She is OVERLORD
Ten
"Welcome home!" Albedo declared.
"I'm back," Kobayashi smiled as she entered the tomb. "Summon the floor guardians to the throne room," she added, "we have things to discuss."
"Of course!" Albedo agreed instantly.
Kobiyashi used her teleport ring to instantly arrive in the throne room, settling on the huge chair. 'It needs a cushion,' she thought, sighing as everyone arrived in moments.
"Hail Kobayashi! Hail Ainz Ooal Gown!"
'Yes, yes,' Kobayashi thought, but kept a straight face. "Thank you all," Kobayashi said. "You have guarded the Great Tomb well in my absence."
"It is a pleasure to serve, Lady Kobayashi!" Albedo gushed.
"May I ask how the meetings went?" Demiurge asked her flatly. "If we are to destroy them, I wish to make ready."
'God he's bloodthirsty,' Kobayashi thought. "We have successfully negotiated a treaty with Re-Estize, including a non-aggression pact," she told them all.
Demiurge looked disappointed, though he hid it well. "How will that effect our local patrols?" he asked.
"We continue to capture but don't kill intruders," Kobayashi said firmly. "We can't figure out what an enemy might be doing from corpses."
"Understood," Cocyutus nodded.
"I have left Sebas Tain to be our representative there," Kobayashi added, "we will dispatch additional forces to support him."
"A wise choice, Master!" Shalltear purred.
'That, and I don't have a creepy old guy hanging around,' Kobayashi admitted. She liked Sebas, mind you, but...
Carrying on Kobayashi said, "As you all know, we travelled with the adventurers Swords of Darkness, and in talking to them, I learned something important."
"Oh?" Cocytus looked curious, as any well prepared warrior would.
Kobayashi wondered how to put it, not using gaming terms. "Looking into the stories and legends, it appears that beings like us have been transferred here several times," she finally said.
"Like the Great Ones?" Aura asked, frowning.
"Correct. And their items and equipment may still be out there," Kobiyashi added.
The Guardians looked at her blankly, apparently not getting it. Then Demiurge frowned as he figured it out. "Including World Items?" he asked, referring to the legendary items that could rewrite the whole game.
"Indeed. And we are potentially vulnerable to those," Kobayashi added.
"So what can we do, Mistress?" Mare asked, clearly trusting that Kobiyashi had a solution.
'No pressure,' Kobiyashi thought wryly. "Do not be concerned. The Guild had several Word Items," Kobayashi said to them, "and having one in your possession protects you from others. Each Floor Guardian will carry one from now on, as a protective measure."
"Mistress is brilliant!" Aura cheered.
Kobayashi tried not to let their adoration go to her head.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Your sister was taken by a noble?" Brita asked him sympathetically.
Ninya nodded grimly as he explained, "Yes. I became an adventurer in hopes of finding out what happened to her."
Brita patted him on the arm. They were walking with the other Swords of Darkness along side the carriage, and had struck up a conversation...
(Her, actually. Brita had figured out that Ninya was actually a girl, but decided it was nobody's business. Besides, she could understand doing that.)
"Fair Brita, could we...," Lukrut started.
Brita kneed him in the balls and he staggered away. 'And there's having to put up with THAT,' she thought grimly.
The group was escorting the group of village leaders back to Carne village and the Empire of Ainz Ooal Gown. They were also bringing supplies the leaders had bought back, too. They were nearly at the village, and thankfully hadn't had many monster encounters.
"Would anyone object to our turning around reasonably quickly and returning to E-Rantel for another job?" Peter, their leader, asked them.
"I don't mind," Dyne the Druid asked, "but why?"
"I bet Nfirea wants to make another visit?" Lukrut guessed.
"Yup," Peter agreed. "I THINK he's considering moving to Carne village, to be with his friend Enri," he added.
"Awww," Brita smiled.
The group went over a rise, and saw the village... and blinked.
The rough wooden fence was gone, having been replaced by a well built stone wall. There were also markers extending along the new border of the Empire's territory. There were no obvious patrols, but they might just not be able to see them.
"That was quick. It's only been a few weeks," Dyne noted, awed.
One of the leaders noted, "The Empress didn't want us vulnerable to another attack."
The subtext, of course, was this also protecting them from an attack by Re-Estize to try to reclaim the lost territory. But no one was going to say THAT aloud.
"All right, let's get to the gates," Peter said briskly.
They were greeted at the gate, then headed in and helped the village leaders out of the carriage.
"Thank you for everything," one older man bowed.
"It's fine, sir. The Empress paid us, it was a honor to help," Peter spoke for the group.
Brita looked up at the setting sun, "I'd say it's too late to head back out, again. How about we grab a room at the inn, then set out in the morning?"
"Reasonable," Peter agreed.
"You all saw the Empress defeat the necromancer, yes?" the village chief asked. He continued, "Could you tell the story to our local bard?"
"Sure," Lukut nodded. They'd probably get free drinks out of it at the village tavern.
The group was introduced to the bard, he got the story out of them, and hurried off cheerfully as he planned a song, possibly two. They got dinner at the tavern, then got rooms at the Inn. Brita asked to share a room with Ninya, which lead to raised eyebrows, but she told them to bug off.
Later that evening in the privacy of the room, Brita asked, "Do you know what happened to your sister?"
Ninya sighed from where he was sitting on the other bed, "I know which noble took her, but she disappeared from his estate."
"He trader her to some other noble," Brita realized.
"Hmm," Ninya nodded, "and I don't know how to find her."
Brita, interestingly, looked cheerful. "Hey, remember we're the heroes that helped prevent the destruction of the capital," she reminded him.
"By following behind the Empress," Ninya pointed out.
"Details. We have a large favor owed us," Brita noted, "surely we can leverage that to help find your sister."
"Why are you helping me?" Ninya had to ask.
Brita paused, then said thoughtfully, "I probably would have finished my adventurer career never rising in rank, and probably killed on some minor job. Instead, thanks to you guys and the Empress, here I am."
"But..," Ninya started.
"The way I see it, I owe you all," Briya shrugged.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Eight Fingers met in secret, the group of criminals who ran the underworld in Re-Estize. The time and place changed regularly, and they made sure they were never followed. They all knew that if their enemies found out, they'd be dead.
"Hilma, have your people had any luck approaching the new ambassador, Sebas?" one asked.
"No, he's apparently not interested in pretty girls, boys or drugs," Hilma noted, the pretty blonde frowning.
"Your agent wasn't too obvious?" another wondered.
Hilma snorted, "Of course not. We were subtle, unlike how we deal with the local nobility."
The nobility of the Re-Estize kingdom was largely under the control of the Eight Fingers. There were hold outs, of course, but largely they were protected by the nobles in exchange for bribes, drugs or other incentives.
"The problem is, we know too little about this new Empire of Ainz Ooal Gown," Hilma said. "And it's going to interfere with our smuggling to Baharuth, based on where they are."
"We can go around, but...," another offered.
"I want to get our Black Dust in their Empire too," Hilma added.
"Be really fucking careful," Zero cautioned, the hulking martial artist in charge of security.
"Oh?" Hilma asked.
"I went to have a look at this Sebas," Zero said seriously, "wanted to get a idea of how strong he is. He spotted me, despite my concealing myself."
"He's dangerous?" a officer asked, thinking of the silver haired looking gentleman.
"Yes," Zero said, "I think he may be hiding some powerful abilities."
Their leader noted, "Either way, we can't let it interfere with us..."
To be continued...
Notes: Someone getting brainwashed probably won't happen, unlike canon. I do want SOME of the 'Men of the Kingdom' arc to happen... Annoyingly, most of the Eight Fingers aren't named, apparently. Annoying.