Hi, author here! As promised two chapters ago, starting from the time this chapter is posted this story is now moved into Crossover category.
For those who have been following, you will notice something that seems inconsistent with the previous chapter. Let me just say that an explanation will come eventually.
"So that's the place"
Ryu said that when he finally saw the walls of the city he had heard of from Gazef back then. After leaving the Tomb of Nazarick to live on his own, Ryu's plan was to secure some sort of income because he was fully aware that all the ARKS credits he had were worthless in this world.
E-Rantel would be a good place to start.
At the moment, the usable currency in Ryu's possession was only five silver coins. Gazef had given him the coins when he had heard about Ryu's situation and the truth that he was just a guest of Ainz.
"This should last you for about a week. Get yourself registered in Adventurer's Guild in the meantime"
Sadly, as of now the money would only last for three or four days because now there was someone else with him.
"What do you think, Lily?"
The person Ryu was talking to was a female knight in silver-colored armor. She wore a helmet which had a backward-facing pair of small ornamental wings at its sides. The helmet had no back part, allowing her smooth, ponytail, gold-yellow hair to go down unobstructed halfway through the back. It had no visor either, so anyone could clearly see her bright-skinned face, especially her sharp light blue eyes.
Her armor suit was a rather simple one and seemed light compared the full body armor Ryu had seen worn by Albedo. The breastplate didn't have the twin bulge usually seen in female knight's armor, implying that Lily's breast size was rather small. The shoulder parts had an attached blue cape reaching halfway through the back of her legs. Her gauntlets were of simple design and seemed easy to move with like a normal glove. Her elbows and upper arms were not covered in armor, so it could be seen that she wore a red long sleeve shirt under the armor suit.
The suit's stomach and waist parts were plain and simple without any carvings or decorations. The part below them that looked like skirts was just long enough to cover the vital parts. She wore black tight shorts which were only slightly longer than the tasset, leaving her thighs bare. The greaves were well rounded to cover her feet up to and around the knees.
"If you ask me, that looks more like a fortress than a city"
Her answer was spoken out in a rather confident, tomboyish tone. Ryu looked at her again, and he felt like crying inside his mind.
Did Ainz probe into my mind again? Why did the companion turn out like this?
What made Ryu felt like that was the overall traits of Lily. She was pretty much the ideal girl for Ryu, whose soft spot was on tomboy, lively girls.
Normally, this should not have been a problem. Ryu knew a few ARKS operatives with similar traits and they had worked together just fine.
But Lily was much shorter than Ryu, barely reaching Ryu's shoulder, they could be easily mistaken as father and daughter if they shared similar hair and eye colors.
The height difference and the fact that she was not a fellow ARKS operative made Ryu instinctively recognize Lily not as a companion, but as a precious someone to take care of and protect like a daughter.
It will be disrespectful of her and Ainz if they know this, but I really can't help it!
"Something wrong, Ryu-san?"
"N-Nothing!"
"Hmm..."
Lily's face showed suspicion for a little while, but she didn't inquire any further.
Ryu looked at her again. Her combat equipment was pretty standard for a knight. She had a small metal shield attached to her left gauntlet and a sword sheathed at her left waist. What was somewhat interesting was that there was another sword at the other side of her waist. This way depending on the situation she could either wield one sword and fight with a defensive stance, or go aggressive and dual wield the swords.
Lily's earlier remarks was pretty much right. The outer wall of the city was tall and pretty heavily fortified. According to Gazef, E-Rantel was that fortified because it was located near the borders to two other regions, namely Baharuth Empire and Slaine Theocracy. In addition, the Kingdom and the Empire periodically had a skirmish at the nearby Katze Plains, so the city also doubled as a military base.
"Let's go, Lily"
"Right behind you, Ryu-san"
The two of them managed to enter the city without trouble. Simply telling the gate guards that they were travelers from a far away place was enough to gain entry.
Ryu asked around to get directions towards the Adventurer's Guild. It turned out that the building they were looking for was easy to spot.
Upon entering, what the two of them saw was a crowd of mostly battle-hardened people doing their activities such as discussing jobs or looking at a board where a bunch of papers were pinned. Quite a number of them looked at both Ryu and Lily.
Ryu tried walking through without paying any heed to the onlookers. He could hear a few whispers, though.
"Is he a priest? Magic caster, perhaps?"
"What a cutie"
"A magic caster man and a cute girl warrior. Interesting combination"
Ryu and Lily walked to the counter near the large board where a female clerk was on standby.
"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. How may I help you?"
"We would like to register"
"Entry fee is five silver coins per person"
What? that's the entire money Gazef gave me.
"Uhh, I don't have enough"
"In that case, we can offer you a one silver coin per person entrance"
"What's the catch?"
"Normally 20% of any job reward is collected by the guild as service fee, but for new adventurers registering this way, the cut is raised to 70% until the additional cut covers the waived registration fee"
"Well, we don't have a choice so we'll take that"
Ryu handed two silver coins over as he said it. After asking for their names and taking notes, the clerk then handed over two necklaces with copper plates as the head.
"This will be your rank identification as an adventurer. From now on you can pick a job suitable for your rank from the board over there"
"Thank you"
"If you're looking for a place to rest, we can give you directions to an inn we recommend for new adventurers"
Ryu listened to the direction given and later headed out to find the place. It took a while until he found the place because neither him nor Lily could read any writings on boards so he had to ask around again. Thankfully, the inn they were looking for had a distinct picture so there would be no mistake once it was found.
Ryu was just about to push the door open when he heard a scream of a man followed by a crashing sound. Inside the inn was too dark to make anything out, so Ryu entered anyway to see what had just happened. Lily followed him right behind
What they saw was a man lying unconscious on a broken table. Could it be that the man had been thrown there in a fight? It seemed like so.
Before any of them could think further, they heard a woman scolding someone. At the other end of the room was the angry woman screaming at someone. It was a warrior clad in black full plate armor, and next to the warrior was...
Narberal?
That was the word coming into Ryu's mind upon seeing the woman standing next to the warrior. The woman's face and hair looked very similar to Narberal, the maid from Nazarick who had been bringing breakfast to him every morning when he was still staying at Nazarick.
From the angry woman's yelling and the warrior's reply, Ryu learned that the warrior had thrown the unconscious man across the room for provoking him. Unfortunately, the crashing broke the potion the woman had been saving up for and now she demanded a replacement because the unconscious man and his comrades didn't have enough money to pay for the broken potion.
The warrior handed over a vial of red potion to settle the case, and then he along with his companion went upstairs.
Ryu approached the counter, ignoring the woman who seemed confused looking at the red potion.
"I'd like to stay for the night. Double room if possible"
"Another one, huh? Unfortunately the two who just went upstairs had rented the last double room we have. Your only option is a shared bunk room"
"Too bad then. We will go someplace else"
"Heh, whatever floats your boat"
It did not take long for Ryu to decide that this inn was out of the options. If he was alone, he would still accept it. However, he could not stand the idea of Lily sharing a bedroom with a bunch of these shady looking people.
The two of them was about to walk out of the inn, but two men blocked their way. They were the comrades of the man who was still unconscious on the broken table.
"What a cutie you have there, wanna be our company tonight?"
Do these guys ever learn?
Before Ryu could respond to the shady men, one of them reached their hand to Lily.
"Don't you dare touch me!"
She quickly responded by grabbing the arm and threw the man across the room, right onto his unconscious comrade. Lily then looked at the remaining man.
"Do you want to join him?"
The man gulped and immediately gave way.
As Ryu walked, he said something with an sinister glare to the man.
"Both of you were lucky. I was just about to throw a fireball right on your face. Both of you"
As the two of them walked out, some whispers could be heard.
"Did he say Fireball? The tier three magic?"
"That girl is much stronger than she looks"
"Still not as strong as that dark warrior, though"
When the two of them were finally out, Ryu felt relieved.
"Are you all right, Lily"
"No worries! But where should we go now?"
"Let's find another inn"
That was the plan, but in practice they were in a pinch. Any other inns they found later were either too expensive for them or require a minimum adventurer rank. By the time the sun was setting, they still didn't find any place yet.
Ryu bought some bread and meat skewers for dinner, and now they were down to two silver coins remaining. They ate at the edge of the market area, standing leaned to a building wall.
"I don't mind camping out again, Ryu-san"
They had camped out once on the way to E-Rantel because Ainz had transported them to Carne Village with that dark portal. They had been fortunate to have a clear weather throughout the night, but the potential danger of the wilderness made them unable to sleep well, having to take turns guarding. If possible Ryu would like to sleep in a proper shelter tonight.
"There's still a last resort"
"Really? What is it?"
"Let's finish eating first"
Ryu remembered something Gazef had told him.
"If you happen to run out of money, the temple might provide shelter for you. Especially if you say that you can cast healing magic"
Ryu also knew from Gazef that what Ryu had done in Carne Village would be considered illegal. In most places in this world, the action of using healing magic was restricted to the temples. The cause was actually pretty reasonable, being that it was their primary income source and without the regulation their healers would become unable to make a living.
Leeway still exists, though. If Ryu had demanded appropriate payment his action would be legal, though of course there was no way such a remote village would have the money. Also, as an adventurer, healing a comrade during a job is perfectly fine.
Still, I don't like being restricted like that.
Later, they went to a temple anyway to see what would happen. One priest welcomed them, and Ryu told him about his intentions.
"You just happen to come at the right time. Follow me"
The priest guided them to a room near the back side of the temple. This one room had five beds arranged in a row, and all of them were occupied by what seemed like injured people. All five of them were asleep, but their condition was miserable with some blood still leaking out from their bandages.
There was a young man, possibly an apprentice, tending to one person in the furthest bed from the door. His hands glowed green, but the glow was dim. He probably was trying to keep that person alive, looking that this one's injuries were the worst compared to others.
"These five adventurers got heavily injured completing their last job. Unfortunately our manpower ran out of mana, so for now we only could do conventional treatment. Help us as best as you can, and we will let you stay for the night"
"Alright, let me try. Lily"
"Yes, Ryu-san?"
"Be prepared to hold me up"
Ryu then stood near the middle bed and took his Weddle Park out. Lily stood next to him.
I need to tone it down, or else I would risk making a commotion. Just enough area to hit these five...
Resta
All the five person on bed glowed green, and once the glow faded they seemed to have been healed successfully. Their breathing became stable and they seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
Ryu then fell down as if he had no strength left in his body. Lily held him to keep him standing.
"Ryu-san! You all right?"
"No worries. Just nearly out of mana"
The priest and the apprentice were stunned by what they had just seen.
"I have never seen such healing magic. What was that?"
Lily was a bit upset.
"Can that wait for later?! He is exhausted!"
"Oh yes, please follow me"
The priest then guided them to a separate room. The room was smaller than the previous, only having two beds, but overall it was a rather tidy room illuminated by magic and with a single window facing towards the city outside. Lily immediately put Ryu to one of the beds.
"I will be next door to the left if you need anything. Good night and thank you for your assistance"
After the priest closed the door, Ryu's exhausted face changed into his normal self. He then got up into sitting position.
"Nice acting, Ryu-san"
Lily said that while winking.
"Thanks for catching my drift"
"Tee-hee!"
Ryu had acted that way to keep other people's view on him more or less normal. As of now he didn't need fame or such. He was just looking for a somewhat stable income so he could then later begin his effort on finding a way home.
"So, what are you going to tell tomorrow?"
"I'm not really good at planning speeches. I'll just make things up as I talk since I have the general idea in my mind already"
"And what about the rest of this day?"
"Let's just rest up. You must be tired from all the walking this entire day, right?"
"Nah! I can go for another hundred clicks!"
Lily did a happy grin saying that. The expression left Ryu speechless.
No, please. Don't get too attached to her.
Ryu knew that eventually they have to separate. There was no way he would be able to bring Lily to ARKS once he found a way to return there. Even if he could bring her, the danger would be much greater than what this world could offer. He just didn't want to have it that way.
"In any case, let's go to sleep. We will be busy tomorrow"
"Alrighty, Ryu-san!"
Lily then took her weapon and armor suit off, leaving her only wearing shirt, shorts, and knee-length socks. She then also took the socks off and jumped to the other bed.
"This bed feels so nice!"
She rolled over left and right in excitement. Ryu looked at the weapon and armor suit she had taken off. Despite her carefree attitude, she actually had put them neatly on the floor next to her bed. Her swords were also put in a way that she could take them anytime a sudden danger came.
She's more dependable than she looks...
"What's with that look, Ryu-san? Something on my armor?"
"Uhh, nothing. Good night"
Ryu went back to sleeping position quickly, facing away from Lily.
"Hmm... okay. Good night"
And thus came the next day.
Ryu woke up pretty early that the sky outside was still dark, though a bit of sunlight was visible at the horizon. He turned away from the window and took a look at Lily who was still asleep in sideways position. She was covered in blanket so only one arm and her face was visible. Her hair had been let loose and naturally it got spread all over the pillow. For Ryu, Lily's sleeping face was a sight to behold.
I'll let her sleep for now.
Ryu then quietly walked out of the room and went to the room next door to the left. He tried knocking gently to see if the priest from yesterday was already awake.
"Come in"
Ryu opened the door, and what he saw inside was the same priest in the same work uniform. He was sitting on a bed reading a book.
"Ah, Ryu-san. Are you all right now? Please sit down wherever you like!"
"Yes, I'm fine now"
Ryu then sat down on a nearby chair.
"Good to hear. Now, if I may, what was the magic you use?"
"It was a magic I developed during my travel"
"Magnificent! What you did back then was equal to a second tier magic, but in an area! If you ask me, it might be at the same level of third tier, maybe even fourth!"
"The cost was too great, though. I can only cast it once a week or I risk permanent damage on myself"
Putting a cooldown that would supposedly do a harm if breached was one method to prevent being taken advantage of. It also would give the temple a sense of security on their income source.
"Ah, pity. We would love to recruit you as healer otherwise"
"If that was the case I wouldn't register as an adventurer"
There was a little laugh from the two men.
"So, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to take a job request or two at the guild and see if I can get some coins for living"
"I wish you luck then. Feel free to come back here if you need a place to sleep"
"You're too generous. I can't take that"
"What are you saying? What you did yesterday was worth more than just one night stay!"
"Thank you, but I eventually will need to be able to take care of myself"
"Alright, just keep in mind that my offer still stands if you need it. Good luck!"
Soon, both Ryu and Lily left the temple for the Adventurer's Guild. The sky was still not too bright, but some early birds were already setting up their shops. Ryu bought two pieces of bread for breakfast, and they ate the bread while walking.
Later, inside the Adventurer's Guild building, Ryu and Lily were looking at the huge board where a bunch of job request papers were posted. After looking for a minute, he bowed his head and facepalmed.
I cannot read any of these
Lily couldn't read either. The people of this world used characters that none of them could recognize.
Then she bowed and facepalmed too.
"Excuse me, is there something wrong?"
Ryu and Lily turned to look at the person asking. It was a guy with blonde short hair and blue eyes wearing a light armor set. His plate was a silver one.
"Well, we came from a far away place and the writings here are different from what we are used to"
"In other words, we cannot read any of these!"
Lily said that with her tongue sticking out and embarrassed expression.
"Oh, let me help you then"
The guy then looked at the board, examining the papers one by one.
"Ah, I'm sorry, but it seems there's no copper job request now"
"I see. Thank you for the help, in any case"
"By the way, may I ask about your combat capability?"
Describing the basic spells Foie and Zonde should be enough.
"Well, I can shoot a fireball or create lightning"
The guy looked surprised hearing Ryu's answer.
"Third tier magic? Are you for real?"
Ryu fully knew that third tier magic was rare among regular adventurers thanks to his conversation with Gazef, but he pretty much had no choice since those two were the most basic spells he could do.
"Still not perfect, but yes"
"I see. How about your companion here?"
"Her strength is comparable to mine"
"Nice! Hey, how does helping my team's job sounds to you?"
"Well, our pockets are almost empty so anything will do"
"Let's have an introduction with the others then"
He gave a hand signal to a group of three standing at a distance. The guy, along with the other three, then guided Ryu and Lily to a small meeting room upstairs.
In the meeting room, Ryu and Lily were intoduced to a team naming themselves The Swords of Darkness. The blonde guy was Peter, then there was Lukrut, Dyne, and Ninya. After the introduction Peter explained to Ryu about their plan to hunt wild monsters around the area, which was what they do for a living when there were no suitable jobs for them.
"As for splitting the rewards, we will split them evenly"
"Alright then"
The group then went downstairs back to the main hall. There was a little commotion there.
"Hmm? What's happening?"
Ryu walked closer to the source, and he saw the same dark warrior he had seen the day before, along with the Narberal look-alike companion. He was talking to a young man in a bowl-cut hair.
"Bodyguarding, huh? I see"
The dark warrior seemed to be thinking for a second, then his helmeted head just happened to turn to where Ryu stood. A small sign of surprise emerged from him, though none noticed it.
"You two"
The dark warrior said it with his head turned to Ryu and Lily.
"Do you want to take part in this job with me?"
"Wait, what?"
Lily expressed her surprise.
"Sorry, but I just agreed with this group behind me to help them in their job"
"I see. Then I will ask the same question to the entire group. Would you all like to put your current job on hold to take part in this job with me?"
"What do you think, Peter-san?"
"It's a bit strange, but I want to at least hear him out. Especially that the young man next to him is the very well known Nfirea Bareare"
The entire group plus the dark warrior, the Narberal look-alike, and the young man went back to the same conference room. The dark warrior was the one opening the conversation once the seats were filled.
"Let me introduce ourselves first. My name is... Momon, and this is my partner Nabe"
Momon seemed to hesitate right before telling his name, but none of the others paid any heed.
"This young man here specifically made a request for me by name. The job was to be his guardians during his trip to a forest, and help in harvesting herbs. There are only two of us, and I feel that amount is too few. Therefore I am pitching for more people to join us"
The conversation between Momon and Peter's group went on, but Ryu's mind was occupied from the moment Momon told everyone his name.
Momon... Momonga... Nabe... Narberal...
Was it a coincidence? Or was Momon actually Ainz? Those two questions popped in Ryu's mind.
Crap... crap... why is he here too?
Beneath the calm figure of Momon, inside the armor covering his body, Ainz was panicking out of his wits. Right now there was a huge risk of his cover getting blown. His own appearance was totally different, but Narberal's face was still the same as Ryu remembered.
I didn't delete his memory of my Momonga name because of the huge mana cost, now I really regret it.
Coming across Ryu again had been kept in mind for the masquerade Ainz was doing, but it happening inside the guild was the worst case scenario. Asking him to join was an attempt to separate him from the crowd, but it turned out he already had a group. Ainz could only follow up as best as he could to look natural.
Ainz did not worry about Ryu's companion because she had been specifically set up to forget everything related to Nazarick and its denizens, but Ryu himself has never been told about Ainz's plan to masquerade as an adventurer.
To prevent Narberal from blowing their cover, on the way to the conference room Ainz had whispered an order to her. That way she would pretend as if they have never met. But if Ryu mentioned her real name it would be all over.
Ainz took a glance towards Ryu once in a while. He had been speechless so far and seemed to be suspicious.
Crap crap crap! He really found us out! Please don't speak out or I will be forced to abort everything!
"Nabe-san. You look familiar. Are you...?"
Ainz was ready to give up on his masquerade, but suddenly Lily interrupted the question.
"Ryu-san, they are the one we saw back then at the inn"
"I mean, before that"
"You are not familiar to me"
Narberal's answer was firm, but something must be done to lower his suspicion.
I have to signal him somehow.
"You have been speechless so far. While your partner has mentioned your name, I believe a proper introduction is necessary"
"Ah yes, sorry. I am Ryu and this is my partner Lily. I'm just wondering, have we met before?"
"I believe we haven't. Even if we have, I believe nothing significant happened back then that I don't remember. I suppose it is best not to try too hard to remember"
Please take the clue, please take the clue!
"Alright, I will assume that this is the first time we meet. Sorry for interrupting the meeting"
Ryu's reply made Ainz relieved, as if a huge burden has been lifted off from him. He celebrated inside his mind that Ryu had taken the clue and responded perfectly.
Momon's answer did not confirm anything for Ryu. The possibility of it being just a coincidence was not zero. Still, he thought that it would be best to assume that Momon was Ainz or at least someone from Nazarick, and Nabe was Narberal, chosen to accompany Momon. In that case, staying near them for too long might end up accidentally blowing their cover. He should stay away from them as best as he could.
"I'm sorry but I am withdrawing from this job"
"What? Why?"
Peter was the one asking.
"Splitting the reward between three teams will leave very little for each of us. Your team is more suited for this job than mine"
"Aren't you short on cash? Will it be alright?"
"Don't worry. I will manage"
"If you say so, then alright"
Ryu stood up from his seat, and Lily followed. The two of them went down to the main hall of the guild and sat on a vacant seat.
"So, what are we gonna do?"
"Our best bet seem to be walking around in the wilderness and exterminate monsters"
"Let's do just that then!"
Lily seemed excited, but Ryu was not so. Their remaining money was just one silver and ten coppers. Considering food expenses, it might be enough to last for two or three days camping out. He could only hope he would find monsters of high value.
Ainz was right. I have been taking the facilities of Nazarick for granted.
"Excuse me, are you... Ryu and Lily?"
Someone suddenly asked that while Ryu was musing about his plans. Ryu looked at the person, and it turned out to be a group of five.
"Yes, and you are...?"
"You healed us yesterday"
The answer made Ryu remember, they were the five adventurers knocking on death's door last night.
"Oh, you are those five adventurers"
All of them were in the rank of Iron. Now that they were wearing their combat gear, Ryu could see the different roles they had.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Mat, the team's fighter"
Despite what he said about his role, he was not armored at all and his weapons seemed to be two daggers.
"I am Zeb, also a fighter"
Zeb wore some light armor, and his weapon seemed to be a katana.
"My name is Su. I am the team's warrior"
Su was a very tall woman compared to other people. Her equipment was a set of mace and shield. Her shield was quite battered, and her armor was not any better.
"I am Saku, the magic caster"
Saku was a girl just slightly taller than Lily. Standing next to Su made her seem very small, though.
"And I am Kusa, the ranger. Our name being similar was merely a coincidence"
Kusa's weapon was a crossbow. He wore light leather armor similar to Zeb. His remark was about his name and Saku's being just two syllables switching place.
Mat seemed to be the team's leader, or at least the one usually chosen to deal with other people.
"We would like to thank you for saving us"
"I just happened to be there needing shelter to sleep in"
"And it was exactly that which saved us all"
"In any case, why are you here? You're not here just specifically looking for me, right?"
"Actually, we just turned in our job"
"The one that made you knock on death's door?"
"Well, yeah. We bit off more than we can chew"
Mat looked embarrassed saying that. Zeb then added salt to the wound.
"Whose idea was that to take an ogre hunt job right after getting promoted to Iron?"
"Hey, we still made it, right?"
"Not worth it at all"
Su said it with flat tone.
"Anyway, even after taking the reward we will be still pretty broke. I wish we could repay you in more practical form, but unfortunately we can't"
It turned out that the healing fee last night was more than they had. They had to use the reward money they just got to pay the debt. At this point Ryu felt as he had been ripped off by the temple, despite the priest seeming like a very reasonable person.
"I'm also broke now, so we are pretty much in the same situation"
"Hey, wanna come with us?"
"What?"
"As of right now, there's a job for iron rank that is still a bit too dangerous for us. But if you come with us, maybe we can complete it safely"
"Just for your information, the healing spell I used on you has a one week cooldown"
"We know, the temple priest told us. We just figured that if you are able to come up with such abnormal spell, you must have strong normal magic in your arsenal, right?"
"Depends on if you think a fireball is strong"
"What?! Third tier magic?! You should be promoted to mithril already!"
"Well, I'm a traveler who just came so it can't be helped"
"So, what do you think? Wanna come with us for the job?"
"Sure, why not"
"Alrighty! I'm gonna take care of the paperwork then! Back in a flash!"
Mat ran to the board right away after saying that. The others just watched in silence.
"As lively as always"
Kusa said that with a bit of smile.
"I'll be in your care then"
Ryu stood up from his seat and gave his new partners a handshake. Lily did the same, and soon Mat came back. He had done the necessary paperwork and all they had to do was prepare the necessary supplies since the job would be a three day expedition. Ryu sincerely hoped that this would be a good start for his career as an adventurer.
