[Edit : thanks for the reviews! It's really a stream of consciousness kind of thing. I'm just putting whatever I think will be cool to be in.]

Chapter 5

Ainz was presented with a dilemma. Whether to continue as Momon, or to now direct his energies fully to the little game that he now plays, or how will Momon's quest change in order to better fit the objectives they have set for themselves. Momon's presence as an adventurer is very useful for the 2nd mission, of locating and obtaining high quality high value artifacts and items that are native to the New World, and also probably useful for the 3rd one, where they seek out the best horses in the New World. Perhaps he could ask for a horse as a prize, should he perform certain missions, though that would probably lead him away from E-Rantel to somewhere where horses are more commonly found.

So one day, after the day's briefing with Albedo ended, "Albedo, I've got some questions for you…"

Albedo smiled, "Yes, Ainz-sama. I'll answer any question you ask. Is it something naughty?" Her smile transformed into something a little cheeky, and a little sinister.

"Uh, no. Has any reports come back on any cities or towns that are not under the larger nations, any reports of valuable artifacts, or perhaps… good quality horses?"

"No, Ainz-sama. Nothing worth your time so far. What we've found so far in this new world is unworthy of your greatness."

"Is that so…" Ainz shrugged. They've yet to announce their competition to the rest of Nazarick, so they may not know why it is relevant to them yet. "How far has our scouts gone?"

"Sebas and Solution is arriving at Re-Estize. Cocytus is still researching the lizardmen that we found near the lake, Aura and Mare is clearing the great forest of Tob for the fake Nazarick construction. Shalltear and Demiurge are in Nazarick, Demiurge is experimenting with all the humans that we have captured, and with the items we have retrieved from all the missions your greatness has done so far."

"I see." Ainz did not really want to interrupt the guardians that are so busy doing work. He'll need to figure out a better time to communicate their game, and so decided he'll wait a little longer. He looked over the papers that are in front of him, and wondered who Albedo got to prepare such beautiful reports. Perhaps it's the maid, or is it her own handwriting? "Albedo, is this your handwriting?"

Albedo looked at the report, "Yes it is, Ainz-sama."

"It's beautiful." He pointed at the report, admiring her lovely calligraphy. It even smells a little fragrant.

She blushed, her wings fluttered. "Thank you, Ainz-sama. I'll write anything for you every day if you so wish it."

"Oh, that won't be necessary. I do not want to add more work to your already heavy burden."

Hmm, if Albedo is selected to be my assistant, who will be responsible for the administration of Nazarick? On that front, I think Demiurge can also handle it, or perhaps Pandora's Actor?

Albedo looked at Ainz curiously, "It's not like that, Ainz-sama. We love to serve you."

Ainz probably would have had a migraine if he was still human. He has not quite come to terms with how whole-heartedly the guardians are willing to serve him. It's unreal, and impossible in reality. In reality, it's always a game of tit-for-tat, a game of tradeoffs. And if he were to get New World servants, he figured they'd be more like humans, and less like the guardians.

"Is there anything more I can do for you, Ainz-sama? Please do let us know, we really mean it."

"Oh. Nothing else. That's all, Albedo. Thank you for your hard work."

"Anything for you, Ainz-sama." Albedo bowed, and left the room.

What do I do now?

The chambers has changed much since the day he claimed it. It is now well lit, thanks to the goblin worker that installed various lights throughout the chambers and the paths that led to it. The chamber itself had gotten a fresh layer of brown earthy paint, and now looks neat and almost regal. It's beginning to look quite fitting as a home.

There is a few cabinets that was used to store the stolen books, and a large table that was used to display the maps that he had acquired. The first thing he ordered since getting hold of the maps was to summon some helpers, who was then tasked to decipher the maps and books. The summoned helpers are eight dark elves, and they worked day and night for five days to come up with some findings.

Next step, after the maps and books were combed for potential areas of interest, is to send out scouts to those shortlisted areas. Since sending out birds that flew out of the city itself was a little suspicious, it was done on the outskirts. On a hill at the outskirts of Re-Estize, he summoned 20 grey owls and 20 black crows, and sent them to each of the shortlisted areas. Those shortlisted were mostly old ruins, and old cities that had seen destruction.

There was also a dormant volcano far from the kingdom, that had erupted few hundred years ago and sent out a cloud of smoke and dust that darkened the skies for weeks. Though there were no cities nearby, being a smith looking for materials and perhaps rare minerals, it was a logical place to go to. So that was sent to as well.

And there was one that he was most interested in, the destroyed elven city of Hayel, now partially submerged underwater, thanks to a devastating war that redirected a river to run through the forest city. History had it that the city once had 100,000 elves and various monsters that once lived together, in service of the reigning elven king. Though conflict with humans and other demihumans eventually brought it ruin, certainly a reminder that good times never last.

Magic in this world, exists in various forms. Magic is generated by places, things, and people, and at the same time it influences them in a kind of feedback loop that plays out over the generations. The concentration of people generates certain types of energies, which then manifests in the children born in those areas having certain benefits, this is the specialisation effect. This specialisation effect, in long periods of time, then feeds back the same energies into the magic of the land, making it stronger. There is also the negative kind, where high amount of undeads will fuse to form higher level undeads. Perhaps it is the death it has seen, or it's glory those many years ago, that he suspects magic may exist in higher concentrations there.

The magical streams that flowed through the sewers had a purplish hue to them, it swirls and thickens around the orb that now forms the key to that power. The magic here isn't in very intense concentrations, but is still sufficient to sustain a small dungeon.

After holding onto the orb and using it a few times, it seemed as if the dungeon has some rudimentary sentience. Or the more appropriate term, is that the dungeon has some kind of self management AI, the displays itself in the form of the wispy voice that talked to him. The AI sets the spawn rate of the dungeons' spiders, the spawn points, calculates available coins for use to replenish traps, or resummon higher tier defenses, and even generates a report on how much the dungeon is earning via sewer harvesting vs how much it is spending for maintenance. It's really like a game interface of a real time strategy game. It also has an overview of the entire structure that sort of reflects itself like a game minimap, that can be improved by spending coin (duh). It seems even in this world, the perils of paid upgrades exists.

The elven partially-sunken city was going to be his first visit since the scouts were sent out. The humans of the capital are still searching for the books, and seems to be headed towards outside of town. Rumors on the street suggested that it was stolen by other countries, though he suspected there is a political swordplay going on with the type of rumors that are floating about.

The sewers, with both Arana and Gabbadar should be relatively safe, but they might be overwhelmed by the sheer number of attackers some day. But the human tendency of sending smaller groups of scouts before sending in the actual army, should give him enough time for the defences to warn him, and for him to retreat, teleport back and reinforce the dungeon with his summoned monsters.

He also configured the AI of the dungeon to send him a message if an intruder gets to level 3 of the dungeon. Sort of like an alarm that calls the cops when intruded. It's something that really makes life managing dungeons relatively easy, though Wololo did wonder whether these conveniences the dungeon has, is tied to his skill as a max level dungeon keeper. Maybe he should check with Ainz whether he has similar user-friendly interfaces for Nazarick. But some other time.

He teleported to the valley of the former elven city, alone. It is now mostly overgrown forests, and one half of it submerged underwater. The river that ran through here was once smaller, but the enemies of the then figured out how to redirect smaller streams into this one, creating a flood that destroyed the elven defenses, opening them to both attacks, and also new diseases brought about by floods that weakened them gradually.

The bird that he had sent here earlier to scout out the place the landed on his shoulders, and then disappeared into dust in a poof. The dust then swirled around Wololo and somehow merged into him, as if it was one and the same.

Through the dust, it gave Wololo a bird's eye view of what it earlier saw, of the monsters that appear here, a detailed view of the terrain, of the shape of the lake, and of the kind of temperate plants that generally grow here.

It's cold. Much colder than the Kingdom's capital of Re-Estize, probably a property of it's higher altitudes and the cold winds that blow ever so often here. The natural vegetation appears to be pine trees and junipers that appear resistant to cold, and although the lake did submerge large parts of the old city, it did not quite develop into a swamp. The old elven structures are mostly gone too, but there seemed to be some stone structures that still remain, and those are where he is headed to.

[Summon : Fenrir]

A level 70 doom wolf about the size of a fully grown lion, with natural affinity to cold and the ability to radiate a frost aura. It even temporarily turns naturally warm places into mild winters, when it walks past, thanks to its vast frost aura. Wololo too, [shapeshifted] himself into his Werewolf form, which has higher natural resistance to such colder weathers. The pack of 2, comprising Wololo the Werewolf and Fenrir then headed towards the nearest ruins.

The first of the ruins is a collapsed temple, and it looked like it was destroyed some 200-300 years ago. The carvings on the temple walls and columns suggested it worshipped some kind of tree god, or perhaps the tree of knowledge, and had carvings of people kneeling before it and giving it gifts. The temple grounds now has large trees growing in various spots, instead of a clear spaces that templates usually have, but none resembled the huge tree depicted in the carvings.

It was then, a brown bear appeared, similar in appearance to that of a giant grizzly bear. And another, from behind one of the rocks and rubble. The bears' eyes glowing red, the two bears bared its large fangs and radiated a fearsome bloodlust, or perhaps it's just hunger. He judged the two bears to be about level 20 to 30, its' bear hide had streaks of black and red that blended into the brown fur, probably resistant to slicing and pierce weapons. And they entered into a charging stance, about to charge at the two wolves.

But the doom wolf had the advantage, as Fenrir roared, and both the bears froze. An bluish ice shell had instantly encapsulated both bears, and after about 15 seconds, the ice shells shattered, and the bears then collapsed lifeless. It was Fenrir's [ice cage]. After they retrieved the leftover bear hide (which he stored into his massive magical inventory from the beyond), and they then proceeded underground. Nothing. The underground was just a room that's covered in dirt.

The next ruins was a little further away, and the 2 wolves met a few more bears along the way. Posing little challenge, it reminded him of grinding for creeps back int he MMOs.

The next ruins looked like it was once a castle of some kind. The lower part of the castle is partially submerged by the waters of the lake but there was a door that looked like it once had a drawbridge over it, as the old drawbridge lay collapsed in the waters down below, partially rotten away. Fenrir roared, and a bridge of ice formed to link their land to the door. The ice also shattered the door itself, opening it wide for them.

Inside, they were attacked by giants. These giants were 3 meter tall, hugely muscular and well built humanoids. There were 3 of them, sat over some rocks and appear to be eating what looked like bear meat when they spotted the 2 wolves. They wore bear hides, and their skins seemed to have large scars all over them. They had clubs (which were essentially logs), that they swung at them with their massive strength, creating a gust of wind that pushed things away, even if it didn't actually land.

They were also about level 20-30, but were faster than the bears, and had armor.

Perhaps they were surprised that a wolf entered their "castle".

"GIANTS, STOP." Wololo roared, radiating a massive aura [Fear Aura III].

To further disable them, Fenrir created an ice sheet that froze all 3 giant's lower body, making them unable to move.

The giants grunted, and tried to shake themselves out of the ice, but Fenrir's ice prove too strong for them. Wololo then walked over to one of the giants that looked like he was the eldest of the three. "Do you talk, Giant?"

The giant tried to swing it's log at Wololo, with its unfrozen arm. Perhaps fighting, is the only talk they understand. A pity, really.

He blocked it easily with his right armlet, and then the log shattered. Fenrir then manipulated the ice sheet that covered their lower half expanded to cover the entire giant, suffocating them and freezing them to death.

Wololo took a better view of the courtyard of the castle. It had seen better days, with its walls falling apart at various sections, the floor itself uneven, and some parts covered in debris. The castle towers too had mostly collapsed from the ages. There was a hall, a little bit further into the courtyard, the outside of the hall now covered in bear bones and waste, probably thrown away by the giants who had the bears as food.

The hall door had long been broken, the door braces bent out of shape. The giants had expanded the door to fit their size.

Inside, 2 more giants. Around the hall, there were 4 makeshifts beds, made out of bear hides.

Seeing how none of the giants were interested in conversation other than clubbing, Fenrir froze them to death as well. Nothing of value in the hall, Wololo sighed.

There was a stairs that led downstairs, but its flooded with lakewater. Leaving the hall, they checked the rest of the castle and found nothing. Almost all things of value was gone, and what's left is really just rubble. Perhaps adventurers in the past few hundred years have cleared these ruins.

The third ruin, was a vast empty area that's littered with obelisks and various statues. Most of them are broken, though some still remain. The statues and obelisks are mostly mutilated, robbed of the gems and irons that used to be embedded into them.

At the center of it, was a tree. About 40 meters in high, it was easily the largest tree they've seen so far in the area, and probably was a beautiful tree in it's prime. Now, it is a dying tree. The tree's barks were massively damaged, with axe marks all over it, and one side of it looked like it was burnt by an intense flame, all charred black. It no longer had any green leaves, it's top all barren. There were various broken branches scattered all over the floor. Perhaps long ago, this tree would have been the focus of the entire garden, but now, it's dying state merely amplified the death and negativity in it.

Wololo and Fenrir approached the dying tree, attempting to touch it, then a large serpent appeared, from within the tree itself.

[ACID BREATH]

It instantly spit some kind of greenish venom at the two of them, which was blocked by a wall of ice that Fenrir generated. The greenish venom melted the ice, but the two wolves are safe, undamaged by the venom that was sprayed at them.

The serpent was about 20 meters in length, and had rough scales that looked more like thick armor than serpentine scales. Light brown in color, it had deep green eyes with yellow slits, and it hissed at them. It entered into a striking stance, like a cobra waiting to pounce.

It spat the venom again, and Fenrir blocked with wall of ice, whereas Wololo himself casted [Fireblast] which incinerated the venom. The serpent flung it's tail at them, and Wololo parried with his right armlet again. Though he successfully blocked it, the impact was massive and pushed him a meter or so, creating a line on the ground.

The serpent scales were armor-like substances, and in essence, it was immune to most common weapons. So simple weapons was not going to work.

Fenrir activated [Freeze aura IV], which froze the surrounding 100 meters in ice. The serpent too was caught in it, and had some ice form on its skin, but it was still able to shake it off and move, and attacked with its tail again.

Wololo parried, and casted [Massive Enchant Armor], [Massive Speedburst] and [Massive Enchant Weapon], and leaped towards its head, with his glowing magic hammer in hand.

[Thundersmash].

The serpent dodged it, and instead he hit the leftover skin of the serpent, which then disintegrated. Fenrir though managed to them create ice around the serpent, slowing it down. And he charged again.

[Thundersmash]

And this time, with Fenrir's ice gripped onto the serpent, he hit it squarely on its head, passing a massive jolt of thunder through the serpent, that seared the inner organs of the serpent. The serpent though, was not dead yet.

It spit out a pool of venom at Wololo.

[Deflection]

The venom was redirected midair and landed on the ground, and sizzled as it dissipated.

Fenrir roared, and three massive swords of ice landed on the serpent, piercing it at it's tip, the center, and near the head. Still not dead yet, Wololo grabbed his hammer, and smacked the serpent on its head again with [Thundersmash]. The serpent, weakened, tried to lift its head to counterattack. And he hit it another time with [Thundersmash].

Then the head of the serpent exploded, scattering its innards everywhere on the icy floor.

He then harvested the serpents remains for its' scales, its venom pouch, its massive fangs, and even collected some of its blood. He'll figure out what to do with them once he gets back.

*kraaaaaaaaaaak*

Then, a loud crack was heard from the dying tree.

The large tree that was dying, was finally dead. The death of the serpent somehow caused the tree to split in half, a huge rift breaking it from the root upwards. Perhaps, the serpent was the last magical link to the tree, and it kept the tree alive. The tree's branches that was already bare, started to turn into dust, and everything turned to dust, and the disintegration spread downwards to the trunk, and after about 5 minutes, the entire tree was gone.

At the place where the tree once stood though, was a clear green gem, about the size of a clam. He approached it, and then casted the spell [Greater Appraise Item].

The clear green gem, was not a weapon, nor did it give any magical properties. It was some kind of magical seed. It's ability read. "A seed. Plant in land, and watch the Tree grow." He then kept it in his inventory, and set out for the next and final ruin, the only tower that still did not collapse.

The tower was located on the lake, it's lower part submerged underwater. There was a window at the very top, and that was the only opening.

With [Mass Flight], both Wololo and Fenrir entered the tower from the top.

It's a rather narrow tower, with a circular stairs that slowly wind downwards. Inside the tower, there were crows and various birds that made the place their nest, safe from the land animals that prey on them.

And sadly, even further down the tower, there was only birds, and more bird poop. And really, really, a lot of old, hardened poop, collected over the ages.

Perhaps it could be a tourist site some day.

Sebas had arrived with Solution to the city of Re-Estize, disguised as a noble lady from foreign lands, and her attendant butler. They rented a mansion in a fancy part of town, as their "home" whilst they go about their business.

Part of Albedo's instructions earlier, was for Sebas to meet up with Wololo-sama who had arrived here earlier to start a career as an enchanter. The details of their roles and how they are to behave in their "character" as butler and enchanter, had yet to be further discussed, but they should be able to figure it out once they meet and discuss it over.

Of course, one of the challenges with Wololo-sama, is often finding him. With his constant shapeshifting and various animal forms, he could easily be the cockroach by the roadside and everyone would have missed him. Part of the qualities of being a shapeshifter means he can naturally mask his presence, and detecting him via magical means is also a bit difficult.

It's generally just easier to [Message] Wololo-sama and agree a meet up point afterwards.

"Wololo-sama, we've arrived at Re-Estize. Please allow us to attend to you."

"Ah, Sebas. It's okay. I am sufficiently well attended to. I have my companions here with me."

"Oh…. But…"

"No buts, Sebas. I do not need to be attended to… OH! Since you're here, I can give you a tour of my new home."

"New home, Wololo-sama?"

"Yes Sebas. Come to the border of the merchant quarters and the central square tonight. We will meet under the bridge."

That night, both Sebas and Solution waited at the bridge. It's late and there was no one left on the streets, except the 2. The sewer entrances was just next to them, and it stank a little. Solution, being a slime, did not mind the smell at all though.

After about 15 minutes of waiting, a human emerged from the sewers. "Sebas, and Solution. Here!" Wololo waved at them in his human form, and they walked over and followed him into the sewers.

"What is this place, Wololo-sama?"

"The capital's sewers. It leads further in from here. Don't mind the critters, they are generally harmless." They eventually passed the first level and into the second, and larger spiders started appearing. Though they wanted to attack both Sebas and Solution that the dungeon's defense system do not recognise, Wololo was able to order them to stand down.

They passed the lower level 3 shafts, and then into the main chamber that is decorated with the stolen maps.

"We're here. The main chamber of the sewers." Wololo then pointed over to Arana who was polishing her sword. "And that's Arana. The spider queen that I've converted. Then that's Gabbadar, the assigned guardian of this sewer's key." Gabbadar and Arana both stood and bowed at the visitors, noticing the guests their master had brought.

Sebas and Solution looked around the chambers, impressed that Wololo-sama had so quickly built a small force around himself, and had even claimed a dungeon. Such is the nature of supreme beings, their abilities beyond imagination.

Wololo brought them to a seating area with some sofas, and then they went on about what they have seen so far in their travels, the maps and stories they read from the stolen books, and the knowledge they had acquired.

In Wololo's mind, it was never a secret. It just that he got too engrossed with the next step to take that he forgets to update the inhabitants of Nazarick, so he did not realise that his forgetfulness of sharing news and findings with Nazarick will bring future troubles.

Back in the rented mansion after their meet up with the supreme being, Solution then said.

"The sewers are cozy. I would prefer to be there than this human mansion. It's almost like a really really tiny Nazarick."

"Ah. Yes. If we did not have to keep up a facade as a travelling nobles, we should use the sewers. It can easily accommodate us. Anyway let us get to work tomorrow on gathering information and the magic of this world. Wololo-sama has shared plenty of what he knows of the capital city."

Anna ran.

She couldn't take it any more. How everyone looked at her with pitiful eyes. How disappointed they look. How helpless she felt.

She cursed at how unfortunate she had cursed at the ring that she took from the mines, at her own greed, at her negligence of not checking and properly appraising the equipment before equipping them.

She ran into the forests. She was angry. She was sad. Conflicted. Confused.

She wanted to kill herself. There was a cliff somewhere she could jump from.

But she froze before it. The shadows did not let her. It held onto her body, gripping her with tendrils that looked like vines.

"Death, is not the answer, Anna."

"How is this pathetic life better than death? I've lost my friends, my purpose!"

"You should embrace it. Why do you fear me, your very own shadow so much?"

"Let me go!"

"OH Anna, Anna. There is a way you can free yourself from me, and it is not death. "

Anna froze. "Huh?" and she turned around to look at the shadows. "What do you mean? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"You never asked." the shadow shrugged somehow with its shoulders. "You are in debt, Anna. Once you pay your debts, you are free. Free, from me."

"Debt? Who do I owe? What is it that I owe?"

The shadow smiled.

"Think of me, as your banking agent. When you stole the ring, you are now in debt to the bank ,and now you must work to pay back your debt, to atone for your foolishness."

Anna gulped. She did not like the idea very much. It sounded like how young children was often sold into slavery to pay for their parents recklessness. But if this was a path out, she should at least hear it.

"You shall serve the bank, and if you succeed at what the bank ask of you, your debt will shrink." A magical bar appeared on top of the shadow. "This is your debt." The shadow pointed to it. Then a number appeared next to it. It read 800.

"Why 800? What have I done to get such an amount. What is 800 worth?"

"Stole the ring. 200 points. Saved your life when you tried to kill yourself. 600." Anna felt regret instantly for her recklessness.

So how does this work?

"The bank will present you with a set of missions. 3, in fact. Before you start the mission you will clearly see how much debt will be cleared if you complete it. Its sort of like being an adventurer, except you serve the bank now."

Anna and the shadow walked down the steps and she tried to think about what she had just been presented. She wondered whether the odds were fair and whether its set up such that she will never be able to pay it back.

Isn't this making a deal with the devil?

She read the 3 missions that the shadow presented before her. They appears in the form of 3 separate floating pieces of paper.

1. Kill the guildmaster of this city. 80 points.

2. Steal the mayor's key to the treasury. 60 points

3. Move to Slane Theocracy's city. 40 points.

She gulped at reading all 3 of the missions, realising that she had indeed sold herself to the devil, but decided the last of the 3 missions was the most "reasonable" of them. But she knew this was just the first of many, and if she wants her freedom, she would have to go along with it.

"Do I have to accept the last mission, or do I just go ahead and do it, then it'll disappear by itself?"

"You have to accept. Just touch the 3rd mission with your fingers."

She lightly tapped what looked like a floating piece of paper about the move to the Slane Theocracy, and then the other two papers burned away before her eyes.

"Oh well, what choice do I have? This guy isn't going to let me die anyway."

Perhaps the priests of Slane Theocracy will be able to banish this evil that has taken over her, and deciding that's the best overall choice, she went back to the inn, packed her little belongings and left in the middle of the night.

…

…