"I appreciate your help, but there really is no need for you to come along, Miss Atalanta." Nfirea tried to dissuade his companion as the two of them made their way through the narrow streets, wooden cradles in hand.
"Nonsense." The grey-haired woman at his side waved him off. with a small smile. "What you have here is the product of your unrelenting effort and passion, we can't have any idiotic musclehead try to get his hands on it the moment they realize its value." Nfirea believed that having the presence of such a beautiful woman by his side actually served to attract more attention to him and the cradles, but he chose to keep his mouth shut. He was already all too aware of the piercing stares he was receiving from all the men passing by, like hawks watching a mouse. "Besides," she continued, clearly unaware of the 'special attention' she was receiving, "I have some business myself at the Adventurer's Guild".
"You have a quest you'd like to issue?" He asked. He couldn't imagine their neighbour needing help with anything that would require an adventurer's help, but then again, it's not like he knew the woman all that well.
"Something like that." She vaguely answered. Her tone had been as benevolent as ever, but for some reason, Nfirea still got the feeling he shouldn't pursue the topic further.
To be honest, the boy still couldn't bring himself to not be intimidated by the woman beside him. It wasn't just her surreal beauty, even if it made him feel a bit inadequate to even be in the same room as her. No, it was the small glimpses she sometimes caught in her eyes. When passing a nearby drunkard or someone who had chosen to forgo subtlety when checking her out, her emerald-like pupils would suddenly narrow, an overwhelming wildness surging from them and disappearing just as quickly. It was like she was scanning everything around her, eagerly searching for prey. 'The eyes of a hunter.' Nfirea shook his head. Miss Atalanta had been nothing but helpful and kind towards them, and here he was thinking such distasteful things about her.
"We've arrived." Her warning came just in time for him not to crash into the full-armoured bearded man standing at the entrance. It seems he hadn't quite recovered from those sleepless nights just yet; it was all too easy to become lost in thought if he wasn't paying attention.
"E-excuse me!" he shyly apologised to the man, whose only response was a guttural cough. His stature was so large hadn't even noticed the young pharmacist in front of him. Awkwardly making his way around him, he went through the door that Miss Atalante had kindly opened for him.
Although it was already the second time he had come here, the same slight shiver came down his spine once more. The strong smell of booze and the dirty shoe marks that covered the granite floor he could get used to; the sight of dozens of people armed to the teeth with swords and spears, not so much. Some of them wore armour like the man at the entrance, others had only a dusty cloak to cover the handle of their weapon, and there were a few who were even donning foreign attire, with long shawls of buttoned-up shirts with strange patterns. They were people of every background or stature, but they all had one thing in common: every one of them felt dangerous.
The last time he had had the fortune of being thoroughly ignored by everybody in the room. This time, not so much. Almost every single person, be it an adventurer or not, had turned their attention to them the moment they had stepped in. Well, it was more like they were all staring at Miss Atalanta, and he just so happened to also be in their field of view. In any case, Nfirea felt grateful for the bangs that mostly covered his face: he didn't feel like meeting the eyes of anyone here.
Seeing as the woman had already started to nonchalantly make her way towards the nearby stairs, Nfire hurried to join her. Upstairs, a couple of booths had been arranged for the people who wanted to handle their business in a more 'private' manner. At one of such tables, the people he had hired awaited him. An imposing man, clad head to toe in black armour with golden outlines and a red cape donned over his right shoulder; the one who called himself Momon. While in their first meeting, he had proven to be a friendly and well-spoken person, the young boy still found himself pinned by the eyes staring at him from behind his visor.
He had such a presence that Nfirea took a moment to realize he wasn't alone. His companion, a breathtakingly beautiful woman dressed in similar dark armour, was idly staring at a nearby window. She hadn't made any movement to acknowledge their presence, her delicate features twisted in a bored frown. It wasn't until Atalanta all but dropped the cradle she was holding unto the table that her eyes moved towards the newcomers. The two women stared at each other for a moment, the former's expression scrunching up into a scowl that threatened to show teeth, while the latter responded with a mocking smile.
"If you'll excuse me, I'll be going downstairs now." Atalanta threw a quick glance at the armoured man sitting at the table, before turning to look at the younger Baleare, her voice as sweet as ever. "Don't hesitate to come find me when you're done." It might have been his imagination, but Nfirea had the impression the floor was squeaking abnormally hard under her foot as she departed.
"It is good to see you in good health, Baleare-san." Momon's muffled voice brought the boy's attention back to the matter at hand. "I assume these are the goods?" he asked, running his armoured glove along the wooden box.
"Yes, that's right. So had you managed to make contact with Lord Ainz Ooal Gown?" His voice was struggling to contain the anticipation pouring out of his question.
The woman by his side snickered for some reason, but otherwise kept quiet. Momon's only response was to pull out a letter. Nfirea didn't recognise the seal, but he could tell just from looking that the paper was of very high quality.
With slightly trembling hands, he took in the letter to read his contents. With every following word, his eyes widened further, to the point they were threatening to burst out of his orbit.
"Mister Baleare. If the exploits you speak of are indeed true, then I must say I am very impressed with your current work so far. If the results of your labour prove to be up to my standards, then I would be more than willing to become your official backer, to support you in achieving even greater heights with your craft. If you could send me some samples through Momon, who I assure you I surmised that has proven to be a man worthy of my trust, I shall begin inspecting them immediately. In the meantime, I look forward to meeting such a passionate and talented young man. -Best of regards, Ainz Ooal Gown."
Nfirea read the short letter one more time. And then again. And again. He had frozen into place, unable to comprehend the fortune that had befallen him. "And it is all thanks to Enri-san!" he cheerily thought to himself.
It all started when she had shown him an unusual potion that she somehow got from a mysterious noble. Nfirea had initially been sceptic, he thought it was more than likely just some normal potion given an artificial colouring in order to scam some clueless rich guy into thinking it was a legendary item or something. A bit of testing however had proven him, very, very, wrong. It was unbelievable, not even his grandmother, one of the leading authorities in the Kingdom on medicinal elixirs, had seen something even remotely close to that. The following couple of weeks had been mostly a blur, a mix of fervent passion and wallowing despair as he relentlessly tried to pursue a product equal to the treasure he had stumbled upon.
It was only natural that he wouldn't succeed, though. He lacked both the resources and the unequalled genius of the original creator, so the path in front of him seemed to be blocked by an endless wall, one he could never even dream of scaling. That was until Miss Atalanta suggested he try his luck and find the man that gave Enri the potion. It seemed like a hopeless endeavour, from what Enri had told him the man was not only somewhat of a recluse, but also of incredibly high standing. He would doubt such a man would even bat an eye towards his direction, he would have had a better chance to gain an audience with the King. Nonetheless, with nothing to lose, the pharmacist gave it a try.
Fate must have been on his side for some reason because the first adventurer he had found willing to take up the task had proven to be a miracle worker. In less than a week after he issued the quest, he had been contacted to meet Team Darkness once again and to bring along some of his purple potions. He had harboured some expectations, but this was far beyond his wildest dreams. The opportunity to not only meet with such a master of his craft but to also receive backing from a man apparently even Lord Stronoff regarded so highly? He could think of nothing that would make him happier. Well, maybe except one thing, but he'd rather not think about that, less his face would turn into a tomato again.
"Thank you very much for your help, Momon-san." he hastily bowed, still shaking with excitement.
"Think nothing of it. I was only a messenger, I would hardly call it a difficult job." Nfirea's eyes widened with admiration faced with the man's humility. He had not only tracked down somebody no one had ever even heard of with little to no clues of where to start, but the rate of the payment was also barely half of what the boy had been willing to offer. He had no doubt the man in front of him was going to become a renowned adventurer one day.
"Still, I want to express my gratitude somehow." he insisted. "I am sure Lord Ainz has no need of all the potions, feel free to pick up a couple for yourselves. I can personally vouch for their quality!"
"A most generous offer, but I will have to refuse. Until at least the package has arrived at its recipient, I refuse to let anyone, much less myself, even look upon its contents."
"But-"
"Are we done here?" a rough, yet pleasant voice interrupted him. "I've already grown bored of this shithole, shouldn't we get going already?" On the woman's face could be read nothing by indignance.
"I apologize for her rudeness." Nfirea couldn't be sure, but he felt like the masked man gave his partner a disapproving look, to which she responded by rolling her eyes and crossing her arms in annoyance. "But she is also not wrong. There is no need to waste any more time, we shall be promptly on our way. We expect the rest of the payment after you can confirm the delivery. " he declared.
"Ah, yes, of course!"
"Well then, I wish you a good day!" And with that, the two promptly got up and prepared to leave. Nfirea watched them, unsure of whether he should say anything else when suddenly the sound of broken glass resounded from downstairs. He had not the slightest idea why, but he had the strangest feeling that somebody had pissed off Atalanta.
As soon as the transaction was complete, Ainz wanted nothing more than to leave the place at once. Not that he was necessarily uncomfortable for him, but he could tell that with every second of taunting looks and whispering behind their backs Jeanne was getting closer and closer to her limit. He honestly felt like he should praise her for her restraint so far: the building wasn't on fire yet. In the beginning, he would have thought that trying to set it on fire in the first place was the problem, but now he could tell that she was trying to at least better control herself. Small steps.
As for the reason for the negative attention, Nfirea probably hadn't realized but Team Darkness didn't boast the greatest reputation at the moment. In the beginning, that has been due to them being a complete unknown, just barging in out of nowhere and demanding to immediately take on a high-level quest. The other adventurers were looking forward to seeing the arrogant newbies be put in their place, only to have their jaws hit the floor when they continued to successfully complete mission after mission, with difficulty ratings so high even veterans wouldn't touch them with a five-foot stick.
Needless to say, the monsters of the New World didn't prove much of a challenge for Ainz, even with Perfect Warrior sealing his magic for the most part. In fact, they were so weak he hadn't been able to properly test out his abilities in this form, a fact that he was secretly a bit bitter about. Due to that, they had managed to rise in ranks with almost unprecedented speed, their name quickly spread out as the most promising upstarts of the last century. When it was announced that the two of them would take on the Gorgon, the mythic class monster that the entire might of the Holy Kingdom hadn't managed to suppress, well that had been the cherry on top.
So the fact that he had been forced to give up the quest had been a hard blow to their reputation (and he was feeling bad for the Hassans that had worked so hard to blackmail people into giving them the quest in the first place. They really deserved a raise or something). Now everybody thought of them as cocky pretenders that got lucky a few times, but finally, bit off more than they can chew. Ainz would have been outraged by the sudden shift in impression. but he was a man that had spent a better part of his adult life online, so he was already aware of how fickle public opinion can be. One minute everyone calls you "the greatest guild in the game", and "the hope of the heteromorphic players", while the next you are "a bunch of sad lonely losers that live in their mothers' basements". At some point, they had to ban Peroroncino from accessing the forums, the younger brother had tried to wage war on those trolls. On multiple occasions.
Thankfully, this time they had managed to leave before someone accidentally let out something that would set off the NPC alongside him. He still remembered the guy she had tried to strangle after she heard him calling them "embarrassing fakers". It had taken six people, him included, to pry her off the man before the oxygen stopped reaching his brain. Honestly, he had never been a history guy, but he wanted to think that someone called "The Holy Maiden" in real life would act more holy. Or maidenly. He knew that she had not been programmed that way, but it seemed that there were times when the NPCs ignored their programming anyway, but apparently those times only made her act angrier for some reason.
After walking for a bit and heading towards a more remote alleyway, he turned to his companion, looking expectantly. He was promptly ignored. The woman in front of him was staring off into an empty space. It was hard to tell since her expression was usually harshened by an ever-present scowl, so it was easy to forget the refined beauty that hid underneath those eyes full of rage. Now her features looked tamer, softer. As the building shadows shyly obscured her figure, for the first time Ainz thought that the level 100 monster that could effortlessly bring a nation to its knees felt quite delicate, fragile even. Like she might shatter at the slightest of touches.
"Jeanne?" he tentatively called out to her
"Huh?" And like that, the spell was broken. Before him stood once more the loud boisterous woman that could snap your head in a heartbeat. "What do you want? And I told you not to call me that!" Her face curled in disgust. "It's either Avenger or Alter. Understood?"
"I know that, but it still doesn't feel right." He defended himself. "It was the name given to you by Nishikienrai-san, I would not want you to discard it so easily. How about I call you something like... Jalter?" He offered. Lizzie had no problem with her nickname, but the two women couldn't be more different.
"My creator, huh?" she mumbled to herself, before straightening up and reverting back to her usual mockeries. "You really have a horrible naming sense, you know that, right Master? Well, I suppose it would have to do. So, what did you want from me again?" Ainz almost missed the way she slightly tapped her foot expectantly.
"Going back on topic, you still haven't told me about the nature of the quest you picked up." Ever since their reputation plummeted, they needed something big to get back on track. Unfortunately, Jalter didn't seem to have gotten the memo, preferring to waltz up to the bulletin board and just pick whatever fancied her at the moment, letting no room for him to argue. Last time they ended up helping demolish abandoned buildings because she was 'in the mood to light up a church or two'.
"I want a dragon."
"What?"
"Sorry, I forgot skeletons don't have eardrums." she got closer to him, speaking slowly and mouthing every word clearly. "I. Want. A. Dragon."
Ainz was already used to her teasing, so it didn't really bother him. He just brushed it off as her way of expressing herself at this point.
"It's true that dragons are usually high-level creatures, but expanding our forces isn't really a priority for us right now." At his counter, the woman sighed, shaking her head in an exaggerated manner.
"You really don't get it, do you Master?" She lightly poked him on the forehead. Ainz didn't feel anything, but judging from the way the armour reverberated he could tell that a normal person would have had his head blown off from the gesture. "It's not a matter of firepower, it's about principle. How can I call myself the Dragon Witch if I have no dragon I can ride on when I turn this country into ash?"
"Is that really that important to you?" Putting that aside, the 'destroy everything' plan was definitely not on the table yet. He had expected Moriarty to be pushing for it a lot more, but the old man seemed content to just comply with whatever direction Ainz was giving him at the moment. Not that he complained, he viewed genocide as more of a last resort than the first solution, regardless of its effectiveness.
"So I suppose our quest is in some way related to dragons, isn't it?" His only response was the piece of parchment shoved right into his face. "The Wise King of The Forest?" He read out loud.
"Apparently there is something that came in conflict with it a while back. Something large, with wings." She specifically accentuated the last part. "Their fighting is apparently causing damage to the forest or whatever, so they need us to stop it. This is the perfect opportunity, don't you think?" Her smile reminded him of a kid taken to a candy store, but he doubt he would be able to tell her that without turning into scorched barbeque.
"I see, we could capture the dragon and bring the head of the King as proof, that could work. Surely such a legendary beast would help clear our reputation quite a bit" He mused. "But are you certain that that's a dragon? There are plenty of large winged beasts that could be mistaken for..."
"Are you implying that I can't recognize a dragon when I hear about it?" Faced with the intensity of the two golden irises, Ainz could think of only one thing to do.
"Greater Teleportation!" Dispelling Perfect Warrior, the two of them suddenly vanished into wisps of light.
Author's note:
Happy New Year! Is what I would like to say if exam season didn't start in a week for me. Anybody with an engineering degree willing to teach me everything I need to know in three days? ...No? Eh, worth a shot