"And the thugs your unit caught, are you certain they know nothing?"
"I'm afraid so, marshall. None of these men were high-rank enough to know anything of value about Drulia, nor about her direct subordinates, if she does have right-hand men, that is."
"The amount of precise organization Drulia's gang uses to carry out their crimes as of late suggests a hierarchy, a chain of command. She must have direct subordinates who respond directly to her, either that or she somehow became a psychic who can magically control the minds of her thugs as if they were puppets."
That was a joke, obviously. Both the marshall and the watchman he was talking with knew that if Drulia did have a power like that then Breizen would be several shades of screwed.
"In any case, you and your unit still did a good job by removing those thugs from the streets."
"Thank you, marshall."
"Have a good rest."
The watchmen made a respectful bow to his marshall before turning around and exiting his office.
After the watchman left, however, marshall Gellius heard the watchman say "Lord Erodel!" out loud, which could only mean one thing.
- The chieftain!? Here!?
Gellius began to anxiously look at his surroundings to verify if his office was in a presentable state, then he stood up from the chair he was sitting in and removed any fatigue he had on his body and mind.
He heard a few knocks on the door, followed by a "May I come in?" to which the marshall gave a quick and clear "Yes, Lord Erodel."
The thick wooden door opened to reveal the unmistakable figure of Breizen's leader, the 'Chosen of the Sky Father' Erodel the Wise.
"Good evening marshall, I apologize for bothering you at this hour."
"Is not a bother at all, Lord Erodel. Is always an honor to speak with you."
"You are the one who honors me with your unflinching devotion to the people of our city, I don't know what I would do without you or the other marshalls."
"Just doing our jobs, my Lord."
Erodel briefly broke his eye contact with Gellius to return his eyes to the exotic blade he had been examining during his wait outside the marshall's office.
It was quite the strange-looking blade, so much so that Gellius couldn't hold his curiosity and asked the approachable chieftain about it.
"What is it that you're holding, my Lord?"
"This is a confiscated weapon from a refugee who will be currently having asylum in our city."
"A foreigner?"
"Judging by this weapon and his appearance, yes. Most likely."
Erodel was already told by the Platinum Dragon Lord that the refugee, Rhemurus, was a foreigner from a faraway land, but there were still aspects of their meeting that Tsaindorcus requested be kept a secret, like the fact that the other councilor Erodel spoke with was one of the five grand dragon councilors.
Tsaindorcus did tell Erodel that the native land of Rhemurus was called Midgard and that he was a person of great personal interest to the grand councilor. However, the fact that Rhemurus was a player from Yggdrasil was purposely hidden by the platinum dragon, a deception made not out of a lack of trust towards Erodel - who Tsaindorcus knew was a reliable leader - but rather an omission made to protect the people of the council state.
The fact that 100 years had already transpired since the arrival of the great tomb of Nazarick on the new world wasn't unknown by the sorcerer emperor Ainz Ooal Gown, so rather than simply ignore the arrival of players that could grow troublesome if left unchecked, the emperor instead decided to conduct a nationwide scouting to avoid being taken by surprise.
And he didn't limit himself to the countries under his control, he was also demanding the cooperation of all the surrounding countries like the council state.
On the surface, he claimed that this nationwide scouting was for the benefit of everyone, for who can't tell if the future waves of players wouldn't bring antagonistic and violent individuals who use their unfathomable power to bring destruction and ruin. But everyone involved actually knew that the legit reason for the cooperation request was simply a strong-arm move made in order to try and force everyone to help the sorcerer emperor eliminate any more potential rivals.
So if a country outside the direct control of the empire - like the council state - were to learn about the existence of a player among them, then that would almost certainly encourage a no small amount of individuals to try and recruit this player in a futile attempt to eliminate the perceived oppression of the empire.
Not to mention the rebellions that would arise in secluded pockets of the sorcerer empire itself, revolts that would obviously be quelled as fast as they arise, but would always end in unnecessary bloodshed.
And thus, Erodel was requested to look after Rhemurus but wasn't given an exact reason why, but luckily for Tsaindorcus, the human chieftain also knew that the grand councilor was a reliable leader as well, so he decided to trust the platinum dragon's judgment and didn't pry any further.
"So this refugee has a strange appearance, I reckon? If I'm allowed to ask, Lord Erodel, what race is he?"
"A human."
"Oh! So a human from another land."
Because Breizen was the only human settlement in Argland, pretty much any visitor from another settlement of their country was a non-human being. Any human in the council state that wasn't from Breizen was most certainly a foreigner from another country.
"His name is Rhemurus, he will be staying in the Starry Night Inn for the time being. I told him that if he wants to reach out to me, he could do so through you. Would that be alright?"
"Huh? Oh, of course, my Lord. But..."
"But?"
"...if I'm allowed to ask, why would you speak directly with a foreign refugee anytime this refugee demands it? Surely if this Rhemurus needs anything, he could speak with somebody else about it? I could contact him with sage Aerodus, for example."
"Mmm, true. Our city does have capable folk, good Aerodus is even wiser than me! The thing is, Gellius, I have personally taken interest in this particular refugee."
Marshall Gellius wanted to ask the chieftain what was so special about him, since surely, a foreign human in their city was indeed a rare occurrence, but that shouldn't require the personal attention of the chieftain himself.
Erodel sensed Gellius' confusion so he explained himself right away.
"Take a closer look at this strange blade, what do you see, Gellius?"
The human smiths of Breizen did knew how to make swords of varying styles and sizes, but the type of weapon that the human refugee brought with him - the scimitar - was a type of sword that the local folk had never seen in their lives before.
"Quite the strange shape. Judging from the metal's appearance, I imagine the blade must be made of some kind of iron."
The reason why an iron blade was noteworthy was that the vast majority of weapons and armor in the council state - the ones forged with metal, that is - were made out of bronze. Iron equipment did exist, it just wasn't as common.
It boiled down to the massive availability of copper and tin in the region where the grand councilors decided to draw Argland's borders, part of the reason why their lowest denomination coins were bronze instead of just copper, a way to flex their abundance of natural resources to neighboring lands.
And while the country still had plenty of iron mines as well, the passing of years made it clear to Argland's smiths that arms made out of bronze lasted longer and required far less constant maintenance than the arms made out of iron. Hence why the vast majority of iron in the council state was used for the construction of massive structures - and a particular use by the country's standing army, as well - rather than for tools and equipment for the common citizen.
"This is no normal iron, however. I used my appraisal spells on this weapon and turns out, Gellius, this is an alloy of iron with a material reminiscent of something like charcoal."
"Huh!?"
Gellius was understandably confused, considering how charcoal's only role in weapon-making was as fuel for the forging fire, rather than something that's combined with the metal portion of the weapon itself.
"So whoever made that curved weapon mixed the blade's iron with charcoal?"
"Not exactly. My appraisal spells aren't as good as those of the most knowledgeable mages in our lands, and because of that, I can't be fully certain about the true nature of the material that was combined with the blade's iron. But I could see, however, that said material is indeed fundamentally similar to charcoal, or even soot."
"...soot...?"
"I know it sounds absurd, but I can be completely certain that, regardless of the exact material that was made to make this blade, this weapon is far, far stronger than any other unenchanted weapon I've ever seen before."
There were several things that contributed to the fact that not a single human of Breizen knew about the alloy known as steel. Among these reasons, however, two specific ones were the greatest.
First, Breizen was NOT a military city.
Humans weren't only one of the least populous races of the council state, but they were far from the physically strongest ones, as well. In a country with a notorious number of giants and dragons, there wasn't much that humans could excel at when it came to combat ability, thus not a single human has ever been enrolled in Argland's standing army. Because steel equipment was indeed manufactured in the country, it was simply reserved for the generals and captains of said army because of the relative difficulty of making high-quality steel and the size of the high-ranking superiors who always ranged between large-sized to huge-sized and even the occasional gargantuan-sized commander.
Second, the culture of Breizen was more inclined toward magic, nature, and art than toward martial development.
The average percentage of spellcasters in the country's settlements - regardless if they were villages, towns, or cities - was usually between 5% to 10%. Breizen could flaunt a greater number of spellcasters per average citizen, with a whopping 30% of the humans living in it being able to use magic, and the remaining 70% still being quite knowledgeable about the mystic arts. Because of that, there wasn't such a hurry to improve the smelting technology they currently used since pretty much every smith that forged equipment had a spellcasting partner that could enchant said equipment to make it harder, or more flexible, or make it able to combust, or produce lightning, or acid, or anything that their client requested for the weapon or armor that was commissioned. Even the individual watchmen of the city watch each had a slightly enchanted suit of armor and weapons, so the need to manufacture an alloy that was superior to the metals they already had available was hardly a priority.
"So if this refugee, this Rhemurus, had a weapon like this under his possession, then does that mean that he was an important person back in his home country?"
"During our recent conversation, I did learn some things about him, mainly that he was merely a druid apprentice, but when our conversation shifted towards his panoply, he told me that what he currently had was of the lowest, weakest class of equipment available from the place he came from."
Marshall Gellius didn't even bother to react to the chieftain's statement, his blank face was reaction enough.
- A weapon like that, is considered the weakest? Just what type of place did this refugee come from!?
"You're a marshall, Gellius. Among the best that the watch has to offer, so surely you can now understand why I have my eye on our guest?"
"If even someone as low-ranking as a druid apprentice can have a weapon of such caliber in this refugee's homeland, then what type of weapons would actual soldiers use there? What battle tactics? What combat formations? I can't begin to imagine..."
"Rhemurus also told me that he's interested in obtaining a job in our city, and the watch particularly caught his eye. Who knows what types of useful foreign knowledge our guest could offer?"
Of course, just because you were a druid it didn't mean that you would be a good law enforcer, if anything a druid cop sounded like the greatest oxymoron. But Breizen - yet again - wasn't the norm since roughly two-thirds of the watchmen were divine spellcasters, few of them were priests while most were druids, so Rhemurus would fit into the watch like a glove.
"And even if he doesn't know much, Rhemurus has gone through quite a lot already."
Chieftain Erodel gave the marshall a brief summary of what the refugee had gone through, from being separated from his homeland by some unknown force to nearly dying under the fangs of a beast. Despite all that, Rhemurus was adamant about not relying on others' charities and was determined to pay back the aid he had received so far.
"It wouldn't hurt us to offer a helping hand, especially if the one we are helping wants to pay us back."
"Yes, I believe I understand now, Lord Erodel. But this refugee will still need to pass our admission test in order to be accepted, if he does approach us with the intention of joining the watch, that is."
"I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, Gellius."
"Of course, anything you need."
"Have a good night."
With the merchant district's marshall now on the same page, Erodel teleported back to the central district where the Heaven and Earth temple was, the place where the chieftain and his family have lived in ever since the humans settled in these lands centuries ago.
[Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick: 10th Floor - Throne Room]
"And so that concludes my report, Lord Ainz"
The one kneeling in front of the undead emperor had the appearance of a human man whose skin was darkened from the sun, oriental facial features, neatly combed jet-black hair, and a tail sheathed in silvery metal that was tipped by six sharp spikes. His clothing consisted of a red business suit with a matching tie, and his narrowed eyes were covered by a pair of prince-nez glasses.
He wasn't the only one kneeling, however. Several servants of the sorcerer emperor were also present in the throne room to offer their daily reports regarding the nationwide scout of any signs of players.
"So it seems like there haven't been any sightings anywhere in our lands so far, but what about the foreign lands around us? Fluder?"
"Yes, my liege."
One of the kneeling individuals, Fluder, enthusiastically raised his skull in response to his name having been called by his emperor.
"Any findings from our allies?"
"No reports of any mysterious structures manifesting out of nowhere, nor about any notoriously powerful individuals suddenly appearing, either."
After hearing the same reports he had been hearing for several days now, the emperor placed the index finger and thumb from his right bony hand on his pointy chin, a sign that he was currently in deep thought.
His servants most likely had a solid idea of what was their emperor thinking, so they were all prepared for what their emperor said next.
"All this time and no sightings of anything that could be remotely connected to Yggdrasil, then we know it can only mean two things."
Either the player(s) that arrived this wave was putting the extra effort to not stand out just like Nazarick did at first 100 years ago, or...
"My Lord." Spoke one of the kneeling vassals with a concerned expression on his face. "If we were to assume that the players of this wave arrived in the Sarrukh Theocracy instead, then-"
"Then let him deal with that headache. Whatever that feathery bastard decides to do with any players that arrive on his lands will be his problem, not ours."
"Of course, Lord Ainz. But...if these hypothetical players decide to join forces with the King of Kings, then, then-"
"It's okay, Belor, I understand your concerns." Said the sorcerer emperor as he held up his left hand to calm his agitated servant.
"My most capable guardians and I have reviewed that possibility countless times. In the event that the King of Kings is joined by another player or even a full guild base complete with more guardians of its own, then Nazarick will be ready."
"That, does calm my heart."
Belor's concerned expression was replaced by one of relief.
"So now that sufficient time has passed to verify that no potential players that may have arrived on our lands are showing off their might in flashy ways, then we shall proceed to the next step."
"Yes, Lord Ainz!" Exclaimed all the present servants in unison.
The next step that the sorcerer emperor was referring to was to announce the end of the search for new players. At least, it was on the surface that the search was over when in reality a new type of search will now be conducted; the search for any noteworthy individuals that were putting way too much effort into hiding and not standing out.
Of course, the original search for exceptional individuals that popped out of nowhere won't actually stop, rather the new search will be conducted parallel to the preexisting one. Because if the emperor could make a flashy disguise for the sole purpose of becoming famous under the guise of Momon the adventurer, then the possibility of other players doing something similar to that couldn't be ignored.
Announcing to the allied countries that the search was over was mainly to make any players that could have arrived in said countries drop their guards, thus giving them a false sense of security.
The reason why Ainz waited until now to start the second search was that looking for individuals who were trying to hide required far more resources and effort than looking for individuals who actively flaunted their superior power over others. So had this wave's players been like the latter, the search for sneaky players would've been a waste of time since the beginning.
"The search will start immediately, make sure to take note of any individual that seems to be out of place, someone or something that should not be where it is, no matter how inconsequential it may seem. We can't afford to take any chances."
After hearing those instructions, Fluder slightly raised his skull and - after his emperor noticed that he had something to say - Ainz gave Fluder permission to speak his mind.
"If I may, my liege. This may as well be nothing, but if we must consider every small possibility, then there is something I wish to report."
"Of course, whenever you are ready."
"When...when I last visited the curia court in the capital of the Argland Council State, I came across Hakuun of the Blade Cyclone adventurer team."
"The ogre magic knight that can use 5th-tier arcane magic, isn't he?"
"Yes, that same one. It was sheer coincidence, but at that specific moment he was carrying a special petition from their draconic great sage towards the grand councilors, a petition to give asylum to someone who shouldn't be in the council state in the first place."
Ainz, as an advanced form of lich, had no physical eyes on his empty eye sockets, but after hearing the words that Fluder just spoke, anyone looking at his skeletal face could have sworn that his nonexistent eyes opened wide with surprise.
The other servants who were also kneeling alongside Fluder couldn't hide their own curious expressions, either.
"Are you certain, Fluder?"
"I used the most advanced divination spells I know to scan the scroll Hakuun was holding, since I am perfectly aware of the antagonistic feelings that the ogre mage has against me, he would have never shown that petition to the recipients as long as I was present, so I made myself sure to read and memorize the petition's contents with spells I cast with [Silent Magic] and [Still Magic]."
What Fluder did might usually be called out as way too obtrusive, using divination magic to read the documents of people of other countries. But Ainz didn't call Fluder out because he knew that an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of any kind was his nature, especially when countries that nourish magic like the Argland Council State are concerned.
"Very well then. If you are able, would you give us a verbatim of that petition of asylum?"
"Gladly, my liege."
Fluder proceeded to speak out loud the words that Seliaxhala wrote down in his petition to the grand councilors, which read as follows;
[Honorable Grand Councilors Tsaindorcus=Vaision, Suveria=Myronsilk, Omnaadsence=Iculvuls, Gessenvult=Yukleelilith, and Zalazilkalia=Nahaeunt, I hope this letter finds you well.
I reach out to you in order to make a special request regarding a most tragic state of affairs, which is the current situation surrounding the person called Rhemurus, a stranded human from a faraway land who was taken away from his home without neither his knowledge nor his consent. It appears that the specific circumstances that led him to our beloved country are still lost to him, but that doesn't change the fact that he has nowhere to go nor anyone to seek help from.
For I know that our grand councilors are the most kind-hearted and just, if the financial and political situation of the moment allows it, I would request that the human be granted asylum in one of our magnificent cities, a place where Rhemurus would be allowed to heal his spiritual wounds, for we can't fathom what it feels like to be forcefully separated from one's home and have no known way to return, only to be ambushed by a ferocious beast that nearly took one's life immediately after.
If it hadn't been for the timely arrival of Blade Cyclone, Rhemurus' spirit would be resting in the Pure Lands right now.
In the future, if I can afford to spare the time, I would wish to aid the human in finding any possible way for him to return home, and in the case that my schedule wouldn't allow me to, then I would instead request the aid of a fellow sage from our capital of Guraxus in that effort.
My gratitude goes to you for taking the time to read my written request,
Seliaxhala=Naxauri]
Everyone in the throne room remained silent for a while, only the emperor broke the silence with words that weren't directed to anybody in particular.
"Rhemurus...a human 'taken away from his homeland by a mysterious force and stranded in these lands', huh."
To be honest, there could be any number of valid explanations for the situation surrounding that specific human, but it was Ainz himself who just said that they couldn't ignore any possibility no matter how small it was.
"Thank you for sharing the petition's contents with us, Fluder. Your work is appreciated. But before continuing any further I must ask, was that the only noteworthy case of an individual out of place?"
"Yes, my liege. So far it is."
"Has anyone else seen or found out anything similar?"
Ainz asked each individual servant present, but none of them had anything similar to report.
"Very well. The searches will still go as planned, this isolated case that Fluder discovered in the council state shall not give us a fake sense of accomplishment, for we can neither confirm nor discard anything without enough information. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Lord Ainz!"
Everyone once again spoke out their understanding of their emperor's orders, except that this time, one particular servant had something to add.
"If I may, Lord Ainz. If we were to entertain the possibility that this human under asylum in one of the lands under the dominion of the Platinum Dragon Lord may indeed be a player, then there is something in the dragon sage's letter that doesn't make any sense."
"Ah, so you noticed it too, didn't you Demiurge?" Commented the sorcerer emperor with understandable pride for his subordinate.
"Yes. The dragon sage said that this human needed a place to recover from the wounds on his mind because he was nearly killed in battle against a creature and needed to be saved by the intervention of their strongest adventurer team. Is that correct, Fluder?"
"Yes, Lord Demiurge, I can swear under oath that those words were written in Seliaxhala's petition to the grand councilors."
"Wait, wait!" The youngest servant present now understood as well. "If that dragon sage or whatever was telling the truth, then that means that this human guy almost dies to a beast that a mere group of natives to this world could defeat?"
"Precisely so, young Belor."
"Then, is that human guy really a player like yourself, Lord Ainz?"
The sorcerer emperor would never be in a situation where he would need to be saved by a team whose spellcasters can only cast 5th-tier spells, and taking into account the feats of the players that arrived in this world before the emperor did - and the player who also happened to arrive on the same wave that brought the sorcerer emperor to the new world, as well - it was reasonable to assume that all players had godlike power in comparison to this world.
So how would a player be so badly hurt to the point of needing to heal from psychological damage suffered from a near-death experience in a battle he lost?
"Or maybe, maybe this human was battling a beast of unfathomable power that was on par with players, and both the human and the beast were at death's door when the adventurers arrived to deliver the finishing blow against the beast and gave aid to the dying player?"
Another kneeling servant liked to entertain the idea of the human being a player, and at first, that scenario could sound possible, until you began to give it serious thought, it was.
"Then surely, if such a spectacular battle took place in the council state, we would have heard the noise, no?"
Demiurge was quick to hammer reason into that explanation full of holes.
A death match between a player and a creature on par with a player would have been the flashy display of unnatural might that the sorcerer empire has been actively looking for these past few days. Because even the battle between Ainz Ooal Gown and Shalltear Bloodfallen 100 years ago made an impact large enough to be heard in the surrounding nations, and nobody was actively looking for Yggdrasil beings back then, to boot.
Not to mention the lack of any battle scars in the council state lands, since even today, the remnants of the aforementioned battle between two level 100 beings can still be seen to this day.
"Maybe the grand councilors are hiding these scars on their lands? Getting a being on par with Lord Ainz to their side does sound like something they would attempt to do in a heartbeat."
"And that is precisely why we don't blindly trust them, dear Yavenee. For you see, remember the arcane devices constructed with divination crystals, enchanted with flight spells to make them move high in the air, and illusion spells to make them invisible?"
"Oh! You mean those, um, 'satellites', Lord Demiurge?"
"Precisely those. We sent the completed prototypes to the allied lands outside our direct control, and while they still can't survey all the surrounding lands all the time and have numerous blind spots because of their mobile nature, the remnants of a battle between a player and a being on par with it would definitely be something our satellites would've caught by now."
"So that means...this mysterious human is unlikely to be a player."
"If we take the words of the dragon sage at face value, that is." Added Belor, who was understandably quite skeptical.
"Your words almost make it sound like you want this human to be a player, Belor."
"Well, is not like I appreciate the idea of an antagonistic being who has power on par with the emperor. No, such a possibility only makes my blood boil and ache for battle against said being, a battle-"
"That you would instantly lose, young Belor." Interrupted Ainz to snap the boy back into reality. "You are an exceptional warrior, nobody can deny that. You have nothing to prove, and there is no point in running to your own death."
"But Lord Ainz, if I fall in battle, you can bring me back to the land of the living to-"
"To watch one of my most loyal servants die again? No, young Belor. If a player brings with him an army of lower-level NPC, or if he comes alone but decides to amass an army made out of natives of this world, then I will gladly give you command of our native forces. But no amount of strategy or tenacity would give you a chance to defeat a player head-on, not any more chances that you would have to defeat me, at least."
- A level 100 player, that is. Thought Ainz to himself, since he was slowly starting to realize another possibility.
"I see. Do forgive my ignorance, Lord Ainz."
"Of course, you're forgiven, young Belor. I know you only have the well-being of our empire at heart."
So with the idea of this mysterious human being a player out of the way, Ainz told his servants that they were dismissed and watched them teleport away one by one since they were all gifted with a Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown.
Now the sorcerer emperor was all alone, finally left to contemplate the other possible scenario that his servants just dismissed with Demiurge's help.
Is not like he requested Demiurge with a silent [Message] spell to shut down the idea of the mysterious human being a player or anything of the sort, it was simply the fact that Demiurge - and pretty much everyone else in Nazarick for that matter - was ignorant about one particular tidbit of information that Ainz had, information that he hadn't shared with anyone yet and, for the time being, had no intention of doing so.
That little knowledge nugget he was hiding was something he learned some decades back, when the sorcerer empire was still known as the sorcerer kingdom and they were in the middle of their expansions and conquests. And during their expansion southeast they came across the ruins of a long-forgotten kingdom that had fallen centuries ago, and hence was mostly ignored by the conquering forces.
However, the emperor - then known as the sorcerer king - still felt curious and decided to personally give this kingdom's ruins a visit, mainly because of the slight possibility of interesting treasure being hidden somewhere in the ruins. But when he reached the ruins of the capital his undead detection radar had picked up an individual undead hiding somewhere in those very same ruins, and what he found when he entered the deepest parts of said capital was the figure of a little human girl sitting on the floor, in front of her were four tombstones and a few flowers left in front of them.
Ainz did recognize the female figure as somewhat familiar to him, and it was when the figure turned its gaze and met Ainz's own that the sorcerer king remembered she was Evileye, a member of the adamantite adventurer team from the fallen Re-Estize Kingdom's Blue Roses whom he had all forgotten about.
It took him a second to deduce that the gravestones must be for the other members of her adventurer team who had most likely passed away at that point considering the large number of years that had transpired since Re-Estize's destruction.
Ainz then began to debate with himself about what to do with her; should he destroy Evileye and make her join her deceased comrades? Should he use his undead dominion skill to take control of her and keep her as a vassal? Should he leave one of his undead servants here to spy on anything Evileye might be up to? But when Ainz took a closer look at the empty eyes on her face, he knew, then and there, that Evileye was already broken beyond repair.
Regardless if it was the passing of countless years, the piles of loved ones that she has buried, or both, Evileye was now nothing more than a mere shell of her former self, someone who was dead inside just as much as she was outside, a 'walking corpse' in every sense of the phrase.
The sight was such that Ainz felt an emotion that he hadn't felt for a very good while now; pity.
He immediately cast away all the ideas he was brewing for killing or enslaving Evileye and instead decided to join her, taking a sit right at her side in front of her friends' gravestones.
Once an hour or two passed by with the two of them saying nothing to each other, Ainz decided to break the ice by talking about what he remembered of Blue Roses, which wasn't really that much, but it was enough to encourage Evileye to start talking about what she remembered of her deceased friends in return. Their conversation went on for many hours, switching back and forth between several topics unrelated to Blue Roses, and before they knew it, it was already the dawn of the next day, and their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of one of Ainz's servants who were understandably worried about their master's whereabouts. The sorcerer king had to go, but he asked Evileye if it was okay for him to return someday, to which she responded "Honestly, I don't care. You can come and go as you please."
Ainz did return to the ruins eventually, several times over the years in fact, and before either he or Evileye realized, a weird and complicated relationship was made between the two, but it was still mostly amicable in the end because; if there was anything that Ainz, that Suzuki Satoru, could relate the most with, was the sense of isolation left behind by the departure of beloved friends that will never, ever return.
Those reunions with Evileye - whom he now affectionately calls Keno - weren't just to socialize, however, because someone as old as she knew many things that a relative newcomer like Ainz was still ignorant about, so the sorcerer king, who eventually became the sorcerer emperor, always made himself sure to learn as much as he could with his talks with Keno who was now quite happy to have someone to chat and share personal stories with again after so long. And one of those stories was the one that dumbfounded Ainz the most, which was the story of the leader of the historical individuals he knew as the Thirteen Heroes, a leader who was in fact a player of Yggdrasil just like him, but a player that arrived to the new world with no base, no NPC, no high-class gear, and most noteworthy of all, at low-level.
He learned that not all players were at max-level when the servers shut down, and if a low-level player was online during the end of the game, then said player would still be transported to this world.
Back when he first heard the story from Keno he assumed that this leader was an anomaly, a one-time thing that would never appear again in this world, and so he had stored it in the very back of his mind and left it there. That is, until today when Fluder informed him of this mysterious human who had appeared out of nowhere without explanation in non-human lands, and not even the human himself knows why or how.
- What are the odds? And if this human is in fact a fellow player, then what to do in that case?
Ainz had been preparing for any possible scenario he could imagine for this wave, from a single player with an entire guild base just like him, to a player that was in possession of a [World] class, and even a group of players like the Six Great Gods and Eight Greed Kings, and considering how there were many places that were still unchecked, he couldn't discard those possibilities yet. But a lonely low-level player? How could he have predicted that? No...that was the wrong question.
- The actual correct question would be, why should I be preparing for a scenario where this wave will bring a low-level human?
Because truth be told, what can a single low-level human do against Nazarick? From what Keno told him, low-level players that arrive in this world can still grind and level-up by killing large amounts of monsters as they did back in Yggdrasil, but this world still didn't have a place that produces equipment that isn't trash-tier compared to, say, legendary-class, which was the tier of gear that pretty much all max-level players had. And custom-made weapons and armor were like half of a player's strength because even the most perfect build would be lacking without equipment made to complement it.
- Wait, aren't we in times of relative peace? Where will this guy find armies of monsters to grind?
Back during the era of the Thirteen Heroes, the evil deities were on the verge of destroying the portion of the continent that was now under Ainz's dominion, so this player leader had plenty of relatively high-level monsters to grind for EXP. But where will this new player Rhemurus find conveniently dangerous monsters that require armies of heroes to defeat? Not in the sorcerer empire, that's for certain.
- Mmm, I could always send low-level undead to threaten the new guy, or something, then after the new guy reaches higher levels I could send undead of higher tier in larger numbers, and so on until he reaches max-level at last. I bet the surrounding people will hail him as a hero of sorts at that point, eh?
It was a fun little thought experiment, seeing how far can this new player go in the new world wouldn't be boring at all for Ainz, to say the least. Because if it turns out that this was a scenario even better than the best-case one that the emperor anticipated - a scenario where the latest wave brings someone who will never ever be a threat to Nazarick - then it no longer builds down to what he could do, rather it's now about what he should do. Ignore the guy, let him live his life and survive in this world alone? Reach out to the guy, let him know that Ainz isn't a hostile player and offer a helping hand? With how powerful and influential Ainz was at this point, the possibilities were endless.
- Tsaindorcus must be aware of that player as well at this point, Keno did tell me that he was a member of their hero team, after all.
The Platinum Dragon Lord had just as much interaction with the leader of the old heroes as Keno did, maybe even more, since Keno pointed out to him the numerous times that Tsa - as she calls him - requested to have a personal audience with their leader to talk about all manner of things. Assuming that talks about Yggdrasil weren't parts of their conversations would be the most foolish assumption that Ainz could make. So for all intents and purposes, both he and Tsaindorcus were most likely the only ones so far to know that there was a low-level human player in the Argland Council State.
Now there is only one last thing to consider, a decision that Ainz should take now instead of later.
- Should I tell him? After all, I imagine he must be quite interested in knowing about it.
The emperor began thinking about it for very long and hard, but in the end, he reached the conclusion that it wasn't worth it.
"Ah, forget it." He said out loud while being perfectly aware that there wasn't anyone around to listen to him. "I'm pretty sure that, had the new player arrived under his lands, the son of a bitch wouldn't bother to inform me about it."
Because that was the kind of individual that feathery bastard was, after all.
Ainz stood up from his Throne of Kings and looked at the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown on his finger. Even after 100 years, he had yet to find a true comrade to gift a ring to, someone who wasn't a blindly loyal vassal but rather someone he could see as an equal, and even if this human in the council state was indeed another player, said player still wouldn't qualify to join as an honorary member of the guild because of his unfortunate race of choice.
"You just had to pick a humanoid for your avatar? Monster races were all the rage at high-level meta, you know."
The irony of someone like the emperor chastising others for not being meta wasn't lost on him, so he let a bitter laugh escape the teeth of his skull.
- Okay, guess I should start by trying to learn as much as I can about this Rhemurus, starting by in which city he's having asylum. I know Tsaindorcus knows, but because Keno told me that he has never visited her even once, then that dragon doesn't knows that I know about the presence of the player he's hiding in his lands.
Ainz also knew that Tsaindorcus wouldn't actually try to get that human player to rally up against his Sorcerer Empire with the equipment he guarded in that base the Greed Kings left behind, he was one of the few dragon lords who wasn't an arrogant idiot after all. What worried him a bit was the player himself, this Rhemurus, because he didn't know if that player could eventually delude himself into thinking that he was a 'savior of the world' like the human heroes of parallel world novels and anime from back on Earth, since such mentality was precisely what led to the downfall of some players that came to the new world before them.
He obviously had no personal connection to this human player, but he did swear to himself that if he could help a player in a way that wouldn't put Nazarick at risk, then he would. So with a newfound determination in his heart, the sorcerer emperor teleported away to parts that were unknown to anyone but him, some meticulous planning outside of his watchful guardians' eyes needed to be done.
==Author's Note==
And with this, the little prologue arc is done!
Phew, it took longer than I anticipated, but I did enjoy the process despite how headache-inducing it could be sometimes. lol
Once again I apologize for the weird pacing at the end and the start of pretty much all chapters in this prologue arc, but you can be certain that the future chapters of the future arcs will be purposely structured in a way that they will have a definite end at 7,500 words give or take, so hopefully reading them will feel more smooth.
I also decided to take a little break after this gets published, so I'm not sure when the first chapter of the first proper arc will be complete, one of the reasons I published the entire prologue arc in one go instead of systematically so that way my fic has a decent amount of content so far.
Regarding the story itself, there were actually way more kneeling servants in front of Ainz during the throne room scene besides just Demiurge, Fluder, and my new characters Belor and Yavenee, these dozen or so other servants in charge of the search for player activity simply didn't have a reason nor desire to speak out and just silently listened to the entire convo.
And I also know what some of you may be thinking; "Why was Tsaindorcus attending the curia court in person if the volume 7 intermission made it clear that he would never abandon the greed king base where the sword-shaped guild weapon was located?" to what I answer; you are right, only an extreme circumstance would allow him to abandon that self-imposed guard duty, and as luck - or lack thereof - would have it, a circumstance of that sort did, in fact, came to be somewhere in the 100 years between the arrival of both the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick and the Prismatic Tower of ■■■■■■■■ in the new world, and the arrival of Rhemurus and ■■■■■■■ in the current wave.
Said circumstance will obviously have important ramifications that will be explored in future arcs, so I don't want to reveal much right now, but if your gut is telling you that it is somewhat related to that "feathery bastard" that Ainz spoke so unflatteringly about, then your gut is correct! Well, related to one of that feathery bastard's sons, to be specific.
Everything will be revealed eventually.
So I guess this is it for now, I do hope you enjoyed the prologue arc, and I will see you again in the debut of the first arc.
Peace!