Side Chapter 61: Rikudou Hijiri’s Third Reincarnation

He had transformed one of the numerous secret chambers in the royal castle of the Orbaume Kingdom into the most dangerous place in the world. Even if one were to be pursued by the most vicious bandits, they would never think of fleeing to this room.

There were more than thirty sealed fragments of the Demon King gathered inside.

Magic circles had been drawn on the room’s floor, walls, and ceiling, and there was a Magic Item in each of its four corners that produced a barrier around it. But the magic circles were there to prevent any external interference or detection through magic, and the barrier prevented any Undead from entering, including spirits. All of these defenses would be broken in an instant if even one of the Demon King fragments were to go berserk.

Of course, if one of them were to go berserk, it would prioritize unsealing the others in order to fuse with them, so perhaps the barrier would remain intact for a surprisingly long period of time… though it would eventually be broken anyway, and the castle would turn into a mountain of rubble a moment later.

If this room were to be seen by anyone who wasn’t a complete fool, they would think that Prime Minister Tercatanis had lost his mind. They would strip the title of prime minister from him as quickly as possible, then consider how to go about ensuring that the Demon King fragments that had been gathered here could be managed safely.

Urgen Tercatanis knew this, which was why he hadn’t trusted or confided in anyone while carrying out the instructions he was given through (what he thought was) the Divine Messages of Rikudou… Not even his own son. He had deceived people so he could use them without revealing the truth.

He had told high-ranking members of the Church and the Mages’ Guild: ‘We have found a way to store the fragments of the Demon King even more securely than ever before. For the sake of secrecy, I cannot tell you the details, but I want you to leave it all to me. Of course, I must ask you to keep this matter a secret.’

Prime Minister Tercatanis had always asked for fragments of the Demon King to be strictly managed, and if that wasn’t possible, he asked for them to be transported to other Churches or Mages’ Guilds. This request from Prime Minister Tercatanis was nothing unnatural.

Of course, he had not made this request to Churches and Guilds that were in regions where the worship of Vida flourished, such as the Alcrem Duchy, which clearly had close ties with Vandalieu, as well as the Birgitt Duchy and Sauron Duchy. If he did, it was possible that Vandalieu would somehow get wind of it.

The same was true of the Farzon Duchy, where the Five-colored Blades led by Heinz were. Prime Minister Tercatanis detested Alda’s peaceful faction, so he was very wary of Duke Farzon, who had become an ardent admirer of Heinz. He was also wary of Heinz himself, who was a hero of Alda.

The mysterious god (or what Tercatanis believed was a mysterious god) Rikudou had also instructed him not to tell the truth to the God of Law and Fate Alda or his worshipers.

Acts that would save the world sometimes had to be performed while being kept a secret from the foolish populace, Rikudou had told him. This was something that Tercatanis could understand.

But everything had its limits.

“God, it will be difficult to gather more fragments of the Demon King than this… Please forgive me for my powerlessness,” Tercatanis prayed.

It had become difficult to collect any more fragments of the Demon King and equipment made from them in secret. If someone were to poke at his lies, holes would begin to appear, and he hadn’t made any attempts to persuade the organizations that had firmly refused or simply not responded to his requests. He had just expressed his hope that they could continue to keep their Demon King fragments secure.

Thus, Prime Minister Tercatanis was unable to gather any more fragments of the Demon King. He did have the option of commissioning adventurers to search ruins for Demon King fragments, but that could take years before yielding any results.

“I see… You have done well. I shall now give you your next task,” said Rikudou Hijiri.

Tercatanis gave a modest laugh. “I, Urgen Tercatanis, am willing to do anything in my power for the sake of the Orbaume Kingdom and for the sake of the world.”

But Rikudou knew that Tercatanis’s words had an unspoken stipulation: ‘As long as I keep my power and my assets.’

Even in another world, the minds of politicians are all the same, Rikudou thought.

That was working in his favor, however.

“Here is my command. Damage one of the seals of the Demon King fragments. Just a little will do,” Rikudou said.

“Wha–?! You are telling me to damage a seal on a Demon King fragment?!” Tercatanis shouted in disbelief.

He did not obediently follow this command to break one of the seals.

“Precisely. Damage one of the seals,” Rikudou said, repeating his command through Da Long’s ‘Sahadeva.’

But greasy sweat formed on Tercatanis’s forehead as he stared at the Demon King fragments in front of him, slowly backing away.

While he was gathering the Demon King fragments, his self-justification that he was following a god’s orders had allowed him to avert his eyes from his fear and disgust for them. But upon being ordered to damage one of their seals, he was faced directly with those feelings of fear and disgust.

“There is nothing to be worried about,” Rikudou said. “Put your faith in me. I am a god. I will suppress the fragments of the Demon King and ensure that they will not be stolen by anyone. And you shall earn my grace for carrying out my will.”

“Y-your grace…?”

“Yes. I will be victorious in the battle that will take place after I descend upon this world as a true god, but this continent will not be able to escape devastation. Of course, as a god, I will spare no effort in rebuilding this world, but… when that time comes, I will need someone to serve as a central pillar for the people.”

“Y-you intend to make the Tercatanis house the central pillar of all people…!”

Prime Minister Tercatanis gasped as he pictured a future where the entirety of the Bahn Gaia continent became a great nation with him at its center.

Under ordinary circumstances, this idea was one that he would quickly laugh off as an impossible dream, but it seemed considerably more realistic for it to come true after a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the world. It would be a three-way holy war between Heinz, a hero powerful enough to threaten the gods; Vandalieu, who already commanded countless monsters that were as powerful as gods and even actual evil gods themselves; and Rikudou Hijiri, a god from another world.

The collision between these forces would likely cause as much destruction as the battle spoken of in myths – the one between the Demon King Guduranis and the champions. The seas would be split and the mountains would crumble. It wasn’t just the Orbaume Kingdom that would suffer catastrophic damage; the Amid Empire would be laid to waste as well. And Rikudou Hijiri’s victory would cause the collapse of the nation inside the Boundary Mountain Range, which was apparently ruled by Vandalieu… though it wasn’t clear what humans were supposed to do with land that was riddled with Devil’s Nests ruled by monsters.

In any case, after this holy war, a new leader would naturally be needed for the world to regenerate and recover… a leader with an exceptional ability to rule, the knowledge necessary for handling administrative affairs, and had contributed greatly to the salvation of the world – a leader like Urgen Tercatanis.

“Of course, I will assist you. The people will revere you as my first apostle, and you will be the cornerstone of a new era,” Rikudou whispered, speaking to Prime Minister Tercatanis’s intoxicating sense of superiority.

But he was just trying to make Tercatanis do what he needed him to do.

Rikudou Hijiri would continue to rule this world as a god even after he defeated Vandalieu. Rodcorte had already put an ‘insurance policy’ on him, but even so, it was unlikely that he would reincarnate an irregular being like Rikudou into yet another world.

With that being the case, the regeneration and recovery of this world was a necessity to Rikudou. Through that process, he needed to propagate a religion so that people would worship him in order to rule as a god.

And although this would depend on how many survived the battle, he would also be competing against Alda and his subordinate gods. After all, Rikudou was unable to break the souls of Alda and the other gods due to the insurance policy that Rodcorte had placed on him.

Tercatanis was the perfect tool for that. Of course, if he or his family were to die during the battle, he would simply find another suitable pawn, so it wasn’t as if he was irreplaceable.

“I understand,” Tercatanis said, steeling his resolve. “But I am no knight or adventurer. I have some knowledge, but not enough to damage an Orichalcum seal…”

“Then use one of those pieces of Demon King equipment,” Rikudou instructed. “But the moment you damage the seal, throw the equipment aside and step as far back as possible.”

Tercatanis did as he was told and picked up one of the pieces of Demon King equipment.

The moment he picked it up, a thin blade like that of a rapier appeared from the handle.

Tercatanis steadied his breathing, which had grown unsteady due to his anxiety.

“Hmph!” he grunted as he stabbed one of the sealed Demon King fragments with the point of the equipment in his hand.

His movement was deft considering his age, but he only managed to make a small scratch on the Orichalcum.

But that was all that was needed. A moment later, the seal on the Demon King fragment swelled violently, creaking ominously… No, it wasn’t creaking. There was something squirming inside the seal, and a terrifying groan came from within.

Tercatanis let out a terrified noise. “God, I have undone the seal! God!”

Exposed to the rampaging Demon King fragment, he showed his fear in a way that he would never do in front of other nobles. He tossed the Demon King equipment aside and screamed as he ran to the furthest wall in the chamber.

“MAIN BODYYYYY! Us, join with me first!” screamed the black thing that was emerging from within the broken seal, breaking the seals on the fragments around it.

If left alone, these thirty fragments of the Demon King would fuse together and then head straight for the Hospital of Psychotherapy, where Vandalieu was – the one that they worshiped as their main body – destroying every wall, mansion, and person in their way.

But Rikudou’s voice echoed in the chamber, drowning out the voice of the Demon King fragments.

“Now is the time for my resurrection!”

The Demon King fragments began gathering and transforming, changing from sinister-looking monstrosities into a human-shaped being.

“Host? Main body…?”

“Main body… Main body!”

“Unite with the main body! Unite with the main body!”

The fragments of the Demon King mistook Rikudou, who possessed death-attribute magic and had fragments of the soul of the Demon King Guduranis embedded in his body, as their main body.

Rikudou could not be reincarnated through normal means because he had reached the realm of godhood, so this was the idea that Rodcorte had come up with for reincarnating him in the world of Lambda.

Tercatanis let out a noise of admiration as he stared, half-dazed. “So, this is a god from another world. To think that you can even command the fragments of the Demon King Guduranis to use as your own body…!”

Rikudou Hijiri’s body was completed before Tercatanis’s very eyes.

He had sleek, jet-black skin; eyeballs that were entirely crimson, including where the whites should have been; and a body that could be mistaken for that of a Titan, with a well-proportioned, muscular figure that looked like a statue.

“… Incredible. I feel the same as when I was Arch-Avalon… No, even better,” Rikudou murmured.

He could feel his body brimming with strength and powerful Mana. He was humanoid in shape, but he could instinctively sense that he could change his form if he wished to, and he instinctively knew exactly how to do it.

And as I predicted, the Demon King’s instinct and the Demon King’s memories are under my control, though they are feeling quite elated now. That alone makes their consciousness very clear. I feel it even more clearly than when I was in a soul-only form. But…

Rodcorte had embedded the Demon King’s instinct and the Demon King’s memories into Rikudou Hijiri’s soul. He had believed that Rikudou, who had reached godhood, would be able to control his instinct and memories with his reasoning… He seemed to have decided that Rikudou would not be able to handle the Demon King’s reasoning or the Demon King’s power.

But except for the curse.

Before embedding fragments of the Demon King’s soul into Rikudou, Rodcorte had cursed him. The curse was: ‘Cannot destroy or consume souls except the souls of those who possess an affinity with the death attribute.’

Thus, Rikudou was unable to destroy the souls of anyone other than those who possessed an affinity for the death attribute. Because he possessed fragments of the Demon King’s soul, and his body was made up of fragments of the Demon King, Rodcorte had been wary of the risk that he would possess the Demon King’s ability to break souls.

Rikudou had initially questioned whether Rodcorte could make a curse with the power to impose such a restriction on him, but given that Vandalieu was still under the effects of Rodcorte’s curse in the present tense, it was likely possible… though Rodcorte himself had apparently been a little uncertain about whether he could curse Rikudou after he had become a god, even if he was in a soul-only form.

And as I thought, I don’t have a Status. I suppose that means I can’t get stronger by changing Jobs or increasing my Level.

With that being the case, Rikudou would have no choice but to steadily improve his skills, just like he had in Origin, but…

“God, will the battle begin immediately?” asked Tercatanis, who was kneeling before Rikudou like a worshiper rather than a politician.

Coming back to his senses, Rikudou shook his head. “No, not yet. I will need some time to stabilize my connection to this body.”

In his previous life, he had fought with the momentum of the elation he felt after becoming Arch-Avalon, and he had been defeated. Now, he had acquired power that was clearly beyond that of Arch-Avalon, but he needed to avoid making the same mistake again.

“But Vandalieu is already learning of what we have done,” Rikudou said.

“What?! How…?!” Tercatanis uttered in disbelief.

“Duke Hadros Jahan. He has joined Vandalieu’s side.”

Duke Jahan was known to be an ardent worshiper of Alda, but given that he was a member of a race created by Vida, Rikudou had been certain that he would join Vida’s side… Vandalieu’s side.

“That is impossible!” Tercatanis exclaimed. “Hadros Jahan is indeed a Titan, but he is known to be an even more devout worshiper of Alda than worshipers who are human. Even if Vandalieu Zakkart is a Guider, he would not change sides so easily…”

“Tercatanis, Vandalieu Zakkart is no mere Guider. He is a true evil god… a devil who entices people peacefully and gently.”

Gods gave people trials, but devils enticed people gently. Rikudou convinced Tercatanis that Vandalieu was the latter. With this, Rikudou was making Tercatanis assume that Vandalieu’s actions – the saving of others – were the tricks of a devil. It would also prevent Tercatanis from noticing how unnatural the things Rikudou was saying were.

His incomprehensible actions during my previous life… His impulsive saving of those he wanted to save within his long reach without thinking about things too deeply. My plans failed because of that, Rikudou thought. I will need to at least gather my own pawns in this world.

Regardless of his future value, Prime Minister Tercatanis would be Rikudou’s lifeline until he fought against Vandalieu.He didn’t have a foundation to work with in this world, and if he were to lose Prime Minister Tercatanis, he would be left with no choice but to make some hasty, ill-advised move.

He needed to avoid Tercatanis from being guided by Vandalieu through some unexpected contact or by encountering him in his dreams.

“But Vandalieu Zakkart is currently confined in the Hospital of Psychotherapy… I believe that he has had a falling out with Duke Alcrem, or perhaps he has been shunned by Darcia Zakkart,” Tercatanis said.

“Urgen Tercatanis. You yourself should be aware that this explanation is much too far-fetched, shouldn’t you?” said Rikudou.

“Th-that is… But that is the only explanation I could think of… Wait. Could it be that he intended to draw in Duke Jahan from the very beginning?!”

Rikudou sighed as Tercatanis’s further consideration only brought him further from the truth.

“You shouldn’t consider him to be the same kind of noble that you are. His criteria for what he considers to be gains and losses are completely different from yours,” Rikudou said. “He entered the Hospital of Psychotherapy in order to do something to the mother of Elizabeth Sauron, with whom he has formed a party… in order to cure her, most likely.”

By the time Amelia encountered Vandalieu, Rikudou and the others in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm had been unable to see the memories of her daughter Elizabeth for a long time. Thus, this was just conjecture, but given the actions of Vandalieu and his split entity in Origin, this was likely the natural thing to do for him.

“I-impossible… Going as far as to harm his own record to do something like that… Even if he was after the lineage of the Sauron house, taking in Elizabeth Sauron would have been enough,” Tercatanis muttered. “And even if he wanted to cure her, was there a need for him to become hospitalized…?”

To him, Vandalieu’s actions were completely unfathomable; he might as well have been an alien from outer space.

“Tercatanis, Vandalieu has already created and rules over a great nation inside the Boundary Mountain Range. His social position in this nation is but a temporary one. I’m sure he is not even aware of the harm he has caused to his own record,” said Rikudou. “You will devote yourself to gathering information and report your findings to me.”

Tercatanis gave a weak laugh. “As you wish. So, my lord, where do you plan to spend your time until the final battle? If you wish, I can provide you with a mansion.”

“No, that won’t be necessary… Is there an underground chamber somewhere in this castle that nobody knows about?” Rikudou asked.

He would need a large space to check his body’s condition and test how to control and use his body and the embedded fragments of the Demon King’s soul. And so, the first thing he decided to do was to try creating a Dungeon.

In the Farzon Duchy, south of Orbaume, the capital of the Orbaume Kingdom. Inside Alda’s Dungeon of Trials, Edgar, one of the members of the Five-colored Blades, felt his heart throbbing in excitement.

He and his companions had received Vandalieu’s letter and made the decision to tell Selen about what had happened in the Mirg shield-nation. Ever since she learned the truth, Selen had been brooding in low spirits. So why was he excited?

He and his companions loved the Dhampir girl like a daughter. Naturally, Edgar wasn’t rejoicing that she had been hurt when she learned of their past deeds. He didn’t have such perverted interests.

“Heinz, you’ve become able to use Bellwood’s power, so don’t you think it’s about time we went outside? If we let Vandalieu stay free any longer, the entirety of the Orbaume Kingdom might turn against us, you know,” he said.

Even he didn’t know why he was making this suggestion to Heinz and the others.

But Guduranis, who was spreading his roots inside his soul, knew exactly why.

In the Lavelta Archipelago, about a month’s journey away from the Bahn Gaia continent by ship, a popular shop had been doing business for several years.

The owner was a Dwarf woman who was apparently a former adventurer, and her business was very successful due to her space-attribute magic, which allowed her to transport goods very quickly and keep prices down.

And as a former adventurer, she also made business trips into Devil’s Nests and Dungeons. About a year ago, she had hired more staff, and people had thought that her business was going smoothly.

The ‘Noah’ Mao Smith and the ‘Super-sense’ Kaoru Gotouta were spending their morning in peace… or rather, they had no choice but to spend it in peace.

“Hmm, there’s still not enough information from Aran and the others. I suppose it would be best to see what’s happening,” said Mao. “Ah, I’m going out on a business trip today, so keep an eye on the store,” she added.

“Boss, the situation might be serious, so stop brushing it off,” said Kaoru.

“I mean, we don’t have a choice, do we? The fact that Aran and the others are keeping information from us means that Rodcorte is forcing them to, doesn’t it? And that means it’s related to Vandalieu, doesn’t it? Us getting involved will not only not do any good; it’ll end with us being the punchline of a joke when Vandalieu tells us, ‘You’re really annoying, go home.’ Don’t you think so?”

Mao was a reincarnated individual who had chosen not to get involved with Vandalieu. Even now, she had no intention of having anything to do with him – at least, not willingly.

Indeed, even if she did thoughtlessly attempt to make contact with Vandalieu, he would likely tell her, ‘I’m busy right now, so could you please go home?’ After all, he was so busy that he was having the former emperor of the Amid Empire build his own imprisonment facility.

“Well, I do agree with you there,” Kaoru agreed. “He reconciled with Amemiya and the others, too… It apparently wasn’t exactly peaceful, but when they tried to apologize about the past, he apparently closed their mouths and forced them to shut up. Still, if we were to get involved with him, we’ve decided that we’re going to be his allies, right?”

“Is there anything in it for us if we make Vandalieu our enemy? And no matter what he does, I’m sure he won’t cause the destruction of the world or anything,” said Mao.

“… Yeah, that’s right.”

The rest of the day was peaceful for the Dwarf and Elf reincarnated individuals, and their peaceful days continued after that, too.