The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

23 The truth I learn as I approach three years of age,

It was a clear February morning, with the smell of blood on the cool morning breeze.

「UOOOOOH!」

A deep war cry echoed out.

As Ghouls who were busy removing the organs from Orc, Goblin and Kobold corpses and preparing them for breakfast glanced at the source of the war cry in surprise, Vigaro looked up at the morning sun.

「O-oi, hasn't Vigaro grown bigger?」

「It can't be, he Ranked up?!」

Vigaro's body that was already over two meters tall to begin with had grown a size bigger. His lion's head was more masculine, his fangs were thicker and stronger, and the muscles of his limbs had grown larger while maintaining their flexibility.

His appearance was that associated with individuals that were legendary to the Ghouls, individuals who hadn't existed in this Devil's Nest for several hundred years.

「Berserker... A Ghoul Berserker!」

Vigaro had been a Ghoul Barbarian with long years of experience as a warrior. In last night's battle, he had defeated multiple Orc Generals that were of the same Rank as him as well as the Noble Orc that was a Rank higher, earning him a large quantity of Experience Points. At the same time, the level of his skills had improved as well, so it seemed that he had met the requirements for his Rank to increase.

Though it wasn't as great as the legendary Ghoul Tyrants, the Ghouls cheered and shouted Vigaro's name as they witnessed the birth of a Ghoul Berserker, who were said to be able to slaughter a hundred human soldiers alone.

Five minutes later, Vandalieu was receiving remonstrations first thing in the morning from three beautiful women.

Some might be jealous of him, but if one were to voice that to him, he would likely reply,「In my profession at least, this isn't a reward.」

「Listen, boy. You are indeed our leader, but that does not mean that you must take on the role of finishing the enemy's leader.」

「It's true that I would have only been a hindrance in a fight against that Noble Orc, but you didn't have to suddenly fly out to face him on your own. If you had brought your allies and received their support from the beginning of the fight, then maybe you wouldn't have had to rely on such a dangerous plan, right?」

『That's right, I thought I was going to faint when Sam told me what happened! Vandalieu, you're still a child who's not even three years old; that was going too far!』

Only Vandalieu could see and hear Darcia, who was scolding him the most, so Zadiris and Basdia were under the impression that only the two of them were remonstrating him, however.

「Yes, I'm sorry.」

Making no excuses, Vandalieu sincerely apologized. Looking back on it, it was indeed reckless for him to charge at Bugogan on his own; there had to have been other ways. He had made Zadiris, Basdia and, most of all, Darcia worry about him.

As Basdia said, if they had attacked Bugogan with everyone together from the beginning and used arrows, throwing weapons and magic attacks from a distance while Vandalieu slowed him down, it might have been possible to render Bugogan helpless, though it would have taken some time to finish him off.

This method would have worked even better if Vandalieu had applied【Deadly Poison】to the Ghouls' arrows and throwing weapons, too.

And though it would have been difficult to prevent Bugogan from killing anyone, the risk of someone dying was probably not all that different from the risk of Vandalieu dying when he allowed Bugogan to cut through his ribs, sternum and lungs.