Death Mage 197 – The steps of the Holy Mother Killers, and the Demon King spirited away

Ricklent, the genie of time and magic, was the creator of the god of Statuses, the god of Jobs and the god of Skills – the gods who ruled over the Status System.

The Demon King had taken advantage of an opening that Ricklent had left and added an unknown god to the system, the god of Ranks. This allowed monsters to be included in the system.

Through this process, Titles had begun to appear in Statuses, something that neither Ricklent nor Guduranis had intentionally included in the system.

To Ricklent and the Demon King, Titles were unknown factors, but a hundred thousand years had passed since then, and even humans had learned how they worked to some extent.

Titles could be gained by a being if a certain number of people… at least several thousand, referred to that being by the Title. The more exaggerated a Title was, the more difficult it was to acquire; such Titles became easier to acquire if influential or well-known individuals referred to the being as those Titles.

For example, the ‘Hyena’ Title could be acquired by an individual by being referred to as such by a considerable number of ruffians, that individual’s victims, the government officials and adventurers trying to control them – about a thousand people in total.

However, a Title such as ‘Greatest Swordsman on the Continent’ would be hard to acquire even if acknowledged as such by tens, hundreds of thousands of people, unless one also had the acknowledgement of the ruler of an enormous nation covering half of the continent, or the acknowledgement of a god.

There was also a reactionary effect, related to the conditions required to acquire a Title.

Even if one who possessed a Title and gained fame was a worthy, just individual, some would hold resentment against them and others would spread false rumors out of jealousy or for their own gain.

Adventurers working in certain nations, famous knights, generals and army strategists in particular were commonly exposed to these. They would be praised as heroes in their own nations, but others in enemy nations would resent them and consider their military achievements to be evil deeds.

However, it was rare for this infamy to become Titles for such heroes. The fame they possessed in the form of the Title they already held cancelled that negative reputation out.

It was not known precisely how much fame was required to cancel out a certain amount of infamy. However, it was because of this reactionary effect that the ‘Divine Spear of Ice’ Mikhail who was a hero of the Mirg shield-nation two hundred years ago and the ‘Light-speed Sword’ Rickert Amid who had been one of the Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords had not gained Titles through their negative reputation among their enemies.

Of course, some Titles were ones that many called an individual for their everyday deeds, and nothing could be done about the individual being called by such Titles.

This was true for the ‘Thunderclap’ Schneider’s ‘Seed-Provider’ Title and the ‘Demon King’ Title of Vandalieu, who was also the ‘Holy Son of Vida.’

However, Heinz’s everyday deeds were those of a noble and just S-class adventurer, an honorary nobleman. He was renowned for many things, and no infamy had manifested on his Status.

Until now.

“W-what?! I’m the ‘Holy Mother Killer?!’”

Heinz, who had been preparing to head to the next floor of his trial, stopped in his tracks, dumbfounded by the sudden announcement in his head. He hastily checked his Status.

He had thought that there must be some kind of mistake, but a new Title called ‘Holy Mother Killer’ was clearly displayed in his Status.

“How can this be…” he muttered.

“Oi, Heinz, what’s the matter? What do you mean by ‘Holy Mother Killer’…?!” Edgar began, but he suddenly fell silent.

“Heinz, Edgar, what’s wrong –?! This is… You two see it as well?” murmured Delizah.

“Oi, what’s wrong with you three?” asked Jennifer.

“Did something happen? Your expressions are very alarming,” said Diana.

Heinz, Edgar and Delizah were lost for words for a moment… They looked at each other and nodded before speaking.

“I, and probably Edgar and Delizah as well, have acquired a Title called ‘Holy Mother Killer.’ I checked my Status… It doesn’t seem like I’m daydreaming or that I misheard,” said Heinz.

“Holy Mother Killer?! ‘Holy Mother’ means a mother who is sacred, right