While it was undoubtedly true that humanity was the dominant race in this world, they were still far from being able to boast of truly conquering it. The threat of monsters had originally been the reason the great cities were built, safe havens whose walls were strong enough to fare against creatures that far surpassed the laws of the common man, the residents of a world that thrived more in fantasy than in reality, yet still walked the same earth nonetheless. And while it was true that in the present, the might of the kingdoms grew to the point where they would have more reason to fear one another than the monsters, that didn't mean there were still places where even the mightiest of adventures would still be forced to tread carefully.
The Great Forest of Tob was considered such a place, a hazardous area of lush, hard-to-traverse woods, that boasted an unnatural number of powerful monsters. That would make it seem like an area that should be avoided at all costs, but it was for that very reason that it had become such an important place from a business perspective. The abundance of rare and strong enemies made it the perfect area for harvesting monster parts, which were essential in the production of numerous materials and resources necessary for magic casters and other clients. It was basically a natural-made dungeon, and that was why the appearance of a new monster was considered such a problem. Even adventurers had to bear in mind some hunting restrictions when operating inside the forest, as there are concerns that damaging the fragile ecosystem of the Forest would result in many monsters migrating outside and attacking any nearby outpost villages. So far stability had been ensured by the "Wise King of The Forest" who has ruled over the land for the last two centuries, but now that balance of power had been shaken. It was a delicate situation, one that should be tended to carefully and methodically.
"Say, can I just burn the place down already?"
"Absolutely not."
Which was why Ainz was not especially thrilled with his current partner at the moment.
"Oh, come on! I'm getting tired of this stupid place. This is the third time my cape got caught in those annoying branches!" Jalter complained as she furiously scrambled to free herself from the wooden prison.
"You could just dematerialize it, you know that?" Ainz rebutted lethargically.
"O-o-of course I know that, i-idiot!" she screamed back, a slight dash of colour warming her way to her face. "It's just that, uh, why should I allow this mud-ridden holt to dictate my choice of clothes?! Anyways", she turned her head in the opposite direction as she spoke, her voice trying to return to her usual cadence "why are we wasting our time here when that dragon is waiting for me to become its owner?"
"If you set everything on fire won't the dragon also get caught up in the attack?"
"Hah, as if I would care for a weakling that couldn't even take on a little heat." she huffed, bringing her chin up into an overbearing position.
Ainz's hand grabbed the hard surface of his helmet in a vain attempt to pitch his knows. He was not sure the woman at his side understood what 'a little heat' actually entailed. With each minute he was starting to regret more and more allowing the dark maiden to accompany him as Momon's partner. Or at least he would gave regretted it, if he had had any choice in the matter.
He initially planned for the whole plan to be a solo operation, a moment of reprieve from the usual madness of the NPCs. So when he found Jalter waiting for him in front of the Guild's entrance, chastising him for leaving her to wait there for so long, he had honestly wanted to crawl into a corner and hide. Trying to dissuade her had been pointless as well, she just brushed him off. 'Of course, I'm coming along, are you stupid?' And if someone had said to him that he could have still could turn her away since he was her boss, Ainz would just burst into nervous laughing while recalling with painstaking accuracy the fallen saints' expression as she told him that. Nope, no way in hell he could have told her no without getting his ribs taken apart from his torso.
"We're almost at our destination. As one of my most powerful Floor Guardians, I do believe you are capable of showing some measure of restraint, isn't that so?"
"Hmph! Suit yourself" She puffed in response but eventually relented. For some reason though she refused to meet his eyes for the rest of the trip.
Using both Blessing of Titania and the map they acquired from a merchant en route as guides, they soon left the oppressing shadow cast by the overgrown oak cluttering all around them, right into a small clearing of greenery. If so far the light passing through the jumbled branches had been so scarce the fairy-like spell had been the brightest source of illumination, hear the sun was hovering over them with great intensity, subtly reflecting into the scarce drew that still hung on to the blades of grass. The stark contrast was quite refreshing, but Ainz had no intention of settling down to admire the sight. While nobody knew for certain where the Wise King made its shelter, this area was where he had been sighted most frequently.
"Hey, are you sure that that unibrow trader wasn't pulling a fast one over us?" Jalter asked as she looked around. "I don't feel the presence of any Phantashmal around here. In fact, I ain't felt the presence of any kind of Mystery at all on the way. Are you sure this place wasn't actually abandoned?"
Ainz had no idea what kind of mystery she was talking about (for someone reason he pictured the detective-looking guy stuck on Moriarty's dart board), but he did agree that it was unusual for everything to be so quiet. From what he had heard of The Great Forest so far, there should definitely have had an encounter or two on their way. Despite the trees and the grass all around them being bathed in luscious green, there was a distinct lack of any sign of a living being, a silence that should have been reserved only during the harshness of winter permeated the otherwise bright clearing. Ainz had never seen a place so alive yet bearing the stillness of death in the air.
"I agree that there is something not quite right with this place, but we should not get discouraged just yet," Ainz told his companion, before casting Remote View to get a better view of the area surrounding them. There, just at the edge of his vision, he spotted something strange. "This way" he declared, marching along through the clearing.
"Where exactly?" Jalter asked.
"About 800 meters in that direction," he replied, pointing slightly towards the west.
"Great!" was all Ainz heard before the woman lifted the decisively larger armoured man and sprinted in that direction. There wasn't any real reason for that, while it was true that they were moving at clearly superhuman speeds, it wasn't anything he couldn't have matched on his own. Ainz realised that Jalter really was at the end of her patience with the whole adventure thing. It was a shame she couldn't appreciate the journey along the destination, the woman was probably the type to immediately pull up her credit card when faced with a more tiresome quest. Ainz pitied her for being unable to appreciate the experience of grinding along with friends for twelve hours only to be screwed over by the drop rate. 'Ah, good times!' he thought to himself.
After only a couple of seconds tops, they arrived at what could only be described as the wreck left behind by a tornado passing by. Trees that could easily trump his height over a hundred times had been pulled apart and ripped to shreds as if they were toothpicks. Mud, dirt, and even stone were scattered all over as if they had been excavated by an industrial-sized drill. Ainz's first move was to shut off his magic and reactivate Perfect Warrior. He knew that, from a strategic standpoint, losing his scouting abilities wasn't optimal, he was here to fight as the adventurer Momon, not as Ainz Ooal Gown. Besides, with Jalter by his side, he felt confident there weren't many things that could pose a real threat to him. When it came to AOE bursts, there wasn't anybody in Nazarick that could rival the saint turn witch.
"These tracks..." Jalter pondered as he examined the sight of the disaster, her eyes moving along something that vaguely resembled some large animal's track. Her eyes gradually flared up in excitement, as her mouth formed a victorious grin. "See Master, I told you that..."
From out of nowhere, a giant tree trunk came crashing down on them at high speeds. Or at least what a normal person would consider a high speed. For Ainz it was slow enough to allow him to leisurely pull out one of his Greatswords and slice it apart. As the splinters of the destroyed wood splattered uselessly on his armour, the two of them turned their heads towards the direction of the attack.
From out of the shadows of the still-intact nearby trees came out what first looked like a giant shadow, only for two smaller ones to eventually part from it to its side. With his enhanced vision, Ainz was soon able to make them out. Into the middle was a giant mass of sickly-green flesh bearing the appearance of a troll missing an eye, with what looked like the skulls of strange animals tacked onto his right shoulder and belt as decorations. Off to the left, coiling along was a disgusting old man with the lower body of a snake, tree branches poking out of his long, unkempt hair, and a loose garment that looked like someone had wanted to make a fur coat but gave up halfway. A naga, Ainz recalled. And trailing behind them, to the right, was...
"Master?"
"Yes?"
"That's a hamster, isn't it?"
'Oh good, I thought I was going insane.'
"That does appear to be the case," he responded.
"The whole situation just kind of suddenly lost its tension, didn't it?" Ainz had no need to look at Jalter to tell she was having the same kind of complicated expression on her face right now.
"That does appear to be the case," he responded.
"Should we just leave?"
"Tempting, but I don't think we should..."
"HOW LONG ARE YOU GONNA KEEP IGNORING US!" the troll roared, his rougher speech making his words mumble together, yet managing to convey the meaning nonetheless.
"They must have become paralyzed in fear at the sight of my terrorizing appearance." the creature that could really only be described as a giant hamster proudly declared, rising on his feet victoriously.
"You shut yer trap! I'mma show 'em who should they really be terrified of." The troll declared, his hand moving to unbuckle the giant club at his side.
"Not so fast, Guu." the naga sultry intervened. "These guys could be useful to us, they would make the perfect bait against our enemy."
"They are. HUmans. We should. KIll them." the troll gnarled in response.
"When this alliance started, you said that you will be the brawns and I the brain. Do you doubt my judgement?" the naga persisted Seeing as the troll only huffed annoyed in response, he turned his attention to the other monster. "What do you say about it, Wise King?"
"To me, they look too weak to even count as bait -de gozaru." The hamster replied as he examined the two adventurers, whose faces said they really couldn't be bothered by the whole conversation.
"Hold it!" Ainz intervened. "YOU are The Wise King of The Forest?" Ainz pointed incredulously at the oversized fluff ball.
"That's right! Now get on your knees and beg for your lowly lives -de gozaru!" the hamster replied, his overly long tail flapping in excitement.
Jalter and Ainz exchanged looks, before nodding at the same time. In the next moment, the two Greatswords sliced apart the troll, while a black stake impaled the naga through its heart. The two didn't even have time to realize what had happened before they died.
"See, Master? Sometimes the best solution is to cut straight to the heart of the problem." Jalter exclaimed with a refreshed expression, before turning to the lone survivor. "Oi, furball!"
The hamster immediately dropped to the ground into a kneeling position.
"Ihearabyswearmyallegiancetothetwoofyoupleasedon'tkilmeI'lletyourideonmyback." the words poured out of its mouth like a cascade. Ainz maybe picked out every third word, but he got the gist of it.
"*Sigh* He's so pathetic I don't even feel like hurting him," Jalter grumbled.
"So, what are you supposed to be called?" Ainz inquired. "Mr Hamster?"
"You know of my race?" he excitedly asked before remembering the position he was in. "I am called Hamsuke, sir mister Master -de gozaru." he answered while prostrating himself further.
Now that he had a closer look at him, Ainz realized he was finding the big dumb face and the black, pearly eyes quite endearing. It reminded him of those mascot characters he would see every time he went to a konbini.
"Jea-...Jalter, if you said you wanted a pet-"
"Don't even think about it," she growled in response, before stepping to the trembling hamster and grabbing him by the tip of his head, pulling him to eye level.
"Now, furball. Spit it out! What do you know about the dragon?"
"You're looking for the dragon? He appeared around the forest about a month ago and started wreaking havoc. Ryraryus thought that he might have come from the Azerlisia Mountains, but even he had no idea as to why. He was invading all our territories indiscriminately, so we The Three Monsters teamed up to take him down. He was too strong for us though, we barely managed to drive him off last time -de gozaru." he said, pointing to the devastated scenery all around them. At closer inspection, Ainz could see some light scars mostly hidden by the layer of fur above them. "That was three days ago, we were hiding around here and planning our next attack." His eyes wandered towards the two corpses beside them, before returning to the ashen woman, little stars glittering in his eyes. "But now that my masters are here, they will be able to solve this problem easily -de gozaru."
"You're not angry that we killed your partners?" Ainz asked.
"Not really -de gozaru." He quickly answered, indifference in his voice. "We kind of hated each other anyway, we were only in a truce because of the invader."
"That's all good and all, but you still haven't told us where he is." Jalter cut him off, tapping impatiently while crossing her arms.
"Don't worry, your loyal servant Hamuske will take you to his location!" he declared, some of his old boastfulness returning to his voice. He went on all fours, pointing with his tail at his back. "Hop on! -de gozaru"
Ainz spared a glance to Jalter.
"Not happening." Her answer was less of a response and more like a statement. Like that water was wet. Or that gravity existed.
Ainz just shrugged and got on the back of his newfound steed. He was aware of how strange of a picture the sight of an armoured knight riding a giant hamster would make, but he had to admit he found it quite comfortable.
"Onwards, Hamsuke" he loudly declared.
"Yes, Master -de gozaru" his steed dutifully responded.
The sound of Jalter's hand slapping her face resounded throughout the forest.
Author's note:
This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I thought it would be better for the pacing to split it off here. Plus, I don't have much time for writing during this month and I wanted to get a chapter out before February. It's still exam season, life is still pain.