Here's a big one for ya boys. Thanks for your patience! Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Trip to E-Rantel
-•••-
Meeting Office, Kami Miyako, Slane Theocracy's Capital
All the Cardinals were inside the secret meeting room where they would discuss all their plans and pressing matters. The room was bombarded with Anti-Divination magic to prevent any eavesdroppers and potential enemies from leaking out important information.
All six of the Cardinals were present doing their daily routine every time they go to meet in this place. They would first get clean cloth to clean the sacred statues of their Gods. After that, they proceeded to pray to the six to give them guidance and blessing for whatever matter they'll have to discuss today. They got up, each one of them sat on the chairs of what seems to be a round table.
Dominic Ihre Partouché, the Cardinal of wind was thinking of a few things of what their topic for the meeting was supposed to be and remembered that the Sunlight Scripture that they ordered for the mission was supposed to be back by now. He was thinking of different possibilities on what could've caused the delay of their return.
The Maximilian Oreio Lagier, the Cardinal of Darkness first spoke.
"Alright, our matter for today is to discuss the report that I have received from the Thousand Mile Astrologer on the topic of the mission we have given the Sunlight Scripture and other things about the Draconic Kingdom and the Elf war ."
Everyone who was inside the room was intrigued. A few raised their eyebrows.
"So I take it the mission was a success? I'm pretty confident of Nigun and the power of the 2,300 mages that we sent there, plus we also gave them a trump card that contained the power of the Gods if I'm correct?" Dominic said vehemently earning a sigh from one of the cardinals namely Ginedine Delan Guelfi, the Cardinal of Water.
"Calm down Dominic, we're not in a rush. Let's just listen to what Maximilian has to say."
"Fine…" Dominic pouted but was still anticipating the news.
"Ehem. As I was saying, the Thousand Mile Astrologer gave her report to me, and its contents gave me feelings of uncertainty as she said that she didn't 'saw' much in her time using the Scrying Magic." Everyone was unsure of what to think of the situation. Yvon Jasna Dracrowa, the Cardinal of Light spoke.
"What do you mean not 'saw' much? As far as I know, the nobles already convinced the king to not let the Warrior Captain bring any special magic items and the kingdom's treasures so there would be no reason as to why her magic didn't work."
"Plus, I doubt the villages our knights were ravaging has any sort of items that can even compare to ours to resist Astrologer's magic, unless the nobles weren't able to convince the king of removing anti-divination magic items from Gazef, the nobles turned on us, or Gazef secretly hid some form of magic item without the king's permission." Dominic added. For a few seconds, the other Cardinals were voicing their opinions on the matter but was quickly shut-up by Maximilian's call for order.
"I know, I know, everyone, please calm down. I've already received certified reports through the [Message] scrolls from our undercover agents in the kingdom that the nobles were absolutely trust worthy. They didn't turn on us because that would be very disadvantageous to them, they completely made sure that Gazef didn't have any sort of items when they did a full body appraisal and checking. There is a possibility that Gazef secretly got an item but the chances of that are incredibly low as the king made his declaration of order known to the nobles and other investigation reports show no evidence of anyone giving him magic items." Now everyone was very uncertain of what to expect of the following reports.
Maximilian was about to drop a bomb to his fellow cardinals when his face took a change of expression.
"The thing that I'm most concerned about now is the last report of the Astrologer. After the disturbance of her scrying magic, the plains where the battle was supposed to happen, was empty." Everyone in the room had looks of disbelief but then he continued.
"When she was confused of the previous disturbance and the empty plains, she then maneuvered her magic to the village but what she saw disoriented her a bit because instead of a village, she saw a large blind spot and just utter darkness no matter what angle she moved her view." Everyone had fearful expressions in their faces and was silently contemplating his words.
"Did she recheck her magic?" Raymond Zarg Lauransan, the Cardinal of Earth and commander of the Six Scriptures, asked him.
"It is confirmed without a doubt that she tried every way of scrying to look into the village to no avail." As Maximilian answered this with a grim, worrying tone, the room fell into silence that was shortly broken by the accidental blurting of a word from Berenice Nagua Santini, the Cardinal of Fire.
"D-Dragon lords?" She said which prompted a baffled but also worrying stare from her fellow cardinals.
"Impossible. Why the hell would they do such a thing? All they do is sitting high and mighty in their castle unless provoked. Maybe the Empire magic casters were sent after they knew of what happened." Dominic retorted.
Under normal circumstances, they would just laugh at the idea of Dragon lords interacting much with humans, let alone helping a random frontier village without any obvious benefits to it since they barely go out of the Argland State. But considering what happened, they couldn't really rule out the possibility despite the unlikely chances of it happening.
"Let us not jump into further conclusions about what happened without further information. I suggest that we send out only a part of the Clearwater scripture to investigate what happened in the plains because they are currently in the mission of getting information from the Kingdom. We can't send the Windflower because they are currently chasing the traitor that stole one of the treasures. " Raymond told everyone to calm the situation and slap logical mindsets into their heads even though he himself was starting to get worried.
Everyone made an "Ay!" signaling approval for Raymond's idea for the plan of action.
"Alright, let's now focus on the Elf war frontlines where we sent the Holocaust Scripture…" And with that, they focused on other pressing matters at hand.
-•••-
Carne Village Square…
Ainz was standing in the village square after he ordered his undead to take up positions, continue rebuilding the houses and other tasks that he did all night after he [Greater Teleportation]-ed the sleeping Gazef to a bed in the camp of his infantry. He also summoned a Crypt Lord, a level 70 powerful undead monster which is recommended in this situation because of its commander-type skills in controlling Ainz's undead summons, and 40 Elder Liches to serve as enforcers and intelligent units that directly report under Thanatos and Tsunami of the workings in the village.
The Crypt lord is a dark and tall, menacing undead creature that radiated a terrible and majestic aura. It wore violet, tattered robes embroidered with golden runes which emanated magical power. It had a black staff that has a top that resembled a demonic hand which held an ominous, red orb that seemingly pours out negative energy, and a silver crown with many scripts of evil engraved into it and was uncharacteristically bright. It of course was by no means a match for Ainz's power and outfit because it was only almost equal to a Legacy class item.
Even though he does have a part of his humanity, he still has no qualms in making the dead bodies of his enemies into undead. Make no mistake, he still is undead.
I'm pretty sure everyone is probably aware of the saying "Things don't change overnight" right? Well what happened recently literally changed the whole village overnight and threw that saying into the trash can. The once humble village looked like it was prepared for a war siege, with the sheer amount of undead workers alone. This will absolutely spook the fuck out of everyone uninformed of the events that happened here.
He thought about the next move on what he would do next. He did notice that someone was using scrying magic yesterday from afar, which he could track, but refrained from doing as he wasn't aware of the true power levels of the unknown enemy, which he highly suspects as the Theocracy, plus he also had other things in mind and set aside his thoughts.
"Alright, since I do not yet have a permanent base of operations, I'd like to visit this Great Forest of Tob, and possibly, claim since I heard that no countries ever used it. I don't think I can just stake claim to this village so I'd best move out as soon as I find a place to settle in." He thought out loud having a headache despite being undead.
He also had learned about certain information from interrogating, or rather using the spell [Dominate,] to extract information from the theocracy units, or at least what's left of them. He discovered things about talent holders or people that can learn any magic faster than the usual people.
He also learned about the other Scriptures such as Windflower, Clearwater, Holocaust, Gaia (I just made this up since the 6th Scripture has never been mentioned in the series), and Black. He also discovered their uses and how each sect pertains to one of their Gods. Ainz couldn't get any more information from the captives as the Cardinals seemed to not give them the real juicy details so it won't leak if ever they are captured.
He also learned that the Sunlight Scripture were mainly forces dealing with demihumans, and they once encountered Adamantite Adventurers, the Blue Rose, from the Re-Estize kingdom who managed to make a scar on their captain's face. They were also responsible for many illegal activities within the kingdom and were also sent as "aid" to the Draconic Kingdom, which slightly interested him but ultimately just focused on what will happen from now.
He was really having a headache from all the information he had to take in and thanked his undead body for not needing to eat, drink, or sleep that the living usually needed. But of course, having his unliving body had drawbacks such as not being able to take in the pleasures of living like having no libido and not being able to eat and drink the delicious food and beverages that was just sitting in his messy inventory.
'Hmmm… I wonder what'll allow me to have even more power and influence to hopefully attract attention from my friends in this world, if they ever come here. Maybe I should…. start claiming territories? Of course I won't get the ones that are already owned. Yes! That should be good. I can make my own settlement and maybe even an experimental village too.' He thought enthusiastically.
'Though it would increase stress and become a pain in the ass. Handling and caring for a settlement sounds interesting but I'm not sure how good I can handle that. Whelp, guess I have to look into my books for help.'
'Anyway, if I want to make a temporary place to stay at, I guess I'd need to make a structure for myself. Whelp, here goes nothing.' After the thought, he raised his hands and pointed it in the ground of open land with palms open wide.
"[Create Fortress!]" He shouted the 10th tier spell's name. The ground began to shake and a tall, sturdy, tower erected (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) from the ground. It had intricate and dark ornaments in its design. It had a large, spiky door that can and will only be opened by the summoner and his allies, unless it was destroyed. Many of the sleeping villagers that heard and felt the shaking woke up and wondered what the commotion so early in the morning was all about. So they got outside and checked the source of the disturbance. Of course, they got the usual reaction when Ainz does his magics.
'Aw, crap. I should've considered the fact that this would wake up everyone near.' He then proceeded to berate himself of his close-mindedness. He told the villagers that everything was alright and they can still sleep a bit more.
After that situation was out of the way, he went inside the Fortress. The 10th tier spell [Create Fortress] was a spell often utilized by Ainz and his friends back in the YGGDRASIL for planning and making a temporary base in battle. It was also one of the spells that allows you to edit its appearance when summoned. For example, you can set-up a portrait of yourself inside the Fortress, and even if you dispel the tower, if you summon it again, it will still have the portrait.
The inside of the place was a whole lot bigger than its exterior. To say the least the overall look of the interior, was very extravagant. The place was littered with golden ornaments, a red carpet, black and white checkerboard floor tiles, very detailed, designed white pillars that would put dwarven craftsmanship to shame, and chandeliers. Aside from that, the place had many bedrooms, a mess hall, a living room, kitchen, basement, hell, it even had a bath house for both genders.
"Yep, it looked just like the last time we used it… Ha this brings back memories. Anyways."
There were huge paintings of each of Ainz Ooal Gown's members which they put when they designed the Fortress even though they already had the legendary Nazarick. It had four golden statues of demon knights situated at the entrance of the fortress. These were actually demon golems, level 50 pre-summoned entities when you cast the spell.
Ainz proceeded to find a bedroom for him to stay at, lie down and roll over, and contemplate on things of what to do for a good 30 minutes. After he had some sort of peace of mind in his room, he remembered something and messaged Thanatos to bring his newly recruited human subordinates for him to... assess their strengths, or so he said to him. Ainz was thinking of how he'll convince the two to serve him with genuine loyalty because he didn't just want a façade. Thanatos was testing out the humans' strengths when he was [Message]-d by his master.
Carne Village Prisoner Camp...
Londes Di Clamp, a man of 25 years and had a pretty athletic build befitting of a seasoned soldier, was one of the Theocracy knights disguised as Imperial soldiers assigned with the task of luring out Gazef to the trap, but now, everything has fallen apart. Seeing as resistance would be futile in this situation, all of the knights and mages just accepted their fates, and he was one of them.
I mean, who would've thought that such a ridiculous situation would happen, right? An undead saving the day was utterly mind boggling. He prayed for the Gods to save them but of course, no matter how many times he pleaded, none of them ever heard him. He was frustrated. He didn't want to die just like this. He was a Theocracy knight for years and a devoted believer to the Six Gods.
After the battle of the plains, if you could even call it that, the surviving knights and the mages were "tested" and "evaluated" for their skills. It's not like they had much of a choice since the one enforcing it was one of the servants of the detestable undead being.
After the evaluation, two people were chosen by Tsunami because of their "commendable" performance to become Ainz's human subordinates. Surprisingly, Londes and a female mage namely Astrea Caroline from the Sunlight Scripture, was chosen. The rest of their comrades were taking into the kingdom's custody.
Astrea was a young woman, only 21 years of age, had beautiful, short, auburn colored hair. She was pretty looking and was a capable magic caster that can cast spells of the 4th tier and some minor ones in the 5th tier. She had a slim but fit body, pretty small in height compared to the other mages, and had violet, crystal-like eyes. She wore the robe from the Sunlight Scripture sect without the helmet that they usually wore as it was lost to the golden slashes of light which she miraculously survived.
She wasn't really zealous of her country's religion, but she has inevitably adopted it due to her joining the Scripture. She wasn't really rich in her life; in fact she was actually just a commoner girl in one of the frontier villages. Being a person whose status was basically the lowest of the low will be bound for a difficult life. If you were a commoner girl in the social ladder, you had only a few choices in life to take. One was to work menial tasks and do hard labor, be conscripted to the military, or become a prostitute and use your body for getting income.
That was what was basically expected of her life to be but it turned out fate was smiling on her. One of the priests who went to their village was testing the magic capabilities of the people discovered that she had a pretty strong magic affinity for her age. To summarize what happened, she was taken in as a scholar to the country's magical academy. There, she studied for years until she graduated with flying colors and promising magic potential with results to back it up.
Eventually, one of her instructors recommended her to the Cardinals to be given a position in one of the scriptures, and the rest is history. She didn't really have any attachments from her country and her parents were, meh, since she only did it for the benefits of being a scripture and survive due to her social standing. She had a few acquaintances in her batch but that was about it.
He and Astrea was sitting on a porch in one of the run-down houses in the camp, guarded by 2 Corpse guardians and 50 Death Knights, sheesh talk about over secured. He was unintentionally staring and was lost in his thoughts of infatuation at his soon-to-be co-worker under the undead being. Of course they had no choice but to accept being his subordinates. She noticed this and responded.
"What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?" She asked with a teasing tone which snapped him in his trance.
"Will you marry me?" He thoughtlessly blurted out. He just realized what he said and blushed.
"AH! NO! I err-mean, um, a-no its nothing, I was just thinking of something and ended up staring… at your... um, you. " The seasoned and usually disciplined knight suddenly broke out of character out of sheer embarrassment. She just rolled her eyes.
"Geez, dude, we're literally chosen to become part of the undead monster's team and you're doing things like this. Man, we don't even know what will happen to us."
"I know, I know. For all I know, he might just use our bodies to be possessed and turned into undead. I mean everything is possible for evil creatures like him. But forget what I said earlier… I didn't mean it… " He said vehemently but gradually turned mellow.
"It's alright, I know I'm pretty but don't expect me to answer to you." She said with teasing conviction, hoping for him to give up but he seemed to be up to the challenge rather than despairing.
You may think Astrea will be the unsocial and stereotypical-stuttering character type because she barely has any friends but in reality, she was pretty confident in her speaking and loves to tease her fellow comrades. The only reason on why she didn't have many friends, or any at all, was because others felt like she was pretty arrogant and made her "know" her place despite being a great magic caster.
They talked about random things on how they got into this situation and exchanged stories in the camp for a while until Thanatos landed in front of them from the sky. The same being who massacred half of the knight company Londes was in and a loyal servant of Ainz. They immediately stood up in a disciplined manner befitting of well-trained military units, trying their best to hide their fear from the Angel of Death.
'So that's the one that killed his fellow knights in less than 15 seconds. Yikes!' She thought to herself being fearful of the Reaper in front of her.
The reaper just stared at her for a moment then, got near her, his face being only a few inches from hers. His violet, flaming eyes grew bright and a small, white pupil seemed to form in the middle of it as if he was checking every fiber of her being. To say that she was frightened was an understatement. She was using every ounce of her being to not pass out and silently praying to the Gods hoping they would listen to her but it was to no avail. Then finally, the harbinger of death dimmed his eyes and moved farther from her.
Thanatos approached Londes who now had sweaty balls from his sheer gaze alone. Then Thanatos suddenly launched a punch aiming for his head. He was scared beyond belief then suddenly remembered that if he wasn't gonna move, he was going to die and was up to a self-proclaimed challenge he accepted earlier and didn't want to die. He used all his thinking and willpower to move in that fraction of a second. Miraculously, he survived!
Thanatos was also surprised when he dodged his mock punch. His eyes flickered for a bit, put his scythe on his back, nodded, and crossed his arms.
"Thou art interesting and have commendable skill whilst being weak mortals. It seems that ye, Londes Di Clamp, art an interesting individual, and have strength from... a motivation it seems. Keep it up. Astrea Caroline hast shown great will and resolve. She also hath a surprisingly deep mana pool for humans. I applaud thy efforts and potential skill. I now see why Tsunami has recommended thee, I hope for ye humans to serve mine master well." They heard an unexpected praise from the undead.
You may think Thanatos would hate inferior beings because he's quite literally the harbinger of death. In truth, he was actually neutral for the most part and his karma value is a staggeringly low -50(At least in this fic). He may collect souls of humans and mortals as his existence was literally made for it but he doesn't hate them.
He then proceeded to put his finger to his forehead and nodded, making him seemingly communicating with someone.
"Alright ye lot, I have been ordered to escort thee to mine master for him to personally examine thyselves."
And with that, he abruptly grabbed the two like luggage and casted [Teleportation] to their assigned destination, which was in front of the village square, where the fortress was located.
-•••-
Village Square…
'Since when was a tower here? Last time I was here, it was just an open plot of land…' Londes thought.
The two heard a creaking noise, signifying that the large, spiky double doors were opening, which got the two tensed up. Out came from the massive fortress was the none other than our beloved boniee-chan, boneless boney boy, Ainz Ooal Gown, holding his staff. The one that orchestrated the massacres.
Ainz glowing eyes stared at their expressions seemingly prying into their very souls, which was obviously trying to hide their fears. Then the melodious tone of the Overlord reached their ears.
"Good. Thanatos you may leave and continue your patrol. You two, follow me." Thanatos bowed and left while the other two were scared shitless and silently followed him, fearful for what might happen if they hadn't.
'What the hell?! Is this a fortress or a castle?! Its waayyy bigger inside! Oh my Six!' Astrea thought as they entered the fortress's interior that was more akin to a demon lord's palace than an actual fortress.
The two silently followed him, passing through all the corridors and rooms inside the magical place. Then they saw 41 portraits of different kinds of monstrosities. They saw a grey furred goat with demonic horns, a silver knight in white a shining majestic armor and a cape, a reddish-orange slime, a black slime, a monster with many mouths, a bird-like demihumans with golden armor, and many more beings that they didn't know of, but seemed to be high ranking members to have portraits in the undead king's palace.
"Geez, how big is this place?" She whispered to Londes as quietly as possible, to which Ainz heard and smirked, which they somehow sensed.
They finally stopped walking and reached two ornate double doors made of red wood. Ainz opened the door with both his arms and showed a large living room with a library corner, coffee table, fancy lamps, a TV that contained pre-recorded videos from YGGDRASIL's main events, potted plants, golden chandeliers, and many more furniture. To say the least, the place was very cozy looking. All of them had one thing in common, they were all extremely valuable, and probably more than their lives they thought.
He then sat on one side of the round couch and told them to sit down.
"Well then, you may sit down." He said to which they complied silently, desperately trying to not move in a way that may anger the seemingly none hostile undead.
"You know what, you people need to calm down for a bit. We can't talk properly when your all tensed up and nervous about everything, can we now?" They just sat their silently and nodded, not sure how to respond.
He then did something unexpected. He pulled out a pitcher of hot and delicious tea and two ceramic cups from what seems like thin air.
"Care to take some tea?" They were dumbstruck on how the undead reacted. Londes gathered his resolve and spoke to him.
"Wh-Why are you doing this?"
"Hm? Is there something wrong? Being a good host for the people that you invite in your place is a show of good will, no?" He asked which prompted a fearful angered glare from the knight, while Astrea just sat there sipping the tasty tea, listening to the two.
"NO! I mean your undead! You were the one that ordered him to kill our comrades!? And you think we will just accept this 'good will' of yours?! You're an evil creature!" At this point, he vented out his anger on his comrades' mastermind assailant. He expected him to be long dead by now because he did that to his "master" but was surprised when he kept his cool and came back to him.
"Oh, you're one to talk. It's pretty ironic isn't it? The ones who indiscriminately killed innocent peasants just to lure out a high ranking and respected person from another kingdom which wasn't their affairs in the first place are now acting like the victims in the situation." He shut up at the level-headed logic stated by the undead.
"Remember, you were the ones who PURPOSELY killed helpless villagers. They couldn't fight back. Even if you had at least a shred of humanity left in you, you could've just captured them and bound them instead of straight up killing them. What do you think would've happened if I and my servants wasn't there, huh?" They were silent. Earlier, they were afraid to voice their opinions to the undead, but now, it was because of shame.
"Another dead village probably. Sure, your higher-ups might've given you the task, but why haven't you at least protested or kept the villager's alive?"
"B-Because n-n-no matter how we'll pr-protest, the cardinal's word won't change." The girl finally spoke up. She knows very well how hard it was to live a life of a commoner and how they were treated akin to cannon fodder.
"Really? Why haven't you at least considered mercy? Your Scripture was also planning to massacre the villagers if you ever succeeded, were you not?"
"But st-still! You massacred-" But before she could say anything, Ainz already did his famous cutting-in-the-middle-of-the-sentence moves.
"My actions were justified. I just gave back the favor. Instead of you massacring them, I, or more specifically, the people I ordered, massacred you instead it. You're actually lucky I didn't just ordered them to straight out kill all of you, which I am very capable of doing, a thousand times over. Plus, it was a battle. What did you expect? Of course people will die, just like how you had no qualms getting your sword stained with the blood of the innocent. And to back it up, I'm actually undead, and you are actually people. "
"BUT IT WAS THE WILL OF THE GODS!" The knight snapped which earned a handful of killing intent that was just the fraction of what Ainz was capable of giving.
"Ah, that's the typical response of zealous people like you, isn't it? How ironic. The will of your 'Gods', 'Saviors of Humanity', 'They died for a good cause', and 'This is part of the plan to put the kingdom in the right paths'. I'm guessing this is what you'll say, huh? Oh please, stop with those petty excuses and nonsense. Saviors of Humanity my ass." He said in a stone cold tone that speaks of the harsh truth. They were silent for a while. The two were contemplating all the actions that they've done 'til now. They were really ashamed and realized the actions of their country that they blindly tolerated and sometimes even followed all this time.
"Anyways, as you could probably assume, I didn't invite you here to just talk about me having the moral high ground and berating yourselves. I came here to ask you to swear fealty to me as my subordinates. Of course, I won't be forcing you if you do not like me being your superior, though you will be arrested by the kingdom's forces. " The two listened for a while and thought of it first since they were actually being given a choice, or rather offer to become his subordinates instead of getting arrested. Astrea asked Ainz.
"But what will you gain from us? Aren't you and your undead very powerful already? What would you want us for?"
"I want you to be my personal human agents. I'd like to test out how humans are capable of doing certain missions, how powerful they can be, what spells are you capable of casting when pushed to the limit, Martial arts, and potentially be human intermediaries when we go meet people. Of course, you will be given proper training, fairly of course, and you will be treated properly. You may also be used as reconnaissance units for infiltrating facilities and whatnot, with assistance from my minions of course. But, the choice is entirely up to you, so what do you say?" He said that as if he was doing his sales pitch giving the air of a man used to negotiations.
The two talked for a while and discussed their choices. Joining this somehow rational undead being doesn't seem to be too bad. The nodded to each other and said in unison.
"Alright, we swear fealty towards you, Ainz Ooal Gown-sama." With a bow.
Ainz felt relief as he successfully convinced people with his speech and charisma skills alone despite being undead. He felt as if he had fully satisfied the condition of his client and shouted "I did it!" happily to his co-workers in a phone call.(Definitely did not get this from GRAU)
He then snapped his fingers and a blue fire surrounded the right arm area of his new subordinates. The flame slowly wore off and in place was a golden-embroidered crest of Ainz Ooal Gown on their wrists.
After the talk, they now just realized the sheer absurdity of the situation they've gotten themselves into. The undead, of all things, which normally had hatred for the living, was giving them a lecture about morality and being human. But something else was on their mind so they didn't think about it that much.
*stomach grumbles* the two hadn't eaten breakfast yet so they were hungry.
"Ah it seems you need something to eat. As my new subordinates, I have just things for you." He [Greater Teleportation]-ed themselves and went the camp where everyone was just waking up.
"Alright, let's setup breakfast." He then pulled out a very long table and chairs complete with plates and utensils of exquisite quality, out of nowhere and put them on the ground. He then proceeded to take out random food things from his inventory and once the people saw the food, they feasted like kings.
(Fan fact: Hippity Hoppity All the casting hourglass cash items will be my property -Satoru Suzuki. Kudos to the reddit guy I got this quote from that I forgot the name of)
Ainz asked Gazef as he and his people were having breakfast before they go back to the Kingdom.
"Gazef Stronoff, although the Great Forest of Tob probably will be my first base of operations, since I don't how your kingdom will react with the undead taking up residence in one of their villages, is it possible for me to go with you in the Kingdom? Specifically the Fortress city, because from then on there I will decide on things to do and continue my plans."
"Of course Gown-dono, because of your help in here, I would definitely welcome you to come join with us. After all, it's the least we could do to repay you with everything you've done. Though, I'd imagine most people won't openly accept you due to your nature. Anyhow, we'll be leaving in a few hours from now. But there is one problem…"
"Oh, what's the matter Gazef-dono?"
"Well… we do lack a lot of mounts and horses because of the battle, and we still have to carry the bodies of our deceased comrades for their burial and to meet their families…"
"Oh don't worry about that Gazef-dono, I've got that covered." Ainz said reassuringly but still confused Gazef on how he was going to cover that.
And with that, he told Thanatos and Tsunami, that they would be leaving the village within a few hours. He also talked to the village chief that he would leave two corpse guardians that they have full control of as a parting gift.
Ainz also ordered all his undead summons, including Death Warriors, Death Knights, Eye-ball corpses, Bone vultures, High Elder Liches (Made up undead that is a superior version but costlier in mana than regular Liches, I think anyone could've guessed that), Corpse Guardians, the Crypt Lord, Pale Riders, and Thanatos' own summons, Lesser Reapers to go capture the forest to make it a stronghold for Ainz Ooal Gown.
He also ordered them to specifically NOT kill anyone who is in and stumbled upon the forest and only capture them or incapacitate if necessary. Killing is last resort. He also summoned an Eternal Death, a very high-level undead summon with thief skills, using one of the "Left-over" bodies to stealthily oversee the patrolling operations within the forest(A/N: He was capable of summoning it with just a regular corpse because of his Absolute Necromancer class). The Pale Riders were perimeter control, the eyeball corpses and bone vultures were basically CCTV cameras, the Crypt Lord and Liches were for intelligence and controlling the undead orderly, the majority of the forces like Death Knights and Corpse Guardians were guards and would only attack if provoked, along with the Lesser Reapers that directly report to Thanatos.
He also ordered for his new subordinates to stay with them and train their potential abilities as per their master's orders. So basically, he ordered all his servants to do one hell of an operation. He also unsummoned his Fortress to relocate it in a much better place, preferably within the forest once the operation was done.
After a few hours, they were ready to go, but the soldiers and Gazef were questioning him of how he was going to fix their problems of lacking mounts. And of course, he had all his magic absurdities in his arsenal that can help him with that.
"Ah worry not, I have something to remedy my lack of a mount. Now, [Summon: Flying Dutchman – 1st Class Luxury Skin!]." As he invoked the spell, the sky began to turn dark around them, the clouds were swiveling around, the gentle breeze earlier turned into strong gusts of wind. The sky opened up and made a green glow, and then something descended upon the ground that caught everyone by surprise.
Out came from what seems to be the heavens was a large ship, no, large would be an understatement, it was a humongous ship. Its size was really massive and it was probably the biggest one anybody in this world has ever seen. It has glorious, intricately-designed 3 masts all over its deck, and a wide and massive hull, its size was ranging a massive 1,200 feet in length.
The ship had extremely large proportions to say the least. Its exterior was luxurious looking, filled with golden edges and touches, it was made of very sturdy and strong ebony and dark wood from God knows what trees. It had numerous magical cannons on each sides. Its figure head was a golden sculpture of a skeletal being holding a large staff. And the sails had an unfamiliar symbol. But Ainz knew that it was the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown. If it wasn't for magic holding the thing together, it would probably not last a second maintaining it's beautiful form because of its sheer weight.
There were many summons for travel use in YGGDRASIL, and because of the sheer level of customization, it had literally everything from a mini Shub-Niggurath mount to a flying fucking hotdog, including the Flying Dutchman. In the game, you could add special-effects data like customized skin for your summons, and Ainz utilized the Ghost ship a lot during his early days in YGGDRASIL before he learned of the [Gate] spell so he had plenty of those.
Slowly but surely, the ship descended, floating just 5 meters above the ground while being surrounded by fogs that appeared from an unknown source, and the side of the humongous ship opened like the door bridge of a Fortress.
Out of the door came a fairly large undead being. It had a decent pirate hat, unlike its original skin which had tattered everything, and had a Admiral's uniform on fairly good condition. It actually had clothes that rival or even beat that of a high-noble. It had a large build, a crystal hook in place if it's left hand and carried a glowing enchanted, bursting with negative energy cutlass. Its left eye had an eye patch with the symbol of Ainz Ooal Gown, rotting facial features similar to zombies, and a bushy, red beard. It was basically the run of the mill, stereotypical Pirate-if-dressed-properly if you ever saw one.
This was one of the pre-summoned entities inside the large ship, Davy Jones, reskinned to fit the ship's theme. He was a level 65 undead summon and can command the ship's crew.
Every human present had facial expressions that said "What the fuck just happened?" But at this point, seeing how absurdly powerful Ainz is, they just shrugged it off since their Warrior Captain seemed to like the undead being.
"Ey Gazef, isn't this going to attract a lot of attention when we go to E-Rantel?"
"I mean, if we're going to bring in an absurdly powerful undead ally to the kingdom, might as well enter it with a bang. Plus this was his idea of using a flying ship to go to the place, not mine."
"Your gonna do a lot of the damn explaining to do Gazef, especially that sword you got, and I won't be there to help you on it." The Vice Captain said in a jokingly mocking tone to the Warrior Captain.
"A*shole." Gazef said and playfully noogied the Vice Captain.
-•••-
Flashback...
Gazef walked back to the village after the one-sided battle. His soldiers and his friend, the Vice Captain was really surprised when he had the sword.
"Whoa, Gazef, was that the legendary sword you used earlier which was pulled out of thin air by him?! Why is it with you?! What's it called again?"
"He told me that it was gift, of course I thanked him, and now I have a second sword that may very well be a National Treasure. He told me it was useless to him since he had hundreds of these and he's a magic caster. Oh, it was called the [Blade of the Golden Sun]."
Everyone was in awe at the sword he was given by the Godly Undead. He then unsheathed it to make them see the blade with golden flames and its grand aura.
"Awesome right?" He said which made the Vice Captain jealous and noogies the Captain Warrior.
"Lucky bastard."
Flashback end...
-•••-
"Oy summoner, what do yer ask of little'O Davy Jones, ey?"
The undead captain spoke in a raspy, stereotypical Pirate accent.
"We will navigate to the city of E-Rantel as our stop. We will tell you the details later. Is that alright Gazef-dono? I want to see this fortress city for myself too and check the surrounding environment as we travel. "
"Of course Gown-dono, no problem." Gazef replied
"Oh yes, can you adjust the ship's speed to arrive there in 24 hours, I do not want to use [Warp Gate]."
"Aight summoner-san. OY! YA HEARD'EM YA SCALY WAGS! PREPARE EVERYTHIN FER ACCOMODATIN' OUR SUMMONER'S GUESTS!" The undead captain ordered the equally terrifying undead crew which immediately mobilized as they heard their Captain's orders. After 30 seconds of yelling and waiting, they were ready. Ainz ordered all the horses of the soldiers to put them in the foot-ball sized storage room.
Then the rest of the humans followed. They found that the inside of the ship was just as, if not, even more so luxurious than the exterior. It had golden and crystalline touches everywhere, very soft, red fabrics lined different parts of the place. It was very much like the interior of five-star cruise ships with undead crew members as its attendants. Then they said their final farewells to the village, and the ship lifted off toward the city of E-Rantel.
All of them were given expensive suites befitting of a king, and still had a lot more rooms of equal quality to spare. The rooms had magical TVs that they of course didn't know of, that displayed pre-recorded videos of entertainment from comedy shows to cooking. The room service was excellent, the food they ate and the drinks they drank, both if unknown origin, in the large-ass dining hall was great, better than anything that the kingdom could probably make.
There were several spa resorts, swimming pools, heck even restaurants, and bathhouses, one for each gender of course. There were even training grounds for fuck's sake. This was literally a dream land which they were staying at for free! Given by the undead beings, which were normally described as having deep hatred for life.
Everyone was happy and grateful for the undead who they once hated, but of course, they only trusted Ainz and his undead. The Vice Captain and Captain requested to be in the same suite which had two, king-sized beds. Mind you each room was magically air-conditioned.
"Just who is Ainz? From what he's shown with power, intellect, and wealth, he might as well be a God." The Vice Captain asked.
"Yeah, I know right. I asked him that question and he denied it." After he answered him, the magical speakers all throughout the ship produced sound.
Good morning ya scaly bastards, I am Captain Davy Jones and I hope yer enjoyin' yar ste in my ship. Anyways, we'll be arrivin' to the city of E-Rantel in the next 18 hours, so enjoy as much as ya can! Oh yeah, we'll be accompanied by 7 skeletal dragons from summoner-san, so don't ya be surprised!
As everyone heard this, they were sad a bit because their time in the dreamland were very short and they realized that they have a duty to do as soldiers so they made the most of their time in the ship.
Gazef went to the front deck of the ship to see the view. And unsurprisingly, he saw Ainz staring at the horizon. He got near him which Ainz noticed and spoke.
"This world of yours is really beautiful you know, I've never got a view THIS beautiful from where I'm from."
-•••-
Outer Walls of E-Rantel...
The soldiers were doing their duties at guarding and maintaining the tower just like every normal day. The city was bustling with life, merchants and traders everywhere, adventurers doing their business, a lot vendors were selling their wares and food. There were lots of pharmacists as it was one of the things E-Rantel was famous for. But then something caught their attention in the nearby horizon.
"What... What is that?" A guard said while seeing a large silhouette of something in the distance.
"What do you mean what?" Another guard asked.
"I mean, THAT?!" He pointed to the large flying fucking ship with several skeletal dragons heading towards their direction.
"What do you mean what is that? That's a flying ship with skeletal dra-WHATTTT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE HELL?! REPORT TO THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD IMMEDIATELY!" The soldier frantically nodded and dashed off to report to the captain.
(Fan fact: In this fic, the food and drinks of unknown origins that the people were eating came from the [Demeter's Cauldron]. It was considered a high-class, non-weapon item that produces food of choice as long as it was being supplied mana, and you only need to type in the food in the console. But since it was real now, one needs to say the name of the food or drink item, and quantity out loud.)
(Fan fact: Despite most of the gold that he had collected was in the treasury of Nazarick, he still has his own reserves of a billion or two golden YGGDRASIL coins in his person. Considering that the cost of bought items in the game was very high, it was only natural that high-tier players had such money.)
-•••-
In the Ghost Ship...
As they were nearing the walls of E-Rantel, they knew their journey within this haven of dreams would end soon because it displayed video feed back in the TV screens and the announcement that they are going to arrive in 30 minutes time so they prepared as quickly as possible.
Gazef and Ainz were in the front deck, silently looking at their destination.
"Ainz-dono, I'll be checking everyone in the ship to make sure their ready."
"Umu."
-•••-
Meanwhile at Thanatos' and Tsunami's large suite
The room was divided in half but had no walls between them. The one side looked liked like a smaller version of Water World and the other side looked like an edgy teenager's room, complete with a mini-graveyard. They had all sorts of gadgets, including modern appliances like magical computers, Rubik's cubes and trinkets to pass the time when Ainz wasn't giving them any orders.
Both talked to each other from time to time but they were mostly minding their own businesses. But both had the same one thought, they were really grateful for the magnanimity of their master.
-•••-
Gazef was checking out all the rooms and telling everyone to pack up and strikes a conversation or two with his long time companion, the Vice Captain. They just talked about random things. When the 30 minutes were finished, they were waiting on the large lobby befitting of a grand hotel meant for kings and rulers. Davy Jones appeared at the desk and stood up there and spoke.
"Oy, I hope ye enjoyed yer time in here lads. Anyways, we'll be landin' soon and say yer fellow goodbyes to whatever booty ya found in this ship to be admirable. Good luck in whatevah yer gonna do out there, ya rapscallions! Har har har har!" The undead being said and laughed in a raspy but jolly good voice, which raised the opinions of the soldiers of the him, because he seem like someone you'd be able get along with.
The soldiers, along with Gazef and the Vice Captain, packed their things, grabbed their mounts and horses from the storage room, and went to the waiting area, just behind the huge door that opened up the side of the flying Ghost ship.
Ainz asked Tsunami and Thanatos to be at his side to which they happily followed and at last, the gold clad ship lands, or rather floated near the outer walls of E-Rantel, along with the seven skeletal dragons. This view stunned and scared the ever-living crap out of everyone near the walls E-Rantel and the carriages going in and out the city. The Captain of the guard rushed to the wall to meet their, seemingly non-hostile, visitors. The ship was MASSIVE, especially in their perspectives, it dwarfed them. Actually, dwarfed is an understatement, it "microorganism-ed" them. It was at least 1/10th the size of the cemetery. Everyone within and outside the walls were bracing themselves of what was going to happen in this extremely unexpected turn of events.
The seven dragons lined up in a way that made the people even more cautious. *Creak* *BANG!* The huge door, or at this point, wall opened. The guards tensed up and prepared for the worst but were confused when they saw Re-Estize soldiers and their remaining horses walking out. The last ones to go out were, to everyone's surprise, the Captain Warrior and his right hand. The Captain of the Guard and the others were relieved a bit but what followed next made them worried.
They saw a massive water creature, a skeletal being that seemed to be the Reaper, and what looked like to be literally Death himself going out of the colossal ship. "Death" was talking to another undead being had hat, seeming to be saying his farewells. And then the all the people, that came out of the gigantic vessel, waved goodbye to their undead... transporters.
The ship then closed its door, and lifted off in what seemed to be a crack in reality itself. Everyone was dumbfounded and extremely muddled out of the recent turn of events, but they snapped back to a clearer and more cautious state as they remembered the undead beings that are somehow not hostile, and seemed to be friendly with the soldiers too.
Some of the soldiers pitied their superiors on how they were gonna explain the recent events that would absolutely be doubted and say that he was a madman if without any evidence. But as it stands, there was evidence.
All the undead dragons stood in unison just outside the walls. The Captain Warrior walked to the bewildered looking other captain.
"I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous but we found some... help, I guess."
"B-but he's undead, right?"
"There's nothing to worry about since he's pretty passive about things plus he's the one that saved us. I'll explain the full details later in your office but first, I'd like him to introduce himself." As he said that, the other captain was sweating profusely at the encroaching visage of Death.
"How do you do? I'm Ainz Ooal Gown, and these are my subjects, Tsunami and Thanatos." He pointed at the water monster and the Grim Reaper, and the two bowed deeply. The Captain mustered up all his courage to speak at the undead being.
"N-nice t-to meet y-you Sir Ainz, I-I am the c-captain of the guard here." As he said that, the undead reached out his hand for shaking. He looked extremely nervous, then eyed the Vice Captain and the Captain to which they nodded to go shake his hand. Then he prayed internally to the Gods to save him of what was to happen next. He closed his eyes and took the hand of the undead being. To his expected doubt and surprise, nothing happened and after a brief moment, it was done. He sighed in relief, along with the few guards who were brave enough to look at them.
"A-alright." Whew he slowly regained his composure. "If you don't mind, you'll be staying at the waiting area along with your uh, Reaper companion? Anyways so, what are we gonna do with the d-dragons and your water mo-companion right there?" As the captain said that, Ainz looked at him like he was expecting that question. He pulled out a book out of thin air that looked anything but holy. It was the [Tome of the Undead Dimension].
This item was usually used in raiding bases or going to battle with usually high-level creatures that are not spammable. For example, back in the game, necromancer's normally had a small limit of summoning high-tier undead, and Ainz was no exception. Since he could only summon 4 high-tier summons a day before he got the Absolute Necromancer class, he couldn't really spam them. But if you keep making high-tier undead everyday and keep them inside the [Tome of the Undead Dimension], they will stack up. You can keep doing this until you reach the book's capacity and you basically now have a high-tier undead army inside the book.
The tome can collect different types of middle to high tier undead beings with a limit of 80 entities. It acts like a "storage room" or a "Pandora's box" that you can release in battle. Anyways, Ainz opened the tome, and ordered the 7 skeletal dragons to go in. 7 of the tomb's pages were filled about information of the creatures that went in. Ainz asked if Tsunami could take on a more inconspicuous form, which he could actually do all the time. Ainz mentally faceplamed himself.
'We could've appeared less intimidating if he wasn't on such a frightening from.' Yeah right Ainz, it's not like yours and Thanatos' looks have anything to do with scaring the hell out of everyone unfamiliar to you.
After that, Ainz and his companions were on the waiting area, while Gazef had gone to explain everything to the captain of the guard in E-Rantel's defense administration office. They were in disbelief and still had distrust with the non-hostile undead because all they were known for since the dawn of time, except for Surshana, were wreaking havoc on the lands of the living out of sheer hatred for them.
Since the Warrior Captain seemed trusting to the normally detestable undead, they asked if they could check him if any charm magic was applied to him, to which he complied. They did an [Appraisal] spell on him and it didn't show the works of charm magic, so they started to slightly be at ease of the undead, just a sliver of relief.
The Captain of the guard asked about the other sword he had in his side and said it was a gift from Ainz and they had surprised looks. It was extremely valuable looking and also powerful too, just from the look of the sheath. Then he unsheathed the blade and their eyes feasted on what would already be considered a National Treasure in this world. They were in awe of the Golden aura and the power the sword. They were baffled as to why the undead would give such a great weapon and answered them by saying he didn't needed it anyway and was just obsolete in his part since he's a magic caster.
The Vice Captain was with the infantry. He ordered them to be in the central plaza in exactly 5 days time. The Vice Captain and the soldiers scattered and wandered around the city to do their own shenanigans.
Gazef explained the details of what happened until the briefing was done.
Tsunami, in his human-like form, was surprisingly handsome. He looked to be 20 years old, he had electric blue eyes, and had a bored-looking but beautiful face of a young person. His appearance will probably attract many women.
Ainz gave him very exquisite blue robes that makes a king's robes look like rags compared to it. The robes were actually an item that was in the lower echelons of the Legacy Class that gives great physical and magical defense, agility, and reduces cooldowns of all spells and skills by 15%. It had golden embroidery similar to Skyrim mage robes without the hood. He wore raven black pants with golden lines in the middle of each leg, and black, polished shoe. All of these are High-class items, very fancy looking, at least in this world's standards.
He looked like a great duke or a high noble in his outfit.
Thanatos on the other hand, had basically the same gear since it was already high-class enough because of him being a level 90 undead being and all. He still had his scythe and wings exposed to let anyone know he was anything but human.
Ainz was still the same boney boy we know and love.
After half an hour of playing Rubik's cubes and reading some manga he had in his inventory, Gazef came out of the captain's office to let them know that they were allowed to stay in the city but he also said that Gazef and his remaining men will be staying here for only 5 days before they go to the capital to which Ainz said that it was alright. Ainz nodded in response and they followed the Warrior Captain to go in the city.
As the four walked through the wall's gates, they received a lot of gazes and reactions from the people that saw them. They were scared, some confused because the Warrior Captain was with them, and some women were looking infatuated with the handsome young man in noble robes and wondered why he was with them. The two undead got looks of fear and confusion. As they walked the path, no one dared to be in their way so they usually just stepped aside. Before they knew it, rumors have already spread about what happened at a rate that made wildfires seem slow, and the people were a bit wary of the newcomers. After a few minutes, they found themselves a pretty nice place called the "Shining Golden Pavilion".
It was exquisite enough but nothing compared to what Ainz had and can do. Everyone had looks of shock at the weird squad of people who entered the place. Some got tensed and grabbed the hilt of their blades but was quickly reassured by the Captain. They each bought two rooms, one large room for the three and another average one for Gazef. It was paid by Ainz' melted off YGGDRASIL gold coins since Gazef didn't bring much money with him because they certainly wasn't expecting a benevolent undead to be with them.
As they went into their respective rooms, Gazef removed his armor and got himself set up before he hit the hay. Ainz casted anti-divination magic and [Anti-information Wall] at every corner of the room to prevents some unwanted ears and [Hadrian's Wall], an 8th tier defensive spell, for good measure and also because of his paranoia.
"Alright, I guess I'll make some wraiths to gather information about the city." His servants nodded and went to their respective beds to do their things. Thanatos and Tsunami were just doing random shit until they were ordered, Ainz summoned wraiths, high wraiths, and ghosts in the room and ordered them to go outside and NOT to engage with anyone, only get ample information in the city and go back to the room by sunrise. They all nodded in agreement and went outside the city to carry out his order.
Ainz can sort of "feel" and connect to all his undead, except for the ones inside the [Tome of the Undead Dimension]. They can telepathically tell Ainz information due to the mental undead connection, not exactly the [Message] spell but they can use it.
As his other two servants go about their businesses, which is keeping guard of Ainz' safety, and the incorporeal beings do their duties. Ainz was left with utterly nothing to do, so he read a bunch of books to pass the time. Since it was dark, most of the city was asleep and silent at the dead of night. After reading a few books, he heard one of his high wraiths find a place with some books in it and no one seemed to be awake inside. So he cast [Perfect Unknowable] to himself and Thanatos, since he wanted to do something for his master, and ordered Tsunami to stay so he could guard the place. Ainz [Gate]-d themselves to the location of the high wraith.
The place wasn't anything special really. There were just a few furniture, some desks with a few papers, ink and quill, and a few books. Since they were both undead and had dark vision, they didn't really need any light to see the place. Their text wasn't in Japanese which was to be expected because they were literally transported to another world that has no connection to Japan. Though despite all that, he seemed to perfectly understand the words of the New World's denizens mysteriously because they sounded Japanese to Ainz's non-existent ears.
When the people seemed to talk, their sound doesn't match the movement of their lips, it was like their words were already getting translated as they speak. Ainz thought that this is just how language speaking in this world works but was still utterly confused and would just give him a headache so he just ignored it.
Anyway, Ainz used a magical item in the form of glasses that allow them to translate the words in order to understand it.
They learned that the place they were at was the Guild master's, Ainzach's office.
As Ainz read the books, he began to understand part of the magical standards and unique magic of this world like [Martial Arts], which were essentially "Warrior's Magic" that they use to buff up their bodies, but at a cost of stamina, and maybe also life force, because average people can only use up to 3-4 at the same time, 5-6 If you're lucky, and anything above that means your special. But if use too much, it can have side effects that can harm your health as soon as the Martial Arts wear off.
He also learned that normal people, humans, can only learn up to tier 1 and 2 spells, if their talented, maybe 3rd tier. Spells of the 4th and 5th tier means your very strong and can be considered Adamantite level. 6th tier means you have power of the legends. And that's basically their standards for how high they think tier magic gets and 7th tier magic is still heavily debated among a lot of people.
They did believe the 'Gods' were capable of such magic 7th tier and above. Ainz was a bit underwhelmed about this because of how they weak they are compared to his but I guess he now knew why the Sunlight Scripture wasn't much of a fighting force.
He also realized that if one of the 'Demon Gods' whatever they were, most probably players, were 'defeated' by the Dominion Authority (which he highly doubted), or at least had done significant damage to them, then they would be average-leveled players. Because for sure this was absolutely a fight of many numbers because no way in hell the 'Demon Gods', with their collective group, would all lose to a mid-level angel.
He estimated their level to be at least on the higher 50s or the lower 60s, which, to him, were small fry and he can solo squads of their level no problem with a few strategies from Punnito Moe's advice and the book he read (and still has in his inventory) called "PKs for Dummies." Or he could just overwhelm them with sheer skill and statistics superiority, fight head on and completely obliterate them within a few seconds.
Heck, even groups of level 80 players can't last a long amount of time against a level 100, much less anything below that. But of course, he's not one to underestimate anything and stays cautious of everything he encounters. After all, information is one of the best weapons in warfare, even in YGGDRASIL where info was basically gold.
Anyways, aside from those, he also learned of something that sparked his curiosity. He now knew that before the six came and brought the easier-to-understand-and-learn tier magic, they had something called "Wild Magic" that was harder to use and only a few species, especially the ones they call "Dragon lords" and the ones that have the bloodline of Dragon lords, can wield.
They were said to be powerful magic but came at an inefficient cost– souls. One needs souls in order to fuel their Wild magic and worst of all, the souls must be followers of the user. Which was pretty bad, but still, Ainz's curiosity-filled, whatever he has in place of a heart, was phantomly pumping up and down. He put back the books on their respective places.
As he was done reading, he hadn't realized that it was already day time due to his undead nature of not getting tired and all. Ainz thanked the high wraith for his duty and teleported out of the office.
When they got back, Tsunami was still there. Just like yesterday, they did their own things until they heard a knock from the newly-woke, Warrior Captain. Tsunami opened the door.
"Oh hello Tsunami...-san. Are you going down to, um do things? I mean I don't know if you're going to eat breakfast or not so..."
"Oh it's alright Gazef-san, we will be going down to explore things in the city."
"Alright, good luck." He left for breakfasts and to do his duties.
"Umu. Thanatos, Tsunami, remember, no killing and other feats of violence. Do you understand?"
"Lord!"
Ainz and co. wandered around, while being avoided by people of course, and eventually stumbled upon the Adventurer's Guild. He entered the door which, well, attracted a lot of people. Most of their expressions were of horror and confusion that said 'Why the hell is an undead here?'.
"Hey! What the hell is a filthy undead like you doing here, huh?!" A brave and large man screamed and prepared to attack the undead.
As Thanatos and Tsunami heard him call them 'filth', they were pissed to the maximum level. Oh no, this ain't gonna end well for the dude. Thanatos and Tsunami filled the whole fuckin' room with their killing intent. It was so dense that it almost suffocated everyone. The man who exclaimed earlier was literally going to die just from the killing intent. Thanatos flew faster than the wind and side-jabbed the fuck out of his face. He restrained his strength just to make him unconscious and not kill anyone as per his master's orders of "no killing".
The man hit a table with a potion on it and a wall with frightening force, making a small crater on the area he landed on. Everyone was dazed on what happened because in just 2 seconds, the dude was hanging on for dear life, unconscious on the side of the wall.
"STOP THANATOS! THAT IS ENOUGH. Don't take my words lightly. I told you to not engage in any form of violence earlier, did I not?" The undead Overlord was disappointed and said in a commanding tone, even more frightening than their killing intents earlier.
"I'm very sorry Ainz-sama! I shall atone for mine sins with my life!" As he was about to decapitate himself with his scythe, Ainz spoke angrily.
"ENOUGH! Everyone makes mistakes, even I do to, but always strive to not do your failures again. Don't take your own life away, you are valuable to me as my companion. Now as for your punishment, face the wall, stand in the corner over there and do nothing until we're done here."
His order made the Reaper almost look like he was crying for his unruly behavior that disappointed Ainz. He cowered in the corner and looked like he was repenting to him silently. Tsunami just stared silently and giving a hateful glare to the human that called his master filth, and stopped it to not get the ire of his master.
"Ah fine, look. I'm sorry but just remember to never do things like that ever again, I forgive you. Don't take whatever they call me seriously. They're humans, of course they are going to be afraid of us." The Reaper was still ashamed of his earlier actions.
Ainz then faced the people with petrified expressions, none would dare voice their opinions on him. He bowed to everyone and said.
"I'm very sorry everyone, for the inconveniences my subordinate has caused you. And it's is because of my unreinforced instructions that I have failed as his superior. Though I must warn you, please keep your thoughts of me and my servants to yourselves, because while I might take it properly, my servants probably won't." After he said that, he left everyone in the room with bewildered and gulping expressions.
He went near the beat piece o' meat that Thanatos has thrashed into the wall and cast a [Heal] spell to remove his bruises and damages like it wasn't even there in the first place. He grabbed the unconscious man and threw him to one of the adventurers, again, everyone was too scared to say anything. He then cast [Item Restoration], a 5th tier spell that reverts the damage done to any item except for high class and above. It is a weaker but cost efficient version of the 7th tier spell [Greater Item Restoration]. The table and the wall was restored back to its original state, like it wasn't even in pieces before.
The potion however, was shattered and was found pretty far away from the 'crash' site. Its contents were spilled all over the place, so what he did was pick a piece of the potion bottle up and cast the spell again, except the contents didn't go back. Ainz made a [Cleanse] spell to clean the area and produced another potion from his inventory.
"Who is the owner of this potion that my servant has unfortunately destroyed?" He asked everyone in the room. A young woman of average stature with red, short hair and a freckled face looked at him with fearful eyes, then she said.
"Th-that would be m-me." She shakingly raised her hand to the undead.
He walked to the girl and handed a red potion of exquisite design and the empty bottle that once held the blue healing potion to her. She was surprised a bit and reluctantly received the red potion and nodded.
"Since your potion has been destroyed, I will oblige on making up to you, as the superior bears the mistakes of his subordinates when they are not properly disciplined."
What she could do was just sighing in relief and disbelief of the things that transpired recently.
Everyone was just staring at him and his subordinates in what the hell just happened. Ainz noticing this said.
"Oh, don't mind me, I just came here to check out the adventurer's guild. You can continue doing whatever duties you have." And with that, everyone just followed and returned to their activities and still being cautious of the undead.
Ainz checked the missions' board and found that the missions were really boring and underwhelming for him. But something caught his eye, there was a mission that said that the cemetery was having a sudden influx of more undead. After he found that out, he went to the counter where the girl was and asked her of what she knew of this. She first saw the handsome man behind the undead with a bored expression and seemed to look at nothingness but snapped back to reality as he saw the terrifying undead. He reassured her that nothing will happen to her but she was still in disbelief and frightened of the seemingly polite being.
"U-um, m-mister, a f-few days ago before y-you came here, the cemetery has b-been bustling w-with even more undead activity and i-it was starting to w-worry everyone s-so this was p-posted to um de-defeat them and t-take care of th-them." She said in a nervous tone. Then he just realized something.
'Oh no! He's undead! I don't know how he'll react if his own brethren was getting killed! A-and he might be the one that caused the undead to grow in numbers!' She thought worryingly.
"Hmm, alright. I'd like to take a look of the situation myself. This has piqued my interest umu." He said unexpectedly.
'Wait, he doesn't know about it? And he's not mad? Either way, I'll have to report this to the guildmaster.' She thought and spoke to the undead once again.
"U-um mister u-undead, you m-might want to meet with our guildmaster f-first to talk about it."
"Oh, my apologies! I forgot that I was meddling with the affairs that are not of my own. Sure I'd like to meet your guild master." As she heard that, she bowed and sprinted to Ainzach's office
-•••-
E-Rantel Cemetery… A few days ago…
Clementine meets with Khajiit Dale Badantel in the secret shrine under the great cemetery of E-Rantel to discuss the kidnapping of Nfirea, who was a well known pharmacist talent holder with the talent magic item affinity allowing him to use any magic item without restriction, and their plans to use him in the Ritual of Death prepared by Khajiit.
One night later, she bumps into Zach on her way to meet with four workers whom she had planned on hiring to survey the house of Lizzie Bareare. However, she kills three of the workers out of bloodthirst and uses mind-control on the last one to have him obey her. Still unsatisfied at not being able to kidnap Nfirea she again meets Khajiit in the secret shrine and launches a surprise attack on him, only to have it blocked by a summoned magic bone wall. Smiling, she leaves as if nothing happened while Khajiit, accustomed to her lunacy, simply curses her as a madwoman.
-•••-
Somewhere in E-Rantel… After the incident…
After Brita had received the potion given by the undead, he went to the well known pharmacist's house for the appraisal. She felt as if the air was filled with all sorts of alchemical smells, as Brita sniffed the place a few times.
There was no mistaking that the place she was in had a lot to do with unknown herbs and chemicals used for procuring potions.
'Yup, this is the place.' She thought while remembering the potion she got from the undead.
Brita continued to move ahead into the area where the smell was even stronger. After cautiously looking around, she arrived in front of the biggest building.
The place's design was pretty unique compared to the others where the front had a store and the back was the place for alchemy production. The structure was designed to serve as a workshop, without having a storefront like the other buildings.
From the wooden plate hanging loosely on top of the door that had a sign "Bareare's Pharmacy". She was now sure this was it.
The bell hanging on the door was struck unexpectingly loud when she pushed the door open.
She entered the hall that seemed to be the waiting room for guests, with two benches facing each other in the middle. Bookcases were placed on the walls and decorative plants were placed in the corners.
She heard the voice of someone who probably heard the door open.
"Welcome to the Bareare's Pharmacy!"
It was the voice of a young man. She looked around and found a youth dressed that wore the typical clothes and a brown, worn out apron with lots of chemicals spilled into it and it looked like it was used rather recently.
His face was half-covered by his long, blond hair, making it hard to judge his age. But judging his height and voice, he should still be a growing healthy child despite his rather slim appearance.
Despite being a child, it was pretty easy to guess who he was considering the lack of people in the place. She was definitely looking at one of two the famous pharmacist's in E-Rantel recognized for his talents.
"...Mister Nfirea Bareare?"
"Yes, that's me."
The young person with curiosity filled eyes nodded and asked:
"Now, let's get down to business. How may I help you ma'am?"
"Ah, right. Please wait a moment."
Brita took a folded paper that an also seemingly interested adventurer gave her after the whole… incident and handed it to the boy going to her.
Nfirea Immediately opened it to read its contents.
When he received the potion, his eyes widened behind his bangs. The hair that recently covered his eyes were moved by his hands to properly inspect the potion. It showed the face of a beautiful young man that would grow handsome and attract woman when he grows older.
"Ehem, sorry about that. Let's go to a more convenient and appropriate place for talking."
Brita agreed and followed Nfirea's into a messy room. But she only thought so because she was lacking professional knowledge.
On the table were distillers, test tubes, flasks, mortars, beakers, pots, burners, cylinders, and other tools used for alchemy, chemical experiments and production. The cabinets, drawers, and shelves were all contained with a staggering number of herbs and other raw ingredients that are used for alchemy.
A weird and pervasive smell covered the whole atmosphere of the place.
The person in the room looked at the two newcomers, of course in reality there was only one newcomer.
The person was an old woman well past her prime, had short white and grey hair, and wrinkles on her old, crooked body. Her apron and overall's stain and smell were superior to Nfirea's.
Nfirea yelled at the old lady when he entered.
"Grandmaaaaaa!"
"Keep it down, will you? I can still here pretty well despite my advanced age. Go on, what is this about?"
~End of Chapter 4-