Hi all! Sorry for the long delay. My life has been a little hectic lately.

Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Cliffhanger warning again. ;)


[X][X][X]


"Good morning"

"Eh... what?"

Right after waking up, Ryu was quite confused for the fact that Alice had woken up before him. It would have been more believable if Lily was also awake, but he could see that she was still fast asleep on her bed.

"Being a sleepyhead doesn't necessarily mean that I can't wake up early"

Alice had just read Ryu's confusion perfectly.

"Well... I guess I will just take that"

Ryu said that as he stood up from his bed and instantly changed from his sleepwear into his battle suit.

"I have never seen that kind of magic"

"This is a common thing back in my place"

"Where is that place?"

"A great disaster has erased it, so it doesn't matter anymore"

"Alright, then. By the way..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you two married now?"

Not this again...

Ryu let out a sigh. Alice must have seen the ring Lily wore when she had taken off her gauntlets before sleeping. This thing was already getting old, and he began to think that buying those rings had been a mistake.

"From your reaction, I guess not. So the rings are magic items I suppose"

"Yes, and thank you for saving me the speech"

Ryu laughed a little, feeling a little happy that he didn't have to explain the misunderstanding this time.

Lily woke up about five minutes later, and the three of them had their breakfast without much talk. All they discussed was about what to do for this day, and it didn't take long to agree that they would go to the guild and report their findings during the scouting trip to Katze Plains yesterday, even though they had found essentially nothing.

All three of them walked to the guild, and once they arrived they promptly went to the appropriate staff member for reporting their finds.

"We're glad to see you back! The Guildmaster instructed me to bring all of you to his office immediately once you come, so please follow me"

"Alright then"

They followed the staff member to Guildmaster's office, and just like always, Ainzach was sitting behind his desk. He looked very delighted seeing Ryu, Lily, and Alice.

"Ah, you made it! Thank the gods!"

"I don't think it's something worthy of celebration, Ainzach-dono"

"Of course it is! You went to a potentially very dangerous place and came back safe and sound! I have been worried sick, you know"

"Ah, sorry about that. It was already dark when we arrived back in town so we went to the inn and slept"

"It's alright. So, what did you find there? Were they the same monsters you know? But first thing first, have a seat"

All three of them sat on the vacant chairs in front of the Guildmaster's desk. Ryu leaned on the chair with arms folded and began speaking.

"Unfortunately, we didn't encounter the monsters responsible. All we found was a bunch of regular undead and..."

Ryu looked at Alice, hesitating to continue.

"The remains of my friends. Don't worry. I'm over it already"

"Yeah, we then cremated what were left of the bodies to give them proper closure"

Ainzach listened closely while nodding occasionally.

"I see. Let me express my condolences once again, Alice-san"

"Thank you"

"Still, it is worrying that now there are dangerous, unidentified monsters roaming Katze Plains. What's the chance of them being the ones from your place, Ryu-san?"

"It might not be them after all"

Ainzach leaned forward, looking interested hearing Ryu's words.

"Oh, what made you say that?"

"They have a high tendency to flock towards the energy of my people, so if it was really them we should have been attacked back then"

"Energy of your people? Could you elaborate on that?"

"Uhh... It's hard to explain, but the energy radiating from people here are different than the one from people in my place, me included. Those monsters are attracted to that, though they are naturally aggressive to begin with"

Ryu began to think that saying this might have been a mistake. He didn't want to specifically mention anything about photons and Darkers to any more people other than Ainz, so he had made things up on the fly, but keeping up with the fabricated info would be difficult even though what he just said was not technically a lie.

"So, Ryu-san. You're saying that the monsters in Katze Plains might not be the ones you know since you are a walking bait to them yet none of them got attracted to you?"

"More or less like that, yes"

"I see. However, the similarities of their traits are too much to be a coincidence, so I will still assume that they are the same"

Ryu couldn't help but agree with Ainzach. From Alice's telling, the monsters could have been definitely the fish Darkers he knew. Not getting attracted to him back then might had been a coincidence. The other possibility was that the Darkers had been commanded to fall back and lay low. But in that case, it would mean that there was a Dark Falz somewhere in Katze Plains.

Nah, if there was really a Dark Falz there, at least this city would have been demolished by Darkers since long ago.

"I have no objections to that. Better safe than sorry after all"

Ainzach then made a hand gesture to the staff lady standing near the door. She nodded, signifying that she understood, and left the room.

"We have prepared an announcement declaring that Katze Plains is now a high threat zone, I just gave her the signal to post it"

"I see"

"The plains has been recognized as a good hunting grounds, so this recent matter is quite a blow to the income of many adventurers. Also, the worry that the new monsters might come to the city will eventually push them into forming a raiding party to exterminate the monsters"

"I don't really recommend it"

"Indeed, Ryu-san. The limited visibility within the fog and the fact that the monsters seem to be very adept at ambushing makes going there a suicide"

That's not the actual reason, but I guess it works.

Ryu's actual reason was the fact that even in the case the raid party managed to kill the Darkers, the bodies left behind would begin spreading nasty Darker particles everywhere. Only photon attacks could effectively eradicate them, since in that case the dead bodies would almost immediately disintegrate into smoke and disappear.

Ryu didn't want to outright say that right now he was the only one in the kingdom capable of fighting them. The responsibility would be too heavy for him alone, and people would possibly accuse him of bringing those monsters with him. He was not and never wanted to be a hero. He was just a regular soldier and all he wanted was to survive and find a way home.

"Alice-san"

"Hmm...?"

"What are you going to do after this?"

"No idea actually. I still want to continue being an adventurer but... finding new partners might be hard"

Ainzach then looked at Ryu and spoke to him.

"This is just an idea, but Ryu-san, would you allow her to join your team?"

"Uhh..."

Ryu somewhat had seen this coming, but he was not prepared to give any answer. He actually would not mind having another partner, but he didn't know what would happen if someday Ainz needed his help again. Another thing to consider was how Alice would react once she knew that he had an affiliation with an undead being. Nobody in their right mind would see that as normal.

"I was just throwing an idea. You can disregard it if you wish"

"I personally would like to, but I'm currently in a bind by complicated circumstances"

"Oh, I have never heard of that. What kind of circumstances?"

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything at the moment"

"Well, I can't force you then"

Ryu then thought about it once again. Ainz was a very powerful being with a large number of subordinates, so he probably wouldn't need to call Ryu again anytime soon, unless another ARKS operative shows up again in his sight. The chance of that happening was not zero, but very unlikely. Moreover, this time he no longer owed anything to Ainz, so he decided to stop putting Ainz into consideration for his every action.

"Liz, would you like to join us?"

"Wouldn't I trouble you?"

"Maybe, maybe not. We will never know unless we try"

"But aren't you..."

"The circumstances are not as pressing as they had been until recently. So, Liz, you are welcome to join us"

Alice looked at Lily, who seemed to get the clue.

"I'm always fine with anything Ryu-san wishes! So no problem!"

Alice then stood up and faced towards Ryu.

"Then I will be in your care"

Alice bowed, and Ryu stood up, offering a handshake.

"Welcome to Ignite Maximus"

Alice shook hands with Ryu, and he could notice her smiling. But then he remembered something that might be complicated. He immediately looked at Ainzach.

"Ainzach-dono, what about her rank? I suppose you don't just instantly raise her to Orichalcum, right?"

"This kind of case has never happened before, so there is actually no rules covering the matter. Ah well, just work together for now while I try to figure it out"

"Alright then"

Later, the three of them went downstairs. Ryu thought of taking a job to see further on how Alice performed, and he also was quite bored after not taking a job for a while, so he immediately turned to the job board and browsed.

It only took a minute until something caught his interest.

"Carne Village?"

Of course Ryu remembered the name of the first human village he had visited upon coming to this planet. Moreover, he just recently met the girl from that particular village, so this job was probably requested by her.

"Serpent of The West, and Giant of The East... Looks like a serious matter. But..."

One weird thing about the note was that there was no ranking at all on it. On top of that, the note paper as a whole seemed to be a plain piece of paper with informal written message, unlike other job notes which had a guild header and a guild stamp on them, and also a definite writing format.

Ryu took the note and went to the receptionist staff.

"I want to know the deal about this note"

"Ah, about that... It is a special case. The requester didn't actually make the request. She just reported a situation in her village and notifying that she might make a request in the future for that"

"I see. It's just a little strange for me since I have never seen this kind of job note"

"Uh, you see, we normally wouldn't do this. But the requester is a friend of Momon, so we thought..."

"Alright then. I will go there and take a look"

The staff member couldn't hide her surprise hearing what Ryu had just said.

"M-May I ask why?"

"I have acquaintances at Carne Village, and I haven't seen them for a while so might as well pay them a visit"

"Oh, alright"

Soon, after some preparations, the three of them left the city of E-Rantel and walked towards Carne Village. Ryu knew the route since he and Lily had walked from the village to the city once before. Since it was still rather early, Ryu predicted that they would arrive by sunset if they walked at good pace.

"Hey, Ryu-san"

"Yes, Liz?"

"Is this the way your team works? You deciding which job to take without asking?"

Alice's question struck Ryu like a lightning bolt. She actually had a point, since normally a team leader would listen to the opinions of his members despite having the authority to decide the course of action of the team. He had been deciding everything himself because Lily, being technically his slave, would always agree to whatever he said. He had gotten too used to that.

Now that there was someone else in the team, with her own free will, it was probably a good time to change. But first, he had to reply to Alice.

"Actually, yes. It has been like this. But you can always voice your opinion"

"Hmm..."

"That applies to you too, Lily"

"Eh? But I only follow anything you decide, Ryu-san! My opinion is not needed!"

Ryu stopped his walk, faced Lily, and put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Lily, that's not true. You should not restrain yourself from speaking out your mind. We are partners, so if you feel that I have made a bad decision you should point that out, and if you have a good idea you should tell me"

Lily was speechless for a few seconds.

"...A-Alright, Ryu-san"

The three of them then resumed their walk.

"I think I can guess why your team has been working that way"

Ryu and Lily didn't reply, though a feeling of guilt creeped up inside Lily's mind. Nobody noticed it, though.

The rest of the trip to Carne Village was uneventful and, as Ryu had predicted, their destination was within sight by dusk. However, he noticed something different about the village from the last time he had been there.

"Fortification?"

The village now was fortified with a stone wall surrounding the perimeter, and the wall was too sophisticated for simple villagers like them to build. Ryu had never heard any news about this village ever since his first visit back then, so he had no idea how they had managed to build such wall.

"Too costly to build for such a small village. Something is fishy"

"Hmm..."

Ryu pondered about what to do, but before he could even begin thinking, Alice spoke out.

"I will go ahead and recon"

[Camouflage]

After casting the spell, Alice became half-transparent. From a distance it would be difficult to notice her presence.

"Wait here until I return"

"Be careful"

Ryu and Lily waited by sitting under a nearby tree. The sunset view was quite beautiful thanks to their position being a high ground, and therefore there was nearly nothing obstructing their sight to the distant mountain where the sun was descending from view.

They didn't enjoy the view for long, though.

"Enjoying the view?"

Alice was already next to them all of a sudden. She then dispelled the camouflage spell.

"What did you find?"

"I used a detection spell when I got close enough, and I sensed a group of goblins hiding in the bushes near the front gate"

"Probably guards, but that means the village had been occupied by them"

"I also sensed a few more behind the walls, but something was strange"

"What is strange?"

"The villagers seemed to be living normally along with the goblins"

"That is strange indeed... Oh I see"

"What is it? Did you remember something"

"Yeah. Let's just walk there normally. I will explain as we walk"

The three of them began walking towards the front gate of Carne Village. While walking, Ryu gave a brief explanation on how the village had been attacked by unknown knights but saved by a powerful magic caster, who later had given one of the villagers two copies of a magic item which would summon goblin allies.

"That kind of magic item is probably within National Treasure realm. Giving such item nonchalantly... who is this magic caster?"

"His name is Ainz Ooal Gown"

"I have never heard of that name"

Lily, without the other two noticing, smiled with pride and astonishment hearing the noble deed her father had done.

Once the group was close enough to the front gate, like expected, the goblins who had been hiding in the bushes came out with their hands ready to draw out their weapons anytime.

"Please state your intentions for coming here"

One of the goblins standing near the gate spoke. He sounded stiff and cautious.

"We saw a note on Adventurer's Guild about a situation here, and we are here to take a look"

The goblin whispered something to another goblin next to him, and that other goblin went to the gate, opened it slightly, and disappeared from sight.

"We apologize for the rather rude treatment. This village had been attacked in the past, so we are staying on guard"

"I know. I was here and I saw the aftermath"

The goblin looked surprised hearing Ryu's reply, but before he could inquire on that, the gate opened wide and the goblin who had went inside came out along with a girl Ryu knew; Enri Emmot. She looked quite delighted seeing Ryu.

"Ryu-dono!"

"It's nice to meet you again, Enri-san"

Enri immediately gave a sign to the goblins to let Ryu's group in. Once they entered all of them walked together to the village with a small conversation going right after Ryu introduced Lily and Alice to Enri.

"We met just yesterday, but I haven't asked. How are you doing, Ryu-dono?"

"I'm doing fine. I became an adventurer at E-Rantel and now I'm Orichalcum Rank"

"I actually don't know much about the ranks, but I suppose it is a high rank?"

Alice was the one to answer.

"It is the second highest rank. This guy is so powerful the guild let him skip ranks"

"Uhh, Liz..."

Ryu felt embarrassed. He didn't want to flaunt his combat capability despite what she had said being true. He was simply just a person who had been stranded in a place with very low standards.

"Really? That's wonderful! As expected of a friend of Ainz-sama!"

Enri said that in excitement. On the other hand, Alice seemed to be indifferent.

"Friend?"

"Ah yes, I haven't said that a few days before the incident in this village I met Ainz by chance and we walked together for a while. Not long after that day we separated and went our own ways, but it is still right to say that we are friends"

"Alright then.."

Enri lead the group into one of the vacant houses which used to be inhabited by those who were slain during the invasion. This particular house was just as ordinary looking as any other houses nearby.

"This one is regularly cleaned up in case of visitors. Please make yourselves at home"

"Thank you, Enri-san"

"If you need it, I can make dinner for you now"

"Thanks, but for tonight we still have our rations"

Ryu looked at Alice and Lily, and the two of them nodded.

"Is there something else you need, then?"

"Hmm..."

Ryu wanted to ask about the details of the situation, but the sky was already getting dark so he decided to save it for later.

"It's getting dark so let's save it for tomorrow"

"Alright then. Good night, everyone!"

"See you tomorrow, Enri-san"

"Uh-huh. See you"

"Good night, Enri-san!"

Enri then left the house. The three of them then put down their luggage on the floor and took out their ration, and then they sat down on chairs facing a table and began eating. Alice conjured a wisp of light to illuminate the room.

"Ryu-san"

"Hmm?"

"If you don't mind, would you tell me the story between you and this village?"

"Me too, Ryu-san! It happened before you had me, right?"

"Well, I don't mind"

Ryu then began telling Alice and Lily about the events which had happened at the village, though he omitted everything about Albedo and Nazarick. He made it so that it sounded like they had met by chance and walked together for a while, just like how he had been telling it to anyone else.

"So, after you separated with him, how did you meet Lily?"

Ryu was never prepared for that question, so he naturally had a mini heart attack inside his mind. His brain went into overdrive thinking what to say.

Too bad that Alice picked that up.

"You're trying to hide something from me"

Ryu was just speechless in surprise. He kept forgetting that Alice was really good at reading other people, and now he had to face the consequence.

"Not just this matter. Your story about this village, while not a lie, was not fully everything"

A feeling of guilt creeped up in Ryu's mind. Not even a day has passed since Alice joined his team and he had already made her feel her trust betrayed. He began to think that it had been a mistake to add a local resident into the team.

"I want to lecture you about trust, but I could sense your feeling of guilt, so I suppose you have a reason for hiding things"

There was a silence for about ten seconds. Alice, still being indifferent, folded her arms on the table and spoke again. Her face was like her usual sleepyhead face, but the atmosphere around her was heavy.

"Is it still possible for you to tell me the reason? Or is it something that will kill me if I know?"

"Well... I don't think you will die, but..."

Alice waited without changing her expression.

"You might point your weapon at me if you know"

"I won't do that, unless the attack was your own scheme, which I don't think so. Moreover, you're much stronger than me so doing that is pointless"

Another silence for ten seconds.

"You still hesitate to tell me anything. Alright then, I will make a guess"

Alice leaned to her chair and looked at Lily, who had been bowing her head and staying silent. She then looked at Ryu again.

"Back in your story, the end of it sounded weird. It was already dark and yet you and him just walked away. Don't you, at least yourself, need sleep and shelter for the night? I admit this is logic jumping, but I'm guessing that Ainz has a home somewhere and the two you arrived and left with teleportation spell"

Ryu stayed silent. He already resigned to the fact that there was no use trying to deny. The combined facts that Alice was good at reading people, and Ryu was an easy to read person, totally worked to his disadvantage.

"The way Lily has been behaving and talking, or the lack of it, and also seemingly always agree to anything you say despite not having been together for long, I'm guessing that she is not your partner but your slave"

She was pretty much correct in a sense.

"From your lack of reaction it seems I'm right on both accounts. Lastly, the timing of you separating with Ainz and meeting Lily seemed to be too convenient. I'm gonna make a guess that Ainz either created or summoned Lily, and gave her to you for whatever reason"

"Alright, alright. You got me good. Everything you said was pretty much correct"

Alice smiled a bit.

"No need to worry, Ryu-san. I understand"

The moment Alice said that, the heavy atmosphere around her seemed to disappear. Her face expression stayed pretty much the same, but her eyes radiated a feeling of warm sympathy.

"Understand what?"

"Slavery is forbidden in this kingdom, so you will be in trouble if they find out you have one. I understand that, so your secret is safe with me"

Alice was wrong on the last point. The main thing Ryu wanted to hide from her was the fact that Ainz was an undead. But Ryu felt that this could work so he decided to go with it.

"While it's technically true, Lily is our partner. She is equal to us, and I expect you to treat her so"

"You don't need to tell me that. From the first time I met you I knew that you're a good person"

"Then why the intense interrogation?"

"I was just teasing you"

Alice did a small giggle while Ryu facepalmed with a sigh, followed by a small laugh. Lily also laughed a little while shaking her head in resignation.

"Well, now that you know, I will just tell you that both Lily and me consider Ainz as her father"

"Wow, really? Does he know?"

"Well... he did once said that Lily was one of his children"

Ryu looked at Lily. He didn't know anything further than that, but since Lily had once spent some time in Nazarick without him something might had happened during that time.

"I call him Papa!"

Lily grinned saying that. Ryu got a little surprised hearing it.

Did Ainz really let her call him that? Alright, confirmed, I lost.

The three of them continued their chat for a while, and then they all went to sleep.

They all later woke up in the morning, but what woke them up was not the peaceful morning sun.

It was the loud tolling of the village's bell.

"What's happening out there?"

Ryu said that as he stood up from bed and instantly changed from his sleepwear into his battle suit.

"I will look. You two get ready"

He knew that both Lily and Alice needed some time to gear up unlike him, so he took the initiative to go out and assess the situation.

When Ryu got out from the house, he saw that the sky was already fairly bright so there should be no problem for visibility in case a battle would really happen. Without further pondering, he ran towards the bell tower, where one of the goblin guard was frantically tolling it over and over again.

"Hey, what's happening?!"

Ryu shouted to the goblin. He needed to know the situation.

"Monsters coming to the front gate!"

"What monsters?!"

"I don't know! I have never seen anything like those!"

Hearing that, Ryu immediately rushed to the watch tower near the front gate. Once he was there, he climbed the ladder quickly to see the monsters for himself.

"Oh, no..."

What he saw beyond the walls confirmed the worst fear which had been creeping inside his mind since the recent days.

The monsters coming towards the front gate were a swarm of Darkers.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

It has been confirmed already since the last chapter, but indeed the monsters Ryu and his fellow soldiers regularly fight have joined the fray of Overlord verse.

The following chapter is already in the works, so you won't be left hanging for too long. Hopefully.