A/N: Thanks for your reviews and feedback regarding the last chapter. To answer your queries:
While I know that Albedo does have wings, I was unware that she could actually fly with them. I haven't seen her use them to fly in the anime, and in the latest volume of the light novel, she has to borrow an item from Ainz to let her fly or something along those lines. Also, it's possible that she can fly with her wings, but that her wings don't grant her her full speed, as it is said that she has items that can also boost her flight speed. Plus, Remedios had armor which could fly, so I assumed that Albedo's could as well.
Someone said that this is just the same story of Overlord- sorry about that, I wanted to start off in a similar path and then slowly change it because it obviously now won't be a 100% faithful adaptation without the Great Tomb of Nazarick. And it's going to be more about Albedo and Suzuki Satoru rather than world conquest, though that might come up.
Will Suzuki remain at level one? He is a Player, so his level cap in this fanfic is theoretically level one hundred, though whether or not he'll ever reach it is a big question. Plus, he doesn't have access to many of the magic items from Yggdrasil, so what his power even at the top level will be remains to be seen. It's never mentioned in the novel how Players level up in the real world, just that they can apparently, though how they choose their skills and levels is something that hasn't been mentioned, so I'll be making something up for this fanfic.
Suzuki had a long a restful sleep. He woke up with a clear head and a feeling that while he was well-rested, he had overslept.
Albedo did not seem to have moved even an inch from her position guarding him and so he wearily rubbed the sleep from his eyes and opened the door, immediately freezing when he took in the sight before him.
You see, while Suzuki had been fast asleep, the world around him was still quite in motion. Dan had not thought to wake up their guest and had instructed the rest of the family to carry on with their duties as was usual. He figured that perhaps Suzuki was tired and wanted his rest after having been lost in the forest for days.
It was still early in the morning when Dan's family heard the screams coming from various directions. Before they knew it, two men in full plate armor were at their doorstep after having knocked down their door.
At this point, the captain of the knights who were attacking the village [though they did not know this was the captain] had seen Enri and had decided to have a little 'fun' with the eldest daughter of the family before he killed them all.
Naturally, Dan, when he saw that his daughter was about to be defiled, chose to punch the man in the face and two other knights had to arrive to hold him back.
The knights were in the middle of dealing the final blows to the family when low and behold, Suzuki had opened the door.
Naturally, the question must arise as to how Suzuki was able to sleep through all of this?
Well, Albedo, in all of her infinite wisdom, reasoned that a low level attack like this was not something to bother her master's sleep over, and had chosen to use a skill to silence the area around Suzuki, letting him get his much-needed rest. As for the members of Dan's family, she couldn't really care less for what happened to them.
Suzuki saw that there were a total of six knights in the house. Two of them were holding back Reena, three had pinned Dan down, and one of them had been swearing rather loudly and barking orders at the others. Enri was in a corner, with part of her dress ripped off of her, while enveloping Nemu as if she were a human shield. The entrance to the house was blocked by the captain, which was why the two sisters could not flee.
It was actually almost comical as to how nearly everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to look at Suzuki as he walked in. Almost comical of course, because this was a life-and-death situation. Suzuki himself was too drowsy to take much notice of what was happening, and as such, the knights were the first to respond.
One of them let go of Reena and ran towards Suzuki with his sword drawn.
He did not get two steps before Albedo grabbed Suzuki, whipped him behind herself, and then decapitated the man creating a fountain of blood that stained the ceiling.
Now that definitely snapped the other knights out of their stupor.
Now that the knights were a definite threat to Suzuki, Albedo chose to take preemptive action. The three knights who had pinned down Dan were positioned at least a foot above Dan so it was easy to split them all in the midsection in a single blow without harming a hair on Dan's head- though he was drenched with blood and gore.
The other knight who had been holding Reena let go of her reflexively.
Idiot.
He might've had the sense to take Reena hostage if he had been given time to think, but his training told him that it was more important to reach for his weapon.
This split second delay of his was enough for Albedo to bisect him, though she did so vertically with him rather than horizontally as she had with the others.
Variety is the spice of life, after all.
"A-agh!" the captain of the knights screamed and immediately turned tail. Albedo leapt to follow him.
To Suzuki however, all of this had happened in a manner of seconds, and he was still unsure of what was going on. As he looked around and saw the carnage before him however, he immediately threw up, adding to the vile fluids that had inundated the house.
On further reflection, he was actually quite proud of himself because he had not fainted at the sight of the dead knights. As one who had grown up without knowing the touch of violence, such a scene was far too much for him.
Once he had emptied his dinner as well as yesterday's lunch onto the floor, he felt slightly better and tried to stand up from the fetal position he was curled up in.
He was very sure that this was no simulation now. And to top it off, it appeared his mind was still his human one from the earth of 2138. When faced with such a situation again, he might end up freezing completely like he had just done right now. That could be extremely fatal.
He tried hard not to look at the gore splattered around the place. Reena had a black eye, but was otherwise fine. Dan, however, had a long gash along his left arm and what looked like several knocked out teeth. Enri and Nemu, thankfully, seemed to be unharmed, though Enri was trying her best to cover her body with the tattered remains of her dress which were hanging around her torso.
"Do you know why they attacked you?" Suzuki finally managed to get out. It seemed the knights were especially weak given how easily Albedo dispatched of them, but it was a possibility that stronger enemies were in the vicinity. He wanted to get some information on these people.
"There were no words, only death," Dan said, cradling his right hand, which on closer inspection was broken. "They came out of nowhere and began attacking us."
Albedo walked in through the door, flesh blood splatter marks decorating her armor. She had dispatched five other knights in the vicinity, including the captain.
"Suzuki-sama, the enemies around us have been eliminated," she said in a matter-of-fact voice. She had no visible injuries, so the other knights were probably as weak as these ones had been.
"I need a health potion," Suzuki said.
Albedo withdrew a healing potion and handed it to Suzuki- expecting him to drink it. Though Suzuki couldn't see it, Albedo saw the specks of vomit on his tunic and assumed he was sick.
Instead, Suzuki offered it to Dan and Reena.
As he extended the potion, a sudden thought occurred to him. In Yggdrasil, it was not possible to consume a portion of a potion. You either took it or didn't, in other words, it was a binary option to drink the entire thing or not drink it. This healing potion could heal fifty health points, but it was not possible to drink half to heal twenty-five health points.
At least, it wouldn't work like that in Yggdrasil.
"Take a mouthful," Suzuki said, extended it to Dan. He didn't think Dan's injuries were equivalent to fifty health points worth of damage, so he wanted to give him a small amount first.
Dan glanced at the vial apprehensively. Suzuki realized the problem- Dan had probably never seen a healing potion before. "It's a healing potion- I know it looks red but that's how it is supposed to look. It'll fix your injuries."
Dan took a gulp of the potion, and saw that the gash on his arm was gone now. His right hand seemed to be normal again, and his teeth had grown back. Suzuki offered another mouthful to Reena, and her black eye was as good as new.
He still had half of the potion in its vial, and so he stored it away in his own inventory for now. That meant he had about twenty-five health points of healing left in the potion.
"Suzuki-sama," Albedo said. "There are still enemies close by the village. Though they are weak, I would still advise that we take this time to flee the area and find somewhere better fortified."
"Wait- there are more soldiers?" Suzuki asked. He saw Dan and Reena's eyes widen in fear, and Nemu whimpered. "Didn't you get rid of all of them?"
"No, there was no need," Albedo replied. "I slaughtered those close enough in the vicinity to pose a threat to us, but there are other soldiers on the other side of the village."
"Dispatch of them as well," Suzuki said.
"I am afraid I cannot leave you unguarded like that," Albedo said. "Forgive me, but it is one thing for me to still be in the vicinity to take care of nearby threats, but if I were to go to the other side of the village I would be too far should any threat present itself to help you. And I implore you not to go with me, I might not be able to defend you against multiple attackers in an open field."
"Indeed," Suzuki said, scratching his chin. "In that case, summon your bicorn and have it finish the other soldiers off."
Albedo obliged, but then Suzuki thought of something and amended his plans.
Londes Di Clamp faced the sky, awaiting death.
This had been a routine operation- and it should have gone smoothly.
He and some of his allies had been posted around the perimeter of the small village in order to hunt down any fleeing villagers with bows. Within minutes however, they had quickly been slain by a huge beast with two horns. Their arrows bounced off its hide as if they did nothing, and their blades snapped when they attempted to strike it down.
He had expected the others to at least come to their aid, but they never did. Unbeknownst to him, the others who had been sent inside the village were already dead.
However... for some reason, he had not been killed instantly. The beast had crushed both his arms and his leg, but had not dealt a finishing blow.
This made Londes wonder why he had been spared death up till now, given that his other comrades had been mercilessly slaughtered.
Though he was in excruciating pain, he was not fortunate enough to pass out, and so was left lying in the dirt cursing the gods as the worst pain he had ever felt coursed through his body.
He turned his head when he heard a pair of footsteps approaching.
One was a warrior covered head to two in black armor. A mere look at this individual told him that this was a warrior far beyond his own capabilities- if this beast belonged to this warrior, then most likely the others were also dead.
But why? Someone this powerful should not have been in a village like this.
"Suzuki-sama, as you will," the armored individual said and bowed as the other individual- a man in a plain brown robe approached him.
Suzuki took a look around. They were in no more danger, and it was clear that this knight could not fight back.
It was now time to conduct an experiment- whether or not he could gain EXP in this world.
With this knight in this state, Suzuki thought that he should be able to take him out with a single spell. If his two mana points couldn't accomplish the task, he would have Albedo do it for him. He would still gain EXP so long as he had dealt damage to the slain enemy- though he would get more if he dealt the finishing blow. At least, that was how it worked in Yggdrasil if you were on the same team.
This entire affair would have been far easier had Suzuki been able to use summoned monsters, who gained experience for their summoner when they killed. Albedo, being level one hundred and an NPC, could not gain any more and as such her Bicorn was useless for the purpose.
Suzuki thought that even a Horn of the Goblin General, a trash item that he used to hoard just because it was too much trouble to throw away, would be useful as the level ten goblins would still be stronger than him and he could use them as cannon fodder. To think that a time would come when the guild master of Ainz Ooal Gown would be pained for such an item was a massive disappointment.
But enough about that. If he could finish this man off, he might gain EXP. As it was, this man was going to die anyway, so this was the perfect chance for him.
Though he had never used magic before, Suzuki instinctively knew how to cast his spell, and he raised his hand.
However, he found that he couldn't do it. Londes looked at him pleadingly, and seeing the tears welled up in the man's eyes made Suzuki feel like his arms had turned to spaghetti.
Perhaps if Londes had attacked him, Suzuki might have managed to do it in self-defense. But casting magic in this world was quite different from pressing a button like he would in Yggdrasil.
This was another human being. A human life, so much like his own, that he was about to snuff out. If Londes had been a monster, this would have been easier, but in the current state of events...
"Please... no..." Londes begged for his life.
Suzuki raised his arms to try and cast the spell, but they fell to his side once again. He couldn't do it. But this did not mean there would be any respite for Londes. "Albedo... finish him off."
He had no problem knowing that Londes would die by someone else's hands- the man did indeed deserve death after what he had done, after all. Any jury would agree with Suzuki on that point.
It was just that Suzuki couldn't find it in himself to pull the trigger.
This of course, meant that this little experiment would have to wait for some time. He had heard Enri telling Nemu stories about monsters in the woods, so perhaps he could test his mettle against them if they ever ran into one.
There was another thing he wanted to try out though. He picked up a sword that belonged to a knight, and while he could hold it in his hand, the moment he tried to swing it his arm clenched and it dropped from his grasp. It appeared he still couldn't use weapons that his Yggdrasil classes would not allow him to equip.
All in all, Suzuki felt that the villagers of Carne had gotten off easy all things considered given the magnitude of the attack.
Only three of them were dead, and two more would also have died had Suzuki not shared the remaining health potion that Albedo had given him.
He would however, need to find a way to replenish health potions, and fast. Either that, or he would need to stop using them.
Albedo's inventory was unfortunately not nearly as diverse as his own was. Albedo was an NPC, after all, and she only had a small pool of very necessary items with her. The fact that Tabula had even bothered to give her some health potions was a testament to his attention to detail and care for this NPC.
But, Tabula had given all of his actual gear to Momonga, who had kept them within the Great Tomb.
Not for the first time, Suzuki regretted the fact that he had chosen to create a new character just as the server shutdown.
For one, he would have had resurrection items. More than enough to revive the three dead villagers, and more importantly, for Albedo to revive him if necessary.
The villagers had been very grateful for their help regardless of the casualties they had taken, however, and had wanted to reward Suzuki in some way.
"There's no need for that," Suzuki told Dan after he had been relayed the message through him. "After all, in a way, we were only saving ourselves. We were under attack as well- plus, you did already help us quite enough already." He then remembered something his friend had once told him. "Plus, helping someone in trouble is only common sense."
Dan smiled wearily. "Ah, well, I suppose so." He then returned to his family, who were quite alive, if a bit shaken.
Suzuki felt a strange warmth in his stomach as he saw the family members interacting with each other.
The way that Enri played with Nemu's pigtails. The way that Nemu smiled when Dan took her on his shoulders, and how tenderly Reena fed her a piece of a small apple. It was like a photo of a picture perfect family from a photo album- though in any photo album from his world the family would probably be better dressed than they were. This... it was possible because he (or rather, Albedo) had acted to save them.
Beyond that though was a feeling of nostalgia. He remembered when his own parents had treated him when he had been little. Granted, treats and the such were rare given how much they worked, but it was still possible for the family to come together once in a blue moon. Ever since his parents had passed away, Suzuki had had no one in his life- save for his friends from Yggdrasil. And though they might've been great friends, they were only friends in the end. Not family.
Would he, Suzuki Satoru, ever be able to experience what it was like to have a family of his own? He would never have thought it possible in his old world, and even if it had been possible he would've refused it, given he would not have been able to give any child of his the appropriate time and care needed. He was not as fortunate as someone like Touch Me was, after all.
Perhaps though, in this reality, things would be different?
These thoughts were interrupted as the village chief began reading the funeral prayers for those deceased.
Suzuki had met with the village chief shortly after the attack ended. Surprisingly, he had been able to glean quite a bit of information from the man. The man even had a map of the area, and though Suzuki had offered to purchase it, the chief had declined, stating that it was something the state had handed to him. Nevertheless, Suzuki now had a rough grasp of the political situation of the country they were located in.
Speaking of money, Suzuki took a moment to count the coins he held in his hand once again. They had been looted from the corpses of the knights- which to him was only natural to do given that this world seemed to have been based off of a video game. However, no one else in the village had done so, perhaps out of respect for the dead, which was why he had tried to do so discreetly.
The knights had several coins, though they were all silver and bronze and he had only found two gold ones among them, though they were much smaller than his coins from Yggdrasil. Their swords and armor were cheap and shoddy by Yggdrasil standards- barely better than the starting gear players received. No powerful magic items were found on the knights, or crystals from Yggdrasil either. It appeared they did not drop loot like back in the game.
Given that, it was possible that he would not have gained any XP from killing them. He did however, find a potion, though it was filled with a blue liquid rather than red so it was possible it was some sort of buffing potion, or even possibly a poison. As such, Suzuki simply put the bottle in his inventory.
The funeral rites were interrupted, however, by a villager running towards them.
"There's a group of armed men racing towards this village on horseback!" he said.
Every single person in attendance turned towards Suzuki, Albedo, and the bicorn which was grazing a few feet away from them. The other villagers gave the beast a wide berth.
"I'll look into it," Suzuki said and walked with Albedo to see a cloud of dust rapidly approaching the village.
The men stopped ten feet from the entrance, and the one who rode in front got off and removed his helmet. He was a tall man with brown hair, and an extremely long sword strapped to his back. He was armored, though this style of armor was very different from the ones that they knights attacking the village wore.
The man glanced around, and did a double-take when he saw Albedo and the bicorn. However, he did not draw his weapon.
"I am Gazef Stronoff, Warrior-Captain of the Kingdom of Re-Estize. I came here because my men noted that several villages were being attacked," Gazef said.
"I am Suzuki Satoru," Suzuki answered. "My partner, Albedo, and I, happened upon this village and were resting here. We dispatched of the men who came to kill the villagers."
Gazef took two steps forward, and Albedo's hand moved towards the hilt of her weapon. However, Gazef then did something unexpected. He bowed his head.
"On behalf of the people of Re-Estize, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Suzuki-san, for defending this village," Gazef said and raised his head.
"It was nothing," Suzuki said, and waved his hand.
Gazef then looked over both Suzuki and Albedo intently, as if he was expecting them to be wearing something. "Are the two of you mercenaries then?"
"Not really," Suzuki said. "We're just people who were in the area and had the opportunity to help."
"Warrior-Captain!" one of Gazef's men shouted. "There are a group of strangers encircling this village as we speak!"
"Do you recognize any of them?" Gazef asked.
Suzuki recognized the monsters from his vantage point- Archangel Flames, though he recognized none of the shadowy figures approaching the village. Suzuki shook his head.
"They must be here for me then," Gazef said and sighed. "Suzuki-san, I would like to hire you and your partner, given that there seems to be a battle underway, if possible."
Suzuki considered it and said, "On one condition. You said you are the Warrior-Captain of this country. Does this mean you are the strongest warrior within it?"
Gazef replied, "I am the strongest warrior within Re-Estize, though that is not always the case for the Warrior Captain."
"In that case, I would like you to duel Albedo," Suzuki said. "If you can beat her, both of us will lend our help to you."
The reason Suzuki said this was because he wanted to gauge just how strong Gazef was. If he was one of the strongest people within this country, it was a good measure of how strong everyone else would be. The knights that attacked the village had been so weak that Albedo had not been able to give a proper assessment as to their strength. They could've been anywhere between level one and level sixty in strength given the ease with which she bested them.
Gazef was quite taken aback by the request- he could understand asking for payment, but for this...
"I would normally not refuse a duel, Suzuki-san, but the point remains that if the two of us were to injure ourselves here, we would be weakened before we even faced the enemy," Gazef answered.
"That is not a problem," Suzuki said. "I have enough healing potions should you be injured." The thing was that from what Suzuki could tell, Gazef was not a match for the enemies approaching the village. So, if Albedo lost, the two of them would simply flee via teleportation rather than fulfill their word. Given though that Gazef was not taking anti-teleportation measures, it was likely that the enemy simply could not teleport, or that such magic did not exist in this world.
"Alright then," Gazef said with a sigh.
Suzuki took Albedo aside. "Albedo, I want to know the level of his power. Don't kill him and try not to seriously maim him, and first of all try to fight him as if he were a level sixty warrior, okay? If necessary, escalate your force beyond that."
Albedo understood.
The two stood ten feet apart in a circle. Many of the villagers had stopped to watch the duel, and so had Gazef's warriors, though the two were given a wide berth.
"One, two, three," Suzuki said. "And start!"
Albedo moved her weapon. To her, it was a soft, slow blow.
To Gazef, the impact was like lightning and knocked his weapon right out of his hand and broke his sword in two. Albedo then punched Gazef "lightly" on the shoulder, but this sent him flying away thirty feet and broke every single bone in his right arm.
Next thing that Gazef knew, Albedo had covered the distance between them and was holding her weapon at his throat.
It had all been over in a matter of seconds.
As Gazef got up, he realized with a sinking feeling that even if he had the Four Treasures of the Kingdom with him, he would not have stood a chance in battle with this warrior.
Just who was this woman?
Suzuki was disappointed that the battle was over so quickly, but he offered Gazef a healing potion anyway. That is to say, Albedo gave him one which he then gave to Gazef.
"Apologies about your weapon," Suzuki said. The sword Gazef had definitely looked expensive, but it was not a magical blade, and as such had fractured easily.
"No matter, things like that happen in a duel," Gazef said. "Though now, unfortunately, I have nothing to fight with."
"That is not an issue, for we have a proposal for you," Suzuki said. "Let us handle the attackers outside the village, and in return, we ask that we keep all of the spoils of war they have. To be more clear, we request that you and your Warrior Band loot the bodies of the dead once we are done with them, and hand over all valuables found on the corpses to us."
Gazef, once again, was surprised at what Suzuki was saying. However, he could not say that it was a bad offer.
It did make him wonder how powerful Suzuki was though. As far as Gazef could tell, Suzuki was simply an ordinary human. However, given that between the two, Suzuki was in charge, did that mean Suzuki was more powerful than Albedo? As it was, Suzuki looked to be a magic caster, and Gazef could not judge his abilities as easily as he could that of another warrior.
Was he more powerful than someone who could defeat him in a matter of seconds?
The thought sent a chill down his spine.
"I have but one question- if you are to be fighting them, why not loot the bodies yourself?" Gazef asked.
"Because we won't be going ourselves," Suzuki said. There was no way that he, a level one mage, was about to step onto the battlefield. "Albedo, send out our bicorn!"
A/N: And with that, we end our chapter.
Do hope you all liked it. I made Suzuki out to be a bit more empathetic and human in this version, given he isn't an Undead like in the original. As for Albedo, I think her personality still fits her.
Also, I said this chapter wouldn't be as long as the first one, but it turned out being almost as long. That will change eventually, so get used to getting 2-3k words/chapter at one point.
After this I think I'm going to take a break for a few weeks. I think I might upload a third chapter for this fanfic, then I'll go back to writing Nazarick In The Real World, and then maybe I'll do a chapter for each fanfic alternatively.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
