Chapter 5: speaking with the elder
"Remove your helmet this instant! No one is allowed to hide their face in front of the great elder."
Ainz didn't even need to look to know where the voice was coming from. Only the leader of the dark elves that had ambushed him would suddenly speak in such a demanding tone to him.
Ainz calmly looked at the elder who himself had not said anything to reign in his subordinate and decided that there was no way around it. Carefully, he removed his helmet and allowed the elves to see his illusionary human face.
The face he had designed was not particularly handsome and instead mundane and uninspiring, but if it was compared to the faces of the humans that lived in the kingdom it became apparent that he was a foreigner to this land.
All the elves briefly glanced over Ainz' face before lazily averting their gaze and looking towards the elder. Even the elf woman that had been reading a book until now briefly looked up and studied Ainz before promptly returning to her reading. Evidently, she did not appear the least bit impressed with what she had seen and instead chose to focus on reading her book.
Looks like no one noticed anything.
Ainz sighed inwardly as his illusion magic had not been seen through otherwise his skeletal face would be sure to cause a commotion amongst the elves. Even if they were great actors, they would not be able to hide the momentary shock of seeing an undead right in front of them. With this matter out of the way, the real work could begin.
With the ruckus calming down, Camus still glared at Ainz but gestured that he and the two elves should approach the elder and state their case. Even Ainz's cooperation was apparently not enough to quell the hatred that he felt for humans.
Having complied with their host's demands, the trio walked towards the elder side by side before halting about three steps away from him. Ainz had already discussed beforehand with Aura and Mare on how to behave in front of the leader of the tribe.
As soon as they were close enough, the three respectfully bowed to the elder. Even though Mare and Aura naturally had some grievances about their lord bowing to someone, they were under orders to silence any complaints and simply act as their master had told them.
Eventually, Ainz was the one who spoke first to the elder.
"Greetings, esteemed elder of this great dark elves tribe. I am the adventurer Momon, current enforcer of E-Rantel and temporary servant of Ainz Ooal Gown. I have come here today escorting these two honored envoys who wish to discuss matters of great importance with you. Would you do us the honor of hearing them out?"
The elder, in response to Ainz's words, merely gave an almost dismissible nod to him as he indicated for the two elves to speak.
Ainz looked over to Aura and Mare as if to tell them to take over. Aura understood her lord's intentions and made a single step forward before she too spoke.
"I am Aura Bella Fiore, Floor Guardian of the Sixth Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
Aura looked back with an angry stare at Mare which prompted him to step forward as well and likewise introduce himself.
"M-mm… my name is Mare Bello Fiore and I am also a Floor Guardian of the Sixth Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, please to make your acquaintance."
Almost rolling her eyes at her overly docile and shy brother, Aura then continued speaking since her brother was useless at this sort of thing.
"We come here as representatives for our lord Ainz-sama who wishes to forge good relationships with this tribe. Ainz-sama is a kind and generous leader who cares for and loves his subordinates as if they were his own creations and seeks to create a peaceful world for all creatures to live in together. He has seen the ridicule and contempt that demi-humans face in this world and aims to change this."
At this moment, Aura's voice became louder as she joyfully declared to the elder her master's true ambitions.
"In other words, my lord Ainz-sama has declared that he will aid your tribe of dark elves with anything he can in exchange for your submission and sharing of valuable information! Accept Ainz-sama's proposal and anything you want shall be granted to your tribe! Protection, food, wisdom! All of this and more our compassionate and wise lord is willing to provide in exchange for your cooperation. Now what do you say?"
The other dark elves all seemed stunned at the elf boy's proposal. Right now their tribe was facing a lot of problems which needed immediate attention and funds to resolve. Neither of which was in abundance as all members of the tribe were already overloaded with tasks and work to complete in order to keep up and funds depended on what the forest provided which had been steadily decreasing lately.
On the other side, if they refused it would incur the wrath of their master. The elves' methods of gathering news from the outside world was apparently not limited as all seemed more than aware of just how frightening the name Ainz Ooal Gown was.
But even so…
"Hmm… what you are saying may sound appealing, but surely you esteemed emissaries can understand our position. We dark elves are a reclusive and uncaring race that prefers peace and quiet above all else. When the Agrand Council Republic came and offered us to join them, we declined that time for the very same reason."
The elder's voice was not malevolent or ridiculing but also carried little sincerity. Evidently, he was having trouble giving this much face to just two elf children, no matter who they may be backed by.
"Then…"
A cold voice suddenly resounded.
"You'll be rejecting Ainz-sama?"
It was impossible to tell for the elves standing behind the twins, but the Elder and his caretaker could see it clearly. There was an ice-cold expression plastered on Aura's face. If looks could kill, the elder might have already died.
"That's not what I'm saying, esteemed emissary. The truth is that currently our situation is not the same as it was back when the Agrand council invited us. You see, in the forest that we use for foraging and hunting there are vicious demonic beasts that have been the bane of our existence for centuries. Until recently we were able to co-exist, but now for some reason they have become much more unpredictable and more territorial as well as more dangerous."
Unaffected by Aura's cold tone and expression, the elder continued to speak without any change in his facial expression or steadiness of his voice.
"Even if we asked the council for help, they would not accept, and even if they did they would not be able to deal with the power of these demonic creatures. Our tribe has a long and deep history with this forest and will not leave unless extermination is the only alternative. Thus, my request is the following: if your master can assist us with ridding the forest of these demonic creatures then we would be more than happy to return the favor."
Hearing this, the dark expression on Aura's face turned brighter as she even smiled at the old man with an adorable look in her eyes.
"That's all? That should be no problem at all for our lord. Then me and Mare will go out right now and slay those beasts so that you can accept Ainz-sama's terms."
As Aura said those words, the expressions of all the dark elves present turned to looks of shock and confusion. This dark elf boy had actually said that he and her little sister would take care of the demonic beasts that even their whole tribe had to live in fear from.
Even their exalted elder, who was both a master at using primal or true magic and was said to have breached the realm of divine tier magic, could only create spells to hide the tribe from the beasts' detection.
"Hold up a moment, esteemed emissaries. There's no need to be so hasty."
The elder lifted up his wrinkled hand as he stopped Aura from turning around and leaving already with Ainz and Mare.
"We have not yet established a formal contract or discussed the details of this pact. How could we ask of you to fulfill your end of the promise when we have not even signed any written promise? Instead, why don't you honorable emissaries stay and enjoy our hospitality for a day while I and the other wisemen of the tribe set up the contract?"
Aura looked over towards Mare and Momon as she looked for approval. Neither of them seemed averse to the idea and she nodded politely.
"Sure, we can stay for a day."
"Splendid, then I will be more than happy to accommodate you with anything you desire."
The elder almost seemed to smirk as he said those words which left most of the dark elves all the more surprised. This entire conversation had left them completely confused. Why was the elder taking this elf child seriously when he said he was going to slay the demon beasts? Why did the elder suddenly agree to Ainz Ooal Gown's demands? Even if their situation wasn't optimal, they weren't quite so desperate that they needed to already start relying on outside forces, were they? Or could it be that the elder was merely testing Ainz Ooal Gown to see what he was capable of?
None of them could understand the elder's logic and none of them tried as the age gap between them was too large for that. The elder's thoughts were more profound than they could even begin to comprehend and trying to figure him out would merely give them a headache.
"Then I would like to go out hunting animals! This forest seems like it could have a lot of cute pets or nice fur coats for me to collect."
As Aura said this, even the elder could not help but raise his brows ever so slightly. For a young boy like him to go out hunting was beyond bizarre and dangerous even in an ordinary forest. In the Black Woods where you could encounter beasts with a demonic lineage and even demon beasts, it was several fold more dangerous.
"I see… than I can assume that Fiore-sama is a ranger, correct? As luck would have it, we have a hunting party planned for tomorrow lead by our own hunting troupe. Tomorrow, you are more than welcome to accompany them. If there's a beast that strikes your fancy, you are more than welcome to take its fur as a trophy if it can be killed."
Hearing this, Aura made an even bigger grin as she happily quieted down. For her, catching special wild animals was her greatest passion after serving her lord. If she could acquire some more pets like that spider that Mare had brought her, then she would be more than elated.
"As for you, second esteemed emissary… something tells me that you are a mage or perhaps a druid?"
Mare's ears lightly twitched as the elder spoke to him as all that he could manage to squeeze out were a few words.
"Ah yes... yes, I mean… I'm indeed a druid."
The elder smiled as he looked at Mare with a kind and gentler expression than before.
"Then why don't you go and visit the sacred grounds where our tribe's druids gather? I'm sure you'll have much to talk about with them. Mica will guide you there."
"With pleasure!"
To Mare's terror, a delightful voice echoed behind him as Mica simply overjoyed sang out in approval of the elder's idea.
"As for the human adventurer… I'm afraid that you must understand that we cannot treat you the same as the emissaries, so I'll assign Camus to watch over you for the rest of the day. You may go almost anywhere in the tribe so long as you don't disturb the people, but it would be unwise to wander too much as not all of my people are friendly with humans."
The elder stroked his beard as he seemed already deep in thought about tomorrow's events.
"Well then… my men will escort you to your chambers. You may stay in this house, but you are forbidden from leaving your chambers until tomorrow morning when someone will come and pick you up."
With those final words, the trio bowed once more and departed with the other elves behind them, leaving only the elder, Camus, and his caretaker in the yard.
AA: now my story will apparently be translated to Russian as well! Never thought it would become that popular! On a side note, thinking of posting notice on light's downfall that I started second story as this one only has about a quarter of the follows and I can't believe only 50 people liked my previous work enough to follow this one.