Hi, all. Author here. Sorry if any of you feel that the update takes too long, but it is what it is. After all, writing this is not high on my priority list. Expect updates to come once every 2-3 weeks, with 3k-4k words each chapter.
Also, thanks for all the comments so far. Your points are considered.
"Ah, Sebas. You have returned"
"Yes, Momonga-sama. Our guest is now asleep"
Two days had passed since the moment Momonga met the human stranger who had claimed to be part of a space traveling military group. To be exact, forty six hours had passed. The stranger, the name of whom was Seika Ryu, in a sense was the same as Momonga. Both of them got mysteriously transported into an unknown world, though with different circumstances.
Ryu's claim was naturally hard to believe for Momonga. However, the fact that he was capable of combat still held some points. Still, he was far weaker than Momonga in terms of power. Moreover, he also claimed that his spells got mysteriously empowered upon arriving at this world, so if what he had claimed had been true he might had been just as weak as a skeleton mage.
Hard to believe that he has experience of fighting planet-eating monsters with such weak power. I really let my guard down there.
Momonga reflected on things he had told Ryu the first day they had met. He feared that he might had made a grave mistake telling Ryu everything about his origin, all the way to his human name. At that time he had felt that because Ryu had told him his origin he had to do the same. But what if it turned out that it was all lies? He could not rule out the possibility.
If Ryu turned out to be a denizen of this world, his outfit and knowledge about space travel and modern technology meant that this world had modern civilization. But being able to create such tornado made an impression that magic was prevalent, and in most cases magic does not mix well with modern civilization.
My head is a mess thinking about it. Ah, in any case, as long as he is still in my watch there should be no problem, yet.
Keeping Ryu around would be very unlikely to bring benefits to Nazarick, but Momonga still kept him anyway. One reason was to keep watch on him, another was to wait and see if he would turn out useful in some way, even as a cannon fodder. His upkeep cost was negligible anyway.
Ryu had been given permission by Momonga to use the colosseum in the 6th floor to train his control of the empowered spells. Momonga had ordered the twins, Aura and Mare, to keep watch of any collateral damage he might accidentally cause. Sebas was also assigned to standby in case Ryu accidentally hurt himself, so he could heal him with his Qigong. An Eight-Edge Assassin was also assigned to keep watch on him 24/7 while staying undetected.
Momonga himself had spent the two days trying to keep his image as supreme leader. It was a difficult and exhausting task for him, but he just could not afford to let the guardians down, not after they had told him how highly they thought of him.
When Sebas returned to the throne room, Momonga was sitting on the throne with Albedo standing next to him. He was pondering on what to do next in this unknown world.
"By the way, I feel some kind of energy around you, Sebas"
"Our guest was testing his defense boosting spell, Momonga-sama. I got caught inside its area of effect"
"Is the effect significant?"
"I apologize, Momonga-sama. I have not tested it"
Momonga rubbed his chin for a few seconds. He thought of a way to quickly test it before it faded away anytime soon. It would emotionally pain him, but he decided that every bit of information he could gain about the guest was more important.
"Albedo"
"Yes, Momonga-sama!"
"Punch Sebas once in the face bare-handed with all your strength. Sebas, stand there and receive it"
"As your wish, Momonga-sama!"
"Understood, Momonga-sama"
As Momonga had commanded, Albedo approached Sebas and punched him in the face with her bare hand as hard as she could. Sebas received the punch without any defensive or evasive move, and he got staggered. Momonga gave the order fully knowing that the bare-handed punch from Albedo would only give Sebas a dark bruise at worst since Albedo's physical attack stat was lower than Sebas' physical defense. Just one second later, Sebas got back into his standing position. His face showed a little bruise that would not be noticed at a glance.
"Now give me your honest opinion. First, Albedo"
"I felt some kind of energy hindering my punch. The sensastion felt like Sebas' skin was covered in soft layer."
"I felt a tingle and a little bit of pain, and the damage on myself is very minor"
"It pained me to order my guardian to hurt another, but that was the only way which came to my mind to gain information quickly before the magic fades away"
"This minor pain is merely a small price to pay for becoming useful to Momonga-sama"
"That's right Momonga-sama! Carrying your orders is our greatest reward, even if we have to die for it!"
Momonga just sighed at the NPCs' low view of their own well being. Could their mind be changed somehow? He doubted it.
"In any case, it seems the defensive spell has a quite significant effect. Also, you said area of effect? How wide was it?"
"Based on my observation, the spell covered at least the entire colosseum structure, possibly further"
"How long has it lasted on you"
"So far it has been on me for ten minutes. Ah, it faded away just now"
Momonga was relieved that his decision to test the effect was correct. Any other way would be too late.
"Did Ryu-san say anything about the spell?"
"After realizing that the spell affected everyone present, he explained that it was a buff spell to reduce all incoming damage"
Momonga rubbed his chin. He has been thinking that the guest was weak, and indeed he was, offensively. However, the defensive buff spell he had just seen was impressive for him. Momonga knew a spell that could achieve a better feat, namely Body of Effulgent Beryl. It would completely negate the damage done to Sebas. However, being a spell of 10th tier it costs a substantial amount of MP. It is only a single target spell, limited to bludgeoning damage, and the negation only works once, though it still reduces incoming bludgeoning damage as long as it is active.
On the other hand, Ryu's defensive buff spell could easily buff a lot of targets at once, worked against all types of damage if his claim was true, seemed to be cheap enough to cast casually, and lasted long enough to minimize effort of maintaining.
He might become useful in a different field, apparently
"Any further orders, Momonga-sama?"
"Go back into your works and rest as necessary. I still need time to plan our move. That applies to you too, Albedo"
"Understood, Momonga-sama"
As a human, Ryu still need food, water, sleep, and any basic necessities. Fortunately, everything has been prepared for him inside the residence of the undead figure he had met. Though they came with one glaring problem.
Everything's too grand!
The bedroom was like it belonged to a king, and it was so clean there was no telling that this was inside an old tomb. The food was grand enough that his wallet would dry up in less than a week if he tried to have the same meal back in Ur.
To make it more awkward, breakfast was delivered to the bedroom by the same maid who had glared at him in the recent past, and she still silently continued to do so.
Where did he get all these things?
That was the question in Ryu's mind. But then he remembered. Before coming to this world Momonga and the entire building were video game objects. It was very likely that the grand facilities were part of player progression in that game.
Nevertheless, having been granted shelter and an open field for training had been a blessing, and thankfully after three days he managed to gain a degree of control over his photon techniques. The spells were still more powerful than normal, but much less likely to cause collateral damage.
I should meet him and say thanks after breakfast
It was the morning of the fourth day of him coming to this world. Breakfast had been delivered to him, once again by the same maid. He had honestly gotten used to her glare.
Ryu ate his breakfast without a word. After he was done, he left the guest room and headed to the throne room where Momonga was supposed to be. He knew the location because he had gone there once on the second day. Back then Momonga wanted to ask more questions, so he had been invited there. Still, something was strange about that occasion. Unlike before this time the atmosphere had been very heavy. It was as if Momonga had been emphasizing on how powerful he was and how he was not someone you want to mess with.
When Ryu arrived at the throne room, Momonga was nowhere to be found. Instead, he saw someone hastily passing by. It was someone in full plate armor, though some feminine features could be noticed from the armor. A woman of that height would probably be nobody other than...
"Excuse me... Albedo-dono?"
She responded, but kept walking.
"I have no time to waste on you. Momonga-sama needs my assistance!"
Hearing the words, Ryu immediately followed her running. He believed that if someone needed assistance he would help in the best of his abilities. He knew well that his power was nothing compared to Momonga's, but any extra assistance would be appreciated. At least he believed so.
The two of them arrived in a room with a long rectangular table and a set of chairs around it. There was a dark vortex floating next to the table, seemingly a portal or such. Albedo went through the portal without a second thought, and Ryu followed right behind.
The scenery before his eyes changed. In front of him was a view of dirt path and trees. Momonga was standing idly, next to him was an armored man lying down on the ground motionless and two girls kneeling and hugging each other, looking scared. It was pretty difficult for Ryu to get a grasp on what was happening there.
"The preparations took some time. I apologize for my late arrival,"
"No, it's fine. You came just in time. But... why are you here as well, Ryu-san?"
"I happened to saw Albedo-dono passing by and she said you need assistance, so I thought..."
"Stop there, you have told me enough"
"Then… how shall we dispose of these inferior lifeforms? If you do not wish to stain his hands with their blood, I will gladly eliminate them on your behalf, Momonga-sama."
What?
That was the first thing coming to Ryu's mind. He was about to object when Momonga started speaking.
"...What exactly did Sebas tell you?"
Albedo did not respond.
"I see, you didn't pay attention… my intention is to save this village. Our enemies are the knights in armor, like that corpse over there."
Momonga saw that Albedo nodded in understanding, and turned his eyes elsewhere. At the same time Ryu was relieved that it turned out Momonga had a noble intention.
"Then…"
The next scene unfolding before Ryu's eyes was more or less... bizzare.
Both of the scared girls wet themselves, Momonga noticed that one of them had a large wound on her back, then he took a large backpack out of nowhere, rummaged through it, took another backpack, rummaged through that one, took yet another one, repeating the cycle several times until he found a vial of red liquid, probably a healing potion.
Momonga offered the potion to the injured, older girl. Naturally, being offered an unknown drink from a towering skeletal figure would not make a positive response. Seeing Albedo's rage that came immediately was stunning. From there Ryu deduced that Albedo, possibly other subordinates as well, thought very highly of Momonga that displeasing him even so slightly in front of them would be a bad idea. Seeing Momonga frantically trying to stop Albedo was a bit amusing, though.
After Momonga settled things there, he and Albedo walked towards a direction, leaving the two girls under a stationary protective barrier. Ryu followed them without saying anything. He just listened to them talking to each other. From there he learned a few things such as the reason Momonga changed his name into Ainz and the abandonment of other "Supreme Beings" who used to live in the tomb with Momonga-Ainz.
"Ryu-san"
Ainz suddenly called him while putting on a mask and a pair of gauntlets, probably to conceal the fact that he was an undead.
"Yes, Mo... Ainz-dono?"
"I suppose you have learned a few information about us from our recent talks. I expect you to keep it to yourself no matter what"
"Yes, I promise"
"If you turn out to be not a man of your word, consequences will be dire"
As Ainz said those words, the atmosphere became heavy again.
He's so different from the Momonga I met back then. What's actually happening?
"I... fully understand that"
"Good"
Ainz then gave Ryu a necklace. It had a wing-shaped ornament on it.
"Wear it and try concentrating on it"
Ryu did as he was told, but nothing happened. Ainz sighed.
"We will address this later. For now we must hurry"
[ Fly ]
Ainz and Albedo flew high and sped forward to the direction they had been walking towards. Ryu was left behind on the ground.
This necklace is probably a magic item to grant flight. Why didn't it work on me?
It could be that he lacked aptitude to magic, which was pretty ironic because his combat class was more or less an imitation to elemental wizard of fantasy settings. He had no idea if he should find that amusing or depressing.
Maybe...
An idea came to his mind. Instead of merely concentrating his mind into the necklace, he also imbued an amount of photon energy on it.
It worked.
The necklace gave a little glimmer, and Ryu felt that his feet were no longer touching the ground. He tried applying more energy, and he floated even higher.
How to move forward, though?
He tried picturing himself flying forward in his mind, but it didn't work. He also tried some body movements but he still just floated in place. He could easily go up and down but not any other direction. Some minutes had passed already and he still couldn't figure it out.
Sigh...
Ryu descended back into the ground and decided to walk. He had no idea how far the village was, but there was pretty much no other choice. Casting Ilzonde in the middle of the woods like this would risk himself crashing into the trees or starting a forest fire.
Ryu later arrived at what seemed to be the village Ainz had spoken about. While descending to the ground, he noticed dead bodies, both of the villagers and the armored knights, strewn all over. The dead bodies of the knights were horribly mutilated. Parts of the ground were soaked red by blood.
I'm gonna be sick...
Despite being a military operative, Ryu has never killed other humans. All his combat experience was against darkers, wild beasts, rampant robots, and rather primitive humanoid creatures. He literally had never seen such massacre against humans. Seeing dead human bodies with such gory condition, exposed innards and all, naturally made him feel sick.
And he puked.
At a dark corner behind a house, he puked out most of his breakfast. At this point he felt a regret for never visiting the infirmaries after big battles. He had been always one of the lucky operatives who never suffer any major injuries after major battles. If he had been there at least once, his reaction to this massacre would not have been this bad.
After he was done vomitting, he walked towards the place where he had seen a crowd of people. When he arrived there, the people were startled seeing that another unknown person appeared.
"I... I'm allied with the one who had come to save you. Ainz Ooal Gown"
The people seemed to be relieved after Ryu said those words.
"May I know where is he?"
One man answered him.
"Lord Gown went with our chief to his house. Would you like me to escort you there?"
"I think he doesn't need me there. Any injured person here? I can cast healing magic"
The person looked very happy hearing Ryu's words. He then escorted Ryu to a house which had been hastily made into a makeshift infirmary.
While it was natural because it was just a makeshift infirmary, the condition inside was much lower than acceptable for sick and wounded people. He could smell blood all over the room. Every single person brought here were badly wounded, as if they were supposed to have already been killed by the knights but still stubbornly clinging to life. The smell of blood made Ryu feel sick again, but since he pretty much had nothing left to puke from his stomach he could endure it better than before.
There is no time to examine them. I'll just cast it at full strength and hope for the best
Ryu took his Weddle Park, held it high, and charged photon into it.
Resta!
Resta's effect was to create a restorative field around him which heals any friendly creatures inside. However, Ryu was not sure if the healing effect was smart enough to do delicate things such as removing foreign object or straightening up broken bones. He could only hope.
"I understand. We will not let anyone know about this."
Ainz secretly clenched his fist in approval. It would seem the skills he had picked up through working could still be put to use here.
"Excellent. I do not wish to bind you with magic. I shall trust your good nature."
Ainz extended an armored hand. The Chief stared blankly at it for a moment before taking the situation in, and he grasped Ainz's hand.
Suddenly, everybody in the room were covered in green light.
"Wha.. what is this, Ainz-sama?"
"This is..."
The village chief had a minor cut on his hand thanks to the incident with the knights. Because they were right in the middle of handshaking Ainz could notice that the cut quickly healed and disappeared without a trace, as if the cut had never been there.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you that I had another ally. He was left behind because he cannot fly. This is definitely his healing magic"
"Your ally must be very great like you are, Ainz-sama. I have never heard of healing magic like this"
"Indeed he is"
"Ainz-sama, are you all right?!"
Crap!
"Of course I am fine. What's with that question, Albedo?"
"Oh... nothing! M-my apologies!"
How careless of you, almost blowing my cover like that.
Albedo was concerned because it was common knowledge that healing magic runs on positive energy, and positive energy damages undead. However, as of right now the fact had to be kept secret.
Still, something was strange about this healing magic.
Ainz did not take any damage at all.
In fact, Ainz did not feel anything trying to damage him. It was as if this particular healing magic would heal him too if he had taken any damage.
"In any case, let's continue with the topic. Can you tell me more about this place?"
Ryu felt a great relief.
The healing effect of Resta was indeed convenient. Every single wounded people were completely healed without any side effects. The ones who had broken legs were able to run and jump as if their legs were never broken in the first place.
Still, it was not perfect.
There was one man who had been unlucky, having his left arm chopped off. The healing effect only closed the wounds, so now he was without one arm.
"I'm sorry that I could not restore your arm"
"Being alive and well again is already a boon. You have my gratitude"
The man was sincere in his words, which gave Ryu a great feel of relief. Everyone he had healed and their family members came to him crying in tears of happiness. Some kneeled to him, some others couldn't control their emotions and jumped to hug him.
The celebration did not last long, though. The fact that a large number of villagers had been killed did not change. Soon, everybody returned to their work of settling up the bodies of the dead ones for a funeral ceremony.
"Now what should I do?"
Ryu sat down on a chair next to the makeshift infirmary house, overlooking the village square. He decided that it would be best not to interrupt Ainz in his talk with the village chief, but having nothing to do kinda bored him and he started having thoughts about his origin.
"I wonder why the infirmary were always so busy if a single cast of Resta would have been more than enough"
He could make an answer almost immediately. It was very likely that the mysterious significant empowerment of his photon techs also affected the healing effect of Resta. Its area covering the entire village was already abnormal anyway, so it would not be strange if the healing effect also became abnormal.
"I hope I won't get too used to this power. Once I leave this planet I'll be back to my ordinary self"
Soon, a man approached him.
"Ryu-dono, I just want to inform you that we're ready for the burial"
"I see... I'll be there. You all have my condolences"
"Thank you, Ryu-dono"
The man left, probably to the village chief's house. Ryu wondered if Ainz would be at least watch the burial from a distance like how he planned to.
"In any case, this is gonna be sad for everyone here"
