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Amid Empire
Emperor Mashukzarl
The current emperor of the Amid Empire. Known for his relative modesty, pragmatism and keeping Alda's church in check, he knows it's only a matter of time before the entire continent changes, so he has taken measures to ensure his legacy in case he has to confront Vandalieu. He's an effective leader and has reasonable progressive policies, but his pragmatic streak tends to alienate people.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: A critical miscalculation. Had he sent actual diplomats to speak with Vandalieu, he might have been able to squeeze out a non-aggression pact with Talosheim, or if he was luckier than he has any right to be, found a powerful ally in dealing with the Church of Alda that both sides have a serious grudge with. Unfortunately, he sent four assassins after Vandalieu, under the double pretext of rooting out a rebellion in the Sauron Duchy, and "negotiations" that are really nothing better than extortion one often sees from organized crime dramas. This poorly executed attempt actively provokes a declaration of war from a country whose weakest combatant is a rank 7 monster, in a setting where a rank 5 is often enough to cause despair in those who might find themselves facing it, whose armies can come and go as they please, but can not be pursued, and if pressed, can, and will, unleash weapons of mass destruction that give a whole new meaning to the term Salt the Earth.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: He's aware the Church of Alda is going to dethrone him soon, and there's nothing he can do about it for exploiting them too much to keep his throne. He's also aware the chances are good they'll unearth his many morally dubious deeds in the process.
- Brainwashing: To exploit Schneider's mercy and virtue, he brainwashes the woman carrying his bastard child into thinking she's married to "the most evil man he could find" who is also brainwashed into thinking he was married to her, and brainwashes some third guy into thinking he's with a criminal gang to assault and try to kill them so Schneider would come to the woman's rescue. Upon hearing it, the emperor's bodyguards are shocked, and both Schneider and Dalton have to be physically restrained to keep from killing him. His Dissonant Serenity while telling the story only infuriates the Storm of Tyranny even more.
- The Chessmaster: Not does only he know it's only a matter of time before the Church of Alda tries to dethrone him, he has ensured the continuation of his bloodline by putting his illegitimate child Sieg under the protection of Schneider, who wasn't aware of the ploy until the emperor told him.
- Did Not Think This Through: His plan to have a Hidden Backup Prince was indeed original and clever, especially the part where said prince was placed right in the thick of his most intractable enemies, with said enemies completely unaware, and unable to do anything about it. Unfortunately, in order for said prince to then inherit the empire, there must be some mechanism to recognize him as the heir. As of this writing, no such mechanism exists. Further, even if it does, but has yet to be elaborated on, said prince must be raised with the purpose of being the heir, and must be informed. This is not likely to happen considering the manner in which he was hidden among The Swords of Tyranny, and who his adoptive father is.
- Boasting and bragging, in complete Dissonant Serenity, to Schneider's party how he did it, to the point that Schneider wants to straight up beat him to death, destroyed his last, best hope of having any peaceful diplomatic relations with Vandalieu and Talosheim, and to top it off, almost guarantees that his bastard child will never take the throne, or even be aware of his true bloodline, thus defeating the entire purpose.
- Dissonant Serenity: People can never tell when he's being flippant or dead-serious, as he always talks and acts in a whimsical manner, as if nothing fazes him. When his staff are panicking at being told how powerful and pissed Van is, he retorts "now you understand my level of distress."
- The Emperor: He's the ruler of the Amid Empire, a nation made up of four smaller kingdoms. Unlike Van ruling over the boundary mountain nations, Amid is a far more hands on type of rulership that constantly has to keep an eye on its vassal nations so they don't declare independence.
- Half-Human Hybrid: He's half-human half-elf. Because of this, he has a longer lifespan than humans and is thus unwilling to have any successors yet as he will outlive them if the child is human.
- I've Come Too Far: When asked by his steward if going to either Schneider or Vandalieu for aid or protection is an option, he retorts that that is the biggest joke he's heard. He's well aware that Schneider would pummel him to death, given the chance, and he doesn't see himself as having any tactical value or merit to Vandalieu, or that Vandalieu would be very forgiving considering what he's already either had Van go through, or turned a blind eye to.
- Know When to Fold Them: Realizing there's no point in keeping the occupation of the Sauron region with Vandalieu's presence, he orders his forces to withdraw, letting the Orbaume Kingdom reclaim it.
- Necessarily Evil: He knows his actions are horrific, and he's going to be punished for it, with nobody shedding a tear, but truly believes they were the best option available to protect his people.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he realizes that not only is Vandalieu far more powerful than he imagined, he has made a non-official declaration of war against his empire.
- Older Than They Look: He's over a hundred years old, but thanks to his elven blood he looks much younger.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He's a popular ruler because he has few wives or concubines, has purged corrupt nobles and publicly turns a blind eye to Schneider's behavior. However, this is only because he'd outlive any successors he had now, he was eliminating political rivals and because Schneider's party has enough military force that clashing with them would probably cripple the empire even if he won.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Not only he tries to keep his empire relatively safe from outside threats, he keeps the more fanatical members of the Church of Alda from taking it over.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: He agrees with Duke Marme and sends four of the Fifteen Evil-Vanquishing Swords to "recruit" Vandalieu to serve the Empire, or kill him if negotiations break down, for fear of Vandalieu showing the same level of aggression towards the whole empire that he showed to the Mirg-shield nation, after they attacked him. It is this very act of attempted assassination that prompts him to "unofficially" declare war upon the Empire.
- Underestimating Badassery: The reports on Vandalieu make him seem like a Non-Action Big Bad who hides behind an army of undead because his direct combat abilities are weak due to taking quirky/useless jobs like Spiritualist. As such, when he sends "negotiators" he sends what he considers to be overkill with four members of the Fifteen Evil-Vanquishing Swords. Unfortunately, not only is this not nearly enough force to even deal with Vandalieu let alone his minions, but his character reading of Van is also horribly off, meaning the "negotiations" break down immediately after Ervine and the others attack his subordinates and try to threaten him.
- Villain Ball: Sending in the "Fifteen Evil Slaying Blades" as his first option is not something one would expect of a man who held the throne for a century or two. Especially showing how crafty and pragmatic he is in getting his way. Had Van done something to official diplomats, Emperor Mashukzarl would have had Casus Belli for calling for aid from all human lands, far and wide, and going to all-out war on Talosheim, then using the assassins while Van was occupied and distracted. By using the assassins first "for negotiations," he gave Talosheim Casus Belli to wage war upon the Amid Empire, and Van alone easily has the ability to annihilate the entire country, to the last citizen, if he wants to. Emperor Mashukzarl is right to be worried that his days are numbered.
Duke David Marme
A nephew of Emperor Mashukzarl who also holds rank of Cardinal within Alda's church. Adopted into the Marme family, he greatly resents the Emperor for displacing him in the line of succession.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: He's a Duke who lives up to the stereotype of evil aristocrats.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Pees himself when he realizes Vandalieu has gotten rid of his guards and is about to let Isla tear off his face.
- Evil Nephew: Greatly resents his uncle the emperor for displacing him on the line of succession.
- Fate Worse than Death: He wishes Van had killed him in his office when he found out what being taken alive meant. He not only has his face surgically removed and nailed to the walls of his office, he gets taken alive for ... "experimentation."
- Mugging the Monster: Angrily threatens a "dhampir brat" that he finds in his office, "for rudeness." Said "dhampir brat" turns out to be Vandalieu.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By calling the Fifteen Evil-vanquishing Swords to get rid of the resistance of the Sauron Duchy, he got most of them killed and made the empire withdraw from the region.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Not only is he highly racist towards other races, he sees commoners as nothing but livestock or pests. He even refers to Vida as a whore, which not even Alda's most conservative followers would do.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He had no idea calling the Fifteen Evil-vanquishing Swords would lead to their deaths, the loss of a national treasure and Vandalieu making a non-official declaration of war towards the Amid Empire.
High Priest Bormack Gordan
Don't let your guard down!
Warrior Priest of Alda and famed Vampire hunter. He tortured Darcia and burned her as a witch for giving birth to a Dhampir, earning Van's undying hatred.
- Accidental Truth: When he gets a "Divine Message" from Alda warning that the Demon King might be reviving, he immediately thinks it's Vandalieu, despite lacking any empirical evidence. He happens to be right!
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Killed by Van and turned into a zombie that's unleashed upon his former comrades.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: A trope he's well aware of, which explains why he was so desperate to find and kill Vandalieu before he grew strong enough to get his vengeance.
- Badass Preacher: Considered one of the strongest warrior-priests in the Alda Church.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: After Vandalieu escaped his grasp twice, he prays to Alda for a third chance to confront the dhampir. He gets it and very, very quickly regrets it.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: What he had Darcia subjected to while trying to have her give up her son. When that failed, he had her set on fire in the public square.
- Deader than Dead: Like Riley, his soul is destroyed by Vandalieu.
- The Fundamentalist: The church of Alda is all that matters, and its teachings are law! No mercy to heretics!
- Just a Kid: Inverted. His subordinates and superiors kept underestimating the threat a vengeance-fueled Vandalieu could be, and called off his searching for the dhampir child, twice. Even on the third expedition, his followers continued to hold this mindset until the entire army he came with, including himself, were turned into undead and sent back to attack the very people who commissioned him.
- Just Following Orders: When Vandalieu is about to destroy his soul, he tries to argue he was just following his doctrine. Vandalieu isn't impressed.
- Knight Templar: Firmly convinced in the cause of Alda to exterminate all of Vida's races.
- My Greatest Failure: Views his failure to eliminate Vandalieu when he was a half-year-old child as this. It comes back to bite him.
- One Last Job: He planned to retire after the expedition to Talosheim. He got to retire alright, permanently.
- Villain Has a Point: Every vampire in his sphere of influence was a lackey of Hihiryushukaka, even Valen, Vandalieu's father. As such, bringing in Darcia for questioning was a perfectly valid course of action. Even the torture could have been justified if he could present an authentic and credible threat that he needed to prevent. But the facts that all the torture was purely for the sake of trying to find a helpless infant, and setting Darcia ablaze in the town square, demanding a village wide celebration to go with it went way beyond the pale.
- You Killed My Mother: He is one of the targets of Vandalieu's revenge because of this.
General Lengil Mauvid
The General in charge of the second expedition into Talosheim. He was secretly working for the Pure-blooded Vampires, intending on becoming immortal after getting rid of Chezare Legston and Gordan.
- And I Must Scream: After being deemed completely useless even in death, his soul is transferred by Van into a golem that makes up the walls of Talosheim.
- Dirty Coward: When the battle situation devolves completely, he yells for the soldiers to sacrifice themselves so he can escape. Chezare almost has him shot for this.
- General Failure: He's a politician, not a strategist, so the moment the army encounters actual resistance at Talosheim, he folds faster than a cheap suit.
- Immortality Seeker: Wanted to become an immortal vampire and rule his family and descendants from the shadows.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Has the classical square face and prominent jawbone/chin in the manga, but in actuality isn't heroic at all.
- Slashed Throat: This is how the Goblin Ninjas killed him.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Not only he looks down on Chezare for being from the Mirg shield-nation, he greatly dislikes Gordan. Hence why he and the vampires conspired to have both of them killed and claim they perished in combat.
Baron Cuoco Ragdew
A relatively minor noble assigned by the Amid Empire to manage the Sauron Duchy.
- Beleaguered Bureaucrat: He's doing his best to ensure a peaceful transition from Orbaume control to Amid control for the region, but the army's own suppression tactics, the mad push from Duke Marme for glory, the resentment of the populace, and the rightful resistance that comes to bear as a result of the Empire's heavy-handed attempts to stamp out the Vida faith make it all very, very difficult.
- Big Eater: He and his family are gourmands, and the main reason he gladly defects to Talosheim is because of all the new and delicious foods they can try.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He is an official D-ranked adventurer, and still clears dungeons in his down-time. If he loses his baron title, that's fine, he can just go back to adventuring.
- Impoverished Patrician: He and his grandfather, the founder of the house, loved food so much they wasted their fortunes in order to get the best meals, hence his relative non-importance as a noble.
- The Mole: He's feeding intel concerning the Amid Empire's movements in the Sauron Duchy to the resistance in exchange for being fed delicious food that only the resistance can provide, courtesy of Vandalieu.
- Only Sane Man: He's the only one among Marme's inner circle that thinks the over-zealot glory hound is doing far more harm than good, which is the second reason he provides the resistance with intel concerning the empire's movements.
- Serious Business: Good food is more important than his nobility, or even loyalty to his nation.
Fifteen Evil-Breaking Swords
Ervine
One of the four members of the Fifteen Evil-Breaking Swords sent to the Sauron Duchy to exterminate the Liberation front and recruit Vandalieu. He's an elf who comes from the same village as the emperor's mother. His personality is cold and condescending, though he hides it.
- Break the Haughty: As Vandalieu shows up, and begins tending the life-threatening wounds upon his people, Ervine grows increasingly arrogant, cocky, and annoyed at being "ignored", say hello to one humiliating smack down after another and his squad, including Rickert, getting torn completely apart, no hope of winning, retreat, or surrender.
- Elemental Powers: Stands out for being able to control wind, earth, fire, water and light magic.
- Ignored Enemy: It takes a few minutes of Ervine futilely attempting to catch his attention before Van even acknowledges him. He's more busy with stopping the resistance members from bleeding out or resurrecting the ones who already did before he's forced to turn them into undead instead.
- Mugging the Monster: Attacks and nearly or actually kills many of Van's followers while holding others hostage. He assumes Van has the mind of a child and weak combat abilities, only to find that he's horribly outmatched.
- Oh, Crap!: Reacts this way when he realizes Vandalieu controls several fragments of the Demon King, and there's nothing he can do to truly harm him or escape.
- Red Baron: The Five-Headed Snake, because of his mastery of five elemental magics.
- Smug Snake: He near-fatally wounded Iris and grievously wounded quite a few of Vandalieu's subordinates, wanting negotiations to break down, taunting Vandalieu himself, so he could have an excuse to kill the young Dhampir. He would live just long enough to regret it.Ervine: "I knew the negotiations wouldn't work from the beginning!"
- Suicidal Overconfidence: His long, long, off-screen history of "recruiting" people to work for the Amid Empire by threatening their loved ones, or killing them if they refuse, went to his head and made him think Vandalieu would be easy pickings, thinking the young dhampir was "just a brat with a special power playing pretend." Say hello to an absolutely brutal fight that quickly drove him to despair as he realized that Van was indeed "playing pretend" by letting him think he had a chance to win, just to torment him in revenge for putting his loved ones in danger as a "negotiation tactic."
- Team Killer: Van breaks his soul after defeating him because he considered his behavior too problematic and unreliable: He killed an ally without hesitation simply to deny Van experience points, which was doubly pointless because at that point he still thought he could win in a fight. While he would no doubt be loyal if he were to become Van's minion, his fundamental personality would not change and he might do the same thing again.
- Villainous Breakdown: While at first he remained calm and collected during their confrontation, after he realizes there's no hope for him to win, nor does he has the option of killing himself, he breaks down in despair. It's not just his death that breaks him, though, but that his death is meaningless: He may have drawn out a lot of information on Van's abilities, but they were enough to show that Amid didn't have the power to face him and helped him overcome a few of the empire's trump cards.
- Virtue Is Weakness: He openly tells Rickert that his job to "persuade" Vandalieu to join the Amid Empire will be easier if Van genuinely treasures his followers, because he can threaten them. Rickert thinks to himself that this is the fundamentally worst possible approach.
- Weak, but Skilled: Unlike previous foes, he doesn't have an abnormal amount of mana, only lots of skill and equipment.
- Whip of Dominance: Wields a whip made from an antennae of the Demon King to highlight his sadistic tendencies and superiority complex against everyone else. In contrast, Van is not above using the whip in combat but finds more utility using the antennae to communicate better with insects.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: His actions do make a sick sort of sense, but they were the absolutely most wrong way to deal with Vandalieu and company.
Rickert Amid
Nephew of Emperor Masukzarl and cousin of Duke Marme, serving as public face of the group. He was sent alongside other members of the Fifteen Evil-Breaking Swords to exterminate the Sauron Liberation Front. Because he is merely the face of the group, his combat abilities don't quite match the real members.
- Cool Sword: Wields Nemesis Bell, a magic sword with properties of anti-regeneration, vampire powers and Demon King fragments. The spirit dwelling within it is destroyed by Van and the sword is given to Iris.
- Decapitation Presentation: Wanted to expose Iris' head to demotivate the population of Sauron. What's left of his head is left at the fort along with Duke Marme's face.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Gets annoyed when Ervine calls him Ricky-boy, so he in turn calls the elf 'old geezer'.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Used his strongest technique to slice Legion in half, only for Ereshkigal's power to throw it back at him, slicing him vertically. An almost unharmed Legion then puts itself back together.
- I Warned You: En route to the former territory of the Scylla, he explicitly warns Ervine that "negotiating" with Van by grievously wounding Van's followers and then threatening their lives to "convince" him to work for Amid is a fundamentally bad idea. His input is noted and summarily ignored. When Van's provoked by Ervine and retaliates, unleashing a Hopeless Boss Fight against the entire unit, making victory, surrender, or retreat impossible, he yells out "I warned you this 'negotiation' tactic wouldn't work!"
- Only Sane Man: He went into the negotiations/fight with Van genuinely wanting them to succeed and thought Ervine's plan of treating Van's minions as though he considered them disposable foolish. He was ignored, leading to all four of the deployed members being killed and two of their souls being broken.
- Outside-Context Problem: His sword gives him an advantage against Undead, Vampires and Demon King fragments. Legion is none of the above, so Nemesis Bell is little more than a very sharp sword. His skillset is also worthless because, being a swordsman, he relies on precise application of power to achieve maximum results: A sword is nothing but a tool to maximum force over the smallest area with the greatest amount of versatility. However, Legion regenerates extremely quickly from normal wounds and has no vital points to strike, meaning Rickert had absolutely no hope of ever beating them.
- Red Baron: Light-speed Sword.
Bebeckett
A member of the Fifteen Evil-Breaking Swords known as Insect Swarm in charge of attacking multiple targets. She has a unique taming ability allowing her to control insects.
- Evil Old Folks: 75 at the time of death and controls swarms of bugs to kill her targets. After being turned into a Patch-work zombie, she becomes a Cool Old Lady.
- Friend to Bugs: Once a normal beekeeper, her talent to control insects eventually led her to join the Fifteen Swords and use that talent to kill people. She goes back to being a beekeeper after dying.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Thought her swarms of bugs could overwhelm Vandalieu, not knowing he can also tame insects. Vandalieu then proceeds to take away all the bugs in her body, which she needs to live. Ervine killed her before she could expire.
- Samus Is a Girl: Her cloak hid her age and gender. She's actually an old woman.
- The Worm That Walks: Turned her own body into a lair of bugs. This backfired when Van took all her bugs she needed to live.
Sleygar
A half-elf known as the King Slayer, specialized in stealthily decapitating his targets using his skills.
- Did Not See That Coming: Vampires and, well, most living beings, are killed if they lose their head. Van happens to be one of those people who can't be killed just by that.
- Eye Scream: Vandalieu retaliates to his sneak attack by blinding him with threads from his [Demon King's Fur] fragment.
- Fragile Speedster: Fast and deadly, but completely out of his element when he has to face several enemies.
- Killed Offscreen: His death isn't even shown. Van simply sends Isla and her subordinates after him and he's killed at some point before Van finishes off Ervine.
- Logical Weakness: His Night-god's cloak is very useful to remain completely hidden, but if it's sprayed with bioluminescent blood and pheromones, there's nowhere he can hide.
- Off with His Head!: Specialized in decapitating his targets. This would have been effective if it wasn't because Vandalieu can't be killed just by that.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tries to flee the moment he realizes decapitating Vandalieu failed. This just gave Isla somebody to hunt, and hunting is what she's very, very good at. It doesn't help that Van nullified his stealth skills with the demon king's scent and luminous glands.
- Stealth Expert: His Disexist skill and Night-god's cloak make him almost impossible to detect.
Mirg Shield-nation
Thomas Palpapek
Marshal of the Mirg Shield-nation, he became associated with vampires who worship the Evil God of Joyful Life in order to succeed his family. A very patriotic man, he wants his nation to be free from the limitations of the Amid Empire. Because of his role in Darcia's death, he becomes one of Vandalieu's targets.
- Ambition Is Evil: In the months and years leading up to his death, he wonders where he went wrong. Was it sending out minions to assassinate Van's parents? Was it not cutting off the evil vampires to side with Van? What should he have done? It's only after his death that narration points out that everything went wrong from the moment he sided with vampires to begin with: Just because he considered himself a little better than his older brother doesn't mean he would have stayed that way into adulthood or that it was worth giving up one highly competent noble just to allow a marginally better one to take his place. If everything he did was really for the Mirg Shield Nation then he should have accepted being his brother's aide.
- Benevolent Boss: He actually treats his household pretty well.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to his unnamed elder brother, who he killed to assume the family title.
- Eaten Alive: His body is devoured by Pete and the other insects while Vandalieu devours his soul.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Assumes the counter invasion launched by Vandalieu against the Mirg Shield Nation is in order to make the feeling of revenge in the people get stronger and works in order to pacify it, even when Vandalieu had no plans about them whatsoever.
- Hope Spot: Just when he thinks he has a chance against Vandalieu because the Storm of Tyranny volunteered to guard him, Dalton reveals he never had any intention of fighting Van and now wants to be his ally.
- Hypocrite
- Tries to defend himself against Van by saying that his parents had knowingly broken the law and had of course been punished by it. At this point Van would normally just say 'I don't care' but this time he points out that Thomas Palpapek is a far worse criminal even by the standards of the Amid Empire: While Van might have been the result of an illegal relationship, Palpapek is a stooge of Pure Breed Vampires that worship evil gods.
- He acts as though everything he does is for Mirg, but pretty much the first chronological thing he did was bad for Mirg's long term well being: He sided with vampires so he could inherit after his older brother had a tragic "accident" when it would have been much better for Mirg to have both of them work for the nation's independence.
- No Body Left Behind: Van explicitly tells his bugs to leave his right hand intact so he has something as proof of his death.
- Only Sane Man: Most of the Mirg and Amid nobility were all for the second Talosheim expedition, believing it would be an easy victory. Palpapek agreed, but even an easy victory would cost a lot of soldiers and would have nothing to show for it. His attempts to lessen the damage only caused the deaths of two national heroes, however.
- The Resenter: The narration indicates he had his elder brother murdered because he saw himself "just a bit better." He never acknowledged right up until his death that having both brothers work for the nation probably would have been better for Mirg as a whole.
- Tragic Mistake: He realizes everything went to hell for him and his nation the moment he allowed the death of Darcia under orders from his vampire masters, but he doesn't realize that the true mistake was siding with Tenercia, Gubamon and Birkyne to begin with.
- Uriah Gambit: Sends Riley into one. Mainly because Riley was completely inferior as an adventurer and as a person to his former leader Heinz. Thomas compares Riley to a defective product disguised as a high quality one, waiting to fail at the right moment.
- You Killed My Father: He's one of the people on Vandalieu's hit list for his role in his mother's murder. After him, the only ones left are basically Heinz and what remains of his original party.
Baron Berno Balchesse
A baron and a rather average nobleman. He sends an extermination request of the Orcs within the Devil's Nest in his territory, and when the orcs are gone he changes targets to Ghouls instead after being prodded into the decision by Palpapek.
- Color Failure: Goes pale as a sheet when told there's a force of 500 Orcs intending to come out of the forest.
- Cruel Mercy: On the receiving end. While Van never does anything to him personally, his cultivation project that almost guaranteed the growth in wealth at his territory is completely destroyed, leaving him with thousands of refugees and a useless land.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By sending an extermination request that lead to the expelling of Van and the ghouls from the Devil's Nest, he led Vandalieu to his destiny at Talosheim, and the creation of what can be considered the worst enemy his nation has ever seen.
- Unwitting Pawn: He was mostly willing to simply ignore the ghouls banding together to topple Bugogan because ghouls are known for not leaving Devil's Nests. However, he was tricked into sending an expedition and ends up losing the newly reclaimed farmland and several national heroes.
Ebvejia
Orbie
Bet that witch regrets rejecting me now!
The leader of a trio of hunters who decide selling Darcia out to the fanatics of the Church of Alda and then hunting Vanalieu down like an animal, to make themselves rich, is a damn fine idea.
- And I Must Scream: Van shoves their souls into the pillars supporting the ceiling of the cave he hid in from the Alda fanatics who burned his mother at the stake, forgets about them and leaves them there, unattended.
- Asshole Victim: No tears were shed when Van gets even with them.
- Casanova Wannabe: Nothing more than a shameless skirt chaser, and very vindictive against those who turn him down.
- Evil Is Petty: The reason he had his group of hunters sell out Darcia? She was faithful to her husband and rejected his "love confession." Though the money offered by Baronet Bestero and the Church of Alda was a clear bonus.
- Evil Redhead: Red hair and an evil sot who sees nothing wrong with selling a woman out to fanatics for spurning him, and her infant son as a giant bag of gold coins.
- Hope Spot: Vandalieu does free one of them from the vines and asks him to step forward. They believe he's taking them up on their pleas to be his subordinates until the guy gets his blood sucked out of him, collapsing on the ground as a withered corpse. Then Van has his sand golem spell out for them that he only sees them as food after what they've done to his mother, and planned to do to him.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: On the receiving end from Van.
- It's Probably Nothing: He and his hunters indeed spot the tracks left by Vandalieu's undead army, but ignore them, thinking it's just a bunch of normal animals trampling each other's trails.
- Laser-Guided Karma: They used the money they got for selling out Darcia to throw a party, eating luxurious food and booze, claiming that's the best way to "honor" her. When Van catches up to them, he uses them as food so they see how that feels.
- Villains Want Mercy: The moment they realize Van's got them completely at his mercy, they don't hesitate to beg for their lives. After seeing he's completely uninterested in making them subordinates, they try to beg he spare them for the sake of their loved ones. Van reminds them how they made him, at half-a-year-old, an orphan, by killing his mother. At this point, they stop begging and tearfully resign themselves to their fate as his food.
- We Can Rule Together: When they find themselves at Van's mercy, they plead for him to make them subordinates so they can go after Gordan together. He's not only uninterested, he turns them into his food right then and there.
Baronet Bestero
Ah, I will no longer be known as "the baronet whose only redeeming point is the quality of his village's wine!"
The mayor of Ebvejia.
- Ambition Is Evil: All he cares about is increasing his title and authority, no matter what it takes.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: All his villainy was spurred by the fact that his family of Baronet were always ridiculed as "The Baronet whose only selling point is the quality of its village's wine". After siding with the Church of Alda to hunt down Vandalieu and Darcia, gaining the Baron title as a result of Van's effort hunting criminals for his own survival, he's become known as "The Baron whose village got up and walked away."
- Laser-Guided Karma: He not only lost his mansion, but also the adventurer guild and the city walls as well as his all of his stored wine. He won't be able to recover from this any time soon.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The fact that he happily agreed with the Church of Alda to hunt down an innocent Dark Elf woman, Darcia, for the "crime" of marrying a vampire and birthing the Dhampir Vandalieu, purely for his own advancement, dooms his home town and its wine industry to be destroyed in retaliation, and this is Evbejia getting off easy.
Rudy
A random merchant that Van rescues, purely by chance, as he's wiping out bandits.
- Bit Character: Only appeared once and hasn't been seen since Van let him go.
- Born Lucky: Which he lampshades. Even though he thought his luck had run out as he was being held for ransom in a bandit's den, along comes Van and wipes the bandits out, to the last man.
- Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: His story that a rival bandit gang's attack allowed him to escape being hostage can not be unproven as all the bandits who kept him captive are dead... and gone.
- Intrepid Merchant: He makes his living by trade between towns, and that's not easy.
- Secret-Keeper: He wisely keeps the fact that Van rescued him from bandits secret because he doesn't want a necromancer's grudge coming after him.
Bandit Leader
The leader of the strongest bandit group in the Evbejia local area.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Begged for his life the moment he encountered Van.
- Dirty Coward: Sent all his men on a suicidal attack against Van's undead to try and escape himself.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Knew he was no match for Van's rank 3 undead, so he tried to run. It didn't help.
- No Name Given: His name is never mentioned.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!: As he was begging for his life, he pointed out how useful a living subordinate would be to Van. This impressed Van, a little.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Van learns from Sam that he and his merry band of men raped Sam's daughters to death and then burned the bodies while Sam was Forced to Watch.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Van lampshades it by telling him that a man who flees his companions to save himself is not useful to him.
