The sun was bright, the sky was a transparent blue, the clouds were pure white and the thickly growing trees were bright green.

It was the scenery of a forest with no particular features, but Vandalieu had spent twenty years imprisoned in a small room before being finished off by Amemiya Hiroto and Narumi. In his eyes, everything seemed to shine beautifully.

「Fufu, it seems you've taken a liking to being outside.」(Darcia)

His face was expressionless as usual, but Darcia understood from the fact that he was gazing at their surroundings as if he was in a daze that he was very happy. She began walking around and gathering food.

Of course, she didn't do dangerous things like hunting animals using her bow and spiritual magic. She gathered edible grasses, fruits and mushrooms, and laid some traps to catch animals later.

Most of the food she gathered went into her own mouth, while a little was set aside to be made into baby food for Vandalieu.

『I have mixed feelings about this.』

Once a day, his young, beautiful Dark Elf mother said「say ah~」and fed him a spoonful of food. And with that, the amount of time she spent breast-feeding him decreased.

In order to survive from now on and make the journey from this area that was dangerous for a Dhampir to live to the Dark Elf village, weaning was necessary for Vandalieu. But even so, growing was a difficult task for him.

Incidentally, he enjoyed the taste of his mother's milk more than the baby food.

『The Death-Attribute Magic skill has been upgraded to level 2! The following new skills have been added: Status Effect Resistance, Magic Resistance, Dark Vision, Bloodsucking!』

Once Vandalieu reached five months of age, Darcia began leaving him in the cave for hours at a time to go out and gather food from the forest.

「In a little while, we'll be going to where Mommy was born. I have to make preparations for that, so even if you get lonely, bear with it, okay?」(Darcia)

Saying that, she left to hunt animals and went to the village, pretending to be a passing adventurer to buy supplies. There were times she didn't come home for half a day at a time, but it was necessary to get the supplies they needed to survive, so there was no helping it.

Leaving an infant alone at home for half a day would have been questionable on Earth, but Vandalieu himself had no complaints about it. Because everything was being done for his own protection.

With no help from anyone else, Darcia was raising an infant by herself. A troublesome half-Vampire child, no less.

Judging from the fact that Vandalieu had not seen his father even once, it seemed that there was no help coming from the Vampire community either. Vampires looked down on half-Vampires just as much as humans did, if not more. Half-Vampires were often the targets of persecution by Vampires as well. Even in Japan, where people had a sense of values as human beings, people of mixed foreign blood were discriminated against. It was no surprise that half-bloods of different races in Lambda experienced the same.

『At this rate, it doesn't seem like I'll be able to see my father's face.』

The reason being that he was probably no longer alive.

Thinking logically without taking emotions into account, it would be a much better choice for Darcia to abandon Vandalieu. Then she would be able to live a much more peaceful life.

That would make her life more carefree, free of responsibility. Once some time passed and her feelings died down, she would be able to live on as if nothing had happened. If she wanted a child, she could easily go to another country or back to the Dark Elf village and find a new man to create one with.

Despite this, the likely reason why Darcia had not abandoned Vandalieu was because she loved his father and Vandalieu himself.

『This is a bit of a cliché, but being loved is a truly happy thing.』

With this happiness driving him on, Vandalieu continued his hard work.

He spent his time awake practicing magic, strengthening his body by exercising his arms and legs and practicing using his voice. The result of this was that his Death-Attribute Magic skill had increased and he was able to cast with visible effects that Darcia could see.

「Wow, to think that you can use magic even though you're still a baby! Vandalieu, you're a genius, aren't you~♪」

How happy it made him for someone to be proud of his increase in skill, for someone to praise him.

Though his ability to use other skills seemed to be not the result of his hard work, but his growing up.

His Status Effect Resistance was a skill that granted him resistance against poison, sickness, fatigue due to lack of sleep, hunger and other various detrimental or fatal conditions that could be applied to him through magic. This was likely something he had inherited from his Vampire father.

His Magic Resistance, a skill that mitigated the damage and other effects that he took from magical attacks, was a racial characteristic of Dark Elves. His mother, Darcia, also had this skill.

The Dark Vision was a characteristic that both of his parents possessed, which allowed him to see even on completely starless nights as if it were daytime.

And finally, Bloodsucking was self-explanatory. His canine teeth had grown unusually quickly compared to his other teeth... It was a skill that he had acquired when fangs had grown on both the top and bottom side of his mouth.

「They've appeared, after all. Though it might be better for you not to, Vandalieu...」(Darcia)

As Darcia said this upon noticing that her son had grown fangs, she cut the head of the rabbit she had caught with a knife. And then she caught the dripping blood on a wooden plate.

「Here, try drinking this.」(Darcia)

『Mother, are you insane?』

In response to the iron-like smell coming from the plate that had been brought close to his mouth, Vandalieu looked up at Darcia with half-closed eyes.

On Earth, blood is sometimes used as an ingredient in sauces and eel or turtle blood is sometimes distilled into wine. I know that, but... Wouldn't feeding an infant the raw blood of an animal be considered child abuse? I think that would be the case, but she doesn't seem to want to change her mind.

『Well, I guess I'll try it.』

It would surely be disgusting. As he thought this, Vandalieu extended his tongue and drank a little of the rabbit's blood. Surprisingly, he didn't think it tasted bad.

『Huh? I can drink this. It tastes like iron, but it's not as bad as I thought... In fact, it's delicious?』

It hadn't been distilled into wine or had spices added to it to mask the smell, but for Vandalieu, the rabbit's blood was as easy to drink as his mother's milk.

He was astonished, but Darcia explained as she stroked his growing hair.

「Vandalieu, you can drink blood like your daddy. But it doesn't mean you have to drink blood, so even if you're hungry, only drink it if Mommy isn't around, okay?」(Darcia)

I see, so I'm a half-Vampire after all. That explains why Dhampirs are shunned.

Well, for now, I'll just think of it as an increase in the variety of my baby food.

As Vandalieu approached six months of age, he gained the ability to crawl. That day, Darcia had left Vandalieu at home and made a long journey to a nearby town.

『I'm glad Mother has taken my unusual intelligence for an infant to be a good thing.』

Including the fact that he could use magic, Darcia's only response to Vandalieu's abnormality was「Amazing!」and she had not questioned it or expressed any bewilderment about it.

「Dhampirs are amazing, after all.」(Darcia)

Because she often said that, it was likely that she thought that all of Vandalieu's unusual characteristics are due to the fact that he was a Dhampir. He was very thankful that she had not investigated it any further.

After all, even if he wanted to explain it, he couldn't speak yet as he was only six months old. He was continuing his practice on using his voice, but he was frustrated that he couldn't form proper words yet.

If that wasn't the case, he would want to explain his situation.

『I'd explain everything about Rodcorte, my previous life and Amemiya Hiroto.』

In light novels or manga that Vandalieu had read on Earth, it was common for characters that had been reincarnated in another world to keep that fact a secret. But he thought he should break that common pattern. That he should at least tell Darcia, as soon as possible.

Because she was his own mother.

『If this was a normal reincarnation or trip to another world, I'd consider keeping it a secret too. But my situation is different. Because soon, a hundred people from the same world as me will be reincarnated here with cheat-like powers.』

Amemiya Hiroto and the others, the ones who had abandoned him without even searching for him on Origin, the ones who had killed him. Once they died in Origin, they would surely be reincarnated here in Lambda.

Vandalieu didn't know when that would happen. When Vandalieu had died in Origin, they looked to be around twenty years old. So unless they were involved in an accident or something, it would take at least fifty years. But it wasn't certain that time flowed at the same rate in both Origin and Lambda.

It could even be that for each day that passed in Lambda, a year passed in Origin.

Well, it probably wasn't that extreme, but they would definitely be reincarnated in Lambda one day. Even Rodcorte himself couldn't prevent that from happening.

『The problem is what Rodcorte will say to them before they're reincarnated. I screamed to him that I'd kill them. So if they were to be reincarnated here before I died, he'd at least warn them about me.』

After all, Rodcorte's goal was to have them develop this world. It would be problematic if they died before that happened, so he would definitely warn them about Vandalieu.

In that case, they would see Vandalieu as a threat and be cautious of him.

In their first lives, they were Japanese people raised in the peaceful country of Japan, so it would be fine if they wanted to talk about things or apologize for what happened in Origin.

But Vandalieu couldn't say for sure that there wouldn't be any of them who would kill him upon finding him, to simply eliminate the threat. Just as Vandalieu himself had led an unimaginably wretched life, they might have experienced something like that as well.

Even if they were heroes there, if they had to deal with evil terrorists or criminal organizations for extended periods of time, who knew what kind of state they would be in.

Yes, heroes. These were unlucky.

『I heard them just before I died, but if I'm not mistaken, they were notified that an Undead had appeared and come to kill me. If that's the case, they were probably putting their cheat-like powers to use and being international heroes or something. Like the ones in American superhero comics.』

And Vandalieu himself was a half-Vampire, a Dhampir.

If they displayed the pacifism, philanthropism and respect for human rights that they did as Japanese people, there wouldn't be a problem. But if they were affected by the anti-Vampire, anti-Dhampir values of Lambda, that would be dangerous.

Facing a hundred people with cheat-like powers as enemies wouldn't be an easy task.

The one getting caught up in all of this would be Darcia. It would be too dangerous and unreasonable to expect her to face that without knowing anything. This was why Vandalieu thought that he had to explain the situation to her as soon as possible.

『If Mother separates herself from me because of that reason, then there's nothing I can do about that.』

It was only for half a year, but Darcia was the first mother that Vandalieu had known. He had never been loved as much as she had loved him.

『Well, if possible, I don't want to be separated from her.』

For that purpose, my revenge on them... Well, it's impossible to forgive them or reconcile at this point, but I'd be content if they just kept their distance from me.

This was the extent to which Vandalieu was attached to Darcia. It was also partially because his thoughts had become strangely clear after he had been reborn, but he thought that he could give up on his revenge for the sake of his mother.

After I grow up a little more, I'll explain everything to Darcia. And then if I can use the knowledge and death-attribute magic that I have from my time on Earth and in Origin to live a fulfilled life, I'll be happy with that.

And if I can just watch those guys with cheat-like abilities put all their effort into this world, then that'll be fine.

Vandalieu thought this as he continued crawling across the floor to continue his physical training, but he felt suddenly hungry.

『I guess I'll just drink some blood.』

He lifted the rabbit that Darcia had captured alive from its cage. Though he was only six months old, he was still a Dhampir with the Superhuman Strength skill, so it was simpler than he thought.

He used『Sterilization』and『Bug Killer』on the struggling rabbit to sanitize it and then bit into it.

『Blood is delicious, but Mother's milk is still better.』

Sating his hunger by mercilessly sucking the blood from the convulsing rabbit, Vandalieu longed for his mother's breast.

That day, the time that Darcia was supposed to come back passed, but she did not return.

Name: Vandalieu

Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)

Age: 0.5 years old

Nickname: None

Job: None

Level: 0

Job history: None

Attributes:

Vitality: 18

Mana: 100,000,600

Strength: 27

Agility: 2

Stamina: 33

Intelligence: 25

Passive skills:

Superhuman Strength: Level 1

Rapid Healing: Level 1

Death-Attribute Magic: Level 2 (NEW)

Status Effect Resistance: Level 1 (NEW)

Magic Resistance: Level 1 (NEW)

Dark Vision (NEW)

Active skills:

Bloodsucking: Level 1 (NEW)

Curses:

Experience gained in previous life not carried over

Cannot learn existing Jobs

Unable to gain Experience Points directly