Lupus had left their room at the River Inn to pursue what she thought would be an amusing pastime. Snooping around the village while invisible seemed like it would yield interesting, or at the very least, humorous results. She had started by exploring the two buildings next to the river, if she remembered correctly, they were the ones that processed wood or something like that. One building had nothing but a sawmill and a few stacks of uncut and cut wood…boring. The building next to this one simply held a workshop to convert some of the lumber into chairs, decorations, and other poorly crafted human things. Lupus had somewhat recalled that the human who showed them around said something about these buildings already, but she zoned out of the tour from time to time, finding the information sleep inducing.

The shop they had seen their tour guide enter was Lupus's next visit. She figured that since the store had stuff going in and out of it all the time, it might hold some interesting secrets. She crossed the dirt street and simply walked up to the door, taking ahold of the knob and turning it until she heard the lock break. Lupus snickered to herself as she entered the building, lazily swinging the door shut behind her. Scanning the room before her, Lupus's face fell to a frown. The store looked very basic and wasn't filled to the brim with mysterious artifacts or attractive looking chests as she roughly imagined. She did spot a set of stairs that enticed her, but after quickly making her way down and giving the basement a quick visual sweep, saw that it was simply a cluttered basement with random supplies stored all around.

Lupus Sighed then murmured to herself, "This has been pretty boring so far, maybe I should've just gone with Entoma, at least she gets to kill something."

Lupus didn't bother rummaging through the store, instead she opted to get to her main "attraction". She exited the store, not bothering to worry about the broken lock or even shutting the door all the way. She activated her fly ability and within seconds was hovering over the homes of the villagers, trying to decide which house to peek inside first. Her obvious first choices were the few homes which still emitted a light source from within, surely those still had humans that were up and about. The only problem that she foresaw was the small size of these homes and the fact that she was only invisible, people could still touch her. Still, she thought this was a small risk in the grand scheme of things, she just had to cure this immense boredom she was feeling.

Choosing one at random, Lupus gracefully descended and made her way through the window. As she quietly landed on the wooden floorboards of the residence, she looked up to see that she had found herself in a room with a lone man sitting at a table. This man had several bottles on the table and was currently finishing another one off, tossing said bottle behind him. He grunted as he stood up and started to make his way over to a cabinet that sat next to his bed, although he was swaying from left to right and was using his arms to balance himself. The walk from his chair to his cabinet, presumably filled with more bottles, was only about ten feet, but seemingly still quite the distance for a man as intoxicated as him. Lupus was disappointed at first, thinking that this person was too out of their mind to have fun with, but after some quick thinking, decided that she would make anything work at this point. She also got the idea that since this guy was having trouble doing something as basic as walking, that he wouldn't be too hard to trick if she disabled her invisibility. This was it! She would reveal herself and trick him into believing that she was a figment of his imagination, making him do strange and funny things. This was a pretty juvenile thing to do even for herself she thought, but since she wasn't permitted to harm a human unless she was defending herself, decided to go with it.

Lupus reversed the effects of her invisibility and cheerfully spoke up, "Hey!" She added a cutesy wave.

The man flinched and turned his head to get a look at whoever it was that just said this. He was drunk, so all he could really make out was that a person was standing in his house and had called for his attention. He squinted his eyes and after a couple seconds realized roughly what was happening.

"I'm Lupus, don't be scared, I was-" Lupus was suddenly cut off as the man angrily blurted out something nearly incomprehensible.

"What tha' hell…what're ya' doin' trynna ta rob me!" The man switched from his sluggish demeanor earlier and sprinted towards a wooden chest that sat near the entrance of his home. He practically fell onto the chest, but then proceeded to open it and dig around.

Lupus raised an eyebrow, curious as to what this man was planning to do. It was only when she saw that he pulled out a dagger, that her look changed from playful and curious to ominous and excited.

"I see...you're going to attack me right!?" Lupus exclaimed with the biggest smile on her face.

The man simply snarled and turned his body towards the intruder, fully opening his bloodshot eyes. He held the dagger in front of him, and finally ran towards Lupus, slightly bringing his arm back to pierce his opponent.

Lupus's smile grew even wider and she threw her arms out, as if she was getting ready to receive a hug. The enraged person charging took his final step as he threw his arm forward intending to stab whoever dared break into his home. The dagger was only inches away from penetrating Lupus when she gracefully pivoted one foot back, dodging the attack. She then used one hand to grab his wrist and her other arm to trap him between her side, quickly applying pressure to his wrist in order to break it. The previously agitated male now twisted his face against Lupus's back and let out a scream of pain, at the same time dropping his weapon. While Lupus was silently exploding with joy over the man's scream, she realized that it would also be inconvenient if someone else heard it. While keeping a hold on his wrist, she turned around and brought her hand to his mouth, gripping with monster-like strength and forcing him on his knees. Lupus was now biting her bottom lip and practically gushing at the sight before her, she couldn't help but to gloat.

"Wow! I can't believe you just gave it to me like you did! You really are amazing haha!" Lupus's eyes were wide as she said this, and she was practically shaking with excitement.

"Still, we could make this more enjoyable for ourselves! Alcohol is basically just poison! So, I'll heal you up!" Lupus used her healing abilities to rid the man's body of the substance that was making him somewhat insensible to the situation.

The man's foggy mind immediately cleared up and the situation he found himself in, was now even more intense. His wrist's pain was gone too, but that didn't last long as Lupus once again applied pressure in order to break it. His cries of pain were instantly stopped this time by Lupus's hand, which seemed to be gripping even tighter. It was at this moment that his body realized that he still had a free hand and in turn made a desperate attempt to grab Lupus's forearm that was keeping his mouth shut. He quickly felt that she was wearing a leather bracer and switched to trying to punch her in order to get free. He balled his hand up and recoiled back in panic, bringing his fist around as hard as he could. He made contact and had planned to scramble away as soon as her hold on him loosened, but to his surprise felt an unnatural amount of muscle on her. She simply smiled at this and spoke again.

"Now that you're all better and seem to understand the situation, let's have some fun for a while m'kay?" She closed her eyes and tilted her head as she said this.

The man, now panicking more than ever, proceeded to throw as many punches as he could with his free hand. He truly had no clue what was happening and could feel his arm tiring out as he kept making contact with Lupus's sturdy side. Lupus decided that she had enough of his flailing and used her leg to deal a massive blow to his stomach. Blood started to run down between his covered mouth and in between her fingers. This was the slowest that he managed to recover, and he looked back up again to a horrifying expression. Lupus's eyes were narrow and had a gleam to them, her smile was at its widest and slightly opened to reveal fangs, she only made one final comment.

"Don't think it'll be over soon, I've needed some fun, I can also make sure you don't die on me too fast. I really am glad you decided to attack me."

His body went cold and he felt like throwing up, why had any of this happened to him? He couldn't recall any enemies he had made of this caliber and it seemed like just seconds ago, he was prepared to pass out drunk.

Back with CZ at the inn…

CZ smiled ever so slightly as she finished reading the daily report that she had written…for the third time. This report was to be read by Lord Ainz after all, and she had made sure to proofread and include as many details as possible. At this point, she was satisfied and thought that Lord Ainz would probably find the report somewhat close to his standards. All that was left to do, was to go back to Nazarick, hand deliver this report and procure currency that would work for this world and perhaps some other supplies as well. In CZ's mind, running back and forth for more supplies would most likely show that they could not think ahead or prepare for the future, they shouldn't do this too many times. She also planned to send their future reports via portal as well, Lord Ainz would find it more convenient. Therefore, picking up some extra gear, only this time, would display their critical thinking skills. Perhaps that's why Lord Ainz had given them such bare bones in terms of equipment, they had to assess based on their first day. She stood up from the desk and was about to send a portal request to Nazarick, when she heard the room door open.

Entoma entered the room and gently shut the door behind her. "Hi Shizu, I had an interesting encounter while hunting, would you like to hear the story? I'm sure it would take away some of the stress you've been feeling."

CZ had wondered how much time had passed, she had been so engaged in writing the perfect report that everything else was of minor importance. She didn't expect Entoma to know but was curious to find out about this "encounter" she had mentioned. At the same time, she was dissatisfied that it would not be included in their first report and would have to wait until the next.

"Yes. We should include your encounter in tomorrow's report, I have already finished writing today's." CZ responded, her demeanor changing from proud to critical of herself for just missing an important detail for the report.

"Great! I knew you would want to hear a story from your big sister!" Entoma enthusiastically responded.

CZ had begun to look back at the report when Entoma had started to speak again, her glare shot straight back up as soon as Entoma finished her sentence.

"Entoma…" just as she was about to point out Entoma's mistake…again. She suppressed her desire to do so in order to get back to the task at hand. "…I will be heading to Nazarick to deliver this report and obtain some currency that we can use in this world. It's also very likely I will be picking up additional supplies. I will have to listen to you tell your story when I get back."

Entoma was internally thrilled to hear about CZ's small trip, "I see…I'll go with you! Maybe there are some things I can get too, it'd also be nice just to visit Nazarick after spending time in this rundown village."

CZ had planned on going alone but saw no real disadvantage to having Entoma join her. Even if Entoma stayed, she would just stay in their room pretending to be asleep. All they really had to do, was inform Lupus of their temporary departure and come back in a timely manner.

"Very well. We will also leave a note for Lupus, explaining our absence. She will see it when she gets back and hopefully has found something of value in this village." CZ once again began to write, leaving the note for Lupus.

At the same time, Entoma contacted Nazarick asking for a portal for CZ and herself. Almost instantly, a rift appeared in their room and they both stepped through, leaving their gloomy inn room behind.

Just as soon as CZ and Entoma made their exit, the room door began to open, revealing a particularly happy Pleiades member.

Lupus strolled into the inn room they were staying at for the night with the most satisfied face she had since their mission started. As she closed the door with some flair, she turned around to speak with CZ, who she thought was just standing quietly in the corner or something.

"Shizu! I just had the most fun with a human who took an interest in me! You wanna hear the st-" Lupus realized that the room was empty and a frown formed on her face, realizing that there was no one to hear her story.

She looked around and quickly came to the conclusion that Shizu, like Entoma and herself, probably got bored and went out to have some fun. She thought this until her eyes spotted a note laying on the room's desk. Swiftly walking over and picking it up, she began to read what it said:

Lupus,

Entoma and I have gone to Nazarick to deliver our report. We will also be acquiring currency and some extra supplies, should the need for either come up in the future. We should not be long and should return sometime soon. I recommend you stay in our room at the River Inn and wait for our return.

- CZ2128 Delta

Lupus grumbled to herself at the last part, then felt a sense of impending boredom to come. She thought that after her latest encounter, there would be some entertaining retelling of the story, especially how she made it last so long. She figured that Entoma would return and have her own story to tell, but now she was alone and was trying to think of something else to do. By now, everyone in the village was asleep and they wouldn't "offer" themselves like the last guy did. She went over to the bed and fell face first into the sheets, immediately spitting out the dust that had settled from lack of use.

"Pffft…I guess I could still head over to Nazarick, but there's really no reason for me to do that." She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "Hurry up guys, this place is starting to get reeeeeally boring…"

Outside the village borders…

Six men kneel just outside of Cedar village, eyeing the village huts that have just seemingly cut out their last sources of lights. Of these six men, one clearly stood out as the group leader, wearing a black and dark red cloak. He had twin daggers hanging on both sides of his belt, the handles covered in black wrappings. It also seemed like the same kind of wrappings covered his face, with an exception to his eyes. His gloves and boots bore the same kind of obsidian color, making them nearly lost in the dark. Kruath took a deep breath and began speaking to his five men.

"Since those two idiots got themselves killed by wolves, we will be doing this a little differently."

Kruath and his assigned men had already made their way through the forest path they previously decided on. Initially, they had sent two of the newer members of the Oxmen to make sure the path was clear of traps or other people. After waiting for the all clear for such a long time, they had decided to move forward, keeping their guard up. On their way, they had discovered the torn apart body of Razor and found no sign of Brigham. After spending just a minute around the scene, they had discovered the body of a wolf too. Kruath had quickly suspected that the two men were attacked by a pack of wolves and were shred to pieces or dragged away. This was also what he told his men to assume, but if he was being honest with himself, found the scene quite strange. To start, the wolf had a clean piercing wound to its side, both Brigham and Razor were only carrying slashing weapons. Razor's torso had a gaping hole through it and his body parts did not seem to be chewed or eaten in any way. These were the major things Kruath noticed, he didn't have time to investigate, although it truly intrigued him. He had to focus on the primary mission, it was a big step for group after all.

"Listen good. Since there's only six of us now, each of you will be responsible for taking one villager and making sure that you make it back to the meeting spot. Remember that Ox wanted three young girls and two young men, older people don't sell too well." He looked over to his group and continued, "You three go for the girls and you two go for the guys, we were able to see a few of these people enter their homes, so you get the rough idea of who lives where. If you don't see someone who fits the description move to the next house. Pick the locks or go through windows and make sure you use that sedative. Got it?"

The five men silently nodded and moved closer to Kruath. Kruath brought his hands together in a praying fashion and released an area effect spell.

"Muffle Step" he whispered, a low green light emitted from his hands and traveled throughout the group. He finished and looked to one of his men, "Test it."

The dark clothed bandit proceeded to stand and jump, landing with his full weight but not emitting an audible noise. Kruath smirked underneath his wrappings and motioned for his group to get going. As four of the men moved in, one lagged to ask Kruath a question.

"What're you going to be doing?"

Kruath's eyes narrowed at this. "I'm going to be checking out the main buildings over there, you just focus on getting those people. Got it?" He added the last two words with an aggressive tone. His subordinate simply nodded and moved on. With that said and done, Kruath began to make his way to the first obvious building of interest, the shop.

Inside a certain residence…

Briley had been falling in and out of sleep ever since he got home, the day had not been easy on him and he had to prepare for the workload ahead of him. The problem with trying to sleep tonight was that he kept having to adjust himself, the supplies he carried today had been heavier than usual after all and his back was not agreeing with him tonight. He flipped over one last time and stared at the ceiling, trying to let the subtle sounds of the outside sooth him to sleep again. His mind wandered and the thought of the three new girls invaded his mind again, he just couldn't stop thinking about where they might've come from. When he actually gave it some thought, nothing really made too much sense and he wished he could ask them, though he didn't want to seem obsessive. He spread his arms and legs out taking a deep breath and finally closing his eyes. Almost instantly after closing his eyes, he reopened them and sat up, deciding that a late-night stretch would ease his muscles and help him sleep. As he turned his body and lets his legs hang over the side of his bed, he looked up and jolted awake from what he saw. A figure stood before him, wearing nearly all black, frozen and looking directly at him.

Briley thought that he was dreaming but realized that the slight pain on his back contradicted this. His next move was jumping out of bed and charging the intruder before him. He could see that the intruder was reaching for something as he ran but was able to make contact before anything was brandished. Luckily for Briley, both were about the same build, unluckily for Briley, he was still tired and groggy. Both men fell to the floor and Briley proceeded to get ahold of both the intruder's wrists, trying to keep him from reaching any further. Both were trying to roll over the other and because the intruder's boots offered grip that Briley's socks didn't, he proceeded to take the advantage. Briley had now lost his hold on the intruder's wrists and was practically being sat on by him. Soon after, the man in all black began to strike down at Briley using both of his fists, Briley had not gotten his arms up in time and was dazed by the first hard punch to his face.

"I was supposed to sedate you!" The bandit brought his fist down again, "But you just had to stay up past your bed time uh!" and again, breaking his nose, "But beating you to a pulp should work just fine!"

Briley was close to losing consciousness and any thought that he had was instantly interrupted by another firm punch. As he took a final blurred look ahead of him, facing the man who would presumably beat him to a deep sleep, he noticed another blurred figure behind the intruder.

The bandit, who went by Novak, was not expecting to walk in on a waking resident. He had come through a window and fully expected to find a sleeping person that he could easily sedate and leave with. Instead he had the bad luck of finding a person who just happened to get up, he had to admit it caused him to freeze where he stood. Still, after a short scuffle, he was able to retake the edge and give this villager the beating of a lifetime. After throwing his last couple punches, he stopped so that he wouldn't accidently kill him. Novak straightened his back, still sitting on top of Briley, and caught his breath as he began to stand up. It was at this moment that he felt another pair of eyes on him, Novak quickly turned around and once again stood frozen at the sight of another person in the room. He had only seen Briley laying on the bed and thought he hit the jackpot when he found a young guy who seemingly lived alone. Novak had previously tried to take out his syringe that held the sedative, before being tackled and never got the chance to try and reach for it again. This time it was the first action he took. The person in front of him was a woman, a young woman who currently had a genuine smile and held her arms crossed in front of her.

"Wow. You really did a number on him. I'll be honest, I was really bored back in my room and thought I would find…Bry…son? And you know, mess with him a little." Lupus kept a smile plastered on her face as she said all this.

Novak had no clue what this woman was saying and frankly was only thinking about knocking her out using the sedative. Taking someone who looked as good as her would probably earn him more points than taking a guy who he just beat to a pulp. Novak decided to act quick, while this woman was clearly confused about the situation at hand. He lunged, keeping the syringe close to his side and his body low to the ground.

"Hey! You're like that other human! Do all humans charge headfirst at things they don't understand?" Lupus exclaimed as she waited patiently for Novak to reach her.

To Novak, he had the easiest target in the world and couldn't wait until this girl was on the floor, so that he could finally wrap things up in this no name village. Unfortunately for Novak, Lupus kept her arms crossed but chose to kick him underneath his jaw, killing him instantly.

After Lupus killed the victor of the little fight she had witnessed, she turned her attention to the loser. She walked over to Briley, taking a good look at the beaten up young man.

"Hmm…I guess it would be interesting to hear your story with this guy and all those other humans who think they're all sneaky. Consider this your lucky day…Bri…den?" Lupus outstretched one arm and proceeded to cast her healing ability on Briley.

A/N: I'll be honest, this chapter gave me a little trouble and went through a few rewrites. I feel good about the future stuff though and think it'll turn out good. To Nov., I'll heed your advice for future chapters, thank you. Thanks for the bookmarks and favorites. (They give me incentive not to give up after some writer's block)