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Overlord - Chapter 11
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1
Clementine had returned to Khajit’s hideout, the shrine beneath E-Rantel’s graveyard, and her irritation was practically spewing forth as flames. Her gait was erratic, her brow knit. And her mouth was twisted into a frown that warped her shapely face so much she looked ugly.
Of course, her true nature was far uglier.
Khajit whispered in his head and sent the latest zombie off to the undead holding pen.
“Ohhh? A new zombie? We already have more than a hundred and fifty—the Jewel of Death’s power sure is amazing!”
The number of undead a caster could create and control with the tier-three spell Create Undead depended on the caster’s ability. Making more powerful undead meant being able to control fewer, but if they were bottom-of-the-barrel zombies, someone like Khajit, who specialized in controlling undead, could handle far more than normal—more than a hundred. And the reason Khajit was able to rule even more than that was the power of an item he possessed, the Jewel of Death.
“It’s because you’ve been playing around.”
“Sorryyy!” She gave a quick bow without seeming the least bit apologetic. “But why’d ya make all these guys who die so easily? You coulda tried a little harder…”
“Maybe if you hit them they die easily…”
“Adventurers won’t go down without a fight, y’know.”
“I’m not worried about adventurers. Regular people will die just fine… Is it a hobby of yours to go on and on about trivial things you already know?”
“Okay, okay, okayyyy. I’m sorry! I won’t say any more, so please forgive me!”
Khajit clicked his tongue. “I can’t trust you, but for now, don’t kidnap any more humans—I mean it.”
“Okayyy!”
Khajit wrinkled his brow at her lighthearted reply. He gave up on saying anything else because he knew it was futile, but he frowned as furiously as he could to convey his feelings. Of course, it went ignored.
“But I’m just so bored, ya know? I mean, where’d he go, anyway?”
“He hasn’t returned yet?”
“Nope! Man! Maybe I should just kidnap the old lady after all?”
“Don’t. That old lady may not look it, but she can use tier-three magic, not to mention that she has a prominent reputation in the city. There could be trouble if we meddle with her.”
“Huh? But—”
Khajit ****** a hand into his robe and clutched a black stone. “Clementine…I’ve spent years preparing to turn this town into a city of death. I will not have your stupid games ruining my plan! If you make any more trouble for me…I’ll kill you!”
“Spiral of Death, was it?”
“Yes. Our leader performed it.”
There was a trend for stronger undead to be created in a place where there were many undead gathered. And when stronger undead were gathered, it was possible to create even stronger ones. Spiral of Death was a ritual that took advantage of that principle to build a series of stronger and stronger undead, and it was powerful enough to destroy a whole city.
It was a sinister ritual that had once turned a city into a place where the undead went unchecked. Khajit’s objective was to turn E-Rantel into a second city of death and, by harnessing all the power of death concentrated there, turn himself immortal. And he’d been preparing for a long time. He wasn’t about to have it all go up in smoke because of a girl who’d only showed up a few days earlier.
“Are we clear?”
Khajit caught the streak of brutality that flashed across her cute, puffy-cheeked, pouting face. A split second later she’d become a murderous storm wind and was charging toward him.
There had been plenty of distance between them, but she closed it in the space of one breath and her arm stretched out so fast it blurred. Held in the hand like an extension of that arm was a sharp blade, the gleam of which went straight for Khajit’s throat—
The weapon she ****** at him was a sword made for stabbing called a stiletto. As a stabbing weapon, it didn’t have very many attack patterns, which made it rather hard to use. But Clementine, who loved the stiletto above all else, had trained her muscles, selected her gear, and acquired arts all so she would be able to deal a single critical hit where it counted.
Before she knew it, having used the power she’d amassed to survive battles against both humans and monsters alike, Clementine reached a level of skill where normal people could no longer block her attacks. For someone who had enough inherent ability to deviate from the realm of normal humans in the first place, and then spent her entire life honing her skills, that was surely a matter of course.
But the man on the receiving end wasn’t in the realm of normal humans, either. Khajit, one of the twelve leading disciples of Zurrernorn, would not be killed so easily.
—Something like a white wall came bursting out of the ground to receive the unblockable blade. It was a giant hand made of countless human bones, though it was also reminiscent of a reptilian claw. The claw wriggled, and the earth around it started to split. The huge thing was obeying Khajit’s will, trying to jump out of the ground.
Satisfied by the powerful undead presence he could feel under his feet, he glared at Clementine. “Don’t be stupid. Thanks to you, my control over the other undead weakened for a moment.”
“Oops! Sorryyy. But I didn’t mean it, I promise! I was gonna stop right before I stabbed ya!”
“Don’t lie to me, Clementine. That’s not the kind of person you are.”
“Ooh! Busted, huh? Yeah, if ya hadn’t blocked it, I probably woulda stabbed right through your shoulder. But I wasn’t gonna kill ya—promise!”
Khajit twisted his face into an angry frown—because he saw an unpleasant smile spread across the face of the woman in front of him.
“But I can beat that thing, y’know. A caster might not have a chance, but I’m a warrior, so it shouldn’t be too hard. I’m not so great at using battering weapons, but…”
“You’re strong against living things with your deadly strikes, but I wonder how you’d do against the undead—none of their physiological systems are working in the first place. Besides, do you really think this is the final ace up my sleeve?”
“Hmm… Well…” Clementine eyed one of the passages, probably sensing the presence of the undead under Khajit’s control that were lurking there. “I think I could win…although if it turned into an endurance contest, I’d lose, ugh. Heh-heh! Sorry, Khaj!” Clementine pulled the hand with the sword back under her cape. At the same time, the ground stopped shaking. “Ahh, I guess you didn’t specialize in controlling undead for nothing, huh? Very nice!” Saying only that, she turned her back and started walking.
“Oh yeah, I won’t lay a hand on that old lady till the very end, and I won’t kidnap anybody else. That’s fine, then, right?”
“…Yes…” He didn’t unclench his hand until she left, not until she
disappeared into the depths of the underground shrine.
“Psychopath!” he spat. I have my issues, too, but not like Clementine. “She’s so skilled, you’d think— No, perhaps it’s because she’s so skilled that her personality is so warped.”
Clementine was strong. Even among the twelve leaders in the secret society, there were only three who could defeat her. Unfortunately, Khajit was not among them. Even if he used the power of the item he had clutched, he only had about a 30 percent chance.
“So this is the former ninth seat of the Black Scripture… Socially dysfunctional people with hero-level power are quite bothersome…”
•
“Wow, that sounds awful…” Nfirea sighed heavily. He had known Enri’s parents well. They were such wonderful parents that he was jealous of their two well-loved daughters. Nfirea had only hazy memories of the parents he’d lost when he was small, so whenever he pictured great parents, Enri’s were the first to come to mind. He was full of rage for the “bunch of guys dressed like imperial knights” who killed them, and all he could think when he heard that those knights were mercilessly slaughtered was That’s what you get! He was also upset at the higher-ups in E-Rantel who hadn’t deployed any soldiers.
But he felt it would be wrong to express those feelings instead of paying attention to Enri, who had the most right to be angry and sad.
As he was trying to decide whether he should go over and comfort her or not, she wiped the tears out of her eyes and smiled. “But I have my sister! I can’t stay sad forever!”
Nfirea had just started to get up but sat back down. He loathed himself for thinking even for a second that missing the chance to comfort her was unfortunate, but the feeling that he wanted to protect her remained. He wavered but then made up his mind. I don’t want anyone at Enri’s side but me, even if the other guy is strong enough to protect her.
He was scared, but the feeling that he didn’t want to lose her overpowered his anxiety, so he decided to tell her what he’d been feeling since the first time he came to the village as a child. “So…” His speech clogged up as if it had gotten stuck in his throat. Say it! Just say it! he thought frantically, but his throat seemed to have a death grip on the words.
Enri and Nfirea were both at an age where it wouldn’t be strange to get married. And with the money Nfirea made as an apothecary, he would be able to provide for Enri’s sister as well. Even if we had a baby… He imagined the household he would create but shook his head to clear the fantasy before it got too out of control.
She was right there giving him a puzzled look, and that only made him more anxious. He opened his mouth—and closed it.
I like you.
I love you.
But he couldn’t say either of those things—because he didn’t want to hear her say, Sorry, but…
Then, how about something else that would close the space between them? Wanna come live with me? It’s safe in the city. I’ll take care of your little sister, too. If you want to work, you can work at Grandma’s shop. If you’re nervous in the city, I’ll be there to help you.
That’s all he had to say. She was less likely to reject that than a declaration of love.
“Enri!”
“Wh-what, Nfirea?” She jumped at the sudden loudness of his voice.
Nfirea continued, “I-i-if you ever need anything, let me know. I’ll help out as much as I can!”
“Thanks! …You’re a much better friend than I deserve.”
“Ah, uh, okay—I mean, it’s okay. We’ve been friends forever ’n all…”
He couldn’t say anything in response to the smile that spread across Enri’s face and cursed himself for being so pathetic. At the same time, he admired how cute she was as he listened to her reminiscence about when they were kids.
When the topic seemed exhausted for the time being, he asked her a question. “What are all these goblins?”
The goblins that called Enri “our lady” were vastly different from the ones they had met on the road; they had the air of veteran fighters. He had been even more surprised to find one inside the village who could use magic. What connection these goblins had to this mere village girl and how it happened, Nfirea couldn’t fathom.
Enri gave a simple answer. “Ainz Ooal Gown, the man who saved the village, gave me an item, and when I used it, they came out. They listen to what I say and do all sorts of things for me!”
“Huh…” He acknowledged what she’d said, but her starry-eyed look left him feeling bitter.
Ainz Ooal Gown. The name had come up several times during her story. He was a mysterious caster who just happened to be passing by, and with his immense power, he saved Carne from the group dressed as imperial knights. He was a hero who had saved Enri, and Nfirea should have been grateful to him. But that was hard to do—because of the look on Enri’s face when she spoke about him.
He knew it was natural for someone who had been saved to react that way, but jealousy welled up in his heart. He didn’t want to lose, as a man, and he resented the fact that Enri didn’t get that look on her face for him. All those sentiments mixed into an ugly cocktail of emotions.
He felt pathetic but tried to clear that away by considering the item Enri had told him about. It summoned goblins and was called a Goblin something-or-other Horn. Enri’s rescuer had told her the full name, but after all the confusion, she couldn’t remember it.
Nfirea had a strange feeling. He’d never heard of such an item before. And he couldn’t imagine forgetting the name. This item was too special—anyone would remember the name after hearing it just once.
There were several types of summoning items and there was a tree of summoning magic, but the monsters that were summoned in those ways disappeared without a trace after a set amount of time. They certainly didn’t stick around long enough to do odd jobs. If that were possible, it would rewrite magic history.
And then, how much would such an item be worth? Enri didn’t seem to have realized its monetary value, but if she had sold it, it would probably have fetched enough to allow her to live the rest of her days in leisure. The reason she had used this rare item was to stop any more blood from being shed in the village.
The goblins summoned by Enri’s wish (a wish that Nfirea approved of as befitting her) protected the village; they also looked up to Enri as their master and followed her orders—they’d even started tending the fields. Apparently they were even teaching the villagers how to defend themselves with bows and arrows, and so on. Given all that, they were now accepted as a strange sort of new villager.
Perhaps the fact that they had been attacked by fellow humans was behind their welcoming the goblins. A slight distrust of humans might have made it easier to embrace the goblins who had helped them out in a pinch. And it probably also helped that the one who had granted them the items was their savior, the mysterious caster.
“So this Ainz Ooal Gown—that was his name, right?—what kind of person is he? If I can meet him, I’d like to thank him personally.”
Nfirea had never heard of anyone called Ainz Ooal Gown. Well, Enri hadn’t seen under his mask, so even if it were someone he was familiar with, he wouldn’t have a way of knowing. But this was the kind of guy who could give away an extraordinarily valuable item without another thought—if Nfirea had met him, he wouldn’t be likely to forget.
When he told her that honestly, Enri was visibly disappointed. “Oh. I thought maybe you would’ve known him…”
Her reaction caused Nfirea’s heart to leap into his throat for a moment, and his back oozed an unpleasant sweat. Looks don’t matter so much when you’re that strong. He’s probably got any number of women coming after him. Those remarks from the previous night crossed his mind, and his breath grew ragged without him realizing it.
Desperately fighting back his terror, he asked her, “E-Enri, what’s this about? You want to meet this Gown guy a-and then what?”
“Huh? I mean, I’d like to say a proper thank-you. There’s talk of building a little bronze statue so we never forget our debt to him, but I should probably thank him personally, too…”
Sensing none of the emotion he had feared in her reply, Nfirea heaved a sigh and his shoulders relaxed. “Oh. Oh! Okay…phew. Yeah, of course you would want to thank him. If you can think of anything that would distinguish him from other people, maybe I can remember someone…and it would help narrow it down… Oh, hey, do you know what kind of magic he used?”
“Oh, magic. I-it was amazing! This bolt of electricity went zap*!* and the knight was killed in one hit.”
“Electrici… He didn’t happen to say, ‘Lightning,’ did he?”
Enri looked into space for a few moments and then nodded emphatically. “Yeah! …I’m pretty sure he did say something like that.” She added that she thought it was something longer, so Nfirea figured he must have said something before casting.
“I see… So he used a tier-three spell, then.”
“Is ‘tier three’…that amazing?”
“Well, if I had to pick between ‘amazing’ and ‘not,’ I’d have to say it’s pretty amazing! I can only use up to tier two. Tier three is the highest level attainable by normal human beings. Anything higher than that is the realm of people with inborn ability, et cetera.”
“I knew it! Mr. Gown is amazing!” Enri nodded, impressed, but Nfirea had the feeling this caster was capable of more than tier three. And he could give away that magic item like it was nothing! He might even be able to use heroic fifth-tier spells.
What was a guy like that doing in a village like this?
As he puzzled over that, Enri dropped a bomb that blew all of his questions away. “And that’s not all! He gave me this bright red potion—” Nfirea was so startled he practically forgot everything else they had talked about. He recalled a conversation…
“I’ll pay, so will you get me some details about the guy who gave you this potion?”
Lizzy’s question had caused the warrior Brita to furrow her brow. “So you get some details and then what?”
“Get connected, of course. If we get to know each other, maybe he’ll tell me where he got that potion! Who knows? He might even just mention it in the course of a conversation. If he’s an adventurer, I’d like to make a request. What do you think, Nfirea?”
That was how Nfirea ended up requesting Momon by name. He was supposed to make friends with him and get him to talk about the potion and/or see if he let any information slip while they were out gathering herbs.
Maintaining a level tone of voice so as not to let his inner agitation show, Nfirea asked her, “Uh, what kind of potion was it?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, you know, I work with potions, so…”
Enri told him everything about the potion she was given, mentioning several times along the way how amazing Ainz Ooal Gown was. A minute ago this would have made those ugly emotions come back, but now Nfirea’s mind was full of other things.
Countless facts were suddenly tied up with a bow; it was as if a whole pile of veils had been removed at once to reveal what was beneath.
There was a very good chance that the potion in E-Rantel and the potion Enri drank were the same kind. And in both cases, a pair of travelers—a caster and a person in black full plate armor—was involved.
There’s only one conclusion, but there are two people who could be Ainz Ooal Gown. He figured from the way Enri was talking that Ainz was a man, but he asked just to be sure. “Are you sure this Ainz Ooal Gown…person…wasn’t a woman…?”
“Huh? Yeah! I mean, I didn’t see his face, but the voice was a man’s.”
That still wasn’t absolute proof. There were spells and even magic items that could change a person’s voice. But Narberal as Ainz Ooal Gown seemed awfully unlikely. Her cruelty and slight airheadedness made her too different from the calm, intelligent hero Enri spoke of. The one who seemed more like Ainz was—
“Did he happen to mention that the name of the person in black armor was Albedo?”
“Y-yeah…”
Nfirea had heard that name before. There was his answer.
Momon was Ainz Ooal Gown.
If that was true, it was a shocking revelation—the caster who saved this village was also an incredibly strong warrior. There were warriors who trained in magic, but it wasn’t possible to have the cake and eat it, too. If an arcane-type magic caster wore heavy armor, they generally couldn’t cast much of anything.
This guy could cast tier-three spells and knew his way around a sword well enough to be an adamantite adventurer. It sounded like a joke. If it were true, he was a hero among heroes.
But then why had he been asking so many questions as they traveled? The answer that made the most sense was that he had learned the magic of some far-off country and didn’t know about the way things were here. If that were the case, it would explain why he had a potion made in some unheard-of way.
Nfirea couldn’t keep his breath steady in light of how valuable all this information was, even though he knew Enri was staring at him.
He also had mixed emotions. When he thought of the man who had saved Enri by giving her a potion, he hated himself, who was trying to learn bit by bit how to make them. He felt like dirt. Enri would probably fall for the other guy. Thinking that made him want to throw up.
“A-are you okay? You’re really pale all of a sudden.”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just…”
If he could save countless lives by learning how to make that potion, it might erase his guilt. But the probability of that happening was low, and he was armed with only his desire as an apothecary to find out. The one he was up against was a powerful warrior and superior caster accompanied by a gorgeous woman and in possession of unfamiliar potions—a chivalrous soul who saved damsels in distress. Nfirea despaired at the gap between himself and Momon—no, Ainz Ooal Gown.
“What’s wrong? You’re acting kind of weird.”
“Ahh, nah. It’s nothing.” He smiled, fighting the nausea, but he wasn’t sure if it was convincing, and from the look on Enri’s face, it was not. “… What should I do? You don’t like guys who do bad things in secret, right?”
“I believe there are some things that should stay with a person until they’re called to be with the gods—especially if it’s something that could hurt someone else. But it’s different if you hide something and someone else gets hurt. Nfirea, I won’t hate you, so if you committed a crime you should turn yourself in!”
“…No, I didn’t commit a crime.”
“Oh! …Yeah! Of course—I didn’t think you did! You would never do something like that!”
Watching her force a laugh, he felt his shoulders relax. “But thanks, Enri. I know it sounds weird, but I feel better. For now, I’ll just work toward getting on an equal footing…” So I can hold my head high in front of you. So I can tell you that I like you, that I love you.
Enri hadn’t had any idea what he was talking about for a while now, but she reacted to his determination with a smile and a nod anyway.
2
“Huh…” Ainz looked at one part of the village and made a noise that might have indicated he was impressed. Several villagers had formed a line. It was a truly diverse mix of ages and sexes. There was a plump mother in her forties but also a boy who was just entering his teens. The thing they had in common was the earnest, even hostile, look on their faces. Nobody was there to play around.
A goblin holding a bow was speaking to them. Despite Ainz’s superior sense of hearing, he couldn’t make out what was being said at such a distance.
After a little while, each villager slowly nocked an arrow. The bows were plain, short ones. They looked shabby and awkward, like the villagers had cobbled them together themselves.
They drew their bowstrings all the way back. Their targets were bundles of straw made to look like humans set up a little ways away. The goblin must have given an order—everyone loosed at once.
Despite how sad the bows looked, the arrows flew admirably and burrowed into the bundles of straw. Not a single one missed.
“Not bad!” Ainz found himself uttering modest praise.
“Do you mean that?” Narberal’s questioning voice came from where she was standing by behind him.
She probably doesn’t understand why these achievements are worth praising. These villagers are like children playing with toys compared to the archers of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Realizing how she felt, the illusion face under his helmet smiled wryly. “As you point out, nothing about their technique is particularly amazing. But these people never used a bow until ten days ago. They aren’t out here because their spouses, children, and parents were killed, and they don’t want to let another attack like that happen—they want to bare their fangs and fight when it does! That’s worth praising, isn’t it?” What was praiseworthy was the hatred that drove the villagers to do this, that was all.
“M-my apologies. I didn’t think that far…”
“That’s fine. It’s not necessary for you to think that far. And truthfully, there is nothing whatsoever worth praising about their technique.”
Watching another wave of arrows slice through the air and sink into the bundles of straw, Ainz suddenly had a thought. How strong will these people be able to get? And then, How strong will I be able to get? He had come to this world at the Yggdrasil level cap of 100, with his surplus experience points maxed out at 90 percent of a level. He wasn’t sure, but he figured that since his abilities had carried over, that XP would, too. The question was whether it was possible to get that 10 percent and reach level 101 or not.
He had the feeling he was approaching the answer. I can’t get any stronger than this. This is my peak power. Ainz’s power was one that could not grow, whereas the villagers’ weakness represented unfathomable possibilities. If by some chance, beings in this world had no cap and could advance past a level comparable to Yggdrasil’s 100, there would come a day when the Great Tomb of Nazarick would no longer be able to triumph. And that—
“It’s definitely not impossible…”
The Slane Theocracy’s Six Gods, whom Ainz suspected were players, appeared six hundred years ago. The gap between their arrival and his own was a mystery, but given that grotesques had no notion of a life span and the fact that some classes had special life expectancies, there was a fairly good chance they were still alive.
If the Six Gods were still behind the Slane Theocracy, the country might have been using them to power level (earn XP faster than usual by assisting a strong player) for the past six hundred years, in which case it wouldn’t be strange if they had people over level 100.
But then why hadn’t the Slane Theocracy taken over the world? Perhaps there was some comparable power out there. Or it was even possible that level 100 wasn’t really so powerful at all. Thinking all of that made Ainz feel like he was being stabbed in his nonexistent stomach.
If the Six Gods really were players, in his current uninformed state, he needed to endeavor to make things proceed amicably. But according to the info he’d gotten from the Sunlit Scripture, the imperial knights who attacked the village were actually people from the Slane Theocracy in disguise, which meant that saving the village would have been an act of hostility against them.
“I wonder if it was a mistake to save the village…”
I really need to make gathering intelligence my highest priority. As he was absentmindedly thinking about those things, he noticed a boy running toward him. The eyes that were normally hidden behind his hair could be seen each time his bangs bounced, and Ainz noticed that he was looking squarely at him.
Something about Nfirea gave him a bad feeling—the way he was running reminded him of the headman from before.
“What’s the rush? Another emergency? I swear, this village…,” Ainz grumbled as Nfirea came to a halt in front of him.
Breathing heavily, his forehead slick with sweat, Nfirea pushed his damp hair out of his eyes and turned his serious expression to Ainz. As if he couldn’t decide what to do or whether he wanted to talk to Ainz or Narberal, he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind and addressed Ainz. “Momon, are you Ainz Ooal Gown?”
The suddenness of the question left Ainz speechless. Of course, he had to say no, he was not. But would I be forgiven for denying the fact? It’s the name my friends and I built up together. After taking it for my own, would it really be okay to deny it?
His hesitation answered for him. “I see. Thank you very much, Mr. Gown, for saving this village and for rescuing Enri.”
In response to Nfirea’s bow, Ainz finally managed to mumble, “No. I’m not…”
Nfirea nodded that he understood. “I know you must have some reason for hiding your name. Even so, I wanted to thank you for saving the village—no, for rescuing Enri. Thank you so much for saving the woman I love.”
Nfirea bowed again, deeper this time, and Ainz said nothing. He did have that Love, huh? Live it up while you’re young! thought older guys tend to have and was feeling fairly nostalgic, but there was something more important on his mind. “Aw, geez. C’mon, raise your head.” That response implicitly acknowledged that he was Ainz Ooal Gown, but no matter how many excuses he made, it was impossible to negate Nfirea’s thinking on the matter anyway. Ainz was utterly defeated.
“Also, Mr. Gown, there’s something I’ve been hiding as well.”
“…Come with me. Nabe, stand by where you are.”
After giving the order to Narberal, Ainz gave Nfirea and himself some room. He was worried that if the kid said something weird, Narberal would flip out. Once they were far enough away, Ainz faced the boy.
“Actually…” Nfirea swallowed hard. Then, he continued with a look of determination on his face. “That potion you gave that lady at the inn, you can’t make it using the usual methods, Mr. Gown—it’s very rare. I wanted to know what kind of person would have such a potion and how to make it, and that’s why I made the request. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, I see.”
What a screwup. He had given a healing potion to Enri in this village. Then he gave someone the same type in E-Rantel. That must be how he figured it out. Maybe I should get that potion back. I wish I had asked that adventurer woman her name. Well, regretting it now won’t change anything.
Ainz felt he had made the best move he could have in E-Rantel. When she had said, You’re wearing that fancy armor, so you must have at least a low-grade healing potion on you, right? maybe she didn’t mean anything in particular, but it narrowed down his choices a lot.
For example, say someone gets out of a luxury car. If it’s easy to tell they poured a lot of cash into their appearance as well, then the car will be judged appropriate for its owner. But what about if the person looks poor? In that case, it will seem like they used their entire salary on their car, and they could end up the target of ridicule.
Ainz didn’t want that to happen. If he had refused back there, he would have been envied for his fancy armor and for having such a beautiful companion, and there was the possibility that stubborn rumors would follow him around. Once people start talking behind someone’s back, it doesn’t ever stop, and lots of people love to pick at an open sore.
Ainz had come to the city to become renowned as an adventurer, so he had to avoid doing anything that could lead to disrepute.
He had given away the potion after considering all of those things. It had been a gamble, and it hadn’t worked out, but he didn’t regret it. It wasn’t a fatal error; he just had to bounce back. He wasn’t the kind of lucky guy who never slipped up.
Still, he didn’t know why Nfirea was apologizing. “It’s not like you did anything wrong.”
“Huh?”
“It sounds bad if you say you were keeping secrets while shaking my hand with a smile, but you requested me for networking purposes, right? What’s wrong with that?” He was genuinely puzzled.
“You’re very understanding…” Nfirea seemed impressed.
Ainz was cocking his head in his mind, though. Networking was one of the basics of being a working adult; there was nothing wrong with making connections. But part of him did understand. He probably feels like he was trying to get close to me to steal industry secrets. “If I told you how to make the potion, how would you use that information?”
Nfirea yelped in surprise and then thought a moment before answering. “I didn’t think that far ahead. I just have this thirst for knowledge, you know? I think my grandma is the same way…”
“I see. Then that’s fine. If you had some kind of sinister plan, it’d be different, but otherwise there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“Wow. I can see why…people…admire you…” The sweat had dried, and the mumbling boy’s hair had fallen over his face again, but behind it his eyes gleamed in adoration, like the way a kid who loves baseball would gaze at a pro player.
Perhaps the boy’s reaction reminded Ainz of the awe he had felt when he first met his powerful friends back when he had been getting PK’d all the time. He suddenly felt a wave of self-consciousness, but it was suppressed.
Ainz was surprised he was so moved, but he composed himself and got down to business. First, there was something he needed to ask. “By the way, are you the only one who knows I’m Ainz?”
“Yes. I haven’t told anybody.”
“Okay, I appreciate that.” Having gotten that far, he realized he had no idea what he could say to Nfirea to persuade him, so he just made his request point-blank. “Right now, I’m an adventurer called Momon. I’d like it if you could remember that for me.”
“Sure. I kind of figured. I know I’ve probably made things awkward for you, but I still wanted to express my gratitude. Thank you again for saving Enri and the village.” Nfirea thanked Ainz with all his heart, eyes earnest.
“Okay, that’s enough. I just happened to be there.”
“But if that was really all, you wouldn’t have had any reason to give away those horns.”
Ainz hadn’t been trying to be particularly nice, but if Nfirea wanted to interpret it favorably, that was just fine. He didn’t say anything else, just nodded quietly.
Before Nfirea turned to walk away, he again gave Ainz his heartfelt thanks for saving the village and mentioned, as a client, that they would be heading into the forest in an hour.
Ainz was watching Nfirea’s figure recede when Narberal rushed around in front of him and flung her head down. “My apologies, Lord Ainz!”
“People can see us. Raise your head.” As she straightened back up, he mumbled with an edge of irritation, “Yeah, it’s all your fault for dropping Albedo’s name.” Actually it’s not at all, but that was a big screwup. I can pin this on her so she doesn’t mess up like that ever again—better to nip it in the bud. And here she is calling me Ainz, what the heck… Not that there’s anyone around to hear her, but…
“Allow me to apologize with my life!”
She didn’t seem to be joking.
Everyone in the Great Tomb of Nazarick was like that. They called the forty-one members of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown “Supreme Beings” and worshipped them as absolutes. Devotion made them happy.
It was a bit much for Ainz, but he felt it was good if the beings he and his guildmates had created were overjoyed to be loyal to him. And he also figured that this was probably his fate as one of their creators.
So here was the NPC Narberal. If Ainz ever told her to kill herself, even as a joke, she would no doubt do it immediately. The fact that she was asking permission stemmed from her ultimate loyalty—her belief that her life belonged to her master.
“It’s fine. Everyone makes mistakes. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. You can make mistakes, just don’t make the same one twice. All is forgiven, Narberal Gamma.”
She wanted to pay for her mistake with her life, but on the other hand, she was loyal to Ainz, who wouldn’t allow it, and wanted to obey. These two contradicting feelings put Narberal between a rock and a hard place, but Ainz felt it when the scale eventually tipped.
“Thank you very much! I’ll be careful not to commit this type of error ever again!”
“Well, don’t worry too much. My plan to go undercover as Momon the adventurer hasn’t failed yet, so we just have to be careful from now on. Of course, it may become necessary to do away with the boy…”
“I could do it this very moment.”
“Ha, no. It would be bad for us to fail this job.” Nfirea’s grandmother was a famous apothecary in E-Rantel. Ainz had no intention of incurring her wrath. “Well…we’ll play it by ear.” Or rather, he just couldn’t think of anything else to say.
3
Looking toward the woods, there was an open space about one hundred yards deep in stark contrast to the thick forest growth. It had been created when the townspeople, protected by goblins, cut trees to build the fence, but it looked like the gaping jaws of a giant magical beast.
That was where Ainz and company did their final check.
The client said, “Okay, we’re about to head into the forest, so I’m counting on everyone to protect me. That said, once we get a little ways in, we’ll be in the Wise King of the Forest’s territory, so we should be less likely to be attacked by other monsters. The only thing is that the area we met those ogres in yesterday was also the Wise King of the Forest’s territory. Something might be happening in the forest. I’m sure adventurers don’t need reminding, but please be careful!” Nfirea’s eyes flicked to Ainz for a moment and then to the Swords of Darkness. “Well, I think we’ll be fine as long as Momon is here.”
“If the Wise King of the Forest does appear, we’ll cover the rear. I don’t mind if everyone escapes ahead of us.”
Everyone gasped at how confident he sounded. After the fight with the ogres and goblins the other day, they were more than aware of how much more powerful he was than them.
Every time someone said something like, I wouldn’t have expected any less! Ainz’s skin crawled a bit. He wasn’t used to being praised, since up until recently he hadn’t been. He was jealous of the proud attitude emanating from Narberal as she stood next to him.
“If you do need to run, can I ask that you move away as quickly as you can? If the Wise King of the Forest turns out to be a huge magical beast, we’ll need to fight with all we’ve got and I don’t want anyone getting caught in the cross fire.”
“Understood. Then, if it comes to that, we’ll take Nfirea and escape to the edge of the forest. Momon, don’t try to do the impossible.”
“Thanks. If things get hairy I’ll escape right away.”
“Um, Momon…” Nfirea trailed off but then seemed to muster his resolve. “Would it be possible for you to chase off the Wise King of the Forest instead of killing him?”
“…Why would I do that?”
“Well, the reason Carne hasn’t been attacked by monsters is because the Wise King of the Forest makes this area his territory. If he gets defeated…”
“I see…”
“Momon can’t do that! Like, I know he’s strong, but he’ll still have to give a hundred percent in a fight against a legendary magical beast! Who has the leeway to—?”
“Got it.”
“What?!” Lukrut yelped in surprise. The other Swords of Darkness may not have vocalized their shock, but they wore it on their faces.
“It might be tricky, but I’ll keep things at the shooing-away level.”
It was as if they were frightened of his overflowing confidence, despite being fellow adventurers.
“But you’ll be up against…a magical beast who’s lived for hundreds of years…”
“Only someone very strong can get away with that attitude…”
“Knowing you, Momon, it’s not pride or arrogance talking, so…”
In contrast to the Swords of Darkness, Nfirea, who knew a bit more about Ainz’s strength, seemed relaxed. Ainz looked at him and smiled on the inside.
The boy’s wish was that monsters not appear around the village of Carne. So he could fulfill it by deploying other monsters to guard the territory, i.e., even if he killed the Wise King of the Forest, he could just send over some minions from Nazarick.
“Okay! To jump right into things, the herb I’m gathering today looks like this. If you see some, please let me know!” Nfirea pulled some kind of wilted plant out of the big pouch around his waist.
“Oh, ngunak, huh?” To Ainz it looked no different from any old weed, but to Dyne the druid, it was apparently completely different; he knew exactly what it was right away.
At that, Lukrut and Ninya both nodded a few times, like it made sense to them; they must have known the name.
While Ainz was still trying to decide if he should pretend to know it, all eyes turned to him. “Got it, Momon?”
“Hmm? Oh yeah, that one. Understood.” He nodded confidently.
If he didn’t have undead-style emotions, his voice probably would’ve been shaking from the stress, but his expression was hidden under his helmet anyhow, so no one could tell how he felt. Behind his wall of steel, he was quite imposing, regardless of what was going on inside.
“Yes, this is used frequently in potions that contain herbs.”
“Every adventurer knows ngunak!”
“Oh, so that’s why. I was wondering why we had to come all the way to this forest to gather it. Wild herbs have stronger medicinal effects than cultured ones or something, right?”
“That’s right. But the main reason is that we’re proud to make all-natural potions! Of course, they are ten percent more effective, as well.”
“That ten percent is pretty important to people who are out there fighting to the death. You offer a better product for the standard price… When you sell such high-quality potions, it’s no wonder the Baleare name is so well-known.”
Ainz let their conversation go in one ear and out the other as he pondered other things. In Yggdrasil, the basics of potion making required having a specific skill that only certain classes could get and knowing the spell you wanted to infuse into the potion. Although Ainz had never done it himself, he knew that synthesizing specific ingredients in an alchemical solution would then create the potion, but he’d never heard of anyone using herbs.
In other words, the potion-making method in this world was different from in Yggdrasil. When Nfirea said, You can’t make it using the usual methods, this is what he had meant.
Ainz felt strongly that obtaining this world’s potion-making techniques would strengthen Nazarick. It was just a matter of how to go about getting them.
As he was thinking, he realized that the conversation had returned to the task at hand, so he tuned back in.
“There’s a clearing in the woods, so our plan is to aim for that. I’ve told Lukrut how to get there, so he’ll be leading us.” Lukrut responded casually with a “Leave it to me!” and Nfirea turned back to the group. “Then let’s begin gatheri—”
“Might I make one proposal?”
“Go ahead, Momon.”
“Nabe can use a spell similar to the Alarm one that we used on the campsite, so do you think once we reach our destination, she and I could go off on our own for a little while?”
Everyone including Nfirea furrowed their brows a bit out of anxiety that their strongest fighter would be leaving his post right when they would be in danger, but Nfirea spoke up the quickest. “Sure, that’s fine. Just don’t stay away too long.”
“Of course. And it would be a problem if we got lost in the woods, so we’ll use a rope. If anything happens, you can just pull on it.”
“How about I chaperone? Just to make sure you guys aren’t doing anything nasty out there…”
“Drop dead, cockroach. If I castrate you, will your horny brain start to work normally?”
“…Cut it out, Nabe. Lukrut, that won’t be necessary. And Ninya, it would be useful if there were a spell that would let us find each other in case we got separated in the forest…”
“I’ve never heard of any magic like that, although it does sound like it would be useful.”
Ainz acknowledged his negative reply with a nod. There is a tier-six spell that allows the caster to probe for a specified object. Is he just ignorant of it? Or does it mean that just as this world has spells that aren’t in Yggdrasil, Yggdrasil has some that don’t exist here? Ainz put aside his questions for the time being and gestured to Narberal with his chin that she should get ready.
In response, she focused on each of the Swords of Darkness members in turn.
“So, Momon and Nabe will go away for a little while, and once they return we’ll start gathering.” No one could complain if that was what the requester had decided. The Swords of Darkness all nodded once, twice, that they approved of the plan.
With the proposals and cautionary notes of the final check finished, Nfirea called everyone to go. The group shouldered their bags and stepped into the forest.
In the area where the villagers had cut trees, the ground was dry and walking was as easy as hiking a well-tended trail, but gradually their surroundings morphed into what one would be tempted to call a green labyrinth.
In the forest, where there were no landmarks, where it was impossible to even tell which direction they had come from, there was a sense of helplessness, as if they’d been swallowed up. That combined with the imposing presence of the towering trees would probably be enough to scare normal humans. But Ainz, aside from the faint vestige of a human clinging to his undead mind, was not afraid, so he calmly admired the splendid scenery born of Mother Nature.
He even found himself thinking, The forests and other nature areas in Yggdrasil really were just game graphics. His feelings were mixed, since he was proud of how well-made the Great Tomb of Nazarick was, but he hadn’t realized a forest untouched by humans could be this moving. I see why Blue Planet loved the outdoors so much…
While appreciating the forest, he was on the lookout, of course, but detected no movement—it was very quiet. Far—quite far—away he could hear birds or some other animals twittering, but apart from that there was nothing that gave him the sense that there was anything alive in these woods.
He could see Lukrut walking cautiously at the front of the line, exercising all five senses to the fullest; the ranger seemed to have judged that there was nothing hiding in their vicinity.
But there is. Ainz thought proudly of the one who was probably silently tailing them at that very moment.
Perhaps because the sun couldn’t penetrate to the ground, the forest was surprisingly cool. The party proceeded through it quietly and, minus two of them, nervously. The mental strain combined with the effort of walking over the uneven terrain had sweat beading on everyone’s foreheads.
Eventually, they reached an open area about fifty-five yards in diameter.
“Here we are. This will be our base as we gather the herbs.” Nfirea set down his bag and the others followed his example, but no one relaxed. They scanned the area and made sure they were combat ready, just in case—they weren’t in human territory anymore.
“Okay, then allow Nabe and me to go out for a little while as we discussed earlier.”
Upon receiving Nfirea’s okay, Ainz tied a rope to a tree and stepped into the forest holding the other end. It was thin but well-made rope that wouldn’t break from just friction with the ground.
Ainz and Nabe tried to go in as straight a line as possible. Normally that would be next to impossible because trees would get in the way, but since the rope showed the route they had come, even these two, who weren’t accustomed to walking in forests, were able to go nearly straight.
Soon, about fifty-five yards into the woods, where their rope was running out, they stopped. Looking back, there were trees blocking the view, so there was no chance they’d be seen. There was someone nearby who could deal with anyone following them, so they didn’t have to worry about anything.
“Here seems good.”
“My lord.”
“Now we can have our reputation-building meeting.”
“…A question, if I may: What exactly are you planning to do? Bring back a huge amount of that herb they are looking for?”
Ainz looked at her without responding and then shook his head. “I’m going to fight the Wise King of the Forest.” He could practically see the question mark over her head, so he explained further. “I want to make sure they understand exactly how strong I am.”
“Surely the fight against the ogres was enough to do that…?”
“…That’s true, but ogres aren’t enough. There’s a huge difference between them going home and telling everyone that the adventurer Momon halved an ogre in a single swing versus the adventurer Momon repelled the Wise King of the Forest. It’s obvious which rumor would spread faster and gain me a better reputation, hence the show I’m about to put on for them.”
“Aha! Brilliant as always, Lord Ainz! That’s a perfect plan, but how will you find the Wise King of the Forest?”
“That’s already taken care of.”
“And that means…?”
In response to Narberal’s query, a third voice entered the conversation. “Hello! It means I’m here!”
Alarmed by the sudden voice, Narberal looked threateningly in the direction it came from, already aiming a spell with her right hand, but as soon as she saw who it was, she calmed down.
“Mistress Aura! Don’t surprise me like that!”
“Sorry!” A dark elf girl peeked out from the shadows of a tree, giggling. It was one of the guardians of the sixth level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Aura Bella Fiora.
“How long have you been there?!”
“Hmm? Since you and Lord Ainz came into the forest.” As a beast tamer and ranger, stalking was a piece of cake for her. Lukrut was a ranger, too, but there was too big a gap in their skill levels for him to detect Aura. “So I find the magical beast known as the Wise King of the Forest and send it after you, right, Lord Ainz?”
“Right. According to what we know, the Wise King of the Forest has a silver coat of fur, a long snakelike tail, and four legs. Does that description ring any bells?”
“Yes, no problem. I think I know who it is.” Aura responded quickly in the affirmative, glancing up into the trees. “So should I just control it?”
“I thought about it, but no, let’s not do that.”
As a beast tamer, it would be a cinch for her to get him under her command, but things would get messy if it came out that the fight had been rigged. It was smarter to avoid as many worries like that as possible right from the start.
“By the way, Aura, how is the work on your orders proceeding?”
“My lord!” She dropped humbly to one knee.
Ainz didn’t think it was very Aura-like, but he stayed in character as her master while he listened to her report.
“Work on your orders—‘Explore the woodlands and get a decent understanding of what it’s like in there. Check if there is anyone who would swear alliance to Nazarick, and set up a place to stockpile things’—is going well.”
Ainz acknowledged her with just an “Oh, good.” Before he left for E-Rantel, he’d assigned each of the guardians a job. Needless to say, the reasons he was having Aura (and Mare) investigate the forest were to guarantee Nazarick’s safety and to acquire intelligence.
And the stockpile area, it was perhaps more correct to call it an evacuation shelter. They could hide there in the event they couldn’t make it back for some reason, and building a fake base to keep Nazarick concealed seemed like a good precaution to take. Not that he wasn’t planning on storing all sorts of different resources there as well.
Finding some kind of life-forms that would obey them would allow them to check whether power leveling was possible and also just learn how leveling worked in this world.
To fulfill all those duties, Aura and Mare, plus the minions who would be building the facilities, were dispatched to the woods. That was a gigantic abnormality for the forest to try to absorb. It had upset the power balance, which might explain why those ogres went so far as to venture into the Wise King’s territory to get out.
“However, the stockpiling area will take more time.”
“Well, that can’t be helped. It hasn’t even been that long since I gave you the order.” They had brought golems, undead, and other minions who could work with neither sleep nor rest, but even so, there was a lot of work to get done; it wouldn’t happen overnight. “Take as much time as you need and aspire to perfection. Equip it with defenses such that it won’t fall in an attack.”
“Yes, sir! Understood!”
“Okay, then, Aura. I’ll leave the Wise King of the Forest up to you as we planned.”
“Right!” Aura sprang to her feet.
•
After she parted with Ainz, as if on cue, a huge wolf with a gleaming coat of jet-black hair slowly appeared from behind a tree. Its fiery crimson eyes harbored a profound wisdom, which made it clear that it was no mere beast.
And that wasn’t all. Curled around a different tree was a hexapedal monster that looked like a cross between a chameleon and an iguana. Its scaly skin was changing colors with such tremendous speed that it almost looked like waves were rolling over its body. It was just as big as the wolf.
“Fen, Quadracile. Worried about me, huh?” Fen the wolf rushed at Aura, snorting. Quadracile stretched out his tongue to pat her on the cheek. “Hey, hey, I gotta go do my job for Lord Ainz.”
Aura was one of the weakest of Nazarick’s floor guardians. There were even domain guardians more powerful than her—but that was her solo strength. Her true strength was in numbers. She controlled a hundred magical beasts at their level cap of 80, and with support from her skills, they were probably equivalent to level 90. Figuring in her pack, she could probably outdo any of the other individual guardians.
The familiars with her now were two of her favorites, divine beasts—an elite type of magical beast—Fen the fenrir and Quadracile the itzamna.
They both understood and stopped pestering her. “Okay, shall we go, then?” Accompanied by the two beasts, Aura raced through the forest. Despite all the trees, she moved as fast as the wind, never needing to slow down.
A little less than thirty minutes after she began her sprint, she reached her destination. A satisfied grin that clashed with her youthful features spread across her face. There was something innocent about it but also something cruel.
“I kinda wanted to keep it, but oh well, Lord Ainz’s orders…,” she said to herself, sounding more like she was talking about a piece of jewelry than a pet.
The reason she knew the location of its nest was that she had already been considering acquiring it. Compared to the other monsters she controlled, the Wise King of the Forest was extremely weak and not very valuable. Still, the idea of a completely unknown monster excited her collector’s soul. She felt it was a shame she had to give up on that idea, but it was for her ultimate master to whom she had sworn her loyalty; there was nothing she could do.
“Let’s see…” Aura changed the composition of the gas in her lungs. An exhalation of unnatural, recombined components escaped her slightly parted rosy lips. Now she had breath that was capable of manipulating emotions and more.
Usually it would just be a passive skill of, well, questionable utility, since it would only disperse throughout a limited area around her, but if she wanted to, she could combine it with a ranged skill to be able to strike a pinpoint at a distance of a mile and a quarter—even in the densest forest.
This time she didn’t even have to go that far. She would keep her presence hidden and sneak up close to her target. Even a magical beast with exceptional senses couldn’t register Aura now, much less normal wild animals. With her presence extinguished, she walked right up to the Wise King of the Forest and breathed on it, phooo.
The fear-inducing effect woke up the napping king immediately. With all its hairs standing on end, it hightailed it out of there, lickety-split. The quadrupedal beast, driven by terror to sprint at full speed, was oddly fast—but Aura, in pursuit, was faster.
She was like death incarnate as she pursued, guiding the beast to Ainz with a breath here and there.
“If it dies, I’m gonna see if I can get its pelt.”
•
The forest stirred. Lukrut pricked his ears up at the change in the air and scanned the vicinity cautiously, a grim look on his face. “Something’s coming!”
At that, the other Swords of Darkness, who had been helping gather herbs, drew their weapons and assumed fighting stances. A moment later Ainz grabbed his great swords.
“Is it the Wise King of the Forest?”
There was no response to Ninya’s anxious voice as he began packing the herbs into a bag. Everyone just silently stared into the depths of the forest.
“Ahh, this is bad,” Lukrut muttered, predictably sober considering the circumstances. “Something big is charging this way. I don’t know why it’s zigzagging, but from the sound of the undergrowth being trampled, it seems like it’ll be here soon. I just…can’t tell if it’s the Wise King of the Forest or not.”
“We withdraw. Staying here is dangerous whether it’s the Wise King of the Forest or not. Whatever it is, we’ve probably trespassed on its territory, so there’s a good chance it’ll come after us,” Peter announced and turned to Ainz. “Momon. You’ll take the rear?”
“Yes, leave it to me. We’ll take care of it.”
The Swords of Darkness peppered Ainz with words of encouragement and then took Nfirea and began their retreat to the edge of the forest.
“Momon, don’t try to do the impossible, okay?” The trust Nfirea had in Ainz was audible, and his eyes sparkled under his hair. Ainz felt awkward and urged him to leave as quickly as possible.
As he watched them all depart, he was briefly made uneasy by the possibility that he and Narberal might not be able to find their way out of the woods, but he realized that when it was all over, he could have Aura lead them. The bigger problem was…
“Crap… This might not even be the Wise King of the Forest… Even if I take it to Nazarick, I need some kind of proof that I drove it off… Should I chop off a leg?”
“Lord Ainz!” A shadow loomed behind some trees in the distance where Narberal was looking. Since it was concealed, they couldn’t tell what it was, and since the sun wasn’t shining on it, it was impossible to confirm if it was silver or not.
“We’ve got company.” Or maybe we are the company, Ainz quipped in his head as he moved in front of Narberal. Since they didn’t know the Wise King of the Forest’s combat ability (or what level he would be), protecting Narberal was an obvious thing to do; casters were at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand fights.
The moment Ainz stood in front of Narberal, he thought he could feel the air bend. In response, he shielded himself with one of his great swords. Then, a metallic screech echoed out, and one of his arms took some weight. It was the shock of something hitting his sword with a fair amount of speed.
Ainz saw an unusually long tail covered in scales like a snake withdrawing back into the trees. So its tail can attack like a whip? But from the sound and feel when it hit me, it’s like a whip made of metal… And the fact that its range is more than twenty yards is a pain… How does it even go about its daily life dragging that thing around?!
Ainz didn’t have any skills for frontline fighting, so he had no idea what to do short of moving in to make it a fight at closer quarters.
He exhaled. Of course, he didn’t have lungs, so he only pretended to, but the tension went out of his shoulders, and he was more prepared to take up the chase if necessary.
In response, a deep, quiet voice came from behind the trees. “A magnificent job blocking my first attack, that it was… It may be…the first time I have met such an opponent…”
“That it was…?” Ainz screwed up his illusionary face and then remembered that the words he heard were translated. So apparently that was the closest his brain could get to the original.
“Well, invader of my territory, if you flee now, I’ll refrain from pursuing you out of respect for your magnificent defense…but it’s your choice, that it is.”
“…Don’t be ridiculous. I stand to gain from defeating you. …More pertinently, are you ever going to come out, or don’t you have enough confidence in your looks? Maybe you’re shy?”
“Well, you’ve got a mouth on you, that you have, invader! Very well—gaze in wonderment at my majesty and know fear!” The Wise King of the Forest slowly pushed through the bushes and revealed itself before Ainz.
The eyes of Ainz’s illusionary face nearly popped out of their illusion sockets.
“Hoo-hoo-hoo. I can sense your terror and astonishment from under your helmet, that I can.”
The beast’s face twisted into a smile and her tail wriggled. There were strange markings almost like writing on her silver body—and she was big, probably as big as a horse, but not very tall. Wide from side to side, but flat.
The Wise King of the Forest began to slowly close the distance between them.
“What the heck…” Ainz was seized by a feeling that was difficult to describe. Since emotions would be suppressed by his undead mind if there was a big swing, he could assume this was not a very strong feeling. Still, it had been a long time (even including his Yggdrasil days) since he had faced a monster and felt like this.
“…I’d like to ask you something. What race are you?”
“I’m what you all call the Wise King of the Forest. I have no other name, no, I don’t.”
Ainz swallowed spit he didn’t have and asked, “Are you a…Djungarian hamster?”
The Wise King of the Forest. She was the spitting image of a Djungarian hamster as far as Ainz could tell. Her hair was more snow white than silver, and her eyes were black and round. Altogether, she looked like a big ball of mochi.
Of course, hamsters didn’t have long tails like that, and they didn’t grow to be bigger than humans, but Ainz couldn’t think of anything else to compare her to. If you asked a hundred people, a hundred people would say she was a hamster—a giant Djungarian hamster or maybe a mutant Djungarian hamster.
The Wise King of the Forest tilted her face (it was hard to tell where her head ended and her body began), nose twitching, and replied, “Hmm…I’ve lived alone ever since I was born, that I have. Since I know none of my kind, I cannot answer your question… Perhaps you know my race, do you?”
“Mmmm, I as good as know it, I suppose… A friend of mine once had a pet that looked just like you.” Ainz recalled his guildmate who didn’t log in to Yggdrasil for a week because his hamster died of old age. The admiring “ooh” from Narberal behind him must have been because it was information about one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings.
“What?! How dare someone make a pet out of a monster who looks like me!” The Wise King of the Forest puffed her cheeks into a pouty face.
Did I upset her? Or is that supposed to look threatening? Or…? All Ainz knew was that she didn’t have food packed in there.
“Hmm…I would like to hear the details, that I would. As a living thing, I must ensure the survival of my species, that I must. If there are others like me and I don’t create descendants, then I’m a horrible being, that I am.”
By the Wise King of the Forest’s logic, Ainz hadn’t made any kids, so he was a horrible living thing. Mentally giving the excuse that he was already undead and not a living thing, he replied apathetically, “Well, it wasn’t as big as you.”
“Is that so, hmm…? Perhaps it was a baby?”
“…No. It was an adult and could fit in the palm of my hand.”
The Wise King of the Forest’s hairs drooped; she was probably a little discouraged. “Then it would be rather impossible, that it would… So I really am the only one, that I am…”
“If you were a cool race, that would be great, but…mm, yeah, you’re a hamster. Not that I don’t feel bad for you, but if you did have relatives, they’d probably multiply like mice—I think the world would end!”
The Wise King of the Forest’s hairs stood on end. Her cute, round eyes stayed the same, but when she spoke, her anger was palpable. “Such impertinence! Ensuring the survival of one’s species is a serious matter, that it is! And I’ve been living my whole life on my own, that I have! You would want to make some friends, too, would you not?!”
“H…rm… I don’t disagree… Forgive me…” Thinking of his guildmates, Ainz apologized. Still, he wasn’t sure how he felt about being reminded of them by, and apologizing to, this hamster.
“Well…I forgive you, that I do. Let’s stop this pointless chatter—we shall fight to the death, that we shall. Now, then, invader, I’ll turn you into my dinner, that I will!”
“Mm…kay…” Ainz felt less and less interested in continuing.
Even if the Wise King of the Forest’s cuteness was an evolutionary advantage, Ainz wasn’t motivated. When he imagined himself, the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, facing off against a giant hamster, it was just too shameful.
And if he killed her and presented the giant Djungarian hamster corpse, saying, “This is the Wise King of the Forest. It was a fierce battle and I couldn’t drive her away,” what would the Swords of Darkness think? No matter how optimistically Ainz considered the situation, awkwardly kind looks were the best he could imagine getting. Then, instead of killing her, he would capture her and extract her wisdom.
“Nabe, fall back.” Ainz had forced himself to muster the will to fight, and upon his order, Nabe bowed deeply and withdrew to the edge of the clearing, confident her master would be victorious.
“Hmm? I don’t mind if you both fight me at once, that I don’t.”
“Fighting a hamster with backup is too embarrassing!” Ainz spat as he readied his weapons.
Sensing that he’d moved into a combat stance, the Wise King of the Forest crouched. “…If you regret those words, it’s too late to take them back, that it is! Here I come, that I do!” Then, she kicked off the ground with a boom and flung herself, in a ball, at Ainz. Anyone human size taking the Wise King of the Forest’s body slam directly, without using any martial arts, would normally have been blown away, but Ainz blocked it with a great sword. It was a terrible amount of destructive power, but Ainz’s strength was more than up to the task of enduring it.
“Argh, that I say!” Shouting in surprise that Ainz hadn’t retreated so much as a step, the Wise King of the Forest raised her front legs with their unexpectedly sharp claws and began to scratch. Ainz beat back the attack with the great sword in his left hand and slashed with the other in his right. He didn’t go all out, but it was still a hefty blow.
And it was repelled with a screech. The shock went up his arm. The Wise King of the Forest had brandished a foot to counter Ainz’s attack. Their strikes clashed in midair and repelled each other.
“Magnificent, that it was! And how about this, hmm? Charm Species!”
Undead were generally immune to psychic attacks. Ignoring the spell completely, he stabbed with both of his great swords simultaneously.
A metallic screech rang out, and Ainz’s swords were repelled once more. He squinted under his helmet. He wasn’t trying too hard, but the Wise King of the Forest was repelling his attacks with her skin alone—it must have been harder than low-grade metals. So she’s not just a fluffy fur ball? Ainz felt momentarily betrayed, but he realized that thought wasn’t appropriate for combat and cleared it away.
Considering his physical attack strength by Yggdrasil standards, Ainz estimated that he would be equivalent to about a level-30 warrior, maybe a little higher. Of course, his magic and gear made a big difference, so he couldn’t be sure, but if he used that as the bar and compared the Wise King’s combat ability to it, they were probably close to equal. The illusionary face under his helmet twisted into a sinister smile. “Nothing wrong with that…This is a good chance to test out my close-quarters combat ability.”
He judged that he would be able to win no problem if he put real effort into it. He couldn’t let his guard down, but this opponent was a good one for practicing frontline swordsmanship.
Ainz brandished each of his great swords in turn. The Wise King of the Forest deftly blocked them with her front claws and then one of the markings on her body glowed as she cast a spell. “Blindness!”
Unlike the psychic spell Charm Species, Blindness would work on Ainz; however, he had a racial skill that neutralized all low-level magic, so the spell disappeared without having any effect.
The marking that lit up was a different one from last time… Seems like she can only use as many spells as the number of markings she has? In Yggdrasil, the amount of spells a monster could use varied a great deal depending on their level and race, but it was generally around eight. Ainz counted the markings on the Wise King of the Forest and it was about that number, so he felt like he was fighting a Yggdrasil monster.
Unconcerned by the resistance to her magic, the Wise King of the Forest closed in to fight with her front legs. Ainz blocked with one sword and kept attacking with the other.
The way some of his guildmates used to fight crossed his mind. Touch Me was one of the strongest warriors in Yggdrasil and used a sword and shield. NishikiEnrai had the highest attack power in the guild and wielded two katana named Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. The Warrior Takemikazuchi who said “no second strike necessary,” even though it wasn’t true, used two different ōdachi, Imperial Sword Zanshin and Takemikazuchi Style Eight, for different purposes.
Then, he remembered someone he’d met more recently, the brave captain of the Royal Select, Gazef Stronoff. It was possible that the reason Ainz headed to E-Rantel in the guise of a warrior had something to do with him.
He sneered at himself for thinking such things in a corner of his mind. You’re in the middle of a fight! Even if I can afford to do it, thinking about stuff that off topic is just rude…even if she is a hamster…
Ainz attacked over and over, trying to emulate the memories of his friends while deftly blocking the Wise King of the Forest’s claws with the great sword in his left hand. It seemed like neither one of them would land a decisive blow, when suddenly Ainz managed to penetrate the Wise King of the Forest’s defenses.
“What!”
The sensation of his blade piercing flesh was accompanied by the smell of fresh blood. The great sword in Ainz’s right hand had made a small rip in the Wise King of the Forest’s skin. A handful of hairs hung in the air.
Ainz tried to follow up with a blow from the sword in his left hand, but the Wise King of the Forest leaped backward as if she’d sensed it. Then, in a flurry of footfalls, she retreated to a position a little more than ten yards away.
He did say his hamster would jump and escape his cage…but wow, I had no idea hamsters could run backward like that! Ainz was letting his mind wander, feeling exactly like he was fighting a giant hamster, when the Wise King of the Forest suddenly got into a low crouch.
Ainz wasn’t sure what to make of it. What’s she planning to do at that distance? If she’s going to charge again like before, I should stick out my swords so she impales herself…but I suppose it’s more likely that she casts another spell. He didn’t think the Wise King of the Forest’s wriggling tail would reach, but—
“I was wrong!” He realized how foolish he’d been. The first tail strike had come from even farther away, i.e., he was well within range this time. The bizarrely long tail did indeed strike, tracing a large arc through the air. He blocked it with the great sword in his right hand, but then his eyes widened: The tail turned at a right angle with his sword as the axis. “Ngh!”
He swung his sword sideways to shake off the tail, but he hadn’t reacted fast enough, and he heard it graze the armor on his back at the same time as he felt the impact. Thanks to a racial skill, even if the tail had pierced his armor, he wouldn’t have taken too much damage from an attack of that intensity. Still, it was like missing one shot in a level of a shoot-’em-up game.
“So we’ve each connected once, that we have…”
You damned hamster…, thought Ainz in a wave of mild irritation. I can attack at range, too, you know. He poured energy into his right hand.
As he was preparing to attack, the Wise King of the Forest expressed her heartfelt admiration. “Your armor…it’s tremendous, that it is. But your strength, your sword—everything about you is astonishing. Truly magnificent, a superior warrior. You must be well-known in the human world, that you must.”
All the energy drained out of Ainz’s right hand. “You think I’m just a warrior?” he asked, with a hint of disappointment.
“What do you mean, hmm? What else would you be? A knight, hmm?”
“The Wise King of the Forest is…not so bright. I should’ve known this was a bust from the moment I saw it was a giant hamster…”
It was probably difficult to tell that Ainz was a caster when he was wearing full plate armor. But he wanted a monster with the name Wise King of the Forest to at least have had an inkling that something was off, even if she couldn’t see through the disguise completely.
Did she think those spells were being neutralized through the power of sheer will alone? It’s true that immunity and resistance had the same end result in Yggdrasil, but would it kill this thing to live up to her name as a “wise king”?
The name Wise King of the Forest is just not appropriate here. If she would have been called a giant Djungarian hamster, I wouldn’t have bothered getting my hopes up. The blame lies squarely on the parent who named her. It’s blatant false advertising—a misleading representation.
Ainz had completely lost the will to fight and let his sword droop.
“What do you think you’re doing, hmm? You can’t possibly…you wouldn’t dare give up before the victor is decided, would you? Take me seriously, that you must! We shall fight to the death, that we shall!”
Every time the miffed Wise King of the Forest opened her mouth and missed the point, it chipped away at something in Ainz’s brain. Taking into account the fact that any large mental swings would be prevented, he could probably still fight, but…
“Ugh…I’m done,” Ainz uttered in a voice so cool it seemed to be accompanied by a frigid cold front. He pointed the sword in his right hand and unleashed an ability—Aura of Despair V.
A chance of instadeath was a tad overkill, so he went with the weaker fear-inducing tier I spell instead of tier V. A wind whipped up around Ainz, and a chill that only affected the mind radiated into the area.
The moment the chill made contact with the Wise King of the Forest, all her hairs stood on end, and she keeled over with astonishing force, leaving her soft silver belly completely unguarded.
“I surrender, that I do! My loss, that it is!”
“Ahh, so you really are just an animal…,” Ainz replied in a hoarse, spiritless voice and walked over to the Wise King of the Forest to stare down at her belly while he contemplated his next move.
*She’s a monster from this world and all; it’d be a waste to shoo her away. *Plus, she’s a hamster, so maybe she could be like a pet… The only other option would be to make good use of her corpse.
One of the classes Ainz had acquired was necromancer. They could tamper with dead bodies to create undead familiars, but the strength of the undead that were created depended on the race of the corpse. The best corpses were powerful beings like dragons; humans and the like would end up zombies or skeletons. What kind of undead would a monster that didn’t exist in Yggdrasil turn into? A great zombie king of the forest, I guess?
“Are you going to kill her?” a cheerful voice called out. At some point Aura had shown up and stood next to Narberal. “If you are, I’d like to skin her! She seems like she has a pretty nice pelt!”
Ainz looked down at the Wise King of the Forest’s glistening black eyes and their gazes met. The monster quietly awaited her fate, so scared of what might happen to her that her whiskers were trembling. Ainz suddenly recalled their conversation—the one about friends that had struck a chord with him. He wavered but then sighed as he made up his mind. “My real name is Ainz Ooal Gown. If you’ll serve me, I’ll let you live.”
“I—I thank you, that I do! In exchange for sparing my life, I give you absolute devotion, that I do—me, the Wise King of the Forest, to you, the great warrior Ainz Ooal Gown!”
Aura watched, disappointed, as the Wise King of the Forest jumped up and swore her loyalty.
•
When they emerged from the forest, everyone who had been awaiting their safe return gathered around to congratulate them on making it out in one piece. Lukrut was the only one who looked uneasy.
Nfirea’s surprise and admiration got all jumbled together. “You don’t even have a scratch! Did you manage to avoid a fight in the first place?”
As Ainz was about to answer him, Lukrut butted in. “Hey, Momon. You got somebody following you there… It’s not charmed…?”
“I fought the Wise King of the Forest and forced her to surrender. Hey, get over here!”
The Wise King of the Forest, with her pearl-white hair, came out of the woods, slowly revealing herself. The Swords of Darkness, jaws dropped in awe, readied their weapons and fell back a step, shielding Nfirea.
Well, even if she is a Djungarian hamster, you don’t usually see ones this huge…
Her round eyes may be cute, but at this size they’re oppressive. It’s only natural that the adventurers would take precautions to protect their client. Ainz made his voice purposely kinder. “Don’t worry. She’s completely under my command, so she won’t be going on any rampages.” Then, he moved closer to the Wise King of the Forest and ran a hand over her back, although the gesture seemed forced.
“Right you are, master! I, the Wise King of the Forest, will follow my master and do his bidding! I swear to him that I will not cause trouble for everyone, that I do!” The Wise King of the Forest professed her loyalty.
Right now, they might be wary because of her size, but she’s still an adorable Djungarian hamster. Once they get used to her, they’ll relax. The problem is how to get them to believe she’s really the Wise King of the Forest… For that, Ainz was fresh out of ideas.
But it turned out that he was worried for nothing.
“So this is the Wise King of the Forest? Wow! What a magnificent magical beast!”
Huh?
Ainz looked first at Ninya, then at the Wise King of the Forest. He wondered if it was sarcasm, but Ninya’s face was flush with amazement—he didn’t look at all like he was joking.
“…Phew, the Wise King of the Forest… The name is quite apt! Even just standing here, I can sense how mighty she is.” Dyne sounded like he was deeply moved.
What?! Mighty?!
“Man, ya really got me this time. If you can pull this off, then you’re definitely strong enough to be going around with Nabe.”
“If we’d have gone up against a magical beast of this caliber, we would’ve all been killed, but I’d expect nothing less from you, Momon. Amazing!”
Lukrut and Peter. Awash in everyone’s praise, Ainz took another look at the Wise King of the Forest.
She’s a huge Djungarian hamster. That was all he could think. Why did they find her menacing?
“But don’t you think her eyes are adorable?”
The second he asked, everyone’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads. Apparently he’d said something outrageous.
“M-Momon, you think this magical beast’s eyes are cute?”
What else would I think? Ainz grumbled in his mind, nodded emphatically, and wondered if the Wise King of the Forest might have some kind of passive skill that was bewitching everyone.
“I can’t believe it! But that’s Momon for you. Ninya, what do you think when you see those eyes?”
“…I sense a profound wisdom and great strength. I don’t think I could ever think they were cute.”
“…?!” Ainz had no words. He looked at each party member, and it seemed that all present felt the same way. He felt the foundations of his worldview crumbling.
“Nabe, what do you think?”
“I dunno about strength, but I certainly sense power.”
“What…the…?”
Everyone’s eyes twinkled at Ainz as they peppered him with praise—for being so brave that he could declare such a fearsome beast’s eyes cute.
Ainz looked at those eyes a few times and wondered where this “wisdom” was hiding. Could it be that turning undead threw off my aesthetic sense? If everyone else but him felt differently, it was certainly a possibility. Just to be thorough, he asked one more question. “By the way, do you think rats are amazing, too?”
“Rats… You mean giant rats? Not in particular, they’re just your run-of-the-mill monsters…”
“They hang out in the sewers of E-Rantel.”
“Giant rats carry scary diseases. And then there are wererats… You can’t hurt them unless you have a silver weapon, so I guess that’s pretty amazing.”
Hamsters and rats look practically the same! Plus with her long tail, the Wise King of the Forest looks more like a rat than a hamster…
After racking his brains, Ainz’s conclusion was, “This world is a bit strange.”
As he was fretting about the differences between this world and the one he used to live in, Nfirea voiced a concern. “But if you take her away, then won’t the territory free up? Won’t monsters go attack Enr— Carne?”
Ainz jerked his chin at the Wise King of the Forest and the beast took the hint. “Carne is that village, is it not? Hmm…the balance of power in the forest is currently upset, that it is. Even if I stayed, I wouldn’t be able to ensure their safety, no I would not.”
“But…”
Ainz said nothing in response to Nfirea’s shock—he just grinned in his head. The King of the Forest may have been a bust, but I can make up for it here. He could feel Nfirea’s eyes on him while he plotted what direction to lead the conversation in. The boy was opening and closing his mouth like he wanted to say something. It was clear to Ainz that he wanted him to save the village again, but that sentiment was competing with the feeling that he didn’t want to be a bother or fall back on him forever.
Behind him, the Swords of Darkness had begun bouncing ideas off of one another of how to save the village, but then Nfirea seemed to muster his resolve. “Momon,” he said with a solemn expression on his face.
“What is it?” Ainz was practically licking his lips. Carne was valuable to him as a foothold; he’d been intending to save the village from the beginning, but it was important that they felt like they were relying on him. He could kill two birds with one stone here by getting Nfirea to feel indebted to him and collecting a reward. That was Ainz’s plan and how he intended to compensate for his losses in the Wise King of the Forest affair.
But what Nfirea said was far afield of Ainz’s expectations. “Momon! Please let me join your team!”
“Huh?!”
“I want to protect Enr— The village, but the way I am now I don’t have the power. So I want to get stronger! I want you to teach me how to obtain even a sliver of your strength. I just don’t have the means to hire such a brilliant adventurer as yourself, so please let me join your team! I’m pretty confident about my knowledge of medicine, and I’ll carry your bags or do whatever you ask, so please, I beg you!” While Ainz was blinking his nonexistent eyes in shock, Nfirea continued, “I studied all my life to be an apothecary. My grandmother is one and my deceased father was one, so I didn’t really consider my options before starting out… But now I know what I really want to do! And it’s not be an apothecary!”
“You want to get stronger as a caster and protect Carne?”
“Yes!” The eyes of a man, not a boy, fixated on him.
In Ainz’s Yggdrasil days, there had been a never-ending stream of people wanting to join his guild. The majority of them were considering the personal gains that could be had by joining one of the most elite guilds—not what they could do for their guild, but what the guild could do for them. There were even jerks who schemed to get in and steal intelligence or rare magical items. For that reason, after the early group had coalesced, new members were almost never admitted. They were wary of outsiders mucking up the things they worked so hard to build.
But the pure intentions of this boy who had never heard of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown (and so, despite the superficial resemblance, was unrelated to those earlier applicants) were charming.
“Ah-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Ainz burst into a cheerful laugh. It was an extremely amicable, invigorating laugh. But when he was done, he removed his helmet and made a deep, sincere, and respectful bow.
Narberal gasped audibly.
Perhaps it wasn’t appropriate behavior for her master, the absolute ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, but Ainz had felt he should bow, so he did without hesitation. He felt no shame for bowing to a boy half his age.
There was no malice in his laughter, but he still shouldn’t have laughed. Even Ainz knew that. Once he’d straightened up, he told the stunned Nfirea, “I’m sorry I laughed. Know that I wasn’t making fun of your determination. There are two conditions for joining my team, and you only fulfill one of them, so unfortunately, I can’t admit you.”
There was also a hidden condition, which was that the majority of guild members had to be in agreement with the addition, so even if he wanted to, he couldn’t make any new guildmates. Even so, he continued in a good humor similar to the time all the floor guardians of Nazarick professed their loyalty to him. “I understand your feelings well enough. I will always remember you as the boy who wanted to join my team. And as for protecting Carne, I think I can give you a hand with that, but I may need your hel—”
“Yes, please!”
“Okay, then, okay.” As Ainz was nodding, his eyes met Ninya’s for a moment. It made him uncomfortable to be gazed at with warm fuzzies. “Wellll, let’s continue that conversation a bit later on. First, I have an exciting proposition for you—now that I’ve bent the Wise King of the Forest to my will!”