Chapter 330: Nobles with colorful ambitions

Now that Zona had acquired 'Vandalieu's Divine Protection,' Vandalieu was certain that information about him wouldn't leak to Alda's forces or Rodcorte through her. Thus, he revealed various things to her, including an explanation about the divine protection itself. But with that said, he kept the explanation simple, as the sun would set before he could finish explaining everything.

Pauvina joined up with them partway through, and Vandalieu explained the situation to Pauvina while continuing to explain things to Zona.

"And that's how it is," concluded Vandalieu's physical body and spirit-form body simultaneously.

Hearing these explanations from the same person through two different mouths, Pauvina and Zona reacted very differently.

"Alright. Now then, I'm going to go and meh Alex-senpai," said Pauvina.

She curled her hand into a fist that was capable of breaking a lump of steel. Alex was more likely to survive being hit by a stone club than being mehed by this fist.

Meanwhile, Zona was swaying unsteadily on the spot, holding onto Vandalieu for support.

"... Vandalieu-kun, what's the real reason you're here? Are you planning to stage a coup d'état?" she asked.

I sure am having a lot of physical contact with her today, Vandalieu thought.

"No," he said in response to both of them. "Pauvina, Alex-senpai's will has been broken by today's events, so spare him the mehing. You might end up shattering his mind completely, not just his body."

If Pauvina were to meh Alex now, it was possible that his mind would end up even more shattered than his body, to the point that he would never recover. From Vandalieu's perspective, there would be no problem if Alex were to go back to the countryside and live a peaceful life working the fields. It would render the contract between them meaningless, but he certainly wouldn't lose anything. After all, Alex and his companions were nothing but strangers to him. Even if Pauvina ended up giving Alex a little push in that direction, one could only say that he had brought that upon himself by trying to look at Vandalieu's Status.

But Elizabeth and the rest of the party were aiming to graduate at the top of their year, and Alex, their rival, served as the perfect grindstone with which to sharpen them. In other words, he was still of use to Vandalieu, so he wanted to continue to make use of him for now

"Zona-senpai, I don't have any dangerous goals like that," Vandalieu reassured Zona. "I'm just trying to propagate the word of Vida and using the Tamers' Guild to change the accepted view on people's relationships with familiars. But while I'm at it, I do intend to gather fragments of the Demon King and destroy criminal organizations, among other things."

He hadn't found a single fragment of the Demon King yet, and he had only crushed a few criminal organizations so far.

Pauvina made a disgruntled noise. "Fine. Once Alex-senpai recovers, I'm going to go and meh him."

But Zona seemed to disagree with Vandalieu. "I think those goals of yours are plenty dangerous," she said.

"Vandalieu, I agree with her, you know," said Yuuma, also disagreeing with Vandalieu.

But upon reconsideration, Vandalieu realized it was possible that they were right.

One of his objectives was to propagate the word of Vida, but even in the capital city of the Orbaume Kingdom, it wasn't like there were thousands upon thousands of people who didn't already have a specific god they worshiped. In other words, the propagation of the word of Vida would mean converting worshipers of Alda into worshipers of Vida, which in turn would mean stealing worshipers from the Church of Alda, an organization with a vested interest in keeping them.

Nobody could blame Zona for considering his other goals to be dangerous, too.

"Allow me to correct myself. I do have dangerous goals, but I don't intend to threaten the existence of the Orbaume Kingdom itself. There's absolutely no reason or necessity for me to stage a coup d'état or invade the nation," said Vandalieu.

"You did well to be honest. Good job, Vandalieu," said Yuuma.

"... Even if you're honest about it, I'm not really sure how I feel about it, but whatever," said Zona.

"He's not tense or burning with ambition or anything, after all," said Pauvina. "But it's true that we don't intend to invade the Orbaume Kingdom."

Vandalieu already ruled the Demon Empire, which had far more territory than the Orbaume Kingdom. If one included detached territories like the Demon Continent and Gartland as well, rather than just the area within the Boundary Mountain Range, it was the vastest empire that the world of Lambda had ever seen. Thus, there was no reason for Vandalieu to invade the Orbaume Kingdom.

The Demon Empire had plenty of resources and food, and Vandalieu had no ambitions to expand its territory. He could always create more Dungeons, and even if that wasn't the case, there was plenty of land that wasn't even being used... Of course, the Devil's Nests of the Demon Continent and the Demon King's Continent would be difficult to turn into farmlands or residential towns, but due to the above reasons, there wasn't a high demand for that.

Thus, Vandalieu was satisfied with propagating the word of Vida, securing rights for the races she had created, changing the way people considered Undead, and creating a situation where he could eventually make the Demon Empire of Vidal's existence public without any difficulties... though there would certainly be a lot of obstacles in his path to that goal, and these goals were completely outrageous to those with vested interests.

"Hmm, well, if you're going as far as to say that, then I'll accept it," Zona said. "Now that I think about it, it would be strange for you to enroll at an Adventurers' School if you were planning to stage a coup d'état."

Zona couldn't really understand all of this, as she had never actually seen the Demon Empire of Vidal, but she could believe that Vandalieu and his companions didn't have those kinds of goals.

"Now then, Van, you should let Luves out soon," said Pauvina.

"Alright. Gufadgarn, give me a little help, please," said Vandalieu.

"Huh? Is there someone else here? Is it the space-attribute mage that Dandolip-sensei was talking about?!" asked Zona, getting flustered.

Right before her very eyes, a black hole appeared in empty space, and a Wyvern appeared from within it.

"Huh, it's a normal Wyv... It's huge!" Zona exclaimed.

The creature that had appeared looked like an ordinary Wyvern at first glance. The color of its scales were normal, and it had no fins on its back or horns on its head. It didn't possess an abnormal number of heads or wings. But there were ornaments on its head and its hind legs.

However, its size was more than twice that of an ordinary Wyvern... and this fact alone was enough to make it very clear that it was not an ordinary Wyvern.

"Wow, amazing! Other than his size, he really does look like an ordinary Wyvern!" said Pauvina.

"Wow, he really does. He looks just like the Wyverns we often hunt back at home!" said Yuuma.

"The Magic Item I created that uses illusions to make him look like an ordinary Wyvern is functioning as intended," said Vandalieu.

Of course, this enormous Wyvern was the Raging Evil Dragon God, Luvesfol. Unlike Pete and Pain, he was unable to acquire the 'Shrink' Skill. Vandalieu's last-resort plan to register him at the Tamers' Guild was to insist that he was just a mutant Wyvern that was a little larger than an ordinary Wyvern.

"Such humiliation... To think that I would need to pretend to be a Wyvern!" Luvesfol groaned.

This disguise was extremely humiliating for him.

"It talked?!" Zona shouted in surprise.

Luvesfol gave a startled shout of his own. "Who are you?! Pauvina-sama, is this a new friend of yours?"

"No," said Pauvina, shaking her head.

"I see. Listen well, little Dwarf girl," said Luvesfol, turning back to Zona and spreading his wings with his chest thrown out. "I am known as the Raging -"

"She's Zona-senpai, a new friend of Van's, and someone who might become one of his lovers," said Pauvina.

"My name is Luvesfol, and I am Pauvina-sama's servant. I hope that we are able to get on well with one another," said Luvesfol, transitioning from his dignified, impressive, intimidating posture to pressing his forehead into the ground in a smooth, flowing movement that could even be described as artistic.

"W-what's up with this thing?!" said Zona, feeling like her legs were about to buckle.

"Zona, your body won't last if you're getting scared by something as small as this. Hang in there!" Yuuma said supportively.

"Huh? You're saying this is 'small?!'"

... But in reality, Eisen and Eleanora were far more powerful than Luvesfol in his sealed form. The reason Zona was more scared of Luvesfol was likely because Eisen and the others had never shown their true strength.

"I'll do my best to get used to things. But Vandalieu-kun's secrets are being revealed one after another... You're telling me there's still more to come?!" Zona exclaimed.

Another black hole appeared in the empty space in front of her. But what emerged from within was a small silhouette, less than a tenth of Luvesfol's size.

"It is nice to meet you 'for the first time.' I am Gufadgarn, a humble servant who worships the great Vandalieu. I am glad to make your acquaintance," said Gufadgarn, appearing before Zona and staring fixedly at her.

She had hair that looked like flowing, melted silver, pale skin without a single imperfection on it, pointed ears, and refined-looking eyes that looked like those of a doll, and cherry-blossom-colored lips. Her golden pupils were hollow and empty, but Zona had been seeing eyes like these very frequently lately, so she didn't regard that as a flaw.

Thus, Gufadgarn looked like a completely flawless, beautiful Elf girl to her.

"... Yes!" Zona murmured triumphantly to herself.

She had the upper hand in breast size, allowing her to avoid feeling a sense of defeat.

"The pleasure is mine," Zona said to Gufadgarn. "It's incredible that you're a master of space-attribute magic at that age, even if you're an Elf... Hmm? You're a space-attribute mage... That means that you were there the whole time during the practical training?"

"Yes. I have been given the honor of being constantly present at the great Vandalieu's back," said Gufadgarn.

"Th-then you saw me and Vandalieu-kun..."

"If you are talking about the events that occurred during your practical training, I witnessed everything. I take full responsibility for failing to prevent that boy's outrageous actions, and for failing to prevent the teacher named Dandolip from intervening -"

But Zona had only heard the first sentence of Gufadgarn's reply. Blood rushed to her head, and her cheeks suddenly felt as if they were burning.

"NOOOOO!" she screamed. "Please, forget what you saw!"

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Zona-san!" said Princess Levia, becoming visible as well. "It was very entertaining! My heart was throbbing just from watching -"

"NOOOOO! IT'S A BOOB GHOOOST!" Zona shrieked, swinging her arms around.

"Boob-?!" Princess Levia said, shocked by Zona's reaction and freezing in place.

"Zona-senpai, pweash cam dahn," said Vandalieu as Zona grabbed his cheeks and started swinging him around.

"This girl! She intends to physically take Vandalieu-sama's lips by force! How bold...!" said Daroak, who seemed to be shuddering.

"... Let's wait a while until Zona calms down," said Yuuma.

"Yeah. By the way, Yuuma-chan, what kind of Dragon bone is that hair ornament made of?" asked Pauvina.

"It's made from the fang of a new species of Dragon that was discovered on the Demon Continent. I had it made from materials that Master Zod gave me," said Yuuma.

"Wow, it's really nice. Maybe I should have Van take me there sometime," said Pauvina.

"By the way, have I been forgiven for my insolence?" asked Luvesfol.

Vandalieu and his companions waited for Zona to calm down, then returned to Orbaume, accompanied by Yuuma. The gate guards had learned who Vandalieu was by now, and it seemed that someone had ordered them to not get overly involved with him; no arguments or incidents occurred when they inspected him before he entered the city.

In fact, they were very eager to hurry him and his enormous Wyvern into the city.

The adventurers who frequently traveled in and out of Orbaume, as well as villagers and merchants who often traveled back and forth between the city and nearby villages and towns, were used to Vandalieu as well; they were only a little scared of him. But merchants from caravans that had never encountered Vandalieu and his companions before were scared senseless, and mercenary bands pointed their swords and spears at him.

The city guards could clearly see that if they took too long to inspect Vandalieu's group, trouble would occur. They had to foist the task of dealing with him on the Tamers' Guild as quickly as possible.

The Tamers' Guild was obviously unhappy with this, but this was their job, and they couldn't simply refuse to do it.

However, Luvesfol was more than twice the size of an ordinary Wyvern; he couldn't fit inside. Thus, Orlock, the Guild Master of the Tamers' Guild, was forced to come outside to inspect him.

"... It's a mutant Wyvern, and the only difference is that it's larger than usual. Or so you claim, but perhaps it actually understands our language?" said Orlock, sharp as ever.

"I mean, he listens to what I tell him to do, so I think he does," said Pauvina, flustered but managing to recite the explanation that had been decided on beforehand.

But Orlock couldn't be fooled. "I suppose you are thinking of 'understanding' in the same way that a well-trained dog 'understands' its master's commands, Pauvina-kun. But what I am referring to is a true understanding of the meaning of words. What do you say, Wyvern-kun?"

Despite this sudden question, Luvesfol ignored Orlock and maintained his silence. But his eyes were burning with anger, speaking louder than words.

This lowly human is calling me a Wyveeeern?! he thought furiously.

"However... I suppose there is not much point in making this more difficult than necessary. The only thing that the Tamers' Guild is concerned about is whether a tamer is able to control their familiar - in other words, whether they have truly tamed it or not. Whether it is a mutant or not, and whether it understands our language or not, whether its Rank is actually higher than what you have reported - none of these have any bearing on the inspection itself... though this is just what I am telling myself so that I can accept this situation," Orlock said. "Very well. I shall acknowledge it as your familiar. However, I am sure that the Dragon Knights and Bachem will have questions for you, so be prepared for that."

Wyverns were the inferior descendants of Elder Dragons, and the most common among the species of Dragon that were tamed by humans. They were in high demand, as Dragon Knights rode them in battle, and Dragon cages - cages that Wyverns carried as they flew - were used as a form of transport.

Tamers that could tame a Wyvern like this would be in very high demand indeed, and Pauvina would receive many inquiries from people seeking to use her abilities and have her teach them.

Vandalieu and his companions were already aware of this, so they had come up with a plan to deal with it in advance.

"Yeah. But Van is the one who tamed Luves initially. I can't even tame an ordinary Wyvern," said Pauvina.

"That's how it is, so I would appreciate it if you redirect any inquiries to me, rather than Pauvina," said Vandalieu.

"Alright, alright," said Orlock, turning to Vandalieu. "So, your request must be for me to put collars on those two ladies over there, I assume?" he said, looking at Yuuma and Zona.

His eyes were those of a man who had long since resigned himself to his fate.

"No, no! I'm just tagging along! I'm a Dwarf, a perfectly normal Dwarf!" Zona said hastily to stop Orlock from preparing two collars.

She didn't mind becoming a romantic partner or illicit lover of Vandalieu's, but it seemed that she wanted to avoid having a collar put on her in full view of the public.

"A normal Dwarf... Indeed, you do look that way to me," said Orlock.

"Right?! I mean, there's no way I'd look like anything else!" said Zona indignantly.

"So what are you really?" Orlock asked suspiciously.

"I'm telling you, I'm just a normal Dwarf!" Zona exclaimed.

"Is that so?" Orlock murmured.

"Zona-senpai, you can become much more than a normal Dwarf," said Vandalieu.

"Yeah, be more confident in yourself," Yuuma agreed. "Looking at your muscles, I can tell that you've been working hard this whole time!"

"Thanks! But that's not the problem here!" said Zona, raising her voice, desperate to avoid being registered as a Vampire that was previously a Dwarf or something.

Thinking about it rationally, there was no way that she could be walking around in the middle of the day if she were a Vampire, but... she remembered that Eleanora and Bellmond were perfectly fine in the sunlight, so she decided not to mention that.

Orlock gave a loud laugh. "I'm sorry for taking my frustrations out on you, young lady. As you might have guessed, the young master here has been doing as he pleases at this Guildd for quite a while now, so I wanted to get back at him a little... though he seems to be completely unaffected," he said, looking at Vandalieu.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you," said Vandalieu, expressionless as always as he bowed his head.

"Well, don't worry about it too much," said Orlock. "You've tamed bug-type monsters and Undead. It's the job of the Guild to be used by and to protect its members... But people have been making a lot of noise lately, you see."

A Guild employee came over, holding a stack of documents, and Orlock handed them to Vandalieu.

"These are all the people who have made inquiries about your familiars," he said. "At first, they were quite reasonable - requests from the Mages' Guild asking to see them for research purposes, or asking for samples of their hair, saliva, and blood if possible... but I'm very troubled by the nobles demanding that we simply 'hand over' your familiars to them."

"They want me to hand over my familiars... I suppose they mean Eisen, Zadiris, Eleanora, and the others, rather than Pete," said Vandalieu.

"Yes. Because they understand our human language, they seem to be under the impression that even someone who isn't a tamer can make them obey their will... that they can do as they please with them," Orlock said.

Orlock thought that this was a foolish, shallow way of thinking. These nobles were completely ignoring that there must be a reason that these familiars, who understood human language - in other words, possessed human intelligence - were choosing to obey a tamer as familiars.

"They are too afraid of the authority of Duke Alcrem, and too afraid of your mother, who is regarded as a hero, to make this request to you directly. If they go through the Adventurers' Guild, Principal Meorilith would hear about it. That is likely why they are making these demands through the Tamers' Guild," Orlock sighed. "Of course, I'm turning them all away."

"I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble," said Vandalieu.

He looked through the documents and saw family names that he'd never heard of. He possessed the 'Perfect Record Technique' Skill, which took everything he'd ever seen or heard and recorded it inside his brain, so the fact that he hadn't heard of them meant that they must be very obscure noble families.

But no matter how obscure they were, having a number of nobles equal to the number of documents in his hand go missing with nothing but the skin of their faces left behind would raise suspicions, so Vandalieu decided to just send them a warning.

It was possible that the nobles would retaliate to a warning by targeting Vandalieu's companions. But Zona and the others were also nobles, just like those whose names were written on these documents. Their families were of more or less the same social standing.

If they went after Simon and the others, the assassins they sent would likely meet their own ends.

As for the reasonable-seeming inquiries made for research purposes, he simply needed to respond to them based on the contents of the research. This would probably be useful for propagating accurate information regarding Vampires, Ghouls, and Vida's other races.

"So, as for your inspection, the reason we're here today... you pass," said Orlock, handing a collar to Vandalieu.

And with that, Yuuma was registered as Vandalieu's newest familiar.

The nobles' demands for Vandalieu's familiars to be handed over heated up even more after this, but this was quickly suppressed once they received letters bearing the name of the house of Honorary Countess Zakkart.

Letters were also sent to the families of Zona, Macht, and the others, as well as the house of Earl Reamsand - though their contents differed. As a result, the nobles began regarding Zona, Macht, and the others as allies of Vandalieu... as members of Duke Alcrem's faction. The pressure on them to gather information about Vandalieu stopped.

However, there was one certain individual who collapsed onto his knees on the spot after receiving a letter from Vandalieu.

"Curses!" Earl Dratze Reamsand spat, crushing the letter in his hand and throwing it at a wall. "Such impudence from a mere honorary noble! Filthy Undead user! What is he thinking! And Duke Alcrem is a pathetic excuse of a duke! I don't care if they're heroes who slew an evil god, it's absolutely pitiful that he's being made use of by them! Has the Dark Elf's allure made him blind and stupid?!"

Earl Reamsand's rambling was full of flaws; Elizabeth and Mahelia were in their building that was separate from the mansion, preparing dinner for themselves, but if they could hear him, they would have pointed these out.

Unaware of this, Earl Reamsand threw himself into a chair and gulped down an entire glass of wine in one go. But even this didn't suppress his anger; in fact, the alcohol only made him angrier.

"Damn it! Everything is that creepy Dhampir's fault! I drove Elizabeth into a corner, but thanks to him, she's improving her skills at a remarkable pace! I am told that she has already reached the point where none of the knights of my house would be able to defeat her in one-on-one combat! At this rate, she'll actually succeed in meeting the condition I gave her for my continued support - graduating the school at the top of her year!" he screamed furiously, slamming a fist into his expensive luxury work desk.

A moment later, he groaned. The pain in his hand finally returned him to his senses.

Seeing a servant pick up the letter he had thrown through the corner of his eye, he rubbed his throbbing fist, breathing heavily.

"Calm down... Elizabeth raising her grades is not a bad thing for me... for the Reamsand house," he muttered to himself. "The letter didn't instruct me to hand it to Elizabeth, either."

Vandalieu had heard what Zona knew of Elizabeth and Mahelia's circumstances. But Elizabeth hadn't told Zona and the others that she lived in a detached building (or rather, the small outhouse that was referred to as such) on the grounds of Earl Reamsand's mansion, nor had she told them that Amelia lived in an institution due to her mental illness.

And Zona could have never imagined that Earl Reamsand intended to make Elizabeth his concubine. Thus, Vandalieu was also unaware of this, and his letter didn't mention anything about it.

"As long as I hold Amelia in my hands, Elizabeth cannot disobey me. At this rate, I may be unable to make her my concubine, but... well, I can demand that she yield her body to me," Earl Reamsand murmured, and then he gave an unpleasant laugh. "In fact, this is even more convenient, isn't it!"

If Elizabeth made a name for herself as an adventurer, the house of Earl Reamsand, her legal guardian, would also become more well-known. And because her mother was in the palm of his hand, she would have to obey any demand that he made.

Or perhaps it would be better to take Amelia herself as one of his concubines?

"I would be taking in a mentally-ill widow as a concubine and taking care of her for the rest of her life. It would make for quite the moving tale, wouldn't it? And it would mean that even after Elizabeth makes a name for herself, I can continue to have her mother in my grasp. And not only that... Amelia looks quite young for her age, after all."

Marriages with widows were a common occurrence in Lambda. It wasn't unusual for the brother or friend of a deceased man to marry his widowed wife or take her in as a concubine.

People were often moved by such tales, but... nobody would be moved at the sight of Earl Reamsand, who was chuckling greedily to himself.

"Now that I've made that decision, I must have the dosage of Amelia's medicine increased. Or perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to break her too much if I'm going to take her in? No, more importantly, I need to tell them to prevent Vandalieu from approaching or making contact with her," Earl Reamsand decided, picking up the wine glass that had been refilled by a servant and savoring its contents more slowly this time.