「Hogyah, hogyah!」

The thing that was crying like a baby was no normal baby.

It had blonde hair that looked as if made of pure gold, and skin as white as the rock that this royal castle of Talosheim was built from. It had pink, triangular ears and there was a short tail growing from its bottom.

Incidentally, pig-beast-people apparently didn’t exist in Lambda.

「Before we knew it, the Live-Dead had turned to ashes and this child was crying.」(Basdia)

「I see.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu came to check on the Live-Dead after returning from Doran’s Aquatic Caverns to be greeted by Basdia holding a baby in her arms.

It seemed that while Vandalieu was in Doran’s Aquatic Caverns, the fetus had developed sufficiently and the Live-Dead had run out of Mana.

「Well, I don’t really care about the Live-Dead. I was planning to bury it after it served its purpose anyway.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu turned the ashes into a Golem to gather them up. The Live-Dead had simply been a creature with a beating heart but no soul. It had existed only to nurture its reborn self in its uterus.

「So this child was born safely, but… I’ve been troubled because it won’t stop crying.」(Basdia)

「Hogyah! Hogyah!」(Baby)

「Can I see the baby for a bit?」(Vandalieu)

「Of course.」(Basdia)

Vandalieu took her in his arms. She stopped crying and stared at Vandalieu.

Vandalieu observed her as she gazed at him.

「… Mhmm, it does resemble her.」(Vandalieu)

Its face resembled that of the Live-Dead and its spirit, and it had a human’s nose. And it was definitely a girl. It was not a Noble Orc whose race only had males.

「I’m going to have a good look at you, so bear with me for a moment.」(Vandalieu)

「Uu.」(Baby)

Using【Spirit Form Transformation】to turn a part of his body into spirit form, Vandalieu examined the inside of her body. Her organ count, the shape of her bones and the like were different from Orcs; they were close to a human’s.

It was still impossible to tell whether her body would function the same as a human’s. But she was clearly not an Orc or Noble Orc.

But it couldn’t be said that she was completely human. She had the same golden hair as the Noble Orcs, and her eyes were blue. And her ears and tail made it very clear that she wasn’t entirely human.

She was still just a baby; it was possible that she might develop more inhuman characteristics as she developed.

Was she a half-Noble Orc?

「Can you see your status?」(Vandalieu)

「Amu~」(Baby)

For now, it seemed that she wasn’t going to angrily shout,「This isn’t what you promised me!」because of her strange appearance.

「Umm, could it be that you’re hungry?」(Vandalieu)

「Van, I don’t think a baby would be able to understand what you’re saying…?」(Basdia)

As Vandalieu turned to face Basdia – or tried to, the baby put him in a headlock.

She was unbelievably strong for a child. With his head being held in place by both her arms, he couldn’t move at all.

「I had my memories from quite early after I was born. I thought that she might be able to understand.」(Vandalieu)

「I see. But I don’t think she understands. If she did, she would have listened to me and stopped crying. But she showed no signs of listening and kept crying until you arrived, Van.」(Basdia)

「Then it might take some time before she regains her memories.」(Vandalieu)

Vandalieu’s memories had returned relatively soon after being reborn in Lambda. But that was because it had been the work of Rodcorte who was a god, while Vandalieu had used a new technique for the first time to carry out this baby’s reincarnation.

It might take several months or even years for her memories to return.

Well, several months had passed after her death before Vandalieu used her spirit for the reincarnation, so it was definitely possible that her memories and consciousness might have parts missing, however.

「Well, I’ve asked Bilde and the others to provide milk in advance, so let’s head over to them. You still can’t produce any, right, Basdia?」(Vandalieu)

「Me?」(Basdia)

「Yes, you’re pregnant. Please make sure you wear the Magic Item that protects the baby.」(Vandalieu)

「Is that true, Van?!」(Basdia)

「It’s true, congratulations. Make sure you come to me regularly so I can check its progress.」(Vandalieu)

「Yeah!」(Basdia)

And so two auspicious events were celebrated at once.

Vandalieu dried kombu in the clear winter air and weak sunlight with the reborn girl.

「Now then, I’ll begin the experiment.」(Vandalieu)

「Ai.」(Baby)

He slowly applied【Withering】on the kombu to remove its water content while also slowly applying【Aging.】

If he made a mistake it would dry out too much and fall apart, and if he took too long, it would turn into powder, so he needed to be very careful.

He continued controlling his spells for just a minute while enduring a headache and fever. It turned out perfect, so he stopped his spells and retrieved the dried kombu.

「Now then, time to actually taste it.」(Vandalieu)

「Ai.」(Baby)

He threw the kombu into a pot on a magical stove he had found in the ruins and turned the stove on.

Dashi began to come out steadily.

He removed the kombu when enough dashi had come out before the water started to boil and scooped some out with a ladle that the blacksmith Datara had made for him. He placed it onto a small plate, cooled it and tasted it.

「Mhmm, that’s good dashi.」(Vandalieu)

Satisfied, he added ingredients like wakame and vegetables and then dissolved miso in it to make miso soup.

「It’s turned out well.」(Vandalieu)

「Uu, uu.」(Baby)

「I think it’s a little too early for you to be drinking miso soup, Pauvina.」(Vandalieu)

「Au…」(Pauvina)

Pauvina… the Live-Dead who had been reborn as a half-Noble Orc seemed dejected, so Vandalieu comforted her as he felt satisfied at having successfully made kombu dashi.

Applying the【Aging】spell that was originally intended to age living things to kill them through old age to the kombu and drying it, he was able to apply twenty-five years’ worth of drying in a single minute to pro