*Double release. Make sure you see the epilogue.*
The door to the tavern swung open. Four people entered, drawing the attention of the bar's patrons. The leader was a large man in black full plate armor and a pair of massive swords. The second was a lithe female ranger in form fitting light armor with her face covered by a mask and a nondescript bow and sword. The third was a young woman with large gauntlets, her hair in a tight bun, glasses on her face, and a leather choker around her neck. The fourth was another young woman with no discernible gear except well-made clothes, a sword, and a high ponytail on her head.
The last two were incredibly beautiful foreigners, probably the most beautiful women they had ever seen. There alabaster skin and black hair were unusual in this part of the world. With cold eyes they viewed the grungy tavern with an air of disdain.
The low-class males all leered at their beautiful figures, while the sharper people took stock of their high-quality gear and large presence. The group made its way through the tavern, deftly avoiding all the low-ranked adventurers that inhabited the area.
"You staying here, huh. For how long?" The rumbling voice of the bartender called out as he sized up the group.
"We wish to stay for one night." The armored figure, Ainz, said.
"A copper plate, huh? It's five coppers a night. Food's provided but meat costs extra." The man seemed to dismiss the new adventurers until the leader spoke.
"If possible, we'd like rooms please." The barkeeper seemed angry about his response. With a crash he slammed his fist down on the counter top, showing his ire and strength as a former adventurer.
"You know why the guild sent you to the worst adventurer inn in town? To form a party. If the four of you plan on forming up that's fine, but you're here to make connections. You need a well-balanced team if you want to survive and I don't see a healer." The bartender guessed that the flashy armored man had more money than brains, and he didn't think about what he was going to do before galivanting off with his little flock.
"It's fine. We'd like double rooms please, if you have them. Also, we'll skip on the food." The armored copper-plate didn't seem to react to his informative lesson, so the bartender just sighed and wrote them off as dead.
"*Sigh*, punks like you don't know what's good for you. It'll be seven coppers up front. I only have one, so you'll have to share. If anything breaks in the room, you have to pay for it." The bartender scooped up the money dropped on the counter, then went back to cleaning his favorite glass. He ignored the group and the deadly stares from the women as they took the key and walked away.
As they headed towards the stairs a foot stuck out in Ainz' way. It was attached to a man with an iron plate who sat with similar looking men.
'Give me a break.' Looking at the mischievous looks on the man's face, Ainz felt troubled by having to go through with this. Getting it over with, he brushed the leg aside as he strode past.
"Oi, oi, that hurt." The ruff looking man popped up in front of Ainz, hoping to intimidate him with his muscular frame. Ainz, however, just saw a child throwing a tantrum as he looked at the insignificant man from his armor.
"I see. I guess your leg was too short, so I couldn't see it. That's my apology, will you take it?" Ainz' condescending tone made the man flush with rage, and many patrons frowned at his dismissal of one of their own.
"Hah!? Are you crazy?! My foot was seriously hurt here! I can't just forgive you that easily. However, I think I can forgive you if you let one of those girls tend to me for the night." The lust-filled eyes of the man and his friends were all the information Ainz needed, but before he could put the peon in his place he kept talking.
"But, I like big tits, so you better make it one of those two black haired ones. They're a lot cuter than some flat boar-" That was as far as he got before, faster than the eye could see, the ranger girl had slammed a fist into his groin before lifting him over her head. The man groaned in agony as her hand crushed his sack in her strong grip. With a mighty heave that her slender frame shouldn't have been able to do, the man went flying across the room before crashing into another table.
"Anyone else going to say anything?" The sickly-sweet voice of the ranger ,Veres, made all those present shudder. A fiery look from her made the ruffian's friends quake in their seats with no will to help their friend.
"Ogyaaaa—!" A scream rose up from where the man had landed, and all eyes turned to see why. A red-headed adventurer girl was bemoaning the loss of her magic potion.
"Wait wait wait! Look what you did! You destroyed my potion. I slaved and starved away to save enough money to by it and you destroyed it!" The entire room stared at her flabbergasted. They couldn't believe that someone would stand up to such a hot-tempered person.
"Um…" The ranger just blankly looked at her in return. Veres internally couldn't figure out why she was freaking out. A healing potion like that was worthless.
"I don't care. Just give me a potion or its worth in money and I'll call it good. It cost 1 Gold and 10 Silver so there's no way those bums have it." She said, thumbing the embarrassed looking friends of The Flying Man. Narberal reached for her sword to strike down the worthless insect who made demands of her Masters while Yuri and Veres just stared as they processed everything.
"Ah. F-fine. Here, this should work, right?" Ainz stepped in when he noticed Veres and the Pleiades was starting to get furious. Handing the adventurer girl a minor healing potion, he placated the parties as quickly as possible.
"Red? Well, that's fine." She took the potion, wondering about its strange color as the group walked away.
"Hey, you lot better pay for the table your friend broke. Of course, you could always try and get that group to pay for it." The bartender maliciously grinned at the suddenly panicked men as they embarrassedly grabbed their comrade to leave the tavern.
"Of course! We'll pay full price!" They practically threw some money at the bartender, making sure there was enough to cover any 'inconveniences'.
"Never seen a potion like that. You sure its worth anything?" The bartender questioned the adventurer girl. He was rather experienced and was unsure about her choice to take the mystery potion.
"No idea. But, I have a really good feeling about it." With an eager expression on her face, she excitedly gripped the ornate glass bottle.
"I can refer you to a good alchemist. Just make sure to tell me about it. Although, really, it's such a pain to deal with people like that. Well, at least it will be interesting." Everyone in the tavern looked up the stairs where the group had disappeared. On all their faces were complex expressions as they tried to figure out the disposition of such a unique group.
In the end, they could only figure that the warrior was some rich noble playboy with a harem of strong girls around him. It was just too absurd to think that all of them are as strong as that ranger girl, and no man would let a woman fight for him. Besides, Blue Rose was entirely made of women, it wasn't too big a leap to say these women are the same.
The next morning, the group of four walked into the Adventurer Guild. All eyes were immediately drawn to the well-armed group. Looks of envy appeared on all the men's faces after seeing such beautiful females, while the women looked on in disgust at the way they meekly followed the armored man. One of them even had a slave collar on her neck.
The group stuck close together. Those who had been there yesterday recalled seeing them register as adventurers together, so they were obviously in the same party. Ainz stopped in front of the assignment board. Internally, he lamented the fact that he didn't know any spells or items to read the different language and the only one he had was given to Sebas.
Trying to appear confident, he grabbed one of the flyers from the board and took it to the counter. Veres barely suppressed a chuckle as she noticed his mistake. It was a minor detail, but she did have a spell that let her use other languages, so they would be able to read if she had cast it.
"We will take this job." Slamming the parchment on the counter, the girl behind it looked at him with undisclosed resentment.
"I'm sorry, but that is a Mithril ranked job. A Copper plate like you isn't allowed to take it." Ainz and Veres ignored her condescending tone, while the maids started to express their anger at the woman for such disrespect.
"I know. That's why I took it. We're strong enough to perform it and I don't want to waste time proving my strength." The harsh words made everyone who had shed sweat and blood to get to their rank judge Ainz poorly. Internally, he wanted to bow and apologize for his rude words, but it was the fastest way to get what he wanted.
"Everyone in the Guild has to follow the same rules. We can't make exceptions for people, otherwise our credibility would fall. Also, if we incorrectly place you, many could die when you ultimately fail your mission." The cold glare from the counter girl held all the emotions felt by those who had fallen in their line of work.
"Hmph, that girl with the ponytail. She is my comrade. She's a magician capable of the third tier. We are all of similar strength." A collective gasp rang out. If what he said was true, it would be impressive. Third tier was the highest any normal person could accomplish magically, and for people so young to be at the level of experts was worthy of praise.
"I- I'm sorry. But, I still can't make an exception. You'll need to take an appropriately leveled task until you are promoted." The counter girl's expression tightened. To insult someone of such strength wouldn't bode well for her, but she couldn't just ignore the rules. Plus, until he proved otherwise, this man in front of her was worse than scum for the way he treated women. Forcing a young girl to walk around with a collar was just too much.
"Well, it can't be helped. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Please give us the hardest job you can." Ainz' acceptance of the rules surprised many. The thought that he was a spoiled noble who would complain until he got what he wanted was prevalent.
"Well, if your looking for a job, we can give you one." A group of Silver ranked adventurers had come up to them, so Ainz decided to hear them out.
"Ah, thank you for your assistance. If we don't work with them we will take that job." Ainz said amicably to the counter girl before following the others up the steps to a private room.
Inside the room, the two groups went through the process of introducing themselves. Ainz ignored most of the team, only bothering to learn their names. However, the magician caught his attention. His baleful glare held a suppressed rage that puzzled Ainz. He had never met these people or done anything to them.
"Oi, she's a Talent Holder. We should try to learn more about it." Veres whispered into his ear. He barely caught the use of 'she', but completely agreed with Veres. Talents were a complete mystery to them in this new world, so they needed every opportunity to learn about them, regardless of how valuable the Talent actually was.
"I know. We should be able to get some information from them. We'll play along for now and work with them." Ainz tried to figure out a way to best get information from these strangers.
"Well, my Talent isn't all that impressive next to his." The magician Ninya spoke, drawing their focus back to the introductions.
"That's true." The warrior, Peter, said.
"The ability to use any magic item, huh." While the Silver-ranked group, Swords of Darkness, didn't seem overly curious about the power of that ability, the beings from Nazarick went cold.
"That's pretty dangerous." Veres became especially concerned. Unlike Ainz, she still had her Divine Class Gear equipped. If those items got out they would cause absolute havoc. She also still had one of the Twenty.
"I know. We have to be careful. We won't make any moves until we know more." Ainz was more curious. Learning so many new things stimulated his scholarly nature.
"Anyways, that is our team." Peter Mauk said.
"I see. I am Momon, and these are my teammates. They are Mel, Nabe, and Lily." Ainz said, gesturing to Veres, Narberal, and Yuri.
"Can I say something?" the ranger, Lukrut, asked, putting his hand up. Ainz nodded hesitantly, curious about what the energetic man had to say. The Nazerickers were surprised when he knelt in front of Yuri, while his teammates looked almost angry with him.
"I've fallen for you! Your beauty and grace knows no bounds! Please, if you ask it of me, I will break any chains that bind you!" A terrible anger started to build within Ainz. Here was this pathetic man, who knew nothing, implying he wasn't kind to his subordinates. Luckily for Lukrut, Yuri responded to his profession before he was killed.
*WACK*
With terrifying strength, she had chopped down on his lowered head. He instantly collapsed while a large bump started to form. He had clearly been knocked unconscious but didn't appear seriously injured. By the time he started to regain consciousness, Ainz' group had started to calm their bloodlust. While adjusting the glasses on the bridge of her nose, she proceeded to educate the forward ranger.
"I must refuse. You appear to have made an assumption based off of appearances. While it can't be helped that it might happen when first meeting someone, it is best to try to know them before acting on such impulses." Her prim and proper method of telling Lukrut off reminded them of her creator, Yamaiko.
"Thank you for your kind words! I will strive to learn more about you so that I may profess my true feelings again!" The man didn't appear to have actually learned his lesson, but his response was good enough for the moment. Looking back at the Swords of Darkness, Ainz noticed a contemplative look on their faces. With a start, he finally pieced together the dirty looks and complex expressions many people he'd met had had.
He had figured that they were envious of his apparent strength, as his armor was supposed to project, or just jealous of the beautiful women he was with. Slavery was illegal in this country, and it looked like Yuri was a slave with the choker on her neck. With their foreign looks and standout appearance, people must have guessed he was some Noble who was abusing his power by having a slave.
Wracking his brains for an excuse, he tried to find a way to explain the chokers presence. He couldn't just have her take it off. As a Dullahan, her head detached from her body, and the choker was meant to keep it in place. Thinking back to something he'd learned from the prisoners, he thought up a hopefully credible excuse.
"Ah, you guys seem to misunderstand something. If Lukrut was referring to the collar, it's a cursed item that she can never remove. If she did it would decapitate her." He inwardly praised himself when looks of understanding crossed the faces of the Swords of Darkness. It also seemed like much of the hatred emanating from the magician started to fade. On his side, Veres breathed a sigh of relief to have had the situation resolved. She really didn't want to clean up the mess if they needed to silence people.
"I see, that makes sense. A group as powerful as yours must have experienced many things, so a cursed item wouldn't be unusual. However, if we are working with you we would like to be able to trust you. Would it be possible for you two to reveal your faces?" Peter said, hoping to move the conversation back on track.
With a short glance to one another, Ainz and Veres removed their face coverings. Ainz was inwardly disappointed by the analysis their group had of his face. As he heard their whispers he was almost tempted to scream out 'I'm not old!'.
He was surprised by Veres' appearance. They had agreed to use their old human faces for their disguise, but Veres had decided to use an apparently younger version of herself. He knew she was older than he was by a couple years and had some scarring, but didn't think it would bother her so much. Instead of a middle-aged woman, what she looked like was a young woman the same age as the Pleiades with a normal face. Ainz thought she could be called slightly cute, but realized in this world she wouldn't be able to stand out in a crowd.
Peter finally felt like they had gotten a good enough look, so they moved back to the discussion of work. He went on to explain the extermination job and what would be required of them before putting in how to split their earnings.
"Ah, I was wondering. I know they're new and all, but if they're as strong as they say why do they need our help with an extermination job?" Neia said. Lukrut then started to prove his worth as a ranger by explaining the value in them working together.
"Of course not. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't work together. Simply put, we know more about the surrounding area and the specifics of the job while they have the firepower. On our own both of us would be fine, but by working together we can intentionally hunt down larger prey we would otherwise avoid. In the end it's safer for us and more efficient for them." He explained, pointing out the use of their collaboration.
"He's right. While I could successfully scout ahead for my group, I'd waste a lot of time just trying to find a good hunting ground. With us going together I need to do less work and can focus on completing the mission. We're getting paid by the head mostly, so a higher enemy kill count makes us both better off." Veres supported Lukrut's opinion, justifying her lack of actual expertise as a ranger. She could do most of the work just fine by relying on her stats, but had never tried being a dedicated ranger. She also didn't mention how she would be free to explore and enjoy the environment if there was another ranger present.
"Well, that answers that. If nobody has anymore questions we can move out right away. Is that alright with you Momon-san?" Peter said, wrapping up their discussion.
"Yes. I think we should try and get going. We'll make sure to follow you." The two parties headed out of the private room, but stopped at the top of the stairs. In the center of the guild hall was a big commotion. A young man with long blond hair covering his face stood amidst the mass of people who surged around him. Coming to the stairs was the girl from the counter. She seemed to be slightly panicked as she pushed through the crowds. Upon seeing Momon's group she called out.
"Ah, Excuse me. But, someone has made a specific request for you sir."