Hi again, all.
Nothing to say today. See you in the afterword.
[X][X][X]
Hekkeran's group was a little late to arrive at the courtyard of Count Femel, their client of this job. To be exact, they were still in time for the specified gathering time but his team was the last to arrive. As the result, they had to endure the most amount of gazes from those who had been already there. It was a little unsettling, especially since there were still not many other Workers who knew that his team had two extra members, so it was natural that every people there stared quite intensely to both Sheep and Rose in particular. Their outfits being quite unusual for the standards didn't help either.
"As expected, everybody is staring at us"
There was still a good distance between the team and the other Workers, so Hekkeran's words should not have been heard by anyone outside the team.
"Well yeah, especially to these two"
Imina spoke her mind and looked at both Rose and Sheep before continuing.
"Hide behind Rober if you can't stand it"
Sheep shook her head hearing Imina's offer.
"I'm already used to this"
On the other hand, Rose took the offer and moved herself behind Roberdyck, who just smiled with determination.
"Don't worry, Rose. Nobody will lay a hand on you. Not in my watch"
Roberdyck's reassurance seemed to work to calm Rose down. Hekkeran had no idea whether her behaviour was genuine or she acted like that on purpose to make the other Workers underestimate her, but in either case the team would be a little looked down upon as the result. Logically, why would a Worker team bring along such a shy little girl in this important job?
Hekkeran didn't care much, though. This job would be the team's last job before retirement, so their reputation no longer mattered as long as they didn't end up doing something which was considered a severe crime.
"I'm going to greet the leaders over there"
Hekkeran said that while looking at the group of three people. Imina immediately noticed one man among the three and reacted.
"Urgh, that guy is here too? Seriously? That son of a bi-"
Imina cut her muttering short and glanced at Rose, who was still hiding behind Roberdyck. Hekkeran could understand Imina's disgust, but he believed that a proper attitude still must be kept during a joint operation like this to maintain cooperation.
"I understand your feelings, but don't speak your thoughts out loud, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah"
Imina made an annoyed face as she replied to Hekkeran's words. Hekkeran then walked over to the three men while the rest of his team waited at a spot distanced from other teams. The first one to greet him as he approached was Gringham, the leader of Heavy Masher Team.
"As I expected, thou cam'st too, Hekkeran."
"Yes, Gringham. The terms weren't bad and there's also another, private reason"
"I see. Putting that aside... thou really had more members as the rumors say"
"Temporary members. Both of them will part ways after this"
Hekkeran had fully expected that some rumors had spread about Rose and Sheep, since there was no way he could keep their existence a secret for long. Though at this point it no longer mattered for him and also the rest of his team.
"Hoo, pity. I heard they are very strong despite their looks"
"Ha! I'm definitely still better than them both"
Another man, one of the two men Hekkeran had not greeted yet, suddenly cut in with an overwhelmingly confident tone. Hekkeran believed otherwise, but sparking a conflict at this moment would never be a good idea, so he just offered a handshake with a smile.
"I have heard stories about you, Erya Uzruth of Tenmu"
The man, Erya, smirked and took the offer.
"The same to you, Hekkeran of Foresight"
"I look forward to you displaying your great swordmanship in the ruins"
"Heh, leave that to me. I hope whatever resides in the ruins will be strong enough to provide me decent challenge!"
Erya proudly laughed as he was boasting. Hekkeran could easily guess that he would have to endure this kind of thing a little longer.
[X][X][X]
"You have a grudge with that guy, Imina?"
Sheep asked with a calm tone, though her face expressed a certain level of disgust as she glanced towards Erya. It was easy to put two-and-two together just by seeing the three women in rags whom Erya was approaching as he left Hekkeran and the two other men.
Imina just took a deep breath after looking at her comrades one by one. Rose was the last to receive Imina's glance.
"We better move a little, get that jerk off our sight"
Despite what Imina had said, the courtyard was not large enough to get any other Workers out of sight. Unless they leave the courtyard, Erya would be still within sight. Realizing this, Imina sighed.
"I guess our only choice is to wait and hope that jerk won't do anything that will trigger me"
The group then continued waiting idly for Hekkeran to come back, hoping that nothing would happen as Imina had wished. However, that wish soon just went down the drain.
SMACK!
"Eek-"
A sudden loud sound of flesh striking flesh was heard, followed by a held back scream of pain from a woman. The group, and seemingly everyone else in the courtyard as well, looked at the source of the sound and realized what had just happened. It was apparent that Erya had just punched one of his slaves for some reason.
Seeing the scene, Imina's face went blank. A feeling of rage quickly built up inside her mind. Having shared part of the same ancestry with the poor women, she had a strong urge to do something, anything to help them. But she knew that there was nothing she could do that wouldn't compromise the team. She had no choice other than turn her back and pretend she had not seen it.
SCHWING!
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, a flash of light passed near her straight to Erya's head. Within an instant, the light passed in front of Erya's face, narrowly missing him, and struck the dirt ground a stone's throw distance from Erya.
Imina knew very well what the light was, and who could have done that. She looked at Sheep with grim expression, and she saw Sheep holding her demonic bow up with a blank expression on her face.
"Oops, my hand slipped"
Erya's body froze, his head looking alternatively between Sheep and the hole created by her shot. It took his head about five round-trips until Erya finally did something different.
"W-WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!? YOU WANT TO KILL ME!?"
Erya angrily screamed as he made quick steps towards Imina's group. For a moment, Imina could notice the three elven slaves laughing a little as Erya left them behind.
Sheep's expression remained blank as she lowered her bow. Roberdyck quickly put Rose and Arche behind him in anticipation of the hell that would break loose soon. Imina stood next to Sheep, ready to defend her if needed.
As Erya, who was very clearly angry, came close to the group, Sheep just spoke with a flat tone.
"I was merely practicing my shots, but the sudden noise startled my aim"
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME! YOU CLEARLY SHOT ME!"
"Oh, I wish I have after seeing you did that. But I didn't, right?"
Sheep said those words while smirking, an expression which would agitate pretty much most people. Erya was unfortunately not an exception.
"THE F-"
Without continuing his words, Erya brandished his sword and slashed at Sheep.
CLANK!
Erya couldn't hide his surprise about what had just happened, and the same applied to everyone else in the group. Erya's strike had just been blocked by Rose using one of the short swords the team had bought for her quite a while ago. Seeing the aura around her, everyone in the team could guess that Rose had used the Martial Art [Impenetrable Fortress] to block the strike.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"
"I won't let you harm my friend"
Rose's answer was spoken in a calm and determined tone. The others in the group felt quite surprised and confused since it didn't sound like Rose, as if she had become a different person.
Before Erya could continue his aggression, suddenly someone shouted from a distance with a thundering voice.
"Erya Uzruth! Stop right there!"
Everybody, Erya included, looked at the one shouting. It was a short man covered in full plate armor whom everyone knew as Gringham, the leader of Heavy Masher Team. After shouting, Gringham quickly approached the group, with Hekkeran following right behind him.
"I have just been appointed as the overall leader, and I won't allow violence within the group as a whole"
Erya looked highly displeased upon hearing Gringham's words, but he sheathed his sword nevertheless. He then immediately pointed his finger to Sheep.
"Heh, tell that to her. She started it"
"How?"
"Didn't you see!? She shot me with her bow!"
"I don't see her having a bow"
"Are you blind!? It's right the-"
Erya startled, cutting his speech short upon looking back at Sheep. Her large bow was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's your bow!?"
Erya asked furiously, but Sheep's face remained straight and blank like before as she answered.
"I wonder..."
"DON'T MESS WITH ME-"
Erya, clearly enraged, approached Sheep. However, Hekkeran put himself between them, obstructing Erya.
"Hey there, we are in a very lucrative job now. You don't want to commit violence right in front of everyone here, right? It would be a pity if you do, and then everyone agrees to kick you out for being a liability and threat to the others"
Erya stopped his steps and looked as if he was about to explode from within. But then he let out a large, angry sigh and turned around.
"Tch! Fine! But I will remember this!"
Erya then walked away from the group. It took a few more seconds of silence until everyone there, except Sheep and Rose, let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew, glad he bought it"
Pretty much everyone in the team understood Hekkeran's relief. In actuality, even with every other team's agreement, Erya's team couldn't be kicked out since the authority only belonged to the client. However, even in the case he knew about the fact, he should have known that being considered a threat by all other teams would put him in a dangerous situation. After all, accidents could happen in the middle of the job.
"I suppose this matter is over then. I shall go back to my team"
"Thanks for your help, Gringham"
"None of the other teams like that guy to begin with anyway"
Gringham turned around as he said that, but before he began walking away he spoke again.
"Still, I must say that thou must be careful from now on"
Gringham then walked away without waiting for any reply. At this moment, Rose sheathed her sword and looked at Sheep.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but you really didn't have to do that. That scum wouldn't have hurt me anyway"
"That is exactly why I blocked the attack with a Martial Art"
Sheep was slightly startled hearing Rose's reply. She then seemed to be thinking for a moment and soon realized that what she had done could have caused a grave consequence. The Foresight member already knew that Sheep was overwhelmingly strong and wouldn't have taken any damage from Erya's attack, but she would have drawn suspicion from other Workers and risk blowing her cover since an enchantment with that level of protection was completely unheard of.
"Those adventurers branded me demon just because I didn't get wounded after one of them kicked me in the face. What would the others around here think if they saw you unharmed after taking a sword slash?"
Rose, coming from the same country as Sheep, would have taken no damage as well, but she used a Martial Art to picture herself as a young prodigy in close combat, which was outstanding but still within reason for the people around. Everyone in the team couldn't help getting impressed by her quick thinking which had saved them from a lot of complications.
There was another big question in the mind of Foresight Team: How had Rose changed from a shy, traumatized but recovering girl into a seemingly calm, confident, and quick-witted girl within a matter of minutes? Has she been faking her trauma, or perhaps the recent conflict was the one final push she had needed to break out of the trauma? There was a saying that a greenhorn was just one hard battle away from becoming a veteran, so maybe something similar had applied to her?
"Sheep... May I speak?"
Imina asked with hesitation, considering the conflict which had just happened.
"Speak away"
"I thank you for doing what I actually wished to do, that's a fact. Though unfortunately, like it or not, there are consequences we must bear now"
"Yeah, I know. It is clear from what that scum said"
Hekkeran then spoke to follow up with Imina.
"While I agree with Imina, I think our situation isn't that bad"
"Hmm? Care to explain, leader?"
Roberdyck didn't seem to fully understand Hekkeran's words, so Hekkeran began explaining.
"Erya is now holding a grudge against us, but what is he going to possibly do? If he does anything harmful to any of us during this job, the others will know and it will hurt his reputation. Well, maybe he could assassinate us inside the ruins and tell the others that some monsters did it, but with what just happened the others will still suspect him"
"As if the scum can do that anyway"
"Don't take him lightly, Sheep. He is probably much weaker than you or Rose, but he is more than just a match to any of us. One on one, he could beat any of us easily"
"Yeah, it's a pity such strength didn't come with character"
Arche added her opinion after Hekkeran, and the rest of the team nodded as a sign of agreeing.
"Anyway, all we have to do now is to keep our guards up especially in the ruins later. Despite what I said, he might actually try something strange there. If he does, well..."
Hekkeran made a little devious smile as he said the last part. The others noticed it and immediately understood that in that case, they could openly retaliate as self defense. With both Sheep and Rose present, defeating Erya would be just a walk in the park.
[X][X][X]
The ocean beyond the port city of Re-Lobell was relatively calm today. There were no storm clouds within sight, and the wind was merely a breeze. The creatures living there were doing what their nature dictated without any out-of-the-ordinary interference. In short, it was just a normal day.
Leaving the port of Re-Lobell was a group of military ships consisting of three medium-sized ships sailing in side-by-side formation followed by one large ship behind acting as the command ship. This was the first time this amount of naval force were mobilized after a very long time. In fact, the Admiral of the navy base didn't bother to wait for instructions or permissions from the central government to mobilize such force, which was a sign that a very serious and urgent matter was ongoing.
It had been the day before today when the scouts came bringing bad news. A number of merchant ships had been sunk by an unknown cause and there were no survivors. All that could be seen was a bunch of shipwreck pieces and floating dead bodies. Based on how the ships had been essentially shredded into pieces, a conclusion could be made that this had been the work of a large monster. Linking the event with the news about the Sea Dragon recently acting violent, pretty much anyone would say that the culprit was the Sea Dragon. Moreover, if the incidents were mapped and dated the locations gradually became closer to the city, signifying that the Sea Dragon was slowly advancing towards the city.
The Sea Dragon had been regarded as a benevolent deity who would protect respecting seafarers from harm, and it had been acting so before the recent events. Nobody could know how and why the Sea Dragon suddenly became violent to the point of outright sinking ships. This was a grave matter for everyone because the strength of the Sea Dragon was unfathomable, and it was very likely that the ships had sailed into a suicide mission.
The Admiral, looking out the window of his office, felt a great deal of guilt seeing those ships sailing away. He had given the orders to sortie, knowing that his men would be against a creature beyond their capabilities. However, it was a decision he had to make. While the battle would be ongoing out there, the remaining men on the land would commence an operation to evacuate the civilians away from the waters. The men he had sent to their deaths would serve to delay the Sea Dragon from reaching the city, even if for just a minute.
All hope was not lost, though.
It just so happened that the adventurers of the city had been assembled to investigate matters with the previous rumor of the Sea Dragon becoming randomly violent. Their mission had been changed to become helping hands in the evacuation operation, which should make the operation faster and smoother.
In addition, an Adamantite Rank team had volunteered to board the command ship and help in fighting the Sea Dragon. It was a rather new team which the Admiral had just heard about recently, unlike Blue Rose or Red Drop. However, Adamantite Rank adventurers were the pinnacle of humanity, the strongest defense against powerful monsters out there. This team was no exception to that, so he had entrusted the task of delaying the Sea Dragon to the team.
"Godspeed, Ignite Maximus... You are our beacon of hope"
[X][X][X]
"BLERGHH!"
"Hang in there, Lily"
"Liz, are you really sure there's no spell for this?"
"Even if there is, I haven't learned one"
Ryu was anxiously holding Lily still, massaging the nape of her neck as she puked out what she had eaten before into the ocean below. The soldiers nearby looked at her, not knowing if they should feel pity or something else.
"I... think I'm fine now..."
Ryu then slowly put Lily into a sitting position on the deck floor of the ship. She then immediately slouched, leaning to a nearby sack of supplies which happened to be just next to her.
"But... really... what is happening? My head feels spinning..."
Alice crouched near Lily, whose breath was quite heavy.
"Lily, you're having what is commonly said as seasickness"
"You mean... ugh... it's because I'm... on a ship?"
"Pretty much, yes"
Ryu had no idea what to do. He knew about seasickness but he had never had any, so he had never learned about how to overcome one. It would be bad if Lily was not on her prime condition during the battle later, but it was also bad for the team now since they were supposed to be revered Adamantite Rank adventurers. This rather unsightly scene would be a dent to their image which Ryu actually didn't really care, but it would also lower the morale of the soldiers around them, seeing their supposed guardian being powerless against a common sickness.
"Pardon me, adventurers. May I try helping?"
One of the soldiers, seemingly a veteran, judging from him looking older than others, approached Ryu and asked the question.
"Sure, she kinda needs all the help she can get"
The soldier then took something from his pocket. It was a small leather bundle wrapping something inside. He opened the bundle and took a slice of something which looked like dried smoked meat. He then gave it to Lily.
"Chew it but don't swallow it yet"
Lily took the slice and put it into her mouth. She then chewed it without swallowing it as instructed.
"Alright, now pardon me..."
The soldier then helped Lily to adjust her sitting position. She ended up with her legs stretched straight and her back straight up leaning against the deck wall, making her body sit in 'L' posture overall.
"Make body contact with the ship as much as possible, trust the ship to carry you along"
Lily just nodded, unable to speak with her mouth full. The soldier then put the leather bundle on her lap.
"You puked out your lunch, right? Eat these slowly like you're doing now. The act of chewing constantly will slowly relieve you from the sickness"
Lily then swallowed the meat and spoke with a rather weak voice.
"...Thank you..."
The soldier smiled hearing Lily's gratitude and stood up. Ryu immediately felt that he had to speak his gratitude as well.
"Thank you for your help, sir"
"No problem. We will be counting on you to protect us later, so I'm all in for returning the favor in advance"
The soldier made a happy grin and left the place. Ryu hoped Lily would be better once the fleet arrived at the imminent battle.
[X][X][X]
"I see… so this is what you have all decided, then? I understand. Please forgive me for asking such a worthless question."
The man in full plate dark armor, Momon, apologized after getting the answer for his question. Basically, his question was about the reason why the Workers were willing to risk their lives taking this job, and the answers given by several people had been all about the reward money being worth all the risks involved.
However, for Hekkeran, the reason was different although not completely. The reward was part the reason, but for this occasion his team's main reason was different. He quickly decided to speak out about it since other teams would eventually know anyway.
"Pardon me, but I would like to speak on behalf of my team"
Momon glanced at Hekkeran and then he nodded to show his approval.
"Indeed the large amount of reward money from this job is nice, there's no denying that. But for this occasion, my team has a different reason for taking this job"
Hekkeran then stepped forward and cleared his throat.
"The truth is, my team, Foresight, is going to dissolve soon"
Hekkeran's line drew a few light gasps from the other Workers. While not the strongest, Foresight was quite well-known among many teams of Workers. All the members were relatively young and they had never shown any signs of internal conflict, so suddenly announcing dissolution would naturally surprise some people.
"The reason was personal, but we all have decided to part ways and retire while discussing about taking this job. And so we decided to take this job as the one final adventure we will be having together before parting ways, and we are determined to make this a memorable one to someday reminisce in our retired life. Therefore..."
Hekkeran turned to face the other workers and bowed.
"Thank you for all the rivalry we have been having! We have had our ups and downs, but we enjoyed the ride. So once again, thank you!"
There was a silence for a few seconds, and then suddenly the crowd gave an applause. Gringham approached Hekkeran and gave him a pat on the back, which looked a little strange since Hekkeran was a lot taller than Gringham.
"Nice speech thou got there, lad! Tell thou what, thou may take some of my finds later as a parting gift"
Gringham laughed as he said that. Meanwhile, Parpatra of Dragon Hunt Team also approached him and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"You haven't gone wrinkled like me, why retire now?"
Parpatra's words were spoken in a friendly manner, and it was apparent from his cheerful expression. Without waiting for an answer, he spoke again.
"Hey, if you someday got into trouble, find me. I'll give you a special discount!"
"I guess you will die of old age long before I get into a big enough trouble"
Parpatra just laughed heartily hearing Hekkeran's reply. Hekkeran then remembered something and turned to face Momon.
"I apologize for the sudden commotion, Momon-dono. But now you have heard my team's main reason for doing this"
Momon just stood there without saying any words. Still without saying anything, he turned around facing away from all the Workers. Seeing this, Hekkeran couldn't help worrying that he had made a mistake.
Did I offend him somewhere?
[X][X][X]
Ainz's mind was, in short, a mess.
I wanna cry! But I can't cry in front of them!
The speech he had just heard from the one Worker had struck a chord with him, pretty much a critical hit in fact. When the Worker had spoken about having one final adventure before retiring, Ainz was reminded about one occasion when a guild member announced his retirement.
What was his name again... Ah, Nearata.
It just so happened that a new limited time dungeon had been open as part of an event back then, so everyone had agreed to conquer the dungeon together with him as the final adventure for him. The event dungeon had been a lot harder than expected, compounded with the fact that the team had gone there without collecting enough information first. However, the adventure there had been epic and memorable. As if the dungeon had been made for him, Nearata had been pretty much the MVP of that run. Ainz still could remember how happy Nearata sounded as he said his final goodbye, and how some members almost cried back then.
Seeing the other Workers supporting this Worker's decision reminded Ainz of the old days of the guild, and he couldn't help feeling moved by the scene. Right now, Ainz held himself from speaking because he would sound like he was about to cry, and it would be a disgrace for his public image as Momon. For some reason, his emotion suppressor didn't trigger and Ainz had no idea why. Was it because the emotion was still not great enough?
Please work, dammit!
However, before Ainz could get the suppressor working, suddenly he heard someone speaking mockingly.
"Ha! Pathetic! Even the Adamantite Rank knows that!"
What?
"Every Worker knows that every job is for the money! If such lame reason like memory is your goal, why don't just become an adventurer like these puny Gold Rank guys?"
"Young lad Erya. They are going to retire soon, why don't you be a decent man for once and give them a proper sendoff?"
"Ha! I say good riddance!"
Ainz turned around to see who had been speaking in such mocking tone, and quickly noticed the smug guy in black and white armor set. Ainz could feel a great amount of rage building up inside after hearing such person wrongly putting words in his mouth and also stomping on what had been pretty much an image of his past memories.
You're so on my shitlist, asshole! Uhh...
His emotion suppressor finally kicked in, reverting himself to a calm state of mind. He once again took a look at the one who had been speaking mockingly.
"Erya, isn't it? I respect each and every person to have their opinion, but I recommend you to refrain from putting words in my mouth. I have never said whether I agree or disagree for having a memorable experience as their goal"
"Hmph, alright. My apologies for that. But would you tell us your actual opinion?"
Erya, still standing with his arms folded, replied. His tone was normal this time.
"I'm afraid that as an Adamantite Rank, my answer might carry too much of a weight, which will affect your performance and cooperation in the job. Therefore, I shall reserve my answer until your expedition is finished"
"Heh, fair enough"
Erya shrugged and turned away. Despite having been calmed down by his suppressor, Ainz still put Erya in his personal list of hated persons since the fact still remained that Erya had stomped mockingly on his memories.
"Alright, now that the matter is over with, are there any more que-UHBMPF!"
"W-What happened, Momon-dono? Did you see something wrong?"
One concerned Worker asked the question in response of Ainz suddenly cutting his speech with a gibberish shocked reaction.
"Cough! Cough! Ehm!"
Ainz tried playing cough and clearing his throat. Right now, he was in panic mode because of what he had just seen, but he couldn't tell anyone else about this since his Momon figure was not supposed to know about this.
"I apologize for the distraction. I accidentally choked on my own spit"
That reason was silly and would lower the image of Momon, but Ainz couldn't think of any better reason. Right now, his mind was fully occupied with something else.
Why is Mel Rose among the Workers!?
Ainz had never expected Mel Rose, the other ARKS member on this planet, to be among the supposedly expendable Workers whom would be subjected to the defense system of Nazarick. If the plan continued as is, she would be definitely spared, but she also would find out about a lot of things which would bring his standing to rock bottom in her eyes, and likely in the eyes of ARKS as well eventually.
Even though my standing is high in Ryu's eyes, Mel Rose is stronger than Ryu, so the higher ups in ARKS will likely listen to her more than Ryu.
Ainz believed that he must not screw things up. Darkers and Dark Falz were legitimate threats, and being allied with the organization specialized in exterminating them would be crucial in the survival of Nazarick. Getting branded as an enemy by the organization would be a major hindrance.
I'm just trying to prepare my defenses against intruders, and this shit happens! At least my voice is now different thanks to the Lip Bug. Otherwise she would recognize my voice.
"Sorry, but I need to go now. Make your necessary preparations before we all go to the job site"
Without waiting for any response, Ainz walked away from the Workers and entered the carriage he had been in. His mind was once again a mess. He was fully aware that he had to think of something as fast as possible, but right now he had no idea what to do.
[X][X][X]
Afterword:
As Ainz had expected, things have not gone according to plan again. How he will follow up to the situation is anybody's guess.
See you next time.
