Details of what Ainz did for his first day with his party are similar to what I had him do in Overlord's Spear, but adjusted due to him having experience acting as both a swordsman/adventurer and a ruler and an additional party member.
The first light of the morning sun began to crack through the window of Ainz's room and landed on the paper he was using in an attempt to learn the local written language. An attempt that he was confident was going far better than in the previous world he'd been brought to. Those attempts had gone so poorly that he was barely able to sign his name on documents, let alone read them. So when he'd heard that the only way to make full use of the magic in this latest world he'd been summoned to was to learn to read he'd considered giving up on it entirely. Luckily Eira, the young witch of his party, had offered her help and with it he found the task surprisingly simple. Whether the reason had to do with the rules governing the world, his no longer being at the level cap, or the language simply being more compatible with what he knew wasn't something he was likely to determine, but whatever the case, he was well on his way to becoming literate in the local language.
Ainz took the arrival of the morning light as a sign he could stop for the night and cleared up the various notes and papers he'd been using as reference. He then opened the window and looked down on the citizens starting their mornings. It seemed almost odd to him. They knew their world was under the threat of the waves, a destructive force so great that they needed heroes from other worlds to save them, and yet they continued to go about their lives as normal. Then again, many of the people of the Re-Estize kingdom chose to simply ignore their imminent deaths at the hands of his forces until they arrived at their doors, so it wasn't entirely surprising. People prefer a sense of normalcy over preparing for an uncertain future or they rationalize their worries away as something someone else will handle so they don't have to worry.
Perhaps that's why there were so few willing to join us to fight the waves. I can't trust that a priest like John or the clerics that joined Sans and the spear guy joined for any reason other than to make sure we didn't turn on the people or destroy their faith. And Eira was transparent with her goal of learning about the magic I know, with helping to save the world being more of a bonus to her. At least Farrie seems to genuinely want to protect the people, and we make a relatively balanced, if small, party.
It was true, with Ainz as a swordsman and Farrie being a martial artist they could handle the front lines while Eira and John handled the back as magic casters. Granted, Ainz hadn't heard of many priests using water magic, but it made sense if it was holy water, right? Well, he'd have time to learn the specifics of their fighting styles and abilities as they continue to level up and fight progressively stronger monsters. The balloons from the previous day hadn't been strong enough to warrant teamwork and had therefore just been a way for Ainz to get used to using a sword with his current stats rather than those of a level 100 Overlord. Luckily he'd had enough experience with swords from his time as Momon to not make a complete fool of himself, though he had to adjust to only using a single blade of a size he was unused to.
Ainz was pulled out of his musings by a knock on the door. He stood, still unused to the noises his new armor made as he moved compared to the silence of armor from YGGDRASIL. It was unfortunate, but none of his previous equipment worked in this world. So, while he would continue to keep his World Item on his person at all times, he had to replace his robes with far more basic armor limited by both his lower stats and limited starting funds.
Ainz opened the door to see a young man wearing the armor of the castle guards looking back at him. "Please forgive the disturbance, Sir Sword Hero, but an urgent matter has come up and the king has requested the heroes return to the castle immediately."
"Umu. And do you know what this urgent matter is or will I have to wait until I arrive to find out?"
"I apologize, but I do not. I'm sure his majesty will explain everything when you arrive."
"I see, there's no helping it then. If you could also inform my companions," Ainz gestured to the two rooms to the right of his own, "I will be but a moment." He then turned back into the room to gather the few belongings he'd acquired so he wouldn't need to return after meeting with the king.
It didn't take long for John to be ready to leave. Eira and Farrie on the other hand needed several minutes, during which a variety of odd noises came out of their shared room. If anyone had any theories on what those noises represented they kept them to themselves.
Upon arrival Ainz's party was immediately escorted to the throne room. As before, the king was sitting on one of the thrones while guards stood along the walls of the room. There was also a fully armored individual who, based on body size, the jeweled spear he carried, and having both companions who'd initially chosen to venture with the Spear Hero the day before, could only be one person. But why is the girl who'd left him to go with Brook back with him and wearing new armor? This doesn't bode well.
As those thoughts passed through his mind, the doors opened once again and Brook was pushed through at spear point. "Oh Myne, you're already here. I was worried the guards didn't tell you about whatever this is." Ainz couldn't help but notice the way the redhead hid behind the Spear Hero as Brook spoke.
"Silence." One of the guards escorting Brook used the lower end of their spear to strike him in the back of the knee, likely in an attempt to make him fall, but instead of the intended effect, a crack formed in the shaft of his spear.
Ainz shifted his gaze to the king, curious of his reaction to such an event. What he saw was a face of rage, hatred, and disgust.
"so, what's all the hubbub about?"
All eyes in the room turned to look at Sans, who no one had noticed arrive.
"We will now hear the charges against the Shield Hero."
"What?!" Brook looked around starting to panic.
The girl hiding behind the Spear Hero, Myne as Brook had called her, began to sob as she recounted her tale. "The Shield Hero drank too much, and he came bursting into my room. Then he… He held me down, and…"
"Huuuhhh?" Brooks jag dropped. No it actually stretched until it reached the floor. It would be rather comical if not for the seriousness of the accusation being leveled against him.
"He held me down and said something about panties. Then he started to rip my clothes off…"
"WHAT!? NO! I would never. Well, not without permission at least. But still, I didn't do anything like that! I passed out right after dinner!" Brook frantically shouted out an explanation. "I don't even have the anatomy to do anything like that!"
"you don't have hands?" Sans asked rhetorically, which was apparently enough of a surprise to knock Brook out of his panic.
"What?"
"all she actually said you did was barge into her room and rip her clothes off. anything else is just speculated intent."
"But I still didn't even do that. Even drunk, once I'm out I sleep like the dead. YOHOHOHO!"
"Is this really the time to be laughing at your own joke?" Ainz asked, hoping Brook didn't forget the seriousness of the situation he's in.
"give him a break. it takes some real spine to make jokes at your own trial. that or thick skin, but this guy wears his heart on his sleeve."
"You don't need to set a record for anatomy puns."
"tibia-nest i'm not even coming close."
The king cleared his throat to regain the attention of the skeletons who had gone off course. "Any act of sexual aggression committed against the people of my kingdom, whether by barbarian or Hero, will be punished—immediately—by death!"
. . .
"But… I'm already dead."
"If I may." Ainz raised his hand to get everyone's attention. "At the moment we only have the word of two individuals giving conflicting testimony with no actual proof on either side. While I am unfamiliar with the judicial process used in this kingdom, in mine it is standard practice to use a form of magic to prevent deception. Is such magic unavailable here?"
The king maintained a neutral expression as Ainz spoke, then changed to bafflement and finally gained a tinge of anger as the full implications of Ainz's proposal sunk in. "You can't honestly expect us to place a slave crest on someone who narrowly escaped rape. What kind of person would do such a thing?"
"Slave crest? I see, it seems that such methods do exist as part of less humane techniques. Although, it is generally the accused who would be interrogated first to determine their guilt and only if they are innocent or with special circumstances would the accuser then be placed under the same spell. After all, there is always a possibility that a third party was involved and tricked them into believing a falsehood."
The room was silent for a minute as everyone considered everything Ainz said, and again, the king was first to break the silence. "While I can see the wisdom in such a system, it simply isn't feasible in this case. As one of the Legendary Heroes, the Shield Hero is immune to slave crests. And as already stated it would be too cruel to place one on the victim." The king paused before speaking to Brook. "Shield Hero, currently you are one of our only defenses against the coming waves, and therefore will not be punished. However, your crimes are already well known to the people. That will be your punishment. I doubt very much that you will find work or help in our country."
"So… I can leave?"
"Yes, now begone with you."
No one noticed that part way through the exchange Sans' eye had flashed yellow and blue a few times. It also went unknown that he saw the way Myne had looked at Brook when she thought no one else saw. Finally they were all too distracted with Brook's exit to notice Sans leaving the same way he'd arrived.
Once the doors closed after Brook left the king spoke again. "I apologize that you all had to witness that, but I couldn't allow him to assault my people without consequence. However, as compensation and to help you further yourselves, I have gathered some items that I believe you will find useful." A look of confusion appeared on the king's face. "When did the Bow Hero leave?"
As most of the room's occupants looked around, just noticing that Sans was no longer present, several of the castle servants walked to Ainz and the Spear Hero carrying crystal balls.
"I suppose the Bow Hero will have to receive his another time," the king tried to get back on track. "I understand that Sir Ainz has already looked into expanding his knowledge of magic to include what we use. These crystal balls are capable of teaching magic spells to those who use them. As such I believe that learning from them should be of help to you on your journeys."
"I am grateful for the assistance, your majesty. However, as I understand it, in terms of utility and optimization, it is far preferable to have learned a spell from a grimoire compared to having learned it from a crystal ball." That is what Eira's aunt at the magic shop said, and I'll need every advantage I can get if I want to make it back home.
"It is true that they can be more versatile than learning through crystal balls. I can have you provided with grimoires if you prefer, but that method requires time to learn while crystal balls can teach a spell instantly. I would assume you would like to be capable of using it as soon as possible to save your time for leveling up and strengthening yourselves before the next wave."
"Umu."
"I'd prefer the crystal balls," The Spear Hero spoke up. "I've never had much luck figuring out magic on my own."
And so they received crystal balls with basic magics for their corresponding affinities, Ainz having learned the previous day that his affinities in this world's system are for fire and healing while the Spear Hero had to be tested and learned he had lightning and water. Afterwards they left the castle to continue their respective journeys.
Brook wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Yesterday had gone well enough with Myne showing him where things were and helping him to fight those pesky balloons. She'd been such a help that he'd been happy to purchase the new armor she wanted before they had dinner at the inn. But then he'd woken up to armed guards pulling him out of his room and she accused him of some rather ungentlemanly things, leading to the king kicking him out. And to top it all off, when he finally made his way back to the inn, he found that his coin pouch had been stolen. The way the innkeeper treated him as he'd attempted to retrieve it wasn't very pleasant either, but he could assume that was due to the news of the accusation already going around. Now with only the tattered clothes on his back and the shield stuck to his arm, Brook did what he often did while not knowing what to do, he wandered.
"Hey, bonehead."
Brook looked up to see the shopkeeper whom he had purchased Myne's armor from. "Oh, hello there. If this has to do with the armor I purchased from you, I'm afraid the young lady who was making use of it made a false accusation and left."
The bald man blinked in surprise at Brook's neutral, if slightly depressed, tone before registering the entirety of his statement. "So you're trying to claim innocence when the whole town's heard the rumors?" He let out a huff. "I was gonna punch you, but that skulls so thick I'd probably break my hand."
"That's not impossible considering what happened to that man's spear." Brook shook his head. "Well, if that is all, I'll be going now. Have a nice day."
The afroed skeleton continued to walk through the town, seeming as if in a daze, but in fact he was desperately searching for anything that might prove a way out of his current situation. His answer came when he saw a stall that bought the rubber remains of dead balloons, and based on the rates he heard, killing a dozen or so should be enough for a humble meal.
"It's decided then." Brook proclaimed as he matched for the gates.
2 hours later.
"It's hopeless." Brook collapsed face first on the ground after finally managing to kill his 4th balloon of the day. "Every time I hit them they end up bouncing away. And my high speed attacks just make them go even farther." He rolled over to lay on his back. "No. I can't give up. Luffy and the rest of the crew are going to be waiting for me and I can't let them down." As Brook started to get up he noticed a sound coming from his right arm. Turning to look he found a balloon had started to naw on it. "Huh. I didn't even feel it… I don't feel any pain from that…" Brook slowly repositioned himself so that the balloon was pressed against the ground and the way its mouth closed around his arm kept it from escaping. "Swordless… Rapid Jab!" In a matter of seconds the balloon had popped and Brook started to smile.
The Nameless Spear Hero swiftly dispatched the mushroom like creatures that jumped towards him and his party. He'd felt that Myne should be able to rest and recover from her traumatic experience at the hands of Brook, but she insisted that they continue onwards to prepare for the wave. Such a kind and dedicated girl didn't deserve what happened to her. He wasn't sure why it surprised him that his fellow skeleton was capable of such actions. After all, he'd known plenty of monsters to take joy in the suffering of humans. Perhaps it was because they'd been summoned as heroes that he thought they would all try to at least act the part. No matter. He'd failed people in his old world. Too many times he let people close to him die. Not this time. This time he would be sure to keep her safe and fulfill her goals.
Ainz let his body go on auto-pilot grinding monsters while he thought about what had happened earlier in the day. While Brook's repeated attempts to see womens' underwear didn't help his case, he'd always asked politely (as politely as one can ask a random woman to view their undergarments) and accepted when they refused. It wasn't necessarily impossible that the alcohol affected him in a way that resulted in him committing the acts described by his former companion, but it seems like a stretch. There is also the oddity in that Myne ran to the Spear Hero, another skeleton, for assistance. By all logical reasoning she should have trust humans more and gone to the innkeeper or town guards for help. Not only would they be easier to find but it would be part of their jobs to protect her. But no, she went specifically to the Spear Hero, who had since been acting extremely protective of her. She already had the option of being in his party so there must be something more. Perhaps a ploy to get his sympathy? Preferential treatment doesn't seem like something worth the trouble of causing one the the heroes to be turned into a pariah since that would result in all future battles against the waves being more difficult. Though, if reward distribution were based on party performance then Brook's inevitably lowered performance would effectively increase the shares received by other parties and adding the preferential treatment on top of that might be appealing enough to some. I'll have to circle back to this when I know more about how we get rewarded and what sort of privileges we have as heroes.
The king also seemed oddly against the very possibility that Brook was innocent. Even though there wasn't any actual punishment given in the end it might have been set up as some sort of warning that even heroes needed to follow the laws so we wouldn't step out of line. Or maybe it was a way to reassure the citizens that they could reign in the monsters being used to protect them. Would that work sort of like how we made it like the alliance between Momon and the Sorcerer King made the people less afraid of me? I guess that's possible.
Hmm… The king also seemed more familiar with Myne than the others. So maybe he just naturally believed her. But then I'm back to trying to figure out whether Brook is guilty or if she framed him for her own gain. Or did someone else trick her into believing Brook attacked her? I don't know the full range of magics in this world so I can't rule out illusions or mind alteration attacks. The king mentioned something about slave crests for my idea of ensuring true testimony, so either mental domination type spells are extremely rare or they aren't able to be used like that. I guess knowing heroes can't be enslaved is a good thing though.
Sans walked down the road to the next town with his party members following behind him.
"so… what can you two tell me about malty s. melromarc?"
Sans knows the truth, Ainz is suspicious, and Nameless completely falls for Malty's lies. How will Brook manage to survive until the Wave? Well... That's a question for next year.