Richard

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Escape from the Rose School

Not long after becoming a Beyonder, Richard was persecuted by members of his organization who held opposing beliefs. His original teacher and senior companions fled with him, but pursuit by the Indulgence Faction left more than half their group dead or wounded. The survivors eventually reached a nobleman’s estate, only to discover that their host was a Devil—Edward Vaughan 21.

Richard subsequently became Edward’s student and believer. During this early period, he earned money by selling matches, fountain pens, and newspapers, and carried shoe-polishing tools. He also visited an elderly woman who had once helped him, reading newspapers to her, preparing tea, and keeping her company 21.

When Richard asked why ordinary people remained miserable despite relief programs and legal reforms, Edward argued that rulers and gods acted for their own interests. Richard was shaken by the suggestion that gods would oppose a society capable of living without them, but firmly chose to continue learning 21.

Founding the Ernst Charity Foundation

Richard founded the Ernst Charity Foundation during Emperor Roselle’s era. By the main story, it has operated for two hundred years, supporting poorhouses, welfare homes, orphanages, and hospitals. It is directly subordinate to the Pilgrimage Church and enjoys a good public reputation 10 12 41.

His attempts to improve working conditions in Edward’s businesses had severe financial consequences. He installed safer machinery, raised wages by ten percent, and committed substantial funds to workplace-injury treatment. The factories became unable to compete and went bankrupt, while Edward’s family in Intis lost nearly half its influence at one point 10.

The business managers revoked Richard’s commercial authority and reclaimed the factories, investments, and plantations. They resumed using cheap labor and slaves to generate the capital supporting his charity—an outcome Edward regarded as deeply ironic 10.

Appearance

• Build and ancestry: 192 cm tall, with mixed Feysac ancestry 41.
• Eyes: Light brown 12.
• Apparent age: Described as a young man despite his centuries-long history 12 17.
• Clothing and presentation: Wears a top hat and jacket, but is characterized as travel-worn, inconspicuous, and poor rather than ostentatious 12 15 47.

Personality

Richard treats charity as his life’s pursuit. Edward considers him one of the few genuinely good people qualified to condemn his actions. His compassion is also essential to his stability: the people aided by the Foundation are his anchors, and abandoning his kindness would cause him to lose control 10 17.

He remains hopeful about practical improvements even after learning how self-serving powerful institutions can be. He welcomes the Government Employee Examination because it offers educated Foundation beneficiaries another route to a better life, regardless of the king’s motives. He likewise praises the Aurora Order’s diligent volunteers, bewildering Traynor with his favorable view of a notorious cult 24 26.

His kindness does not prevent harsh retaliation. Against Qilingus, he expresses restrained fury, rejects financial compensation, and deliberately kills him for massacring children and Wilhelmina. In personal conduct, Richard retains conservative Temperance Faction beliefs and disapproves of Traynor changing romantic partners every month 12 34.

Abilities & Skills

Object Manipulation and Animation

• Makes a carriage curtain coil around Qilingus’s arm during the pursuit at Duke Negan’s estate 11.
• Strikes the fleeing pirate with a flying carriage wheel 11.
• Transforms Wilhelmina’s bloodstained handkerchief into a fish-like attacker that tears out Qilingus’s underwater gills 12.

Angelic Presence and Physical Strength

• Crushes Qilingus’s hand and wrist beneath his boot 11.
• Immobilizes Creeping Hunger with his angelic presence, allowing him to remove and handle it safely 12.
• Exerts enough pressure on the glove that it turns against its current owner during the confrontation 11.

Spiritual Perception

• Detects Azik’s presence and the aura of decay and death surrounding him, initially mistaking him for a member of the Numinous Episcopate 12.
• Recognizes Edward in owl form and uses spiritual intuition to understand his permission to visit the villa 33 34.
• Cannot identify the cause of the abnormal nights encountered at sea; asks Edward to investigate personally 44.

Rescue Operations and Intelligence Gathering

• Repeatedly raids the Rose School, rescues slaves and intended living sacrifices, and escapes Suah 34.
• Uses sting operations to obtain Indulgence Faction Beyonder characteristics for training recruits 34.
• Investigates increased sacrifices, possible cooperation with the Blood Sanctify Sect, and disappearances linked to trafficking 34.
• Maintains contacts that Edward expects him to use when collecting restricted pages of Roselle’s diaries 34.

Fundraising and Administration

• Solicits noble sponsorship through his secular identity and submits financial reports to Edward through sacrificial rituals 10.
• Negotiates the sale of Creeping Hunger for £20,000, directing payment to Foundation institutions as a donation 12.
• Tracks income and plans spending on repairs, winter bedding, clothing, medicine, hospital beds, and patient nourishment 12.
• Introduces internal reforms to reduce expenses and invests personal money in emerging banks and the steel industry 34.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Wilhelmina’s handkerchief — Bears dried blood, an embroidered smiling face, and the blood-written word “Hurricane.” Richard uses it both as evidence identifying Qilingus and as the instrument of his death 12.
• Creeping Hunger — Temporarily seized from Qilingus and sold to Azik for £20,000; Richard does not retain it 12.
• Notebook and pen — Used immediately after Qilingus’s death to record the glove sale, expected bounty, and charitable spending plans 12.

Relationships

• Edward Vaughan — Teacher, deity, and financial patron. Richard has followed him for two hundred years and continues trying to restore his compassion. Although outsiders regard them as equal angel leaders, Richard personally treats Edward as his Lord 17 41.
• Viscount Traynor Sauron Vaughn — Longstanding charitable partner and sponsor. Traynor struggles to understand Richard’s optimism and is exasperated by his fundraising demands and losses 26 41.
• Alia — Foundation beneficiary whom Richard escorts to Backlund University. He offers continued financial support and arranges access to suitable part-time work 33.
• Maria — Pilgrimage Church colleague in the East Borough. Richard recommends her to Alia as someone capable of arranging work compatible with her studies 33.
• Wilhelmina — A Pilgrimage Church companion killed aboard the Marigold. Richard preserves her final clue and uses it to avenge her death 12.
• Azik — Buyer of Creeping Hunger. Richard turns their unexpected encounter into a transaction benefiting the Foundation 12.
• Suah — Hostile Rose School powerhouse whom Richard has escaped during his rescue operations 34.
• Temperance Faction angel in the Spirit World — A deceased angel Richard locates during his investigations. This former ally rejects cooperation because Richard has changed his faith and become a cultist 34.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Avoiding the Annual Sacrifice

• Richard remains in Intis rather than presiding over the Aurora Order’s annual sacrifice to Edward. He is willing to handle rites within his own sect but again declines the Aurora Order’s ceremony 5.

Killing Qilingus

• Earl Hall recruits Richard after Audrey suspects that Baron Gramir is Qilingus in disguise. Richard agrees to act even without a bounty because he has blood debts to settle with the pirate 11.
• The grievance concerns the Marigold: fifty children and girls traveling from Intis’s slums to orphanages in Loen were killed, and only twelve incomplete bodies were recovered. Wilhelmina also died during the attack 12.
• After subduing Qilingus, Richard sells Creeping Hunger to Azik and kills the pirate in the canal with Wilhelmina’s handkerchief 12.
• He estimates possible proceeds of £150,000 and prioritizes renovating existing facilities and preparing for winter rather than building new institutions. This is an estimate, not a confirmed payment 12.

Investigating Tingen’s Losses

• Richard visits the Poorhouse after the Tingen catastrophe, provides £50, and learns that six residents died, including a sick little girl 17.
• He prays directly to Edward and asks why he descended upon Tingen and took people’s souls. Edward admits responsibility for all 4,351 deaths without attempting to deflect Richard’s condemnation 17.

Cooperation with the Aurora Order

• Richard reports that closer cooperation with Aurora Order volunteers has stabilized Foundation affairs and reduced losses compared with previous years 26.
• His letter describes the volunteers as kind, enthusiastic, and diligent—an assessment Traynor repeatedly rereads in disbelief 26.

Alia, Trafficking, and George III

• Richard brings Alia to Backlund after she earns university admission and a one-year tuition waiver. When their booked inn unexpectedly closes, he secures accommodation at Edward’s villa 33 34.
• He reports disappearances in the Southern Continent and Backlund. After Edward identifies preparations for a new Black Emperor, Richard deduces that the missing people may be building mausoleums 34.
• Rather than opposing George III simply for seeking advancement, Richard considers secretly locating the mausoleums and rescuing the trafficked workers 34.

Roselle’s Diaries and the Abyss

• Richard reports an organizational deficit of £1,720, 5 soli, and 3 pence. Edward offers £10,000 in funding on condition that he collect Roselle’s diaries, especially restricted pages, and investigate traces of the Abyss 34.
• Richard plans a sea journey before the new year, including checking developments in Bayam. His later letter warns that the nights at sea are abnormal but that he cannot sense what is happening 34 44.

Notable Quotes

“Life is a pilgrimage in which we gather suffering and happiness. We cannot fight death, but we must at least let people have beautiful memories.” 17

“Even if the powerful are only doing these things for their own sake, it’s still a tremendous blessing for the people.” 24

“Everyone dies. I can’t stop her from taking the Beyonder path, but I would be happy for her to die as a human.” 34

Trivia

• The Pilgrimage Church’s Sequence 3 Clairvoyant completed an advancement ritual that involved analyzing Richard’s blood 41.
• Major churches mistake Richard’s relationship with Edward for a partnership strained by ideological disagreement. Churches led by the Earth Mother offer assistance in the hope that Richard will prevail over the Devil and restructure the organization 41.
• Richard sends letters by sacrifice to avoid postage costs and delays. At sea, he instead uses Riel as a messenger because conventional delivery to the Northern Continent is too expensive and slow 24 44.