End of the line
Early morning, in front of Academy
„STOP IT, I won't have the ring princess gave me eaten by damn mole"
Louise somehow managed to push of giant mole off her
"Such an irritating pest! and why are you even here this task was supposed to be only me!"
"Please don't call Verdandi an irritating pest. It's because of me that Verdandi searches for precious stones and jewels. For an Earth magician, there's nothing more helpful than this, and the princess asked me to accompany you to answer your question!" Guiche tried to defend his familiar
Just before Louise was overwhelmed by anger both her and Guiche noticed a noble wearing a feathered cap riding a griffin approaching them.
„That is..."Louise said with a rather surprised expression
"I'm not your enemy. I'm under the orders of the highness to accompany you on your journey. The princess is worried about just having you alone going to Albion, but then again sending a whole troop of soldiers with you will be too conspicuous. Therefore, I was appointed to accompany you on this journey." The noble said while taking off his feather cap and bowing.
"I'm the captain of the Griffin Knights, Viscount Wardes."
Guiche seemed like he just saw a ghost, Griffon kights are one of the most prestigious units a noble can join.
„Sorry for arriving unannounced but I had to greet my fiancee"
"Lord Wardes..." Louise spoke in a trembling voice
„It has been a long time my Louise, my dear Louise"
Wardes approached Louise and with a smile, he picked up Louise in a princess carry.
"It's really been such a long time," Louise said with her face turning red with embarrassment.
"Still as light as ever. Just like a feather."
"Viscount... please don't be like this... There is an unwanted guest over here..."
When Louise said that Wardes slowly put her down and turned towards Guiche.
„And could the guest introduce himself?"
Guiche didn't dare look Wardes directly into the eyes he just lowered his head and introduced himself.
„My name is Guiche de Gramont , sir!"
Wardes knew that Louise summoned a staff as her familiar but he couldn't see it anywhere soo he decided to ask her directly.
"My Louise, it is to my knowledge that you summoned very peculiar familiar, might I ask why isn't it here with us today, you will need all protection you can get."
Louise was very surprised that Wardes knew about her familiar but being captain of Griffon knights he probably has access to a lot of information about many things.
Louise thought to herself "Should I reveal that it can make itself invisible, this is my Fiancee after all…"
In the next moment, staff canceled [Perfect Unknowable] from itself revealing its form in its full glory while still suppressing its fear aura.
"This is my familiar, Its name is Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, and it's sentient."
This caught Wardes of guard, he couldn't detect the presence of staff at all, even if his proficiency in wind magic should allow him to detect almost anything, and what surprised him the most was how expensive-looking it was, his informants undersold it and no one told him it was sentient.
"Sentient weapon, are you sure I never heard of such a thing"
"Yes, Viscount, "Louise said anxiously being afraid that he will not believe her.
In the next moment, the staff disappeared once again, and Wardes once again couldn't detect it even if he saw it just a moment before.
"That is amazing my Louise, you got yourself a strong familiar!"
Louise was blushing, once again Viscount proved himself to be the only person that understands her.
"Well then My Louise, we should get going"
Wardes blew a whistle, and a griffin appeared out from the morning clouds. It was a mythical beast with the head of an eagle and a body of a lion. And on its back were wings that were made up of beautiful white feathers.
Wardes skillfully climbed on its back and reached his hand out to Louise.
"Come over, My Louise."
Louise lowered her head in hesitation and bashfulness, just like a girl who is in love.
Louise, who was still hesitating, was suddenly carried up the griffin by Wardes.
With one hand on the reins and his wand in the other, Wardes shouted, "TO ALBION!"
The griffin moved forward. Following behind it were Guiche, looking full of admiration for Wardes.
Academy Headmasters office
From the headmaster's office window, Henrietta was watching Louise and the group departing for Albion. Closing her eyes, she starting praying...
"Founder Brimir, please grant them protection throughout their journey..."
Next to her was Headmaster Osmond trimming his nasal hair.
"You aren't going to see them off, headmaster Osman?"
"No, as you can see, I'm busy trimming my nasal hair, your highness."
Henrietta shook her head in disapproval.
Just then, someone knocked at the door.
"Enter," said the headmaster.
Mr. Colbert entered the room with an anxious look on his face.
"Bad news! Headmaster!"
"You say that quite often. What seems to be the problem now?"
"From the news that I've heard from the castle guards, Fouquet has escaped!"
"Hmm..." said Osmond while stroking his beard.
"According to the guard who was on duty that time, some noble knocked him out using wind magic. The person used the opportunity that most of the manpower was diverted to protect the princess to help Fouquet escape! This means that someone inside is a spy! Isn't that bad news?"
Henrietta's face turned pale upon hearing the news.
Headmaster Osman made a gesture to Mr. Colbert asking him to leave.
"Okay. Okay. We'll hear further details from you later."
After Mr. Colbert left, Henrietta placed her hands on the table and sighed deeply.
"We have a spy in our midst. This must be the doings of the Albion nobility!"
"Maybe it is... OUCH!" said the headmaster while trimming his nasal hair. Henrietta looked at him helplessly.
"How can you still be so relaxed? The future of Tristain is at stake!"
"The opponent has already made his move. All we can do now is to wait, isn't it?"
"Even so..."
"It's all right. If it's that thing, it will be able to cope with any problems they'll face during their journey."
„You mean that staff Louise summoned? I know you told me it is very powerful but I doubt it could single-handedly fix any problem that could appear"
„Princess, the feeling we all felt the day it was summoned cannot be mistaken, that thing is no mere catalyst."
„But is it truly that capable."
„Nobody in the world right now doesn't know its exact power, Your highness."
Osmond huffed as he continued
„All we know about it is that it has a dark origin and that it didn't come from this world."
"Another world different from Halkeginia really exists..."
Henrietta started praying that Louise will be kept safe by that strange staff.
******Line break*****
It would take two days to reach Port City La Rochelle by horse from Tristain. The port city was situated on a deep and narrow gorge and because of this, it had a small population of three hundred. As La Rochelle was the gateway to Albion, the number of travelers was ten times more than the local population.
Boulders could be seen on both sides of the narrow mountain pathway. People had carved holes in the boulders, turning them into taverns and shops. Although the buildings looked ordinary, upon closer inspection one could realize that all of them were carved out of a single rock, a feat done by Square-ranked earth mages.
On the narrow street, it appeared to be dark even though it was afternoon due to the gorges blocking the sunlight. If one made a turn on the street, they could see an even narrower street leading to a bar.
On the signboard resembling a keg of wine, the shop's name was written – "Golden Wine Barrel Bar". However, nothing in the shop resembled its name; the shop was dilapidated like an abandoned house. Piles of ruined chairs could be seen piling next to the door.
Most of the patrons were gangsters and mercenaries. When drunk, they would often fight over the smallest of things like staring incidents or minor squabbles.
Whenever they'd fight, they would fight with their weapons. Therefore, it was common to see people dead or seriously injured inside the bar. The shopkeeper, not wanting to see any more injuries and deaths, put up a notice inside the shop.
"Please use the chairs when you fight in here."
From the notice, the customers could feel the shopkeeper's helplessness. So they started to use the chairs instead of their weapons when fighting each other. Even though there were still injuries, no one was killed anymore. From then on, chairs that were destroyed during fights got piled next to the door.
Today, the "Golden Wine Barrel Bar" was filled with patrons as usual. Almost all the patrons were mercenaries returning from Albion which was in internal strife.
"The king of Albion is finished!"
"Don't that means that they're going to start a republic soon?"
"If so, let us offer a toast to the republic!"
The people offering toasts to themselves were formerly mercenaries hired by the royalist to fight alongside them. However, faced with the imminent defeat of their clients, they all decided to retreat here. This was not considered to be a dishonorable act. As mercenaries, they valued their lives more than their beliefs, and so they felt that they were not obliged to fight to their death for their clients.
As they were drinking, the bar's door opened and a rather tall lady entered the bar. The hood the lady wore covered most of her face except for the lower part. However, from just the lower part of her face, one could already be sure about her beauty. As it was rare for such an attractive lady to come to such a place alone, all eyes on the bar were already on her.
The lady, unfazed by all the eyes staring at her, ordered some wine and food and sat at a table in a corner of the bar. After the food was served, she promptly paid up.
"That... That's a lot of money. Is it really all right?"
"That includes lodging. Do you have any empty rooms?"
An elegant voice replied. The shopkeeper nodded his head and left her table. Several of the male patrons looked at each other and approached her table.
"Excuse me miss, it's dangerous for you to be here alone."
"That's right! There are lots of dangerous characters around. Don't worry though, we'll be here to protect you."
With a vile smile on his face, one of them lifted up the lady's hood. Whistles and catcalls could be heard once the hood was removed. The lady was quite a beauty, with her beautiful eyes and elegant nose.
This beautiful lady was none other than Fouquet of the crumbling earth.
"She's top-notch! Look at her skin! It's as white as ivory!"
Another patron attempted to lift her chin with his arm, but his hand was pushed away by Fouquet. Fouquet gave a faint smile. Another male patron immediately stood up, took out his dagger, and placed it on Fouquet's face.
"Aren't chairs supposed to be used instead of weapons at this joint?"
"This is only to frighten you. Chairs can't intimidate anybody right? Don't act so innocent anymore, aren't you here to look for the company? We'll keep you company then."
Even with the dagger pointed on her face, Fouquet showed no fear. With a slight movement, she reached for a wand.
In an instant, she chanted her incantations. With that, the dagger that the man held turned into the earth and settled onto the table.
"She's.. she's noble!"
The men immediately backed away from her. As Fouquet was not wearing a cloak, none of them knew that she was a magician.
"Even though I'm a magician, I'm not noble," Fouquet said nonchalantly.
"Most of you are mercenaries right?"
The male patrons looked at each other. If she was not a noble, their lives would not be endangered. If they had done that to a noble, they would be killed without any qualms.
"Yes... And you are...?" a veteran of the group replied.
"It doesn't matter. In short, I'm here to hire all of you."
"All of us?"
The mercenaries looked at Fouquet with a puzzled look on their face.
"What's with the expression? Is it really that weird for me to employ mercenaries?"
"No. That's not what I meant. You have gold, don't you?"
Fouquet placed a bag full of gold onto the table. After inspecting the contents of the bag, the veteran said, "Wow... Isn't this écu gold?"
The bar's door opened again. This time, a man wearing a white mask had entered the bar. He was the same man who had helped Fouquet escape from prison.
"Well, aren't you early."
Fouquet seeing that man, gave a low "Hmm" as a reply. The mercenaries, seeing that man's peculiar dress, were all quite surprised. "They have started on their journey," the masked man said.
"I have done what you had told me to and hired all these men."
The man in the white mask gave a once over at the mercenaries that Fouquet had hired.
"All of you were formerly employed by the Albion royalists. Am I right?"
"That was until last month," one of the mercenaries replied with glee.
"But the soon-to-be defeated royalists aren't our employers anymore."
The mercenaries laughed in unison. The man in the white mask laughed as well.
"I'll fulfill all your monetary desires. However, I'm not like the soon-to-be defeated royalists, if anyone dares to run away from the battle, I'll kill him myself."
*****Line Break*****
Ever since Louise, Guiche, and Wardes departed the magic academy they were riding without stopping, and yet no signs of exhaustion could be seen from anyone.
The fact that wasn't left unnoticed by Wardes, even though he decided to remain silent, he originally planned to ride for 2 days straight without stopping hoping to exhaust the nuisance that was following them and leave him behind, but for some reason, neither the boy nor his horse showed any signs of exhaustion.
Wardes started talking to Louise about his past.
"I have never forgotten about you even after all this time. Do you still remember? After my father's death during the lancer campaign?"
Louise nodded her head.
Wardes began to reminisce and narrated to Louise about the past.
"My mother had passed away earlier, I inherited my father's estate and title. Wanting to make a name for myself, I went to the capital. Fortunately, the highness had a deep impression of my father who had perished on the battlefield, I was incorporated into the Griffin Knights. I had entered the Griffin Knights as a trainee, training was tough then.
"From then on, you seldom went back to your estate again," replied Louise while closing her eyes. She too seemed to be immersed in her memories.
"My house and estate were cared for by my butler, Galgann, while I put all my effort serving the nation. After so long, I finally made a name for myself, accomplishing what I had decided upon leaving my homeland."
"What was it that you decided upon?"
„I wish to ask you to marry me, Louise"
„You cannot be serious, viscount? You do not need to honor the promise you made to such an insignificant bug like me, I'm sure you are popular with girls, for sure you can have anyone you want."
As soon as Louise said that Wardes hugged her"But I want YOU, my Louise"
Louise started thinking to herself „Do I love Wardes, I did like him in the past, but it was soo long ago, the last time I saw him was in that boat 10 years ago.
Louise didn't know what to do now.
As they continued to ride towards the town, they could see the port for many airships leading to Albion on top of the mountain.
Louise decided to ask her familiar for its wisdom if anyone knew what to do in any given situation it would be the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.
„You seek my wisdom, O little wielder?" she could the familiar voice in her head as the staff established a telepathic link.
„I'm not sure what to do, I don't dislike viscount, but I'm not sure I love him, and now he asked me to marry him..."
„Little wielder, one you call Wardes is but a liar, his kindness is but a guise"
„What do you mean"
„Just play along with him and you will discover his evil plot by yourself"
The staff once again left her with more questions than answers, what does it mean ...What is Wardes lying about...
As soon as the telepathic link cut off their group was showered with arrows and torches.
„AMBUSH!"Guiche screamed.
As they saw the group of bandits attacking them, Wardes used his wind magic to protect the group from arrows, and even the bandits noticed that this wasn't working, but then something swept across every single one, all of them fell on the ground like they were killed by an invisible force.
„What... just happened"Wardes was extremely surprised.
Bandits that just attacked them fell over instantly.
But the surprise didn't end there, bandits began to rise once again and they could see a hulking figure standing on top of the cliff holding a massive tower shield and a sword in its other hand.
„A death knight...HOW!" Louise recognized the creature from her dream,
„Louise, You know that creature...?" asked Wardes with worry in his voice
Death knight jumped in front of them and with an ear-shattering roar charged towards them.
Wardes and Guiche worked together and quickly managed to eliminate many zombies that were attacking them using wind magic and bronze valkyries, but none of their attacks could damage the massive creature that was attacking them.
„Protect Louise!"Screamed Wardes at Guiche who without any hesitation stood in front of her.
While two men were fighting this creature, Louise was deep in thought
„How is a death knight here, it shouldn't be possible... unless Ainz managed to find a way into our world...No that isn't possible otherwise everyone here would already be dead, this must be a coincidence, it must be."
Wardes was losing this fight rather spectacularly, every spell he threw at the abomination just dissipated, and any strike with his wand was deflected and the counterattack didn't leave him unscathed, and what was hurt the most was his pride.
„Where did this creature come from..."He said in a rather annoyed tone.
In his moment of carelessness, the creature was lifting its massive sword to finish Wardes as the fireball and icicle slammed into a death knight, disappearing as every spell until now, but it was enough to save the life of Viscount as he jumped away from death knight.
Louise turned towards the sky and saw Sylphid carrying Kirche and Tabitha.
As they quickly descended they didn't have time to talk as both of them joined Wardes in the onslaught on the Death Knight.
But all their efforts amounted to nothing more than to slow the Death Knight a little.
Despite its massive size, it was deceptively fast, and every strike could easily kill anyone if they were hit directly.
Sylphid was bombarding the Death Knight from above but even the mighty dragon couldn't even scratch it.
„What is that thing, no matter how much we hit it, it doesn't stop"Said Kirche who didn't expect such a tough battle after she followed Louise and Handsome bearded man.
After a couple of hours, the battle between Wardes, Kirche, Tabitha, and her familiar Sylphid and Death Knight was nearing its conclusion, all 4 of them were exhausted and nearing their limits already, even Wardes who went through harsh training is starting to falter, its only matter of minutes before all of them collapse from exhaustion and die...
Louise was in trance, she was the only one who knew the horror these beings could inflict and one of them was straight in front of them, even Wardes couldn't do anything to it...
"If we cant kill it there is someone that can, "Louise said loudly as the staff materialized in her hand.
As soon as the staff revealed itself the death knight recognized it as a threat, as it changed its focus from the group towards Louise.
„Valkyries protect me !" Guiche tried to chant his magic in desperation as the creature looked towards him and Louise, the death knight with unimaginable speed knocked away Guiche into the nearby cliff as he lost consciousness.
The creature was now a couple of meters away from Louise, as soon as it was in breathing distance it was reduced to ashes.
„Hellflame" Louise heard only the name of the spell as the speck of flame engulfed the Death knight, the creature was burned by the black flame leaving nothing behind, or so she thought as the Death Knight started reconstructing itself from nothing, before getting hit by the same spell again now it was finally truly dead...
After the fight Louise ran towards the group that was on the ground, they were all heavily injured by the Death Knight, luckily they were all somehow alive by some divine miracle but none of them were conscious, as she decided to use the power of the staff once again to heal her classmates and fiancee.
„Greater Heal" as she heard those words all of their wounds disappeared and they looked like the battle never happened with the only evidence being their torn clothes.
Now that everyone was stable and waiting for everyone to wake up Louise decided to ask the staff about the appearance of Death Knight
*****End*****
Thank you all for reading.
This chapter is a lot bigger than the last ones, hopefully its good.
Cya on the next chapter my dudes.