The great and imposing knight introduced himself.
|Gazef Stronoff, warrior captain of the Kingdom of Re-Estize|
Maple's eyes widened, too bright to remember that Gazef was pointing a sharp sword at her and treating her like some kind of dangerous beast.
|Great!| She exclaim with an innocent emotion. |Then it's my turn| Maple cleared her throat and prepared her best gifts for roleplaying (also known as "eighth grade syndrome")
| I am Maple, leader of the 13th guild of Yggdrasi: Maple Tree, and sworn archenemy of Ainz Ooal Gown! and their leader Momonga-dono!| Seconds of silence fell after her introduction, Maple suddenly melting into embarrassment at her performance. | And that's me… I tought| Maple ducked her head with a beet-red face and fidgety hands.
Gazef had several questions, what was Yggdrasil? Ainz Ooal Gown? Momonga? What did it mean that she was their "archenemy"? However there were more immediate questions among all of them, perhaps asking the intentions of this "guild leader" but Gazef's first duty was to the Kingdom, and as long as Maple was not an immediate threat he had to worry about those who attacked the village, so first things first.
|What happened here?|
Maple put a hand behind her head and giggled lightly.
|Well… There were these knights who were massacring the villagers, so… Well, I jumped to protect them with my shield!| To illustrate her action, Maple summoned her black shield [Mirror of the Dark Night] and moved it slightly eating the table in the room by mistake, Gazef's jaw dropped to the ground, ignoring that small detail as if it were nothing. Maple continued with her story. |As there were too many people in the end, I paralyzed them all at once with my sword.| Maple lightly unsheathed the short sword at her waist.
paralyzed? Some kind of martial art that would paralyze? did that even exist? Despite this, Gazef hadn't seen any prisoners even though it seemed like she had stopped them.
| What happened then with the attackers? Where are they? I didn't see anyone out there besides the villagers|
Maple looked away slightly as the little ahoge on her head danced, Maple had a feeling that she was going to be scolded like Sally used to do when Maple did something strange, in a somewhat low tone Maple confessed: |I ate them|
|Huh?| Even the restlessness vanished from Gazef for a second. |Did you eat them?| Maple nodded slowly with her head bowed, Gazef looked at the village chief looking for some kind of denial of this absurdity only to meet his terrified gaze and sweaty skin, that spoke louder than words, a chill reminded Gazef of the fear that the The thing in front of him infused him and the warrior capital tightened its grip on his sword.
However, all terror and unease were put aside when a messenger burst into the cabin.
|Gazef-dono! We are surrounded! Various suspicious subjects surround the village at regular intervals|
Gazef gritted his teeth and went to the nearest window peering outside, they were a bit far away but he saw them, those were undoubtedly Slame Theocracy wizards and they were accompanied by various summons. Gazef's teeth looked like they were about to burst, he suspected this was a trap and still fell for it.
| Excuse me Stronoff-san?| Gazef turned around and found himself face to face with an excited Maple that honestly gave him the creeps, even stained with dried blood. Maple was smiling excitedly, as if she enjoyed these events.
|Are these the same people who attacked the village?| Gazef hesitated for a second before nodding.
|That's right, Maple-dono, I'm very grateful to you for saving the villagers, however these are the enemies of the Kingdom. What do you plan to do now?|
Maple smiled, although she hadn't received a mission announcement it was more than clear that this was a mision, she still didn't feel tired, moreover, the food seemed to have revitalized her so why not finish the mission? Puffing out her chest again, Maple said.
|It's a tank's duty to protect the weak! Let's protect the village!|
Gazef flinched at Maple's words, her gaze was not that of a warrior ready to face death on the battlefield or a knight prepared to defend people with his life, no, her gaze was so innocent , so full of joy and fun that it doesn't match her bloodstained armor, her gaze almost seemed like someone who saw life as a game, although her words said to protect Gazef didn't really trust Maple, someone who ate humans for pleasure without feeling an ounce of guilt, did he really want someone like that protecting the village or fight by his side? At the moment he was happy that she wasn't aggressive towards them, however he wanted to leave her out of this if possible. Maybe it was stupid let apart a power capable of saving a village on its own who volunteered its help, but those who saw life as a game would turn against you the moment they see that it's more fun than being your ally.
Still they had to do something, only the Slame Theocracy could send so many wizards at once and they had to be one of the six scriptures, it was painfully obvious why they were there, he was their target and he wasn't sure he could get out of this alive. But would be okay to try to hire Maple? Hell, right now he didn't have much choice or time to think too much.
|Maple-dono, I'm going to fight the Theocracy's wizards.| Lightly biting his words, Gazef sheathed his sword and bowed slightly to Maple. | Please help us, I am willing to pay for his help, if you wish… | Gazef thought about it for a second, and then knelt down. |I offer you my arm for the life of my men and the villagers, please help me to expel the enemies of the Kingdom.| Gazef's gaze was filled with fire and determination, if he had to sacrifece his meat to the human-eater monster to get out of this and for his men to survive so be it.
Maple jumped back in surprise. |Wow! Why do you offer me your arm? What kind of gluttonous demon do you think I am?!| Maple waved her hands with an innocent and tender indignation, Gazef for his part was a little confused at this, had he misjudged her? No, it didn't escape to Gazef that Maple drooled at the sight of his muscular arms, surely she wanted to eat them.
|If you want my body you can eat it after we win| Maple suddenly turned redder than a beet and it looked like she was panicking. |I-I wasn't looking…| Gazef's gaze shone with self-sacrifice, he was willing to sacrifice his flesh for the monster in front of him, as long as there was a healer to help him heal from her, he could feed her as many times as she demanded as payment. Maple on the other hand covered her eyes and looked away with her face fuming, she didn't expect that an NPC would try to seduce her to convince her to agree to the quest, hell, why did they make Stronoff such a muscular and sexy knidht?! Did they investigate Maple's fetishes?! That was impossible, she always made sure that no one saw the photos she watched in inst*gram!
| I'll do it! I will support the mission! But I prefer that you pay me with gold or items! You don't have to offer your body!|
Seeing Maple acting so cute only gave Gazef more chills, though for a few moments, just for a few moments Gazef believed that Maple was a cute girl and not some kind of human-eating monster. Perhaps he had misjudged her? Gazef didn't know where the feeling of wanting to protect Maple's innocence came from.
A monster who looks like a cute girl, how terrifying.
Well, when I wrote the draft to begin with, I hadn't raised that reaction of Maple and I also didn't plan that Gazef would think about not hiring Maple, and the Maple fetish thing... Yeah, I totally made that up XD. And as always, this chapter fell short, part I, part II and we will also have a part III, together they would be the original chapter that was quite long but I think it was interesting, now the next two chapters... (outside of "Maple is a scary girl") maybe they will duplicate again if the same thing happens to them.
Atte.
"Rest on the weekend is overrated..."
J-More
P.S. no, rest is not overrated, rest while you can people.
