Chapter 374: Parting with a season of encounters and partings, and a blank check

Looking at the piece of paper with the words ‘Human rights’ written on it in large letters, the man felt tears welling in his eyes.

Human rights… Come to think of it, my life has always been at the mercy of these ‘human rights,’ he thought.

The man had been born into a poor family, and nobody had ever acknowledged the rights that he should have as a human being… not even his own parents or siblings. In order to fulfil his desire to live – the desire that was natural for all living things to have – he had stolen, plundered, and deceived.

Before he knew it, he had come to work as a member of a criminal organization. He knew that there were people in the world who lived honest lives, but he had thought such honest ways of living had nothing to do with him and paid no attention to them. Instead, he had continued to trample over the human rights of others.

As a result, he had been captured alive and taken prisoner. But he had not been placed in an ordinary prison run by the city guards… Instead, he had been brought here, to Vandalieu’s workshop.

The man had been treated as an experimental subject, referred to not by his name, but by a number that he had been designated. However, the fate that had awaited him was not death by hanging or slaving away in a mine until he perished. Instead, he had been provided meals and suspicious medicines that boosted his vigor and forced to live a harem life.

Eight women had chosen him as their partner, so he had been made to fulfil their needs day and night.

Mainly for the women’s benefit rather than his, the room he had been imprisoned in was spacious and well-furnished, with a fluffy bed that was large enough for a Titan couple to sleep comfortably with their arms and legs spread out wide.

There, the man had been squeezed dry, no matter how much he resisted; no matter how pathetically he screamed and pleaded.

Perhaps the man’s treatment was not what one might think of as that of a person being used as an experimental subject. His thug acquaintances might say that if such a jail existed, they wouldn’t mind being imprisoned there forever.

But there was no mistake that they would immediately take back those words once they learned that the women squeezing him dry were all Undead.

In fact, at first, the man had thought that he would be subject to an experiment where the women devoured him physically rather than sexually. Performing these deeds with Undead – Zombies – was something that wouldn’t even be considered by any sane person… or even a slightly insane person.

But Luciliano, the man behind the experiments, had no interest in the common sense or values of these men. Whenever they protested, “I can’t do it!” He would simply respond with “Very well. I shall prescribe you some more medicine” and provide aphrodisiacs which the men would be forcefully fed, made to inhale, or injected into their veins.

The man had once heard that some tamers used female criminal slaves to produce offspring for their tamed Orcs or Ogres. He had despaired upon finding himself in their situation.

To begin with, producing offspring – children – would be impossible if his partners were Undead. The man had thought that instead of being hanged or forced to do hard labor until he died, he would die during intercourse in a mad mage’s pointless experiment.

But once he viewed things that way, it was easy.

Once he became numb to his fear and looked at the Undead properly, they were not hideous creatures. In fact, they tended to have well-ordered features. And due to a special spell cast on them to halt their decomposition, they did not have the stench of corpses. Thus, the man had come to think that they were no different from living women other than their bloodless, cold skin and their dull, lifeless eyes.

The man had also tried speaking to them. When he did, he found that the Undead responded surprisingly normally. They were able to have conversations.

After that, the man had proactively communicated with the Undead. Looking back, he wondered if he had hoped that he would be able to make use of them in order to escape this place.

The man was a bad person, and he felt no guilt whatsoever in deceiving, stealing from, or using and then throwing people away whether they were also bad people like him or not. His past had ingrained itself deeply into his personality.

The man had asked the Undead their names, what they had gone through after they became Undead, why they had chosen him as their partner, and what their hobbies were. In order to learn these things, he had spoken about himself as well.

Before he knew it, he had begun referring to them in his head not as ‘Undead,’ but as ‘women.’

After that, his life changed completely. At the women’s recommendation, he had taken classes to gain knowledge and received occupational training. He had started eating the food the women cooked for him rather than the food brought to him by the Demons.

And surprisingly, life grew in the women’s bodies… though he had only taken notice of this due to the visible swelling of their abdomens.

The Undead could bear children. It was an unbelievable miracle to the man, but to Luciliano, the man leading the research, the pregnancies were the expected outcome.

Unbeknownst to the man, Vandalieu and Legion’s Isis had already confirmed through animal experiments that Undead with Life Gold or Soul Silver embedded in their bodies were able to become pregnant and give birth.

The experiment in which this man had found himself an unwilling guinea pig was one to determine how children with people would be born, and whether the children would develop properly.

And when the man’s children with these women were born, Luciliano, Vandalieu, and Legions Isis had thoroughly inspected and examined them. These were children born between a living person and an Undead one – whether they developed correctly or not was an important topic of research.

While these inspections went on, Ghost women had joined the man’s harem, resulting in the birth of the Ghosts’ children as well.

The experiment’s conclusion and Luciliano’s declaration of the men’s graduation had come after that. And although the men had been verbally informed that there were other experimental subjects, this graduation ceremony held in the workshop’s hall was the first time they were able to meet each other.

“You may be wondering why I have gone through the effort to gather you all in one place and conduct this ceremony, but this was Master’s policy. He believes that there is meaning in ceremonies that may seem to be pointless, and that they have an effect on the minds of those who participate in them,” said Luciliano. “If that is true, then this ceremony should be necessary for you to mark an end to your past, where you lived as criminals and then as experimental subjects, as you return to being proper human beings once more.”

The men were silently confused by Luciliano’s words, but there was no use in defying the policy of Luciliano’s master… the ruler of the nation that they would be living in from now on. They convinced themselves that they simply didn’t understand because they lacked knowledge.

“Ah, I should inform you that the documents with ‘Human rights’ written at the top are just mementos for you to keep,” Luciliano added. “Even if they are lost or damaged, you will not lose the rights that you have as human beings, so rest assured.”

One might think that he was mocking them by stating something so obvious, but that was not the case. His explanation was necessary because the concept of human rights was far from universal in the world of Lambda.

The difference between the rights held by commoners and the rights held by those of noble or royal birth was tremendous, as if they were different species altogether. This was the universal understanding of the people of this world.

Even if people were aware of human rights as a concept, not a single person knew what exactly human rights were supposed to guarantee.

These men had only learned about human rights due to the classes they had taken after coming to the Demon Empire of Vidal.

“Now then, I have some words for you men from Master… ‘I will be expecting you to be good parents,’ he says,” Luciliano said.

Every single one of the men who had been used as experimental subjects had committed crimes in the nation where they were captured. Their personalities and the nature of their crimes had been taken into account to some degree when selecting them for the experiment, but there was no changing the fact that they were criminals.

One might wonder whether it was right to give these men freedom, even if it was as a reward for their achievements.

But in the Demon Empire of Vidal, there were individuals such as Isla and Chipuras who had worked for the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia, who were more extreme examples even if they had been turned into Undead first… and although Luciliano had been almost completely innocent, he himself was also a former criminal.

There was also the fact that the children born as a result of this experiment couldn’t be deprived of their fathers. Since they had been brought into this world through these experiments, Vandalieu believed that he had an obligation to make their lives the best he could… That was why these men had been given the opportunity to attend classes and receive occupational training.

And the men had in fact changed. Although they could not change their past, they were determined to live the rest of their lives in a way that could atone for their sins, and so that they could become fathers that their children could be proud of.

These children were currently lying quietly in the arms of the Undead women sitting in the seats for parents and guardians in this graduation ceremony.

Master has named them ‘Corpse-born Children’ for now, but we will have to observe how they grow, Luciliano thought to himself.

The Corpse-born Children who had been given birth to by the Undead women were very similar to ordinary infants in appearance. Depending on the features of their parents, they had pointed ears or the lower bodies of snakes, octopuses, or spiders, but they looked almost no different from other infants of their respective races.

However, their skin was very pale, and what should have been the whites of their eyes were the same color as their pupils. If their pupils were black, the whites of their eyes were black; if their pupils were blue, then the whites of their eyes were the same shade of blue.

And the most surprising thing about the Corpse-born Children was their ability to stop and start their hearts’ beating at will. They normally kept their hearts stopped and started them only when needed, granting them exceptional physical capabilities. It was likely that to them, their hearts were not organs that were critical to keep them alive, but organs that provided supplementary strength when necessary.

The same was presumably true for their breathing, but since it was necessary to make air vibrate in order to speak, they normally stayed in a breathing state – though they seemed to stop breathing while they were asleep.

They possessed Jobs and Ranks, and grew by increasing their Levels and Ranks. Surprisingly, they were born with a Rank of 0 – despite the fact that Goblins, Horned Rabbits, and even Imp Mice, which were monsters that had mutated from nothing more than ordinary mice, had a Rank of 1. Other than Live-dead, which were created artificially through life-attribute magic, there were no monsters with a Rank of 0 to Luciliano’s knowledge, or in the literature stored by Adventurers’ Guild or Mages’ Guild, or even the memories of the evil gods who had once been a part of the Demon King’s army.

But as the saying went, a child’s job was to cry. The Corpse-born Children gained Experience Points by crying, laughing, and turning over in their sleep, so they became Rank 1 between one and three months after birth.

And when they did, they turned from newly-born infants into toddlers.

“Papa?” one of the Corpse-born Children said.

“Mama, what’s Papa doing?” asked another.

In fact, the fact that they had initially been Level 0 was something that the children had told Luciliano themselves, as they had seen their own Statuses.

It was likely that Corpse-born Children were a race that developed as their Ranks increased rather than their age. Many things were still unknown, such as how they would undergo development and when they would become adults, and Luciliano found these questions endlessly fascinating. However, the fact that they were developing at all was enough of a result from this experiment. Luciliano could take his time researching them slowly over the coming years and decades.

It was possible to make the Corpse-born Children earn Experience Points and increase their Ranks quickly over a short period of time, but that would only result in individuals with the minds of young children in rapidly-growing bodies. It wasn’t as if the nation would be destroyed or the war against Alda would be lost if the Corpse-born Children did not grow up rapidly, so there was no pressing reason to do this.

“Papa is working right now. Let’s wait just a little longer,” the Undead mother of the curious Corpse-born Child replied.

“Okaaay,” her child replied.

“U-ugh, agh…” a Zombie mother groaned.

“Mama, you’re drooling, you’re drooling,” her child warned her.

It seemed that some Corpse-born Children were already more well-functioning than their mothers.

“Now then, once you have all received your documents, allow me to show you your new homes,” Luciliano said.

And with that, the men graduated from being experimental subjects and became citizens of the Demon Empire of Vidal.

Meanwhile, a graduation ceremony was also taking place at the Hero Preparatory School in Orbaume.

“Congratulations on graduating, everyone. A really, really big congratulations!” said Meorilith, looking extremely emotional as she expressed her congratulations to the new graduates over and over.

This was likely a very important moment for her.

“Now then, it’s time to announce the top graduates for this semester! Elizabeth Sauron and your five companions, please come up onto the stage!” Meorilith said.

It was not Alex’s party, but Elizabeth’s that was announced as the top graduates. Alex’s party had fought hard, but they had been unable to outpace the growth of Elizabeth and her companions, who had been trained and given experience by Vandalieu.

“It’s vexing, but it can’t be helped,” Alex said.

“Yeah, there’s no way we could beat the ‘Demon King Slayer.’ Elizabeth and the others are like completely different people than before, too,” said Robin.

“You’re right. Even if we fought them and they didn’t have Vandalieu, I don’t think we could win,” said Anabelle.

Alex and his companions had been overtaken, but Elizabeth’s party was not one that was entirely reliant on Vandalieu. Even without him, it would be difficult for Alex and his companions to defeat them in combat now.

The development that Elizabeth’s party had gone through and the skill they now possessed had already become well-known among the pupils of the Hero Preparatory School. If they had been entirely reliant on Vandalieu, there would be dozens of insults being muttered right now. But instead, all they received were envious gazes.

Ordinary Adventurers’ Schools did not have seats for parents and guardians at their graduation ceremonies, but the nobles whose children attended the Hero Preparatory School would often attend, so there were indeed such seats at this graduation ceremony.

“Vandalieu, Pauvina-chan… I’m really happy, but you’ve always been amazing, so I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to say right now,” said Darcia.

“Eli-chan! Dear! Mahelia! You’re all amazing!” cheered Amelia.

Nobody had expected that the ceremony would be attended by the mother and wife (?) of an emperor of the neighboring nation, so the guardians of the other students were wearing visibly tense expressions.

Ordinarily, there might be people seeking to use this opportunity to cause trouble for Darcia and Amelia, who were important individuals in their nation… Especially Amelia, who suffered from a mental illness. However…

“Wasn’t Pauvina supposed to graduate next spring?” asked Borkus.

“It seems that Pauvina-sama’s graduation was moved forward. Though it seems that her party members got caught up in it as well,” said Bellmond.

“I feel sorry for them, but it can’t be helped. Her familiar is an Elder Dragon, even if he’s one of the lesser ones,” Eleanora pointed out.

“But with their skill, it shouldn’t be a problem for Reinhart and the others to graduate as well. With that being the case, it makes no difference whether they graduate now or next semester, does it?” said Basdia.

Because these four were visibly present, all the would-be scoundrels were quieter than mice, desperately trying to avoid their attention.

As her party’s leader, Elizabeth addressed the audience briefly.

“On behalf of all of us graduates, who have learned many valuable things from this school, we will work hard so that we can make everyone proud,” she said.

And with that, the Hero Preparatory School’s graduation ceremony came to an end. There were no graduation certificates or graduation gifts. The fact that one had graduated from an Adventurers’ Preparatory School was recorded on their Guild Card issued by the Adventurers’ Guild, so that was enough.

And usually, there were almost no students who cried or expressed any extreme emotions during this graduation ceremony. After all, the Hero Preparatory School was nothing more than a stepping stone to them.

But there was one person who was repeatedly wiping his eyes with his sleeve, his tears refusing to stop. “A-ah, Sensei! I’ll never forget the things you taught me!” he bawled.

The ‘sensei’ replied, “Eisam-sensei, I’m graduating now so this will be the last time I say this, but I’m a student.”

“Yes, sir, Vandalieu-sensei! Thank you so much! But I’m going to quit being a teacher and restart my career as an adventurer, so I’m not your sensei anymore!”

“You got me there. We’ll be rivals from now on, so let’s both do our best.”

Although his student was not crying, Eisam, now a former teacher, was sobbing heavily, and Vandalieu had his hands full comforting him.

“Rival… You mean you’re going to work as an adventurer, Sensei?” asked Harbinger, another instructor of the Hero Preparatory School who also still addressed Vandalieu as ‘Sensei.’

“Yes, there is no rule that states that a ruler of a nation can’t register as a member of the Adventurers’ Guild,” Vandalieu said.

“I-I see. I wish you the best of luck,” said Harbinger, silently feeling pity for the Adventurers’ Guild who would have to experience the troubles that Vandalieu had caused Meorilith.

Elizabeth stepped down from the stage and sighed heavily. “I don’t want to graduate,” she muttered.

She was earnestly happy that her party had been declared the top graduates. She felt a sense of accomplishment, as she had achieved the goal that she’d had since she entered the school.

And she had long since been freed from the pressure of Earl Reamsand’s demand to achieve that goal, where she would have to choose between him ceasing his financial support or giving him her body if she failed.

In fact, she had even achieved her goal of getting the better of her half-brothers in revenge for what they had done to her mother, so there wasn’t even a reason for her to continue being an adventurer anymore.

But the reason Elizabeth didn’t want to graduate was not because she was feeling burned out after achieving her major objectives.

“My lady, we’ll be alright. If we say that we’ll be alright, then I’m sure we’ll probably, definitely be alright. I’ll always be with you, my lady,” encouraged Mahelia, the attendant who had been raised alongside Elizabeth like they were sisters and was now her most trusted friend. She was repeating the word ‘alright’ stiffly, her voice trembling in uncertainty.

Her lackeys were here as well – Macht Hamilton, Tauros Zetts, and Yusef Catalonis.

“That’s right. Vandalieu said that he’ll send that sharp-witted Undead who was once a civil official to help us,” said Macht.

“As weak as we may be… and we’re really weak, we’ll be here to help you!” said Taurus.

“We have no confidence whatsoever, but we’re here for you!” added Yusef.

“You guys…” Elizabeth said with tears in her eyes. “I’m really happy that you’re with me, but stop saying things that will only make me feel even more anxious!”

“I’m sorry, my lady!” said Mahelia.

“But we’re just as worried as you are!” protested Taurus.

The reason Elizabeth didn’t want to graduate was because once she did, she would have to take up the position of Duchess of the Sauron Duchy… Considering that she had entered the conflict to become head of the Sauron house, and was secretly crushed by her opposition, one could say that all her ambitions had finally come true. But that didn’t make her happy now. In fact, it was nothing more than an inconvenience to her.

Everything was headed in a good direction, other than the fact that her mother Amelia’s sanity hadn’t quite returned. She was the top graduate as she had aimed for, and she now had new family members in the form of non-blood-related siblings. All that was left for her to do now was face the future with her trustworthy companions at her side.

She had already gotten her revenge on her old family; them yielding the position of duchess to her now could only be described as troublesome.

If she were from a regular noble house or the family of a successful merchant, things might be different. But this was the position of duchess – the knowledge and experience required of her, and the weight on her shoulders, would be far, far greater.

The same was true for Mahelia and the others who would be supporting her – Mahelia was nothing more than an attendant, and the others were boys who had never been expected to succeed their families. There was no way that they would suddenly be able to perform well as the aides of a duchess.

“You don’t have to be so pessimistic,” piped up Zona with a smile. She was the only one with a positive outlook on things. “Things will work out, and Vandalieu said he’ll help us out, too.”

“But then we’ll just be completely dependent on him!” said Elizabeth.

Her pride would not allow her to become completely helpless without Vandalieu.

“The family conflict is over and I’ve become duchess… so why have things turned out like this?!” Elizabeth shouted, despite once having so desperately wanted to become duchess.

“Well, life is like traveling through a stormy sea. I don’t know what lies ahead, but let’s not despair, and take things one step at a time,” said Vandalieu, his encouraging words having some persuasiveness behind them despite the fact that he was the one who had caused all this.

Elizabeth made an annoyed noise.

Vandalieu was indeed the reason behind all this, but he had not directly forced Elizabeth’s half-brother to step down as duke and hand the position over to her.

Elizabeth’s half-brother and those around him had been terrified of Vandalieu, causing him to willingly give up the position of duke. And the reason for that fear was the incident in which the Demon King Guduranis was resurrected and then defeated by Vandalieu and his companions, which made it clear just how overwhelmingly powerful they were. Vandalieu couldn’t be blamed for that.

“I’m telling you, it can’t be helped. We’re just a group of young boys and girls who graduated from the Hero Preparatory School at the top of their class. There’s no way we can run a duchy. Let’s rely on Van as much as we need to,” Zona said as she picked Vandalieu up like a doll and brought him over to Elizabeth.

But Elizabeth looked away. “That would mean that I’m nothing more than a puppet. I’ll say it once more – I do have some pride, you know.”

“… My lady, I understand how you feel. But with our current capabilities, we would not be able to run the duchy as its leaders,” Mahelia said, having come back to her senses and immediately closing off Elizabeth’s escape route with proper reasoning.

“So either way, we’ll have to rely on someone. Either the guys who worked for Rudel, the previous duke, or Van. If those are the options, Van is the better choice, isn’t he?” said Zona. “We should rely on him as much as we can, and use that time to study and learn until we can run the duchy without his help, and then repay that debt to Van afterwards. Right?”

Indeed, these were reasonable words as well. No matter how hard Elizabeth tried, it would be impossible for her to gain the knowledge and experience to become a capable duchess in a short period of time. She had no choice but to put her pride aside and rely on Vandalieu, and then repay her debt to him afterwards.

Of course, this was a way of thinking that would not work without a vast amount of trust in the person being relied upon. Anyone with any reasonable level of intelligence would realize the risks: The Sauron Duchy could be taken over during this period of complete reliance, or certain powers and rights could be taken away that would be very difficult to get back.

But Elizabeth already knew that there was nothing in the Sauron Duchy that had enough value for Vandalieu to betray her for it.

“Elizabeth-sama, just to be clear, I don’t think you have to succeed the Sauron house if you don’t want to,” said Vandalieu.

“N-now you say that?! Then what are you going to do with the Sauron Duchy?!” Elizabeth demanded.

“Whatever happens to it can happen,” Vandalieu replied from Zona’s arms, without even blinking.

But seeing and hearing this response, Elizabeth was reminded of what that would mean. “… I can’t do that,” she said.

If she abandoned the Sauron Duchy, Vandalieu really would leave it to its own fate. Perhaps he would exert some influence on it, but it was certain that he wouldn’t use very agreeable methods in doing so.

“Alright,” Elizabeth said, making her decision. “If I can rely on you, then I will, but don’t let me hear you complain. In return, I’ll do everything I can to repay this debt later!” she declared, pointing a finger in Vandalieu’s face.

But despite her mind being made up, she was surprised by what Vandalieu did next.

“Understood,” Vandalieu said. “Well then, let’s get started and make some changes to the duchy’s geography. If you’re willing to do anything to repay your debt to me, that means I need to be worth relying on, Elizabeth-sama.”

“S-surely there’s a limit to that…” Elizabeth said weakly, her finger still hanging limply in front of Vandalieu’s face.

Job explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Changing Guider

A Job for guiding beings who have undergone reincarnation… or rather, if that were the case, every single form of life in this world, from monsters and insects to flowering plants, would be targets of this guidance. Therefore, this is unlikely to be the case.

It is presumably a Job for guiding those who have undergone reincarnation with something causing them to keep their consciousness and memories… in other words, their identity.

Examples include Pauvina, who has undergone pseudo-reincarnation, and Legion, who were transferred* here from another world with nothing but their souls and then underwent reincarnation. Kanako and the others were also reincarnated from another world, and the Demons are another example. All Undead and Golems created by Master also count as targets.

However, I suspect that Amemiya Mei has also received more effects from Master’s guidance ever since he acquired this Job, even though she was transferred* directly to this world rather than reincarnated.

Therefore, the ‘change’ in this Job’s title could perhaps represent not just reincarnation, but any great change in one’s environment… though I do not believe that changing workplaces, work locations, career paths, or one’s place of residence would qualify.

Race explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Corpse-born Children

A race born between Undead and men who were used as experimental subjects – in other words, between undying beings and the living. Their appearances and bodily structure (which was confirmed by Master using Spirit Form Transformation) are no different than if the two parents were both living. However, their heartbeats are not necessary functions to keep them alive, and the same is true for their respiration. I suspect that ordinary poisons would be ineffective on them, and they are likely unable to suffer from illness.

They are Rank 0 at birth, but from what we know, their development follows their Ranks. Increasing their Rank causes them to move on to the next stage of development. They are infants at Rank 0, and toddlers (one to three years old) at Rank 1. It is currently still unknown as to how they will be at Rank 2 and beyond.

However, it can be presumed that they will reach adulthood (equivalent to the age of fifteen) at Rank 5, and then cease to age despite further development, as immortal races such as Majin do.

Corpse-born Children whose mothers are Ghost-type Undead are born with spirit-form bodies, and their features are the same as their counterparts with physical bodies.

We do not know what will happen if the mothers are Skeleton-type or Living-Armor-type Undead, but… if it becomes possible for them to become pregnant, then surely they could also give birth to Corpse-born Children?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep