Disclaimer: I don't own overlord.
"What the hell are shadow demons doing here?" he thought.
Kits was surprised with this new information. They were neither killing the living nearby nor moving from their place.
"So they are either low level players observing or protecting someone or being controlled by someone". Kits smiled
"But still, they are too strong for Adamantium level presence but are weaker than level 80. They did move slightly in the same place so are not captives." Kits thought.
Kits slowed down his pace at a corner of the busy road, closed his eyes and concentrated more on his [Area Scan].
[Area Scan]- It was difficult to concentrate at large distances, as area scan feature in this world looked more like a radar with himself at the center. All species looked like dots of different colours. The more level an individual had the more presence he had, as the dots looked bigger.
Being Pked and Pking others in Yggdrasil several times', Kitsume had optimised his character to scan various high-level players/ NPC's/ monsters especially for Yggdrasil realms. However, this ability had backfired in this world, as beings of this world were not as strong as Yggdrasil. Hence, if he had to detect others near him he had to stop his movements and concentrate more on his surroundings. Simply put he had to put more effort in detecting lower level beings in this world.
Another aspect was that his ability flaws remained the same in this world. In Yggdrasil, if a player or any being used a legendary class item or were of rouge class above level 90 manipulating their presence with equivalent tier spell he may misinterpret their levels. On the other hand, if they used specific divine or world class item to completely mask themselves, which were quite rare even in Yggdrasil, he won't be able to detect them at all.
Kits was deep in thought and his mind shifted from shadow demons towards others. The population in the city was quite big after all so it was difficult to concentrate.
This was the first time he felt the presence of undead among the living in this world.
"Hmm, interesting, seems like a vampire", kits mumbled
Realising his mistake he opened his eyes and found no one near him to hear his mumbling.
"I will stay in this city for few days and try to collect more info". Kits made up his mind.
The atmosphere in the capital was same as he found in other cities. People looked sad but still devoted towards their daily tasks, with occasional patrols of city guards in between.
Ignoring the presence of others, he simply walked forward towards his destination- The Merchants' guild.
After inquiring few strangers about the location, he walked inside the merchants' guild.
Even though he was able to understand few letters in this new world, written language was different among The Centaur's', Republic and The Kingdom. Therefore, he simply gave up learning them. He was content that he could at least understand their spoken language. He was curious about who casted this spell but no one knew the answer as it seemed obvious to the beings of this world.
~Merchants Guild~
Magic Lights well lit The Merchants Guild, rows of desks well arranged in circular, box and triangular formations. All with different number of chairs for its customers. He could also see some private rooms and even VIP rooms made specifically for discussions and meetings in the corner of his eyes. The guild also had various counters for specific purposes but Kits could not understand the written language.
Some people were sitting there discussing some matters among themselves.
Kits walked straight towards the reception.
Across the reception desk, while remain seated, a fat man in his early fifties nodded towards Kits in a welcoming manner.
"Hello, sorry to disturb you but I am actually looking for a bard named Richard." Kits said.
"Oh yes, seems like you are quite early, he will be here in 3 hours in the evening." receptionist stated.
"Early?"
"Is he mistaking me for someone else?" kits thought and spoke, "Sorry, I am Kitsume sent by a bard named Eric from Republic."
"No… no its ok, Richard arrives every day here, in the evening, for meetings with his customers".
"Oh, Can you inform him when he arrives today about me? I am also looking for a place to stay for few days."
"Of course I will inform him. Please follow me to the counter for discussing the room".
Kits simply walked slowly after him towards one of the counters.
After showing him, the counter, the guy left for his seat.
Unlike Republic's guild, the room prices here were non-negotiable but were relatively cheap. Kits simply chose one of the room-type and made advance payment for five days without food. He also requested them to inform him when Richard arrived.
After arriving to his room, he closed the door and sat down on the bed. The room was a simple one with attached bathroom and with basic furnishings.
"I should probably take a bath first."
He then took a bath, changed his clothes, closed his eyes, and started concentrating on his area scan spell.
He could clearly feel the presence of many beings- shadow demons, a low-level vampire, few humans' at lower level than vampire, few orcs at a single place near palace, few elves spread around near the vicinity of palace among many humans.
After concentrating for few minutes, he opened his eyes.
"Are those mercenary shadow demon summons?" he doubted.
The players who chose shadow demons as their race at least upgraded their character to the Shadow Demon General/ Mage etc. status, hence them being at this level was doubtful. Their presence was also not in alignment to the beings of this world and seemed overshadowed, as if linked with someone. On the other hand player summons were not generally at this level without using Yggdrasil items. Mercenary summons fitted exactly to the level criteria of these shadow demons, were easy to command and had a telepathic link with their summoner. However, they had a specific requirement i.e. GOLD. Along with other requirement to be summoned from atleast mid-tier guild base or the summon caller at the Safe cities across Yggdrasil.
"There are no safe cities in this world". He stated a fact.
Safe cities were places where PVP/ Pking was not possible in Yggdrasil.
"So the guild summons can also move around like my summons." He inferred another fact from the previous one. Then a thought appeared in kitsume's mind.
"If guild summons are free to move around then NPC's can also move around", at this probability and a chill ran down through his undead spine.
The worst-case scenario he thought of earlier was in front of him and its probability now seemed quite high.
Ainz Owl Gown along will all its NPC's.
He was well aware of the destructive power of NPC's of Ainz Owl Gown. From his friendship with Pernocio, he knew that most of them did not like humans.
"Well atleast I am not human. I should have asked them more about their guild." He sighed.
"I should be more cautious from now on".
"What is a vampire doing among humans? That too in a crowded place."
The humans are neither were under any spell around the vampire nor were his /her minions. None had distorted or overshadowed presence. The vampire also did not appear to be a minion of someone else. Is it working for someone? Players are not that weak, so it being a player is very less, maybe it is a NPC."
These questions troubled him.
"I should observe this vampire from distance." He decided.
"Orcs have no movements so they appear to be most probably, captives."
The level of orcs was consistent with the level of this world so kits was not interested.
"The elves are few, hmmmm.. Can be slaves of higher nobles. I should…."
He was back to reality after a knock at his door.
He opened the door and the helper informed him about the arrival of the bard. He thanked the helper and walked after him towards meeting area.
"Hello, I am Richard the bard. Manager told me you came from Republic to meet me" he greeted looking at Kits.
Richard level was also same as Eric. Apparently, bards who traded information were not that good as bards (capable of level 1 or at max level 2 bard magic) else they had chosen better paying jobs, for e.g like being adventurers etc. Kitsume was here for information so he was not concerned about his level.
"I am Kitsume a friend of Eric from Republic's Capital. Can we take a seat somewhere and discuss in detail?"
"Wow, you came a long distance to meet me. Anyways how's Eric?" he said in a jolly mood showing a place for both of them to sit at a corner of the room.
Both took a seat far away from other merchants in the inn, opposite to each other. They ordered the waiter to bring some snacks.
"Well Eric is doing fine, he asked me to meet you here."
"So what will you like to know about? I know many things in the kingdom and far off places"
"Ainz Owl Gown and Sorceror Kingdom" Kits said without hesitation and the jolliness in the mood of Richard, disappeared after hearing Kits words. He had now become serious.
"Why do you want to know about that monster?" he inquired.
"Well I have a feeling that I had heard this name before, hence curious." Kits replied
"Oh, Well Eric had already informed me about your condition and that you will be arriving here. But you arrived quite early" Ignoring his doubt Kits simply persisted to know more.
{Condition here refers to the lie he had spun around regarding himself not knowing about his past. Apparently, Eric was also the only one who knew about Kitsume's form changing ability. i.e. from centaur to human. However, he was unaware about the details.}
"So, do you have any new info?"
"The trade between merchants between the 3 countries Empire, Kingdom and Theocracy have come to a halt. The area covered by E- Rantel was a trading hub. Now no one has the guts to go near that place. They now take a long detour route away from E-Rantel to visit other Kingdoms. Forget about merchants even the adventurers are afraid to venture there."
"But I heard that it's a peaceful city because of Momon".
"Well a villager near E Rantel visited E Pepsenol few days back to sell wheat and he informed that incident to others. Other countries might be spying there but are mum about that mostly due to fear of action by the magic guilds or those priests."
"Hmmmm, sounds reasonable. So what kind of spell did he use in the war?"
"Damn even thinking about that gives me chills. I talked to 5-6 people who participated in that war. All of them gave the same narration that Ainz waved his arms. In response, a magic circle that was shaped like a dome and roughly ten meters in radius, sprang into existence. He was in the center. The people on his left and right were encompassed by it, but they seemed fine. He probably would not harm his own allies. The magic circle glowed a pale white, and translucent symbols appeared across its length and breadth. The sigils changed with kaleidoscopic speed, shifting between runes and letters that nobody had ever seen before. It was like watching a spectacular lightshow. Then in few seconds every living creature that comprised the left wing of the Kingdom's army —horses, conscripts, knights, nobles, everything— suddenly keeled over and collapsed on the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.. After that, spine chilling jet black coloured ball appeared in the sky which grew in size and fell on the ground. A black tar like thing came out and absorbed every dead body and then it took the form of a monstrous tree. Then 5 monsters in the shape of five legged goats with tentacles appeared from that tree and started stomping the remaining solders under their feet."
Richard told this in a single breadth.
"This spell kinda reminds me of that Super Tier spell [Ia Shub-Niggurath!] Offering to the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young," Kits thought.
"Did you say five?" Kits inquired.
"Ah yes" Seeing Kits nodding, Richard continued his story.
"This was when everyone started running for their lives. After that Ganzef Stornoff challenged that magic caster into a duel and was defeated in front of Climb and Brain Ugalus, And told them that he was stopping his lambs as a respect to warrior captain if the king gives him E- Rantel he will end this war else he will redirect his lambs towards the capital".
"So the king agreed?" Kits asked
"What other choice did they had in front of that being; none of the nobles opposed the king's decision".
"Ah yes, sorry, what other info do you have?
"We lost many nobles and others in that war so the kingdom is in a dire situation and if that Sorceror King decided to invade we won't stand a chance".
"Well I doubt that, I don't think anyone here stood a chance against that kind of power. So what can you tell me about Jaldabaoth?."
Both of them talked about Jaldabaoth and the vampire Momon killed. Momons' character and his companion Nabe, adventures groups in and surrounding kingdom, along with various legends and myths in and around kingdom.
"Can you fix up my meeting with Blue rose?" kits inquired.
Kits was now curious about Momon whether he was also from Yggdrasil. He did not remember any player who looked or behaved like Momon in game. There were so many players and NPC's in Yggdrasil so he doubted his knowledge.
"Why do you want to meet them?"
"I wanted to know more about this Momon and Jaldabaoth fellow."
"Ahh, if you want to meet them now you can follow me to meet them in the adventurers' guild. I can even introduce you to them. But you might have to pay a good amount for gaining information from them".
"Oh thanks, I have good amount with me".
"Its ok, no need to pay me anything. I also wanted to talk to them but they are costly."
"Oh" Kits smiled now knowing his intentions.
"And you saved the life of my niece after all". Richards said
"Huh?"
"That idiot didn't tell you, Eric is my younger brother. I know you saved his daughter. He lost his crops this year due to fire in his field so he is going through cash crunch. But he is too proud to ask for help". Richard stated.
"Oh..." Kits actually felt sorry for Eric, and apologised mentally for thinking of him as a greedy person. His rating for Eric improved a few notches.
After paying the bill, both of them walked out of the merchants guild and headed towards the adventurers guild. Looking at the people in the streets, they talked about the kingdoms condition, about the uncertain future that lie ahead and Blue Rose adventurer party in detail.
Kits now knew that the building that had the vampire in it was the adventurers guild as he could sense it inside but continued to walk following his new found friend.
Adventurers apparently never gave any info free of cost. Therefore, Richard advised Kits to place a named request for Blue Rose at the guild before meeting them.
Kits already aware of this simply accepted his statement. Even though it was easier and less time consuming to use charm and other control spells, he decided against it for the time being, as he did not wanted to make mistakes.
Both of them went inside the guild. Richard was familiar with most of the people inside the guild. He directly walked towards the receptionist.
After placing a named request for Blue Rose team with all details, he looked towards Kits, and flicked his fingers for payment.
The amount of payment was quite high but reasonable for Adamantium ranked adventures only if they accepted the topic of discussion.
Kits had double thoughts about this but he had already cast the dice with Richard who was also interested in this first hand specific information, hence Kits ended up paying 50 gold coins as advance payment.
Richard took the approved request duly signed by Guild master and walked towards the table.
Kits was uneasy about this, as the table he walked towards was the one where the vampire was sitting with two humans but he simply followed. The vampire was a young girl with a boyish voice, whose physique was small and who wore a mask and a robe.
He felt like he could even get exposed by this stupid move. On the other hand, Richard walked confidently towards them waving the official request letter in his hand. He seemed somewhat happy.
Richard went directly to them followed by Kits, and interrupted them who were discussing something among themselves.
"Hello Gagaran-sama, I have an official named request for Blue Rose. Will you accept?"
All three of them looked first towards the bard and then Kits. The manwoman looked surprised and said.
"You brought a named request for us?"
"Yes" He smiled and placed the request letter on the table in front of her in a respectful manner.
She picked up the request and started reading.
The request letter clearly stated to inform the requester about the events that transpired during Jaldabaoth attack. Along with his appearance, behaviour, companions and there difficulty levels. The request also asked about his confrontation with Team Darkness along with many other things, which included any rumours' about Ainz owl Gown.
She went through the paper and then without saying anything handed over the request letter to the vampire. While the vampire was reading the third girl who looked like a low level thief was peeking in to see the contents of the request. After all three of them read the letter, the vampire spoke directly looking at Kits.
"So why do you want to talk about this, most of the information is already available with many others?" she asked him. The info they could give was available with everyone and there was no point in hiring them with so much gold.
Kits expected this question so he simply stated that he wanted to confirm his info from first-hand account.
The vampire contemplated his answer and then stated.
"Wait here for some time. We will ask our leader. If she agrees we will call you."
After saying this, all three of them went inside the Adamantium private room where Kits could sense two more humans were sitting. The guild had private rooms to conduct meetings.
Both Richard and Kits took a seat and waited. Kits look around and saw adventures who were busy discussing about monsters and their adventures among themselves. The site looked similar to the Mercenary guild of Yggdrasil. Kits simply smiled looking at enthusiasm.
After some time, the guild helper appeared and showed both Kits and Richard to the private room. Kits asked Richard to take lead here and to gain as much info they can from them, any minute or even irrelevant information. They looked quite comfortable with Richard in their previous encounter.
"Hello Lakyus sama, thanks for accepting our request." Richard said looking at one of the girls.
"Have a seat" indicating both of them to sit first.
"So who is your new friend here?" The girl named Lakyus asked Richard.
"Oh hello, I am Kitsume a platinum ranked equivalent mercenary from The Republic and an old friend of Richard's brother Eric". Even though he knew Eric for past 7 months, there was no point of telling them anything out of script.
"Hmm, a mercenary…. Where is your team?"
"They are in The Republic's Capital. They were not interested in such an easy mission so I came here alone." Being satisfied from the initial introduction, she simply nodded.
"So what's your mission?" one of the girl who also looked like a thief or assassin inquired.
"Well nowadays, Ainz Owl Gown and Jaldabaoth are a hot selling topic among bards. So I came here to collect info." Kits stated the obvious reason and to distract them to dig any further. Which apparently worked. After thinking for few moments, she introduced Kits with other members of Blue Rose and then stated.
"So, what would you like to know?"
"How about from the beginning… from your teams encounter with Jaldabaoths' minion".
They went on talking about the female entomomancer, Jaldabaoth minion and Jaldabaoth who came to help his junior. The difficulty ratings of the minion and perceived difficulty of Jaldabaoth in battle.
Kits made a mental note that Jaldabaoth according to them was at least equivalent to Platinum Dragon Lord. This became interesting.
Evileye continued and told about the death of both their members with single spell about which Evileye simply remembered that it was a fire type of spell, which the monster called [Hellfire Wall].
Then she continued and started blabbering about Momon. How cool he was with his supernatural strength? The dark warrior before her seemed like a knight that came to her rescue. Evileye went on and on about Momon.
Kits made a mental note that this vampire girl has a huge crush on Momon. However, he noticed that Momon managed to fight Jaldabaoth as an equal.
"Then we looked towards the city whose part was covered with huge flame wall" Evileye stated.
"Huge flame wall?" Kits doubted.
"Yes Momon sama even knew the name of that spell, he knows things which we also don't know."
"So what were those flames called?" Kits inquired.
"I think he said Flames of Gehenna"
Kits smiled mentally as this was the name of a 9th tier spell in Yggdrasil common among the Devil class. He decided not say anything. However, the thought mused him that Momon could also be a player.
He also made a mental note that both of them were hiding their true strength.
She continued about the bravery of Momon and her rival Nabe against Jaldabaoth and his five maids who were of equivalent level to the first one.
She continued in detail, about the intense fight scene and why, in the end, Momon accepted Jaldabaoth's proposal.
After the Jaldabaoth's episode, they talked about Ainz Owl Gown and few other things. But, they were also not aware about any new info on that except Momon accepting Ainz rule.
"So did you gain any new information from this meeting?" Lakyus inquired.
"Ah yes, and thanks for letting me know the details". Kits humbly stated. After that he activated a silent spell [Mark Targets] and then looked at all five of them.
Few doubts were still running through his mind but he decided not to show any of them. Both Kits and Richard thanked and then left the Guild.
After having dinner with Richard and thanking him, Kits came back to his room.
He had gained new info but new doubts appeared in his mind.
After Kits and Richard left Blue Rose members remained seated to their places.
"What do you guys think of that Kitsume?" Lakyus asked others.
"He didn't look much like magician but he was very much interested in the type of spells Jaldabaoth used." tia said.
"I don't think he told truth about collecting info for the bards". tina stated
"Yes I also have same doubt. How will a platinum ranked mercenary get the gold to pay us?" Tia said
"It seems like he is working for someone influential by collecting information on Momon, Jaldabaoth and Ainz Owl Gown."
Lakyus stated.
"Well the things we told him were not confidential. Everything is already public". Evileye said.
"You seemed quite talkative about Momon sama". Gangaran teased evileye.
"huh..."
"Anyways, I think this was the easiest mission we have taken together. To simply talk..." tia said laughing.
...
In a single day, he was able to ascertain that Ainz owl Gown was a player who can cast Super tier spells of Yggdrasil and he came here with a group of many others loyal to himself.
The second one was Momon who was also most probably a player or NPC from Yggdrasil. However, he had doubts as Momon being a warrior had not used any warrior skills during both encounters with Jaldabaoth. No one here knows about origins of Momon.
Same goes for Jaldabaoth. Why would he cast an area denial spell [Flames of Gehenna]? What was he hiding? If he wanted to find the item, why did he not use any locate item spell / item or scroll? why would he take prisoners and warehouse resources? Is he preparing for something big?
If Jaldabaoth and Momon are both players, their first meeting and talk looked even more suspicious. Was Jaldabaoth mocking Momon or did they actually know each other? Are they working together?
Even in this world, Kits never tried to underestimate others. In the past one year he had encountered things which defied common sense. He had experimented with things with his own techniques and created combos that were not possible even in Yggdrasil. So mocking even a low-level player outright was the stupidest move one can make. The more evileye praised Momon his doubts increased. Was it to impress Evileye or Increase his fame? It looks more like she is a free vampire. Is her master/ converter dead?
He made up his mind.
"I have to gather more info on Evileye".
Author's note: I need a proofreader. Any reviews welcome. Writing fanfic for first time so please be gentle. English is neither my first language nor forte.
Lonely Sage: Thanks, all city names are from map given in LN 9.
PrometheusTheXelNaga: Reason for being unhappy- He wants to go back to his original world but couldn't. Will give the char chart later.
Thanks and regards.
