A/N:

Alright, so to address a few things:

First of all, I have gotten several reviews asking why Suzuki hasn't assigned levels to classes like Alchemist or the like to make consumables- the answer to that is that Suzuki would be far weaker if he doesn't specialize in one class. And he would need several levels invested into Alchemist or the like to make very good potions, which would be even more of a waste. He can buy most consumables from other people. I did briefly consider making him a Priest, but reasoned he would be more familiar with the game mechanics of a Necromancer.

sandraman, 'Immortal' doesn't literally mean he can't be killed- the game would be extremely broken if that was the case. I've used it as a spiritualist class that also grants Immortality in a way for the purposes of this fanfic.

A guest said that Suzuki is in "the middle of top tier Players" which I'm sure is them misremembering something, because Suzuki says he is "the top of middle tier Players" and that is with his extensive cash shop item and Divine Item inventory plus all of his knowledge. In this world he lacks two of those, but with higher stats, I think he would be roughly as strong as he was as Momonga at level 100 given he's going for a more competitive build. However, he won't have the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown to use though.

BigSmokeYeet, don't worry, have patience, they will.

Several weeks earlier...

Climb surveyed the building from afar. He had changed out of his characteristic armor and was now wearing plain clothes to try and blend in.

Truth be told, he probably should have done more to hide his appearance. For example, there were several easily available magical dyes to change the color of one's hair. A wig would've worked as well. Not to mention the utility that a pair of glasses would've had in this situation.

However, Climb was not one who was used to such secretive missions, and as such had neglected to properly hide his appearance, or to take care to mask his movements.

"Oi... you do realize you've already given yourself away?"

Climb nearly jumped right out of his shows as a voice behind him whispered that. He whirled around to see it was Tia- or perhaps it was Tina?

"You have got a lot to learn about sneaking around," she said.

"Ah, right, I'm sorry ma'am," Climb said. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here? N-Not that I mind you being here or anything, but I thought you were away for some mission..."

"And I was," Tia/Tina said. "But that whole thing turned out to be a dud midway. Our leader's pretty pissed about it, but we got back here and the Golden Princess told us what was happening. I decided to drop on by to see how you were doing."

Climb sighed out of relief. "Ah, you have my gratitude."

"Thank me later," she said. "Right now, prepare to fight."

"W-what?" Climb said as he saw that five people had approached them out of an alleyway. They pulled out knives.

"Poisoned," Tia/Tina said. "Be careful."

Climb pulled out his sword, now sorely missing his armor.

One of the rogues threw a dagger and Climb dodged the streak of silver as it rocketed towards him. It appeared that the rogues were focusing their attacks on him while ignoring Tina, perhaps sensing that he was the easier target.

Climb could not even close the distance in between him and his assailants as the poison made him far warier of their blades than he otherwise would have been.

Tia/Tina was far more skilled than them, but it was still five on one, and she was also trying to make sure Climb wasn't hit.

The rhythm of battle reached a crescendo, and Climb could feel himself beginning to tire. He wouldn't be able to maintain this pace for much longer. And all it would probably take was a slight cut from any of the knives to end him.

However, the tide of battle suddenly turned as one of the assailants was stabbed through the throat by a ninja identical to the one helping him.

As the others were distracted, Tia/Tina made quick work of the rest.

"Thank you so very much, Tia," Climb said to one of them as he began to catch his breath. "And you too, Tina."

"I'm Tia," she said.

"And I'm Tina," the other one said.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," Climb said.

Both of them smirked. "Just kidding, I am Tia."

"And I am Tina."

"Oh," Climb said.

"Just yanking your chain again- this one's a shadow clone, I am Tina," one of them said as the other dissolved into darkness.

Climb honestly didn't know what to believe anymore.

"Climb!" Princess Renner exclaimed as she bounded to embrace him.

"Please, Princess Renner," Climb said. He could see Lakyus eyeing the two of them with a stern expression. "There are people watching..."

"Eh, it's okay- they don't mind," Princess Renner said.

It was the day after Climb had been sent to scout that area, and the members of Blue Rose were gathered to have tea with the Golden Princess.

Evileye coughed. "Are you two done yet?"

Renner pouted but let go of Climb. "I was just so worried though..."

"If you were worried, you shouldn't have sent him out in the first place," Tina said. "He would've been mincemeat if I hadn't stepped in. What then?"

"Well, at least you're safe now," Renner said. "And I was sure Lakyus could bring him back..."

"Yeah, but what're we going to do now?" Lakyus asked. "The Eight Fingers are on guard now. They abandoned that brothel save for a few lowlifes who wouldn't amount to anything when questioned. And the trade of the Black Dust still continues in the Kingdom."

Renner sighed. "I'm very sorry- this all happened because I was too hasty."

"Well, no point crying over spilt potion," Evileye said. "What we should be thinking about is what our next move should be."

Renner scratched her chin. To any passerby, it would look like she was your typical bimbo- but those in the room knew her well enough to see that she was actually deep in thought. "They might lay low for a while- if I were them, I would try to move my base of operations elsewhere. Away from the Adamantite adventurers."

"Some other city, then?" Lakyus asked.

"It can't just be anywhere else," Renner said. "It would have to be away from one of the big noble's lands, and somewhere relatively lawless..." With the way she appeared to be focusing, one would be surprised that steam was not coming out of her ears.

After thirty seconds, she shrugged and said, "Oh well, no idea where it could be."

The Blue Roses all did 'anime falls' at this.

"I... I thought you were going to arrive at the answer with some crazy deductive reasoning," Evileye said.

"No such thing," Renner said. "Without more information even I can't reach an answer."

"Guess there's no use thinking about it then," Gagaran said. All they could do was wait for the Eight Fingers to make their move.

"I'm sorry," Thomas said. "I do not know what this is."

"Oh, I see," Enri said. The Elder Lich was unable to identify what the strange powder was.

"Oh," Enri sighed. "Say... have you seen anything unusual recently?"

"As in?"

"I mean, some strange people visited the village today and gave me this," Enri said.

'Ah, yes, there have been movements of people in the surrounding area. Based on their activities- which are mainly nocturnal, I can only assume that they are trying to evade the authorities somehow," Thomas answered.

If Enri had been drinking tea, she would've spat it out immediately. As it was, she had never had tea in her life. Well, aside from a herbal one her mother would prepare if she got a cold- but that tasted bitter. The best you would get when it came to warm beverages in Carne was a cup of hot water.

Such was the standard of living of a common villager in the kingdom. Well, the people of Carne were not that worse off- many villagers suffered far more than Enri, so long as you discounted the attack by the Sunlight Scripture. Tuare, for example, was one of them.

However, given time, Enri had thought that with the help of the undead they would be able to increase production to a point where the villagers would be able to improve their standard of living- already, they were able to eat meat far more frequently than they ever could have hoped to before. They also no longer needed to worry about sickness quite as much as the undead could take over part of their work.

Perhaps, in the distant future, Enri would be able to afford luxuries like an occasional cheap glass of tea.

But that was a matter for a later time.

"W-What!? Why didn't you say anything about it?" Enri asked.

"Because you never asked," Thomas replied flatly. "Those figures have not endangered our operations or the village."

Enri glared at the undead. "What do you mean by that! Of course I would want to know if there are shady people wandering about!"

The undead's eyes flickered. Enri gulped- her rage had evaporated by that point and was replaced by fear. She was sure that if this undead was not bound by Suzuki's orders, he would have roasted her at once.

"In that case, I will keep you updated regarding their movements," Thomas said.

"Oh... well until then, what do I do?" Enri wondered out loud. People were beginning to look at her with the same eyes they looked at the Village Chief, but she knew she did not have the maturity to take on this job.

As it was, the only person she could rely on was her mother, but even she didn't know what this powder was, and her only suggestion was to wait for the Chief to arrive back at the village.

"If it is a major concern, I can contact Suzuki-sama immediately," Thomas said.

"No, don't do that," Enri said. "I mean, he's probably busy, and he's already done so much for us... wait, can you also contact Nfirea?"

"That alchemist?" Thomas asked.

"Yes," Enri said.

Thomas used the Message spell. "What should I tell him?"

"Tell him that Enri would like him to come to Carne Village, as long as it's convenient for him," Enri said. "There's something I wanted to ask him."

"He tells me he can be here in two weeks," Thomas said.

"Alright then," Enri said. "Until then, hide this chest, would you?"

"Ack!" Nfirea exclaimed.

"What- what is it?" Enri asked.

"This is Black Dust," Nfirea said, his fingers trembling as he pointed to the contents of the chest that had been left behind.

"I don't get it- what's Black Dust?" Enri asked.

"A kind of drug," Nfirea said. "It's highly addicting, and people will do anything for it once they get the taste... but that's not the real issue! This is banned in the Kingdom, Enri, and we'd be facing the capital punishment if we were caught with this much!"

"Eh?! B-But we weren't the ones who bought it or anything!" Enri protested.

"Yeah, but the authorities won't see it that way," Nfirea said. Due to problems arising from people addicted to the Black Dust, the Kingdom had long since began to crack down on it. However, most of their policies were counterproductive. As those who used the drug would be prosecuted, no one would seek treatment for their addiction. And, it was possible to be sentenced just for having possession of the drug at any time, even if it couldn't be proven that you had bought it or if it was someone else's.

Of course, these punishments were never meted out evenly. Those in high places often found ways to get off scot-free, and it was usually a low-ranking peasant who was left holding the bag.

"We've got to get rid of this then," Nfirea said. He then suddenly paused. "Wait a minute- did they give this to you as a gift?"

"Yeah, so?" Enri asked.

"Then we can't get rid of it either," Nfirea said. "They might demand it back."

"Eh- but it was a gift, right?"

"Those things don't matter to those kinds of people," Nfirea said.

Nfirea had heard of the tale countless times. A poor but charming enough village girl would be lured away for a night in town with the promise of a free meal and a dress to wear. Later, she would be told that it wasn't for free and she would have to pay off the dress and the food she had eaten. She would be taken even further away from her village so she would have nobody to rely on- and as such would be forced to work as an escort to pay off her 'debt.'

Nfirea was sure that the Black Powder thing would work similarly. They had probably given it to Enri to get the villagers hooked on it, and to then demand the villagers grow the crop in exchange for more of the drug. But, it was a possibility that this was just a way to trap them.

"What do we do then?" Enri asked.

"I don't know!" Nfirea said, practically pulling out his hair at this point.

"Wah!" Enri said, nearly on the verge of tears.

It was then that Nfirea realized that freaking out was probably not the best thing to do- especially given Enri was involved. Enri had called on him for help after all, and with a bit more thought on it, Nfirea realized this was a chance for him to look like a dependable guy in front of her.

"Wait a minute," Nfirea said. "Let's think about this calmly- if we're going to go up against these people, who have deep criminal ties- I know! We should ask Suzuki-sama and Albedo-sama for help! The two of them are Adamantite adventurers and could probably win against anyone!"

"I know," Enri said. "But I don't want to keep relying on them over and over again- they've already done so much for us."

"I see what you mean," Nfirea said. He owed Suzuki Satoru a giant debt as well. "In that case, I think the safest thing to do for now is to just bury it away somewhere. If they demand payment for it, we just give it back to them."

The village was well-defended, but the issue was that they couldn't use the undead Suzuki had created against humans for fear or word spreading about them. Also, while the villagers practiced skills like archery almost every day, they were still not much stronger than the guards the tax collectors brought along with them.

"For now, let's just keep quiet about this," Nfirea said. "Soon, your dad and the Chief will be back, then maybe they have a way to deal with it that we don't."

"Yeah," Enri said. "It should only be a short while."

It would not be just a short while.

The Re-Estize army was supposed to have been disbanded with most of the conscripts returning home an entire week ago- the issue was that the Empire kept dragging its feet regarding negotiations and the like.

The Re-Estize army consisted of 160,000 soldiers, most of them drafted, while the Empire had mobilized four legions to field a force of 40,000.

On paper, it seemed that the Re-Estize Kingdom had a massive advantage, but it was not so in reality. Given an average Imperial Knight's gear and training, one could easily kill four normal soldiers within the Re-Estize army.

However, warfare was not simply people lining up neatly on an open field to stab each other. The Re-Estize Kingdom could gather its forces in tight formation, meaning that it was near suicide to charge into their ranks. In this way, they could use their massive numbers to compensate for their lack of a proper military force.

Not to mention that the Re-Estize Kingdom had the aid of the Warrior Captain, Gazef Stronoff, who was stronger than any of the Imperial Knights, and with the absence of Fluder Paradyne, there were none in the Empire who could rival him save the Martial Lord.

Still, Gazef knew that he could not turn around the tide of battle alone. And that was why the Empire was dragging this on for as long as they could.

The Empire had to pay its knights during wartime or otherwise, and so they suffered no real loss in declaring war. But every day the Re-Estize army was assembled on the battlefield was another day of them eating up valuable resources such as food and water while the conscripts were away from working their fields.

The Kingdom's defenses were strong, but they could not attack, only face the Empire head-on and hope to repel them. Any time any nobles had the bright idea to charge into the Empire's forces, they would sustain heavy losses.

War had technically been declared for several days at this point, but the Empire had not done anything but send out its forces to assemble on the battlefield and engage the Re-Estize Kingdom in what was essentially a huge staring contest. Many nobles took this as a sign of cowardice, though those among them with some intelligence (in other words, very few indeed) could grasp the bigger picture.

The Kingdom could do little but wait for the Empire to eventually call it quits, but the issue was that time was not on their side.

Daniel had been posted close to the front line so he was among the first to notice it when it happened. A detachment of Imperial Knights suddenly broke off from their formation, marched towards the No-Man's Land, and began knocking arrows.

"Shield Wall!" a commander yelled out.

Daniel could do little but raise his shield- which was just a slab of normal wood- in the air along with the others and pray. The arrows struck them, and an arrow would occasionally find its mark and hit a soldier in the foot, shoulder, or if they were unlucky- an area like the chest or head. These arrows didn't seem to be enchanted, or imbued with poison, and so did not do too much damage.

Daniel, thankfully, was lucky enough to survive unscathed.

The knights, rather than ready another volley, turned around and blended back into their normal battle formation before they could be picked off.

The next day, the war was declared over, but for men like Daniel this could hardly be considered a victory.

He knew that next year, he would be drafted into the army again, and watch how his village slowly starved away- no, perhaps, this time, it would be different.

They had the help of that man now, after all.

Enri had watched the altercation from afar.

Well, truth be told, it hadn't started out as an argument in the first place.

When her father and the Chief had finally returned, she had told them about the strange men who had approached the village. They had actually come around several times, but seeing that the Chief was still away, had chosen to leave, though not without leaving another 'gift' and several glances at Enri, both of which were highly unwelcome.

Now that they were actually here, the Chief had marched on over to the men and told them in no uncertain terms would the villagers agree to grow whatever those people wanted, nor were they welcome again.

It was then that words became heated and swords were nearly drawn, but the strange men eventually turned around and left.

"I don't think that's the last we'll see of them though," Daniel said. He then turned his head to one of the watchtowers. "We should set up a nighttime watch."

"Indeed," the Chief said. "Enri, make sure neither you nor any of the children wander off too far, okay?"

"Yes," Enri said.

"Anyway," Daniel said. "Let's inform E-Rantel about this- maybe they can send help?"

"Tch," one of the men groaned. "What is that we were brought out all the way here in the boonies for anyway? Just to deal with a couple of country bumpkins?"

"Hush," the other man said. "They're no ordinary bumpkins- something about their village seems off to me. How many villages can afford to make a wall that high?"

"Beats me," the man replied. "Don't villages in the Roble Holy Kingdom have walls around themselves?"

"Yeah," a third man piped up. "Or so I've heard."

In total, there were twenty men, all moving under the cover of darkness towards Carne Village. They were no ordinary men- no, these were units of the Assassination Division of Eight Fingers.

Eight Fingers had decided to set up shop here, in the wreckage of the villages burnt down the by Sunlight Scripture. The issue was of course, the village of Carne, which had not submitted to them. There was no way for them to put pressure on a local lord given that the land was under the direct control of the king. As such, eliminating the villagers was the easiest way to ensure that there would be no hiccups during their operations.

The leader amongst them, a seasoned soldier by the name of Succulent, couldn't help but think that there was something... off about this whole thing.

If they would have been ordered to slaughter everyone in the village and then burn it down- there would be nothing weird there, standard stuff.

But they had been told to let a few of the villagers run away. Why? When he had asked this question he had been told to shut up and do what he was told by Zero, so there was that.

Not to mention it was strange to send him, one of the Six Arms, for such a trivial task. He had even been told to reveal his face and name to the people he was going to let live.

"As a question," one of his men asked. "Are our only choices 'kill them' or 'let them go?' What if we... kept some of them?"

"You mean that lass with golden locks you got 'yer eyes on?"

"Yeah, that one. I'm sure Cocco Doll would pay a nice price for her, after we're done breaking her in of course."

There were chuckles of glee at that.

"Um... did they leave the gates open?" one of them asked as they finally rounded upon the village.

It was actually fortunate for them in a way that the wall was circumscribing the village, because it meant that once they got in the villagers couldn't run around in every direction like wild pigs. The walls, once breached, would pin them in like a cage.

It was easy enough for someone such as Succulent, a member of the Six Arms, to find a way to scale the walls and bring the others along with him, but given the gate was open there was no need for this.

"It's a trap," Succulent said instinctively. That was all that it could have been. For some reason, the villagers wanted them to come in. Or were they really stupid enough to forget to close the gate at night?

"You sure, sir? I mean, they're just villagers so maybe they just-"

Succulent glared at the man. He then cast Invisibility upon himself as he approached the perimeter of the village.

He was an Illusionist and a Fencer to boot, but he was not too powerful with either of those classes since he had split his training in between them. It was by combining the two that he stood out with his distinctive fighting style. It also made him far more versatile for situations like this- where discretion was more useful than brute force.

He sensed no traps as he approached the gate, and he tentatively stepped inside the village.

It was quiet- far too quiet. As if the villagers had all gotten up and left.

He had taken thirty paces inside when he heard the sound of the gate behind him closing.

Impossible! How did they know he was here? There should be no one in this village who could see through his spells b-

His thoughts were interrupted as extreme pain struck him and raced down his body. The sound of something striking the ground reached his ears as someone stepped out of the shadows.

It was a magic caster dressed in a dark robe and holding a staff in one hand. In the moonlight, Succulent could make out the rotten face underneath- the face of an Elder Lich.

That would explain it- the undead could see through illusions with ease, which put Succulent at a massive disadvantage.

He was level 30, and the Elder Lich was level 23. This meant that on paper, Succulent should be able to win easily. However, levels were not everything. 15 of those levels were in Fencer, while 15 were in Illusionist. Since illusions were useless against the undead, he had to fight this thing as a pure warrior.

The 15 Illusionist classes would let him gain stats equivalent to 5 more Warrior-type classes, so that he had the stats of a level 20 warrior. However, the extra 5 levels only compensated for his stats- there was a big gap between swinging a sword and swinging a sword right. His technical skill was therefore lower than Climb's. The only silver lining was that his levels in Illusionist helped with his magic resistance, so that he could tank magical attacks more effectively than a simple warrior.

But how- and why? Why was there an undead like this in a village? Had it taken over the village somehow? Creatures such as Elder Liches could momentarily suppress their hatred of the living to strike deals with them- Davernoch was one such undead. But what could it possibly gain here?

"Look, we can strike a deal," Succulent said. His chances of victory were not good, so it was better to try and negotiate. "I know another one of your kind- and he's working with us. Why not join us as well- we can get you what you want, powerful items, magical teachers, g-"

A searing Fireball singed his hair as he dodged it. So negotiation was off of the table then.

He readied his sword and assessed the situation- fleeing by scaling the walls was the safest option. The others were not as strong as him, and while he could maybe have used them as meat shields while he got close enough to the Elder Lich to chop its head off, the screams he heard from outside told him that the rest of his men were being taken care of.

As he turned though, he saw a silhouette appear near the wall. A sentry?

A cold chill went down his spine as he realized the magnitude of what had happened. These villagers had been ready for everything- damn them!

There were likely traps set up near the wall in addition to the sentry, and the Elder Lich, who could fly, would pursue him until he was a pile of ash if he chose to flee.

With that said, the Elder Lich was probably the strongest creature here, so if he could just take it out- there was a slim chance that he could live.

Pain racked his body as a strike of Lightning collided with him while he was lost in thought. An arrow whistled through the night air, barely missing him.

Succulent shouted: "Multiple Vision!"

Several copies of himself materialized. Unlike shadow clones, these copies could not deal any damage, but they might serve as a distraction.

He didn't know how this technique would fare against one of the undead, but he had to try something while he closed the distance between the two of them. Not to mention it would make it harder for anymore arrows to hit him, assuming the villagers were in on this Elder Lich's plan for some reason.

The Elder Lich anticipated this, and began to float away.

The next Fireball hit the real Succulent, meaning that his magic had no effect on the Elder Lich. However, he was capable of tanking a single hit from the undead.

He was close enough now too...

And then another Fireball struck him and he fell to the ground.

Thomas grunted in satisfaction. He could hear the screams which were originating from beyond the walls die out- it would appear that the other undead had been successful in picking off the other bandits. It didn't seem that the others sent on this mission had the strength of this one, otherwise they would've been able to handle the undead outside and-

"Lightning!" Thomas shouted as the man twitched suddenly and rose to strike him. This human must've been using some sort of magic to recover from his injury, but unfortunately for him the undead were very sensitive to the presence of life energy- Thomas's eyes could only be fooled for a split second before he noticed that the man wasn't dead.

This blow, however, proved to be near fatal to the man, and another Fireball actually finished the job with the man's blade a foot from Thomas's throat.

It would seem that there was no need for them to call upon his Master to deal with these people.

"So, looks like we're done here," Nfirea said as he came out of a nearby house.

"Indeed," Thomas said.

"Thank you so much, Thomas-san," Enri said, appearing behind Nfirea.

"It was not just my work," Thomas said. "Nfirea-san here was the overall architect behind our strategy- and it was successful. Not to mention the potions he brewed helped the undead outside deal with the others."

"Well, yeah, Nfirea, you are pretty cool!" Enri said, hugging the boy.

Nfirea blushed, and for a second he could swear that Thomas winked at him. But that couldn't be right- why would the Elder Lich be interested in setting him up with Enri?

"So, what are you two kids up to?" Daniel asked as he emerged from another house and Nfirea and Enri broke apart.

"Nothing, just Nfirea's plan worked!" Enri said.

"Good to hear," Daniel said. "I think we can tell everyone to come out then."

A/N: Thanks for reading! I think Succulent is another good example of why Suzuki shouldn't spread himself too thin with his levels. Also, I'm going to writing more chapters for this- the thing is doing one chapter for a fanfic and then doing another for another one breaks up the flow in my head as a writer so I'll work on finishing this 'story arc' which should be 2 or 3 more chapters depending on how detailed I make it before I work on another segment of another fanfic.