The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time

way that is possible,” Kurt said.
“If that was true, then we would have bigger things to worry about than the resistance.
We would need to send a message to the army headquarters right now, send out requests to summon A-class adventurers –”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar noise came from the wooden door behind Kurt.
He immediately turned around, and then opened his eyes wide in surprise.

A small silhouette so black that it looked as if it were enveloped in the darkness of the night itself had entered the room by breaking through the office door that was made of rotting wood.

“In this world, windows are usually wooden doors, so the ‘outside the window!’ joke can’t be used, can it?” said the small silhouette that was covered completely in black with a flat tone that was very out-of-place.

“Your Majesty, I cannot understand that joke.”

Another figure completely covered in black, about the size of an adult man, entered the room after the smaller one.

“Th-thieves!” Kurt shouted.
“Mardock-dono, the soldiers at the front –?!”

“I shall have you be quiet now.” Mardock produced a dagger from his pocket and placed its blade at Kurt’s neck.
“The men at the front have already been replaced by my subordinates.”

“Mardock, what are you playing at, you bastard?!” Kurt demanded.

He had been personally distrustful of Mardock, but Mardock was supposed to be exceptional as a soldier.
Kurt was more bewildered than angry at Mardock’s betrayal.

In this situation, what purpose was there in betraying Kurt, who was nothing more than the commander of a small fort?

“Actually –” Mardock began.

“I’m not Captain Mardock, you knooow,” said another voice, finishing the sentence.

A familiar-looking man emerged from Mardock’s back like a larva emerging from its chrysalis.

“You’re from the extermination force…!” said Kurt.

Kurt didn’t remember the man’s name, but he had been a scout of Mardock’s unit.
Kurt had seen him a few times, but he had always maintained a stiff expressionlessness, perhaps because he was earnest or perhaps because he was simply a gloomy individual.

“I am Kimberley, formerly of the extermination force, Commandant Kurt Legston~.” The man had become quite transparent, but he was now giving a twisted smile, a grin that exposed his teeth.

As Kimberley emerged, Mardock collapsed onto the ground like a piece of rotten wood, but Kurt found himself unable to move.

Kimberley was far too close for Kurt to try anything.

Kurt was the third son of the Legston family of earls that had served as marshal for generations, but he himself didn’t possess the fighting strength of a hero.
He wasn’t particularly strong compared to the average knight.

I might have been able to do something if I had some more space and my weapon and shield were nearby, but… Well, I was completely defeated the moment the captain got close to me, Legston thought.

But even as he gave up hope, his mouth asked another question on its own.
“… To think that Mardock was possessed by a Ghost.
What about the other members of the extermination force?”

“No, Mardock is the only one who has been taken over by a Ghost’s Possession skill.
I’m just manipulating the others,” said the small, black figure.

“That makes no difference to me,” said Kurt.

It seemed that over a dozen enemies had entered the fort.
The morale of the soldiers holed up in the fort had never been high to begin with, and it was unlikely that they had felt any sense of caution towards Mardock and his men who had made a triumphant return after taking the heads of two important members of the resistance.

Thinking about future improvements that would likely never be made, Kurt turned his gaze towards the small figure.
“So, what’s your goal? Surely you’re not going to tell me that you’re after my head,” he said in self-deprecation.

The small figure shook its head as it answered.
“No, our goal is you.
But with your head still attached, if possible.”

A pale smoke rose from the small figure, and the blackness that looked like the darkness of the night rapidly began to disappear.
What was left was a white Dhampir child.

Kurt himself had never seen this child before, but he remembered a top-secret order that he had been given ‘just in case.’

“You are Vandalieu?!”

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Vandalieu blinked in surprise at the fact that his own name had come from Kurt’s mouth.
“Why do you know my name?” he asked.

“… It is a name told to me by the top brass of my homeland,” said Kurt.
“After doing all of those things… slaughtering the entire expedition of six thousand men, sending over half of them back as Undead and then destroying the cultivated land using the Undead and deadly poison, did you think that we would not be cautious of you?”

And for Kurt, Vandalieu was the killer of his older brother and the reason that he had been demoted.

He had wondered what kind of monster Vandalieu would be, but Vandalieu’s appearance was truly that of a child.
He had a well-featured face that could pass for a girl’s, a doll-like expressionlessness and wax-like skin that didn’t look like it belonged to a living person at all.

But he was a monster to be feared.

Kurt had heard from Thomas Palpapek, the Mirg shield-nation’s marshal, that this monster haunted the southern region of the continent beyond the Boundary Mountain Range.
Top secret orders had been issued to the commanders of the forts, checkpoints and garrisons near the Boundary Mountain Range, to be followed in the event that Vandalieu was discovered.
Those orders were to report the Dhampir’s appearance to the homeland and then prioritize avoiding battle and keeping casualties to a minimum.

But Kurt hadn’t been seriously vigilant about this, as he hadn’t expected that the Dhampir would appear in the former Sauron Duchy to the north of the Boundary Mountain Range.

He would never have dreamed that Vandalieu would come to the former Sauron Duchy in order to obtain rice.

“I see.
Well, I suppose any place under the Empire’s rule would at least do something like this,” said Vandalieu, satisfied with this explanation.
“So, this is the business that I’ve even gone as far as to use my ‘ink’ to sneak in here for…
I want to recruit you.”

“Recruit me, you say?” Kurt repeated, doubting his own ears.
It seemed impossible in a variety of ways; he found it difficult to believe that he was even that valuable an individual.
But then he voiced the greatest of the questions that he had.
“Can’t you do that after killing me and turning me into an Undead without making all this effort?”

Considering the expedition army’s transformation into Undead and Kimberley’s transformation into a Ghost, there was no doubt that the boy in front of Kurt’s eyes could tame Undead.
So then, why was he going out of his way to recruit a living soldier of an enemy nation? Wasn’t this some kind of trap? Kurt couldn’t trust Vandalieu at all until these questions were answered.

But it wasn’t Vandalieu who answered Kurt’s question.

“It’s because I recommended it,” said the larger figure, who had remained silent after the first words it spoke when it first entered.

A thin smoke rose from the figure.
The Demon King’s ink that had been used as camouflage disappeared, revealing a deathly-pale face that Kurt knew very well.
Kurt’s jaw almost dropped onto the ground.

“Ani-ue, Chezare-ani-ue?!”

“I received your letter before the expedition army departed, but it’s been three, no, four years since we last talked directly? Or should I say that it’s the first time? It seems that you’ve aged considerably since we last met.” Chezare’s gaze wandered as if lost, and then he shrugged his shoulders as if finally giving up on something.
“Ah, it’s useless.
I can’t remember what kind of face I made when I talked to you.
Did I have a politer tone? Leaving that aside, have you gotten married yet?”

“… That is the face, Ani-ue.
After you became an adult, you did have a politer tone, however,” said Kurt.
“The marriage proposal I reported in my letter was canceled after the expedition army was defeated and I was demoted.”

“I see.
That’s convenient for us,” said Chezare.
“So, you were wondering why we made all this effort to recruit you, weren’t you?”

“I would like you to apologize, Ani-ue, even if only as a formality.”

From Kurt’s point of view, the words and behavior of the Undead before his eyes were exactly like those of his older brother, to the point that they were exchanging these words so naturally.

Kurt was a believer of Alda; it was only natural for him to believe that Undead were evil beings.
But he couldn’t deny that this was certainly his older brother.

“The reason is because there is a possibility that your personality and memories will be damaged when you become an Undead,” Chezare continued.
“It’s only natural, since it’s something that happens after you die.
I’ve changed quite a lot myself, haven’t I?”

“No, that is not… No, you have indeed changed quite a lot,” Kurt agreed.
He felt that there was something decisively different about his older brother compared to when he had been alive.

While he was alive, Chezare would have never infiltrated a fort of the enemy army for any reason.

“There are some who become more useful after becoming Undead; that’s true for me and Kimberley.
But that doesn’t mean it will be true for you.
That’s why His Majesty has come to recruit you.”

“If I refuse, will I be killed and turned into an Undead?” Kurt asked with a bitter smile.

“Yes,” Vandalieu replied.
“It’s already been decided that this fort will fall, so that’s what will happen.”

There wasn’t any use in lying, so he answered honestly.
The act of slaughtering six thousand people from Kurt’s own nation and returning them as Undead might have been a defensive battle followed by a counterattack from the perspective of Vandalieu and his allies, but from Kurt’s point of view, these actions were likely the act of a fiend.

“So, this is how you’ll be treated if you accept my recruitment.
My nation doesn’t have an aristocratic system yet, so I can’t guarantee you a court rank, however.” Vandalieu handed Kurt a document.

Kurt took it, but before even looking at it, he gave Vandalieu a bewildered look.
“Didn’t you think that I would be enraged and refuse you? You are my brother’s killer.”

“I did,” said Vandalieu.
“That’s why I prepared plenty of fighting forces before coming here.”

Princess Levia, Orbia and a large number of other Ghosts appeared around Vandalieu for a moment, and then disappeared again.
Realizing that the creepily-smiling Kimberley wasn’t the only Ghost around, Kurt’s expression stiffened.

“But Chezare has told me that you’re a calm, patient person,” Vandalieu continued.
“If you still hate me, then it can’t be helped.
It’s fate that we’re speaking face-to-face like this, so I would accept if you were to challenge me to a one-on-one duel.
Would you like that?”

With his expression still frozen, Kurt thought… The strength left his face and shoulders as he gave his answer.
“I shall decline.
I am thankful for your consideration.”

Even if they were to duel, Kurt did not feel like he could win against the child before his eyes.
Chezare and Kimberley had been looking at him to silently urge him to decline as well, but the marshal’s secret written orders had also read, “Avoid fighting him at all costs.”

And Kurt had never particularly hated the ‘Monstrosity’ that had turned the tables on the expedition army.

Though he had felt seething emotions upon first hearing the news, once he calmed down and thought about it, he had realized that the Mirg shield-nation had simply lost a war.

It had invaded enemy lands, been completely defeated and then suffered an invasion in return.
Excluding the Undead, these were events that had repeated themselves in history over and over again.

It wasn’t as if he felt no grudge at all, but after talking to the Undead older brother before his eyes, even that grudge had grown weaker.
It might have been different if his older brother had been rotting and letting out groans of suffering, but Chezare was almost exactly the same as he had been while alive other than the deathly-pale color of his skin.

Perhaps as an Alda believer, it was proper for him to be burning with anger, but before being a believer of Alda, he was a military man, a commander.

The king of the enemy nation had personally come to meet him and offered him a chance to change sides before killing him.
This was a prestigious thing, and in this situation, he had essentially already been defeated.

Considering these facts, Kurt had no time to be enraged.
Anger simply got in the way of his work.

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“But what will happen if I sell out my subordinates and betray my homeland?” Kurt asked.

“The details regarding that are written in the document,” said Vandalieu.

Kurt lowered his gaze to the document in his hands to find that the details were indeed written there.

If Kurt accepted Vandalieu’s recruitment, all of his subordinates’ lives would be spared.

And there were promises that would be fulfilled if the Mirg shield-nation went to war with Talosheim, the nation that Vandalieu ruled, such as actions being taken to persuade the Legston family to join Talosheim’s side.

If all of the promises written here were kept, they were extraordinarily good conditions for Kurt.

However, there were also some points that concerned him.

“Why have you gone out of your way to write, ‘I will definitely kill Thomas Palpapek, and this is not negotiable?’” Kurt asked.

“He has connections to the Vampires who worship an evil god, and he is one of the masterminds behind my mother’s death,” Vandalieu replied.

“… Would you care to tell me about this topic in more detail, ‘Your Majesty?’”

It didn’t take long for Kurt to renounce his faith in Alda and swear loyalty to Vandalieu and his nation while still alive.

 

 

 

Name: Eisen Rank: 7 Race: Huge Skogsrå Level: 1 Passive skills: Superhuman Strength: Level 7 Rapid Regeneration: Level 6 Status Effect Resistance: Level 6 Magic Resistance: Level 6 Physical Resistance: Level 6 Augmented Vitality: Level 8 Enhanced Physical Ability (Bark, Branches): Level 7 Fruit Production: Level 10 Sap Production: Level 10 Branch Production: Level 10 Allure: Level 5 Active skills: Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 3 Throwing: Level 3 Armor Technique: Level 1 Spirit Siphon: Level 1

 

 

 

Monster explanation:

【Skogsrå】

A plant-type monster of which none currently exist in Lambda other than Eisen.
She appeared as a result of her Rank increasing from being an Immortal Ent, and this race name was given to her because her appearance is similar to fairies that appear in legends that Vandalieu heard in Origin.
There are also similar legends on Earth.

Their base Rank is 6.

They are beautiful women with green skin, but the skin on their backs is replaced with bark, and several branches grow from there.
Also, they possess tails similar to those of cows for some unknown reason.

There are no other Skogsrå in Volume 5, so it is difficult to inspect them as a race, but because Eisen was formerly an Immortal Ent, she possesses powerful regenerative abilities and a great resistance to status effects.
When she was an Immortal Ent, she swung her branches and roots to fight, so she has acquired the Unarmed Fighting Technique skill.
She has also learned the Throwing skill from throwing her fruit.

She can extend the branches on her back to use them as weapons, and produce fruit from them.
Also, her sap can be used as an ingredient for a high-quality syrup.
The wooden clothes that she wears were actually created by her, and can be replaced at any time.

Other than her simple fighting strength, she is also surrounded by a charm similar to that of a high-class prostitute due to her Allure passive skill, and she can touch any creatures she seduces to attack them with Spirit Siphon.

Also, it is thought that she can become capable of using earth-attribute magic, life-attribute magic or perhaps both.

She looks similar to a human in appearance, but she is essentially a plant, so she can survive for a long period of time as long as she has water and sunlight.
However, she is also capable of eating.

Incidentally, it is a mystery as to why she only ever says, “Eat.” It is thought that her vocabulary will grow in the future.

She secretly participated during the battle against Gubamon, and with the Experience Points gained during this battle, she has developed into a Rank 7 Huge Skogsrå.

As the Adventurers’ Guild has never identified Skogsrå, the parts used as proof of extermination, how dangerous they are and the tradeable materials that can be obtained from them are unknown.