Chapter 7 The treasury and the undead
He had… actually forgotten this guy was here.
He had come to the treasury after satisfyingly studying the lamp. As the new "owner" of the item, he could get more information of it with the spell [All Appraisal of Greater Item] and had been relieved when he discovered that it could only be used by weak humans. So long it didn't fall on the hands of an overly intelligent one, it shouldn't cause much troubles.
He had come alone to the treasury, mostly to take a break from the NPC's that had been following him non-stop as if afraid he would suddenly disappear. He had tried to convince them he didn't need guards while inside Nazarik but it had all been for naught.
Not to mention, Albedo seemed very affected by the… situation involving the memory. She had requested an audience with him the day he returned and had proceeded to apologize profusely multiple times, asking for a punishment. He didn't know what to do however, and had ended up postponing it. He should hurry and decide something though; maybe then the thorn in her heart would leave.
He had been thinking about this when he entered the treasury and saw Momonga standing in front of him. No, not Momonga, just someone that looked like him… a doppelganger?
"You may show your true self." He watched with interest as the form shifted, looking similar to the original appearance of Narberal Gamma. The face was flat, with no nose or other facial features. Its mouth and eyes were replaced by three empty holes.
"Welcome to the treasury, Hadrian-sama!" by the life of him, he couldn't remember this guy's name.
He hadn't come to read his description when this was still a game, mostly because Momonga had never stopped playing, so he wouldn't have been able to modify him even if he had wanted to. The fact that he had completely forgotten about him was quite embarrassing.
"I apologize for not coming to visit sooner. Has anything unusual happened here?"
"Of course not Hadrian-sama! Everything is as the Supreme beings designed, not a treasure out of place!"
He did weird mannerisms when he spoke, moving dramatically to emphasize each word. Had Momonga really created him to be like that?
"I'm happy to hear so, thank you for your hard work"
After that came one of the most over the top speeches he had heard, which could have been summarized in a "No need for thanks, this is my purpose after all". He really couldn't understand why Momonga would make him act like this… he would have expected it to act like the neutral, reserved person his creator was like.
He tuned out most of the speech, only coming back to reality when he heard "… may I know the purpose for which you have come?" the NPC finished giving a pose, his right hand grasping the military hat while the other took a hold of the jacket that was hanging from his shoulders.
He couldn't help but think this NPC was similar to Lockhart. Chuckling in amusement, he explained that he had come to place a newly obtained World-item, showing the little lamp he had been keeping in his inventory.
"Oh! So another World-item has been obtained by the Supreme beings! truly-" Sweet Merlin, he wasn't going to live down another speech.
"Thank you for your kind words, but I'm afraid I must hurry. Please guard the entrance while I go place it with the others"
Receiving a salute one would expect from a soldier, he paid no attention to the german words and continued. Placing the lamp with the other items, he took a moment to open the bag that he carried around his neck, accioing a very specific book from his personal library.
He had written about the NPCs descriptions in here a few years ago, when the members of the guild started to leave. He had made this book in case he needed to remember something specific about them. Going to the very end of the book, he searched for Momonga's section, with only one creation.
Pandora's Actor. And he had greatly underestimated the guy.
According to his book, Pandora's Actor possessed wit and cunning that ranked among the pinnacle of Nazarick's denizens. He also had very flexible abilities, to the point where he could replace all the other Guardians. A level 100 NPC whose talents lay in disguise, and someone that could copy 45 separate forms and abilities, even if only at 80% of the originals' potency.
A treasure in charge of the treasury, hmm? Maybe the flamboyant personality was for the enemy to underestimate him? As expected of Momonga… but leaving him isolated in the treasury seemed like a waste.
Going back to the area Pandora was guarding, he took a ring from the inventory and gave it to him.
"This… is the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown, and it possesses the ability to..."
"Indeed." he interrupted "Have you ever left the treasury?"
At the negative response, he continued "While I expect you to continue with your duties in the treasury, it's important you get familiar with Nazarik's structure and the other servants in case of emergency. I know Momonga created you to know about it, but there's a difference between knowing how something should be and actually seeing it. You may use the ring to travel freely between floors, except for the 8th, so long you warn beforehand the guardian of said floor. Any doubts?
"None Hadrian-sama" Pandora's Actor clicked his heels together with great force, and saluted again.
"Keep up the good work, Pandora's Actor." he said before teleporting back to his room.
-Time break-
Harry would be the first one to admit, the twins could pull off a very swaying puppy look. Nevertheless, he had been Godfather (and father in his original world) of more than one child, so he had stood his ground against the NPCs that were more than reluctant to see him leave again.
He still thought that becoming an adventurer was the best way to gather information, so they had reached an agreement. Due to the disaster that had happened with the world item, he was now followed by invisible assassins and high ranked shadow demons to use as shields in case of emergency. This had been the conclusion of the reunion he had had with the guardians before leaving.
He would be parading as a swordsman, while Shizu would be an archer. The automaton had very technological weapons that were uncommon on this world, the most normal looking being the bow she now carried on her back along with magical arrows. The bag was enchanted so that any arrow used would be replaced after a cooling time of 40 seconds, so he didn't have to worry about wasting resources.
It was already night when they finally reached E-Rantel. The part near the entrance they had used was calm, but as they continued walking a few, far away screams reached them. Sharing a glance with Shizu, he ran towards the source of the screams, halting when he saw undead creatures killing indiscriminately any citizens that happened to cross their path. A graveyard was a few yards beyond them, the doors completely open with undead creatures coming in waves.
Some people with metallic medals around their necks were trying to fight them, probably coming because of the screams too, but were greatly outnumbered. There were only two groups of 4 people, and they were losing ground quite fast. Adventurers… the medals were like the chief had described.
"Shizu, make sure the undead don't advance any further."
"Understood, James-san"
Taking out the twin swords, he began to destroy the low ranked zombies that had begun to approach him, quickly advancing towards the entrance of the cemetery. Shizu was keeping them from spreading while the other adventurers began to gain ground since the upcoming waves were being killed by him.
"Stay here in case they start to come out again" he said looking at the adventurers that had silver plates "Shizu, follow me"
"Wait a minute, you're just two! Stay here and helps us in the entrance until help arrives, one of our own has already leaved to alert the others-"
He didn't hear the rest, advancing further into the graveyard with Shizu following closely behind him. He let pass some low-ranked ones to keep the others entertained, while taking care of the undead that had evolved into slightly more dangerous creatures.
Once he was further away from the entrance, he summoned five hellhounds and a low-level chimera, mentally calculating how much time he had before he would need to vanish them.
"Go kill the undead"
They kept fighting like this until the number of undead diminished and only a few low-ranked zombies remained. Figuring the people on the entrance would take care of them if they got out, he ignored them and vanished his chimera, leaving only the hellhounds.
"Entertain the adventurers that enter the cemetery. Three shall wait near the entrance, while the others stay here" The creatures were weak, and would probably be killed but at least he would know if he ran out of time to investigate on his own.
Going forwards, he followed Shizu's directions since she could sense humans near, and kept walking until they reached what seemed like a chapel at the heart of the graveyard. Several suspicious-looking people were standing in a circle, chanting in some kind of ritual.
They all wore crude black robes which covered their entire bodies, the faces hidden with black head cloths that only showed their eyes, while the wooden staves they carried had strange carvings on their ends.
The only exposed face belonged to the man in the middle, and he looked like he was undead. He was well-dressed, and seemed to be concentrating on the black stone that he held in his hand.
Harry knew they had already been spotted, since a few were looking in their direction, so he simply strode directly over to them. As he got closer, he could hear how one of the hooded persons said "Khazit-sama, they're here." to the man with the black stone.
He wasn't sure if he should capture them or kill them. While he wanted to know about whatever ritual they were doing, they were obviously the source of the undead summoning, and he needed to leave a culprit for the people to point at.
Deciding he didn't need to kill all of them, he sent a silent [Message] to Neuronist to expect new prisoners, and gave the order to Shizu to send paralyzing arrows at them when he gave the signal before taking down the Muffliato.
"Good night gentlemen." Normally, he wouldn't bother with mindless talk, but he wanted to have all the enemies reunited before deciding how to fight.
"…who are you? How did you break through that horde of undead?" asked the man standing in the center of the circle, apparently known as Khazit.
"We were hoping to register as adventurers, but saw this mess before we could. Unlucky, isn't it?" the people in front of him took a stance at his nonchalant tone, while Khazit looked around the surroundings guardedly.
"Just the two of you? Where's the rest of your party?" ah, so he was expecting an ambush.
Shrugging slightly he replied "You wouldn't believe my answer regardless, so why bother?" then he looked behind the group; to the presence he had felt once they were close enough "There's no need to be shy. Come out, unless you are hiding because you're afraid?" Shizu was better at recognizing live creatures from afar, using the infrared vision, but he wasn't bad at it once they were close enough.
"Fufu~ Not bad~" answered a female voice coming from the chapel. A young woman stepped into the light, a black cloak covering most of her body. "May I know your name? Ah, I'm Clementine. Pleased to meetcha~"
"There's no need for presentations, we are just unregistered adventurers really"
"Ohh~? a worker then? That would explain why I haven't seen you before, even when I've investigated all the high-ranked adventurers in the city~"
Khazit looked like he wanted to say something, looking irritably at the female warrior, but Harry spoke before he could
"I'll let you deal with the group of men" looking from the corner of his eye, he saw the maid nod once in understating "Clementine, I'll be your opponent"
He didn't give them a chance to reply, immediately starting the fight. His opponent was quick to respond however, evading his attacks swiftly. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the bodies of the hooded men fall to the ground, even if the one in the center remained standing with a white shield in front of him.
Clementine had opened her coat for better movement, revealing an armor (if it could be called that) completely covered with adventurer plates. Platinum, gold, silver, iron, copper, mithril, orichalcum, all arranged in a sick idea of a trophy. He mildly wondered if Riddle would have done something similar.
The woman was smirking at him, even laughing at times as she side stepped his attacks.
"You are very confident"
"Yup, no warrior in this country can beat me~ no, wait, almost no warrior-" she didn't get to finish her sentence, avoiding the sword by a hair. Clementine's eyes narrowed, and for the first time she had a look of annoyance on her face.
He blocked the stiletto that tried to pierce his shoulder in the next moment, but couldn't retaliate since they both had to jump to the side as a white skeletal dragon rose from the ground in front of Khazit. Ah, it hadn't been a white shield, but a white claw.
Those were impervious to magic from the 6th tier and under though, so Shizu would be forced to use the other weapon he had allowed her, a size-changing hammer. He couldn't see her fight however, since he had his own opponent.
He had fought as a warrior in previous worlds, so he felt confident in his ability even if it wasn't his category in this one. As a Djinn, he hadn't been able to equip and use weapons for fighting, so he was using a full armor minus the helmet, his features different from usual with blue eyes and brown hair.
Alternating between dodging and attacking, he could now understand the wonder of martial arts. She was so self-assured because it allowed for movements that would have been impossible otherwise, sliding easily under his swords and increasing her speed so much that he had been momentarily forced to focus completely on the defense, before jumping backwards to put some distance between them.
Just as both sides were about to strike again, the earth shook as a second skeletal dragon was created. Ah, poor Shizu, but the hammer was a bludgeoning weapon, so it should be able to destroy them after a while. Right now it was at the biggest size, the handle was as tall as Shizu, while the head of the hammer was as big as the dragon's claw.
Clementine had used his slip in concentration however, closing the distance in a blink of an eye. Harry retreated, but the ground was unstable due to the new dragon's summoning and his opponent was fast. There was a flash of light, and then the screeching of metal clashing with metal rang through the graveyard.
"…So haaaard~ what's that armor of yours made of? Adamantite?"
There was a dent in his armor, which meant Clementine's strikes held more destructive power than he had first supposed. He was actually surprised she hadn't aimed at his head, was she mocking him?
"Ah well. If that's the case, next time..." she didn't complete the sentence, but the meaning was more than clear when she stared darkly at his unprotected face. He hadn't wanted to use a helmet because he figured people would trust him more easily if it wasn't hidden, but it seemed he had underestimated his opponent's skill.
Better finish this now.
Closing the distance, he used the sword of his right to try to cut off her head, while the left deflected the stiletto that had tried to pierce the middle of his head. His sword was blocked effortlessly by the fragile-looking stiletto of the woman, just as he expected.
"Bend. Enlarge." the sword of his right followed his command, bending and growing until it should have pierced the head of the surprised female. These swords had been tested by Cocytus, working as they should so it followed basic commands.
She had avoided the attack by a hair however, using a martial art that seemed to slow-down the motions around them. Letting out a frustrated "tsk" he blocked and side stepped the following attacks, his opponent becoming more vicious.
The moment they stopped briefly to catch their breath, he quickly apparated behind her, and used the sword in his right hand to immediately cut off her head. He had not used anything other than physical abilities in their fight, so she hadn't expected the use of had tested if he could use magic while wearing the armor, and discovered that while the Djinn magic was blocked, he could still perform some of his original magic so long it didn't require the use of the elder wand.
He watched as the female body fell down with a thud, before focusing on Shizu's fight. It seemed she was ending as well, only a dragon remained and the magic caster, Khazit, was dead on the ground.
She had actually used her superior speed to avoid the dragons and kill the magic caster first. Once the one controlling them had died, the dragons had attacked her merely because she was alive and closer, the undead creatures focusing on her.
Then he looked at the dragon's feet. While Shizu had only stunned the hooded men, the dragons had stomped over them in their battle, so he had no one left alive to interrogate. Sighing he figured he may as well test the resurrection wand.
Opening a [Portal] he sent Clementine's body to Neuronist, telling her to conserve the body as fresh as she could until he went to test the Resurrection wand. The prison was in the 5th floor, so the corpse would be easier to keep due to the low temperature.
Then he felt one of the bonds disappear. One of the hellhounds had been killed.
"We are running out of time, go check the bodies for any valuable possessions. Make sure you remain invisible" he said to the assassins that followed him. He had instructed them not to interfere unless he said the code word, and was glad they had refrained from acting when he had received the blow from Clementine.
As he thought this Shizu delivered the final blow to the dragon, the creature now resting in pieces.
"Shizu, stay in the entrance of the chapel and send me a [Message] when the adventurers arrive. Take whatever the assassins find into your inventory in the meantime."
"Understood."
Entering the chapel he felt a living presence at the very end of it. He still took his time investigating around though, but didn't find anything interesting. Feeling disappointed, he got closer to the living being, and found a boy wearing a strange, transparent outfit, with tear-shaped clots of reddish-black blood that wept down his cheeks. He was just standing, and had not reacted in any way to his presence.
"Can you hear me?" when there was no response he pointed the sword threateningly to his neck, but the boy still didn't move. Mind control then.
The cause probably was the spiderweb-like crown that rested on the boy's head. He had never seen anything like it before.
"[All Appraisal Magic Item]"
Taking in the information that showed up in his mind, he let out an appreciative whistle at the interesting item, the Crown of Wisdom. Then the only remaining bound with his hellhound was dissolved, the adventurers that had reached the middle of the graveyard were now free to advance.
Should he take the item? According to the description, that would end the boy's life… and he didn't know if this was someone important in this city. Not having much time to think it over, he regretfully made the spell to destroy the crown.
If only he had more information, maybe he could have done things differently… he was supposed to be a hero though, so he may as well act like one. He picked the boy up and put him over his shoulder, and was walking towards the entrance when he received a [Message] from Shizu saying they had company.
"What were you two thinking? Running off like that…!" He recognized that voice as the one that had shouted at him when he first entered the graveyard.
"They seemed to have taken care of it, though" said a young voice, he wasn't sure if male or female.
"That's not the point! It was an unnecessary risk, if they had stayed with us in the entrance then the city would have been better protected."
"Well, nothing happened since we arrived in time to help you, so there's no point in complaining right? They did a good job" A very deep voice.
Finally arriving to the entrance, he saw the silver-plate group of 4 that he had left at the entrance, and a group of 5 gold-plate men. He could see shadows moving not so far away, so probably the other group of silver was searching the graveyard for more enemies.
"Please stop antagonizing Shizu, she was just following her reckless comrade" he said with an apologetic look.
"That person on your shoulder…!"
"I found him inside; under mind control" he answered the leader of silver before looking at the golden group "We should hurry, since he seems to need medical attention. We'll let the rest to you" There was nothing else in that chapel anyways.
He started to walk away, more steps following than the pair he was expecting
"…Yes?"
"Who are you?" The silver group was walking with him and Shizu, the golden one entering inside the chapel.
"Ah, I apologize, there was no time for introductions back then. My name is James"
"Shizu" was the deadpan response.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the leader of the 'Swords of Darkness', Peter Mauk. That fellow over there is the eyes and ears of our team, the ranger Lukrut Volve." A leather-armored blond man nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes resting in Shizu with obvious interest.
"Next is our magic caster and the brains of our group, Ninya, The Spellcaster."
"Pleased to meet you." said the youngest, apparently male.
"And last but not least, our druid Dyne Woodwonder. He uses healing spells and magic that controls nature, and he's well versed in herbal lore."
"Pleased to meet you!" came the greeting from the burly, barbaric-looking man with a full, bushy beard.
"Likewise. Did you have trouble defending the city?"
They continued to chat like this until they reached the city, the other adventurers guiding them to the nearest temple that gave medical attention. Once he left the unconscious boy in there they went to report the events to the Adventurer's building.
By the time morning came, Harry and CZ Delta were leaving the tall structure with new mithril plates hanging from their necks.
AUTHOR NOTE:
This chapter was hell on earth, very difficult to write.
It's kinda tiring to write (and probably for you to read too) when the changes aren't many, but I wanted to make clear that the group of Peter was alive…
Either way, from now on I'm going to skip the parts of the Light Novel that are to remain the same, basically making this a "story told in snippets" were we both rest (me from writing and you from reading) and I just go to the changed interesting parts with a little prelude in the first paragraph of the chapters so you know in which part of the novel I'm on.
I'll also include some new characters and events, so there are going to be some chapters that completely ignore the LN, because certain things need to happen to actually arrive to the plot I had in mind when I started to write.
As always, feel free to let me know your opinion, even if I don't really answer that often. I ignore all the reviews that only try to tell me that my story must be a certain way, mostly because this is my plot-bunny. If I like the idea I may actually add it to the story, and there are some aspects of my writing that could certainly be better so it's not like I'm against critics or you expressing your opinion. Just know it may not be followed-up because this is my idea and my story.
So, thanks for reading! Next chapter will be more interesting, I hope~
See you later!