Then and Now

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord or Sword Art Online

"It appears the common factor amongst the death of a number players was that they were all beta testers of the highly anticipated VRMMO game ANO Online. An anonymous source within the hospital revealed that the deceased players were all found to have "...had their brains liquefied" in what appears to be a repeat of the SAO incident over a decade ago. As of the moment the police have ruled out external foul play.

Despite the fact that AmuSpheres and all succeeding generations of the popular device have numerous built in safety measures the recent events have put into question the safety of its users of the device once again. President Kirigaya Asuna of RECT Inc. had this to say..."

Tokyo News Coverage, 20XX

~ On the way to Carne Village ~

"So it is a spell that emits an alarm once triggered?" Momon asked.

"Yes, exactly Momon-san," Ninya tried not to show her annoyance at Momon's repeated questioning.

For the past several minutes Momon had been asking her about some of the spells they used. His questions were actually well suited for one studying magic and any teacher would be delighted that Momon was his pupil but right now he was a Warrior who could cleave an ogre in half in one strike.

Beyond simple curiosity Ninya couldn't see why he kept asking about the more well known spells. Really, the warning spell she was setting up was so well known that even non-magic casters could do it themselves. Then again Momon was a Copper-plate and if he really was a noble's son playing Adventurer like she suspected then it would come as no surprise that he didn't know this.

"Perhaps Kairi-san can explain the rest to you Momon-san," Ninya said slowly with a smile. Please go away. Please go away. Please go away.

"The closest thing Kairi does to support," Momon began with a cough, "Is [Heal], the rest of her spells involve some kind of bodily harm to people or things she doesn't like."

"I...thought as much." Ninya sighed. It sounded plausible too considering Kairi's behavior in and out of battle.

"Hey! Dinner will be ready in a few minutes!" Lukeluther called as he stirred the stew over a small fire.

"Hmm, I had better go check on Kairi." Momon said as he turned to leave.

"Thanks for the help," Walkiria rolled her eyes as she set one of the party's bags down.

"Sorry, I was asking Ninya some questions regarding their magic system," Ainz replied, "While most of the magic is from Yggdrasil, some appear to be native to this world. I'm hoping to see if I can learn some or failing that know to what extent they can do."

"You could have asked that during dinner time," Walkiria said, still annoyed, "Its not like we need to ea-"

As she suddenly stopped talking Ainz knew why she chose to end the conversation. Their hearing had detected footsteps nearby and soon enough Peter walked over to them.

"Momon-san, Kairi-san there's no need to for you to do this kind of work," Peter said as he approached them, "Here, let me do it."

"We can't let you do that," Momon answered, "We agreed to divide the work proportionately, lifting a few bags is no big deal."

Kairi gave him a look that practically said "Oh, its we now?" which Ainz ignored.

"Ah, I see, the two of you are very hardworking," Peter said, "It must be how you got so strong. We should head over to the campfire, they may not look like it but Dyne and Lukeluther are actually pretty good cooks."

An hour later Ainz was wondering on how he was going to get out of his current predicament. He was currently staring at the contents of a wooden bowl that was currently their "dinner". Since he was undead, not only would the food pass right through him if he tried to eat it but even if did try to sample it he could not do so for he had no taste buds. It was a real shame as Ainz genuinely wanted to try some of this world's food.

Back in his normal life, he would normally settle for takeout or pre-made foods and take a supplement pill to cover all bases. In the earlier days when the guild would take a break from playing he would often stop by a Ramen shop and eat a bit more than usual but that was then. Also, being technically a foreigner to this land Ainz was naturally curious as to how the food tasted aside from the break of monotony from his usual meals.

"What's the matter, Momon-san?" Peter looked up from the food when he noticed Ainz wasn't eating. In fact, both he and Walkiria had not touched their food.

"Uh, you see-" Ainz began, casting Walkiria a side glance.

"He has an item that prevents him from going hungry," Walkiria explained with a straight face, "While it will not necessarily make you feel full, you won't get hungry either in exchange for a bit of energy loss."*

"Nice save!" Ainz cheered happily in his head, "The [Ring of Sustenance]! How could I forget? Wait! Maybe its a rare item in this world? Nah, I already have this armor on anyhow. One more 'expensive' item shouldn't be too much of a wonder at this point."

"Hoh? So his armor and weapons is not the only high quality item he possesses." Dyne concluded.

"Called it." Ninya thought darkly.

"I am sorry that you went through all the trouble of cooking extra for us Dyne-san," Walkiria said, "As team leader he should have told you beforehand."

"Well, with today's excitement I sort of forgot," Ainz added, "I apologize."

"Well, what about you Kairi-san?" Lukeluther asked with a weird look on his face, "Perhaps you can tell these guys how good of a cook I am? Don't be shy! I can even feed you mouth to mouth if you wa-"

Lukeluther was interrupted when Walkiria snapped her wooden spoon with one finger.

"I. Have. The. Same. Item. As. Well." She said through gritted teeth.

"Uh, is that a no?" Lukeluther asked obliviously.

Before anything untoward could happen Peter picked Lukeluther's spoon from his bowl and shoved it in his friend's mouth.

"I think the hunger's making him say things," Peter said disarmingly with a nervous smile as his friend choked.

While it galled him to say it, Lukeluther was his friend since they had gone through several life-threatening events with the party. His one vice just had to act up even though it was obvious that something was going on with Momon and Kairi. The way they gave each other looks during the trip was obvious enough.** If anything it was either Momon wished to keep it a secret to outsiders (otherwise he would have probably thrown Lukeluther over the hill) or he was the most patient man in the world and had complete confidence Kairi would not cheat on him.

Thankfully Peter's act to turn the situation around worked and elicited a laugh from all but the two Copper Plates.

"Are all Adventurers this close to each other?" Nfirea asked after the laughter died down.

"After a while," Peter confirmed, "Teams normally stay together if they can because they find that the members work well together."

"Hmmm, that's right teamwork is very important!" Lukeluther declared, "That's why the three of us are together. Sadly, we won't be taking any female members though. I hear they cause trouble if its a mixed group."

At the mention of this Ninya gave a nervous smile but said nothing.

"If you don't mind me asking," Everyone turned to Momon who had spoken up, "Why do you call yourselves the 'Swords of Darkness'? I noticed neither of you utilize any black swords."

"Ah, that! Its because of this guy!" Lukeluther draped an arm around Ninya.

"H-hey! Stop that! I was a kid, okay? I was stupid." Ninya protested while shoving Lukeluther's arm off.

"Don't be shy Ninya!" Dyne encouraged his teammate.

"That's right! You should follow your dream." Even Peter was in on it.

"Does the sword have any significance?" Momon asked innocently.

"Of course! Its the sword one of the Thirteen Heroes used! Everyone knows it!" Lukeluther answered, slightly confused. It was a popular tale after all.

At the mention of it, Ainz began to mentally curse, now he looked ignorant and couldn't ask them to tell the story without further embarrassing himself.

"Surely you heard about it Kairi-san?" Peter asked.

"No. Not from around here. We're foreigners. Remember?" Kairi answered in her usual concise sentences.

"YES!" Ainz cheered from within his heart.

"Hmm, to make a long story short," Dyne began, "The hero who wielded the sword was a dark knight who, along with the rest of the Thirteen Heroes, helped slay the Demon Kings."

He turned to look at Ninya with his ever present smile.

"His dream is that we collect all four swords for ourselves."

"We may have a problem in that area," Peter spoke up, "One of the swords is reportedly in the hands of one of the Kingdom's Adamantite Party, Blue Rose."

"Ah, the all female Adventurer party." Nfirea said.

"Well, we do have this," Lukeluther reached back and withdrew a short, black dagger, "This is the symbol of our team and our goals. It doesn't matter whether there's three swords or a hundred, we'll keep looking for them because it can only be done as team."

"That's...strangely deep for you to say." Ninya reluctantly said.

"Hmmm, Lukeluther does say something useful every once in a while." Dyne nodded in agreement.

"Hey! What do you mean every once in a while?" Lukeluther asked in disbelief while everyone laughed.

"Indeed, a party with a unified goal is much more effective than one without such a goal." Momon agreed.

"Were the two of you part of a party before Momon-san, Kairi-san?" Peter asked.

At this question Nfirea became excited. His original goal was to learn from Momon and Kairi how they made the potions. So far neither Adventurer were very talkative but now that was seemingly about to change. Even if they won't divulge the technique, at least he would have a starting point with their place of origin.

"No. Never had a party before, though I did work with and for groups in the past." Kairi said to everyone's disappointment.

"I had a group before," Everyone turned to Momon who spoke wistfully, "but it wasn't a party like this. We went on several adventures together and we were as close as a group could possibly be. One was a nin-Rogue, a pala-Holy Warrior, Chef, Archer..."

Momon seemed to slip deeper into his memories as he mentioned the classes of his former party member.

"There will never be a group like them." Momon finished. He seemed to have slipped into a melancholy as he finished.

"Momon-san...I am sure you will find people like them again." Ninya said before she could stop herself.

Ninya wasn't sure what possessed her to say such a thing when she had been wary of the two from the start but Momon's tone had become so sad that it sounded like he was crying. However, his response surprised everyone completely.

"That will never happen!" He snapped, looking at Ninya.

Though it could not be seen, no one was willing to bet that the Warrior's expression would be anything less than a glare.

After an uncomfortable moment that seemed like a minute the Adventurer stood up slowly.

"I apologize for the outburst," Momon mumbled, "I'll eat alone."

The black clad Warrior found a rock large and flat enough to sit on at the edge of the camp perimeter. However, there was no movement was made to indicate he was eating as his head drooped as low as the armor design allowed.

"I suppose I better get over there." Kairi sighed tiredly.

"Ah-He sounded like he wanted to be left alone Kairi-san." Peter said. Actually to him and everyone around, that was what Momon exactly wanted.

"Oh? Well, he does have quite a tantrum," Kairi smiled thinly, "So when he starts to throw trees and boulders around I recommend that's when you knock him out."

No one moved upon mentioning hearing this. Given what they had seen Momon do earlier, it didn't sound too far fetched.

After a while Kairi gave a dry chuckle before walking over to her partner.

~ Edge of Camp, Ainz ~

Ainz sighed. Another blunder. Whenever he thought about his friends his mood would drop. The Undead characteristic of nullifying any intense emotions didn't work as well in this case because the memories would stay and hover just below the threshold for the ability to activate. Even when it did surpass the limit his emotions would swell up again just as fast, that was how much he missed his friends. Now his intense emotions caused him to snap out at people who weren't at fault. Once he'd calmed down, he'd have to find some way to mend whatever rapport he had established otherwise the entire mission would be awkward, never mind of what these Adventurers would say to their fellows when they got back.

Soft footsteps approached from behind him, followed by multiple playful taps on his helmet with something. He looked up to see the only person who dare do such a thing in the immediate area. Walkiria sat next to him in the boulder, with her bowl in hand.

"This is just me but I don't think that's the image of a dashing warrior who's going to do great things."

She reached into her inventory and produced a short basic-looking dagger and began to dig a small pit. Before Ainz could wonder what her plan was she overturned the contents of her bowl into the pit.

"Can you not start now? I want some time to myself." Ainz gloomily.

"I fed them some story about how you sometimes throw boulders around when you have your tantrums," Walkiria continued as though he hadn't spoken, "You know, just in case they mention it."

"Thanks a lot." Ainz said sarcastically.

Without a word she took his bowl from his hands and poured the contents into he pit like before.

"Can't eat right?"

She returned the dagger in her item box and removed another item, this time a sword. Ever the collector Ainz, despite his low spirits, immediately identified it was a magic item due to its reddish glow. Walkiria jammed the black, twisted blade into the pit and immediately a fire burst forth, providing them with light.

"Well, I do need a snack or two," Walkiria hummed as she withdrew a container from her item box, "Mmmmm...I doubt anything's going to taste as good as that Maid's blood."

Ainz froze in rage.

"You didn't!" He growled after a few moments.

"What else am I suppose to eat?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Muuuuu!" Ainz stood up. His rage and shock making his body indecisive, plus there was that damned nullifying passive.

"See? There you go again," Walkiria seemed unconcerned, "When your brain comes back from its coffee break, it'll remind you that you introduced me to that talking mushroom in the bar. I brought the maid over to him before we left and told him to make the food taste exactly like that Maid's blood. He really delivered too. But don't take my word for it, I'm just a stranger. You can just ask the guy when we get back."

"Do you enjoy provoking me?!" Ainz all but yelled as he sat down angrily.

"You do that to yourself," Walkiria took a sip of her dinner "Its not my fault you get so worked up about anything to do with your sparkle pals. While you may not believe me, I'm not really that juvenile. So lighten up, you're already beginning to look for them, isn't that the point of you doing this?"

That's right. No exploring. No Fun. Not in Aincrad. Not in SAO. Just put one foot in front of the other. Get to the next safe zone...

"Well we can't all be like you! A one-man army!," Ainz continued heatedly, "I was Pked over and over again when I started out! Just because of my appearance! All I wanted to do was play the game! I never bothered anyone! Because of that I was going to quit the game from frustration until I was saved by my friends! Our guild was all but a family! Didn't you ask about those other guys when we were interrogating that prisoner huh? Even you have people you can rely on!"

Ainz's words were spoken very fast and began to quickly lose their coherence. In response, Walkiria gave a dry chuckle.

"Yeah, sure. Laugh it up! Its that hilarious." Ainz snarled.

"Yeah, actually it is," Walkiria said as she poked the fire with her current weapon, the wand.

"You know, the first guild I was going to join tried to kill me for my gear." Walkiria suddenly said.

Ainz "narrowed" his eyes in his helmet. "What does this have to-"

"My second encounter with a guild was that of the PK variety," She continued as if Ainz hadn't spoken, "I don't know what I did to piss them off but they sent a few guys every now and then...until they realized that they were probably better off targeting helpless players instead since, you know, their guys didn't come back."

"Well that's-"

"And, finally one of the major guilds whose theme was to protect other players," Walkiria said as she violently shoved the weapon's sharpened point into the fire, "obviously couldn't be seen having me, a known PKer, as a member but was very happy to hire me as help a few times. Heh, I even showed up to a couple of public meetings."

-0-

"Psst! Hey! What's an Orange doing here?"

"Dunno, maybe Heathcliff or one of the higher-ups hired her? We are going to subjugate Laughing Coffin. They probably think it'll be easier if there's an Orange around in case some of the Coffin members can't be taken alive.

"Yeah, you're right. I don't wanna kill anyone even if it is those maniacs. They'll probably step in that case. I don't wanna be blamed for murder if once we get out."

"Too bad though about all those PKs, she's kinda cute."

"Shh! She's coming this way..."

-0-

"So you see Ainz," She looked at him cooly, "I don't work alone because I think its cool or edgy, or that I have a lone-wolf complex, its because guilds have been nothing but bad news for me."

"Oh and those guys you heard me asking about?" Walkiria took a sip from her [Blood Soup], "They're Player Killers Ainz. Any one of them would do more than just snack on your maids. They'd probably hunt you down and torture you in the most sadistic way possible and that's before they'd kill you."

"But you said you were with them..." Ainz said cautiously. Was she some kind of scout? It wasn't unheard of for guilds to send an unaffiliated person into another guild to obtain information or worse...sabotage.

"I worked with them, I had no plans on being their friend and I am not their friend," She looked at him angrily now, "This Beta was my last job! After this I was done! I wouldn't have to look at any of their faces anymore or hear their voices. I could finally put everything behind me and get on with whatever life passed me by all these years! Losing over a decade of my life was the fucking least of it!"

"In hindsight, I should have known better," Walkiria laughed bitterly, "It sounded too good to be true, and it was. Mr. I'm holier-than-thou developer didn't keep his end of the bargain. Oh, wait! There was one tiny, little condition I didn't tell you about."

Walkiria let out another bitter laugh after she imitated, what Ainz presumed to be, the head developer of Yggdrasil. She then crushed the empty wooden bowl and tossed the remains into the fire.

"So what's the moral of this story?," Walkiria asked, "Get over yourself Ainz. You're not the only one with a sob story."

Several seconds passed in silence as both stared into the fire, lost in their respective pasts.

"I'm not going to give up on hope of finding my friends in this world," Ainz was the first to speak up.

"Why did I even try?" Walkiria sighed tiredly.

"But, I suppose I wasn't the only only one who had it rough," Ainz continued, "So I think I'll try not to be too suspicious of you in the future."

"Progress." Walkiria rolled her eyes, "Joy."

"However, I'm still not asking you to join the guild," Ainz said in lighter tone.

"And get smothered by your concern the second I'm out of sight?," Walkiria chuckled, "If you do that, I'm cashing in my 'termination clause'."

"So...why did you choose to be a heteromorph?" Ainz asked after a while.

"I didn't," Walkiria snorted, "How the hell does that guy expect me to test the system if I don't try everything?"

"By "try" do mean to say you have more than one account?" Ainz asked surprised. Yggdrasil did not allow more than one account per player for various reasons. Did she have special privileges after all since she was a Beta tester?

"No, I had only one account like everyone else," Walkiria responded, "I chose being a High Vampire because the class could hit hard and fast, and had decent stats all around. As to why people see me as the bad guy? Its because I'm doing my job of testing the system for any bugs. People do some really creative stuff when they're bored and that's when something might happen because the system might not be geared to handle it even though its allowed."

Exploring the game for the Beta stage in ANO meant the full usage of the features as well as any imaginable random arbitrary act that a player might do. However, the system took a harsher note of any evil acts. As such, it was easier to accumulate Negative Karma than Positive. Upon starting the game, they were all informed of the Karma system feature, however, most of the players did not have their freedom on the line. Walkiria, along with most other players with Negative Karma, had followed their job description to the letter. Their exploration naturally led them to various forms of tests, which were obviously considered as "evil", but did so anyway because it was something that could be done by players. It was how glitches were discovered after all. Unfortunately the system still took note of this. They had largely ignored it because it was merely the test stage.

"Hmm, that makes sense," Ainz mumbled, "I mainly chose my class since I wanted to role play. Unfortunately, you know how heteromorphs are treated. They PK you just because they don't get penalized."

"Hmph, just goes to show you people will do that sort of stuff if there's nothing to stop them," Walkiria said, remembering all the PKs that happened either because players believed that the player death in real life couldn't be proven or certain people, like those in Laughing Coffin, were simply unhinged to begin with.

"Yeah, for a while it was really bad for me too," Ainz said, "Like I said I was going to quit until I was saved by my oldest friend in the game, Touch Me,"

"Uh, what?"

"That was his player name," Ainz coughed, "I know its weird, but I learned to work around it. Together we eventually found others who would become the founding members of the guild..."

-0-

"I guess, I said something I shouldn't have..." Ninya said regretfully as the Swords of Darkness watched the little drama unfold between the two Copper Plates.

Though they couldn't clearly hear anything, it was obvious the Momon and Kairi were talking about a very sensitive topic. Kairi had apparently said something which first had Momon standing up and gesturing angrily. However, whatever she said afterwards seemed to have gotten the black clad warrior to calm down as they now stared sullenly into the fire the magic caster had created.

"One cannot take back the words that one has said," Dyne intoned, "Therefore you must do your best to atone for it afterwards."

"Something bad must have happened in Momon-san's past with his friends," Peter speculated.

"They must have been wiped out," Lukeluther said gravely, "That's the aura of someone who's lost comrades."

An uncomfortable silence descended on the group. Even Nfirea, whose main purpose of hiring Momon was to discover the secret to the red potions, felt like retreating somewhere.

"Perhaps, you should wait until morning to try to apologize," Dyne suggested to Ninya after a few minutes had passed, "People's moods normally improve by then."

Ninya nodded, though unsure how to approach Momon on the subject matter.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about it too much," Peter said, "I'm sure Momon-san won't hold it against you. And besides..."

A chuckle could be heard in the other direction and to the surprise of the members who did not notice, it came from Momon. He was still gesturing but this time he seemed to be in a much better mood. He appeared to be telling a story based on the mannerisms. The members of the Swords of Darkness had seen similar movements done by veteran Adventurers in their youths and early days.

A second surprise appeared when, in the glow of the second campfire, Kairi had actually smiled as Momon said something. Rather, it seemed she was suppressing a laugh and ended up that way. It certainly was different from the expression that she normally had from the limited time they had known her.

"It looks like Kairi-san managed to cheer him up a bit," Peter finished.

"Kuh! I wish I had beautiful girl to comfort me like that! No! I'm not giving up on Kairi-chan!" Lukeluther exclaimed while wrapping his arms around himself.

"Give it up already!" Peter tapped his fist on Lukeluther's head, "Its obvious she's with Momon-san. Right? Nferia-san?"

"Huh? Oh, uh yeah..." Nferia said absentmindedly, his head facing in the direction of the two other Adventurers.

"What?! What?! What?!" Lukeluther asked, pulling their employer close with an elbow hug, "Did you fall for Kairi-chan as well Nferia-san?"

"Uh, no actually, its someone else," Nferia mumbled trying to digest the snippets he heard from Momon's talk.

Damn it! It sounded like Momon was talking about something other than his comrades! Albedo and Tabula or something of the sort. It definitely sounded like ingredients!

While it was true that Kairi was beautiful, Nferia's heart had only one space for a woman. It was also why he hoped to learn about the potion during the trip so he could spend time with Enri- WAIT!

"Huh? Someone else?" Lukeluther's eyes narrowed mischievously.

"Um, actually, since we're talking about it, can I ask something?" Nferia asked shyly, "Are women attracted to strong persons like Momon?"

"Not to sound like I'm slinging mud at my rival for Kairi-chan but he's kind of average looking." Lukeluther answered.

"However, Momon-san is incredibly strong," Peter added, "Based on my observations, women do find that attractive in itself."

"Its true," Dyne agreed, "Strength its own allure."

"Kairi-san will probably have her fair share of suitors but I believe she can choose whomever she wants as well since she is fairly powerful in her own right." Ninya said.

The members of the Swords of Darkness finished the entire train of thought as one. Such was their bond that they did not need to discuss most matters amongst themselves, especially a topic as obvious as this. Due to the dangerous world humanity lived in, women would naturally be attracted to powerful men who could provide a means of defense for them and their children though other factors such as personality played a vital factor as well.

"I-I see..." Nferia's shoulders sagged dejectedly.

"If its not Kairi-san, can we ask what's is it about then?" Peter inquired.

"Uh, well, there's a girl in Carne Village I don't want falling in love with Momon-san," Nferia confessed, "that's all."

He expected to be ridiculed any second. He wasn't a warrior by any stretch. He'd never even gotten into a fight before. As such he wanted to impress Enri in other ways such as his knowledge or magic which would surely be helpful to the village. However, Adventurers once again surprised him when he looked up to see them leaning eagerly towards him.

"So who is the girl?" Peter asked curiously.

"Physical power isn't everything," Dyne intoned, "If you are persistent, your feelings will reach her!"

"Come on! Tell us!" Ninya said excitedly, far less reserved than before.

"Yeah! Big Bro will personally teach you some tech-owww! hey! My face! You hit my beautiful face!" Before Lukeluther could finish, Peter threw an empty bowl at him.

"Give it a rest already!" Peter said annoyedly, "You already ran out of useful things to say this week. He doesn't need your faulty advise."

"What why you!"

Nferia, who was quietly but politely left out of the earlier conversations due to the unfamiliarity of topics suddenly found himself participating actively late into the night.

And so among the two campfires, cheerful tones rose and fell almost as if they were answering each other.

~ Unknown location, City Outskirts ~

The screams of the doomed and the dying echoed into the night as pleas for mercy and deliverance offered to a multitude of deities went unanswered. It was hard to imagine that such pitiful sounds came from men who had callously perpetrated a broad spectrum of crimes or that most of them were battle-hardened survivors of previous wars with the Baharuth Empire's knights.

They were dying. And there was nothing they could do to prevent it. But in hindsight, perhaps death was a mercy compared to what lay in store for them should the hunters in their midst considered them worthy of capture. At least the death was quick.

Two figures darted among them with preternatural speed, each slaying a man in a single stroke with their sharpened fingers. Vampire Brides. To the brigands they were demons of legend but to their owner, they were but servants only better than POP monsters that spawned in her Master's hollowed domain. Any attack was dodged with ease, and the riposte always fatal.

This was the scene before a young lady listlessly filing her nails. Her most distinguishing features being her platinum hair, blood red eyes and pale skin. Her beauty was the stuff of stories by Bards and was (needlessly) enhanced by a dress made of exquisite materials. To her right stood a Butler with a stern expression while to her left stood a maid with cuisses.*** To one simply observing this picture it was easy to form a conclusion that this was a noble's daughter who would grow up to be even more beautiful in the future. If she could grow that is. Vampires did not age in appearance after all.

"Argh! Mou!" Shalltear Bloodfallen yelled in frustration while stamping her foot angrily, further contributing to the image of a spoiled noble's daughter.

"Useless! All of them worthless maggots not worth my time much less Ainz-sama's!"

Her Master had given her the task of collecting individuals capable of utilizing [Martial Arts] which was an ability unique to this world. The plan achieve this was simple: the battle maid accompanying them, Solution Epsilon would pose as a spoiled brat who was naive enough to travel without guards to lure out potential victims. On paper it was reasonable and had worked out four times in fact, this night included, to lure several victims but it had failed to lure out someone Shalltear deemed sufficiently powerful to possess this strange ability no one in Nazarick had ever seen. Hence her frustration.

Having completed their bloody task, the Vampire Brides bowed in front of Shalltear but kept out of immediate striking range. They knew their mistress' volatile nature all too well.

A cough sounded behind her. It had come from the elderly butler, Sebas, The Butler of Steel, who had his own mission given by their Master.

"Perhaps, we should abandon this plan, Lady Shalltear," Sebas suggested in a respectful tone despite being technically of equal standing of her.

"What?!" Shalltear exclaimed angrily, her voice taking a dangerous edge, "Are you telling me to go back to Ainz-sama empty handed?!"

"No of course not," Sebas answered calmly, "I am merely suggesting we alter the plan."

"Fine, at this rate I'm open to suggestions." Shalltear huffed.

"These criminals are unlikely to contain anyone with the ability that has interested Ainz-sama," Sebas began, "I have thus theorized that it must be something obtained through training."

"Training?" Shalltear titled her head, confused.

To her, and every resident of Nazarick, they were aware of all of their abilities from the moment of their creation and knew exactly how to use them and all other details of such. She knew about the concept of training of course but because of how they were made, there was no need for such action and she presumed that the inhabitants of this land were in the same situation since it appeared to be special.

"Indeed, during our last trip I chanced upon a conversation about how individuals known as Adventurers normally possess this skill along with those abilities that we ourselves use." Sebas continued, "From the information I have gleaned they primarily exterminate monsters. I propose that we create a situation to lure them in particular to us."

"Oh?" Shalltear saw the merits of the plan. Since wandering around looking for humans with the ability was uncertain and time consuming (Ainz-sama must not be kept waiting!), it would be better to follow a course of action certain to yield results.

With her fears of failing her mission dissipated she turned to the bloody field behind her as the smell of blood and excreta had begun to mix into a powerful smell. Being a Floor Guardian Shalltear was served with high quality food and would normally not stoop to something like this but perhaps her servants could use a snack.

"You may eat." She waved dismissively at the bowing Vampire Brides.

With leave given by their mistress, the Vampire Brides fell upon the corpses hungrily.

Author's note:

* She's making it up. There's no such item in ANO but there is one in Yggdrasil.

** They were actually communicating using [Message] and commenting about their surroundings. Aside from time constraints for this chapter, I don't think you want to read about that either.

*** Armor for the lower legs.

So this one really took a while. Aside from being generally busy, my laptop died after years of faithful service and I was really bummed for a couple of days. Thankfully, most my files have a back up.

While this chapter may not be to the liking of a lot of readers, I have already mentioned I dislike writing about fixed events and you can probably see why. So, why not add some drastic change to the story? The answer is nothing short of a radical change will do anything. In fact, we will have to pass through roughly the same events. I've already dropped another character in the story but him meeting Ainz is simply too far away.

I'm hoping to resolve the Zuranon arc by the next chapter so we can finally see some changes to the story. As such, I'm going to breeze through the village arc and the hamsuke arc since they have little impact in both canon and this fic at the moment.

As for the SAO fans, after talking with a reader I've found a way to incorporate Kirito into the story but he will still not be taking an interactive role since he's stuck in his home dimension and all. Let's just say because of that, this story expanded a little bit.

Until next time.