Cinder Fall's attack ran through the maiden in brown attire.
As the Fall Maiden died, she made a wish and focused all her attention, all her power, all her soul to it.
She knew that whoever she thought last would inherit her power. The power of the Fall Maiden, which would never be allowed to fall into the hands of the Enemy... But she was not willing to meet her death so meekly.
The trio who had intercepted the Fall Maiden's escape from Mistral's Academy would kill her, she had foreseen it through the visions that the power of the Fall Maiden granted her… But at the same time, she had seen that death would grant her something else.
Revenge.
The Relics, only accessible to those carrying the Maiden's power, were linked to the power to call beings of power into the world… And she was tired of the world.
Tired of all the war, all the horror, all the dishonesty and ugliness of the people of Remnant.
She knew that the forces that reigned over the world, either as its defenders or its destroyers, would fight to the last to avoid the world's ultimate judgment- Something that would come when the Four Relics of the Gods would be reunited for one last time.
The result of that battle was a world locked to a struggle of never-ending stagnation and status quo, locked to time despite its promise of progress.
She would end it all.
However, she could not gather the Relics herself. Not only would it be impossible for one person to gather all of them, she was doomed to die in that ambush on a muddy road between minor villages in Mistral.
However… She hoped that in her defiance, she would at least force the hands of the clock forward. That even if she didn't call the true Gods back… She'd call something.
Cinder Fall's eyes widened as Amber Fall pulled out a glowing crown-like item from between her breasts, which by all logic couldn't have fit there.
The scarlet-clad assassin opened her mouth in a scream of denial, or for an order to stop.
As Amber's blood covered the relic, and as she pushed all of her power, all of her soul and Aura into the item…
She passed through the reality's layer, and reached for the invisible strands of fate that connected the Relic to the Outside.
Amber Fall pulled on the strand.
And then she died, alongside the power of the Fall Maiden, and the Relic of Fall.
After all, the Power of the Fall Maiden was that of Choice.
And she chose death.
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The Spirit within the crown allowed a cruel smile to spread on her lips.
"Be careful what you wish for from a Djinn, child."
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'...So, YGGDRASIL didn't shut down. Or rather, this isn't YGGDRASIL nor Neo-Japan, but something else.' Momonga looked up at the night sky that showed a broken moon above a sea of green trees.
"My lord?" Demiurge remained bowing as he, alongside the rest of the NPC's of Guild Base Nazarick had ended up 'appearing' with Momonga to… well, wherever he was.
"Have you secured our surroundings yet?" Momonga asked while feeling quite strange internally.
Seeing the NPC's acting like living beings, the same NPC's that Momonga and his friends in Ainz Ooal Gown had designed and then sprinkled across the Guild Base's many levels was… strange.
It was like assembling a miniature with his friends, seeing it come to life, and then talking to it.
It was in equal amounts creepy, but at the same time, incredibly satisfying- And Momonga had wondered for a moment if that feeling was what it meant to be a parent.
At the same time, he had experimented with his, or rather, YGGDRASIL Avatar Momonga's spells for a bit in the Arena of Nazarick's sixth floor, and found out that his abilities were more or less intact.
After all, Momonga hadn't exactly been a 'person' before, but rather the in-game avatar of Suzuki Satoru, a box-standard office worker in the corporate cyberpunk dystopia of Neo-Japan, but for some reason when the game had shut down, instead of being logged out, Suzuki had found himself in his 'Momonga'-avatar, and the NPC's of the guild base were acting as if they were alive even to the point of defying the game's restrictions.
Momonga tried to erase his embarrassing memory of asking to touch Albedo's breasts as in his shock and daze he had gone for the thing that he thought would most definitely tell him if he was in YGGDRASIL or not- After all, the developers of YGGDRASIL had operated under very heavy censorship rules regarding lewd things, so inappropriate touch would instantly tell if he was still in YGGDRASIL or not.
The Guardian Overseer of the Nazarick had agreed to Momonga's suggestion with a worrying amount of excitement, and as the touch was possible, Momonga had become fairly certain that he wasn't in Neo-Japan anymore, and neither was he in YGGDRASIL.
The sight of a broken moon in the sky had cemented that suspicion as soon as Momonga had made his way out of Nazarick and glanced at the night sky.
"We have encountered various sorts of beast-like beings. They attacked us as soon as we established visual contact." A [Message] came from Sebas Tian, who Momonga had sent to scout out Nazarick's surroundings while he tried to come to terms with what had happened.
"How many of them are there? What sorts of levels do they have?" Momonga asked over the wordless communication.
"Divination spells return… suspicious results, my lord. I am not certain that they are working properly. All of the beasts that we have encountered are level zero, but are capable of dealing damage that is more comparable to beings ranging from level ten to level fifty. I'll rank them according to their damage and health in comparison to a creature of equivalent level, but their 'true' level may vary." Sebas answered instantly.
"Aura, have you managed to tame one of the monsters you've encountered?" Momonga added Aura, who was accompanying Sebas in his task, to the mental conference call. "As a beast-master, you should be able to mind control them."
"L-Lord Momonga! The beasts do not seem to be reacting to my attempts to tame them. I don't believe that they are even capable of thinking, at all!" Aura sounded uncertain and Momonga quickly adjusted his tone as she might have thought that Momonga would punish her for 'failing' him.
"It's alright. Keep trying. What about their numbers? Are they dropping any worthwhile loot?" Momonga asked and added a question about the loot, since if YGGDRASIL logic worked in the world he had landed in, then it was likely that defeated opponents would drop valuable items or data crystals.
"The beasts disappear akin to POP monsters, and do not drop any loot, my lord." Sebas replied instantly, as usual, and the contents of his words made Momonga quite unhappy.
A part of him wanted to go out and join the two in reconnaissance as the spirit of adventure was stirring in Momonga's skeletal chest, but the part of him that was coming to terms with the 'new reality' was feeling quite worried over his safety until he established more information about the power balance of the locals.
He couldn't afford to act careless or indulge in flights of fancy until he established information on levels, civilizations and balance of power in the world where he had ended up in. And it was one thing to know one's own power, but just knowing one's self was useless if one didn't also know one's enemy.
"They… There's a lot of them, actually. Like hundreds-" Aura started but Sebas interrupted.
"Lord Momonga. The minor, sub-level thirty creatures number in two hundred and eighty-six currently. Higher-level entities number in the twenties, but none of them are above level fifty-equivalent. So far." Sebas voiced with the exact precision expected of the Steward.
"Umu…" Momonga thought about the situation.
The fact that such a huge number of unknown beasts had been attracted towards Nazarick so quickly was worrying, even if their lack of levels made them nonthreatening in the grand scale.
Of course, it was possible that they were just trying to soften up Nazarick, and didn't know that a level hundred NPC could easily hold their ground for near infinity against such weak opponents unless they starved to death, and that could be alleviated with racial bonuses or items… Or rather, that logic had worked in YGGDRASIL.
Alternative B, which worried Momonga more, was that the enemy was deliberately sending trash-tier mobs to scout out the strengths and weaknesses of Nazarick and it's NPC's, as even though the level hundred Floor Guardians and various other stronger-than-average NPC's were effectively immune to the attacks of the strange beasts, they could still gleam very valuable combat information from Nazarick's inhabitants by observing their abilities and capabilities.
Information was power, and Momonga realized that if the monsters that Aura and Sebas were exterminating were akin to POP monsters of Nazarick, aka effectively infinite in number as long as they had time to replenish their daily cap, he was going to be losing more than he gained. Mostly because the enemy would gain information while Momonga gained nothing if he employed Guardians for the extermination duty.
Momonga was planning on sending another [Message] to recall Sebas and Aura, and instead have Albedo send out a wave of expendable POP monsters to clash with the wave of unknown beasts, when he got a [Message] from Nigredo who was observing Nazarick's surroundings via the Guild Base's scrying array.
"Lord Momonga. I have discovered a human settlement twenty or so miles away from Nazarick. It appears that they too are under attack by the same black beasts that are attacking Aura and Sebas Tian." The voice of the faceless woman was quite chilling even through the message, and Momonga nodded absentmindedly as he realized that the new world was apparently also inhabited by races other than the beasts.
The cracked moon in the sky was proving to be a good omen as Momonga felt his sense of adventure grow to almost overpowering level.
"Very good. Keep observing. Do you think the humans will survive the assault?" Momonga asked.
"I am not sure. It appears that they are attempting to evacuate, but by my estimates the beasts will overwhelm the settlement in half an hour or so. However, it is possible that the humans are just luring the beasts further into the settlement. There are a few people who are fighting the monsters, but I cannot get a grasp on their levels without actively using divination on them. The defenders, however, are too few in number to block the entire wave of unknown beasts by themselves despite their abilities, and the unknown beasts have managed to reach the sheltering humans despite their best attempts at stalling them." Nigredo answered with swift and decisive words, and Momonga gave her the go-ahead to use offensive divination on the fighters.
It was a risk to use the scrying array offensively to pick out health, mana and even skill levels from afar, as the divination could be intercepted, blocked, misdirected, misinformed, or outright counter-attacked by whoever was spied on if the latter was skilled enough in anti-divination magics.
However, if the settlement was on the brink of destruction, Momonga was confident that even if the unknown warriors counter-divined Nazarick's location, they would die soon in the hands of the beasts and the information they might have gleaned of the guild would die with them.
"Lord Momonga, the fighters are 'level zero', have no skills, have health equivalent to a level one homunculus, like the maids at Ninth Floor of Nazarick, but have mana of a level… hm… sixty-ish members of the Human race. At the same time, they have little problem when it comes to fighting a large wave of unknown beasts." Nigredo came forth with the results of the spying after a moment. "I have not suffered any counter-divination attacks and I am fairly certain that the targets did not notice my spying. However, they are likely using [False Data: Life] and [False Data: Class] as well as [False Data: Level] at the same time, and thus I must concur that the warriors are anti-divination specialists. I request their extermination at once."
"Let's not be hasty. If we can't know for certain what sort of threat they pose, we can't attack recklessly. If they are actually much stronger than expected then we risk major losses." Momonga urged caution.
He felt quite nervous even sending Sebas and Aura out, as commanding the creations of his friends to do something risky was making Momonga quite nervous, and fear that they might run into something they can't handle and thus risk losing their life in battle against some unknown foe.
Of course, Momonga could bring the dead NPC's back through Nazarick's [Master Source], but resurrections of NPC's required gold, which was a limited resource within the Treasury so until he found a way of replenishing his treasury, he'd have to be careful when it came to fighting without thorough intel on the odds. Not to mention that even the thought of losing one of the creations of his friends, even for a moment, was utterly awful to Momonga.
"Hm… Demiurge." Momonga turned to address the demon who was still stuck to a reverent kneel towards him in front of Nazarick's main entrance. "I'll have Sebas and Aura called back- Prepare a strike team. Sebas, Aura, Mare and Cocytus will take part in the team, as well as a number of mercenary monsters that are no less than level ninety. At the same time, Shalltear will send out a wave after wave of POP monsters from the first three Floors to hold back the tide of the unknown beasts."
"Yes, my lord. We shall exterminate that human settlement, and…" Demiurge spoke with a reverent tone but Momonga interrupted him by accident as he was deep in his thoughts and didn't realize that Demiurge had started speaking.
"I'll go there and find out what I can about the locals. Albedo will come with me. Your strike team will charge in after us and try to save us if the situation gets out of hand." Momonga continued and then froze as he realized that he had spoken over Demiurge. "U-umu, that is…"
"I see! I have severely underestimated our enemy… I shall assemble this team at once!" Demiurge bowed and then moved off with a power walk that was somehow both elegant and fast enough to be nearly a blur.
'...I hope I made the right decision…'
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Nicholas Arc swung his sword horizontally at Grimm Ursa, slicing its bony mask in two and blinding its eyes.
The bear-like monster reared back while roaring in anger and rage, and swung around blindly with its massive paws.
Nicholas lifted his kite shield, blocking the blow from the enraged beast, but that made the monster aware of his location by touch.
The Ursa rose to its full height in order to slam itself down on the Hunter… But crucially, the beast's upright pose gave a chance for Nicholas's wife to level her zweihänder-rifle and fire a Dust-powered armor-piercing shell right into the bear-creature's heart through its bone-made chest-plate, blasting the monster back and toppling it over.
The Grimm disappeared into wisps of dark energy as it died, and was replaced by a horde of werewolf-like Beowolves that charged through the underbrush of the forest.
"What about the civilians?" Nicholas barked at Marie, and his middle-aged wife shook her head sadly. "Dammit! Did they mange to get over the walls?"
"The wall guns ran out of ammo!" Marie confirmed while swinging her zweihänder in wide arcs, separating limbs from bodies and cleaving heads off the pack of Beowolves that focused their attack on her. "The bulk of the Grimm are here, but a few stragglers managed to get up- They killed at least a dozen before I managed to go back and deal with them!"
The lean middle-aged Hunter with blonde hair and creases in his face couldn't shake the odd feeling of being watched, and felt paranoid. 'Why are the Grimm here in such a number? This village is not so deep in Vale's wilderness that it could attract so many Grimm in such a short time… Even if all of the villagers suffered a collective panic attack, the negative emotions would only draw a couple of dozen Grimm at best, and the wall-guns could deal with that sort of wave even without our help…'
An Alpha Beowolf almost took his head off while Nicholas was distracted by his own thoughts, and he was saved as Marie shot the monster's hand off before charging in close and swinging the massive two-handed blade at the monster's snout, knocking it on its back and forcing the monster to attempt a retreat.
Contrary to most normal Grimm that attacked nearly mindlessly and were attracted towards sources of negativity like settlements, cities and travelers, Alpha Beowolves were 'leader'-type Grimm that, while obeying the archetype of hunting humans and seeking negativity, were capable of basic strategy and battlefield tactics like ambushing, flanking and sneak attacks while leading packs of Grimm.
Nicholas pressed the attack as he realized that he had inadvertently drawn the Alpha out into the open through spacing out for a moment, and the beast had taken the chance to try to remove one of the two Hunters protecting the settlement.
The monster was likely responsible for the Grimm spreading their attack out to press both the civilians who were inside the walls of the settlement as well the pair of Hunters who were defending outside its walls. After all, in normal circumstances the Grimm would have just gone after Marie and Nicholas, as they were the nearest and most visible targets, and likely would have left the civilians alone unless spurned otherwise.
The Alpha let out a whine as Nicholas caught up to the wounded beast and ran it through with his sword from behind, causing the twelve-feet tall monster to fall forward and almost crush one of it's smaller brethren under its bulk.
"Ammo!" Marie called and Nicholas tossed her a magazine from the pouch that he carried around for her, mostly so that his more mobile wife wouldn't have to lug all of her heavy ammunition around with herself and thus slow her down.
Nicholas clanged his sword against his shield to draw the attention of the horde of the Grimm that broke out from the underbrush now that the Alpha was dead and the Grimm in close proximity had reverted back to their more feral behavior.
He realized that the Alpha had been deliberately holding the vast majority of the pack in 'reserve' so that they could swoop in once the pair of Hunters got tired from fighting and couldn't defend the settlement anymore.
"...I wish Jaune succeeds in his studies. Now I'm glad that he nicked Crocea Mors before running for Beacon Academy to become a Hunter, because it looks like I wouldn't have been there to give it to him when I thought he was ready for it." Nicholas commented to Marie who racked the slide of her rifle-zweihänder. "I love you, dear."
"Don't start doomsaying now. We're not dead, tired, or out of ammo yet, and those are just regular-ass Grimm." Marie poked the side of Nicholas's head a couple of times with her forefinger and spoke while she had a vein ticking in the side of her temple. "What's with you men and your penchant for heroic last stands?"
"Sorry, a force of habit." Nicholas braced himself and charged to meet the Grimm halfway while Marie stayed back to fire into the mass of darkness that started to surround them.
The high-explosive shells caused the pack to stumble as Nicholas crashed against a Beowolf, causing the creature's mask to shatter and flinging the beast back while the man's gleaming blade cleaved another Grimm in two from waist.
The ground shook with a volley of explosions as Marie unloaded her rifle into the crowd of beasts… Only, Nicholas realized that the number of explosions was higher than what her rifle had ammo for.
In other words… "Reinforcements!"
"At the side! Break left!" Marie called as she must have seen where the explosive shots had come from, and Nicholas moved in the called direction.
It had been the right thing to do as the next volley of flaming projectiles landed so close to where he had been that he could have sworn it was aimed at him.
However, the black beasts received the full blow of the barrage, sending them reeling and rolling around on the grass after their fur had caught fire.
An arc of bright blue lightning came from the same direction, bouncing from Beowolf to Beowolf, before finally lashing to Nicholas and arching from him to a boar-like Grimm Boartusk that had been charging at him from behind.
Nicholas felt as the attack took a good chunk of his Aura and caused him to topple over on the grass, and he felt quite pissed-off at whoever was trying to help them- While their aid was appreciated, only a rookie Hunter would use their weapons recklessly and risk catching their allies within the blast.
"Marie! Fall back! Make space!" Nicholas coughed out and jumped back, moving outside the pack's reach for a moment so that their reinforcements could bombard the pack without also catching Nicholas in the blast zone.
The barrage from the forest intensified, and the flock of Grimm were swept away in moments.
Nicholas folded his kite shield to its center from its sides like an accordion, put the folded shield into its holder in his belt, and then slid his sword into the shield that doubled as a sheath when it was folded-up.
Marie glanced at Nicholas and pulled the handle of her zweihänder until it was as long as the blade and then pushed the blade back into the handle like if it was a giant spring-loaded switchblade, before finally removing the weapon's magazine from the base of the hilt, making the mecha-shift weapon resemble a khakkara-like walking staff.
"Greetings. Your aid was most welcome." Nicholas put the annoyance that he felt towards the reinforcements due to the friendly-fire away from his thoughts. 'Well, at least until the situation calmed down properly. After that I'll give them an earful about being careful.'
A pair of peculiar individuals walked out from the treeline and became visible.
Nicholas glanced at the female form that was armored from head to toe in heavy plate that was somewhat unusual choice as far as Hunters went, since even though most hunters wore some sort of armor, not being hit in the first place was the best form of damage mitigation and her plate looked so heavy that it must have hindered her movements quite a bit.
However, the armored woman was clearly alright with the added weight as her movements were quite fluid and she kept her bardiche at ease with a one-handed grip that, at the same time, was positioned so that she could easily swing it around to intercept an attack from any angle.
The larger person of the two, however, caused Nicholas to pause a bit as the person had a red, creepy-smiling party mask on his face and was clad in a clearly high-quality robe that had red orbs and massive tusks for shoulderpads that definitely restricted movement. However, Nicholas quickly deduced that the 'tusks' were most likely the large person's weapons that were stored on his shoulders as shoulderpads for ease of transportation.
However, Nicholas was above things such as judging others from their looks or race, and he had definitely seen weirder mecha-shift weapons and contraptions than what the pair wore, and so he just waved at the pair.
The armored woman seemed to take the wave as a hostile act as she tensed up and leveled her bardiche at Nicholas, while the robe-wearing masked man waved back at Nicholas before turning to say something to the woman.
"Greetings. I am Nicholas Arc, and this is my wife, Marie Arc. I thank you for your aid in battle." Nicholas didn't mention the friendly-fire as he felt that he should probably leave that sort of talk until after he'd become a bit more familiar with the unknown pair.
"It was of no concern. However, we are weary travelers and if possible, we would like to request for a chance to rest within this village." The taller of the two lifted his gloved hand in a placating manner while the woman was clearly agitated by Nicholas's casual greeting.
The words were neutral, but the voice was odd mixture of baritone and dusty, almost hoarse tone, making Nicholas fairly certain that the speaker was a man, and that he had likely suffered some sort of facial disfiguration that had left his voice-box in poor shape- Which also explained the red mask that he wore.
"Of course. Your aid won't be left forgotten. Well, not to mention, all Hunters are legally granted lodging in any settlement they come across, so please do not take my words to mean that you would be denied entry even if you hadn't helped." Nicholas noted easily as the pair were clearly Hunters of some sort, based on their unique weapons and the fact they had cut a swathe through the Grimm. "Can I be so rude as to ask where you have come from, though? I've been a Hunter in Vale for nearly three decades now, and I have never seen either of you…"
"Nicholas!" Marie slapped Nicholas in the back of his head. "I'm sorry for my blockheaded husband's lack of tact. Come, you must be exhausted- The Grimm got agitated all of a sudden and you two must have fought your way through the entire horde to get to us. The settlers should have food and drink, and… well… some Grimm managed to get over the wall before you came, so there is going to be spare housing now as well."
"I am sorry for your loss." The large masked man bowed slightly, causing the armored woman beside him to fidget in a slightly uncertain manner.
"Thank you. We do our best… But sometimes that is not enough." Nicholas reached to pat the larger man's shoulder, and almost lost his hand as the armored woman swung his bardiche so quickly that the Hunter nearly missed the movement.
However, he managed to pull his hand back in time as the woman's erratic motions had told him to keep an eye on her, as she was likely not as sane as her companion.
"You… You worthless mongrel… Keep your hands OFF MY LORD MO-" The armored woman screeched in sudden fury and lifted her weapon, but before she could swing it, the masked man lifted his hand in front of her.
"Albedo! Enough!" The masked man commanded with sharp tone, causing the woman to lower her bardiche, now the picture-perfect image of a collected and calm warrior.
"Yes, Lord." The woman bowed slightly to the large man who rested his face on his hand for a moment before turning back towards the pair of Hunters.
'...I see. So she's bipolar. I shouldn't judge her too hard.' Nicholas noted the interaction. 'Well, Hunters come in all shapes and sizes… I just hope that, um, he can keep her in check…'
"Ahem. Regardless, we have not introduced ourselves yet properly- Like I said, I'm Nicholas Arc, a Hunter, and this is my wife, Marie. Could I ask for your names?" Nicholas backtracked a few minutes and coughed to his fist in order to signify for a new start.
"I am… Hm…" The masked man seemed to mull for a moment. "I am Ainz Ooal Gown. This is my companion, Albedo. We are… merchants from a faraway land."
"I see… What sort of faraway land would that be, if I can ask? Remnant has been mapped quite well, so there aren't many unknown faraway lands left." Nicholas felt a bit suspicious as the 'merchant' part raised an eyebrow. Marie seemed to sense the mood as well and didn't object to Nicholas's questions, not to mention that she had taken a step so she would have a clear line of fire at Albedo if she tried to attack Nicholas again and her earlier warmness towards the two had disappeared as soon as the bardiche had been swung.
It looked like the masked man managed to read the mood and lifted his hands up in placation. "Peace. I mean you no harm. And neither will Albedo, it's just that she mistook your motion for an attack. As to the faraway land… I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you. I fear that I would be discriminated against if I told you. It is also the same reason why I must wear this mask."
'A faunus… In which case, the 'faraway land' would be Menagerie…' Nicholas put the two together. 'Why would they need to 'disguise' themselves to be merchants, though… Unless…'
"Are you two Hunters?" Nicholas asked.
"We are not." The masked man stated. "Like I said, we are merchants. And even though I fear I may come across as aggressive, I must say that it is poor form to be interrogating merchants outside the settlement's walls, right after it had been laid to a siege."
"You have no wares with you, and your aide calls you a lord. Lord Ainz, please be honest with me. If you are on the run from Menagerie, you can tell me." Nicholas noted, causing both of the two masked persons to freeze up a bit. "Vale and Menagerie have no deals regarding prisoner exchange, and we Hunters are not policemen unless we are specifically needed in dire circumstances to act in that manner- And you did help us against the Grimm, which redeems you two in my eyes."
"I see… In that case there is no need to keep up the useless act. Yes, we are a lord and aide from land of Mengagerie. And as far as I can tell, I am guilty of no crime- Rather, we were kidnapped here, and we managed to just recently escape our captors. Please excuse our… wariness regarding revealing this information." Ainz spoke while still having his hands in placative pose. "Likewise, please excuse Albedo's nervous actions just earlier, now that you know where we come from. And speaking of which, there are some questions I'd really like to ask you about this place."
"I see…" Nicholas sighed while Marie kept sending wary glances at Albedo. "Well, come with me. Let's report what happened here to the leader of this settlement and then find the tavern to get ourselves cleaned up. The wall-guns should be able to keep the Grimm at bay for a while after getting reloaded. With any hope, the central heating is still intact and we can get a warm bath while we're at it."
The two masked travelers nodded, and followed Nicholas and Marie into the settlement after its gate was raised open.
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"...So, we're here. Far Hope?" Momonga analyzed the map that Nicholas had laid out in front of him.
"Yes. I'm not certain where exactly the kidnapper camp is, because I don't recognize the landmarks that you described, but it's possible that there's a smuggler camp somewhere in this area- Did you come from the south-east or south-west?" Nicholas analyzed the map as well. "There are two destroyed settlements there, so the chances are that the kidnappers have managed to repurpose one and are using it as their base of operations. I'll have to tell this to Beacon and we'll see if it necessitates deployment of Hunters or if the regular armed police is enough to take care of it."
Momonga had met an old guy who had introduced himself as the leader of the settlement and appointee of Vale to govern the place, and had kept up the lie of being a merchant to the man after Nicholas had elbowed him in the arm upon starting to recount the 'adjusted' 'backstory' of being a kidnapped lord of 'Mengagerie', whatever that was.
The group had soon reached a tavern that was decorated in somewhat old-fashioned manner, complete with lightbulbs, televisions, computers and central heating.
As far as the tech went, it was definitely leaps and bounds ahead of YGGDRASIL, but quite a bit behind Neo-Japan and its biotechnology and cybernetics. It was a worrying combination, since Momonga had noticed the artillery emplacements along the walls of the settlement, and wondered how effective they would be when employed against Nazarick's denizens.
"This map… Do you mind if I take it?" Momonga pat his finger against the paper map that the man had pulled out from somewhere. "It would help our navigation greatly."
"Sure, I can print another copy for myself, Ainz." Nicholas pushed the map towards Momonga, and luckily didn't hear Albedo's hiss over the familiarity.
'He didn't react to the name of Ainz Ooal Gown… So either the locals don't know about the guild, or YGGDRASIL, as I'm pretty sure that most of the game's population knew about us.' Momonga thought and wondered if he should start going by the name of the guild properly, like he had when introducing himself. 'It would serve as a warning, because that way if my name starts to make rounds, the people who know the guild would be careful since they wouldn't know if it's just me or if the whole guild is present, and at the same time…'
Momonga didn't know if any of his guildmates had actually come with him.
As far as he knew, he was the only one who had arrived into 'Remnant'. But that might not necessarily be true, and his guildmates from Ainz Ooal Gown might have just arrived to different places since only Momonga had been inside Nazarick during the transition.
'The guys would know to seek me out if they heard that name…' Momonga thus decided to call himself Ainz Ooal Gown.
He also decided another thing, even if his human side felt a bit queasy about it.
"So… Hunters are effectively the Grimm clean-up unit in Vale? No police-work or anything like that?" Ainz asked, disguising his lack of knowledge as a question about specifics as he had heard about 'Grimm' from the pair of Hunters, and drew the rest from conclusions. 'So, the hunters are effectively adventurers, solving quests and taking care of issues that regular police can't or won't do. And the Grimm are the ever-present foe they fight… Kind of like the punching-bag monsters of YGGDRASIL that could be farmed for experience and loot. Except that Grimm don't drop any loot.'
"Well, yes." Nicholas nodded a bit warily. "Don't worry, I won't be 'taking you in', so to speak- We're not a police force, and fugitives like you normally don't get chased either way. The police normally don't even really bother going after peaceful fugitives and things like that anyway. That is, unless you start causing trouble. Besides, if you get to Vale City and get yourself a new ID, you should be fine starting a new life for yourself."
"And Hunters have access to plenty of information on these 'Grimm', as well as on the Kingdoms?" Ainz felt as if he was pushing his luck but went for it anyway. 'Getting into the 'local adventurer's guild' would give me a good tap to start branching out from… Plus it'd give me a good persona to work from since the hunters seem to be respected and don't have many restrictions on where they can come and go.'
"Well, yes, but…"
"Do you think I could become a Hunter? It sounds quite interesting. Is there a training program or do you do mentorships?" Ainz pressed the attack even though Albedo squirmed a bit, almost as if she was uncertain as to why Ainz was so determined in keeping the conversation civil. '...Right. The NPC's are mostly evil and have extreme evil karma. I'll have to keep that in mind… I wonder if there are loyalty metrics or something like that, it'd be bad if I did something and the NPC's went rogue…'
"Ahem, the Beacon does take in new students yearly. Normally it's teenagers and late teenagers from Signal combat-school, but occasionally you do get older students who have either trained in the wilds, with a mentor, or otherwise are accepted past the normal process." Nicholas looked a bit conflicted and Marie looked suspicious. "I could write you a recommendation letter and Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, would probably let you two attend. You have the prerequisites alright if that combat was anything to go by… I'm just a bit worried about your, um, past. If you don't mind me saying that."
"I do mind a little. Could you clarify, please?" Ainz made a small motion with his hand as if to convoy 'please, do go on'. "I'll be certain to dispel any worries you might have."
"Well, for one… How exactly did you get kidnapped and why would a 'lord' be kidnapped by some shadowy organization?" Nicholas went on the offensive. "I'm sorry if this brings up bad memories but I need to know who I'm recommending to Ozpin."
"I understand. Let's see… Well, it started as a regular day. I was planning for a… funeral, and I went to my friend's place for one last time… reminiscing about the past. We owned a large plot of land, you see, and many people wanted it for themselves. I even rose to the rank of a 'lord' amongst my peers and followers… And in time, we also gained the ire and later hatred of certain organizations." Ainz came up with a sob-story on the spot based off YGGDRASIL's end and some improvisation regarding Ainz Ooal Gown's past. "They saw us as a threat, and when we were vulnerable… They struck."
Nicholas glanced at Albedo and reached to put his hand on Ainz's shoulder in a reassuring manner. Albedo twitched slightly but this time didn't try to attack, as she clearly remembered Ainz's chastisement from her earlier attempt.
"In the end, only I was left. My loyal followers, they… stayed behind to cover for me, except for Albedo who came with me to protect me. In the end, however, we were overwhelmed and kidnapped… And now we're here." Ainz finalized his sob-story. "I hope we'll be safe in Vale- I've always held her people close to my heart, even if my arrival here was not exactly what I had planned for initially."
"I see… Haa… I suppose I know who those people were who kidnapped you." Nicholas sighed quite hard. "The White Fang has taken a militaristic turn in their actions of late, and attacking landowners who are against their goals or otherwise in their way have been targeted in Menagerie, at least according to the news I've read on the matter."
'White Fang?' Ainz nodded. "I believe that we can demonstrate our strength too if it is necessary. But I abhor violence when it's not necessary so I'd rather not."
"No, you have shown enough when you helped us." Nicholas seemed to come to a conclusion. "And it's true that you would be safest in Beacon, training to become Hunters… After all you'd find companions and support there, if you come into conflict with White Fang again, as well as a way to rebuild what you've lost. You certainly have the strength for it."
Nicholas glanced at his wife. "Do you agree, love?"
"...Yes. However…" The woman seemed to be suspicious, though, but shook off it as Nicholas lifted his eyebrow. "...Nevermind. You'll need my word as a guarantee as well, so I'll sign the letter of recommendation as well."
"Thank you, love." Nicholas wrote a paper and signed it before handing it to Marie.
She signed it as well and finally handed it to Ainz.
"Thank you." Ainz nodded gratefully and put the letter carefully into the folds of his robes, where he opened the rift into his Inventory without being seen and deposited the letter there.
It was clear that Nicholas and his wife were good people just doing the right thing, and helping whoever they could.
However, Far Hope was geographically too close to Nazarick for Ainz to feel safe.
"Now, let's get you two rooms and beds. This has been an exhausting day." Nicholas stood up.
"Indeed." Ainz offered his hand to Nicholas and the two shook hands. "Oh, one last thing before we go."
"Yes?"
"[Negative Energy Touch]."
The strike squad, which Ainz had asked Demiurge to form, burst through the doors of the tavern a second later.
And the settlement of Far Hope disappeared from the map.