Just after Judas had left with the rest of the knights, I had to make a not-so-fun choice. Should I stay here and gather more information on this Gazef Stronoff they were trailing over here, or to go back to Nazarick. Because, while going to Nazarick would be so much easier, I know that my job still isn't completely done. I need to have a talk with villagers, calm all of them down, get the girls back to the town, and then there's the whole Gazef thing.

All in all, I have plenty to do, and a semi-limited time frame to do it in.

"Seraph, I have an order for you. Go to the skies and scout around the village. If you find any groups coming here, do not interact with them, but tell me what they look like. I will talk with the villagers." This should give me a bit of an early warning system. Which I will, most certainly, desperately need.

"As you command my lord."

And then the seraph left.

"This act is surprisingly tiring to keep up. Maybe it's how everyone believes it?" I said to myself, as I kinda understand how Momonga feels now. Especially since he thinks he can't let it down. That's going to kill him sooner or later, so I'll have to nip it in the bud. Hopefully, Albedo is doing that for me now. Hopefully.

There were no villagers around me, so I stretched my shoulders. Although I had to do the same act to a degree in Nazarick, I could still unload myself at the bar, or just tell the maid to leave the room for a bit. The god act would be tiring for any former businessman like myself, and without the YGGDRASIL "role-play training", I most certainly would not be able to keep it up. Unfortunately, the curtains had closed on my little minute of down time, as I had to put the mask back on.

I resisted the urge to sigh and walked towards the villagers. As I drew closer, I could more easily see the confusion, wonder and horror on their faces. Confusion because of what has happened and what will happen. Wonder at seeing what must be a god. And horror, likely at seeing the lance I have in my hand. It isn't that they weren't happy at being saved, but rather that they were frightened by me.

As a now powerful non-human, I have to realize that I'll have a different point of view from the normal people of this world. Because if I were in their shoes, I'd be thanking me right about now.

If I walk too close to them, the outcome will be the opposite of what I hope for: peace. So, I decide to stop at a distance from them, and then speak in a kindly tone:

"You have been saved. Please, be at ease."

"Y-you, you are..." The villager who spoke was a thin, tall man with strangely little muscle for a farmer. But he had the strength to stare at me the whole time he spoke. He didn't, however, have the strength to finish his statement.

So after a small pause, I continued.

"I saw the knights attacking the village, so I came to help. You have no reason to worry, you are safe. I have sent the angel to watch the village and it's surroundings from above."

"Ohh..." Many of the villagers gasped in relief, with all of it being very visible on their faces. Even so, they weren't completely at ease. Being near a being so far above them will do that to you.

"I rescued a pair of sisters before I and my seraph came here. I will bring them over now. Can you wait here for me?"

It's not like I have to protect my fake identity, but I have an idea of something I could give them: an archangel's war-horn. If you blow it, it'll summon an army of low level angels and two mid-level angels, who, much like my angel, will all stay until they are killed.

"O-of course..."

After picking up the two girls, named Enri Emmot (the older one) and Nemu Emmot (the younger one), and giving the older one the war-horn, I went back to the village. I am currently in the village chiefs house, which was just off the village square. It had two floors, with a large living room and a kitchen off to the side on the first, and then the personal rooms on the second floor. It didn't seem to have a basement. There was a rickety old wooden table, I'm assuming oak, and several chairs occupying the center of the living room. After surveying the interior, I took a seat.

The sunlight shined through the windows and illuminated every corner of the room. There was a candle holder made of either brass or copper on the center of the table, with an unlit candle in it. There was an older woman in the corner of the kitchen, and a few farming tools against the walls of the house. There were no manufactured products anywhere, which made sense for the time period we seemed to be in. The room gave me an idea of the poverty they lived in, though this would likely be counted as very good for most.

Still though, with this world having magic, the technology they might develop in the more nice and rich parts of the world could be very interesting.

As I sat in the chair, it creaked slightly, though likely more from old age then from my weight. My weight was actually quite light, especially if you considered the others of Ainz Ooal Gown. Light for a fully armored knight at least. I held my lance in my side hand, and allowed myself to relax my grip on it to seem more friendly. They probably won't notice it, but it'd be a nice touch if they do. The way my golden lance reflected the warm, brilliant sunlight was a wonder, something worthy of a painting, or perhaps a song. This doesn't sound like me... Weird.

The faces of the villagers when I came back with the children in tow was funny, as they all seemed surprised. Their eyes went wide and most were at a loss for words. Certainly more from me and my apparel then me bringing them back. But enough with saying the obvious, it's business time.

My objective is to gain information while giving as little as possible. Now that I have the cover of being the god of life Alah Alaf, I can ask for anything using the clause of "I've been asleep, I know little of how things are now," at find things out. But if I use this too much, they might think that something's off. But would they question their god? I assume not, but Judas could act normal, and he was but a normal knight, so perhaps these peasants will remain the same.

While asking for money would definitely be rewarded fast as lightning, that might not go down so well with the local lord. But maybe I'm being to cautious- no, this is exactly what Momonga would do.

God damn it, this is like running across a busy road. A fatal accident could occur at any time. That "fatal accident" being a run-in with the powerful beings of this world. Oh god, what if this is a martial cultivation world! That would be horrifying!

Everything here is going to be a roll of the fucking dice.

For now, I'm stronger than everyone else in the village, but that doesn't mean that it'll be the same for everyone in the world. In addition, though I seem heavenly, my race will lead me to be attacked by though with evil karma or evil races, so it's not like I'll be safe from everything. Some humans will hate me, and they might as well attack me. So I need to tread carefully.

"I apologize for keep you waiting, my lord." The village chief said. He sat opposite to me, and his wife, the woman formerly in the kitchen, sat next to him. The table was placed between us. He had dark skin, tanned from working in the sun all day, and wrinkled from age. His body was muscular, and had obviously been trained through constant field work and heavy labor. More than half of his hair was white. He wore a blue tunic, with a white collared undershirt. He had grey-black pants, with brown boots. He had a red hat that looked worryingly like a beany, and a silver necklace with an emerald in the middle, likely the symbol of him being the chief. The tired look on his face told me that he was in his 40s, but it was hard to tell.

His wife seemed to be about the same age. I could tell that she had been beautiful once, but after long years of working on a farm, that beauty was no where to be seen. Wrinkles covered her face. Her black hair was shoulder length, and was all messed up from what had happened. Even in the sunlight, and with the knowledge that they were safe, she still seemed gloomy.

"Please, help yourself. "

The chief placed a crude porcelain cup on the table and gently slides it to me. The tea-water inside was steaming hot. Though I am sure it would taste bad, I can't exactly refuse their hospitality without seeming rude, can I?

"Thank you." I commented before sipping the tea. Never mind, it isn't tea. It's just hot water. Why would you enjoy this? Is it the taste of your tongue burning? Do you like that?

I used my best poker face, and tried to seem normal. Hopefully I didn't seem rude. But what is their taste?

I wish I just told Momonga and let him do it. Or better yet, just didn't charge in all gung-ho. Who do I think I am, Touch-Me? Perhaps it is my race affecting me. But then I feel like I'd be burning sinners rather than saving nobodies and would-be martyrs...

"Now then, let us talk." Strange phrasing for me, but seeming older seems like a good idea with this crowd.

"Of course. But before that... thank you so, so very much!" The chief cried. He and his wife both bowed then, their heads so low that they nearly touched the table. A small wet spot developed on the table above where his wife's head was. He then continued, "Without your work, we would all be dead by now. You have our deepest thanks, oh god!"

I'm not even surprised at this point. This almost seems boring now. Still, this is practically the first time I've been thanked like this. Back when I was human, I had never saved any lives, or had any reason to be thanked like this, not that there was anyone who would really care at this point.

"Please, raise your heads. I did not do this entirely for free." Now, while I did get quite a large bit of information from Judas the knight, it would still be smart to double check. And there is one more thing I'm thinking of getting: a map. The directions I got were nice and all, but I don't have any compasses and a real map would be way more useful. I didn't ask Judas for one because I both didn't think of it, and because why would a random knight have a map? If anything, his leaders would have them. Which reminds me, I should take their captains corpse. Give him to Neuronist, at least.

"Still, we have to thank you for finding all of us worthy to save, oh great and powerful god!" That's flattery, surely that is flattery.

"Please, relax. Paying me will do more than any thanks ever could. So please, let us discuss it. You must have many things to do, after all." I say with a smile. The message I'm trying to give is: "let's get a god damned move on, I want to go back to Nazarick."

"Nothing could be more important than spending time with our god, but I shall follow your commands. So may I ask what you want from us, our god? We... don't have much, I'm afraid... I'm not sure how many silver and copper pieces we can gather if we collect them from everyone, but I imagine that we could at least scrape together around three thousand copper pieces." The chief then raised his head, and his wife soon followed. What the hell is a copper piece? I know that it is obviously money, but what is it worth? Pennies, nickels, dimes?

It sounds like a large amount, but without knowing the value of their currency, I can't tell if I should accept it or not. I mean, I clearly can't accept all of it. I'll just take one of each I guess. Still, I'm relieved that they aren't sacrificing goats or first born sons as an offering.

Still, this tells me a few things. First, copper and silver are the basic forms of currency in this village and likely the kingdom too. Second, there should be other forms of currency which are more valuable, probably gold and maybe diamond or something else above it. Still, I'm going to need to know the basic monetary value of the copper pieces. Without that knowledge, things would be quite troublesome in the future.

"Please, calm down. You have no need to go that far, believer. If anything, all I'll need would be one copper and one silver, and a map if you have one. Aside from that, I'll also need you to tell me how much this," I told, reaching into my inventory and grabbing one YGGDRASIL gold coin, "would be worth."

YGGDRASIL gold coins were the standard currency in YGGDRASIL. Though there were multiple skins for the coins, the coins all still had the same worth. So if one YGGDRASIL coin is worth nothing, then we're basically back in YGGDRASIL, where the lowest costing item was about 20-50 gold. And that would be items for level 1 noobs only. Just one gold coin could literally buy nothing, unless you were making a false "deal" with another player, which counted as buying. I say false deal because if your partner wasn't stupid or being nice, then there was no way in hell that he would sell anything for that small of a sum.

If the gold was worth a lot, on the other hand, then we would be even more rich then we already are. And we have over 2 million gold in our treasury, if not more. Knowing Momonga, we probably have way more. He was always a grinder, and money grinding, if you knew what to do, was quite easy. So with that amount of wealth, we could almost certainly buy the whole world if we wanted to. Hell, we could cause inflation so bad that it would be worth nothing, or make all current New World Currency™ completely worthless. But back to reality for a moment-

As I placed the gold coin on the table, both the village chief and his wife stared with wide eyes.

"T-this, this is!"

"This is the currency used back in my home world. Can it be used here?" I lied. My home world was earth, but no one needs to know that. Hell, I'll forget it myself eventually. Unless I find a way back. In that case, I would steal everything I could and run back to here. Having proper new-age technology would be a true god's blessing for Nazarick. Like robotic skeletons for Momonga to control, or hologram pads and phones for messages to be sent without being interrupted.

"I should think so... We ask that you wait a bit, my god..."

"Of course," I confirmed. The chief then gave a sigh of relief and went upstairs.

Good to know that our money works, I'd be very worried if it didn't.

After a small time of running around, he came back down the stairs with something I had only seen on the history channel: a balance scale. A really old timey one too, but what else would he use here? So, his wife took the coin and put it next to a circular object, as though she were comparing the relative sizes of the two. After she was satisfied, she put the gold coin on one side of the scale, and on the other side went a counter weight. My coin was heavier. I believe that this was called "standardized mass," though I can't be sure. She then put another weight on it, and the sides of the scale became roughly equal.

"It seems to be about twice as heavy as a regular gold piece... Perhaps, you could let us scratch the surface to make sure of it's worth?" His wife asked. She must think that it was just gold plated, and I can't blame her for that.

"O-oi! You're being rude in front of the god of life! Please accept my sincerest apologies on behalf of my wife for saying such foolish things, my lord!" The village chief pleaded.

"Not at all, you have nothing to worry about. So please, do anything you deem necessary."

"A-ah, t-thank you then, my lord."

The wife bowed in apology, and then scratched the coin. And under the "gold plating", all she saw was more gold. Who would have guessed, eh?

"We are truly sorry for doubt, here, please take it back," she murmured, still amazed at the coin being pure gold.

"Think nothing of it, it is only natural to want to see whether something is genuine or not. Remember, there is never any sin in seeking out the truth. Anyway, what do you think of the gold coin? How much do you think it would be worth?" I spoke, giving off a small lesson in the middle. A lesson I agree with, too.

"To start, the art on the coin is very beautiful. May I ask the name of where it is from, if I'm allowed?" The chief asked. The art on the coin he talked about was quite beautiful. Every coin, well basic coin at least, had a carving of the tree of life, aka Yggdrasil, on one side. The other side had a picture of a Valkyrie holding a sword. I say basic coin, because, as I mentioned earlier, there were skins you could buy for your gold. One skin, for example, had Touch-Me on one side. He was the world champion, and was the winner of several tournaments. The other side, fittingly enough, had Ulbert Alain Odle, Touch-Me's opposite, who had also won several tournaments and won the title of "World Disaster." Why you would waste real money to buy a skin for fake gold, I have no idea.

"It is from Hellheim, my old home. It's not in this world, so you can't really go there." I'm not wrong, to be fair. Nazarick, my home, was in Hellheim after all.

"I-I see. Well, we've confirmed that it weighs twice as much as a regular gold piece, but considering it's artistic value, it could be worth much more. I'm not a merchant by any means, so I have no idea on how to settle its artistic value, but I can tell you that it should definitely be worth several times more than a normal gold piece as a result."

"So if I were to use this to buy something, it would be worth at least two gold pieces?"

"Yes, of course."

"Now then, on to the other topic of what I need. Do you have any maps I could use?"

"Yes, I'll go grab one right away!" He blurted, before quickly running up the stairs again.

Well, that last bit was a bit of a waste. I just spend around the last ten minutes going over the surrounding areas with a map to show me, and it was all the same as what the knight told me. With the fun addition of a "Holy Kingdom", that was even further north. Apparently it succeeded from the theocracy a long time ago, so maybe Judas didn't mention it out of hatred? It does sound like something a theocracy would do... That being, brainwashing a population into hating people who are just like them all because they decided to make a different choice and gain some freedom. Other than that, there was also a nearby "Forest of Darkness" filled with monsters, one in particular being called the "Wise King of the Forest". All together, everything else was the same, but with visual representation.

However, that raises a different problem. The written language here is very different from Japanese. The spoken is the same, which is how we are communicating, but all the words are just lines with slashes, or something similar. Not going to be easy to learn. Thank the gods for {Comprehend Languages}.

"So, that's about it for all of the countries I know of. You can keep the map, too. It's the least we could do. Oh, and here is the silver and copper you wanted." The chief finished, nicely clearing up everything I needed. He handed the two coins to me, and passed the map along the table. Though the copper and silver really are more pieces than coins. Not flat at all, and rounded by hammer rather than any modern methods. Still, they could be useful.

"Thank you, that should be it then. I will now leave you two to your business, if nothing else comes up." And it was then that something came up.

"My lord, I have found a group on horseback riding towards the village."

"Continue."

"They seem like a rag-tag group of troops, with gear varying from man to man. Some have leather armor, some have chain mail, and some have plate armor, though none in full. Some have helmets, some don't. Some wield swords, others with bows, javelins, maces or other backup weapons. They seem like hardened veterans, so they could be mercenaries."

"Thank you, stay on the watch. I'll be out in a minute." And... conversation ended.

"And it appears a group has showed up. I suggest we leave the house now, we need to see if these people are friendly or not."

"There are more people coming?!"

"Yes, my angel just alerted me."

"We must leave at once then!" The chief said before bolting out the door.

I put the items into my inventory, then walked out to join him. Outside of the house, the rest of the people seem to be in a funeral procession, with the skinny tall guy from earlier giving words on hoping that they go to rest peacefully. Words about them entering the god of death's embrace and things like that. Nothing I care to listen to, especially now that I have something to do. The riders, meanwhile, were far closer to the village than I expected them to be. And by closer than I expected, I mean right at the gate. Perhaps my seraph didn't want to interrupt my conversation.

"I am the Warrior Captain of the Re-Estize Kingdom, Gazef Stronoff. By order of the king, I have been visiting each of the frontier villages to exterminate the enemy knights who have been slaughtering out people!"

A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but this has been hard to write. I'm not sure how I want the next scene to go, but I'll try to be faster than I was with this one. Sorry for the wait, and please enjoy!