth.

Submerged in water, Vandalieu's fatigue faded away and he was enveloped in warmth.

He closed his eyes, stretched his arms and legs out and felt completely at ease.

It had been more than twenty years since he had taken a bath like this, but it reminded him that he really had once been a Japanese person.

『How many decades has it been since I soaked myself in a bath again? The last time was when I was a kid on Earth, I guess.』(Vandalieu)

Answering his own unimportant question, Vandalieu remembered what had happened after he learned that there was an incomplete resurrection device below the royal castle.

First, he had made a new arm for Borkus. Using[Golem Transmutation], he gathered Borkus's broken bones that were lying in the audience chamber and restored their shape. After that, he placed the bones against Borkus's shoulder and poured Mana into them with the image of restoring the arm in his mind.

And then flesh sprouted and expanded from Borkus's shoulder and his arm was restored!

『UOOH, this feels disgusting!』(Borkus)

He received this kind of overreaction, however.

It seemed that death-attribute magic was capable of restoring not only the bones that made up the bodies of Bone Man and the other Undead, but flesh and skin as well. He decided to name this ability[Corpse Healing.]

But the right half of Borkus's face couldn't be restored. This was possibly because holding an image in one's mind was important when using magic, and the image of Borkus's half-skull face had already left a deep impression in Vandalieu's mind.

『I don't understand the theory behind it, but don't worry. My right eye can still see even though the eyeball is missing, and I won't have any problems fighting now that I have my right arm. And I look sexier like this anyway, right?』(Borkus)

「Certainly.」(Nuaza)

『Shut up! The one I'm talking to is this brat!』(Borkus)

Though a little angry that Nuaza had agreed with him immediately, Borkus was very pleased. He was happy that his arm had been restored, allowing him to fight as he had done while alive.

Vandalieu was a little shocked to learn that there were people like Borkus,『good people with bad mouths.』

Up until now, he had only known『bad people with bad mouths.』With this, he would possibly be more tolerant towards any bad-mouthed people he might meet in the Orbaume Kingdom... At least, he wouldn't immediately assume they were enemies and attack them.

After that, he decided to go over the Magic Items and materials that had been left in Talosheim one more time.

Even with Borkus's arm restored, he didn't get the feeling that they would be able to defeat the Dragon Golem underground; in fact, he got the feeling that they would be slaughtered if they tried. There was now a genuine need to build up fighting strength.

The really important items had been taken by the First Princess when she escaped the city, and most of the other notable items had been plundered by the Mirg shield-nation; not even the legendary-class and upper-class Magic Items that were Talosheim's national treasures remained.

「The only things left are 5th-grade potions and low-class Magic Items that you can find anywhere. Well, even if there were better things remaining, they'd be rotten and rusted by now.」(Vandalieu)

『Well, it's been two hundred years, after all.』(Borkus)

The only other things left were the items that the Undead Titans were wearing, but Vandalieu wasn't interested in making them hand those over.

『There's no other choice; I guess I'll go and get some from the Dungeons. Nobody's entered them since we died, right? Even the D-class Dungeons should be rolling in Magic Items. Oh yeah, what happened to the Adventurers' Guild?』(Borkus)

The Adventurers' Guild had been prepared for emergencies with large quantities of Potions in storage. Among them, there should have even been some Potions that temporarily raised the drinker's attribute values, but Nuaza shook his head.

「In the Adventurers' Guild, there was a battle between the enemy and the adventurers who bravely stayed in Talosheim and shared its fate. All of the Potions were consumed and every Magic Item was plundered. The only thing that was left undamaged was the Job-changing chamber.」(Nuaza)

「Eh? What did you just -」(Vandalieu)

『Tch, those outsiders really pushed themselves... I should have bought them more drinks.』(Borkus)

「You can still treat some of them to drinks. They have become Undead as well.」(Nuaza)

『Oh yeah! I forgot about them because I've been holed up in the royal castle for two hundred years! Ah, but there aren't any bars left.』(Borkus)

「Hahaha, that is true as well.」(Nuaza)

「Umm, is it true that the Guild's Job-changing room is still usable?」(Vandalieu)

Job-changing rooms in branches of each Guild were facilities that existed in every society. This was something that didn't change even if one journeyed from the Amid Empire to the Orbaume Kingdom or, of course, Talosheim.

And so the Mirg shield-nation hadn't bothered taking the time to destroy it, and it had simply been abandoned. In fact, Borkus, Nuaza and the other Titans were no longer people, but monsters, now that they were Undead. Since they couldn't undergo a Job change, it was now a useless facility.

「Then the Ghouls and I can use it, right?」(Vandalieu)

However, this was good news for Vandalieu and the Ghouls, who had never been able to enter human society to use a Job-changing room.

To be more precise, it was definitely good news for the Ghouls. Though society had branded them as monsters, they were people of a race created by Vida. They could possess Jobs. Tarea and Kachia, who had transformed into Ghouls while possessing the Jobs that they had while they were human, were living proof of that.

Vigaro and Zadiris had been improving their skills up until now without Jobs. If they were to acquire Jobs and receive the Job-related bonuses to their attribute values and skills, they would certainly become significantly stronger.

However, in Vandalieu's case, he was under Rodcorte's[Cannot learn existing Jobs]curse so there was a high chance that he wouldn't be able to undergo a Job change even with the use of the Job-changing room.

But he had decided long ago that he'd try as hard as he could. The probably of him obtaining a Job wasn't zero.

And so Vandalieu returned to the Ghouls with a spring in his step, intending to share this good news with them, but a shocking announcement was waiting for him.

「I order you to rest until your birthday, boy.」(Zadiris)

After consulting everyone, Zadiris had decided that Vandalieu wouldn't listen if asked to rest in indirect ways, so she simply announced that he would be taking a rest.

「No, but the resurrection device, the Job-change!」(Vandalieu)

「It would defeat the purpose if you were to collapse before dealing with any of that! Your endurance is dangerously close to its limits, boy!」(Zadiris)

『That is right, Bocchan! This is a condition that will cost you your life!』(Sam)

『I'm begging you, please rest, Vandalieu! If you don't rest, I'm just going to go back to the circle of transmigration!』(Darcia)

Vandalieu's words fell on deaf ears.

While they were contemplating on how to make Vandalieu rest, they had looked outside the window to see the usual hollow-looking Vandalieu approaching them, running in a strange way that they had never seen before. This sight had apparently made them think,『This is bad! We must make him rest right now!』

It seemed that Vandalieu had no talent in skipping with joy.

However, his pupils were always like those of a dead fish, so he didn't think that they needed to be so alarmed. Though he pointed that out and protested, it didn't change the fact that they were forcing him to rest.

They begged him in tears to give his body some rest, so he was unable to refuse.

Well, the Job-changing room wasn't going to run away and Vandalieu found it hard to imagine that they would be able to defeat that Dragon Golem right after undergoing the Job changes, so it might have been a good idea to recuperate his strength during the ten days leading up to his birthday.

And it wasn't as if he was being forced to rest without doing anything. He was still doing Alchemy training for an hour a day to make sure his skill didn't deteriorate, and he was doing a lot of other things to rest.

Repairing this public bathhouse, for instance.

Talosheim once had public bathhouses. Perhaps because of Zakkart's influence, the Titans were a race that liked bathing; there were five bathhouses in the city and there was even a large bathhouse in the royal castle.

However, the baths weren't cypress baths1, but stone baths like the ones used in thermae2 in ancient Rome and the saunas were western-style rather than Japanese-style.

TLN:

1. Luxurious bathtubs made of cypress wood

2. Bathhouses in ancient Rome

The bathhouse hadn't been damaged too heavily. Though the Mirg shield-nation had attacked viciously, it seemed that they hadn't had the time to destroy bathhouses that didn't have temples or any facilities that would be useful for defense in a battle. There were Magic Items that created small fires and some money and goods inside, but the Mirg troops had probably carried back as much as they could, taking things of even more value than these.

But after having been abandoned for two hundred years, all of the bathhouses, including the one in the royal castle, had been in a terrible state when Vandalieu first saw them.

Out of the city's five bathhouses, the three that were towards the edges of the city had been collapsed by the trees growing out of the Devil's Nest, and one of them had been hit by a stray spell and turned into a mountain of rubble.

The mushrooms had been growing all over the one that was intact. They weren't ordinary mushrooms, but monsters such as the Walking Mushrooms that had arms and legs growing out of them and the Poison Mushrooms that released toxic spores.

They weren't particularly strong monsters; they turned out to be very delicious once defeated and roasted. The Walking Mushrooms had a good consistency, similar to king trumpet mushrooms. The Poison Mushrooms were like shiitake mushrooms, perhaps?

In the end, he decided to repair the bathhouse in the royal castle. Well, even this bathhouse had its baths turned into ponds by leaks from the ceiling and several Skeletons had been soaking themselves in them, enjoying the water.

Using [Golem Transmutation], he repaired the leaks in the ceiling and the cracks in the walls and tiles, and began to clean the bathhouse up. As to be expected of the royal castle of the Titans. With just that, the bathhouse became usable again, two hundred years after the war.

The Ghouls, who had never experienced anything other than washing themselves in cold water, took a liking to the culture of hot baths as well, and now they were lining up every day to wash away their fatigue in the royal castle's bathhouse.

『Once I finish resting, I'll have to repair the other bathhouses. Not matter how big the royal castle's bathhouse is, it gets packed in here. I only ever had showers in Origin, so this feels good... Hmm?』

As Vandalieu got the feeling that he could hear a deep-sounding scream, someone grabbed his head firmly and lifted him out of the water.

「Vandalieu! Were you drowning?!」(Vigaro)

「No, I was just putting my head underwater to warm it up.」(Vandalieu)

It would have been different if it was a bathhouse built specifically for members of other races who had migrated from the Orbaume Kingdom, but the bathtubs in the bathhouse of the royal castle that was built for Titan use were very deep.

It was a bathtub that a 2.5m-tall Titan woman would be able to use while standing up, so if the almost-three-years-old Vandalieu were to stand up inside the bathtub, his head would be well below the water's surface.

Well, when he had repaired the bathtubs, he had built stairs to create shallower regions as well, so he wouldn't drown unless he was careless or was trying to drown himself on purpose. Vandalieu had been submerging his head in the water on purpose.

「I was thinking of putting my head underwater and counting to a hundred.」(Vandalieu)

「You'd die, you know?!」(Vigaro)

「No no, I'll be fine for up to five minutes.」(Vandalieu)

Thanks to the his[Status Effect Resistance]skill, he would take over five minutes to die of asphyxiation. Using death-attribute magic, he could survive underwater even longer.

「Still, stop that; it's scary to watch. What would you have done if my heart had stopped?」(Vigaro)

「Oka~ay.」(Vandalieu)

Bathing by submerging his whole body underwater, officially prohibited.

After Vandalieu finished bathing, he was deep in thought.

『Now then, what am I going to do to rest?』(Vandalieu)

There were still several days until his birthday. He was contemplating what to do to rest during that time.

Sleeping all day would be unhealthy, and spending the whole day eating was out of the question. Staring into space and sitting completely still to meditate... He wasn't interested in that.

When he tried to remember how he had passed the time up until now, he got the feeling that he just did things and time just passed before he knew it.

Training his No-Attribute Magic and Alchemy, making sauces with walnuts and herbs, crushing acorns into powder, polishing the bones of Bone Monkey and the other Undead. When he had been in the Devil's Nest forest, time would go by while he was doing these.

However, he was resting now, and he wasn't allowed to do tasks like these.

So he thought that he would pass the time by amusing himself, only to realize that there weren't many things that amused him.

Vandalieu didn't have access to the gaming consoles, PCs, televisions or smartphones that had existed on Earth. Toys and board games should at least exist in this world, but he didn't have those, either... Well, now that he thought about it, he didn't have access to many of these things while he was on Earth.

The survival-of-the-fittest lifestyle in the Ghoul village hadn't allowed for much room to develop such ways to amuse oneself. Even though the Ghouls had stripped the corpses of dead adventurers of their belongings, there weren't any odd-minded adventurers who would bring toys and board games with them into a perilous Devil's Nest.

... There were several books, but they were either spell tomes or manuals that described the ecology of monsters and the correct methods of dismantling them, and he had already read them multiple times.

He still had some books that he had taken from bandits before arriving at the Devil's Nest forest, but those were all practical manuals that he had already skimmed multiple times as well.

『That makes me wonder, how do the people of this world amuse themselves?』(Vandalieu)

Feeling curious, he went to ask Kachia who had once been an adventurer and Nuaza who had a good memory of details before his death, and they answered him cheerfully.

「Ways to amuse yourself other than board games and reading? Hmm, drinking, watching plays at a theater, watching street performers and stuff? If you were rich, you'd attend concerts... Ah, you could also listen to minstrels perform. And shopping, of course.」(Kachia)

Kachia's answer included the pastimes of the Mirg shield-nations' commoners as well as an example of what the richer members of society might enjoy. But the outdoor theaters of Talosheim were breeding grounds for monsters, the street performers were currently busy picking up their own bones and the city had no musical performers or minstrels to begin with.

「Other than the things that Kachia-san has mentioned, perhaps things like singing songs and gambling on things, such as whether a tossed coin will land on heads or tails? And praying to the gods at the Churches.」(Nuaza)

Vandalieu didn't think that the last item that Nuaza mentioned was a pastime.

Incidentally, Vandalieu intended to wait until he became an adult before drinking or gambling. He considered himself to have the kind of personality that made him easily fired-up and not suited to gambling, and even if he were to drink alcohol now, his[Status Effect Resistance]skill would turn it into a training exercise rather than a leisure activity.

「Err, then...」(Vandalieu)

「Then you should play with us for today.」(Kachia)

「Eh?」(Vandalieu)

「It's fine, just come.」(Kachia)

After that, Vandalieu passed the time by having Kachia and the other former adventurers teach him about the Adventurers' Guild, and teaching them how to play rock-paper-scissors in return.

And then he checked up on Bilde and the other pregnant women as well as the Live-Dead, did his alchemy training and the day ended.

The rock-paper-scissors that Vandalieu had taught Kachia and the others quickly spread throughout Talosheim, and one day, it would spread across the entire Bahn Gaia continent.

The next day, Vandalieu visited the Black Goblins, Anubises and Orcuses in search of amusement.

Last night, before he went to sleep, he had thought,「That's right, I should play with the other kids now that I have free time.」

Since they developed quickly, their bodies were already larger than Vandalieu's, but they were the only minors in the community.

Vandalieu was sure that they would be playing tag and hide-and-seek, and they would gladly let him join in.

On Earth, his behavior had been unusual because of his uncle, so he'd had no friends. This would undoubtedly be a great opportunity to forget that lonely childhood.

... Though his heart would be broken if he were to be rejected.

Talking to Kachia and the others had been fun, but children playing together would be something different.

『Listen up, this is how you use a short sword!』(Borkus)

「Take good aim at your target! Good, now fire!」(Basdia)

「This is the club technique martial skill,[Skull Bash.]If it hits, even a head made of stone will have its contents crushed, but it creates a big opening on yourself so be careful when you use it!」(Vigaro)

So he had thought, but everyone was busy training.

They would one day have to go hunting in the Devil's Nest for themselves and for the others in the village, so they had to receive training from a young age and become strong.

It seemed harsh, but considering the lifestyles and cultures of other monsters, they were very blessed.

Monsters such as Goblins and Kobolds gave their children almost no education. They only taught the most basic of rules to maintain their groups, such as the rule of not disobeying their bosses.

They were expected to gain techniques and knowledge by observation or learn it themselves, and they had to either make or steal their own equipment and tools.

Goblins and Kobolds reproduced quickly, producing large numbers of children in a short amount of time. Even if two-thirds of their children died, it was sufficient if the surviving one-third made it to adulthood.

If the individuals with the ability to gather food on their own and the knowledge to build equipment or the luck to find it could survive, that was enough.

They didn't bother spending the effort needed to educate the inferior members of their race.

As for Orcs, many individuals only barely possessed the intelligence needed to use tools.

The concept of providing all of the Orcs with equipment as Bugogan had done was only possible because he was a Noble Orc, a member of a superior race.

Practice equipment had been given to the children and they could learn fundamental martial skills to build up their strength from the Ghouls and the Undead Titans.

And once they became adults, they would be provided with high-quality equipment created by Tarea and the other smiths using monster materials. They were in an extraordinary environment compared to normal monsters.

「Three threes are nine. Three fours are twelve.」

「Four fives, twenty. Four sixes, twenty-four.」

TLN: They're doing some cute mispronunciations of some of the numbers (e.g. Using し/shi instead of よん/yon for the number 4 where the latter would be more appropriate, saying く/ku instead of きゅう/kyuu for the number 9, etc.)

The Orcuses were learning the multiplication table. Though some might consider this unexpected, races like Ghouls who lived as monsters were all capable of basic arithmetic. At the very least, their abilities to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division were flawless.

The reason for this was because they were necessary when calculating Vitality and Mana values. How much more damage could be taken before running out of Vitality, how many more times spells and martial skills could be used before running out of Mana. It was impossible to survive without making calculations like these.

And so it was only natural to be teaching these to the Orcuses as well.

Incidentally, the multiplication table was something that Vandalieu had spread amongst the Ghouls. He had thought that even if the Ghouls didn't know about it, the multiplication table would at least be known in human society, so he had been surprised when Kachia and the others told him that humans, at least those on this continent, didn't use it.

It seemed that Zakkart and the other heroes hadn't managed to spread all of their knowledge that they had brought with them from other worlds. Well, there had been a fierce war against the Demon King going on back then, so they probably had no time to spend teaching children.

Even the hero Bellwood who had been dead-set against the knowledge and culture of Earth being spread and established in Lambda wouldn't have gone around executing people for knowing about paper-scissors-rock and the multiplication table.

「Hmm? Are you free now, boy?」(Zadiris)

Zadiris had been teaching the children how to write using clay tablets instead of notebooks but it seemed that her lesson had just finished and she was now approaching Vandalieu.

「I will tell you in advance that I do not need any help. Making these Clay Golems for us is more than enough.」(Zadiris)

The Clay Golems that Zadiris was pointing at were the clay tablets that she and her students were using.

In Lambda, paper was considered a luxurious item; parchment made using sheepskin wasn't easily obtainable for the Ghouls living a primitive lifestyle in the Devil's Nest or the Undead Titans of Talosheim, nor could it be made.

Vandalieu had tried making paper from the fibers of suitable plants, but... he found that it was impossible to make paper using[Golem Transmutation.]He was planning to try again after his skill increased in level, however.

And so he had turned clay obtained from digging holes in the ground into Clay Golems to use instead of notebooks. Wooden sticks were used instead of pens to etch characters into the clay, and once they were full, Vandalieu would give an order to the Golems and they would become clean, flat tablets once more.

Vandalieu had wondered if he would be able to make porcelain items using this technique in the future, but... it would be another matter if he was simply making porcelain for his own use, but if he was planning to make high-quality items to sell, he would have to worry about the quality of the clay and he would need to construct a furnace to bake the pottery, so he hadn't put any work into trying that.

Apparently porcelain had once been made here in Talosheim, but the city's only porcelain craftsmen had been the boss who was destroyed by monsters after turning into an Undead and his inexperienced son who escaped with the First Princess to the Orbaume Kingdom.

「No, I wasn't thinking about helping. I was thinking of playing with my fellow children.」(Vandalieu)

「Fellow children, hmm?」(Zadiris)

「Yes, my fellow children.」(Vandalieu)

「Well then, you will have to wait a little longer. Ah yes, why not play a board game with me?」(Zadiris)

「A board game?」(Vandalieu)

「Yes, it was gathering dust in a corner of a play room in the royal castle.」(Zadiris)

In Lambda, board games were considered a pastime of upper-class and intelligent people. Many board games had many pieces and the rules were difficult to understand; they weren't something that commoners could enjoy.

「Well, the board was apparently too heavy to move. There are fifty different kinds of pieces, and the players choose eleven of them to begin with.」(Zadiris)

The board games of Talosheim were no exception.

「Have you already learned the rules?」(Vandalieu)

「No, I have not been free enough to do so.」(Zadiris)

It seemed that she intended to learn the rules while playing. Wasn't there a rulebook to be found with the board and pieces?

「Well then, shall we play a simpler board game?」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu turned one of the countless pieces of rubble that could be found anywhere in the Devil's Nest ruins of Talosheim into a Golem and began transmuting it.

「Hohoh~」(Zadiris)

It seemed that using magic for recreational purposes counted as「resting」by Zadiris's definition, and she watched what Vandalieu as making with great interest.

First, he made a game board with small squares carved on it and thin, circular pieces from white stone. He made the same number of similar pieces from a black stone, attached them to the white ones and he was finished.

「This is a game called Reversi*.」(Vandalieu)

TLN*: It's a board game also known as Othello, you can Google it.

Indeed, it was the game of Reversi, made using a stone board and pieces.

「But it seems that there is only one kind of piece?」(Zadiris)

「Yes, that's why you can quickly learn how to play.」

There was only one kind of piece used in Reversi, and the rules were far simpler than those of shogi and chess. It was also far easier to create the necessary pieces using[Golem Transmutation.]

Most importantly, Vandalieu was skilled at Reversi. When his uncle's family went on family vacations and left him at home alone, he would secretly play with the Reversi set that belonged to his cousin. He had also played it over the internet.

He only knew how the various pieces moved in shogi and chess, and as for playing it... He had played it when taking IQ tests in the research laboratory in Origin. Of course, he had not found it fun at all.

「This is a game where you flip the pieces that are between your own pieces, changing their color. The winner is whoever has more pieces of their own color.」(Vandalieu)

「I see, this is quite...」(Zadiris)

The stone pieces rattled as Vandalieu enjoyed his first game of Reversi in over twenty years with Zadiris. The stone pieces were heavier than the ones sold on Earth, but both of them were strong, so it didn't bother them.

Of course, Vandalieu won the first match, but...

「It seems that whoever takes the corners first has the advantage.」(Zadiris)

Zadiris noticed after one match what Vandalieu had taken years to learn.

After that, the matches were even from the second match onwards.

「Even though I was undefeated when I played by myself...」(Vandalieu)

「...」(Zadiris)

「Umm, please don't look at me like you're looking at some pitiful child, and if you feel sorry for me, don't take the corners.」(Vandalieu)

「This and that are separate matters. Competitions are cruel things, boy.」(Zadiris)

And as the two of them became engrossed in their matches -

「King, I want to play too!」(Black Goblin)

『Playing something interesting over here, aren't you? Let me in on this!』(Borkus)

「Oh my, a board game. How elegant! Might I ask you to teach me how to play, Van-sama?」(Tarea)

Before they knew it, the Black Goblins who had finished their training had gathered around them, and even the Ghouls and Undead Titans who were teaching them were watching curiously; Borkus and Tarea had gathered around as well.

And so Vandalieu ended up creating almost twenty Reversi sets today.

「So today was a fun day as well... Did I manage to rest today?」(Vandalieu)

『If you had fun, then it's fine.』(Darcia)

Vandalieu had the strange feeling that he ended up doing some work anyway after mass-producing Reversi sets, but Darcia gave a smile as if she didn't mind.

In fact, even though Vandalieu had spent a hundred thousand Mana, it wasn't even one percent of his total Mana pool. It was an amount that would quickly recover even if he didn't rest.

『And Reversi is quite fun, isn't it? Ah, put my piece there.』(Darcia)

「Oka~ay. Well then, I'll play my piece here.」(Vandalieu)

The stone pieces made a pleasant, rattling sound.

『There were no simple, interesting board games like this one in the Mirg shield-nation. Ah, Saria, are you going to take the corner that I was aiming for again?』(Sam)

『Father, competitions are a cruel thing, you know?』(Saria)

『Nee-chan and Father don't have any bone or flesh, but they're waging a war of bone and flesh?!』(Rita)

TLN*: This is a joke that plays on the Japanese phrase "war of bone and flesh" which means "family quarrel".

「Hahaha, Borkus-dono. It seems that it is my victory once again.」(Nuaza)

『UOOOOH! Why, why can't I win?!』(Borkus)

『That's... because Master Borkus doesn't take the corners, I suppose?』(Titan)

「He said something like, "How can a man do such small-minded things?" and refuses to put his pieces at the ends.」(Titan)

『Shut up! Nobody asked you!』(Borkus)

「You cannot win if you get too agitated, Borkus-dono.」(Nuaza)

Even while Vandalieu and Darcia were sleeping, the rattling of stone pieces against the stone boards and the voices of the Undead Titans enjoying the game of Reversi could be heard throughout the city of Talosheim.

If one were to hear rattling sounds in Talosheim, it was possible that they would not be the sounds of the Skeletons' bones moving against each other, but the sounds of Undead playing Reversi nearby.

Name: Borkus Rank: 9 Race: Zombie Hero Level: 5 Title: Sword King Passive skills: Dark Vision Superhuman Strength: Level 7 Physical Resistance: Level 5 Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with a sword: (Large) Strengthened Defensive Power while equipped with non-metal armor: (Medium) Intuition: Level 3 Mental Corruption: Level 5 Active skills: Sword King Technique: Level 1 Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 7 Archery: Level 7 Armor Technique: Level 7 Surpass Limits: Level 5 Dismantling: Level 5 Commanding: Level 2 Coordination: Level 4 Teaching: Level 1 Status Effects: One-Armed (Status Effect removed)

An A-class adventurer, the[Sword King]Borkus who has become an Undead. As the original person's soul is inhabiting the original person's body, his Rank and the levels of his skills are high, but as he has not fought any battles after becoming an Undead and has simply been guarding the audience chamber, his level is low and he is weaker than he was when he was alive.

The Undead of this world do not necessarily become stronger than they were when they were alive. In fact, it is more common for them to become weaker.

In addition to this, Borkus was in a pitiful state after having lost his dominant arm, his sword no longer being of use after having half of its blade broken and even his armor having being torn to pieces. He was in a condition where he could not use his[Sword King Technique]skill and his passive skills[Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with a sword: (Large)]and[Strengthened Defensive Power while equipped with non-metal armor: (Medium)]were not active.

Because of this, despite being Rank 9, he was only as strong as a Rank 7, in a state where he might have even lost a battle to the Noble Orc Bugogan. Since Borkus is proficient in a fighting style where he slays his enemy with a single attack, Vandalieu would have found Borkus to be the more difficult enemy, however.

But Vandalieu has now restored his dominant arm and given him Bugogan's magic sword, so his fighting strength has returned to a level that corresponds to his Rank.

As he possesses tremendously powerful skills, he is likely to be able to display fighting strength beyond his Rank once he becomes accustomed to being an Undead.

It is said that Zombie Heroes are monsters born when a person with a Title shows no sign of betraying the honor of that Title right up until the moment of their death. Their Ranks can vary; at present the lowest-Rank examples that have been confirmed are Rank 4, while the highest is Rank 10.

Individuals who have become other types of Undead generally cannot become Zombie Heroes by increasing their Rank.

The Church of Alda, the God of Law and Fate, teaches that defeating these Zombie Heroes is the greatest way of honoring the hero they once were. When a Zombie Hero is sighted, many adventurers aim to defeat it in order to gain honor and fame.

Zombie Heroes often carry the valuable equipment and personal belongings that former bearers of honorable Titles would have, and their bones and other parts are often considered high-quality Alchemy ingredients due the Mana they contain. Thus, adventurers would gain not only fame, but wealth as well from defeating these Undead.

Skill explanation:

[Sword King Technique]

This is a superior version of the Swordsmanship skill. When the Swordsmanship skill reaches level 10 and continues to gain experience, there is a chance that it transforms into a superior version.

It has been confirmed that the superior versions of the Swordsmanship skill include the Holy Sword Technique, the Sword Emperor Technique, Sword God Technique and Magic Blade Technique.

As few possess these superior skills, it has not been accurately confirmed just how much they vary in their special characteristics and power and which skills are superior to the others.

It is said in the Amid Empire that the[Holy Sword God Technique]possessed by the legendary hero Bellwood is the greatest skill of them all, but that is for political and religious reasons - It is not even certain that Bellwood's skill was named the[Holy Sword God Technique.]

Superior versions of other skills such as Spear Technique, Axe Technique and Unarmed Fighting Technique also exist; individuals who possess such skills are A-class at minimum.

TLN: The title of this chapter is related to chapter 29's title (The Black Ghoul King and the One-Armed Sword King). Here's ER's explanation regarding this title, in case you missed it the first time:

Black, in this case, refers to a 'black company,' (ブラック企業) or a sweatshop in English.

Since Vandalieu is a workaholic and doesn't properly rest for beans, he is 'black.'

Japanese is fun with its occasional adopted English word not meaning what they do in English.