Chapter IV

The party began pitching camp long before the sun would go down. Momon took the wooden rods he was given and stood them up around the perimeter of their site. That said, they had to fit the cart inside, so it was fairly large—more than twenty yards across. Once he hammered the four posts into the dirt, Oshiku would string a black silk thread around them to make an enclosure. Then, he would make a knot in the thread, pull it right near the opening to their tent, and hang up a big bell to finish it off. In other words, they were cordoning off their campsite and setting up a noisy alarm. Even if the two players knew of far better solutions, all those would be achieved by using high-tier spells, so to relied on the Swords of Darkness' experience and expertise, learning a lot of practical stuff.

They were actually enjoying the stay in the outdoors. In the real world it had been impossible, of course, but the two friends hadn't been able to do this even in the fantasy world of Yggdrasil, so it was all new and surprising. It also reminded them of going on their first quests, even though it did take a little too long to get from place to place here.

If instead of the Great Tomb of Nazarick it had been just me and him who got transported here, we'd probably have just traveled around without a care in the world. Ainz being an undead and Oshikuru a demon, they didn't need food or drink, they did not even need to breathe. Those two could climb the far-off mountains empty-handed and dive to the deepest ocean depths, too.

They would have simply enjoyed all the unfamiliar scenery the world had to offer.

But as long as his guildmates' precious creations were obeying him, he had to live up to their loyalty by acting as the ruler of the Great Tomb and Oshikuru would always be by his side.

Shaking off, Momon devoted himself to his task once more together with the cheerfully humming samurai. Once all four posts were sunk deep enough, the thread was strung tightly around and they returned to the marquee tent.

"Thanks."

"Oh, no problem."

Lukrut, who was inside, had addressed him without even looking up. It was perhaps lacking in courtesy, but it wasn't as if he were slacking off, either. He'd been digging a hole and building an oven around it for a while.

Ninya was walking the perimeter while chanting some spell. [Alarm] was a spell one could cast as a precaution. He said it couldn't cover a very large area but it was worth using just in case.

Momon squinted as this was magic that hadn't existed in Yggdrasil. Collecting spells that didn't exist in Yggdrasil was one of the jobs he'd given to the others, especially Sebas and Demiurge, but being a caster, unfamiliar magic awakened his greed.

The magic Ninya used was mostly like his own. The spells even looked just like those in Yggdrasil. He had been doing something only avatars with the racial skill Black Wisdom could do to increase the number of spells he could acquire. If I perform a sacrifice ritual, could I get spells that weren't in Yggdrasil? Or is there another way? There are so many things I don't know…

Ninya had realized Momon was staring, and although he had warmed up a little since they had first met, he still wore a forced smile when he came over. "You don't need to watch so closely! It's not such an interesting spell, is it?"

"I'm extremely curious about magic, so I take a great deal of interest in what you do, Ninya."

"Really? But Oshiku is a way better caster than me!"

"Oi, I can use some spells, but I don't consider myself a wizard."

"Seriously? even if you have only learned two 3d tier spell, it's something only good sorcerers can achieve…"

"Yes, but those are just to support my combat abilities. I like to use these bad girls!" And his right hand caressed the hilts of his three swords."

"Can I ask you then what you consider yourself? I don't get it: you're a bard, a spellcaster…"

"I am a samurai, though not a very orthodox one. Some called me a ronin, but I don't like that."

"I don't have any idea what either term does mean…"

"Basically a samurai is someone who must follow a specific code of conduct and who must wield specific kinds of weapons such as this."

That said, he unsheathed Cutter II, which was clearly seen by natives of the New World for the very first time. It sparkled like a diamond at the fading sunlight and quickly attracted the attention of the other adventurers.

"Damn. Here I thought Momon's swords were the best ever, but yours looks so sharp I am afraid I'd cut myself just by warning it!"

"What's that made of?"

"It must be the treasure of his country!"

Amidt the praise and surprise, Ninya asked:

"And what's a ronin?"

Oshiku's one good eye darkened, but he replied: "A samurai without a cause worth fighting for… but I have a very good one." He sheathed the katana and the world seemed darker without it. Then he turned to Momon, placed a hand on his shoulder and with complete devotion said: "Yours".

Then he walked off to go help Lukrut with the fireplace.

Momon, as much as he was grateful to Oshiku for his undying friendship and loyalty, was glad he did leave so he could resume his conversation with Ninya.

"Oshiku's the best friend ever, but as he said he's not a real wizard and he can't possibly teach me, while you can use spells he can't."

"I'd like to be able to use magic like yours," he insisted.

"You want to learn magic even though you're that good with a sword? You're a hard worker, huh, Momon? Although I suppose that attitude makes you a model adventurer."

Lukrut chimed in without looking up from the oven he was building. "Magic isn't something you can just learn overnight, everybody knows that. First you've got to get the whole connection-to-the-world thing, but the only ones who can do that so easily are the ones who have a natural knack for it. I do not know about you, Momon, but I've heard that if you don't, all you can do is study little by little till you get the feel."

Ninya's smile vanished and was replaced by a serious expression. "Momon, I think you have the aptitude. I get the feeling you're different from normal people. There's something about you that…just doesn't exist among most humans."

Ainz's nonexistent heart skipped a beat as it sounded almost like Ninya had vaguely realized he was not human. He was using illusions and anti-intelligence magic, but it was possible that unfamiliar spells or special abilities could strip off his mask."

"He cautiously asked, "Oh…? I know I'm strong, but I don't think it's to a degree that is nonexistent among humans. I showed you my face, right?"

"Mm, it's not a question of looks… More just, that amount of strength is beyond human, I think. You were killing ogres in one hit…!"

"Lukrut is right. The ones they call heroes are on another level from ordinary humans. That really sunk in for me today."

"Er, I don't think I'm a…hero, though. I'm not fishing for compliments here." Ainz answered Ninya pretending to be flustered, while suppressing his sigh of relief.

"Would you like to come meet the person who taught me? My teacher has the talent of being able to tell how much natural aptitude someone has. For some people it's apparently even possible to know what tier they can reach."

Lukrut joined in again: "Actually, there's something I've been wondering: isn't that the same talent that the empire's head wizard has?"

"Yes, it's the same one."

Momon couldn't let this chance pass. He could get more info if he pressed.

"…What kind of ability is it, exactly?"

"The way my teacher explains it, every caster has a magic aura. The more powerful they are, the bigger the aura. My teacher has the power to see those auras."

"H…hmm…" Momon's voice was about to go too deep, but he controlled himself to reply in a normal range.

"My teacher collects kids with good auras and trains them." Ninya continued to say that he had been found in just that way. Ainz made appropriate feedback noises while inwardly cursing that there was such a talent: it could mean trouble.

"So if I think I'd like to use magic, what should I do first?"

"Maybe finding a proper teacher is a good place to start."

"…So maybe… I could be your disciple?"

"Mm, I think it'd be better to find someone stronger than me. But the thing is, here in the kingdom almost all the schools are private, and if you're not affiliated with any of the magic-related guilds, you can't get in. And the people who do get in are usually kids, because their brains are still malleable. To get in at your age, you'd have to have someone pretty important pulling strings for you. In comparison, the empire has a solid magic academy and the theocracy also offers some fairly high-level education… in faith magic, of course."

"Aha. Is it easy to get into the empire's magic academy?"

"It'd probably be pretty hard, actually. The academy is a facility mandated by state policy, so for an outsider…"

"I see…"

"And about you being my disciple: my apologies, but I have something I want to do, so I don't have time to spend on that." Ninya's face darkened, and there was something sinister and threatening in his expression, a thinly veiled hostility.

Guess I should steer clear of that subject. Doesn't seem like there is any benefit to pressing him anyway.

Just as Ainz made that decision, Oshiku casually interrupted.

"Hey, sorry to bug you in the middle of your chat, but food's almost ready. Could you go get the other three?"

"Ainz thanked Ninya before leaving the tent and walking over to where two of the others were sitting on the ground working a little ways away.

Peter and Dyne were completely absorbed in the inspection of the weapons they had used earlier. They applied oil to the swords so they wouldn't rust and checked all the weapons carefully to make sure they hadn't bent.

There was fresh damage to their armor, and the swords had dings from where they had clashed with the goblins' weapons. These makeshift repairs were standard, considering that one's life could depend on them. They were focusing so hard Momon almost didn't want to interrupt.

After telling those two dinner was ready, they let Nfirea, who was tending to the horses a little ways away, know as well.

The sun was just about to disappear below the horizon and its rays had dyed the sky crimson when dinner began. Stew flavored with smoked and salted meat was ladled into everyone's bowl. That plus crusty bread and dried figs, along with walnuts and other nuts, made up the night's meal.

And the one who was happier about it was Momon. Of course he could not eat due to being an undead, but Oshiku had fixed that. Thanks to one of his spells, he could turn any being into another race for up to one hour, depending on his magic resistance, so he secretly used it on his friend who could now enjoy food for the very first time since he had come to the New World. He did not have to remove his defence from spells below tier 6, since [Greater Change Form] did belong to the 6th tier, but wishing to feel human again, he deactivated it to have a whole hour as a man. So he removed his helmet, enjoying the fresh air of the night and Even if at first he did not feel hungry at all, his stomach grumbled as soon as his nose smelled the stew's scent. And to him, it was the best meal ever.

"Quit eating like a ravenous beast, my friend! you look like you've been starving for a week!" And he laughed because that was both funny and true.

Still not done, he added:

"As you guys can see, everyone has his weakness, even the great Dark Warrior… just give him some food and you've won already!"

The whole group burst out laughing at Momon's expense. Grumbling, he kept on eating, but now like a man and not a hungry wolf.

Momon prayed to his nonexistent god to thank him for having a good friend like Oshiku, and to thank him for having the patience not to strangle him every once in a while.

He then asked Peter a question to change the subject. "So, you guys are called the Swords of Darkness, but none of you have terribly dark-looking swords."

For his main weapon, Peter had a not too bad magical longsword, Lukrut his bow, Dyne a mace and Ninya a staff. Nobody had dark-colored swords.

By mixing special powder into the metal, it was possible to change a sword's color, so it would be easy enough to make a sword look dark, it was actually strange that none of them had one.

"Ohh, that." An awkward smile played across Lukrut's face, like he'd been reminded of some past embarrassment.

"That's what Ninya wanted."

Ninya's face was turning a shade of red distinctly different from the reflected light of the fire. "Please stop! I was young and stupid."

"Well, about that, my friend is older than you but more stupid…"

"Eh? Why? What did I do!"

"You know what you did!"

While those two seemed like an old married couple, the other adventurers' team kept on discussing.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of. It's important to dream big!"

"Dyne, would you give me a break? Seriously…"

The other Swords of Darkness chuckled warmly at him, and Ninya looked like he was about to start writhing from the awkwardness of it all. The name seemed to have some special meaning for the group.

"Uh, we're named after four swords that belonged to one of the Thirteen Heroes a long time ago," Peter declared, grinning from ear to ear. He didn't seem like he was going to add anything else.

That's great, but I have no idea what you're talking about… I know the Thirteen Heroes were super-powerful heroes who destroyed evil spirits that were terrorizing the land two hundred years ago, but I don't know who they all were and what kind of gear they had. Is that bad? Or should I just say, "Huh?"

While Ainz was wavering, Oshiku spoke up from beside him. "Oh, I've heard about them, but I was just a child back then, I don't remember much. Care to refresh my memories?"

Nice! Ainz struck a victory pose in his head as his friend had probably found the perfect way to ask without sounding suspicious.

"Ah, sure. The Swords of Darkness are four swords that belonged to one of the heroes called the Black Knight: Demonic Sword, or Killineiram, that gives off dark energy; Canker Sword, or Coroquedavarre, that is said to inflict wounds that never heal; Death Sword, or Sufiz, that takes your life if it so much as scratches you; and Evil Sword, or Humiris, whose special ability is unclear."

Oshiku, being a cursed samurai, belonged to the larger class of cursed knight and recognised those special abilities, typical of the class. Now very interested about the Black Knight, he peppered the other adventurers with questions. Even Momon was curious as thinking about it, Shalltear Bloodfallen also was a cursed knight among her many other classes.

Generally, cursed knight was a priest knight sullied with a curse and one of the more powerful classes in Yggdrasil. It was also heavily penalized, so it was not very popular. Among the skills it could acquire the most common ones were the ability to give off a wave of darkness, inflict wounds that couldn't be cured except with the strongest healing magic, and cast an instadeath curse.

Ainz narrowed his illusionary eyes.

To meet the minimum requirements to be a cursed knight, one would need a cumulative class level of at least 60, which meant this Black Knight to have all those skills had to be at least 70.

That would mean that the evil spirits he had fought must have been about the same level, but Nigun had been shouting about how the angel he'd summoned, the dominion authority, had defeated an evil spirit like it was some big deal, so Ainz wasn't sure how the power balance worked. If he went by the information he'd collected thus far, it made the most sense to assume that evil spirits came at all kinds of power levels, but he wouldn't know the truth unless he either got his hands on those swords or met the hero.

While Ainz was lost in thought, the party's conversation with Oshiku and among themselves had continued. With a start, he turned his attention back to that. It would be a waste to miss the chance to get more information.

"—our ultimate goal is to find them. There are a lot of weapons that are said to be legends, but these we know for sure do exist. Well, I guess we don't know if they still exist, but…"

"Oh, I know of one person who has a Sword of Darkness." Nfirea oh so casually dropped a bomb, and they all turned to face him as if he'd physically yanked them.

"Wh-who?!"

"Whoa! Are you serious?! So there's only three left?!"

"Hrm. Now there won't be enough to go around."

"Nfirea responded timidly, "Er, it's the leader of that group of adventurers called the Blue Roses."

"Ugh, those guys? They're adamantite! I guess we should just give up on that one, then."

"Indeed. There are still three left, so let's get strong enough to get all of those."

"Yeah. If one is real, the others must be, too! I hope they're hidden somewhere no one will find them before we do…"

"Ninya, write that in your journal so we don't forget."

"I will. But actually, my journal is personal, so couldn't you write it down yourself?"

"It's good to make a physical record for posterity!"

"I don't think that's the issue, Dyne…"

"Anyhow, we have that other thing already."

"'Other thing'?"

"This, Momon." Peter took a dagger with four small jewels inlaid in its handle out of his breast pocket and drew it. The blade was black. "The idea is to have this as our symbol until we get the real ones…"

"What if we called ourselves Blades of Darkness instead of Swords of Darkness? Then, there's no real or fake, and this thing can symbolize us properly."

"Hmm… For once, Lukrut, you have a point!"

The Swords of Darkness all laughed together like the group of good friends they were. Momon and Oshiku smiled at that.

Soon the conversation was of the idle sort suitable to mealtime. Since there were more of the Swords of Darkness, they took the lead and skillfully bounced topics off of Momon, Oshiku and Nfirea.

The three participated, but still felt some kind of wall between them and those four due to their deep friendship, same like Oshiku and Momon who talked one to the other. Still, their patron did not seem to be left out as he'd always find ingenious ways to keep the conversation moving. He had that knack for reading the mood.

Then, out of the blue, Lukrut asked:

"So, from where are you guys actually from?"

Oshiku had been prepared to answer those questions and immediately replied:

"We're from a faraway country to the east, but that place has stopped being a real nation long ago, it's a wretched place we'll never go back to. Everyone in there who could leave has done that too, but fleeing to closer countries, while my friend here convinced me to join him to go see the world and become as strong as we can to protect humanity. We don't want to see what happened to our home country repeat itself."

"And what exactly happened in there, if I may ask…"

Now Oshiku faked some hesitation and furrowed his brow before stating:

"The worst."

Then he elaborated on that:

"The government was corrupt just like the nobles, merchants only thought about making profit and the peasants starved. Then, when monsters came, the army was in shambles, it was unable to stop them…"

He clenched his fist.

"… The two of us killed many but the monsters were countless. As soon as they realised the danger was extreme, many nobles and merchants fled with their treasures, others hid in their manors abandoning the commoners, sometimes even going as far as selling them to the monsters in exchange for mercy…"

He paused to spit on the fire.

"I hope those bastards rot in hell, they were worse than actual monsters… and our king was a bloody fool, he wasted the little forces still loyal to the country. And when the monsters came to the capital city he, our sacred ruler whose line was said to be chosen by the gods… he made a deal with the monsters. Every year a fixed number of people would be sent to them to enslave or feast upon in exchange for peace!"

He gritted his teeth.

"After that, we and many others were so angry we wanted to kill the coward king, but most were afraid the monsters would come once again and destroy all in their path, so there was no rebellion, just a standoff which ended up in complete uselessness. So the king regained consensus and ordered that those who still wanted to kill the monsters were to be arrested and sent to be eaten by them…"

He sounded as if that defeat had happened the day before.

"In short, we had to get away from there. Humanity had fallen. It was certainly not the fault of the two of us, but perhaps if we grow stronger and stronger we can reach a point where we can make sure no amount of monsters can break the human nation we decide to live in... which turned out to be this place, Re-Estize. We don't know much about it, but no matter how much its leaders are corrupt or incompetent like the ones we had before, as long as its fighters are strong enough, such destruction won't happen again."

A long, deep silence followed that. It was Ninya who broke it.

"Maybe I'd sleep better without knowing that, but… what kind of monsters are those? To think even you two couldn't stop them…"

"Well, we've grown stronger in time and I'm sure we'll get even better, but all those beastmen that attacked us were countless, all stronger than the average warrior. And there were all kinds of them! Birdmen, wolfmen, lionmen and so many more… it was an endless tide that swept through our land."

"I'm very sorry about that. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked…"

"Well, of course we don't really like to talk about it, but it's important to never forget what happened if we want to prevent it from happening again in here."

"Do you mean the beastmen are coming this way?"

It was Nfirea who replied: "Well, Re-Estize is very far from there, but I'd heard the Draconic Kingdom is almost always at war with a Beastmen Kingdom and that without the help from the Slane Theocracy it would have fallen already."

Everyone seemed afraid or at least on edge now.

In the silence, a log popped and more sparks rose. It seemed crazy, but it was one of those two who had lost everything to those monsters who suddenly spoke cheerfully.

"Oi, oi, nobody gets all gloomy on my watch!"

That said, he grabbed a violin, seemingly out of his coat, and coughed. "Let me share with you a song I've learned while sailing from east to west, one which is imdeed meant to lift the spirits of those who sing it…"

He started playing the violin and it started a simphony which did seem a little bit sad at first, but it quickly grew into a more lively piece of music as the bard started singing as well.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho

Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho

Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho

Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho

Gather up all of the crew! It's time to ship out Binks' Brew! The wind it blows, to where who knows? The waves will be our guide! O'er across the ocean's tide, rays of sunshine far and wide! The birds, they sing, of cheerful things in circles passing by!

Bid farewell to weaver's town! Say so long to port renowned! Sing a song, it won't be long before we're casting off! Cross the gold and silver waves, Changin' into water sprays! Sailing out on our journey to the ends of the sea!

Gather up all of the crew! Time to ship out Binks's brew! We'll divide and conquer all the seas! With the waves to rest our heads, ship beneath us as our bed! Hoisted high up on the mast our proud flag flies!

Somewhere in the endless sky, a storm has started comin' by! Waves are dancing having fun, it's time to sound the drums! If we let blow winds of fear then the end of us is near! Even so, tomorrow the sun will rise again!

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho, Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho, Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho, Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho,

Gather up all of the crew! Time to ship out Binks's Brew! Could be today, could be tomorrow. Twilight dreaming. No longer can we now see, shadow hands still waving free. Why worry, there's sure to be a moonlit night again.

Gather up all of the crew! Time to ship out Binks's Brew! Sing a song, a lively song for all the oceans wide! After all is said and done, we all end up skeletons! Endless aimless, this story on the uproarious seas!

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho, Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho, Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho, Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho!"

Once he was finished, all of the happy audience unleashed a great applause to the bard's newest song. He bobbed his head taking in the praise and revealed:

"You guys are the first ones in this country to hear that. Thank you for being my audience tonight! Now, I guess it's high time we hit the sack though."

Many had indeed started yawning and agreed while Oshiku turned to Momon.

"Let's see, who's taking the first watch shift? Let's play a game, my friend!"

"Fine. Rock, paper, scissors?"

"Aye. Best of three though!"

"What's this? Let me see…" inquired Nfirea who, imitated by the Swords of Darkness' members, watched as Oshiku defeated Momon twice in a row in the curious but simple game.

"You lucky sonofa—"

"Hehehe, I'm off to sleep. Wake me up when you're tired, Momon-san!"

Faking a yawn, he stumbled until his bedroll, wrapped himself up with his own coat and seemingly fell asleep a few seconds later.

But even with his good eye closed, the bad one was always looking around, not to mention he didn't need any sleep. So, half keeping watch together with each of those due to it later on, he half gazed at the beautiful night sky.

I love this new world…