The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

8 Encountering an optional gate and challenging it

After the mysterious incident in which Evbejia's outer walls turned into Golems, the people of the city began working on the large scale construction to rebuild it with heavy hearts. The Adventurers' Guild set E-class adventurers to carry out human wave tactics to defend the city and the country's government requested for renowned mages and adventurers to be dispatched in order to investigate the incident. Meanwhile, the mastermind behind all of this was in the midst of an enjoyable journey by carriage.

He was sitting on the hide of a beast spread out inside the carriage in place of a cushion, listening to the cries of insects as he murmured to himself about how it would be autumn soon.

「Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've been on a journey.」

Technically, he had gone on a school trip while on Earth, but the ferry had blown up partway through and he had drowned, so it didn't count. In any case, he remembered that it wasn't exactly enjoyable.

Speaking of journeys -

「A different atmosphere from your everyday life, new experiences, rare sights, delicious food, talking with family or friends... No, that's not a journey, it's a trip.」

『How is a trip different from a journey?』

「If your goal is to have fun, it's a trip. If not, it's a journey.」

Dictionaries back on Earth probably defined it differently.

『So that's how it is. Vandalieu is much more knowledgeable than his mother.』

Darcia gave a small, happy-sounding laugh. Hearing only this conversation, one might think that it was the start of a happy family trip.

However, the mother was the ghost of a Dark Elf, with traces of gruesome torture visible on her slightly glowing body. And the child that was sitting in the carriage had shining red and bluish-purple eyes; he was a one-year-old Dhampir with even less of a presence than the ghost.

The carriage that they were riding on was moving without a driver or horses to pull it. It was a Rank 2 Undead monster, the Cursed Carriage. Flying in circles high up in the sky and keeping watch was the Rank 3 Phantom Bird, a bird with a body of bones surrounded by a bluish glow. And protecting the carriages on all sides were the Rank 3 Skeleton Warrior, and the Bear, Monkey and Wolf Bone Beasts.

This group that was proceeding forward in the middle of the night looked like a monster parade, a small-scale pandemonium. If there were any adventurers nearby, the only two responses they would have to them would be to either attack or run away.

「I think I'll go to sleep now... Before the sky gets brighter, I need to hide somewhere.」

Knowing this, Vandalieu and his party only traveled on the highway at night. They were heading to the Orbaume Kingdom, which had been in conflict with the Amid Empire for centuries.

The original plan had been to head to the village where Darcia had been born and raised, the place she had been living when she was still alive, but Darcia herself stopped them.

『I think it's better not to go to my birthplace. Since I went and died, there is no way to prove that Vandalieu is my child, and I'm not sure that everyone would believe my words as I am now.』

Vandalieu's skin was as white as a dead man's. His ears were pointed, but because of his skin color, one would not think that one of his parents was a Dark Elf.

According to Darcia, the relationship between Elves and Dark Elves of Lambda was not a good one. There were some Elf clans that had friendly relations with Dark Elves, but they were a minority; most Elves hated Dark Elves and regarded them as "the filthy Elves birthed by Vida".