-Authors Note-

Nothing much to say really but I do love how you all reacted to the previous chapter

Edit: Forgot it was Thousand League Astrologer and not Thousand Mile Astrologer

Chapter 7: Root

Proofread by: PervyChuckSage

Day 0, 8:00 PM, E-Rantel City, Random Bar

Beer Time, that time in the evening when it's the right time to get smashed. Beer time is a sacred time, much more so than how the British see their teatime. Everybody knows when it's beer time. I know it, my companions know it and everybody in the bar knows when beer time is.

Beer time is a sacred time when people sit down and drink beer. It's a civil time so even if you two are enemies or just plain hate each other, not sitting down for a cold beer is not an option. Who knows, a lot of old rivalries and conflict had been solved in beer time.

Beer time is a wonderful time. It's much more wonderful considering how long beer time lasts. Simply put, every hour is beer hour and there's no better time to drink beer than now.

"To Beer! The source and solution to all our problems!" I shouted happily, raising my literally bottomless drink aptly named the [Bottomless Tankards of Valhalla], which was an item that dispenses a limitless amount of high quality alcohol. My 4 new temporary and extremely drunk companions along with everybody in the bar cheered as they drank their fill of beer.

The sound of music filled the air as Rin played the lute while Len played the violin up on the stage as I ordered, filling the place with the ever so familiar tune of a tavern from Yggdrasil. The two were quite the performers despite not really having the skill set for being a bard. Hmm... maybe their flavor text gave them this ability.

Beer flew like water this night as I spent lavishly in their standards anyways. A thousand gold pieces, which by Yggdrasil standards would only give you a half a dozen [Small bottle of healing] potions is already quite extravagant here in the New World.

That 1000 gold was more than enough to buy the bar's entire stock of alcohol, which I decided to give away to the regular patrons who, even though they had initially been glaring at me and my slaves suspiciously, were now singing and had been praising my name for quite a few hours.

So, a recap on what happened earlier was that after Rin and Len quickly started to beat the living shit out of these 4 guys who I'm drinking with right now, I had to stop them after seeing the full effect of their weapons on those poor bastards… [Shame] apparently is a more potent status effect here...

Well, seeing as how I had just reduced these 4 into a blubbering mess, I decided to just help them out of sheer pity.

After a few hours of trying to make them calm down, I finally succeeded and after talking with them for a while, I promptly befriended them after a few apologies.

Apparently, I was in a forest near E-Rantel, a city just a few hours away. After some convincing, I managed to tag along with them.

It only took a few jokes for them to open up. Introducing myself as a merchant from a faraway land, things started to ease up between us as I made them think I was just another ignorant foreigner entering the country to trade my goods and wares which they took all too easily.

Sure we had a rough start, but I couldn't have become the leader of the most successful and powerful Merchant guild around if I wasn't charismatic enough to talk my way onto their good side.

If I could talk 6 guilds into going to their deaths, then it's not going to be that hard to gain the trust of four strangers.

I sent 6 guilds to their deaths by having them march straight into the infamous dungeons of Ainz Ooal Gown which was designed to kill off large gatherings of players just like them. I know, because I supplied most of the materials for the construction for the extra part of Ainz Ooal Gown's dungeon and I had a hand in arming their NPC's.

They were our best customers, but they were also a cancer in the community for their general disregard of pre-established rules. They ganked other Players without reservation or regard to allegiance. I begged them not to gank my customers and we even had an agreement but they just continued to gank nonstop. In one of the worst cases, they even went so far as to gank some of my own guild members which that Momonga bastard had the gall to deny. We were allies but the bastard had to dick around.

I presented evidence but all the bastard said was, "It's my guild's vote that decided to gank those guys, I voted against it." Bastard turned around before I could even reply.

One of his subordinates, someone named Luci or something, even had the nerve to tell me, "It's just a game, deal with it."

They had to go but first I had to profit from them while I destroyed them.

My words were what sent their guild along with several others down into a spiral while my guild grew in strength. Truly, words are powerful and thus I capitalized on that strength of mine.

After a few sweet words, I had their trust along with their forgiveness. Now, to further gain their trust I decided to treat them to a free meal in a bar of their choice. Free food and drinks were hard to resist.

I did encounter a few problems at the gate from overzealous guards who thought I was some sort of monster due to my large height but we sorted it out after a bit. They do say that money makes the world go round.

Another problem showed up right after the gate. I don't know the value of my coins compared to theirs. Sure the guard was practically drooling after a few coins but that wasn't a proper gauge on the value of my money. It only clarified that Gold was an acceptable form of currency and the fact that gold was something valuable here.

To truly test the value of my gold I had to go and exchange my currency for the local currency by going to the bank. After an hour of arguments, a trip to the local alchemist and several minutes of profuse apology, I found the value of one Ygdrassil gold coin was apparently 3 local gold coins. After a short chat with the banker, the value of the coin could even be pushed to possibly 10 local gold coins if I made a necklace from it, due to the artistic beauty of my coins.

I just decided to exchange 25,000 gold, my normal pocket money in Yggdrassil much to the shock of my companions and the banker… apparently they weren't stocked right now to dispense that much gold. They did offer to use platinum instead which according to their system of currency was ten gold to one platinum coin, but I just wanted the gold so I asked to just exchange 2500 of my gold for their coins.

Thankfully they did have the money to exchange this lesser amount so I ended up having 7500 gold in my pocket which according to the 4 adventurers I had tagged along with was already an insane amount to carry around.

As a reward for being such great companions and the fact that they haven't decided to back stab me the minute that I demonstrated how much money I could carry around, along with the goal of establishing some contacts in this new world, I decided to treat them to the best bar in town.

Now here we are getting totally drunk. Well, it was more like them getting completely shit-faced as my constitution as a centaur makes it hard for me to get drunk.

"You're the best, Smiley-san~ For a centaur, you're not that bad. I thought you were such a dick hitting us with those horrid weapons," the young mage who introduced himself as Ninya slurred out, momentarily shuddering along with his three companion from the beating that they received before he continued with a goofy smile on his face. "You're such a nice guy once we get to know you. I thank you for your generosity. Cheese, Bread, Ham and Beer for everybody~ Wheeee hahaha~".

"For Smiley-san!" The intoxicated druid who introduced himself as Dyne said as he raised up his own tankard.

"Smiley!" They all shouted as they laughed out loud, not caring about the world with how drunk and well-fed they were.

After several cheese wheels, several loaves of bread and two whole racks of ham which was the most expensive thing I had encountered so far at a price tag of 50 gold pieces, and a gallon or so of beer all with a total price tag of 100 gold pieces which was so damn cheap compared to Ygdrassil where the basic cost of a meal in an average tavern was about 125 gold and that doesn't even fill up my entire hunger bar to half full while this one already satisfied my hunger as well as the appetites and thirsts of Lin, Ren and the adventurers' group.

Nothing loosens the tongue more than a full stomach and a whole lot of drinks as shown by my old experience in IRL Ygdrassil meetings. It made it so easy for me to get information like how the adventurer's guild system worked and other basic information about this new world.

"Once I again, I'd like to say that I'm sorry," I said, genuinely at that considering the gibbering mess they were reduced to after getting hit several times over by that baton. I… I'm not going to use that weapon again unless a situation calls for it.

"It's okay, Smiley-san, we were assholes ourselves back then… we may have deserved that beating. Ah-hah," admitted the ranger, Lukeleather, smiling nervously.

"Yeah, it should be our group that should be apologizing to you and your companions," said the knight, their leader Peter.

I smiled back as I joked, "That outburst of mine was just because I've seen so many bandits that were so strong, it's just a shock to see normal people. Really, it's such a welcome sight, seeing you guys compared to the old bandits I encountered on my way here."

Ninya raised an eyebrow at my claim as he asked a bit jokingly, "Say, are you telling us that a dragon ambushed you on the way to here?"

"Well, I do remember this one little dragon that I fought once," I said, remembering fondly about that dragon field boss which I had fought a little over a month ago. It was just a weak level 70 boss anyways so it was not that bad and dragons are bound to be a common enough occurrence seeing as this is a medieval fantasy world so dragons should be a natural occurrence and where there's dragons, there's bound to be strong people. It's not like every other person in this world is as weak as these guys, right?

"Hahaha! Good one there, Smiley. Almost had us on that one. Haha!" Peter laughed out nervously.

Confused and a bit insulted, I pulled out the loot I got from that Dragon from a pouch in my side. The beating [Heart of the Souring Dragon], nothing quite shabby and actually quite a great material to craft with but compared to others is still quite crappy.

"Holy shit…" Luke whispered as he looked at the still beating and glowing heart of the dragon. Sure it's pretty and it glows, but it can't be that amazing, right?

"You killed a dragon!?" asked Ninya, looking all wide-eyed and starting to hyperventilate.

"Ummm… you… guys don't kill dragons…?" I asked as I slowly returned the heart inside my pouch, making sure to push all those dragon products deeper as well inside the item pouch…

Note to self, don't wear or use any Dragon related products unless I could claim it not to be made out of dragon because of the way they are looking at me… I'm starting to feel like they're worshiping me.

"H-how? W-when? U-u-uhhh..." Ninya ever so eloquently stuttered as he struggled to formulate a response.

"I… ummm, used a spear?" I said, struggling myself to formulate a response as this situation is not what I had intended.

"Still! You killed a dragon! You must be a hero or something!" Luke said as he started having that fanboyish look on his face.

Hell, every single one of them had that look on their face. I decided to try and downplay my achievement and appear humble.

"It was an old dragon anyway. It was way past its prime so it died easily," I said as I rubbed the back of my head while I gave them that false awkward smile.

"Are you an Adamantite class adventurer disguised as a merchant?!" Ninya asked as he leaned a little bit too close.

"You're a centaur, I'm actually quite confused now, seeing that Demi-humans in the Adventurers guild are few and far in between, so how come we never heard of you," said Peter as he rubbed his chin.

More questions bombarded me as they become more and more excited and with alcohol in their systems, they were pretty much like hyperactive kids.

Pushing them away gently, I laughed as I replied, "Now, now, I'm no more than what I claim. I'm just a simple merchant."

Ninya pouted at my statement, which I found rather cute as he said, "A merchant that killed a dragon!"

"Yes, yes, a merchant that killed a dragon" I replied smiling and appearing all happy and calm on the outside, but I was getting a bit furious in the inside. I was stupid to estimate the difference in the level of power between Yggdrasil and the New World as being roughly the same.

I wanted to appear as the rich, naïve new merchant in town, not the badass centaur who killed dragons. I needed to appear weak for now for my plans.

Leaning close, I smiled at the four before I said, "Listen, if it's not too much of a favor, can I ask you not to talk about my feats…?" I paused a bit for a bit of dramatic effect.

Ninya gasped as he suddenly asked, "Are you being followed?"

"Is someone after you? A jealous fellow Adamantite adventurer who wants to take you out of the picture?" Luke said as he looked around eyeing everyone with suspicion.

"We understand, Smiley-san. We are your friends and as friends we will never sell our friends out," Dyne said as he thumped his fist on his chest before smiling at me with a thousand watt smile.

"Believe it!" proclaimed Peter as he gave me a thumbs up along with a smile of his own.

I smiled, loving how they had conveniently made up my cover story for me as I nodded and said ever so conspiratorially, "Yes, being powerful attracts a lot of hate and my race makes it all the more easier for people to hate me."

I added a hint of sadness in my voice which had an immediate effect on them.

"Don't worry Smiley-san. We're not part of that Demi-human hating mob from the Slane Theocracy! In fact, I see more humanity in you than in those bastards!" Peter proclaimed, earning a nod of agreement from the three other members of his little group.

I smiled seeing how they were really committed to helping me keep the image of being a naïve merchant.

"Enough about me for now. Say, I see your silver rank, you must have your fair share of adventures yourself, huh?" I said as I shifted a bit on my seat on the floor feeling my legs go numb a bit.

Peter laughed nervously as he said "Well… not exactly. Our stories would be boring for you, Smiley-san"

"Yeah, we're afraid that our feats aren't that impressive… the strongest thing we've encountered so far was this giant man eating Venus Fly Trap and compared to a dragon, it's like comparing a feral dog to a pack of direwolves."

"Hmmm, this Venus Fly Trap you say… did it by chance spit explosive seeds?" I asked frowning a bit as I remember one of the trash mobs, [Giant Mantraps], having the same general descriptions. Sure, a giant Venus Fly Trap parody is bound to be a common occurrence in a fantasy world but it's not going to hurt me if I'm going to assume there are some similarities between this world and my old world like that Angel I encountered last night and the mention of many monsters that were once part of the Low Level areas of Yggdrassil.

"Y-you encountered them before?" Luke asked.

I nodded, confirming that there seems to be some part of Yggdrasil which seemed to be part of this world as well, before asking how the four of them fought those monsters. They told their story and after that I commented on how they should have fought it.

Our little chat lasted for an hour or so and I gathered far more information than I had originally thought I would get from them as they were just so damn friendly. I actually felt bad using them to get information, but it was a necessity considering my current situation.

After an hour or so, I finally had the basic things that should be known about the world. Most of this information may be unreliable but my gut feeling is telling me that it's good and I'm going to trust this feeling of mine.

It was already 11 PM, so it's about time when the true owners of a city, the thieves and criminals wake up to prowl in the night.

Leaving my new friends without some compensation for their generous help is leaving a bad taste in my my mouth. Hmmm, what to do…? Hmm, this is overkill but what the heck.

"Hey Ninya, so you say you have that special talent which allows you to learn spells in half the normal time, right?" I asked as a sleepy and extremely drunk Ninya nodded. Surprisingly, he's the one that lasted the longest awake.

"Here's a small gift for your group, hope it helps" I said as I pulled out a small [Gift Pouch], a pouch used for storing 5 items and started stuffing them with the basic starter kit for Yggdrassil Players such as a [Spell Book: Combat Spells], a crafted collection of [Spell Scrolls] which I hope works just the same in Yggdrasil where they would be "consumed", a [Trusted Staff] which was a good item for noob Druids, a [Jewel Sword] which was a sword that stores spells which could be used later on and a [Elder Yew Longbow] and an [Ivory Quiver].

How it fit in the small pouch was a mystery but it makes the gift look small along with the fact that the pouch could be reused.

Sure I'm giving away items but hell, these items are trash and the only reason they are in my inventory is because my guild sells items to all levels and I have a thousand or so copies of those items. Besides, nobody is yet interested in buying items from me as I have yet to establish a reputation or even a shop. Also, it's not like these 5 items can compare to the power of the two I have in the inventory.

Ninya just mumbled before he tipped over to the side. I caught him easily in my hands. He looked so small in my hands, almost like a child in my arms.

I sighed as I slipped the small pouch into one of his pockets before picking up the four knocked out adventurers and tucking them in my arms.

Renting a room for them in this tavern, I left them in their rooms before I fetched my two sleepy companions before guiding them to our own room in the same tavern.

Stretching my arms and legs, I left the tavern to hire myself some thugs. No business of mine would be complete if I didn't have some muscle to use.

Day 0, 11:30 PM, Shady part of E-Rantel

Why was I out in the night, walking alone in what was probably the most dangerous part of this city? Well, I'm out to find an assassin to hire.

Why did I even need to hire an assassin? Well it was mostly a force of habit and it does make me comfortable and calm knowing that I had a man/woman to do my dirty deeds for me. However, that doesn't really fully explain why I'm hiring an assassin.

Simply put, I'm interested in creating a business here in the new world. Why? Because why the hell not? Also, establishing a business here in this new world allows me to create a group which I can use as a cover so that I can operate in the shadows and mask my movement.

Why dirty your own hands when others can do it for you? Assassins and random thugs can be used in many different ways such as disposing of enemies, operating a "Protection scheme" racket, cannon fodder and so many other ways.

This universe seems to be a weak sauce compared to the rich and varied flavor of Ygddrassil so why not exploit it and profit from it? I think it would be nice if I somehow establish a world order that controls the politics of this world from the shadow.

Hehe, maybe like the Illuminati or something. That was quite a nice thought.

"Look who we have here? My little pony, are you lost?" asked a voice as a group of four rough looking men surrounded me, blocking all pathways.

A quick [True Vision] and I saw that they were about LV 15-16. Sigh… Is this the best that this world can offer? I was sure flaunting all the gold I had in order to attract more of them… maybe I should have accepted that offer to change my money to platinum?

"We're going to be nice here, you filth. Hand over your money and nobody gets hurt… Why the fuck are you clapping?" asked the thug as I applauded them, just out of pure fucking respect for the balls and idiocy these four were showing.

"Wow, I'm actually just really impressed," I said, the mocking tone of my voice echoing in the silence along with my clapping.

"Horse boy, are you daft or are you blind? You're surrounded, in an alley no less. You centaurs may be the strongest in an open field but here, you're helple-!" The thug behind me said before I interrupted him with a bitch slap to the face with my tail. I did make sure to be gentle considering how strong I was.

Now, he lay there crumpled on the ground after being launched several meters away

"Now gentleman, I have an offer you cannot simply refuse..." I said, grinning from ear to ear as I pulled out my sword.

I just loved the look on their faces as they backed away. It was truly classic.

Day 0, 11:50 PM, Shady Part of E-Rantel

I clapped, amused beyond belief as my four new henchmen finished their dance routine. Wow, just wow. No, really I was impressed. What they lacked in strength, they made up for with how entertaining their song and dance routine was.

"Going to be honest guys, I'm impressed" I said clapping, standing up to give them the standing ovation they deserved.

They beamed as they bowed in a flourish.

"Are you actors or something because that has to be one of the best performances I ever saw," I asked.

"Well… we were born in a circus. We trained to be performers but our circus was raided by orcs and goblins… so we had to make due and live on our own. Fate wasn't so kind to us so instead of being adventurers, we ended up as Workers," the leader, Maxim, said.

"Well since I hired you guys, I'm sure your fortunes are about to change" I said, giving them a reassuring smile.

They beamed as they bowed down to me before one of them, the short one whose name I couldn't pronounce said, "Ahhh, bossman, some girl was going to hire us. This was originally going to be a detour for some quick cash but yeah… this happened. So… can we go meet the one who was going to hire us? It would be rude if we didn't inform her that the job is going to be cancelled."

I nodded, understanding the need to tell their intended employer that they were already hired.

"Go, be quick about it. Meet me here tomorrow at midnight so we can discuss how things are going to be. Don't bother trying to run away, I can and will track you down!" I said waving them off.

They nodded, bowing once again, before running off to meet the one that they were supposed to meet.

Hmmm, it wouldn't hurt to trail them for a bit.

Day 1, 2:00 AM, E-Rantel Graveyard

I, Clementine, am bored.

Becoming one of the strongest beings around really wasn't as good as it seemed to be. Sure you can make people squeal like a pig like I'm doing right now, but...

"ARRRRRGGGGGGHHH! Please stappphhh! Arrrghhhh, my kidneysssss! Stttttaaaahhhhhppp!" victim no. 1 shouted as I twisted my stilettos up into his stomach.

"Ohhh hush you, don't interrupt my internal monologue." I scolded him as I ripped the said stilettos out of his stomach. Urrrghhh! Getting entrails and other unspeakable things on my blades is just so disgusting! Even after killing a shit ton of people, I still can't get over stabbing someone who just... Ewww~

Good thing my cape is perfectly made for the purpose of cleaning my tools of murder~ just black enough to have the blood stains not be noticeable, strong enough to shrug off some low tier magic but still magically receptive enough to allow the cleaners to apply their magic on them. Ohhh, it also has that nifty enchantment that removes any foul odors that may come from it.

Ohhh, how I love my new cape! I just wish I had my old armor and equipment. My old armor set and my precious baby looks so much better in black but the old bishop loved our capes to be white. We're the black scripture! Hello? The color black is in our name but our outfits just had to be white!? It's just like how he told us that we can only kill those who are designated targets. Like, who does that? It's like he wanted to bore us to death and ugghhhh! Big bro just had to agree with him.

Sad as it may be, I had to leave as I can't live with such cruel treatment. A grown girl needs her three daily doses of murder after all~! Nothing less! No! No, Sirree~!

I had to leave my poor babies behind in the church when I ran away. Ohhhh, my poor babies, I'm such a bad mother leaving them behind. The church is probably keeping them under lock and key, starving them of their much needed daily dose of murder.

Why did I have to leave them behind anyway? Maybe stabbing the other guys would help me remember? He's so slow anyways, why do they just have to be so slooowwww~?

Stabby~ stab~ stab~! Ohhh! Right in the liver~!

Hmmm~ ohhh right, they're so powerful, that ole Thousand League bitch could track me a continent away without trying.

Ohh, my poor babies.

Sigh, it's not like they're going to like it if I used them on such weaklings. Why did that stupid necromancer even need these bastards when he has me. It's really pissing me off that he doesn't trust me enough to clear a crypt in the graveyard. I'm the strongest bitch in town and nothing can stop me. It's not like there are a lot of zombies down there anyway, nothing I can't handle.

Sigh, being so strong wasn't as good as they had made it out to be back then. Getting stronger, now that was the fun part. I wish I just had more strong people to kill. Killing insects is only fun for the first few hundred kills. However, their tags do make a good replacement armor.

This new armor of mine shows off my curves and the figure I worked so hard to get. I do not regret missing out on eating cake for this~

Why was she here again? Ohh right, she needs to hire... the people she was killing right now to kidnap the kid. Well, there's only one left which is kinda good enough for me.

Goddammit Clementine, now they aren't going to follow you around~ Ohhh well, I can always use the mind control stiletto. A waste but I could always get... uh... uhhh... Khasut? Kejit? Hell, I'll just call him Shitface for now until I remember his name. He's my ticket out and as far away from the Slane Theocracy as possible for me and my personal mind control reloading station for my stilettos.

Ohh well, Stab~, It looks like I-!

"Uhhh miss, I think I kind of hired these guys to be my body guard." A deep and rumbly voice said behind me, making me jump away in surprise as the guy's hand grabbed my shoulder.

Holy fucking shit! He's huge... and kinda handsome too~ too bad he's a centaur. A girl's got to have her standards~

Mother superior always drilled that into our heads back school. No humans shall elope with demi humans... blah blah blah. I actually think that may be just some bogus excuse for them to keep us from discovering these handsome specimens~ Ohhh, why did I always have to meet the ugly ones back in the Slane Theocracy? Mister Centaur, where were you, back then?

"I knew allowing them to run an errand they said they had to take care of was a bad idea" The huge ass centaur said as he... pulled out the most beautiful lance I have ever seen... it's so long... so hard... and look at how easy it pierces those corpses!

Clementine, concentrate here for a few seconds. The guy just sneaked up on us! Us! The best goddamn assassin the Slane Theocracy has ever produced and he looks so bored while prodding those corpses. Even if he's kinda handsome and he has that long and thick looking spear of his~ Gyaaah! Focus, girl.

Hell, where did he even get that gorgeous spear. It's almost as beautiful as my baby~ I need that spear now.

"So... my guys are dead... interested in taking their position?"

Wait... what? Is he mental or is he trying to hire me, a girl covered in the blood of his hired goons?

"Wait here just a goddamn minute. I just killed your guys and you're okay with it?" I asked, frowning as I waved my stilettos at the small piles of shit pouring out their life's blood onto the ground. This day is starting to get weird.

"Eh? They're weak. It was a mistake on my part in hiring them. They did have a catchy song when they were advertising themselves," he replied while shrugging nonchalantly.

They did? Shit... shouldn't have killed them that fast. I could have made them sing while I was stabbing them.

Well, anyway... this centaur definitely looks rich and by the way he holds his spear, he seems to be a capable fighter, so why the hell does he even need guards.

"200,000 gold now" I replied. Ha! It's not like he could get that amount of money in an instant but 200,000 gold could help me a lot. It's far more than what Zuranon could ever hope to give me and I could buy my way to the other side of the continent and have enough to buy myself a ca-! ~Thud~ -stle...

"Deal"

... I'm going to see if it's fake or not... it's not like it's going to hurt checking... I'm sure that chest he dropped isn't filled to the brim right? Sure it's bigger than me and all but... it can't have that much gold in it, right?

...

Gold... so much gold... they're even stacked in neat little stacks~ Sure it's in a different currency but it smells~ It smells like pure gold~

Uhhhn, uhhh... I think... uhhh...

"Give me your spear" I know its pushing it-! Shit... it's... it's so much more beautiful close up. Ohhh god, I'm touching it~

Holy shit! Ahhh... uhhhh... I need to change my underwear... and I also need some time alone. Also... I think I just fell in love~

-End of Chapter-