Hi, all! Author here again.
Thank you for all those who have been following so far. Without me knowing it, this fic has already covered a total of five volumes (1 to 4, and 8) and I still plan to continue. Your comments so far are appreciated.
I have recently noticed that you can't highlight and copy-paste the text in the story section, so I have put the links to the gallery in my bio page. This should make it easier if you want to take a look.
Without further ado, here's the next one. See you again in the afterword.
[X][X][X]
It was a fine day over the border checkpoint which separated the territory of Re-Estize Kingdom and Baharuth Empire. The checkpoint building was a large fort with open land in its center and two main gates on its opposite sides. Within the walls of the fort there was enough land for parking at least five carts or wagons. Despite the availability of space, not many went through the checkpoint on daily basis. The officers stationed here often yawned in boredom.
Despite being officially recognized as a border checkpoint by both the Kingdom and the Empire, in practice it was not much more than a decoration placed along the road. The officers there were all from the Empire since the Kingdom didn't seem to care about people crossing into their territory. They were only assigned to check for and confiscate any illegal stuffs, but nobody with half a brain would go through the main road for transporting illegal stuff, unless they have strong political connections, impressive concealment method, or some other underhanded means. Those with none of the means would just take a detour away from the fort. Even with the authority's best efforts, they wouldn't be able to keep watch over the entire border all the time. So it was a given that things would get smuggled anyway. Especially the Black Dust drug from the Kingdom which has been spreading their influence on the people.
From time to time, merchant wagons, either a single wagon or a group of them, went through the checkpoint. Despite both countries being at warring state to each other, trades that were not of large scale were never hindered. This was mainly because the actual battle between the country only occured on an annual basis instead of year-round sustained conflict. Therefore, outside the battle period, any international trades between private individuals, guilds, and merchants still happened.
Some other times, adventurers also went through. Since both the Kingdom and the Empire had their own Adventurer's Guild, crossing the border was rarely needed to complete a job. But sometimes it still happened. For example, they might be hired to escort a merchant, or they might be taking a delivery job. In whichever case, the officers here would usually let them pass easily for a few reasons. One, adventurers were unrelated to political affairs, so the warring state was irrelevant. Two, most of them, if not all, were high-ranked adventurers who were much stronger than the knights stationed here, so getting on their bad side would never be worth it. One general guideline adopted by the guards was to take a look at their outfit. The weirder they look, the stronger they were likely to be, and therefore the easier the guards would let them pass.
One guard standing at the Kingdom side of the gate yawned for the 12th time since the beginning of his shift. He was armed and armored with the Empire's standard equipment. His job was to pay attention on anyone trying to pass through the gate and alert the officers inside if he found something suspicious. However, the lack of people passing through meant that his job was pretty much the same as to stand there all day doing nothing. He was so bored he counted the amount of times he had yawned.
"Aaahh... That's the 13th"
"Bored to death again, Dale?"
The other guard standing across the gate mouth spoke to the bored guard. Despite their distance being normally too far to talk without shouting, their surroundings were so quiet they only need to raise their volume a bit.
"Isn't that obvious, Niven?"
"Yeah, can't be helped. But if we're bored that means we're doing our job well"
"I see what you mean. It's not like they will cut our pay if nothing happens"
"We get paid for just standing here. There's nothing better than- Hey"
"What?"
"There's someone coming"
"Oh, finally something different happening"
[X][X][X]
"Are you all right, Rose?"
"Oh yeah, I'm totally fine, my dear Meru"
Rose's reply was spoken in an obviously sarcastic tone anyone would easily recognize. In truth, she was not so fine. She swayed as she walked, and she felt like she could faint anytime.
There had been no tough battle ever since she had separated from Ryu. She was not injured at all, so physical injury was not the cause of her bad condition. The real cause was actually simple.
She was starving.
She had not eaten anything for quite a while. The last thing she had eaten was the plain grilled fish from the lizardman tribe right before her battle with Cocytus, and that meant she had not been eating for more than 24 hours.
She had been trying to sustain herself with the liquid ration which was issued to all ARKS operatives before going on a mission. However, those liquid rations, namely Mate Drinks, were not made for that. They were medicinal photon drink, the main use of which was to instantly heal the drinker from physical injury. If the one drinking it was not injured, it would be the same as drinking plain water.
Normally, any ARKS operative could put down a teleporter to teleport back to their Gate Ship, which then would take them back to the ARKS spaceship. Thanks to the feature, none of the operatives ever considered bringing sustenance rations, or in simpler terms, food and drink rations. And now she was paying the price of that mindset.
In addition to that, she barely had any sleep last night. She had been following the dirt road but she had never seen any village or such, and she was not comfortable with camping out in the wilderness. She also had not seen any fellow travelers along the road. She had no idea whether she had been very unlucky or this road was one of those roads rarely used by people.
"I... I think we should go back to Ryu"
"And then what? Work with that evil overlord like him? Fat chance!"
"But I don't think..."
"You're too soft, Meru. That skeleton had no remorse having that many people killed. Who's to say he won't do any more mass killing in the future?"
"..."
"And who's to say that Ryu was not mind-controlled or something similar, probably through that girl?"
"Rose..."
"I will find the Gate Ship myself, go back home, and forget this planet ever existed"
Despite what she had just said, Rose was fully aware that the last point was impossible. ARKS had a secondary purpose of seeking possible peaceful colonization of habitable planets, and this planet met that condition. Eventually this planet would be on the list and she would be here again for future missions.
Nevertheless, right now she had to somehow find something to eat, or she would become too hungry to fight if she wasn't already.
"Hmm?"
She noticed a building at a distance. It seemed to be a fort situated between two hills. The road she was walking on would lead her straight to the front gate of that fort.
"Finally a settlement"
The sight of civilization had reinvigorated her. She hoped she would be able to get some food within that fort. Just in case she had to pay, she materialized a few silver and gold coins from her photon inventory and put them into one inner pocket of her parka.
When she got close, one of the two soldiers guarding the gate approached her.
"This is the border between Re-Estize Kingdom and Baharuth Empire. Are you intending to cross?"
"Rather than that, I want to ask for a favor"
Rose tried to behave as civilized as she could. Thanks to the existence of the mentioned secondary purpose of ARKS, she had been taught the basics of interacting with new people. Still, she still remained on her natural personality so she wouldn't sound faked.
"What favor?"
"I... haven't eaten anything since yesterday. Is there any food I can have? I can pay if needed"
The guard seemed a little surprised hearing that. He looked at the other guard, and that guard approached.
"What's the matter?"
"She said she has not eaten anything since yesterday. Do you think you can...?"
The other guard then took a small pouch which had been strapped to his waist on the left side, and gave it to the first guard, who then gave it to Rose.
"This is not much, but you can have this. Rest yourself on that rock"
The guard pointed at a nearby rock which was just tall enough to be used as a natural chair. Rose bowed in thanks and went to sit on the rock. She opened the pouch and saw that it contained only a small bread with a slice of dried meat. Not even close to quench her hunger, but still better than nothing. There was also a small leather water jug inside the pouch.
Rose ate and drank them all within three minutes, and then she returned to the gate.
"Thank you for the food and water. How much is it?"
Rose said that as she returned the pouch to the original owner.
"No need"
The other guard continued for him.
"He stole them from the kitchen this morning. He will be in trouble if he get money from that and the ones upstairs find out"
He laughed a little saying that.
"So, can I buy more of the food?"
"Unfortunately no. Every food here is heavily regulated for working staffs. Sorry about that"
"Oh..."
"Now then, are you going to cross the border?"
Rose had never expected that she was this close to a country border. All she wanted was to get as far away as possible before that evil overlord did something crazy.
"Yes, I think so"
"Then walk straight and enter the duty station over there. A staff will assist you"
Rose then walked towards the duty station pointed by the guard. Surprisingly, she didn't get questioned heavily like she had been expecting. They only asked for her name and the purpose of her visit, and then after the assigned staff wrote a few things on paper, she was allowed to proceed. On a few occasions before she left the fort, she could hear some whispers between the staffs, but she couldn't make anything out other than one word; Adventurer.
They probably thought that I am an adventurer. Oh well, whatever.
Rose walked for quite a while, still following the dirt road. She was a little better thanks to the food from the guard, but she was still starving and the fact that she was sleep deprived had not changed.
"Rose"
"What?"
"Let me switch with you. Go sleep inside"
"Does it even work like that? It's still the same body we're sharing, you know"
"At least let me try"
Rose looked around to make sure nobody else was around, and then she let out a little sigh.
"Alright, though I don't know if we will actually switch"
Rose and Meru mentally agreed to switch, and a second later they switched. The most obvious sign was the outfit instantly changing from what Rose wore into what Meru wore.
"Well, that was surprisingly easy this time"
"Rest well, Rose. I will continue walking"
"Alright, doesn't hurt to try. Don't screw up while I am sleeping"
Meru nodded in determination.
***Gilligan Cut***
"You really screwed up while I was sleeping!?"
Rose couldn't imagine what kind of goof up Meru had done during Rose's mental slumber. All she knew was that when she woke up she couldn't see anything outside. Meru, in deep regret, had mentally told her that now she was tied up, gagged, and blindfolded inside a moving wagon.
"What the friggin hell happened!?"
"I-I just asked for directions. They offered me a ride"
"And then?"
"W-When I was about to climb into their wagon, one of them suddenly grabbed me"
"And you didn't fight back?"
"But... If I fought back... They would die..."
Rose mentally facepalmed. Meru was just too soft to a fault. She really wondered where Meru had gotten the determination to kill that humanoid insect creature back then from.
"Use your common sense, my dear Meru! Those people are definitely criminals! They are worthless human beings!"
"But..."
"Ah, nevermind. You're hopeless"
"Sorry..."
"But there's a silver lining here"
"What...?"
"They are most likely transporting us to either a city or their home base. In either case, we can make use of it"
"Uhh...?"
"We obviously can't switch or they will notice. Just enjoy the ride in the meantime"
"But it's uncomfortable..."
"It's your fault that we are in this situation to begin with. Consider that your punishment"
"Oh... Alright then..."
"Really, Meru. You're hopeless"
"Sorry..."
[X][X][X]
"So, Ryu, what can you tell me about those monsters?"
Ainz was personally interrogating Ryu inside the throne room of Fake Nazarick. Other than the two of them, there was only Aura keeping watch over the surroundings. She was standing by outside, and just in case, Ainz covered the throne room with protective spells so nobody would hear their conversation. Both of them were standing in the middle of the room, facing each other.
"Do not worry about your story sounding like it doesn't make sense. I have a reason I don't want to disclose, but I fully believe you about space travel and all that, because I know it can be done"
Ainz knew that he had to reassure Ryu, since he had erased the memories of himself actually coming from a modern civilization from Ryu's head. Ryu might still had his doubts since the level of civilization in this world, including Nazarick, would normally have a hard time accepting info about space travel.
I guess I'm the only one in this world who would take him seriously. And possibly other players if there are any out there.
"They were indeed Darkers. The monsters ARKS regularly fight"
"Any idea about how they found their way here?"
"Unfortunately no"
"Now that they are here in this world, ARKS will come too, won't they?"
"They should, but there is no telling when"
"What would you do in the meantime?"
"I'm not really sure. Usually we have people in charge for spreading awareness to the local inhabitants, but right now there's nobody to do that job and the locals here are-"
"I fully understand that. Right now it's very likely that I am the only one in this world who will take you seriously. Moreover, you will likely become a target of blame if you try to spread it now"
"I'm fully aware of that, which is why I don't know what I should do now"
Ryu folded his arms and let out a sigh. Ainz knew very well that when faced with a grave problem, what humanity wanted was not a solution. Solution was what they needed, but what they really wanted was someone to blame, just to make themselves feel better. His previous life had taught him that multiple times.
As of right now, Ryu was the only one who could be related to the presence of the new monsters. According to a recent short verbal report from the Kashin Koji spy through Message, Ainz could conclude that Darkers were attracted to ARKS, so putting him to blame would actually be not far off the mark. However, he could sense that there were more things than just those.
I think the most crucial info I must get now is how to properly exterminate the Darkers.
"Let's put that aside. For now I want you to tell me in more detail about the correct way to exterminate the monsters"
"It's actually simple. Photon attacks"
"Are you telling me that only ARKS soldiers like you and Mel Rose can properly exterminate them?"
"Unfortunately, yes"
"Is their body disintegrating the absolute sure sign that they have been killed with the correct method?"
"Yes"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes. Why are you asking that?"
Ainz went into deep thought again. He was wondering if he should tell Ryu that he had once killed a bunch of Darkers which then disintegrated.
In the end, he decided to tell the truth, since it was a fact that those monsters were invading this world and he believed that it would be a grave problem for everyone including Nazarick, so all info must be circulated to both sides.
"Two days ago, I encountered a bunch of those monsters. The same ones as those you fought at the gate. After I killed them, their body disintegrated"
Ainz could clearly see that Ryu was surprised hearing that.
"What? How is that possible? What did you use to kill them?"
"Lightning magic. But as you know, the one I recently killed didn't disintegrate"
"True. What did you use on that one?"
"It was a spell that causes instant death by crushing the heart"
Ryu bowed his head with his arms still folded. It was clear that he was trying to process the information Ainz had just told him about.
"Information is lacking, but from the limited info I can make a guess"
"Speak it out then"
"Photon attacks and this world's magic might be not so different after all"
"An interesting conclusion"
In his mind, Ainz more or less agreed with Ryu. As far as he had seen, Ryu's techs were in essence the same as arcane elemental spells. Both of them were, to put it simply, manipulation of energy into destructive projection. If they were essentially the same like that, then he might be able to learn to cast Ryu's techs. The sign of potential new things to learn excited his mind, but he kept himself calm because they were discussing a serious matter.
"So, Ryu. Does that mean a physical attacker ARKS like Rose would be the same as using an enchanted weapon for this world's combatants?"
"Maybe, but since there is still no evidence on that matter, I can't say for sure"
"Indeed. Speaking of which, do you know where she is? An extra hand will always be useful"
"My communication device couldn't pick her up since last night"
Ainz considered the option of searching for her, but he quickly came into conclusion that spending manpower and resources to search for a loose cannon that might not cooperate would never be worth it.
"Is it broken or such?"
"It should be still working fine, but I will check. Give me a min"
Ryu then turned his body to the left, and within seconds a bunch of holographic interface panels appeared in front of him.
What the...!? Am I seeing a real life version of game UI? Uohhh, fascinating!
Of course the contents of the panels were not YGGDRASIL stuffs, but Ainz was pretty much the same as seeing another player opening their interface menu, which he could never do ever since he had come to this world. Seeing what Ryu was doing piqued his interest on how much the technology of ARKS had advanced compared to Earth technology he remembered.
"Ah, so that's it"
Ryu said that, and then he immediately closed all the interface panels.
"What did you find?"
"It is in safe mode, which has very limited range"
"Can you reactivate it?"
"Let me try"
Ryu then raised his left hand to reach his left ear. His hand seemed to give out a blue glow for a moment, and soon the area around his left ear followed. However, it was soon followed by electricity waves and suddenly...
BOOM!
An explosion occured at his head.
What?!
"Ryu. Are you alright?"
Ainz heard some coughing behind the smokes produced by the explosion. It was at least a good sign that Ryu was fine. Ainz himself then gave out a green glow, which he remembered as the area healing spell Ryu was capable of casting.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My photon armor protected me from fatal injury and I have healed myself. The bad news is, now my communication device is completely broken"
"So inconvenient"
"So, Ainz-dono. Do you have any suggestions about what we should do?"
How about telling those ARKS to hurry up and come? My hands are full already!
Ainz wanted to say that, but he knew that Ryu was currently unable to make any contact, and the matter at hand was too much for Ryu alone. There was no choice but to get involved.
First there was gathering information, then fortify defense, then find out the culprit of Shalltear's brainwashing and exact retribution, all while ensuring the survival of Nazarick. Those are already overwhelming for me, and yet now there's an alien invasion. My head hurts...
"I will discuss this with my guardians soon. In the meantime, I'm going assign more guards around Carne Village"
"Thank you for the consideration"
"Also, take these"
Ainz took out two Flight Necklace from his inventory and gave them to Ryu.
"With the recent events unfolding, you may need to move around quickly"
"Uhh... two?"
"Isn't it obvious? One for you, and one for Lily. Your new member can cast Fly herself, can't she?"
"So you know already. As expected of you, Ainz-dono. You have ears everywhere"
Ah crap. I slipped again.
Despite the slip up, Ainz actually felt a little relieved that Ryu was impressed instead of becoming skeptical after hearing it.
"You can't be too careful in an unknown world. Uhh, tell you what, here's another"
Ainz procured another Flight Necklace and gave it to Ryu.
"This should help her conserve mana"
"Woah, thank you, Ainz-dono"
"Don't feel indebted for this. I'm merely supplying you with more tools to fight against the pressing matter. You still owe me nothing"
Despite what he said, Ainz knew that Ryu would feel indebted anyway, judging from his personality. At least saying those would very likely put himself in a better light in Ryu's mind.
"Thank you. This will definitely help"
"Speaking of conserving mana, please do me a favor and tell your new member to lower her use of metamagic"
"Metamagic?"
"Most magic in this world can be amplified with metamagic prefixes. For example, Twin metamagic makes a Magic Arrow spell creates two projectiles at once. There are various metamagic prefixes, and a spell can be enhanced with up to two different metamagic"
"Oh, sounds interesting"
"But the thing is, applying metamagic enhancements spikes up the mana cost with bad efficiency. Like in my example before, it is cheaper to cast Magic Arrow twice than using Twin metamagic"
"So it's value is for quick burst damage"
"Indeed. I saw her using Triplet Maximize enhancement twice in a row, and the second one was on Fireball, an already expensive spell for this world's magic caster. And as expected, her mana ran dry quickly"
"I see. Thank you for the advice. I will make sure to tell her"
"You better. As a magic caster it pains me to see another caster performing inefficiently"
Ainz began walking towards the door, signaling Ryu to follow.
"Let's go back to the village. There are still a few things to take care of"
"Alright"
Ainz and Ryu went back to Carne Village with [Gate] spell. Upon arrival, they were immediately crowded by villagers wanting to express their gratitude. Ainz tried his best not to ignore their good will, but his mind was completely elsewhere.
I wonder where Mel Rose is right now. While I don't think it is worth spending manpower and resources looking for her, I would still be happy to have another ARKS fighting the Darkers.
[X][X][X]
"There you go. All still alive"
"Thank you, Rose"
Rose had just wrought havoc on the underground confinement center where victims of human trafficking were usually kept before they got sold. There had been quite a number of shady men guarding the place, but Rose incapacitated them by smacking them all with the scabbard of her katana.
"Really, don't ever ask me to do this again"
What Rose had just done was not an easy feat because no Photon Art covered that kind of combat maneuver, so she had to come up with it herself. In addition, she had to suppress her photon energy or otherwise all of the bad guys would get killed anyway from the blunt force.
Rose did a bit of stretching after felling the last man. The trip had lasted longer than she expected, spanning over two nights. Her body felt sore in several parts because she, as Meru, had spent most of the trip sitting down while tied up, being untied only during meals. She still could see the aching rope marks on her knees.
However, while uncomfortable, the trip provided her with sufficient sleep and food. Right now, putting aside the soreness, she was in her prime condition. In addition, she had heard that this underground facility was located within a city, so thanks to the bad guys she finally arrived at a civilization.
"Let's free the others"
After making sure that all the bad guys were incapacitated, Rose went down back to the prison cell where the kidnapped girls, including herself ten minutes earlier, were held. All four of the other girls were standing still, looking astonished and afraid.
"I have knocked out the bad guys. Now scram"
All of them, still looking afraid, slowly walked towards the barred door where Rose was standing. However, one of them suddenly pointed her fingers and screamed.
"Behind you!"
Rose quickly looked behind her. One of the bad guys she had knocked out had gotten back up and now he was slashing at Rose with his sword. By the time Rose realized this, the slash was already midway and it was impossible to evade. Out of reflex, she raised her scabbard to block the attack, and it succeeded.
However...
Oh crap
As part of the photon alignment set up within her katana, a successful last second blocking would be followed by a counter slash. Immediately, Rose's hand moved by itself to unsheathe the katana, and then she did a single slash to the guy.
As the result, the guy was split in two with a diagonal line from his right belly to left armpit. The left arm was also cut off near the shoulders.
A great amount of blood spurted over Rose's face and clothes, and a pool of blood was created on the floor.
"EEEEEK!"
All the girls behind Rose screamed in horror at what they have just seen. Rose stepped aside from the door, and looked at the girls with straight face.
"Just scram"
Without any words, all the girls ran away screaming. After being left alone, Rose dropped down to a crouch and reached her face with her hand. A blue glow appeared around her hand, and all the blood stains disappeared from her body.
"Guess I screwed up"
"Can't be helped"
"Let's just get out of here"
Rose then put her katana back into her photon inventory and walked out from the confinement facility to the shady alleyway outside. After a bit more walking, she finally arrived at the busy part of the town.
It was still not too far from morning, and there were many people walking in the area doing their own business. She could notice some merchant stands and people bargaining, and also a few guards in uniform patrolling around. This was the first time she saw old fashioned human civilization, so it was natural that she got astonished.
"Well, well, look at that. Amazing isn't it?"
"I have never seen anything like this"
"Of course you haven't. Anyway..."
Rose looked around and pondered with her arms folded.
"Where should I go from here...?"
[X][X][X]
Afterword:
Like I once said, since volume 5 is mainly about an internal conflict happening at a distant place, most canon events during that time will be offscreen with some mentions to keep track of the timeline. Though my timeline management is not so good, so timeline clash might still happen.
Q And A:
Q: Has Ryu ever tried to learn magic or martial arts?
A: Not yet. Maybe he will someday.
See you later
