With the situation stabilizing in Southern Roble, the other NPC's of the Mausoleum had begun their mobilization in full, spreading out in secret to fulfill a single shared goal. Of particular note was both Cu and Nero.
Nero had departed towards the Baharuth Empire and Cu towards the distant fortress city of E-Rantel within the Re-Estize Kingdom.
Cu's matter regarding Merlin had been largely settled with Merlin's reappearance in Camelot, so he was freed from having to track Merlin down now that Scathach knew where the bastard was.
Cu disliked being cooped up for long periods of time and he had been one of the first to leave upon hearing of Agravain's plans for the future.
"Create a foothold in E-Rantel." Agravain had specifically requested of him.
He scratched his head and frowned. He knew next to nothing about how to go about doing his task as he preferred enjoying a good brawl above anything else. To begin with, did Agravain intend for him to create a base of sorts in E-Rantel? Or did he mean to just make a name for himself to increase his influence? In which case, he had plenty of experience in the latter option.
He was the shield of Ulster, the hound of the plains, Cu Chulainn. He was famous everywhere he went in his home country and the way he got about doing so, well, that was easy.
Fight.
A smirk made its way onto his lips as he neared E-Rantel. To get from Roble to his current location it did not take him more than a couple of days due to his parameters and base stats. He had simply been sprinting, unwilling to travel on a slow carriage and waste his time away by staring at the clouds. He'd only consider doing such a thing if he was fishing which was an ideal past-time hobby of his.
Regardless, he was getting off topic.
E-Rantel was rather large with a bustling population with homes mainly built out of brick and pieces of wood. It reminded him of his home to be frank, now if only he'd gone with Fergus, he could have looked for a bar to drink at.
As he came on official business, he knew when and where it was appropriate to slack. Slacking from the beginning was not an option, and his teacher may just rebuke him if he did so. With that in mind, he walked forward with steady steps.
"Halt!" A guard at E-Rantel's gate stopped him from entering and asked for his identification papers which Cu understood that he didn't exactly have.
He rummaged through the sack of belongings he carried with him as he contemplated just running past the guard. It wasn't like the guard would be able to catch him anyway.
A minute passed, followed by another, the suspicion in the guard's eyes growing stronger when Cu failed to produce anything substantial.
"If you have no identifications, then leave," the Guard was firm. To stop thieves and bandits from entering E-Rantel he was not authorized to allow any unidentified personnel entry. "Although it's possible for me to turn a blind eye just this once, if you know what I mean?"
The guard made a small gesture with his hands, rubbing his thumb and index finger together and stared at Cu expectantly. The Guard had dealt with all types of people, and his experience was telling him that a customer was in front of him.
Cu for his part was not unfamiliar with what was happening. The toothless grin the Guard was giving him was more than enough of an indication that he had to tip his way into E-Rantel.
He generally frowned upon such corrupt activities, but in this case, it really was to his benefit. He'd probably have to force his way through otherwise, and Agravian probably didn't mean for him to get a foot hold in E-Rantel out of notoriety.
With a single motion, he dug deep into his sack of belongings and produced a single gold coin from YGDRASIL's currency. The guard literally stiffened upon seeing it, feeling as if he'd struck rich.
Grabbing the coin in an instant, the Guard pressed it close to him as if afraid that Cu would snatch it back. "Go on then," the guard shooed him away towards the direction of the open gate.
Cu did not waste anymore time, and directly left. He didn't want to deal with the other Guards that had seen his interaction with the first Guard and similarly wanted to take advantage of him. Even he had his limits to his patience.
At the very least, he was successful in entering E-Rantel.
Compared to Roble, E-Rantel appeared a lot more modernized in the medieval sense. There weren't as many trees and open plains of Roble, but what it had instead was a bustling market and a tidy infrastructure of buildings and roads that led newcomers and travelers directly towards the local inns.
Unfortunately, he wasn't looking for accommodations at the moment.
He was looking for a specific place which he soon found after a little luck and asking around a little.
The building in front of him was what was known as an Adventurer's building. It gave out different missions and tasks that Adventurers would fulfill to obtain a profit or reward.
He wasn't exactly used to using the term Adventurer, but at the very least the association strongly reminded him of the local mercenary jobs present in his own country in times of war. He decided to make a name for himself in the New World in this manner by flawlessly completing the hardest of tasks.
After all, this was the method mercenaries used to grow famous and sell their work to higher bidders. The Adventurer's Association was just the same name for the same thing. A mercenary building.
He walked in without hesitation, his entirely blue and form-fitting attire making him the center of attention as it didn't look like it gave him much protection in the least. His silver shoulder guards were perhaps the most acceptable form of protection that he had on him by local standards, but he didn't really care what they thought of his attire.
His capabilities were all that mattered.
At least, that was what he told himself.
"Hey, look at this guy? What kind of low rank does he think he is?" A middle-aged Adventurer sitting on a table sneered at Cu in contempt. From how out of focus his eyes were, he was clearly drunk from the mug of alcohol in front of him.
Cu allowed the insult to drop, but it wasn't the end.
"Bright and blue? He'd sooner be spotted and killed if he thinks such a combination is effective," an older Adventurer piped in with a low whisper towards a circle of friends. Cu had heard it though and he was not pleased.
Snickers and low whispers entered his ears, and despite what he said about not caring about his appearance, he was growing annoyed. One does not annoy a Beast lightly.
He did a quick scan of the room, feeling no signs of a threat from anyone present, yet they still had the gall to make fun of him?
His expression darkened, his lips thinning, utterly unamused.
To his credit, he held himself back and directly walked to the counter where the desk lady greeted him. She was wearing a clean apron and had her blond hair tied up into a neat braid that was swept to her side. She was admittedly pretty, but Cu had seen better in his teacher. Especially, when said woman would remind him of this fact when she kicked his ass up close and personal in a spar.
"Welcome, what can I do for you?" The receptionist was reserved, treating him cordially.
"I want a job," he said straightforwardly.
"No problems fellow Adventurer," the woman tipped her head lightly to the left. "Please select a task from the bulletin and I'll register it under your name."
Cu looked at the list of missions assigned and pinned on a board at the back of the room in thought. One problem that he had was that he couldn't read the language.
At the very least though, the numbers were recognizable.
He got the receptionist's attention and pointed at the mission that had the highest bounty straight away. "I want this one," he said with confidence.
The receptionist's eyes widened for a moment before she looked at him strangely. "Sorry, dear Adventurer, but only those of Platinum Rank or Higher can take that mission." The receptionist pushed up her glasses and watched as Cu stood frozen.
"Ranking?" Cu asked dumbly, earning him a round of laughter from those around him.
If it was mercenary job back in his home country, there was no such thing as Rank. A mercenary would take the job and either get it complete, die trying, or abandon the request.
Still, for others to laugh at him? A vein twitched over his head as he glared. What did Ranking matter if he could literally wipe the floor with every bastard in the room?
In the end, the receptionist explained to Cu the Adventurer's Ranking system which consisted of Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Orichalcum, and Adamantite Ranks. Copper was of the lowest rank, and that was the rank Cu was forced to start with, earning him another round of laughter when Cu looked as if he'd just swallowed a fly.
Worse, when he saw that he was ranked even lower than the people that were ridiculing him, his mood plummeted further.
A Copper Rank could not take missions above his or her designation to avoid death and casualties. Which was why when he looked and asked for the descriptions of the missions he could take, he nearly exploded out in curses.
"Help till a farm?" His eye twitched, a sneer making its way onto his face. "Look for a missing pet?"
He was far above this menial sort of work. He had literally just crushed an army several days prior and now he was being reduced to this? It was hard for him to accept, and he considered just doing the higher-ranked missions anyway. Unfortunately, he couldn't read the details and asking the receptionist to read it out would not only make him look uneducated, but it would be fairly obvious what he was intended on doing.
Didn't that mean that he had to start honestly from the bottom despite his skills? His mind blanked.
Cu's reactions were interesting, and with nothing better to do in the Adventurer's hall, the other Adventurer's were making fun at his expense.
Cu looked more and more like he would not be able to contain himself for much longer, and only one person appeared utterly terrified at the prospect.
Do these fools not know what they're doing?!
A man dressed fully in luxurious black armour from head-to-toe who had come with the same intentions as Cu to be an Adventurer stood petrified. The woman next to the armoured man stared in confusion.
The man was none other than a Player of YGDRASIL by the name of Momonga, later changed to Ainz to represent the Guild Nazarick. Ainz realized for the first time, that his decision not to be careless in the New World that he found himself in was the correct choice.
After all, there right in front of him was Cu Chulainn, a sub boss from Midgard's Land of Shadows expansion pack, and the man seemed far from happy.
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