A/N
Hey again!
I am back!
As promised, I re-edited the chapters from 1-11 and acquired a proofreader who is working day and night to make my horrible grammar more readable. XD
Thank him/her, namely, thanks to aGuestfromGreece45 for his/her tireless work to fix my writing. Send some virtual cookies to him/her!
1-4 and the 11th chapter are now proofread and checked.
Now, I changed a few things:
Chapter 1: Prologue chapter replaced. Ainz does not appear, just the Captain telling the news to the Cardinals about the undead invasion. A little flashback from the invasion.
Chapter 2: A few abilities were replaced. Gained a new description. Nothing noteworthy. As well made Esdeath's fight with the eight more believable and gave the proper reason why the eight were struggling against him/her.
Chapter 3: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes.
Chapter 4: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes. Properly explained why her powers go nuts when she panics. Better weapon description. Short transportation scene where Ainz and Nazarick appear in the New World. Omake fixed at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 5: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes. Raidyn's armour description changed. Underneath her armour, she is now wearing an elastic, diving suit like underarmour.
About the [Nova Armour] she conjured. It resembles a mix between the exoskeleton a futuristic ninja would wear and borrows elements from the Berserk Armour from the Berserk series. Her mask bears the design of an evil wolf.
She uses her psychic skills to conjure the armour. Further weakened her magic to balance things.
Chapter 6: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes. Changed the end of her inner world scene.
Chapter 7: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes. The chapter begins with Nigun already captured. Only a faint flashback of how he was captured and pleaded to Ainz to be spared. Then the scene returns to Neuronist's chamber where she starts Nigun's torture. Demiurge is present in the scene.
Chapter 8: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes.
Chapter 9: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes. Nigun is alive but imprisoned, Demiurge stopped Neuronist before she could kill him. (He is not stupid. He will not let a precious information source die out of his own amusement.)
Fixed Schrödinger's accent, hopefully, he will not be annoying anymore. The legend of the great tree slightly changed, giving the tale more details and preparing it for further use in the later arc.
Chapter 10: Sentence structure and grammatical fixes.
Chapter 11: The chapter is roughly the same as it was before, but a few things changed, as well, I hid a few easter eggs here and there.
(If you are not interested in them, jump in the last section.)
Replaced Tanya with a different adventurer. The said adventurer will be fully revealed in the next chapter. For now, you will only get a little teaser about him/her.
Tanya might appear later. Who knows. :)
That's it! Roughly saying…
If you are curious about the details, re-read the chapters! XD
Now let's get back to the tale!
Now… The usual blah-blah…
…
Thank you for reading my fanfic and giving me a chance.
My mother language is not English, so please be patient about the grammatical issues.
I don't own the Overlord(オーバーロードŌbārōdo?) novel or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.
I would like to thank the excellent job that the Skythewood translator team has done with the light novel translation.
Without their hard and persistent work, I surely couldn't write this story.
Please review it. I know I will make mistakes and I intend to correct them, as well as try to learn from them and improve myself.
Thank you!
Now let's continue our little story!
The morning when Ainz and Narberal reached the fortress city was already awkward enough. Under the way, Nabe's mouth never ceased to move and her complaints never ceased to flow. Not speaking about the mishap followed right after the duo reached the city's gate.
At the Eastern entrance of E-Rantel, the morning traffic was so jammed that he and Nabe had to wait at least one and a half hour until the crowd dissipated and they could enter the security checkpoint.
Momonga only had a faint clue how long a day was in this new world, thus he only had a vague idea of just how much time he had wasted. According to him, it was a lot, but maybe the residents of this world conferred this one and a half hour as a trivial amount of time. It did not matter, he was still bored.
A new task for him was figuring out what kind of calendar these people used.
How long was a year, how long was a month, how long was a day, and even a better question:
Are these people using a similar system to the Babylonian sexagesimal to calculate time or was the method they used based on an entirely different approach?
Unfortunately, asking such questions from the Chief of Carne would be too obvious and could raise further questions. Thus, Ainz had withdrawn from asking the villagers.
What would people say if he admitted the fact that he had no idea how long an actual day was…?
Most likely even Albedo would raise a brow after hearing such a stupid question, even when she herself also had no idea how long an actual day cycle was in this world.
Although, based on the history of Momonga's old world, back then, most, simple peasants had no clue how long a day exactly was.
The peasants just woke up when the sun rose, went on the fields to work, returned home to eat lunch when the sun peaked, then back to the agricultural work until sunset. Simple peasants lived just like that back then.
Most people of this world would be considered illiterate back in 2138, and knowing the nature of human beings, most of them would merely laugh at their cluelessness instead of helping them.
Illiterate people were almost non-existent in the modern society of Earth and it was all thanks to the strict laws that forced every child to study in schools from the age of six until they finished the lower secondary school/junior high school, usually until the age of fifteen or sixteen.
Neither was it rare for the kids to gain plus education before they even started off the Elementary School. In this way, most of the children knew how to recognise the characters, write, or even read before tasting the bittersweet reality of Earth's modern education system.
Although in some backwater countries illiteracy was still high, their numbers were diminishing over time.
Fortunately or not, community chose, and people of the feudal era around six hundred or more years ago did not have the luxury of such education system.
The privilege of proper education in most cases came with being the part of the top layer of the society, such as being a noble, a monk, or even a priest.
In this way, for example, most shepherds back then were unable to count, forced to keep in check the number of the flock by using the adequate amount of rocks. Placing small stones from one hand to another when the cattle passed, maintaining note from the amount of the herd this way.
Although, this method was profoundly faulty, because losing a simple stone could cripple the whole system. Counting this way most likely ended with more or less animal than it initially was, resulting in the herdsman being punished by either the authorities or the landlord himself.
In most of the cases by the owner of the animals. It was rare back then that some kind of outside authority interfered with the business of the proprietor.
As long as the landlord or the noble, to whomever the land belonged, paid the yearly tax and contributed towards the governmental head, in most cases the crown, it left them alone to do as they pleased amidst the frame of the law.
That's how the world worked in the so-called Dark Ages.
Looking forward and inspecting the people a little bit more, the city guards seemed to be better educated than the villagers were.
"Is something wrong, Momon-sama?" asked the female on his side.
"It's nothing," Momonga turned his head against Nabe. "But we are companions. Don't call me with such honorifics."
"B-But…"
"No buts," Ainz commanded her using a stern tone.
"I-I see…" she nodded with a sour face. "I understand… Momon-sam-san…"
Momon just shrugged, hearing the weirdness of his companion.
Reaching the gates, the authorities skimmed Momon and Nabe, bombed them with questions about who were they and where they came from.
Every clue suggested that the two pseudo adventurers ran into the daily, random question game the guards played with the newcomers. The newcomers who were clueless how things worked in this part of the world.
Momonga was annoyed, seeing a whole bunch of people and even an overstuffed chariot passing without a security check. The guardsmen wasted Ainz's precious time because as they said, 'he looked suspicious'.
Although, one thing came to his attention.
An overstuffed cart that literally creaked under the strain the boxes put on it. What made it even more conspicuous was the several well-geared horsemen who escorted the lorry.
Ainz first wanted to dismiss the case by saying;
'Maybe a well known merchant or the friend of a guard captain being exampled.'
He wanted to dismiss everything with such pure thoughts. Until…
He accidentally managed to peek under the cover of one of the guards that escorted the cart. The one who kept the pace on foot with the vehicle and conversed with the silver armoured man on the horse.
Then realisation dawned:
He needed to reconsider his next step, the mask the individual wore seemed too futuristic for this environment, having two dimming led eyes red in colouration and a wolf-like design.
Naturally, Ainz was not sure; he only glimpsed it for a mere moment.
He could be wrong, maybe he just saw his or her face at a wrong angle, mixing things in the process, or even the individual was an adventurer of a high standard, wearing similarly advanced armour of an unknown design.
Concluding by having such a small amount of information would be nothing more than foolish.
Thus, Ainz proceeded with his observation and continued his way.
The security check wasted more than half an hour from his time. Proceeding, Ainz and Nabe walked on the wobbly, unkempt, soaked dirt road of E-Rantel.
Under the walk, Ainz managed to conclude that he needed to be more cautious than ever.
Looking around, Momonga felt a shiver run through his spine, hearing and seeing as the people whispered behind his back. Watching, staring him and Nabe with awe and fear in their eyes.
Dismantling his every step, every motion, it was like the random checkouts the management did back home.
With Narberal on his side, it was even worse; for a dull salaryman like Satoru Suzuki, this was too much.
He had no stomach being he was undead, even so, he felt a mawkish, stomach-churning feeling playing with his non-existent organ.
"Cockroaches… Miserable flies…" mumbled Narberal under her breath with her tonality full of disgust.
He also concluded, the second reason for his current nauseous feeling was just walking near him, bearing the name of Narberal Gamma.
He should have known; he should have expected such thing might happen…
He couldn't and didn't want to bring Albedo back then because she couldn't hide her demonic heritage as well as she was the head of the management. Without her management skills, Nazarick would most likely fall apart.
Demiurge went out not long after Ainz left to conduct his own project. The other Pleiades were out of the question as well.
Maybe they looked human. Still, they lacked the ability to disguise themselves like a doppelganger.
He should have asked Pandora's Actor to accompany him back then. But considering the possibility of his creation to start singing in his presence, under their walk on the streets, even thinking of it just made him cringe.
Also, his task was too important. Guarding the treasury where the most dangerous weapons of Ainz Ooal Gown laid to rest was a top priority under these unknown circumstances.
Thus, after a long process of elimination, he settled with Narberal.
The others were either unfit to disguise themselves adequately or could organize a bloodbath in the open streets as soon as someone approached him or dared to ask him something.
Momonga even considered leaving alone to explore the wilderness, but Albedo pleaded, bringing along a few excellent reasons not to do so. Also he couldn't say no to that woman's contrarious voice.
"She is really… convincing…" he muttered inaudibly under his helmet.
The most frightening aspect of the Guardian Overseer was: after Demiurge whispered something in her ear, she just let him go without disagreement, waving goodbye with a smile.
Something was not right, Ainz felt that later he would regret not asking her what Demiurge whispered to her ear.
And now, here he was. Accompanied by the beauty, Narberal Gamma.
But do not let Narberal's appearance mistify you. She bit and spat her venomous words like a snake.
"How dare they look at Momon-sama in that way…! I will destroy them…! Cut their eyes out and feed them to the dogs!"
Continuing her mumble, Ainz now knew, he should have expected such thing might happen. He should have prepared himself that something like this would eventually happen.
"Nabe…!"
Raising his voice softly, Narberal immediately understood what his master meant, and closed her mouth quickly.
"Hai!" Was the last word that left her delicate lips. She remained silent until the duo reached the adventurer's guild.
...
After around an hour or more time walking and asking around, the pair finally found the building that housed the guild.
It was an impressive butter white house with a brown tiled roof.
As the two of them entered, they saw the counter where three ladies received adventurers with smiles.
There were warriors in full body armour, agile-looking people with bows and dressed in light armour, people in priestly attires accessorised with religious symbols and typical Magic Casters with long robes and staves.
There was a significant door to the left and a notice board to the right. There were several parchments pasted on it, and a group of adventurers was talking in front of the table.
But being the adventurers conversing before the table left no clear gap, Momon did not see the pinned papers, neither bothered to watch them long enough to recognize them.
Looking at the freshly arrived pair's direction, the people dissected them with their glare. With all honestly, it really irked Ainz, making him give out an unpleasant huff as a reaction.
"It would have been more practical to create a plainer looking armour. Now everyone's looking at us. I really messed up…"
Berating himself, Ainz couldn't do anything else other than to proceed, put one leg after the other.
There might be still time; he could try to withdraw and change his disguise. But what would Narberal say about that?
Managers who withdrew from an already established decision usually were the ones falling first. Thus, he couldn't do anything with the situation, just go with the persona of Momon and proceed.
Being all three attendant ladies seemed to be occupied with adventurers, Momon and Nabe waited. Although, as before, Nabe grumbled under her nose about the same things she used to.
About how she would destroy every fly around them and how they dared to treat Ainz like a plebeian. Albeit, she did so in a low tone, so outside of his increased hearing, no one could possibly hear her words.
"Miserable gnats…"
Momon sighed, watching Nabe worriedly.
Finally reaching the top of the line, Ainz stepped forward.
His jet black armour shone. His torn, Spawn cape fluttered with every move of his.
In the eyes of the adventurers, he most likely looked like a person who stepped out from a heroic tale, accompanied by a damsel in distress, the princess he saved from the tower after defeating the dragon.
Nabe's appearance supported this sad, absurd theory, giving Ainz goosebumps. With his increased hearing he couldn't help but overhear the constant murmurs around him.
"Welcome, how can I help you?" asked the attendant with her usual receiving smile, giving Ainz a friendly façade.
Quietly nodding, Ainz gulped his non-existent saliva and opened his mouth.
"We would like to join the adventurer's guild. If it is possible of course."
"Of course. Five silver is the entry fee and five copper is the literacy test."
Taking out a simple looking paper with unknown glyphs, Momon sighed inward.
"Yup, can't read the text. Like everything else outside. Why can't I bring myself at least a translator item similar to the one I gave to Sebas?"
Thinking about a moment, he already found the reason.
"Oh… right, I gave every such item to Sebas. Dammit! Why couldn't I buy one more from those items back then? I wonder if one of my comrades kept such thing in their rooms. It is a little selfish, but I need to ask Albedo to investigate it for me."
The literacy rate here wasn't high, but it would still be awkward if others found out he couldn't read. They might even look down on him.
Ainz had given all his language-deciphering tools to Sebas and didn't learn any such magic at all during his time in YGGDRASIL; he used scrolls in place of this seemingly useless magic.
Not making any preparations even though he couldn't read the language of this world, that was stupid, but now it was too late for that and regretting it wouldn't help.
Narberal couldn't read either, so there was no other way.
Although his mind was filled with negative thoughts, as the Supreme Ruler of Nazarick he should avoid any shameful behaviour.
Seeing Ainz's momentary hesitation, the girl took out a pen, if it indeed was a pen. At least, the small tool resembled its modern counterpart.
"Let me help you. Name…"
And with that, she helped them fill the fundamental papers needed to start the registration process and gave a small rundown of the guild rules.
After that, the counter lady urged them to wait until she finished with the remaining paperwork and enlisted their names into the local, big book of the adventurer's guild, handling them a few pamphlets to read for the time being.
She may had thought; Momon, the big man under the full plate Armour was just a little bit shy and hesitated.
She had no clue that the two newcomers had no idea how to read and write in the Kingdom's language, and through using such reasoning her heart was calm.
Momon, naturally blankly stared the papers that were handed to him, mimicking a reading motion as he sat down, with Nabe taking a seat near him.
It was kind of unnerving with all those people's eyes nailed on the two of them, as well the people who tried to approach the duo were chased away by Nabe's killing gaze.
He tried to explain to her under their way here how to handle people, but it seemed he just couldn't make her understand with that kind of short explanation.
He needed to educate her properly on how to handle people after they gain some privacy.
Huh. After all, Ainz did not ask much, just to not murder anyone without his permission and don't treat them like trash in the open.
A few minutes passed, and under that, adventurers came and went. It was not surprising. The guild seemed to be a busy place; numerous adventurers turned amidst its crowded hall day by day.
The door opened once again, and as usual, several gazes tracked the newcomers, that in truth was only one person.
A thick, ragged, hooded brown cloak hid the body and the face of the individual who entered the scene. Underneath it, the same mask Ainz spotted when ha and Narberal passed the gates.
Now, inspecting the person a little bit more, Momon also recognised a white bandaged handle peeking slightly out from the thick mantle, angled in forty-five degrees, just behind the person's hooded head. From the shadow of the cowl, a few long, silvery locks peeked out.
The handle the white cloth hid must have belonged to a brutish weapon, an unwell made if it needed to be covered with such coarse fabric. At least, Ainz concluded that much just by seeing it.
Momonga clearly remembered the weapon his old friend used to carry around in the early years of YGGDRASIL.
A massive sword with a brutish look, a 'heap of iron' as his comrade often called it back then.
Even remembering Esdeath's constant prattle about the lore he wrote to the sword made him chuckle. Although, he was not sure if it was the same weapon or not. He only glimpsed the handle part of it, nearly not enough information to distinguish the armament.
As well, being the sword looked simple outside of its impressive size, there might be a high chance similarly made weapons were not rare in this world.
Inspecting the figure further, he recognised the second distinguishing characteristic of the person. A pair of armoured boots which ended with five short claws, barely glimpsed out under the mantle.
Momonga guessed that those claws protruding from the armoured boots most likely served a purpose.
If he had to speculate, Ainz would say they either helped the newcomer to stay on the ground, gain a foothold in the mids of a vicious swordfight, climb steep points using the short, crooking iron parts as toes or even use them as a weapon against their unsuspecting foes.
Just thinking about it, many utilization options came to Momonga's mind, and even looking at them he could distinctly measure their usefulness in battle. In the game, such things served only as decoration purposes. And honestly, he was curious about their further use in action.
"Momon-sama…" Nabe called for him. Ainz immediately answered with a stern glare behind his helmet.
"Muu… I said it is simply Momon. You are my adventuring companion right now."
"My apologies, in that case, Momon-san… did you…?"
Her words were immediately interrupted by a definite nod Momonga served her.
"Yes… Let's just watch for now. We don't want to raise suspicion."
Bowing her head, the Pleaide watched the newcomer, dissecting her every movement.
After watching her for a while, she seemed a little bit strange. Unlike them, she took the papers right away and filled them by herself.
Her movements were firm, although, for short moments Momonga glimpsed her momentary hesitation. Walking up and down at first, reading her papers, then sitting down.
From time to time, it was like she stared back at them, like she was aware who exactly watched her. Like she knew who they were. Momonga feared the dreadful option that dictated their cover was blown merely by sitting here.
"I should not catch my head so hastily; I should be more careful not to stare someone so intensely…"
Momonga, as well Nabe had no prior experience with observation, neither were trained to do simple spy work without magic.
Nabe watched the cloaked person so intensely, be the one hid under the mask was he or she, let's consider it she, might think Nabe wanted to kill her or had some kind of malicious intent behind her intense glare.
Staring her like that could lead to a misunderstanding, something that Momonga wanted to avoid at all cost.
"Nabe…!"
After shooing Nabe to be a little bit more subtle, Momonga took a position where the hooded one stayed in his field of vision, but she couldn't recognize that he was watching her. Glancing down at his paper, he inspected his surrounding once again.
"Let's try something then; I hope my cover will still be intact after this… [Discern Level]!"
Ainz used his ability, and the crimson flames in his eyes flared, then looked around once more carefully.
The ability, [Discern Level] was not considered magic. It was more like an ability everyone learned and used back then from level one.
Naturally, it could be easily countered with [False Life] or [False Data] or even by using an item to fend off the spying attempt.
Maybe he would fail. But being Ainz made sure his anti-divination measurements were in place, wearing his Divine Class ring that completely hid his presence, the risk was minimal. The chance that anyone could locate him using such essential ability was almost equal to zero.
Even using an active ability to track the signal back at him would be a foolish step in the current situation, and would most likely fail instantly.
Ainz made his calculations and decided that even if he failed, he would gain foresight from his opponent and options on how to deal with her. His act would make him know if the person was capable of detecting such attempt, or able to counter his try. With this move, he couldn't lose! He could only gain invaluable information on how to handle this new variable.
Even if she detected him and somehow managed to trace his location; he merely needed apologize later. As said, the ability was owned by every player back then, and Ainz was sure that even the lowliest adventurer was able to use it. Albeit he was not sure, but as said it was a very low-risk gamble.
Activating his ability, he felt as a quick pulse ran through his surrounding, mapping every living being around him. Slowly numbers and letters started to appear above every person's head in the room, signing the approximate level and status of the individuals.
The text and numbers appeared above everyone's head, except the thickly clothed person.
Above her head several question marks appeared, and the writing in the absence of her name was mostly numbers, some kind of binary code Momonga couldn't crack:
'…Error… Loading failed ?!... 01000110 01110101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100001 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100111 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110110 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100001 +%+ ERROR!'
"How rude…" thought Momonga suddenly.
Nabe tightened her grip on her sword and muttered with clenched teeth.
"Miserable vermin… how dare…"
Shaking his head, Momonga looked back at the stranger, recognising she was staring directly at them.
Their eyes met under the disguise.
Be it it was only a coincidence that she looked at him at that moment or it was the answer of his espionage attempt, a shiver ran down his spine, feeling the malice the person emitted.
A pair of slanted scarlet red led lights convened the two intensely flaring crimson flame in his orbits.
For a few long moments, Momonga and the strange stranger just stared at each other. A chilling feeling filled the air with tension after the cold gaze.
"Shit! Did she recognize me…? What now?"
Turning his head away, for a moment it looked like his cover was blown. Only when glimpsing back he saw the person turning back to her papers and starting to fill it intensely.
"Now, do I go there and apologize? Did she even recognized my discerning attempt? I am clueless. Going there would surely blow my cover if it's still intact. That is my only hope…"
Grinding his dentures almost loudly, Momonga stared down at the paper in his hands firmly, wrinkling it slightly.
"Remaining put will further raise her existing suspicion. Whatever I do, I am fucked! Fuck my gambling addiction. I never won… Yamaiko was right when she tried to dissuade me from spending a whole month's worth of income just to win an item from the gacha machine. I was never a lucky one, not back then and not now…"
A few minutes and the same attendant signed for him, waving about his papers being ready.
Standing up, strangely, the hooded one made the same motion and headed towards the same free attendant.
Momonga, of course, let her advance; in this way he could gain valuable information about her person.
The small glimpse he gained from her armour under the walk confirmed his suspicion and made him decide to be more nervous in her immediate vicinity.
The exoskeleton she wore looked a lot better in quality and craft than anyone around, except him and Nabe of course.
Nabe had her armoured maid uniform equipped with quickly equipped data crystals. She could fit it whenever he commanded, or danger called for such actions.
Naturally, there was a second reason why Momonga let the stranger proceed, slowing his steps subtly.
The said reason was simple; really, he let the cloaked one gain pace because of the Japanese custom that called for such action. Even with all his fault, Ainz tried to preserve this much from his old life, not every part of his past existence deserved to be thrown in the dumpster.
"I am finished!"
The cloaked girl announced proudly. Reaching the desk, she pushed the paper back to the girl behind the counter.
It was indeed a soft female voice that left the face of the visored one, although, because of the mask, it was slightly distorted. Like when you send a voice through a sound filter. It made Momonga remember the certain half cyborg Sith Lord from an old movie he had watched back then.
Ainz was baffled for a moment; the attendant showed a sour, dumbfounded face after inspecting the paper. Tilting her head, she looked up and down, dissecting the one standing before her.
"Are you really a guy? And your name's Rodent? I've never heard such a weird name. Are you a foreigner?"
Staring the papers clueless, the attendant pointed out further misspellings, errors a grammar Nazis would have flayed for.
Gasping, Raidyn scratched her head nervously.
Momonga could barely hold himself from bursting out in laughter, and his emotion suppression kicked in, although, a small smile still was forced on his fleshless skull. On Nabe's face, a spiteful expression settled.
"Ahhh… Sorry, I arrived in the Kingdom only recently, a few days ago in fact and only started to learn the letters and how to write in your language not too long ago. Please forgive me."
She bowed, showing a slight submission. This motion of courtesy made her even more suspicious in the eyes of Momonga. Although, as said, he was still clueless about the customs of this world.
In any case, neither the villagers nor Gazef nor anyone else he had encountered until now made such a bowing motion that was Ainz's culture own. But she confessed she is a foreigner, maybe her culture was similar to his own.
The attendant sighed, giving her a sour, tired look.
"You should have said so; now you wasted paper. I hope you will pay for it. Although, your grammar is better than expected from a newcomer. How long since you started learning the language, if I may ask?"
"O-Of course… Please forgive me once again. As said, I arrived in the country around two days ago."
The cowled girl seemed so firm until now, but now, the traces of shaking started to appear in her tone.
Arranging a substitute paper the attendant prepared to raise her pen.
"Name…"
"Raidyn…"
"What a strange name, like she got it from some kind of videogame…" mused Momonga amused.
"Origin?"
"Ahhh… Nilfgaard…? At least, I spent the first few years of my life there. Let's say; I am very far away from home and always travelling around can make a person lose sight of where she really is."
The attendant gave her a stink eye, measuring her from tip to toe.
"What are you doing idiot!?" Raidyn berated herself loudly amidst her thoughts.
Looking back at the attendant she stiffened. Her face flushed under her mask and a strange feeling started to rise in her stomach. Now she was happy she decided to wear her veil.
The attendant was indeed beautiful, but seeing her current expression; it filled Raidyn with the fear of failure. Or in some way, the attendant just merely scared her.
"Why am I acting like this? This is so embarrassing! You had the perfect cover story! Idiot! Use it!"
"Right…" the attendant answered with a blank face and filled the empty place with the text: 'Unknown.'
"Race?"
"Humanoid…" Collecting herself, Raidyn's tone became firm once more.
The girl gave her a stink eye once again but otherwise ignored the adventurer. Instead, tiredly sighing, she motioned to her colleague to finish Momon's initiation and hand him and Nabe the dog tags that served as identification.
Momon still had no idea how could someone rely on such weak identification method, since these plates could be easily falsified. Shaking his head weakly, Momonga left behind such thoughts and proceeded, stepping before the next attendant girl who handed them the plates, leaving the strange woman alone.
Shortly after, Momon and Nabe left the building in search of the inn his subordinates had scouted beforehand. Using only the weak scribble, he could identify the signboard of the establishment.
Naturally, he wanted to remain to learn more about the unknown element, but halting his departure after his business had been concluded would be too suspicious. Ainz suspected she was already too watchful of them.
Concentrating on solving his suddenly appeared problem, Momon's feet ate away the distance.
Several streets further, Narberal looked around, making sure no one would overhear their conversation.
"Ainz-sam..."
"...No, my name is Momon. And you are not the battle maid Narberal from the Great Tomb of Nazarick, but Momon's adventuring partner, Nabe,"
The fully armoured person, Ainz, interrupted the girl named Narberal and she responded:
"Ah! My humble apologies, Momon-sama."
"Don't address me with -sama. How many times I have to repeat myself? We are normal adventurers and comrades. It would be weird for you to add -sama."
"B-But! How could I be so impudent towards you, the Supreme Ruler?"
Ainz stopped the anxious-sounding Narberal with a hand gesture, signalling her to lower her voice, then he replied with a hint of resignation and helplessness:
"I've already repeated this many times: Here, I am the Dark Warrior Momon... No, just your partner, Momon, so don't address me with - sama. That's an order."
After a moment of silence, Narberal answered reluctantly:
"Understood Momon-sa-an."
"Never mind, this will have to do, there is no need to add honorifics though. If you add honorifics when addressing comrades...how should I put this...others will think we aren't close."
"But...that would be too disrespectful..."
Ainz shrugged at the stammering Narberal.
"We can't reveal our real identities. You do understand that part, right?"
"You are absolutely right."
"...Your tone...well, never mind. Anyway...what I want to say is that you must be careful in everything you say or do. Our cover was almost blown back in the guild."
"...Understood, Momon-sa-san. But is it really fine for me to accompany you? Wouldn't someone as beautiful and gentle as Albedo-sama be more suitable?"
"Albedo, huh..."
Ainz's following words were full of complicated feelings.
"She needs to manage Nazarick while I am away."
"Pardon my impudence, but you can leave the management of Nazarick to Cocytus-sama. All the Guardians feel the same... Taking your safety into consideration, wouldn't the best Guardian, Albedo-sama, be the best choice?"
Ainz smiled awkwardly at Narberal's query.
When he expressed his wish to head for E-Rantel, Albedo was the one who objected the most.
After all, she knew she wouldn't be able to tag along.
Shortly after he was transported into this world, Ainz went outside while leaving his escorts behind and Albedo blamed herself for being incompetent. Therefore, Ainz was unable to oppose her vigorous opinion. But this time was different, since it was done after a lot of careful planning so that he wouldn't back down.
His opposition consisted of Guardians that would obediently listen to 'orders', even if it went against their will. But Ainz didn't think that was a good thing. He felt guilty for forcefully imposing his will on the Guardians created by his guildmates.
Ainz who tried to convince them and Albedo who was adamantly opposing, they had no middle ground and were fated to never reach a consensus. But Demiurge whispered something into Albedo's ears, and she suddenly stopped her resistance. She even bid Ainz farewell with a smile of approval.
Ainz still didn't know what Demiurge said to her, and he felt uneasy at how Albedo changed her stance so drastically.
"...I didn't bring her along because there was no one I trust more than her. I can leave Nazarick without worries because she is there."
"Just as I thought! This means that Albedo-sama is the one closest to Momon-sa-san right?"
Although he did not acknowledge it verbally, Ainz nodded in answer to Narberal's question.
"I am aware of the danger."
Ainz lifted his right gauntlet and indicated his ring finger:
"But I need to do this personally. Just giving commands from within Nazarick will lead to making mistakes in this unknown world. There is a need to go outside and experience this world myself...maybe there are better methods to accomplish this, but I feel uneasy with so many unknowns,"
He answered solemnly through the gap in his helmet. As Narberal answered "I get it now" and made an enlightened expression, Ainz asked her with a bit of uneasiness:
"I have a question for you...do you believe humans are low-class creatures?"
"That's right, humans are worthless scum," answered Narberal from the bottom of her heart without the slightest hesitation. Ainz mumbled softly,
"Ah, so you feel the same way," but since his volume was too low, Narberal didn't hear him. He continued to rant:
"That's what her personality is like, that's why I didn't want to enter a human city. I should understand the character of my subordinates first."
As stated above:
That was one of the reasons he didn't take Albedo along; she was entirely convinced humans were low-class creatures. If Ainz brought someone like her into a city full of people, it could only end up in a bloodbath if he slipped up; it was nothing to joke about. Another reason was Albedo's inability to disguise herself; she was unable to hide her horns and wings.
And then there was the main reason, which he couldn't say out loud.
A mere salaryman like Ainz didn't have the confidence to run an organization just by reading the reports of others. That was why he dumped the heavy responsibility of running Nazarick to the talented Albedo. If a subordinate was excellent, giving the said subordinate free reign would be the best decision. Inept supervisors that butted in needlessly would only cause a tragedy.
And Albedo was bound tightly with the dual locks of 'loyalty' and 'love'. That was the reason Ainz could leave the Great Tomb of Nazarick in her hands.
"Love, huh..."
Whenever Ainz saw Albedo or heard her express her love for him, Ainz would be reminded of how he carelessly edited Albedo's setting. When the server was about to shut down, Ainz modified Albedo's 'character settings' to be genuinely in love with Momonga, who was Ainz. Plus, added a little bit of supplementary information at the end of her description.
Back then he didn't know he would be transported into this unknown, alternate world; he only intended to pull a little joke at the very end.
A person like him.
Thinking more in-depth about it, even if Albedo didn't mind, what would his friend Tabula Smaragdina say if he knew what Ainz had done?
And how would he feel about this? To have the NPC he created rewritten by a friend...
He was taking advantage of that, using the fact that Albedo wouldn't betray him. He hated himself for this.
Ainz shook his head to get rid of his negative thoughts. All of his intense emotions became suppressed after he turned into an undead, but he could feel emotions of this level as if he was still a human. If his mind really became that of an undead, he wouldn't have to feel such a sense of guilt anymore.
Distracted by such thoughts, Ainz turned his helmet towards Narberal:
"...Nabe, I won't ask you to stop thinking like that, but you have to suppress it. This is a human city, and we have no idea what kind of powerful people we might meet, so don't attract any unnecessary attention from the enemy with such thoughts. Back in the guild, it almost happened."
A grim fear froze on her face. Narberal bowed deeply to express her fealty towards Ainz.
"I-I am deeply sorry… It will not happen again."
Ainz reached out to her, lifted her face and warned:
"One more thing, I am not sure if humans will feel threatened...by our killing intent when we want to fight or are in the midst of battle, but it appears that we do emit such an aura. So don't act recklessly without my permission, understood?"
"Understood Momon-sa-san."
"Very good...The tavern that was scouted beforehand should be around somewhere."
Ainz looked around, then started to whisper.
"By the way, that masked girl back in the guild…"
"That masked person?" Nabe scoffed disgustedly. "I feel she is dangerous. Give me the order and I will take care of her." Placing her hand on her scabbard, Nabe firmed her resolve.
"Muu… Don't be so harsh; it was us who breached her privacy. Let's just wait, for now, observe. We don't know her intentions yet. Maybe we can turn her into an ally later. We know neither her level nor her strength."
"Still, that intent she emitted towards Ain.. Momon-sa-san. Unacceptable, filthy vermin!"
"Sigh…" Ainz gave away an undetectable tired sigh.
"I only ask you to wait for my command, don't act harshly. I was unable to inspect her level. That means she is hiding her real identity, like us. It would be an act of recklessness to reveal ourselves at this stage. We need to observe and learn before we do act…"
"As you wish…" she bowed her head. The two of them finally reached the bar, and opening the door, entered it.
Scene Change: Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick: Royal Suites: Ainz's room:
Sitting behind Ainz's desk, Albedo glared at the new addition of Ainz's collection of vassals. The Arch Seraphim, Auriel Michalis.
Yellow slit eyes met with almost luminous blue oculars. For a moment, Auriel turned her head away, leaving a few of her blond locks to peek out under her wimple.
The girl pushed her fingers together, making a few circular motions. She seemed very nervous.
One of the homunculus maids who stood on the side of Albedo poured two cups worth of tea.
"We-Well… Albedo-sama. You requested my presence… ma-may I know why you called for me?"
Albedo nodded, still giving her strict glare to her subject of interest. Lowering her hands, her usual impeccable mask returned to her face.
"Indeed, but please don't be so nervous. We are only here to evaluate your use as a new addition in Nazarick's ecosystem."
Holding a pen in her hand, Albedo began to scribble something on a paper.
"So, what are you good at?"
"Ugh…" Auriel gasped slightly, giving a pondering expression, looking up at the ceiling with an adorable expression.
"Now-now, don't be so nervous." Albedo's smile made the Seraph calm down a little bit.
"We-Well, Esdeath-sama made me a talented singer, actor, scribe and skilled negotiator. Also, my aim is quite good with my automatic crossbow. In truth, I am specialised mostly for long ranged offensive and healer support, bearing the legendary Highlord class. Although, I have equipment and skills to use close ranged weaponry, such as a shield and a javelin, I prefer to remain far from the danger."
"I see… so you are a paladin with long ranged offensive and support skills. Interesting combination, Ainz-sama mentioned that you might be specialized in such way…"
Auriel nodded timidly, still a little frightened. No matter how she looked at the somewhat friendly expression of the Guardian Overseer, Albedo still made her feel insecure.
The demoness' hand moved, writing even more on her paper. Watching her, the timid girl flinched for a moment.
The raven-haired beauty did not even looked the parchment, her hand moving automatically, filling row after row.
"Ye-yes…"
The scribing noises Albedo's pen was leaving were unnerving.
"Next question… Are you loyal to Ainz-sama? Where does your loyalty lie?"
"I-In my creator…" Auriel answered immediately but nervously, looking away and slightly sweating.
From first sight, it looked as if Albedo was straining herself not to attack the woman sitting before her. In the end, she managed to get a hold of herself. Although, only thanks to the next sentence that left Auriel's mouth.
"Na-Naturally, in her absence, and considering the fact that in the past Ainz-sama and Esdeath-sama trusted each other and shared a close relationship, I place my faith in Ainz-sama. I will follow his orders until my creator returns. If she orders me, even after that."
Albedo raised her delicate brows curiously. After overhearing the statement; 'close relationship', her heart started to pump even more.
First, placing the sentiment in a different context, raised her level of anger, but after the momentary fury dissipated, the excitement of hunt started to boil her succubus blood.
She will defeat her rival even in her absence!
After all, Shalltear was no opponent for her, since she would depart from Nazarick for the time being. Just claiming Ainz for herself without competition would be utterly boring. She was a hunter, and she would hunt!
She would compete even if her rival is a Supreme Being herself.
Her smile widened for a moment, then started her next query, immediately turning her mood and face to the one you may describe with the words; spiteful and furious.
"Is that so? Then why did you intend to use your [Grand Exorcism] on Ainz-sama?"
Seeing her expression, Auriel backed immediately, trembling slightly from the killing intent the demoness emitted.
"I-I was scared! I swear! Creator-sama left so long ago…"
Lowering her head, the Arch Seraphim crumbled a few tears. For a moment, Albedo's hard mask softened.
"W-We miss her so much and praying day after day for her return can be exhausting. I thought someone tried to invade her sanctuary, and I did my best to protect my Creator's domain. I did not recognize it was Ainz-sama. I-I have not even set my foot out of her room, ever. I know it is shameful, but I did not know how Ainz-sama looked…"
Her looks really mirrored her emotional state. Those teary puppy eyes and her sad, down-looking expression would melt the heart of even the coldest villain.
Giving an exhausted sigh, Albedo did what Auriel considered an impossible act. Impossible, if we believed it came from the always proper and official Guardian Overseer.
Albedo gave her an appraising, sympathetic look.
Her face was honest, but even now, Auriel felt herself uneasy in the presence of the Guardian Overseer.
Nodding a few times, Albedo sighed, waving away the maid and the guards, who left immediately.
"I completely understand. Knowing our beloved ones are out there somewhere. Completing our duty, is indeed a heavy burden, but we need to bear this weight to make them proud."
Clutching her hands together, Albedo looked away, gazing into the nothingness with lustful eyes, wondering, if Ainz indeed thought as much of her as she thought of him. Fantasizing as her father appeared and gave his blessings to the relationship.
Turning back to Auriel, her smile was heart-warming.
"Don't worry; I am sure Ainz-sama will find your master. After all, without my 'sisterly rival', the hunt will be boring. Shalltear is not that much of rival…"
A charming crackle left Albedo's lips, covering her mouth with her delicate white lined hands.
Auriel tilted her head, a little bit flabbergasted, wiping away her tears softly. Then her expression changed to a smiling one.
"Right…Thank you, I appreciate your sympathy, Albedo-sama." The Arch Seraph sweat dropped for a moment, an uncomfortable expression still hidden behind her charming smile.
Auriel's expression either expressed her cluelessness or surprise. She either knew or not what Albedo was speaking about when she mentioned the word; 'sisterly rival'.
In any case, both women's skill to hide secrets was perfect.
Auriel knew Albedo for only a day, so she had no idea what kind of relationship her master and the Guardian Overseer shared in the past, as well, what kind of a person the raven-haired beauty was.
The Seraph only knew what his brother whispered in her ear. Being Zero was her big brother, like a good sister, she must obey the words of her older sibling in the best of her ability.
According to him, this woman was dangerous, and she needed to be wary when near her.
But since the two of them met, Albedo was nothing but kind to her. She was confused; what was she supposed to do?
Naturally, Auriel followed the orders of her sibling, urging herself to share as less as possible, only showing a charming smile as the two of them conversed.
"Now then, let's chat…" Albedo smiled at Auriel.
After the assurance of the Guardian Overseer, the chat became much like that of two girlfriends discussing things between each other.
The air lightened around the two women. Mostly covering official business of course, but also leaving enough time to discuss their loved ones and gossip with each other.
When it came to gossip, Auriel was miserably outclassed by Albedo who was the centre of the information network of Nazarick.
In spite of everything, the two newfound girlfriends had a good time and discussed many things hours in length, accompanied by delicious cakes and tea.
After all, their goal was the same, protecting their loved ones, serving Ainz and securing the authority of their masters. That was the primary goal of the two women.
At least, if a clueless outsider would overhear the mingling of the two females, it would probably sound just like that. Just a business meeting of two newfound girlfriends, seasoned with senseless chatter.
But in truth, Albedo schemed as always, her words like a snake, trying to invade Auriel's mind and recruit her, seeking the poor girl's secrets. Maybe Auriel did the same with Albedo, no one knew. As already has been said, their act was perfect.
Auriel with her adoring timid nature and slight airhead attitude tried to soften Albedo. Albedo with her firm and elegant charm urged Auriel to show her true face.
In the end, Auriel left Ainz's office with a satisfied expression.
Naturally, still keeping her guard in the presence of the Guardian Overseer, but her mood had definitely brightened after the seemingly lightheaded conversation.
This girl talk definitely helped to ease her strained soul.
Back then, her only company was her cold, calculative brother who in most cases only answered her questions with a cold gaze or using simple phrases.
She could only converse with the two handmaidens of her master; the two maids named Rem and Ram, and even then, the twins used somewhat formal tones and honorifics, never really daring to object differently. Speaking with them after a while became kind of boring.
Being clumsy and her hobbies mostly consisting of composing, playing music, singing, writing stories, reading and sleeping, her personality was not of a person who could quickly befriend someone. You may say she was slightly retractable and shy. She gave her trust periodically, or you may say on an infrequent occasion.
Her ability to act, diplomatic and scheming skills came from her programming and description, not from practice.
Leaving the door behind, an extraordinary sight came before her vision.
More precisely, a bird, a small Rockhopper penguin with blonde hair and a black bow tie.
For long, agonising moments, the two of them just stared at each other, behind the penguin the masked manservant standing motionless.
On the side of the penguin-like butler, a maid stood. A person whose outer appearance was that of a beautiful lady, but had the head of a Shetland Sheepdog instead of a human's one, with a vertical scar on her face running down the centre with signs of stitching.
The angel shook seeing the penguin servant:
"Uwaa...!" A sensual steam left her mouth.
Both Eclair and Pestonya were a little uneasy seeing the almost trembling nun garbed girl. But as the future ruler of the tomb, Eclair gathered his courage and started his introduction with a small bow.
"Welcome. My name is Eclair Ecleir Eicler, the assistant butler appointed to be in charge of Nazarick's upkeep in the absence of Sebas-sama. Before the head butler de..."
Before poor Eclair could even finish his sentence, Auriel charged forward, raising the 'future ruler of Nazarick' with sparkling eyes of adoration.
"So cute!" Auriel raised the poor creature in a tight hug, almost suffocating Éclair with her generous bosom.
"So cute! So cute! So cute! You are so cute I want to cuddle you all day!"
Her cuddle was so tight, Éclair almost asphyxiated. Naturally, even in her euphoric state Auriel made sure not to kill the poor assistant butler.
The masked manservant titled his head in confusion and Pestonya gave a motherly smile with her dog like head and barked happily.
"Woof…"
"Stop it! As the future ruler of Nazarick I order you to stop this madness! I command you!"
His struggle was in vain, since despite Auriel's timid nature and clumsiness, she was still a level 100 NPC, while Éclair's overall strength level was only one.
This was a nightmare for the assistant butler. First Shizu, and now this woman!
How will he conquer Nazarick if he dies here and now? How will he fulfil his destiny that his creator entrusted to him? If this goes on, these two soft, fleshy globes will suffocate him.
Pestonya waited a few more moments, enjoying the struggle of the assistant butler.
She was not a bad person of course. No, in truth, despite her somewhat grotesque stitched face, she was one of the few denizens of Nazarick who had positive karma. In that way, she could totally relate and feel sympathy towards beings that lived outside of Nazarick.
She let Auriel embrace Éclair because of two reasons:
One, she found the picture of the two cute. Secondly, because of her opinion of the assistant butler's uppity behaviour.
According to the opinion of the others, Éclair was a traitor. It was because of his dream to one day take the seat of Ainz and rule Nazarick in his stead.
Naturally, everyone knew the truth behind Éclair's behaviour:
He was not an evil person; he was made to be like this by the Supreme Beings. And because of this simple reason, everyone tolerated his behaviour and quips.
Enjoying her comic relief for a few more moments, Pestonya stepped forward.
"… Woof. Auriel-sama, may I request you to put down assistant butler Éclair-sama? Woof!"
The voice that left her stitched dog-like face was quite pleasant.
Auriel stopped, looked in the direction of the maid, then back at the horrified Rockhopper penguin.
Éclair trembled as the Arch Seraph put him down slowly, shuffling back hastily to the side of his masked transporter manservant.
"I-I am truly sorry for my unbecoming behaviour, please forgive me; I don't know what hit me. But after I saw you…"
Clutching her hands together in a prayer, she envisioned a slightly euphoric, almost addicted sight towards the assistant butler.
"I needed to cuddle you! Cuddle! Cuddle! Cuddle you all day! You are so adorable!"
Éclair shrugged as a cold feeling ran down his spine. This woman was scarier than The Pleiades that always hugged him.
'Great… now there is a second one… two crazy women he had to deal with…'
The memories still haunted him, remembering the Pleiade, Shizu Delta always doing the same nightmarish act.
"Please don't do this again, this just makes me uncomfortable. If you dare to act against my person once more, I will be forced to rain Nazarick's wrath upon you!"
Both Pestonya and Auriel ignored the statement.
The maid because she knew it would never happen, and Auriel because she found Éclair too cute to be able to imagine him doing such an unbecoming thing; she just nodded almost drooling.
The masked manservant just stood motionless, holding his current boss.
"Well then…" clearing his throat, Éclair started again.
"As I said before, my name is Eclair Ecleir Eicler, the assistant butler appointed to be in charge of Nazarick's upkeep in the absence of Sebas-sama. The maid on my side is Pestonya Shortcake. Before departure, Sebas-sama entrusted us the task to guide and show you around in the tomb, as well as introduce you to the facilities thoroughly. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."
Auriel bowed her head submissively.
"Thank you, please take care of me."
Looking up, a sudden questioning gaze lingered in her luminous blue eyes.
"By the way, Éclair-kun… why did you say you would be the ruler of Nazarick? If I remember it right, it is the task of Ainz-sama, is it not?"
The penguin puffed his chest proudly, giving an uppity expression.
"You heard it right, young lady! One day, this all will be mine! All will come under the rule of the great Éclair-sama! Plead fealty now, and I will guarantee you a high position in my new order!"
"Ohhh…" the Seraph awed in amazement. Then a happy expression settled on her face.
"So cute!" Auriel couldn't hold back herself anymore, so she jumped forward and started to cuddle Éclair's cheek.
"Stop it! I command you!"
Pestonya sighed. This was going to be a long day. A silent huff left her dog-like face.
"Woof…"
Scene Change: E-Rantel: Inn: with Esdeath:
After the exhausting question game back in the Adventurer's guild, Raidyn finally finished her official registration and received her well-earned copper medal.
Passing the twentieth question, she thoroughly considered leaving to search for a better method to gain information. This much of a struggle seemingly did not worth to remain a neutral party.
But being that her will was like that of an iron fortress, she endured. Even when her prepared backstory couldn't seem to provide a definite answer to the question the lady asked, she improvised.
Finishing with the registration, she inquired about an inn where she could rent a room. A possible cheap place, which a copper level adventurer like her could afford.
You may ask yourselves why did she do this? She just received a bunch of coins from O'Boyle, as well ordered her servant to raid the corpses of the dead back in Stilpree.
In truth, her financial situation became quite bad after Rorschach's departure.
She gave almost all of her earned money to her doppelganger servant, both the acquired reward from O'Boyle and the coins her servant looted back in Stilpree. Now, she only carried a handful of silver coins.
She gave up all the newly gained wealth just to finance her new project, the grand design conducted by her faithful servant behind the scenes.
The project that needed both connections and establishments to be set up in multiple places before it could really start.
The first place would be established in the capital, soon. First things first, they needed a workshop to be set up. Secondly, the business required a steady supply of raw materials to be successful.
Naturally, she could use her in-game gold to finance her goal or merely ask Rorschach who was an assassin and an infiltration specialist to steal the required materials directly.
But using the in-game currency risked her exposure, using the in-game gold could be easily traced back to her through the commercial market. Using it was like announcing her presence in the world.
As well, the suddenly decreasing, missing stocks around the capital and the missing equipment would only result in suspicion and investigations. Thus, she withdrew from these options.
Fortunately, she gained firm guidance to a cheap inn that received rookie adventurers like her. Even better news; she reached her goal earlier than she planned.
Despite the attendant's somewhat frustrated attitude, she became much friendlier after she paid for the wasted paper.
Raidyn was aware, despite the feudal external, the society of this world moved by money and monetary values. No matter the time, place, world or dimension, capitalism was a thriving thing.
Naturally, Esdeath was well aware that capitalism was not the perfect solution. But imperfect beings such as humans couldn't possibly create, live and upkeep a Utopian society. Corruption would always gain foothold sooner or later. Crumbling the whole thing down, generally sooner than later.
The nature of the people made living in such a ubiquitous dream world like communism an impossible task.
Sadly, we are greedy and ambitious creatures, that's the sad truth about humanity, and every beast possessing the thing we call free will.
History had proven it multiple times and pushed it in our face until the present day.
Among many ideologies, communism may sound nice on the paper, but it was an unrealistic goal to reach.
Such perfect living community where everyone served a common goal, everyone was part of the machine and served their purpose without questions, like a well-oiled cog in a complex machine. It was an impossible dream for humans…
The more complex the apparatus, the sooner its faults were shown.
Reaching the same signboard the girl sketched back in the guild, Raidyn unconsciously hastened her steps, dusted her armoured boots and opened the double doors with a big swung.
Almost all the windows were closed, giving the inside a dim lighting. Those who were used to the bright light outside wouldn't be able to adjust immediately.
But for Esdeath who had True Sight, this amount of light was more than enough.
The interior was spacious; the first floor was the dining area with a counter. Two cabinets were placed behind the bar, with a few dozen wine bottles in them. The door next to the table probably led into the kitchen.
At the corner of the dining area was a right-angled stairway leading to the second floor. According to the counter lady, the second and third floor were guest rooms. A handful of patrons were scattered around some of the round dining tables. Most of them were men and the atmosphere felt hostile.
A few people were looking at Raidyn and they seemed to be taking her measurements.
The inn could seem in order if not for the capsized broken table and stools scattered not far from the corner. Instantly, the image of a bar brawl came in Esdeath's mind.
The feud couldn't have taken place a while ago. A man could be seen near the broken table, clearing the rubble. He reminded Raidyn a typical barkeeper from fantasy stories, a man who used to work in such shady places as this inn was.
His appearance was that of a burly man with a dirty scarf around his neck, with his sleeves rolled up to show off two muscular arms and the numerous scars adoring it.
His looks were somewhere between a brute and a beast, scars could clearly be seen on his face, and his head was shaved.
He looked more like a bouncer than the owner, sparing only a glance at Raidyn, observing her openly.
The scene in the tavern left a sour taste in Esdeath's mouth. She had not prepared herself for such thing after her experience in Stillpree; it was even filthier than she first thought.
Say what you want for the Theocracy, but they at least knew what the word 'cleanliness' meant.
Compared to the inn she stayed in the neighbouring country, this bar was indeed a lowly place. No, not just the inn. Maybe the walls of E-Rantel were tall and magnificent, but the interior of the walls in most places showed the picture of an undeveloped city.
Compared to it, Stilpree at least had developed stone roads and a cistern system. She even spotted governmentally financed city maintenance staff going around and fixing things in the trader town. Moreover, the soldiers of the Theocracy looked much better equipped than the guard units that patrolled in E-Rantel.
Of course, in YGGDRASIL, there were also many dirty and disgusting places, and even the Great Tomb of Nazarick had one of them. Examples would be the hall of the Lord of Terror or the giant cavern of poisonous worms.
But this filth was different.
There were scraps of food all over the floor and unknown liquids; weird stains on the wall; a mysterious cube-shaped item moulding in a corner...
Esdeath could only huff uncomfortably and gaze around the tavern.
Suddenly, her sight stopped on a woman and the item she held firmly. A bizarre view.
Around twenty years old or younger, she has untidy red hair trimmed short for smooth movement. Although her features weren't bad and her eyes were sharp, she didn't wear makeup, and her skin was wheat coloured after prolonged exposure to the sun. Her arms had solid muscles, and her hands were full of calluses from wielding a sword; she looked like every other typical adventurer Raidyn saw back in the guild.
A necklace with an iron medal hung above her chest.
But it was not the woman's appearance that made Raidyn stare at her for many long moments, no. It was the item she held and inspected unpleasantly.
A small bottle, filled with red liquid. Esdeath recognised it immediately. It was a low-grade recovery potion.
After today's conversation with Lizzie, she was aware:
Red potions were considered as legendary treasures in this world. It was the philosopher's stone of the alchemists, 'the blood of gods', as Lizzie described it.
Fortunately, she withdrew giving Lizzie one. At the moment she asked about it, the elderly alchemist burst out, asking vehemently how she knew about that 'legendary' item.
Honestly, the petite lady scared her. Strangely, Esdeath felt no fear when she had to fight with necromancers and undead, but her innards churned when she had to deal with women like Lizzie.
Did that mean that her weakness to deal with women was still present in this world? It would be undoubtedly weird considering her current body. No, shaking her head she realized it was still present. She always felt thoroughly scared when she had to deal with scary women.
Dismissing such thoughts with a small head shake, her attention returned to the redhead woman.
About the potion, it was a low-grade item back then, considered worthless trash. Back in the game, every second monster dropped one. But here, it was a potion worth a great deal of money, and in some places, it was even considered a national treasure.
She'd rather not risk handing Lizzie one, she could get a stroke or simply attack her in her urge to claim it.
And really… the only thing she did back then was to ask if Lizzie knew anything about red potions.
When the master alchemist in return asked how Raidyn knew about such legendary items, she only evaded the inquiry using the next sentence:
'I encountered similar potions under my travels.'
Hearing the words from her mouth, Lizzie seemed satisfied. Calming down, she nodded a few times and sniffed once again from her pipe.
Even imagining one such low-value potion being sold for so much money, and in this world to be considered a legendary treasure. It was just absurd in an entirely new level.
Yet, having seen and experienced as a simple, level sixty trash was considered a god-like being by the people of this world.
She couldn't do anything more than to just consider it as a joke.
Now, after gaining some experience, Esdeath was well aware of her great power and status.
Even so, she suspected players, or stronger beings could be out there.
Seeing the potion showing up here, of all places, she became even more suspicious.
Recognizing how the duo glared at her back in the guild and sensing as something or rather someone had poked her defence back then, she needed to stay on her guard.
Not speaking about the shadow demons that started to follow her relentlessly after stepping out of the door of the building. The fact she was tracked thoroughly scared her.
She managed to evade them of course, making a shortcut through a shady alley and using her skills to disappear. Killing them would only paint a target on her back, announcing:
'Hey! I am here! Shoot there! I am your enemy!'
It would only make the tracker her nemesis and reveal her full presence.
Stepping to the redhead girl softly, she cleared her throat.
"Excuse me, can you answer me a question?"
"Ah…" the redhead looked at her mask flabbergasted, grunting.
"Another one?" her tone carried petty spite, like the two of them had met before and shared an unpleasant past.
But after a momentary tension, her stance eased.
"I don't care, shoot…"
"Could you tell me where you got that potion?"
"Sure," she raised her brow in a strange manner, like she wanted to say; 'what do you want from me?'
"A guy clad in an expensive looking full black plate gave it to me as compensation after 'he' broke my potion. Throwing people around, what an idiot..." she muttered under her nose. Turning back to her potion and staring at it.
"If I saw it right, he was accompanied by a woman with raven black hair. Compared to his simple copper plate, his attitude was too arrogant; I needed to show him who is in charge."
The redhead woman seemed satisfied with her accomplishment, pushing her chest a little forward.
"Thank you very much…" bowing her head, Raidyn appreciated the information with a humble motion.
The woman called Brita asked once more, seeing the same copper plate hanging from the newcomer's neck.
"By the way, I see that you are a newbie as well, wearing that flashy visor. Tell me… Have you seen potions like this before? Does it worth anything?"
Placing her hand on her chin, Raidyn caressed it, acting like she was concentrating heavily.
"Hmmm, it is similar to the one I have encountered before. If it's the one I know, it's worth quite a sum. But I am not sure. You better check it by an alchemist. Make sure it isn't simple wine in a fancy bottle. People have tried to swindle me before, so I'm speaking from experience."
The redhead nodded, giving a pleasant smile.
"Thanks, I already planned it, but I appreciate the warning. My name is Brita, by the way. If you need something, just ask."
This woman was pleasant, not as scary as the counter lady was.
"Raidyn, my pleasure." Nodding, Raidyn turned her attention in the direction of the burly man who in the meantime had finished clearing the rubble, taking his position behind the counter once more.
"Sorry, if you'll excuse me, I need to rent a room. We can speak later."
"Sure…" Brita nodded in a friendly manner, placing the potion in her bag, walking to the nearby table where several more adventurers conversed.
Raidyn walked to the desk; the man behind the counter just grunted nastily, a sour expression on his face as he cleaned a mug.
"A newcomer, once again. But I like your style. With this attitude, you will find a party in no time. So, how long you want to stay? How many nights I can book for you, young lady?"
"For now, I'll pay for one night. If it's acceptable." Raidyn's answer was immediate.
"...Copper medal. Communal hall will be five copper coins per night. Oatmeal with vegetables will be complementary, one more copper if you want meat. The oatmeal might be replaced with bread several days old."
Several days old bread and oatmeal? Not the favourite of Esdeath. She would rather eat some regular food, fresh and homemade if possible.
She still had rations in her inventory. Although, it would be too suspicious passing day by day without food, and with her increased metabolism and need of food she would go mad sooner or later.
But even so, she needed to show some restraint and train sometime; she didn't want to grow a belly. From how many times her body forced her to eat a day, it could become quite the possibility.
Merely saying she obtained her meals from a different source was also an option.
Avoiding suspicion was why she carried a bag under her thick mantle. To prevent exposure and the unneeded questions from someone recognizing that she always walked around without package.
The second reason to spare inventory space of course. Her item box was already overstuffed with items she considered trash. But they could worth a fortune in this world.
"I would like to pass the meal, and if I can ask, is there a room with a single bed?"
The owner snorted annoyed:
"Just like the other one. You kids never learn, do you?"
Raidyn just stared at the man through the interface the mask projected before her eyes. The boss sighed, seeing her lack of answer.
"There are three taverns used exclusively by adventurers and mine is the worst of the lot... Do you know why the people at the guild introduced this place to you?"
"According to the attendant, this is the only place it can allow for my tight budget."
In response to Raidyn's smartass answer, the owner raised his brow and showed his intimidating side:
"Use your brain! Or is that pretty head of yours behind that strange mask empty, little lady?"
The man's intimidating nature did not faze Raidyn; she merely dismissed the threatening tone with a shrug.
She found the attendant back in the guild much scarier.
As mentioned above: Women were usually more terrifying than men in her eyes. Mostly the ones with the syndrome men called by the name; 'crazy eyes'.
According to several dating sites back on Earth, it was an indicator of future mental instability.
Gazing directly into the eyes of the future delinquent, it could be specified how far the member was on the 'hot-crazy scale'. Giving markers if it's worth the shot or not. The girl could be crazy if she was equally hot. If she was under the curve, turn around and flee.
And that woman back then just broke the scale with her glare. If not for her mission, Esdeath would have turned around and run out form this world.
The shaved man grunted quietly, continuing.
"...You have guts... Most of the adventurers staying here have copper or iron medals. Even if you meet someone for the first time, you can form an adventuring party if your abilities are around the same level. That's why my place is best suited for you to find teammates matching your current abilities..."
The owner's eyes flashed for a moment:
"You can sleep in a room if you want. Unfortunately, I have no free single rooms currently. The last free one was rented by that flashy knight guy. Although, I can offer you a double room if it does not bother you to share; the resident has still not paid her daily fee."
Pondering for a few moments, Raidyn nodded firmly.
"I am fine with it. I am sure we can solve the situation in a civilized manner."
"Fine… just a warning," the boss jeered, giving one last dangerous gaze in his new delinquent.
"You won't get teammates without using the common grounds. If you can't form a balanced party, you will be dead if you fight monsters. Rookies without comrades will advertise themselves in a crowded place like this. I will ask for the last time, you want the communal hall or to take the room?"
Raidyn just brushed his warning off with a cold snicker.
"Thank you for the warning; I'll take the room, since I usually work alone. I'll also pass the meal, thank you."
Her tone was confident, making everyone both shiver and awe for a moment.
"Tch… Fine then… brushing off my goodwill like the last one. Your funeral; it will be seven copper. Payment in advance, of course."
The owner held out his weathered hand, waiting for the money. Raidyn paid with silver, in return she gained six copper as change, and of course, the key to her room.
"What a rubbish exchange rate, why can't they use normal rates with sensible logic…"
She only grumbled to herself, pondering, why precisely thirteen copper made a silver. What kind of logic made the people of this world value copper at such a rate?
Some kind of integer number would be more sensible and elegant in a world where electric exchange rates are not present. For example, ten, she liked the number 'ten'.
A silver is ten copper coins. It sounded a lot better, as well, was a lot more practical than thirteen.
Maybe, they valued precious metals by their rarity? She had no clue, Momonga was the salaryman that worked in such an area of expertise. She was a programming engineer back in her own world.
Basically, she worked using variables, loops, conditionals, input/output, subroutines and functions. These things filled her days back then.
If someone gave her the task to write an accountant program, she would be unable to start without the client giving her the adequate formula needed to calculate the end result first.
Using that, she could figure out a logic to build on, but without it, she was utterly clueless.
It had happened a few times in the past, the customer themselves was as well on clueless what they wanted from her. And usually provided an inaccurate description about the project.
In the end, she had to do the investigation by herself to show the client what they truly wanted.
She hated when her employer entrusted her with such work. It was a nightmare, a nightmare that robbed many hours of her free time. Made her overwork and strained her already failing body.
"The second room on the right, up the stairs, knock before you enter. The current resident is a grumpy brat. If she is there, just brush her off, throw her out if she tries to pull anything funny. She has not yet paid her daily fee. Tell her, if she wants to complain, pay first. From now on, it is you who has officially rented the room."
"…" Giving him a few confirming nods, the boss continued.
"You can store your luggage in the chest behind the bed. You don't need me to remind you not to approach the rooms of others carelessly. It would be troublesome if a misunderstanding occurred, but that's not a bad way to get others to know you. You look like you can handle any situation, just don't give me any trouble."
The owner glanced the vacant place where the broken desk resided, grunting unpleasantly.
"Umu… I'll try to do so, thank you. One more thing, please prepare the basic equipment for adventurers. During my travel, I lost most of my stuff, and according to the attendant you can prepare me some if I asked you."
Crossing his arm over his chest, the shaved man just nodded in a huff, giving a small look at the leather purse Raidyn hid under her disguise.
"Sure thing, I'll prepare it before dinner. Just prepare your pouch too."
"One more question." She pointed at the splinter remains on the ground.
"Can I inquire about what happened before I arrived? It seems there was an awful commotion."
"Humph. A few idiots tried to bully a newbie. Unfortunately for them, it was a flashy black knight who threw them on the other side of the room. Serves them right…" Returning to his work, the boss brushed a weird looking puddle with a dirty cloth.
"Is he accompanied with a woman?" she asked once more, fearing the worst.
The owner looked in the far for a moment, remembering the commotion. "Yes, she had black hair if I remember it right, pale skin, exotic features. Why do you ask? A friend of yours?"
Raidyn froze, just what she feared. Turn around and flee? Ridicule herself? No! That would be too suspicious. The only thing she could do is to proceed. Crush everyone who dared to stand in her way!
"Hmmm… Maybe, I am not too sure. I meet many people day by day." Staring the patch for a moment, she nodded, leaving two more silver coins on the counter. Then waved before the owner with only three fingers. "For the information, and your silence. We never spoke about them."
"Sure…" the man grunted, subtly pocketing the coins.
Nodding, Esdeath turned away, her steps like a ghost, completely silent, graceful, and agile. For the onlookers, her person emitted the aura of mystery, the air of power, the charm that would be befit of a royalty.
Despite the enormous weight of her Dragon Slayer, her steps were unnaturally light, like some kind of supernatural power made the significant burden of the sword disappear.
Her soft steps on the usually creaking stairs did not even leave a remembrance.
You may think, wearing her sword made the weight of it disappear. And you would be half right. In truth, Raidyn used her esper powers to interfere with reality and change the laws of gravity slightly on her person, decreasing her and the weapon's weight significantly.
It required a constant focus to upkeep the effect., but she thought of it as some form of training. It made her control over her newfound powers increase.
After her form disappeared in the upper floors, the tavern started to become rowdy again.
"Seems there is more and more competition on the horizon, first that black-clad guy with that beauty, now this mysterious girl."
"Yes, what kind of training regime you think he went through to gain that kind of arm strength? Throwing a guy just like that, he must be incredibly strong."
"Umu… I agree…"
"Do you think she was a rogue? Her steps were so soft and silent. If I had not watched her, I wouldn't have noticed she was here."
"No, she must be a warrior as well. Like that full plated guy, didn't you see the handle that peeked out behind her head? It must belong to a robust weapon."
"Nah, she must be a monk. I have seen a few monks carrying staffs as a weapon. They can be pretty silent too."
"Why did this have to happen again...now there's another person who'll surpass us immediately!"
The conversations were filled with sighs, surprise and fear.
Everyone knew from the beginning, Momon, Nabe and Raidyn weren't ordinary adventurers. Just by looking at them for a moment they could distinguish the difference between them.
The first clue was Ainz's flashy equipment. Full body armour wasn't cheap, only those who kept adventuring and had plenty of experience could afford them. Only those who had advanced to the silver medal rank could accumulate such wealth with the remunerations of their missions. But there were still some who inherited or picked them up from the battlefield or dungeons.
The second reason behind their thinking was the glimpse of the strange mask Raidyn wore. Such masks usually were magic items, and judging from the peculiar design, it must have been a magical item exotic in nature. Maybe an artifact she gained by adventuring deep into a forgotten ruin or inherited it from somewhere.
Only one thing was sure, it was most likely worth a fortune.
Among many things, these were the reasons why they wanted to know the actual power of the newcomers.
Everyone was a companion and a competitor at the same time. They all wanted to know the capability of the newcomers, so the process just kept repeating.
All who were present went through the same ritual. But no one had passed through the rites so easily. That meant the duo that was wearing the copper medals… and the mysterious figure that had arrived not long after them, were unique amongst their kind.
Be it companions or competitors; they were definitely powerful, that was evident to anyone who watched them.
"How should we deal with these three?"
"We can't flirt with that beauty anymore."
"But if they are alone, they can join our party."
"You got it wrong; we should be the ones asking them to join their party."
"I wonder what he looks like under that helmet."
"What do you think, how much that fancy mask cost? It must be a fortune; I have never seen such design…"
"Hmm… most likely a magic item, I have a nose for such things…"
"Who cares!? Judging from her voice, she must be a hotshot under that cover! The air of mystery she radiates is just frenetic!" grinned the sixth man with a perverse smirk plastered on his face.
As the crowd noisily discussed the mysterious three figures in high spirits, the tavern owner walked towards one adventurer:
Brita just sat down once again, placing the red potion on the table, staring it intensely, like she waited for a genie to peek out from his/her eternal home.
Sighing tired, Brita thought hard about if the red potion she received from the black knight was indeed worth that much as the masked newbie proclaimed. She still pondered about the forgeries her fellow adventurer spoke about.
Hearing the approaching steps, she opened her eyes, subjecting her stare towards the approaching owner with a dull expression.
"What potion is that?" asked the old man surprised.
"Who knows?"
"… Hey, you don't even know? Didn't you accept his compensation immediately because you knew the price of this potion?"
"That's impossible; I've never seen such a potion before. Didn't you come here to take a look as well because you haven't seen this before, old man?"
"Can this potion really compensate you? Your potion breaking is a fact, right? This one might be cheaper than the one you bought."
"That might be... this is a gamble, but I am confident I'll come out ahead. First, this was given to me by a guy in flashy armour after hearing the value of my potion..."
The owner nodded, pointing out further facts.
"I assume there is another reason you are keeping the potion…"
Brita just merely nodded, showing a brave smile.
"Yes, according to that masked girl, the potion maybe is worth a great deal of money."
"I see… then its better get it appraised before it expires…"
Turning towards the shaved man, Brita nodded confidently, confirming that she thought the same.
"Yes, she suggested the same, strange… I have never seen a recovery potion with such a strange colour; she said it is a rare item. If I hesitated back then and asked to be paid with money instead, it would be the same as leaving the tiger's den empty-handed. I'll get it appraised tomorrow and find out how much it is worth."
"Oh, I will foot the appraisal fee. Not just that, I will even recommend a good place for you."
"Old man?"
Brita frowned. The tavern owner wasn't a bad guy, but he was definitely not a charitable man. There must have been a catch.
"Hey, don't give me that look. I just want you to tell me the effects of your potion."
"Is that what you were planning?"
"It's a great deal right? And with my connections, I can introduce you to the best pharmacist, Lizzie Bareare."
Brita was shocked.
Many mercenaries and adventurers congregated in E-Rantel, so vendors specializing in weapons and equipment were able to earn a lot of money, with the recovery potion trade being the most profitable. That's why E-Rantel had more pharmacists than other cities.
But even in the face of so much competition, Lizzie Bareare held on to her title as the best pharmacist. Among all the pharmacists in the city, she could concoct the greatest amount of complicated potions. Since the owner mentioned Lizzie Bareare, Brita couldn't refuse.
…
Several hours had passed, and the first tendrils of mother night reached the horizon, forcing the flaming eye of the sky to retreat.
The door to the inn opened once again and the shaved owner naturally immediately recognized the unnaturally soft steps of his temporal guest.
But everyone else was clueless who the new arrival was, staring at her like she was some kind of alien, or an invader.
Turning towards her, the boss simply frowned angrily, turning his menacing gaze to his unneeded client.
"How you can slip away without me noticing, I will never understand…"
The arrival just grunted in response, continuing her soft way towards the counter.
"I thought you would not return…"
Chattering, the boss knew the appeared figure. Well somewhat… he only knew her for a few days.
She wore a thick, ragged mantle, her hood almost wholly covering her face. Only the lower part of it was visible that belonged to a young woman around her nineteens.
Above the mantle, a copper medallion hung, showing her alignment with the guild.
Her figure, although hidden by her thick cloak, it was visibly that of a woman. It was like something moved in her back above her tailbone, but the owner most likely thought it was only the wind, dismissing any other possibility.
Frowning, she left a silver coin on the counter, sitting down in one of the stools. "Book me one more night, the same room. Give me some food with meat and a mug from that disgusting ale."
Her voice was soft, feminine. Absolutely fit the person who you might imagine hid under the mantle.
The owner nodded, handing her back the change and a key. The dinner was already over, thus, the scraps were cold. Placing the meal before her, she pocketed the key, grabbed her humble looking dinner and headed towards an empty table.
As she turned away from the counter, the shaved man called for her. "I put someone in your room." he announced, cleaning his counter.
"What?!" she almost yelled. After hearing her cold tone, the people who witnessed the scene most likely imagined her cutting the throat of the owner. "Why did you do that?! I already rented the room!" She hit the bar with her tankard, pouring most of the content on the counter.
"Look, little lady. You did not pay your daily fee. I am a businessman, not a charity organization. The new renter agreed to share the room. Do you have a problem with it? Deal with it. Or you can always lease a bed in the communal halls."
The boss pointed behind him, just where the communal hall was positioned. The girl frowned, giving away a queasy expression, scowling.
It was like the cowled girl growled, almost like a bestial purr left her mouth. Under her cowl, something twitched, like there were ears on top of her head.
"Fine! I will deal with the delinquent! But expect a few broken arms if the new renter tries anything funny," she pointed at him dangerously.
The boss just huffed, crossing his weathered arms over his chest. He was not impressed with the threat. "Don't worry. I am sure nothing similar will happen, or I might have to interfere."
Suddenly, the girl's stomach growled, and her cheeks turned red. The owner just gave her a toothy grin. "Eat, you must be hungry after the day-long adventure." Pushing one more mug before the girl, he nodded. "This is on the house."
Grabbing the full tankard, the girl grumbled under her breath, taking a seat in the farthest corner of the inn where no one would bother her.
"Stupid old man…Stupid inn… and when I thought this day couldn't get worse."
Scene Change: Room:
Giving out a weak huff, Esdeath couldn't do anything but ponder. Doing a few half-armed vertical pushups, she continuously reduced and changed the number of fingers she used to do her exercise; now, she only used two fingers to do her training.
Her drill consisted of a technique she borrowed from the series: Dragon Ball.
Namely, she did her drill meanwhile increasing the gravitational force that affected her body. Slowly but steadily more and more gravity burdened her frame.
Now, she used around 150x gravity. And strangely, she still felt light as a feather.
In the anime, the cast used a room where the machines did the same thing that she did with her powers now. It was an excellent method to improve her physical condition and gain more control over her abilities.
She also projected a thin layer of force field between her and the ground, in order to not accidentally crack the floor.
Even after days, it was still hard to supervise her power, and suffocate her passives that surfaced from time to time. It was a hard task.
Just like when she first took up the mantle of the Esper back in the game. She needed to learn everything step by step, earn the level of control she deemed sufficing.
Maybe she could use her powers by instinct, but that did not mean she could always control them. If something disturbed her emotional status; be it a surprise, sadness, or even anger, her abilities triggered randomly. Raidyn hated the fact she couldn't control her avatar's body as proficiently as she did in the game. She felt herself a newbie once more, and it was embarrassing in the highest margin.
She needed to gain full control over her psychic powers. Before she could face serious opponents, it was certainly a requirement.
She had a sick feeling that soon she would be forced to face at least one, if not a whole guild that was waiting for her to slip. Not speaking about her newfound strength making it hard to control herself properly. Because of her high physical stats, she feared she could kill someone by just patting their back.
She realized the problem back in the forest. By just hitting the tree with her fist, it exploded in splinters and she didn't even do it intentionally. It just happened.
With each minute of training, she grasped her potential more and more.
Under this, she contemplated hard, how she exactly ended up in a lowly inn in a medieval world of swords and magic. Honestly, she had no idea.
Did she do anything that contemplated such punishment from a so-called god-like entity? Nothing came to her mind that would sanction such punishment.
I mean, the new, healthy body and the powers were nice, but the setup needed some more recalculation.
Back then she was neither a bad person, nor a good one. She was a simple hard worker who tried to make a living, so others let her alone to have fun with her hobbies.
Still wearing her mask and mantle, she hid her sword in her inventory. Esdeath concentrated heavily not to crush the floor accidentally by an emotional outburst. Right now, she did not need the plus attention her sword demanded.
The idea to reduce the weight of her weapon by using her psychic enchanter job class named [Truenamer] only now came to her mind. Using it could eliminate the need to use her psychic resources needlessly.
By attaching a temporal 'Truename' to the weapon, she could reduce weight when she casted the enchantment. It was a great idea making the weapon lighter, but it also reduced the blunt damage of her armament.
To balance this weakness, an idea came to her mind. Linking the 'Truename' change with a trigger that activated when the activation order was received would eliminate the problem immediately.
It was possible back in the game using macros. But she had no idea if her preprogrammed sequences worked as intended here as well; she needed to experiment with it.
Under the time when she needed to use mounts, for example a horse, it would indeed come handy.
Poor creature, she still felt remorse making the horse carry her beast weapon until exhaustion.
It was not a strong 'Truename' modification she planned to use, since it only held a few hours or so, but it cost almost no psychic resources to make the change and she did not need her workshop back in Nazarick to engrave the new temporary name.
Looking around once more, her mysterious roommate at first glance was not present. When Raidyn arrived, only a bag sit on the bunk.
Respecting the owner's privacy, Raidyn did not peek inside it.
In the past few hours, she contemplated what she had learned, drilling through the new grammatical rules, coaching her mind and body using a suitable method she had gained back in the university. A technique that helped her learn languages at a faster rate.
And it really helped, since by only following the instructions and the street signs that popped up from time to time, she managed to navigate and find the Inn with no problem. Of course, inserting a small shortcut through a shady alley to get rid of her stalkers before heading back on her track.
That said, she did not expect much when she set her foot in the bar. She counted as a newbie, a rookie, and in exchange for only a few coppers, she should not expect more. Still, she was utterly disappointed.
Aside from a small table and two single wooden beds with attached chests, there was no other furnitures. Sun and fresh air were available by opening the blinds.
Previously, only a few rays of sunlight leaked through the gaps of the blinds, and they weren't even enough to illuminate the whole room. But Esdeath was okay with that since she had True Sight, but for ordinary people, this place was too dark.
It became even darker after a few hours passed and the sun started to take a new position in the heavens.
The room she stayed was a big drawback compared the tavern she lingered only a few days ago. She did not say it out loud of course, her opinion remained unsaid in her heart, only giving way to it with a low huff.
To put it simply, being an adventurer was not as exciting as she imagined.
Changing position, she started to do sit-ups at a rapid speed, still keeping and slightly increasing her own weight. She needed to find the point where she began to feel the gravitational strain.
She was on track to adjust her training to her strain point, and gradually increased the challenge day by day. Even with her strength, she seeked to gain more. She had no idea where she got this sudden, strange urge; she just felt the need to train.
Breathing steadily, she thought about her new profession, which was being an adventurer.
Adventurers.
Esdeath had some fantasies about them after remembering Tyron's wild tale from last night.
People who sought out the unknown, venturing around the world. She had certain expectations of this career that embodied the right way of playing the game YGGDRASIL.
But after listening to the explanation of the counter lady, she learned that adventuring was a practical and dull career.
In short, adventurers were 'mercenaries who deal with monsters'.
Some parts were similar to the idealized version of adventurers from the novels, like exploring the ruins of countries destroyed by demon gods and seek hidden treasures in secret realms, but they were basically monster hunters.
All monsters had unique abilities, so there was a need for people with a wide variety of skills to handle them. Thinking about it from this angle, there really could be heroes that were needed by the people, who showed up as if they were clichés in a game.
Thinking all of this just made her head hurt even more.
She would like to contact Momonga or the others once again, but after asking O'Boyle about why people around here did not use [Message] anymore, she would rather not try her luck.
Naturally, her connection with her summon was still there; it was a private connection she and Rorschach shared. Theoretically, it was wholly secure and could seemingly even ignore her ring's restriction.
In other words, a line of communication only the master and the summoned shared, completely closed from any other communication channel. It was like an isolated VPN network.
A pinging sound echoed through her mind and her very own jolly doppelganger signed in, giving his first periodic report. If she guessed it right…
["~Mmmm! My lady! Signing in with the first periodic report!~"]
The overjoyed voice still bothered her, but strangely, she notified him less and less occasionally about it.
["Umu… the report, I hope everything is fine. Are you ok?"]
[~How compassionate! How noble from you lady liberty, inquiring about the state of your lowly servant! I am forever your humble slave!~]
She gave out a painful groan. Hearing the titles and that unneeded pleasantry over and over again was nothing more than tiresome.
"I shouldn't have asked him…"
["Please cut the pleasantries. Instead tell me about the state of the plan. I expected your first report after reaching the capital."]
["Umu… In a few minutes, I will reach its limit. With my speed, it was nothing. I have already scouted the near vicinity. Outside of a few shadow demon's that were not our own; I found nothing suspicious. As you ordered, I let them alone."]
His tone mirrored the pride he put in his speed and precision; it was almost like he was puffing his chest through the shared channel.
Rorschach left in the morning, right after helping with the packing, which meant he had reached the capital under mere hours with calculated scouting beforehand.
Esdeath had to admit, despite his annoying attitude, Rorschach really knew his stuff when it came to his job. He was really the same professional his description implied.
["What is your order? Do I take care of them?"]
["No, let them alone. If it is possible, track their movement, but nothing more."]
["As you wish."] Answered the servant humbly.
["One more thing. Please don't forget to change your appearance slightly; we don't want to be exposed. As well, proceed slower if you feel the need of it. Don't forget, incognito is the keyword of the operation."]
["Of course, as you wish… although…"]
["Yes?"]
Esdeath inquired suspiciously, raising a brow. The tone of her servant changed immediately; it became more concerned and worried.
["My lady… is something wrong…? I hear the worry from your words…"]
"Shite! He recognised?"
Sighing, she merely gave her last words.
["I feel someone is watching my every move, but don't worry about it, I will manage; concentrate on your task."]
["As you wish, but if you command me, I left a marker in E-Rantel before I left. I can [Shadowblink] back and get rid of the nuisances subtly if you wish it. Unfortunately, the marks I can place are limited in number. Still, just give me the command and I will act."]
Esdeath was actually surprised; she had no idea Rorschach had the abilities [Shadowblink] and [Mark Location].
Her cluelessness was not surprising though; she used him back then on only a few occasions as a meat shield and a distraction. She was even more surprised when she heard he was not even angry at her because of his abusive use. Instead, he applauded her for the opportunity to prove himself.
["Thank you, maybe in the future. But now, concentrate on your task. Please…"] She added in the end.
[Umu, as you wish. Farewell summoner, may we speak again.]
["Take care…"]
The connection cut and the pinging sound disappeared from her mind, signing the end of the call.
Sighing, she slowly sat on her bed, dismissing her gravitational force fields. Then took out her greatly diminished and lighter leather purse.
Shaking it upside down, only a few silver and several coins of copper poured out to her palm.
"This is not good. Tomorrow I really need to get some work, or I will need to look after a more 'sinistrous' profession…"
Shaking her head, she embraced her memories once more. Thinking what her friends would do in her stead, what would, for example, Flatfoot do in her stead.
Under her way here, she recognised the subtle traces as several shadow demons followed her
They were not hers, which meant someone was tracking her.
Dispatching them would immediately hit the bell. Thus, she decided against it.
But even if they found her location once again, she made sure the room was protected against divination or infiltration, setting up a carefully planned false information wall.
Counting her remained coins, her senses pinged. Someone had breached the border of her information wall. Putting away the coins, she took a natural position, looking towards the opening door.
The door burst open. There was no warning, no knock. Just a girl wearing a plain cloak.
Under the figure's cowl, Esdeath spotted two heterochromatic eyes with slit pupils, one amber coloured and one blue, both of them gazing at her, scanning her from top to bottom. After a long and uncomfortable silence, the hooded figure spoke in a distinctively female voice.
"Who the heck are you?"
Asking not why Raidyn was sitting in the darkness, she slammed the door behind herself, still glaring at her, not showing even an inch of fear.
Her slit eyes under her thick hood pierced the red lids Raidyn's cowl hid.
It was like she was growling at her like a beast, purring threateningly. "Get out of the room before I kick you myself," she pointed behind her back with her thumb.
The Esper shivered, feeling the malicious aura the girl emitted.
Esdeath just wept inside, throwing away the picture and dreams of how her meeting with her roommate would proceed.
Scene Change: A few hours later in Momon's and Nabe's room:
Arriving back from his scout mission, Ainz was dissatisfied.
He walked around the town for a few hours, exploring it under the disguise of the spell [Perfect Unknown] and even visited the cemetery he had heard about.
To his dismay, he found nothing worthwhile.
True, he gained some insight from the structure of the city, as well about its people, but he found no trace of the player candidate he encountered back in the guild.
Closing the door behind him, he released a weak huff seeing Narberal's kneeling form.
"Rise… Did something happen while I was away?" he commanded and asked.
After rising, Narberal bowed her head before answering.
"Yes. I tried to locate the lower life form we encountered in the Adventurer's Guild, but the Shadow Demons lost track of her not long after she left the establishment."
Momon immediately turned his head; invisible green radiation left his body as he raised his tone.
"What!? Who gave you orders to send Shadow Demons after her!?"
Narberal gasped, stiffened, then took one step back. The girl started to tremble feeling the sudden burst of power Ainz released.
"I-It was my idea, Ainz-sama. You said we needed to get know more about our opponent, that we needed more information. So, I took the courage to use the Shadow Demons you graciously bestowed me in this way. I apologize my plan did not succeed. I only wanted to help!"
Unsheathing her blade, she pointed it towards her throat. Her body still shook, but her sword was motionless before her neck.
"A-Ainz-sama, I am very sorry! Allow me to atone for my crime with death!"
"Muuu… stop!" Ainz jabbed her head with the hard edge of his gauntlet.
In answer, Narberal painfully grabbed her head and looked at Ainz's impressive form pleadingly as a few drops of tears appeared in the corner of her eyes.
"Don't give me that look… ahhh…" Ainz cried inward seeing her groaning face.
He did not say it out loud, but he was outraged.
Sending tracking forces after an already suspicious person was a foolish step. Narberal could have exposed the whole operation with just this one act of foolishness.
Doing such thing was absurd back in the game as well as in real life.
But being Ainz did not clearly specified what Narberal could use the Shadow Demons for under her command, and what not to do with them, her fault was partially his.
This, as well Narberal's behaviour clearly showed the difference between an experienced player and creation with all the skills they had been bestowed but having no actual experience.
Ainz only hoped the situation was still salvageable and that this 'person' did not take the tracking as an act of hostility.
Back in YGGDRASIL, if a player recognised that he or she had been scouted, the stalked person immediately alerted its teammates and started to prepare their defences, planning a counter attack or even adapting trap tactics against the trackers.
At least, Ainz and many more player used such tactics…
Sighing, he couldn't be angry at Nabe, because it was partially his fault.
"I am not angry, but next time notify Albedo or me if you are planning something similar. Such action could easily expose us."
"Momon-sa-an is truly a compassionate ruler, but I still don't understand how that lowly mongrel recognized my tracking attempt. She must have cheated somehow."
Ainz raised his hand and waved it before himself.
"Muu… never underestimate your opponent, no matter how weak you think they are. It might turn your own strength against you."
"Ah!" Narberal's eyes widened as it dawned on her mind.
"Momon-san is really the wisest of all; please accept my praises."
"Raise your head and listen to me." Momon raised a finger dangerously.
"We might still be able to salvage the situation, but do not act rashly! That's our only chance. If we can convince her it was only out of curiosity, we might get a chance to explain ourselves to her. The bear and the honey if you like that metaphor better."
"I will restrain myself then… please forgive my foolish act once again!" she bowed her head. In return Momon just nodded.
"Good… retire for today; tomorrow is a new day after all. We will head back to the adventurer's guild tomorrow. If everything goes as planned, eventually we will have a chance to speak with her, privately."
Fondling the lower part of his close faced helmet, Momon mumbled under his breath.
"Considering the possibility that she might also be hiding her presence, the best place to confront her would be the crowded city where she can't fight without revealing herself, or even outside of the city where we can enforce our numerical superiority if it's needed. This second option is preferable though…"
"Momon-sa-san is truly the best, planning ahead in so many steps, please accept my praise."
"Muu… it is only common sense…" After waving away the last momentary praise, the two pseudo newbie adventurers retreated to the bed for the night. Laying on the hay cot, Narberal couldn't help but ask.
"Momon-san. Can I ask a question?"
Momon nodded. "State it…"
"I know it is improper to ask, but Demiurge-sama spoke about it, and I can't help but overhear the conversation. Please forgive my impudence, but…"
Ainz already felt it would not end well. Then… the hammer fell.
"Ainz-sama. How you and your chosen wife will make an heir?"
Ainz's jaw cracked under the illusion, his mind trying to process the question. "… the heck?!"
Naturally, it was not the only awkward question and revelation Nabe quipped in that night. But that's a different story.
Oh, if only Momonga and Esdeath knew how close they were to each other…
Just a paper thin wall, that's the only thing separating the two friends. But it was enough to cause a cataclysmic situation. An event that later would be called by the name:
'Great Awkwardness'
A/N:
Here it is! The end of the chapter!
I hope it was not horrible... :)
Many of you failed, only a few survived. XD
In the next chapter:
Let the adventure begin! Sword in the darkness. Unusual alliances?
Two clueless friends are chasing each other in the shadows.
RNR!
Next chapter will come when it is ready!
