The Arms of Midnight

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord, or any of its related, products, characters, music, or affiliated merchandise. I also do not own any other franchises, series, music, or any other items I may mention in this story in any way much to my chagrin.

I just realized I made a mistake as the words left my mouth, I was thinking aloud and if they had heard anything that left my idiotic little mind I might be in serious trouble.

Yuuko had turned her head abruptly and said, "Did you say something?"

Thinking quickly I said the only thing I could think of on short notice.

"I said that it must be nice to have someone you can really rely on here in Xiuhpilli's business community!"

Yuuko gave me a rather odd look before she started to laugh. Her laughter was musical, and surprisingly vibrant in comparison to her appearance which hinted at a severe illness considering how pale and thin she was.

"Did I say something funny?"

Yuuko's laughter was slowly starting to dwindle as she lifted a hand to wipe away at the bottom of her eyes as if she was tearing up from laughing too hard, which she certainly didn't sound like she was doing.

"If I may be completely honest with you. You did. You see my lord, I wouldn't be in this city if it wasn't for Aisha being such a good friend and old traveling companion from my adventuring days."

Slowly thoughts and questions from earlier surfaced from memory as I thought back to the ride into Xiuhpilli, and that's when I was hit by a sudden realization.

"Wait, adventuring days? You mean you and Aisha traveled together?"

Yuuko nodded, "Yes... she and a mutual friend of ours were the Nightingales. We may have been famous in the kingdoms on the Northern continent for around a year or two as we made our way to almost all of the major cities as musicians. Of course we also performed quite well as adventurers for the Guild too."

"Oh, so what role did you play in your group? I suppose Aisha here served as the main magic user, and Naomi... well considering how Aisha spoke in regards to her capabilities for finding rare herbs and growing plants... a ranger perhaps?"

Yuuko and Aisha exchanged a look before Yuuko spoke, "Actually, Naomi was our little rogue of the group, I mean she was really good with plants of course, but she was even better with traps and locks, when she wasn't lurking about anyway. Myself on the other hand... well let's just say I'm not someone you want to get into a serious fight with."

I looked at the lithe form of Yuuko and made two assumptions, the first being that she must be really fast if her claim was true, the second thought was that she might be a lot more trouble than she would first appear to be, and that meant she might be very good with illusion making her a big problem if she was anywhere near my capability. That was assuming of course that people could actually get that powerful since I rather easily plied Aisha for information in regards to adventurers with some very careful steering of the conversation on the way to the city.

What I heard wasn't exactly what I would call impressive by Yggdrasil's standards since I knew just how dangerous even a pack of low level monsters could pose to a high level character if they were capable of getting around that character's damage resistances.

Looking at a mirror in the corner I noticed just how dark it was getting outside while a few street lamps were just about done being lit by a pair of lizardmen with long torches, the torches being used to set alight a large wick in a bowl filled with what I assumed was oil.

I was about to say something when Yuuko spoke up first, "I need to get to the tavern Aisha so I will see you in the morning to see if my order came in. I mean I did only drop by to let you know I was back."

"Oh Yuuko! I should have mentioned this sooner but... he's called Dreisen and he needs somewhere to stay for a while... so..."

Yuuko looked at Aisha with a look of annoyance before turning to look at me.

"...Well... Yuuko...?"

Yuuko looked back to Aisha with a really annoyed roll of her eyes, "Yes he can come along, I think there might be a guest or two that I can toss out onto the street for not paying for their tenancy, or if nothing else I'll have him sleep in the festhall."

I looked at Yuuko in surprise, but also mild annoyance.

"Yuuko, if it would not be a problem, I would rather just sleep in the tavern. I even promise not to drink you out of business."

Yuuko took a moment to look at me, even taking a moment to try taking a peek under my robe's hood, and I was suddenly very thankful for the powerful but basic illusion that the robe was given as a permanent enchantment, hiding my face and nature to any observer that I didn't want knowing what I was or what I looked like.

I let out a slight chuckle as I noticed Yuuko pout in annoyance, "See anything of interest my lady?"

I wasn't surprised to see her eyes narrow with a dangerous look in her eye.

"Oh, nothing that would interest me in the slightest..."

She spoke condescendingly, and the underlying playful tone she had was at least amusing, assuming I wasn't about to be on the receiving end of some sick sense of humor. Though knowing my luck it would probably be a cruel twist of fate considering I was already in another world. Though in my opinion it wasn't like it could get any worse.

"Oh, well that is a shame my lady. I suppose I am ready to retire whenever you are ready to leave."

Yuuko gave me a look like I missed some crucial bit of information, and then she turned back to Aisha.

"I suppose I shall see you on the morrow...", Yuuko then leaned toward Aisha's ear and whispered something, but whatever it was made Aisha's eyes widen beneath her mask and then she seemed to lean away from Yuuko suddenly, only to stare at her for a minute or two in complete silence.

"Yuuko, my answer is still no, even if it is a different man altogether."

I wasn't entirely sure what they were referring to, but I really didn't want to find out.

It was an entire hour of 'girl talk' I was stuck listening to, and I ended up hearing far more than I wanted to learn about BOTH Yuuko and Aisha.

In Aisha's case I learned plenty about her social habits and past attempts at a relationship, which I seriously could have cared less for considering how my usual luck with women in general went. Then of course there was every single little annoying detail I heard about Yuuko, since Aisha did not appreciate having her private life spoken of so boldly in such a public manner, namely in front of someone that wasn't Yuuko or Naomi.

So yeah, I got to learn all sorts of tidbits about Yuuko, ranging from the fact that she had an alluring singing voice, to her absolute hatred of men of the cloth thanks to the apparent hypocrisy the priesthood hailing from the Slane Theocracy seemed to indulge in quite heavily. Of course upon hearing the name, since Aisha was so kind as to give me a brief idea of who the Theocracy was, I decided to prod them for more information with a few well timed questions. I was not pleased by the answers I received to say the least.

So eventually with a little inventive application of key phrases relating to rest, sleep, and the fact that it was the middle of the night, I managed to get Yuuko to stop pestering Aisha and lead me out the door of Aisha's shop. Of course I also promised Aisha I would stop by later in the day to take a proper look at her wares, although Yuuko seemed to be quite annoyed with me for a reason I couldn't quite figure out. However I did catch her giving me a few lingering looks I immediately dismissed as mere curiosity as we made our way down the dimly lit streets.

It wasn't long before I had the chance to meet my first Lizardman that was supposedly a citizen of the Coatl Empire, or more accurately a night patrolman. They were something else compared to the Lizardmen from Yggdrasil's roster of heteromorphic races. They were far leaner than what I suspected from Aisha's description, and they definitely had a look of intelligence about them to supplement their physique. A trait I guessed from the fact they gave both Yuuko and I a quick glance, and only hesitated upon seeing my staff. Although they seemed to relax after I nodded, causing my hood to bob slightly, which seemed to be taken exactly as I had hoped it would. I had hoped it would pass for a sign of respect, although I wasn't quite expecting them to nod in response as they continued their patrol.

Of course, the walk to Yuuko's tavern did give me the opportunity to observe her in a more neutral setting when she was focused on something other than interacting with someone, and what I saw was not exactly normal behavior for the average human. The most notable thing about her was for lack of a better term, just how alert she was. She seemed to scrutinize everything with a disinterested gaze, although she gave the few people, or more accurately human occupants of the city, that we passed a rather predatory look that faded as quickly as it appeared.

When we finally got to her business, to be honest I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't expect her to have a two story tall inn that had to be taking up the entire corner of two separate streets and extending around eighty feet up both streets.

"So we're finally here Mister tall, dark, and mysterious. Welcome to my inn and tavern."

"It is quite the sight."

I was standing in a tavern alright, drinks were served in mugs, chalices, and in a few instances what looked like metal cups. Laughter from dozens of patrons and the sound of those same toasting revelers was a constant assurance of that fact, along with more than a few barmaids making exclamations of surprise that may or may not have been followed up by a slap or the occasional spilled drink.

Frankly it reminded me of a bar I used to frequent during my stay in the company's New York office branch, except for a distinct lack of a karaoke stage or a big screen TV perpetually tuned to the sports channel. Yuuko didn't seem to pay the crowd much attention however.

I was about to say something but then the sound of a woman crying out in surprise and falling cups hitting the floor drew both my attention and Yuuko's, and judging from the scene before us I was pretty sure Yuuko was about to kill someone if I interpreted her expression correctly.

I watched as Yuuko screamed at a man that looked tall enough to look my current form in the eye, and then the man in question simply laughed it off and continued to harass the barmaid he was holding onto. Though considering Yuuko was walking right at him with murder in her eyes he was actually starting to realize he was in serious trouble with the owner.

I didn't think he was exactly thinking properly since his eyes were definitely gave away the fact he had been drinking and upon seeing Yuuko heading right for him his expression changed from one of realization of impending doom to one of annoyance.

"I have told you to leave my girls alone you arrogant, oversized, womanizing, swine loving bas-!"

Yuuko's head twisted sharply to the right as the man's hand hit her face, and the next thing I knew that same hand and arm were bent the wrong way. I was dumbstruck, mostly because Yuuko was standing upright, looking extremely pissed at that, and the man was bawling as if his entire body was being broken, though considering Yuuko was taking her time grinding his other hand into the floor with her shoe so I didn't doubt anything about that notion failing to come true shortly.

The man was being 'escorted' to a nearby guardhouse by a few 'adventurers', free of charge, as a favor owed to Yuuko while she was sitting at the tavern's serving counter with a bottle of an amber colored liquor pressed to the left side of her face. I was sitting nearby, and I watched Yuuko as she sat fuming with such anger that she had given more than a few looks to her customers that she sent them scurrying away from her gaze in fear of rousing her ire.

I was concerned about her, though I was rather interested in finding out how she inflicted the injuries she did, because from what I could see she must have broken the man's one arm in at least three separate places including their wrist, and then their other hand was undoubtedly shattered after she ground it into the flooring considering how much noise it made along with leaving blood on the floor.

Then of course there was the fact that those injuries were just the tip of the iceberg as she had actually picked them up and then slammed them into the floor, which judging from how they were breathing he had to have had at least a couple of broken ribs. So if nothing else she was very strong, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was perhaps something I was overlooking.

So, considering the circumstances I decided to do the foolish thing.

"Are you alright Yuuko?"

Yuuko looked at me with some of the same ire she surveyed some of her customers with, just before slamming the bottle she had been using to soothe her face down onto the countertop loudly. I was surprised to see that her face wasn't even red from where she had been hit, though I was a bit surprised to see her eyes which were a dark brown flicker in the lighting to a dull red before switching back to the placid brown they originally were.

So I came to the conclusion that she was definitely not human, but something that could pass for it without closer inspection.

That was of course when she decided to answer my question into her wellbeing.

"Do I look like I'm alright?"

"Well it doesn't look like you'll be bruising so that's always a good thing. I do have to ask though and I understand if you don't want to answer it considering the circumstances. How did you manage to break so many of his bones?"

Yuuko gave a slight smile that practically dripped anger and venom.

"Oh, let's just say I'm really good at breaking things."

I let out a dark chuckle, "If I was as good at breaking bones like you just demonstrated, I wouldn't have let him get away with it."

"Oh, but I don't intend to let him get away with it..."

I looked at Yuuko as I had let my vision drift across the room toward a small stage built into the tavern's far wall and then looked back to Yuuko, her eyes were full of malice, but it was controlled, focused even. It actually made me extremely uncomfortable, possibly even to the point of panic but I felt myself being forcibly calmed down.

I was a bit wary but decided to try asking anyway, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing in particular... but enough about me. I think it's time we get you settled in but it doesn't look like any of my tenants are behind on rent, though there is one that will be leaving within the next few days if you don't mind sleeping in the ale hall until then."

"Hmm... I guess I could but I need to do some running as soon as possible once it is morning. If you could arrange for a wake up call that would be much appreciated."

Yuuko gave a whimsical hum before she spoke again, "I guess I could arrange for that... but I want a little something up front..."

I sighed and reached into my sleeve to access my personal inventory, I hoped and surprisingly I felt what I was after.

"Would this suffice Yuuko?"

I offered a few gold coins by fanning them out on the counter out of view of anyone not behind the counter or immediately next to me.

I watched as Yuuko's eyes widened in shock, but there was something else there too, though I knew what greed looked like and I know that what she had in her eyes wasn't it.

"Oh my... what's your name again?"

"I haven't told you my name yet, it's Dreisen."

Yuuko was giving me a fresh appraisal while she thumbed one of the coins I had from Yggdrasil into her hand and inspected it. It wasn't long before she tossed it to the lizardman behind the counter only for them to bite into it, undoubtedly to check if it was a real gold coin.

"You know Dreisen, I haven't seen coins minted like this before... where did you get it?"

"Oh, here and there..."

She took one look at me and gave a sigh of annoyance before leaning in to whisper out of courtesy, "I find that to be a bit unlikely, although I understand why you would not want to tell anyone about where you had found these as each one is just over the standard weight for the local coinage... so that means it is a lot closer to a solid ounce of gold."

I took a quick glance around to make sure no one was listening in within easy earshot, "I'm guessing that's a bad thing then...?"

Yuuko laughed softly before answering, "It means Lord Dreisen, that you are probably very rich and I will put these two coins on a marker for your expenses for the duration of your stay in Xiuhpilli. Also, welcome to the Arms of Midnight, and I am your host, Yuuko, also known as Lady Midnight to those who come to listen to my singing."