1

Chapter I

The oppressor now feared his oppression. Nigun stared at what should not be possible. ‘How can
this magic caster, a man of no name that I’ve ever heard, do what I have just seen him do?!’ Panic
sent a tingle up and down his arms, legs, and spine. The cloaked and masked mage had clearly
not even put any effort into his actions, and was as casual as if he were merely taking a stroll
through the great parks of Kami Miyako.

“I don’t know how you obtained such power, caster, but in other circumstances it would be
enough for me to want to recruit you to our side. But I am afraid my mission doesn’t allow for
that today. Instead, I must defeat you with my most powerful weapon!” Nigun cackled, his mouth
fell open in a laugh half filled with relief and half filled with mad terror at the possibility that
even this might fail.

“Please permit me some small resistance.” Ainz replied and took a graceful, mocking bow to the
now terrified elites.

Nigun yanked out his ice blue crystal and without a word, activated the magic within. “With this,
even the most powerful are made vulnerable!” He screeched the threat in a ripped voice when he
extended the crystal out from his body.

A glow fell from the sky and engulfed the caster, who was suddenly clouded, a mere shadowy
outline surrounded by the light.

The screech died and laughter, slow, low, and relieved began from the blonde member of the
Sunlight Scripture. “Ah hah, haha hah… hah ahhhh…”

The laughter was taken up by the remaining members of his Scripture, if less enthusiastic than his
own, “I warned you! You were no match, none! Nobody can resist the magic of the divine!”
Nigun screeched again, eyes wild with hope, but the shadowy figure hidden by the wall of light
that rained down on him, did not fall.

‘What is… what is this? What have they done?’ Ainz wondered as he stared at his gloved hands.
He didn’t need to remove them to know the difference, and yet despite himself, he couldn’t help
it. With the light obscuring his view outside, it felt likely that they couldn’t see well within either.
The magic which hit him neither hurt nor did any evident damage, but that did not change his
sense of either relief or alarm or how they blended to confuse him to no end.

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The sight of flesh on his forearm greeted his eyes. As understanding dawned, so did a peculiar
twisted sense of humor. Almost as if he intended to mock the humans outside the light in which
he stood, Ainz began to laugh.

“This?! This is what you’ve done?! What a joke! What a ridiculous, absurd joke! Is this what you
think of as ‘damage’?!” Ainz shouted, his back arched and his gauntlet covered hands went over
his gut as he stared up to the sky from whence the light came and laughed harder and harder at the
ones that were trying to threaten them.

“Eee!” Nigun shrieked again and took a step back, the hand holding the crystal dropped it to fall
into the soft grass where men had bled and died only moments before. It landed with the quiet
sound of bending green blades and his other arm went back with his leg. ‘Run, run away while
you can! While he’s still within the light!’

His companion however, had clearly lost all reason, “How dare you! How dare you strike my
love! My lord! The ruler of my heart and my every hope for every day that will ever be!” her
hands came up and folded into fists beneath her wildly shaking head, the weapon she held swung
madly like she had a grudge against the air instead of those who had cast their magic. “Curse you!
Curse you all, you vile lower life forms!” Her howl of rage split the space between them like
thunder and froze the Scripture with fear for the first time in their lives.

‘So, this was their magic, a vulnerability spell, there were definitely players here, how interesting.
So I’m… wait, am I human?’ Ainz wondered, ‘For all I know yet I might be an elf… I feel human,
but what does an elf feel like?’ It was an uncertain question, but some degree of relief settled in
his body for the present. ‘I wasn’t sure I liked being a skeleton, but… what about my levels? This
spell was specifically meant to hurt heteromorphic races and had a randomized duration. How
long will this last? Are the rules the same here?’ Questions ran like stampeding horses through his
mind all in an instant.

Ainz raised a hand with palm out toward her as the light faded away to nothing, leaving him
standing unperturbed as if nothing had ever happened. “Calm down, Albedo, it’s fine, their
pathetic magic was meant to make me vulnerable, and it failed.”

“How can this be?! How?! You should be weaker!” Nigun cried out and clawed at his face in
despair, he clawed at his flesh with such desperation that his nails tore at his skin and left red
streaks as if a cat’s claws had raked over both cheeks, and yet he felt no pain. He felt only one
thing.

Fear. The thing felt no weaker.

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“The spell didn’t do what you thought it did.” Ainz answered with the magnanimity of a king.
‘My voice is still different, I wonder if I look the same?’ The other question popped into his head
in an instant, but his inner guildmaster and gamer couldn’t help but come out to explain the
failure. “Your ridiculous magic, if it had been used on the Warrior Captain, would have made
him… something very different than himself, but you’ve misunderstood the nature of your spell,
and so used it on an opponent who would never be weaker than you, no matter how many times
you cast it.”

The scripture members began to wobble at their knees, then fall to the ground without a blow
being struck.

“As expected of my love! To break their will without striking and to know their magic even better
than they!” Albedo exclaimed with joyful reverence.

Ainz ignored the praise and raised a hand to finish them. Then… he hesitated. His humanity gave
him pause, the prospect of killing his own kind, the prospect of simple murder, made his stomach
roil and he felt himself go faintly green at the prospect. Still, he had to keep up the role.

“Albedo, take them and return to Nazarick. I will finish here.” Ainz ordered, the humans had a
moment to gasp or squeak or squeal in terror as was their wont to do, but Albedo moved faster
than eyes could see or reflexes could answer. Her cruel bardiche severed the right leg of every
man in the scripture just at the back of their bended knees, sending a chorus of howls to the
uncaring sky.

Nigun’s eyes gazed to the heavens when the ‘crack’ caught his attention despite his screams.

“It seems your country was watching you… not that they saw much. Enough at least to know they
should stay away from these lands from now on.” Ainz explained to the howling Nigun.

He clutched and rolled on the grass, clutching the wounded stump and staring upward, ‘If they
see, won’t they come for me?! Won’t they save me! Won’t they rescue me?!’ He reached for the
ephemeral hope as he saw out of the corner of his eye, the dark armored warrior woman simply
tossed the wounded through a whorling ovoid shape in the air and made them disappear beyond
sight.

She had just reached down and grabbed his collar when the sickening realization hit him. ‘No,
they won’t come for me, because we don’t have anyone who can defeat this caster. What have we
done? By all the gods, what have we done?!’ He wondered before the dark void engulfed him too.

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It wasn’t until Albedo had gone and he stood alone that Ainz examined his character sheet and
levels. ‘I see… so my racial levels aren’t gone but… ‘available for use’, so I can re-allocate them.
That’s good. Next…’ He removed his mask and ran his hands over his face and ears, ‘Yes,
definitely human.’ His hand went down to his chest and to his crotch. ‘Yes, definitely male, good
to have that back at least. My ‘son’ made it.’

‘Wait… what the hell…?’ Ainz put the mask back on and focused more sharply at his stats. ‘How
did I gain xp?! I’m max level, one hundred… how could I… unless…’

His inner player emerged to force a smile over his face that he couldn’t fight, ‘The level cap… the
level cap is gone, or at least ‘changed’ significantly.’ The understanding that he could grow ever
stronger, the dream of every player, ran through his veins like alcohol to an alcoholic. It
intoxicated him so much that he had to sit down. “Did they do this? Or is that a product of this
world?” He muttered the question to no one in particular. With the return of humanity came his
other senses, and the full force of ‘the world’ hit him all at once.

His own horrid, polluted, ruined world of domes and smog, filthy sky and filthy ground was
utterly at odds with this one. The constant smog that killed those whose cheap personal filters
broke was gone. The concrete jungle of his city was replaced by the feel of soft grass, the smell of
artificial chemicals was replaced by clean air, flowers, and things he was sure his world once had,
but which vanished long before his time. Ainz’s eyes welled up behind the mask, “Blue Planet… if
you could be here now… all of you… my precious friends… would you feel like I do now?”

He lay out on the grass, his arms and legs stretched out, certain he was alone, he removed his
gauntlets and ran fingers over the little blades of green that were nothing but a memory at home.
Ainz had no idea how long he enjoyed the moment, but it was probably too long, ‘They’re no
doubt still waiting back in the village to find out what happened, it would be rude of me to keep
them waiting.’ He took several long deep breaths while he put the gauntlet back on and ventured
toward the village again.

He was seen almost immediately and a cheer erupted from within, and out came the Warrior
Captain, his bulging muscles and powerful, deep set eyes were the same as Ainz recalled.
‘Undead or not undead, he is an impressive sort of man. Respectable courage, too.’

“So, you slew them, Sir Ainz?” Gazef asked, a half dejected huff left his lungs, “I am ashamed of
my weakness in the face of strength like yours.”

Ainz waved it off, “They’re not dead, but they are gone, let that be enough, Warrior Captain.”

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“Please, you saved my life, call me Gazef, and… if you accept nothing else from me today, accept
my welcome later, come to the capital some day, and I will welcome you with open arms.” Gazef
slowly extended his hand, Ainz took it, and grasped with a firm squeeze.

Gazef’s eyes went even wider, but he said nothing of what he thought. ‘Magic caster’s are
supposed to be physically weak, but he feels stronger than me!’ He buried the unworthy, jealous
thought, and bowed his head when the grip broke.

“I may take you up on that… Gazef, for now, farewell. I will take it as a favor if you would send
some relief supplies to this village, and if there are survivors from the other places, bring them
here. I promise… no one will attack this village ever again.” The words of the magic caster
brought glorious and joyful smiles to the faces of the peasants who beamed bright as the sun
above their heads, staring in gratitude at their unexpected savior.

“I- I believe I can arrange for that.” Gazef said, barely blinking back tears from the depth of his
heart that the wish of his peasant childhood was so unexpectedly fulfilled.

______________________________________________________________________________

Albedo was at his side again by the time the funeral was taking place. “Tell me, Albedo, what do
you think of ‘humans’.”

“They are lower life forms unworthy to exist on this side of the dirt.” She spat immediately.

“I see, I see.” Ainz replied in the most sage tone he could manage. ‘Shit, I didn’t even think about
that! Almost all the NPCs despise humans! This is bad, this is very bad, what if they see me this
way, what if they find out?! Will their loyalty hold? Damn it! Alright, so who doesn’t expressly
hate humans?! The twins, they don’t. Neither does Sebas, some are generally neutral, but others?
No, others are… they… alright, the mask stays on. At least it has some deception bonuses so as
long as I wear it, my change shouldn’t be obvious. But… I need to look into a way to change back
as soon as possible!’

The silence stretched between them and Ainz coughed and cleared his throat to bridge the gap. A
stone’s toss away, the young girl and young woman he’d saved wept over a pair of stones that
marked the graves of their parents. Nor were they alone. Thirty lives had been lost, a devastating
harvest of blood and death for a village that couldn’t have had more than two hundred individuals.

He fingered the wand, his heart ached as he recalled the loved ones he once had, and he struggled
not to think of them, ‘Resurrection might be too much for this world, it may not be possible at all,

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or if it is, it must be rare.’ The notion of drawing the wrong kind of attention to himself made
sweat spring to his newly restored skin. ‘I did enough, that will do.’ He told himself, but whether
he really believed it or not, even he wasn’t sure.

Instead he focused on the moment, “Albedo, I understand why you might think that way, I felt the
same on first sight. But as I look at them now, I think of them like…” He paused, trying to think of
some favorable way to present them and hopefully temper Albedo’s contempt, ‘Like small
animals? Insects with their place? No…’ Finally, with her eyes turned toward his white painted
mask of jealousy, peering through the slit in her helmet, he answered her. “Like pets, or useful
tools, or raw materials from which great things are made.” ‘Alright,’ Ainz thought, ‘that last part
might have been too much, but I can’t unsay what is said.’

“My lord’s wisdom is beyond bounds, I will act according to your will.” She bowed her head to
her master and as they turned to go, the village chief approached.

“My lord, will we see you again? We still must repay you somehow.” The old man rasped out,
worn out from the strain of the day, breathing hard despite not having gone very far, his hand was
outstretched to stop the departure of his rescuer.

“Yes, for now, rest assured the time will come when you can repay your debt to me, till then, live
long and prosper. When I need you, I will be here again.” Ainz said, and the portal opened at his
back.

The old man’s eyes bulged at the sight of the gate, ‘Such regal bearing, he must be a nobleman of
some kind… if this isn’t what a king is like, I don’t know what is…’ The village chief though, kept
his thoughts to himself and his awe etched on his face when he bowed at the waist.

“Thank you, my lord! We are yours whenever you need us!” He pronounced from the depths of
his soul, and the regal savior inclined his head, and stepped with his companion, through the void
and disappeared.

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Chapter II

“Question them thoroughly, but question them… lightly.” Ainz had said to her when he left the
humans in her custody.

When Albedo left the torture chamber of Neuronist, she was still confounded at the orders.
“Strange that my lord would give us such an order.” It was enough to make Albedo scratch her
horn in confusion when she went to deliver her report. Her feet clicked in a steady rhythm over
the stone floor, the echo resounding off the walls in her isolated walk, her lack of company
making it easy to enjoy the alone time of her thoughts.

‘Could he have a use for them alive? Further experiments? Obviously I can’t ‘question’ his
decision, but if I am to serve well I should be able to better understand his mind.’ That was a
comforting thought in and of itself, but the prospect of spending even more time with her beloved
Ainz made her entire body quiver with excitement, so much so that when she reached the door to
his office she had to stop with her fingers wrapped around the handle.

Albedo’s other hand went to her breast while she got control of her breathing, and then knocked
soundly three times on the heavy wood. The dull thud noise carried within, for a moment there
was no sound but her pounding heart, and then she heard his voice.

As soon as the sound hit his ears, Ainz was breathing hard. He held a hand to his chest, the
gauntlet pressed the flesh beneath his robes and made him only more anxious than before. ‘OK,
OK, calm down, stay calm, she doesn’t know, the mask hides racial data at least so there’s no way
she could know I’m not undead anymore. All I have to do is ‘act’ the part.’

“Enter.” Ainz announced after anxious seconds and snatched his hand down to his lap before the
door opened.

“Your report, Albedo.” He said, borrowing the voice of a no nonsense boss he recalled from his
previous employment.

Albedo felt the rush of arousal in her loins at his commanding voice, but keeping her tiny smile
and calm composure, she answered him thoroughly as soon as she walked past the death knight
and closer to his desk.

“The commander was a font of information, even with minimal prompting, Demiurge did have to
use his command mantra once, but now we know everything they do about their home country

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and the area surrounding it.” Albedo completed her statement, but in her bright glowing yellow
eyes, a question lingered.

“Is there something wrong, Albedo?” Ainz inquired, struggling to keep the squeak at bay. ‘Does
she know?!’ He wanted to cry out, but she only wrung her hands together in front of her waist and
shifted on her feet.

“My lord, permit the question, and forgive me if it is not my place, but… why do we let them
live?” Albedo’s question was a very practical one from a demon’s perspective, Ainz recognized
that immediately.

‘We know everything, now they’ll just consume resources, kill them and we can have them serve
as food, or we can experiment on their corpses, alive they’re a burden. Quick! She’s staring at
you, think of something!’ Ainz shouted at himself and cleared his throat.

“Because we don’t know what use they may have later. Perhaps a trade with their home country,
perhaps a return of them as hostages as a gesture of good will. Since we can’t know what use
they’ll have alive, we shouldn’t kill them yet. Once they’re dead, we may not be able to revive
them, but alive we can simply kill them at our leisure.” Ainz spat out the half thought answer
from a video game villain he once recalled and watched Albedo’s face.

“My love! My wonderful Ainz, how insightful! How far ahead you think, to even consider the
oddities of the unknown and factor that into your fathomless calculations!” Albedo cried out and
flung herself from where she stood, to by his chair so that she was at his feet.

“My lord, my love…” She said with reverence and played with the ring on the finger reserved for
brides.

“Albedo, the rest…” Ainz said after clearing his throat again and shifting in his seat.

“Ah, yes, yes my lord. Shadow demons monitor the village and we have more following Gazef
back to his Kingdom’s capital. We will continue to watch for anyone worth mentioning, and
we’ve checked the bodies. None managed to rise from the dead with Pestonya’s resurrection, they
turned to dust when we tried. None of their equipment was worth mentioning, some minor
enchantments, but not worth equipping any of our own with them.” Albedo finished, and Ainz
took up where she left off.

“Good, keep the village under observation and safe from all threats. That’s everything for now.”
Ainz said, but Albedo didn’t move from where she’d cast herself.

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Which is not to say she was motionless, a hand, her ring bearing hand, came up toward him, and
Ainz immediately responded by taking it, a wave of guilt washed over him like a sea breaking
through a levy in a hurricane.

“Albedo, stop. No.” The words were torn from his lips with the greatest effort, and the seductive
beauty of the succubus hit him like a freight train, he felt his body sweat with anticipation, such
beauty, such devotion, all his, for him, and all he had to do was reach out and take it.

But he couldn’t.

“Albedo, you feel what you do because I did something terrible to you. I don’t know how I can
ever make it right… you’re the child of a dear friend, and I changed you.” The sea of guilt only
rose at his confession, but Albedo’s answer gave him pause.

“What was I before you graced me with your choice, my love?” Albedo asked him with
wondering eyes.

His tension was answer enough, and her eyes briefly went away from him.

“I wasn’t a woman you could love, was I?” She asked, and the silence held from her beloved lord.

“I still shouldn’t have done what I did.” Ainz finally said with conviction.

“Do you dislike me as I am? Does it disturb you? Does it inconvenience you? Am I less wanted?”
Albedo asked the slew of questions and terror at her own boldness welled up. ‘What will he say?!
What if he says yes to any of that? Or worse, all of that?!’

“No.” Ainz said and put a hand on the soft dark hair of her head. “I could never, you’re the child
of a dear friend, as I said.”

“Then there isn’t a problem, it’s no different than if my father, my maker, gave me away to
marriage. I like who I am, and what you made of me, and if you’re not unhappy with it either,
then is it a problem?” Albedo rose to her knees and clutched her fingers around the gauntlet. The
tightness of her hold would have bent a lesser metal or broken a weaker hand, but with his
strength and equipment intact, it was like any other woman’s soft hand close to the surface of his
body.

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They were interrupted by the sound of a sword clattering to the floor. “I see, so a sword of this
world won’t bind them here, but if we make them from corpses, they will remain.” Ainz said,
explaining the sudden racket.

“Then we should procure more corpses, correct, my lord?” Albedo asked with the automatic
competence he expected out of an overseer.

“Yes, but avoid disturbing the graves of the villagers, we should keep our good will with them as
high as possible in case we need them later, we must procure them from some other place.” Ainz
gave the quick instruction, a flash of pity ran through him for the unfortunates, but eager for a
distraction, turned his mind to something else.

“Gather everyone to the throne room. You go ahead first, I will follow shortly.” Ainz ordered, and
Albedo rose, slowly, ensuring he got an eyefull of her ample cleavage.

‘Oh my god those are… holy. Divine, beautiful… and they belong to your best friend’s ‘daughter’
of a sort, don’t be a pervert, Satoru!’ Ainz reprimanded himself while his overseer rose to her feet
and left the office, rolling her hips before his eyes with every step. ‘Don’t be the sort of boss that
takes advantage of a subordinate! Even if you have to hide what you are for now!’ Ainz reminded
himself when the door shut, and he was at last able to take a relaxed breath after his successful
act.

______________________________________________________________________________

‘Ainz-sama feels different somehow, but I can’t put my finger on it, but still… he acknowledged
my feelings and didn’t reject them! What a wonderful victory over that little loli lamprey!’
Albedo’s heart sang and a happy smile was fixed unmoving on her face when she encountered
Sebas in the hall.

“Lady Albedo, is Momonga-sama available?” Sebas asked, and seeing her face, he asked further,
“You seem to be in a remarkably good mood, did something happen?”

“Yes,” was all Albedo said, and walked on with a spring in her step that left Sebas watching her
retreat with great but unspoken curiosity.

‘Shalltear will be nothing but my lord’s footstool when all is said and done! I and I alone am
going to be seated beside him!’ They were selfish thoughts and selfish words, and part of her

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quailed at the force behind them, but her woman’s heart which ached for his absolute devotion to
her, could not regret them. Nor could she keep her succubus heart from throbbing, or her blood
from boiling, nor keep back the fluttering happiness that made her feel light as air all the way to
the throne room.

______________________________________________________________________________

Sebas followed the fashionably late Ainz into the great throne room where most of the guardians
and maids were now assembled. No one moved from the places where they knelt. The tapping of
the staff and the sound of footsteps were the only things to break the silence.

The master of death ascended the steps while Sebas knelt front and center before his maids. ‘Such
dignity and poise… truly he is the leader of the forty-one.’ Sebas held fast the reverential thought
while he beheld the back of the one who stayed.

From on high when he was seated, Ainz was compelled to admit that they made a majestic
looking group. ‘My friends, my precious friends, if only you could see what a wonder you truly
wrought… you would, like me, never want to leave it.’

Like a rubber band stretched too far, he snapped and the thought was gone, sweat ran down his
skin and he shivered within his robes. ‘I can’t fail them!’ He reminded himself and to disguise the
shudder, he stood from his throne.

Ainz’s eyes swept his guardians, maids, and many vassals from behind the mask, and he struggled
to speak, the words of apology he intended to offer died in his throat. ‘No, don’t. Pleasantry or
not, I shouldn’t tell them I apologize unless I am sincere.’

[Greater Break Item] He cast the spell and the flags bearing the sigil of Momonga fell and ceased
to be.

Shock briefly colored every face save for that of the unflappable Sebas and the smiling Albedo
who already knew his intent.

“My name is now Ainz Ooal Gown, I may be addressed as such.” He swept his staff out before
him to hide his nervousness, making a grand gesture of the pronouncement and then holding his
arms up high and out. “Does anyone object? If so, let them speak!”

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‘Please don’t object! Please don’t say anything, please oh please oh please I don’t want to have to
explain myself!’ Ainz begged in his mind.

Nobody did.

“We have heard your glorious name, Supreme One! We pledge our undying loyalty to you, our
beloved master.” Albedo pronounced, though when she did, he heard her special emphasis on
‘beloved’ and felt certain that word was her pledge and hers alone.

No other seemed to notice it, or if they did, they saw no way or reason to object to it. The
remaining guardians, joined by Albedo, all announced as one, “All glory to Ainz Ooal gown!
Supreme Lord and leader of us all! Ainz Ooal Gown, we give ourselves completely to you! Long
live your mighty name, our King of fearsome power, all shall know of your greatness!” The
shouts and praise of servants high and low were so long and loud that they were heard beyond the
open door of the throne room and were taken up even by those not in attendance. It seemed in that
moment to Ainz as if the entire tomb shouted as one body, like one being.

Though his breast swelled with pride, a part of his mind was elsewhere. ‘My friends, would you
object to using our name? I’m hoping only to borrow it, if there are others like me who are
trapped here who may know of us. Perhaps I can help them, or perhaps word of this name will
reach you, and you will find your way here… and call it home again. If you do, when you do… I
will happily be myself again… assuming of course, the loyalty of the tomb can stay with me as I
now am. Perhaps the spell will wear off, perhaps it won’t, but for now… I must hide in my own
skin, until I know for sure.’

The shouting died down as if it were timed to do so with his fading, drifting reflections, and he
chose to address the tomb again.

“-Next, we’re going to do something new. In the past, the Tomb, our precious home, has always
held to itself, defending always in victory, but never venturing out beyond our sacred home. But
no legend is ever born from remaining at home. Instead, we will make our mark on this world,
make my mighty name a legend that spreads through all time and all lands!” Ainz hoped he
wasn’t squeaking as he borrowed the ‘presenter voice’ as best he could, then for dramatic effect,
he grasped the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown tightly in his hand, rapped it on the ground, and the air
trembled.

“There may be heroes who will oppose us, but we will be greater, surpassing everyone else.
Everyone will know us for the true heroes! If there are stronger, we will be smarter, if smarter, we
will be stronger. By any means necessary, we will show this world that we are the greatest force
to ever exist, will you fight for this glorious future?!” Ainz bellowed out the question, and again
the cheers echoed throughout the tomb as renewed oaths poured from ecstatic lips.

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‘My friends, if you exist in this world, you or others, you will hear this name one day, and come
to me.’ The reverential thought that all but broke his heart, seemed to have infected the rest, and
as the cheers died, their heads fell as if in silent prayer for the realization of their master’s vision.

______________________________________________________________________________

Ainz sat alone in his room with the door locked by every means available and took off his
costume. ‘It really does feel like cosplay…’ He thought privately and stared at the reflection in the
mirror. Though he felt somewhat at ease since Albedo had asked to address them when he
departed, and therefore no one should come by seeking him, he still had a tingle of doubt.

In the mirror, there wasn’t Suzuki Satoru. He touched his face, it was lean and not at all fat, with
almost ‘squared’ features. His hair was still black, but his body looked and felt different. “So this
is what it feels like to have a lot of muscles.” He muttered and touched his abs. “I suppose my
strength stats are responsible for this, my voice isn’t really that different. In fact it’s almost
identical to the one I had as an undead except for the desire to squeak when I’m nervous.” He
rolled his eyes and ran his hand through the thick dark hair on his head and took a deep breath.

“The real question though, is how well can I use this body, I seem to be a bit taller than average,
that is if Gazef and the village are any example, but how well can I use my warrior skills, and my
other magic… and what do I put my spare racial levels to… so much to think about.” He rambled
on to the handsome man in the mirror. “So, the first thing though, I can’t keep this secret forever,
so who can I trust will definitely not despise me if they know I’m like this? They all ‘seem’ loyal,
but Shalltear is a vampire, Demiurge and Albedo are demons… Sebas? Not human but he has a
high karma value and should be a lawful good alignment.”

No answers were readily forthcoming to him, but… an idea did take shape, something that would
‘delay’ the discovery by the tomb and allow him to strengthen himself enough that ‘if’ they turned
on him, he should be strong enough to fend off anyone. ‘The level cap is raised, who knows how
high, if I can become powerful enough, I won’t have to worry, but to do that, I need to grind
again. So… I need to both grind, and keep my secret for now until this either wears off or until it
no longer matters if it does or not. Well Ainz, looks like you’re putting some levels into warrior,
and going on an adventure. But of course… whom should I take with me?’ Ainz had no answer to
that one either, but from the bottom of his heart, despite everything, he felt something else
entirely.

A sudden, rising… excitement.

14
Chapter III

A black armored warrior stood in the arena, but he did not stand alone. ‘I need to be sure I can do
this.’ Ainz told himself.

“Just a low level goblin, my lord?” Cocytus asked and hissed out freezing air before he used the
scroll.

“Yes, I need to do more experiments.” Ainz answered, though he didn’t reveal the nature of what
he wanted to learn.

He heard the sound of the heatless blue flames consuming the parchment, and then in front of him
stood a summoned monster. The goblin had only a moment of self awareness before the massive
blade cleaved it in twain. The sickening sound of flesh and a cry of pain carried around the arena,
the stumps of arms pulled it along, spurting blood and dragging bloody intestines behind it. Ainz
stepped back, disgust and horror ran through him.

‘It’s alive?!’ He realized as the pitiable summon stared up through hopeless eyes.

“Wh-” The question was only half formed on its lips, ‘Why… why did you call me up?! What did
I do wrong…?’ It wanted to ask, the word died on its lips when the sword pierced the brain and
ended the pain of the summon. Weak in the knees, Ainz fell to the corpse and vomited against his
mask, the acidic bile stained the inside as he truly shed blood for the first time in his life.

‘That… will stay with me.’ Ainz had the grim thought, the all too human face, begging to
understand before it died, was already gone. The summon vanished into the aether as the magic
dissipated.

With his back to Cocytus, Ainz felt comfortable enough, and desperate enough, to raise the face
plate, remove the mask beneath, and briefly wipe it in the sand. “Blood got into my helmet.” Ainz
said when he heard Cocytus take a step forward.

It was enough to stop the guardian in his tracks when Ainz added, “Prepare another scroll,
something more powerful this time, a werewolf.” Cocytus began sorting through scrolls while
Ainz frantically wiped the vomit from the mask and then affixed it back to his face and closed the
helmet over it.
“I’m ready.” Ainz said, and listened as the scroll burned up. His heart beat madly as guilt over the
brutal killing ran through him, ‘It may have been ‘just a summon’, but its pain was real enough, no

15
more of that… unless-’ Ainz was distracted by his thoughts, but at the moment the werewolf
rushed him, those thoughts vanished. His body moved almost on its own. He easily leapt over the
dark furred beast, its hot breath wafting to him. Ainz could almost hear the sound of dripping
saliva falling to the sands of the arena. ‘Those levels put into warrior classes are very effective.’
When he was upside down as he flipped past the arm of the monster, he swung his sword and
severed the arm at the elbow. The werewolf went down, but only for a moment as it went into a
berserker rage.

It charged with snapping jaws clapping shut, just shy of Ainz’ face, he danced back, testing his
reflexes and fending off the sharp claws of the remaining hand, ‘Yes, this is amazing, this body is
wonderful!’ He thought while he toyed with the rage filled monster that dripped blood in the sand
as it moved after him, kicking up clouds behind it in its desperate effort to chase him down.

‘I was never this fit in my own world… and this also makes up for having lost my undead
characteristics fairly well.’ He contemplated this just before raising his sword up, and with one
firm twisting slash, bringing it down across the monster’s body and splitting it from right shoulder
to left hip. The two halves split and toppled, the jaw snapping hopelessly into the sand, until the
beast died and vanished.

As soon as it was gone, Ainz checked his exp totals. ‘The goblin gave me two exp, the werewolf
gave me twenty, more importantly I now know I can grind against summoned monsters. That
definitely isn’t from the game. They stopped that in the first patch when magic casters power
leveled themselves and their guilds rather than explore or do quests.’

Cocytus watched his warrior clad lord stand with the sword tip buried in the sands, resting his
hands on the pommel, the guardian revelled in the admiration of his master’s display. ‘Is there
anything my lord cannot do?’ “Would you like another, my lord?”

Just about to say yes, but request something stronger, Ainz saw a trio of other guardians entering
the arena. Albedo, Shalltear, and Aura.

“There’d be nothing but sour old milk in those balloons on your chest you gorilla, someone like
you is just not fit to be Lord Ainz’s first wife!” Shalltear spat the words out, but Albedo did not
yet rise to the bait.

“My ‘balloons’ are at least inflated, I don’t have to stuff my bra to pretend I have them. I thought
your defense was high, but it seems those mosquito bites on your chest would make that
assumption of mine false. Why, without stuffing up top, you would be flatter than Mare.” Albedo
cackled and put a hand to her chest like she wanted to emphasize its size, Shalltear of course,
could only fume in rage.

16
“You bitch, that food display you put up there isn’t even fit for a human, let alone the glorious
scion of our lord!” Shalltear snarled, and that got under Albedo’s skin.

Ainz suppressed the wince, but stopped in mid step before he approached them. ‘Scary women…
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t at least enjoy their notice, but-’ His trail of thought cut off when
Albedo completely lost her temper at the last insult and began bellowing a stream of invectives at
the diminutive guardian.

Shalltear was one of the strongest in Nazarick, though you wouldn’t have known it by looking at
her, a bell shaped victorian dress of black and white that hung down to her ankles, a delicate
looking black parasol, and a childish face that made her appear to be about age fourteen. She
carried herself erect and with perfect poise despite her argument with the Guardian Overseer, and
her voice, when not yelling, was as delicate sounding as her face was looking.

She took the insult with a cocky little smile with her lip upturned on one side and continued her
stately walk as they drew closer to their master.

‘-But they are a bit much, no matter how beautiful.’ The pair had no way of knowing how the
insult, and how it was received, cut into Ainz and set him ever more resolutely into his decision to
keep his secret from them, and while they bickered, he chose to address Aura.

Aura knelt immediately when she came close while the pair hung back to fight over their love
rivalry over their master, and Ainz tried to distract himself from the memory of Shalltear’s
whispered words from before, ‘Your bones must be divine…’ The necrophilia fetish was a bit
much even when he was undead.

Now that he was human, it was even worse. ‘Did Peroroncino just copy and paste the fetishwiki
into her backstory?’ He wondered, and immediately thought, ‘Probably so.’

Then he came back to his senses as Aura began to speak. “Forgive me, my lord but they have
been at it all morning.”

“Have they? Well, it’s to be expected.” Ainz played it off as best he could and let out an
exasperated sigh, ‘Just keep up the act. You were already pretending to be an all knowing lord,
now just add ‘not human’ on top of that.’ “Regardless,” he added, “Tell me what you found.”

“My lord, we searched everywhere we could for several days, and found no evidence of any
supreme beings. Though for terrain we found a large forest, a large lake at the foothills of the

17
mountain range, and some very interesting animals… which I hope you will permit me to gather
some day.” Aura gave a glowing smile and her tanned ears twitched.

‘She is still a child, and a lovely, charming girl.’ Ainz laughed and reached out to pat her head,
she flushed rosy at her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut. “Of course Aura, once we’re sure of
the lay of the land, I will let you capture some rare monsters if that is what you want. How could I
refuse the child of my dear Lady Bukubukuchagama?”

His billowing, enthusiastic voice as he indulged the wishes of a girl he saw as the child of a
deeply cherished friend, ‘And almost… more? Maybe? If I had-’ Ainz cut off his own line of
thought as it crashed down on him in an instant. Without the game, without his friends, without
his old life and all its concerns obscuring his vision, Bukubukuchagama’s winsome tease took on
a new life and a new perspective. ‘Or… maybe it’s my intelligence stat or luck stat or something
else telling me what I was too dense to recognize before.’ He crouched down and pulled Aura into
his arms. “Of course.” He said, doing his best to disguise what he really felt and failing miserably.

______________________________________________________________________________

‘Lord Ainz is hugging me! Lord Ainz is hugging me! The Supreme Being, the ruler of Nazarick!
The one who stayed is hugging me!’ Aura panicked at first, but then a moment later her sudden
shock was replaced by the happiest moment of her life, her heart sang and her arms rushed around
the armored body as much as her little limbs could manage it.

“You’ll have the very best life I can give you, and all the beasts you can tame.” Ainz said with the
deepest sincerity and the noise of arguing from the two guardians ground to a screeching halt
when they saw the sudden affection of their master for the dark elf girl.

Ainz swallowed the lump in his throat over the opportunity he didn’t realize he’d lost until that
moment, and the opportunity presented to him now to look after the children of his companions.
He glanced up to see the other guardians staring open mouthed and with quivering around their
eyes as both Shalltear and Albedo tried to determine if they had a new and unexpected rival or
not.

‘Ainz-sama is the best! The very, very best!’ Aura thought and squeezed hard enough that
ordinary armor would have been crushed in her grip. When Ainz began to relax his embrace,
Aura did the same, though her lips formed a little pout when he stood up.

“Go on, finish what you were saying, Aura.” Ainz said while trying very hard not to look at the
two guardians that had fallen to silence over his sudden display of affection for the little dark elf.

18
“S-So we haven’t found anyone worth mentioning, not even any lesser beings except for ones
who are part of this new world. We did find some natives and there is a village of lizard people
not far away, but otherwise nothing but empty land, wilderness, beasts, and monsters.”

“I see, we’ll continue to monitor the situation, set some of your stronger and more intelligent
beasts to patrolling the area covertly until we are completely concealed.”

“Yes, of course, Lord Ainz!” Aura said with excitement, the blush still on her face, she looked up
at him with a little biting motion on her lower lip.

“Do you need something else, Aura?” Ainz asked when she didn’t say anything else.

“It’s just, can-can I hug you again, my lord? That was nice.” Aura grinned sheepishly, and Ainz
crouched and opened his arms.

She dove into them and squeezed again, until Ainz’s grip began to slacken and he stood again.

“Thank you, my lord!” She shouted and skipped away more than happy with the best reward she
could imagine at the time.

“Now, what, Albedo, Shalltear, can I do for you?” Ainz asked and reflexively picked up the
sword he left buried a quarter way up its length into the arena sands. He propped it up on his
shoulder, and Albedo looked down at Shalltear with the same intense, steady eyed gaze that
Shalltear gave when looking up into the eyes of her rival in love.

Before, Ainz swore he was seeing a battle among women, but now it seemed, he was seeing a
truce among the same. The two guardians spoke in one voice.

“Can we have hugs too?!” The pair exclaimed and put on the same pouty face Aura wore a
moment ago, right down to biting their lower lips and gazing up into his eyes.

A piece of his heart cracked, and in spite of the danger of possible discovery, however remote it
might have been, Ainz answered by sheathing his blade, opening his arms, and saying… “Yes.”

The ‘squee’ noise of excitement as they rushed toward him, kicking up a flurry of arena sand
behind their heels, made the risk worthwhile as far as Ainz was concerned.

19
Chapter IV

“My Lord.” Sebas folded a hand over his chest and leaned forward in a formal half bow, at his
back, the Pleiades battle maids curtsied while they stood upon the arena sands before their lord.
Nearby a jealous Shalltear and Albedo stood watching, equal parts euphoric from their chance to
embrace their lord, and fuming that they would not get to go with him.

“I am venturing out into the world myself, and I need one of you to accompany me.” Ainz said
with a sweeping gaze from within his helmet.

Gasps came from the maids and they snapped their eyes up instinctually to look at the concealed
face. While CZ was difficult to read, ‘Her constantly neutral face is beautiful, but definitely not
human enough. A disguise could fix that, but still, even if I could, her manner is such that few
humans would feel comfortable with her.’

“Rest assured, even if you are not chosen today, that isn’t a reflection of any failure in yourself,
only that your design makes you better for a different task, and when I call on you for it, I will
need you to give your all.” Ainz spoke as lovingly as he could to the array of beautiful battle
maids, and though some pouted a little, they were all quick to answer.

“Of course, my lord.” Or some variant of “Whatever you choose will of course be correct.”

“First, know that you will be venturing among humans. If you have a special hatred for their kind,
please step out of line now.” Ainz said, and then wondered, ‘Should I have made that an order?
No… yes, I should have, but it’s difficult to just order around my friend’s children.’

Narberal Gamma and Solution Epsilon immediately stepped backward.

“Next, because I am venturing among a mostly human society, you must be as capable of
blending in as possible. If you lack, or your creator did not give you the means to blend in, please
step out of line now.” Ainz narrowed the field again.

CZ2128 Delta and Entoma Vasilissa Zeta took one step backward.

Only Yuri Alpha and Lupusregina Beta remained. Ainz looked over the remaining pair who stood
with heads demurely bowed at Sebas’s right and left side, their hands delicately folded in front of
their waists.

20
He tried to recall their settings, ‘Didn’t her creator call her ‘The Smiling Sadist’ or something?’
Ainz asked himself. ‘And didn’t Yuri Alpha’s creator make her into a serious workaholic?’ Both
had drawbacks, but the former seemed more potentially problematic.

Ainz pointed to Lupusregina, “Step forward, Lupusregina. I seem to recall you enjoy the suffering
of humans, this sounds the same as disliking them. Or am I wrong? You aren’t hiding your hatred
so that you can accompany me, are you?”

Lupusregina shivered at the almost accusation of dishonesty. She shook her head with wild
denial, “MylordIwouldnever!” She spoke so fast it was all one word and her eyes filled with tears.

“My creator designed me to enjoy the suffering of my friends, regardless of whether they’re
human or not. The more I like them, the more I like their suffering. But I don’t especially hate
humans or anyone else! I promise!” She slapped her hands together with fingers interlocked and
held them up level with her chest as if in prayer. “Please, believe me my lord, I would never lie to
you!”

‘So he gave her a twisted personality.’ Ainz mused and fought the shiver by turning his eye to
Yuri Alpha. He then yanked his eyes back to Lupusregina as a thought occurred to him, ‘I really
didn’t mean to make her cry, great, now I feel terrible.’

“I believe you,” Ainz said, “but does that mean you would be more eager and more readily be
comfortable making friends with them?”

Like she wanted to make up for her twisted personality, she nodded with the same vigor she’d
used when denying the earlier question. “Yesmylord!” Her obvious eagerness made her once
again string the words together as if they were all one.

‘No! Not a decision! No! No! No! No! No matter what I do one of them will be hurt, and I don’t
want that! But I have to pick someone… I should have just chosen away from them and just sent
for whoever I wanted later, but… I needed a distraction from those two.’ He cast a side eye toward
Albedo and Shalltear. ‘I’m a terrible boss ‘and’ a terrible father.’ A depression washed over his
body as he looked at Yuri Alpha...

“Yuri Alpha.” Ainz asked, “Who do you believe is better suited to accompany me on this
expedition?”

21
“Lupusregina Beta, my lord. Her personality is twisted,” she pushed up her glasses when the red
headed maid looked over at her sister and stuck out her tongue, “but she is friendly, outgoing, and
is a capable cleric. Her ability to heal may be very helpful in your travels.”

‘Does she know?!’ Alarm chased away the brief depression, and then he stopped that line of
thinking cold. ‘No, I’ll be among humans, it’s a reasonable thought.’

“Very well, Lupusregina, you will accompany me. Gather traveling gear and meet me here in one
hour.” Ainz ordered, when they were all out of sight, he could swear he heard an almost ‘howl-
like’ “Yahoooo!” from the withdrawing red headed beauty.

______________________________________________________________________________

“So this is E-Rantel.” Ainz muttered when he saw it appear in the distance. ‘How strange, I’ve
seen pictures of medieval european fortresses from the old days, and these look a lot like they did.
But also ‘different’ or maybe it’s just me, it just looks so ‘real’.’ It was a little unnerving in a way,
Ainz thought with goosebumps on his skin as they drew ever closer.

The soldiers on the walls wore cheap half plates of steel and carried steel halberds at an angle
across their bodies. There was a double gate which controlled entry where similarly equipped
soldiers checked goods and monitored entry. Ainz saw no one turned away, and quickly
concluded it was a mere formality.

“It doesn’t look like much, huh, My Lord.” Lupusregina asked, rather than her usual oversized
weapon, she carried an enchanted mace which hung from her side. Her traveling clothing was a
subdued green and brown, but of excellent quality.

Ainz looked down at her from where he walked at her side, “No, it doesn’t.” He admitted, “But
please be polite, and while we are like this,” he tapped his armor and pointed to her traveling
clothing, “do not refer to me as ‘my lord’ or ‘Lord Ainz’ or ‘Sir’ or ‘Sire’ or in any way treat me as
a superior. I am the adventurer ‘Momon’ and you are simply…” He stopped, ‘Wait I didn’t come
up with a name for her… shit!’ He swore without saying it, the amount of time pointing at her
stretched out uncomfortably, “Lupu!” He exclaimed as he grasped for the first name he could
think of.

She fairly glowed, her high cheeks flushed red, “I love it, my- ah, Momon, yeah, I love it.” Her
smile glowed up at him, and they resumed their walk toward the city, though ‘Lupu’ had more of
a spring in her step the entire way to the wall.

22
The outermost district was more than a little rank with unwashed bodies, rotting, fetid garbage
and infrequently drained sewers. They passed by numerous large empty buildings which served
as barracks for soldiers and storage areas for supplies in times of war. Momon and Lupu wove
their way through the grounds with ease, but Lupu could not help but let her distaste come out.

“I envy the fact that you can’t smell this, Momon.” Her nose crinkled in disgust, “It really is foul.”

‘Trust me, I know.’ Ainz thought to himself, but answered, “I can tell, even without a sense of
smell, it would be easy to conclude.” He said when they passed a clogged open sewer drain where
bits of human and animal feces floated like boats on the toxic water.

When they made it past there to the residential district, more women and children came into view.
Ainz felt the familiar shock of seeing children actually running outside, so different from home.
And people actually lingered to talk on street corners, though they were dressed poorly, he saw
them through different eyes. ‘They’re wealthier than the richest of Japan, they can actually go
outside, no domes, no rebreathers, no filters, no poison… unless you count the sewage smell.’

The reality of his own presence was enough to perk up his spirits so that he walked with a spring
in his step the same as his companion, all the way to the inner district. It was a relief, the
administrative center of the city as well as the main merchant district, people shouted their wares
from stalls that sold fruit, vegetables, and bloody meat. Lupu’s mouth watered at the sight in spite
of herself, her eyes lingered a little longer than was proper, but she carried on when her lord’s
long steps carried them past the merchants.

Cleaner than the outer city and broken from it by a secondary inner wall, the quality of clothing
changed as well, the deeper within they went. Better armored guards, better dressed people and,
rather than simple tan or dark cotton cloth, rich dyes and more elaborate accessories, particularly
wide hats, were the norm.

However, it was Momon and Lupu who stood out. A head and a half or more taller than the
average man, clad in his onyx dark armor with twin blades on his back, each one as long as a
person was tall and as wide as a child’s body, he was an imposing sight. Necks craned to look up
at him, children stopped to point and since there were fewer people in the interior than in the
outer area, far from weaving through the crowd, people got out of his way.

“Dark Warrior” was a phrase that reached his ear more than once. Momon chose to ignore it, but
the radiant red headed Lupu, though she didn’t particularly care for the people, did enjoy the
desirous looks of those who caught a glimpse of her.

23
‘My creator made me more beautiful than the lot of mortals. Even I can’t blame them for noticing,
for that matter, that they notice is the first redeeming quality about them.’ She thought and folded
her hands behind her head to enjoy the stroll.

She pretended to ignore their looks, despite enjoying them. However, what truly made her heart
sing was her fantastic luck. ‘I owe Yuri Alpha an enormous favor… thanks to her, I get to spend
all this time with Lord Ainz! They’ll all be so envious!’ She held back her giggle of guilty
pleasure, and kept the corner of her eye focused on her master and, for this role, ‘partner’.

Though it must have taken some time, it felt like mere minutes to Lupu’s senses when they made
their way into a simple but functional large building of wood set on a stone foundation. She
caught the sign as they went in, though what it was exactly was unclear to her as the lettering
wasn’t anything she knew.

Momon put his hands on the rough, unpolished counter as soon as he approached. In front of him
stood a woman with plain features and a red rainbow shaped cap of red fabric with a white frill
over the top.

‘He’s a big one…’ She thought to herself, only her consummate professionalism kept her eyes
from bugging out of her head when she saw not only the remarkable specimen of a towering dark
warrior, but the radiant beauty of the redheaded woman with the mace dangling at her side.

When he said directly in a deep, rich, noble voice, “I need to register myself and my partner as
adventurers here.” the receptionist couldn’t smile broadly enough.

“Of course, I just have to ask a few questions first…” She said while pulling out a few forms.

Eyes from various adventurers bored into their backs while Ainz lied through his teeth to the
receptionist.

Much as she enjoyed seeing her master at work, paperwork bored the battle maid and she could
acutely feel the desire and attention they were getting. Stares of envy at her master, stares of
desire at the contours of her body her close fitting traveling gear revealed, ‘Next purchase is a
cloak, not that I mind the obviously good taste humans have for beautiful maids like me, but…
they’re just not strong enough to be good for anything but torture.’ Lupu let out a mental sigh to
go with the thought and turned around to face the rough looking figures. Most of them wore
cheap iron or copper plates around their neck, and not one of them had a complete set of armor to
their names, though they looked confident enough.

24
More than a few had scars or shaved heads, though some had longer hair that ran down just below
their necks. A wicked thought occurred and a mischievous smile formed on Lupu’s face.

“Pardon me, Momon, if this is going to take awhile, would you mind if I had a little fun?” Lupu’s
mischievous grin set Momon’s hairs standing on end, and for a moment he said nothing.

But he could practically see the tail wagging behind her, her pretty face looked so eager, like a
pup eager to play, he couldn’t help but relent. He waved toward the tables. “Don’t be too rough
with them, and don’t play with any food.”

Her smile split into a laugh when she sashayed away and over to the nearest table. “You look
strong.” She said of the behemoth of a human who sat with a mug of beer in front of him.

He grunted, “You look cute.” He winked, and for a moment she couldn’t help but preen at the
praise of the inferior life form.

“You’re observant, but… I’ll bet I’m not just cuter, I’ll bet you a beer I’m stronger too. The name
is Lupu, that back there,” she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, “is Momon, the strongest man
in the world.”

She spoke a little louder than she needed to, and the thickly muscled adventurer with the
unshaved face looked her up and down, “You serious, girly?”

“Yup.” Lupu drummed her fingers on the table, “Very. I’ll bet you that beer.”

“Whatta you got fer me when I win little pretty?” His mouth formed a lewd smile and from past
his lips came an equally lewd laugh.

Lupu looked away and gave a coy smile out of the side of her mouth. “A story worth
remembering.” She then planted an elbow on the table with her arm up and fingers open.

“Bring it on, boyo.” She mocked his earlier ‘girly’ and he slammed his elbow hard enough to
rattle the table and slosh a bit of golden beer onto the wood, and put his hand in hers.

“Three?” She asked.

25
“We do five, here.” He answered, and their loud talk, having culminated in a challenge, went
from drawing just eyes, to drawing a crowd.

“...Three...four...five!” A bystander called.

Lupusregina didn’t slam his hand down, he began grunting, straining with effort, “Gaahh…
Gnaaahh…” He grunted and groaned, staring bug eyed at the beauty across from him, her arm
didn’t move even a hair from where it had begun.

Sweat sprang to his brow, “What’s wrong Yorig! Get going! I said ‘five’ like a minute ago!”
Someone behind him urged.

“I’m trying!” The beefy man who was evidently ‘Yorig’ groaned.

Lupusregina melodramatically and mockingly brought up her other hand to her mouth and let out
a yawn. “Use a second hand if you want, it’s fine, I don’t mind.”

Yorig flushed, then brought his other hand up, laid it over top, and struggled to force
Lupusregina’s down. “Can I… can I use a martial art…?” He gasped.

‘What’s a martial art?’ Lupu wondered to herself, but gave a little nod. “Go ahead.”

[Lesser Strength] He grunted and resumed, it did no more good than the before.

“You can use it now.” Lupusregina encouraged him, “I’m waiting.”

Open mouths stared in disbelief, “Well, if that’s all…” She said with a disappointed pout to her
lips and slammed the back of his hand down on the table.

She flashed a V for victory with her winning hand, snatched up the wooden mug and drank it
down. “Thanks!” She winked at the man who whimpered as he rubbed his bruised hand and
bruised ego both at once.

She slapped the mug down on the table, “Don’t feel too bad. I’m partnered with him, after all, and
he can beat me all hollow.” Lupusregina winked, “You didn’t win, but you still got your prize.”

26
“Uhwah?” Was all he could manage to ask.

“You got to arm wrestle Lupu, partner of Momon, the strongest man in the world. Plus, pretty
soon everybody will know his name, and that story ought to be worth a few free beers.” She
might have been teasing, but when the dark warrior approached, towering over her and placing an
onyx armored hand on the delicate but powerful shoulder of the victorious Lupu, Yorig couldn’t
help but think…

‘I think she’s right… I got to arm wrestle a legend before it became a legend…’

“We’re done here, come along, Lupu, we’re going to the inn, we just need to pick up a few
supplies first.” Momon said, and she nodded with rapidity and obvious happiness.

“Of course, bye boys.” She taunted them with a playful wave, ‘That wrist will probably hurt for
days if he doesn’t get a healer, it’s not exactly torture, but it is a start. Does that count as playing
with my food though… maybe I should ask?’ Lupu couldn’t help but critique the possible failure
to obey his orders, but ultimately decided against it.

‘No, Lord Ainz is all knowing, if he minded, he’d have said something or wouldn’t have let me do
that. It’s fine.’ She told herself, and followed him out of the building with the passive thought,
‘The beer was barely better than water with a head on it, hopefully somebody in this world makes
something passable.’

27
Chapter V

“Ah, Momon…?” Lupusregina asked when they were out of sight and heading down an alley
toward a supply shop. While her voice was polite, it had a casual air that fit with her easy self
satisfied step following her absurd victory armwrestling at the guild.

“Yes… Lupu?” Ainz replied to her with a hint of relief, ‘Almost any other would be struggling to
be casual, good god what if I’d chosen Narberal Gamma? I doubt she could do it.’

They brushed past a boy with a bowl cut-like head of hair that dangled heavily in front of his eyes
when Lupusregina asked, “You had Albedo with you last time, right? So why not bring her
again? If… if I could ask.” She blushed a little at her own boldness, but it was enough to stop Ainz
where he stood.

“Albedo…” He said, glancing out of the corner of his eye, the young man with the apron on had
paused to stare at them in the same sort of reflexive awe that others did, but quickly moved on,
Ainz trailed off on his train of thought as bitter guilt washed over him.

“There is nothing wrong with asking, but I must caution you to never mention her out in public
again, especially not to me when I am acting as ‘Momon’.” Ainz warned her, “who can say what
might be overheard by the wrong party?”

Lupusregina had her face turned up at him and she tightened her lips, “Yes, of course, so sorry
my, er, Momon.”

“It’s fine.” Ainz replied, ‘Albedo… that poor beautiful girl… what have I done to you, what a
selfish, stupid whim of mine… how do I make this right?’ He wondered, and found no answer.

Lupu sniffed in his direction, “Momon, are… are you alright?”

“Yes, of course, why?” Ainz answered with a sudden rush of panic.

“I just… I am…” She glanced up and down the alley, “what I am. You know how we are with, you
know, ‘our own’. Did I upset you? Please… please forgive me.” Lupusregina lowered her eyes in
deference, and on impulse Ainz put a hand on her head and rubbed gently.

28
“No, it has nothing to do with you, and don’t think about this again, Albedo just has things to do
at home. I can’t have her and I both gone all the time.” Ainz insisted, and without waiting for an
answer they moved on.

They walked in amiable silence. They found a small shop that by the virtue of having its own
building, when compared to the many small stalls closer to the entrance into the city interior,
must have been doing quite well. The walls were lined with shelves, and each shelf had a well
organized array of products. One long hook had a series of leather packs, another pouches for
belts. Another had a stock of herbs in various containers. Some were of cheap clay, a few were
rough stone with a smooth space for labeling, and others were of glass.

Near those were other camping supplies, bedrolls and other materials, but Ainz had a particular
need for which the shop was well prepared. Behind the counter a rotund balding man with a salt
and pepper beard sat on a bench, tilted his head up to look at the towering dark warrior. “You’re a
big’n, I’d remember you. Since I don’t, you must be new.”

“Yes, I need two sets of traveling equipment for adventurers.” Momon pointed to the copper plate
dangling from around his neck.

“Sure, sure, copper plate huh, no problem, you got the coin for it, this stool is right comfortable
and I don’t want to move without money in hand.” His chubby face split in a little laugh, and
Momon politely let out a half of one himself before drawing a pouch of copper coins from off his
belt and tipping it over.

Copper coins fell into a clatter on the counter, and it proved enough to buy motion from the
shopkeep. “Twenty-five coppers per set.” He answered, and walked to the wall behind him, rows
of pre-packed sets of gear were arrayed on shelves, and with strength surprising for a man of his
age, he easily slung two onto the counter from where he stood. They landed with heavy thuds on
the rough wood.

He waddled back to his stool, sat down, and slapped chubby hands down on the gear. “This is a
complete set of rations for seven days, sleeping stuff, flint, and a few herbal treatments for
injuries. You run out of anything, come back here with that pack on and I’ll knock a copper off
any replacement item.”

“Do you sell potions as well?” Momon asked while looking around the shop.

The old man laughed, “Oh, by the four, no. You want potions, the Bareare have a monopoly on
that, and more power to em. They sell at a good price to adventurers, but even then most copper
plates can’t afford em… but…” He looked at the high end equipment and clothing of the pair in
front of him, “Maybe you folk could. Stop by there before you go out, a lot of adventurers who

29
come in with copper plates…” For a brief moment, sorrow filled his face, a glassy shimmer took
over his eyes, “I never see again. Dangerous work you’re goin out to do, and I wish you luck, I
truly do.”

“I-I see. Thank you. Is this area so dangerous?” Ainz asked, furrowing his brow behind his
helmet.

“I wouldn’ta thought so when I was young, ‘course.” The old man wiped his eyes with vigor and
sat up straighter on his stool, “But the thing is, most adventurers are fresh off the farm, got no
idea what to do and big dreams. Like a kid who smells a hot pie in a window, they follow the
promised flavor right into the dog’s yard, and…” He jerked his hand up and snapped his fingers
over the space between him and his customers. “Some of them, they had great potential, others,
well I started mourning them before they left the shop. But one wrong monster is all it takes. One
too many goblins, and next thing you know they’re gone, and the problem they went to solve is a
little bit stronger. Nobody much cares about copper plates except… well folks like me.”

“An folks like Ainzach, at least. But we can’t do much about it except give good gear and good
advice and hope folks listen. Most of the time, they don’t, and I never see em again.” The fat
throat had a thick lump in it, and then he shook off whatever he felt. “Good luck to you folks,
thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Next time you visit, I’ll knock off two coppers, just make
sure there’s a next time.”

“Of course, have a pleasant day.” Ainz remarked and, putting his hand on Lupusregina’s back, he
guided her toward the door.

When they were outside, Ainz’s sense of anxiety began to rise. ‘I may be strong, but with a very
different level cap than the game, there’s no certainty that there is nothing stronger than I. Is the
level cap removed from the guardians as well? Or is it just me?’ His heart palpitations grew only
greater when he glanced sideways down at Lupusregina as he tried to work out which was worse.

‘Could I kill them to save myself? If they turn on me, would they turn on me, are they even
capable of doing so, and if they did, how far would I go to stay alive? Maybe there’s no harm in
telling them what happened, perhaps they would help me fix it. But… do I even ‘want’ to fix it?
Being an Overlord had its advantages… but if I’m being honest, yes, I missed my penis, even if I
didn’t get to use it before.’ His line of thought became only more tense before they entered the
adventurer’s guild hall.

That made him think of Albedo. ‘Love, she must have declared her love more in one day than
anyone else did in my entire life.’ Then he remembered… ‘Never mind, nobody ever declared it
for me at all, so even ‘once’ was record breaking.’ The morose thought was accompanied by a

30
sense of guilt that hadn’t faded between the outside and inside of the building when he passed
through the cheap wooden door of the inn and headed to the counter.

Respectful looks met them immediately. “That’s the one with the crazy strong woman… says he’s
stronger than her… thas the way it goes isn it? They say women like a strong man…” Whispers
went about the room, but nobody barred their way.

A red headed woman’s loving, proud look at a little glass bottle full of blue liquid, turned jealous
when she saw the stares of the vibrant, radiant Lupusregina, and as if seeking comfort from the
vial, she snatched it in her hands and held it close to herself.

Lupusregina ate up the attention, waving her fingers pleasantly at the various patrons. “Room for
two… two beds.” Ainz added, a large man that was a peculiar mix of muscle and fat, with a bald
head and a brown mustache, was quick to answer.

“Five coppers for the room, add two for meals if you eat here. Common sleep area is three
coppers.” His voice was as beefy as his body, but he stiffened when Ainz replied to him…

“Five coppers it is.”

“Ehhh, that is a copper plate, right? They sent you to get supplies and get a room before getting a
job, right?” The man behind the counter crossed his arms like he was defying contradiction.

“Yes, why?” Ainz asked.

The innkeeper glowered at Ainz and retorted, “Because this place here, it’s for lowbies, you need
a team or you’ll die out there. No matter what fancy armor you got from daddy, or how strong
your nursemaid behind you is, it takes more than…”

From the moment the innkeeper spoke, Ainz recognized a problem. ‘Lupusregina established her
strength, and to a degree established mine, but if I let myself be insulted now, my reputation will
drop.’ His time as a salaryman came in handy when he recalled the importance of establishing a
reputation for strength. Even though he was no longer a salaryman, there was no question in his
mind that even though the method of expression had changed, the truth hadn’t. Be thought of as
spineless, and he would be walked all over.

31
Ainz’s hand darted out, took the man by the throat, then, before the many watching eyes, he lifted
him up several feet off the ground. “If you’re going to talk down to me, you need to be bigger
than you are. I can take care of myself, are we clear?”

Eyes bugged out of the big innkeeper’s head and a gurgled nod followed.

Gasps filled the room behind Ainz, warriors knew quite well how strong someone had to be to lift
another person one handed.

To cap it off, Ainz spun and tossed the insulting behemoth of an innkeeper across the room.
Tables and chairs broke, and the redheaded adventurer cried out in alarm.

“No! No! No! No! No!” She howled, and Ainz cursed in his head, he’d gone too far.

‘Damn it, did I break her potion?!’ He wondered, ‘Or did I hurt her?’ A sickly concern for her
wellbeing gnawed at him when he saw that she’d tumbled to the floor.

She glared up at Ainz as soon as she saw him standing over her. In her hand was an intact potion.
“You lunkhead! You idiot! You meathead!” She shouted from down on the floor, “Look what
you’ve done!”

A nasty gash from a broken table leg was dripping blood down her body. “I can’t afford a healer!
I was supposed to go on an adventure today! Now I have to use my potion! Thank goodness it
survived! But still! Do you know how expensive these are?! I skipped drinking, I skipped meals,
for weeks on end, just to be able to buy this and now look at me!”

As women went, she wasn’t bad to look at in his eyes, but more noteworthy was how little she
seemed to care for the pain she must have been in. ‘Impressive. Before I got ‘this’ body, back
home, I’d have wailed over a lot less. She takes it in stride, so this is an adventurer…’ The
admiring thought was enough for him to be happy to extend a hand down to her.

The innkeeper was on his feet and, looking more than a little bit sheepish.

“I felt safe and secure as long as I had my potion, now I haven’t even left town and I have no
choice but to use it!” She shouted at him, despite accepting his hand and letting him pull her up.

32
“Why do you have to use it? Is healing so costly, my companion is a cleric, she could heal you.”
Ainz suggested.
Shocked gasps went over the room, even the redheaded adventurer shut up.

“What?” Ainz asked.

“Don’t you know?” The woman asked him with trepidation when she grabbed another chair and
sat down with only a little wince.

“You can heal party members, but not just ‘randomly encountered people’. That goes against
temple rules, you can be kicked out of the guild if you do that.” She replied.

‘Now that… that is colder than a corpse in winter.’ Ainz thought unhappily when it turned his
mind to the exploitive care systems of his own world.

But his intelligence stat seemed to be working overtime and he had a quick reply. ‘I was
wondering how I would pick a job when I can’t read the language here yet. And here is my
solution.’ He thanked both his luck and intelligence stats and said, “Then why don’t we work
together? I will lend you my sword for this one adventure, and because we are in the same party,
my partner can heal you now.”

The woman’s blue eyes brightened, “Alright, that’s fair. Even… brilliant, plus you’re obviously
strong at least…”

Ainz thrust out his onyx mailed hand, “I am Momon. This is Lupu.”

“Brita.” The redhead said and with some reluctance, took his hand and shook it.

“A bargain then.” Ainz said and looked over his shoulder, “Alright Lupu, heal her.”

The tavern in the inn was quiet while the healing was conducted on the young iron ranked Brita,
and she raised a red brow when it was over.

“What tier spell was that? The last time somebody used a healing spell on me it took several
really painful seconds to work… but that was instant.” Brita asked, and Ainz answered with a hint
of pride.

33
“Fourth tier, and yes, I am a warrior on par with her.” Ainz put a hand on Lupu’s head and she
flushed with pride at his affection and praise.

Brita’s mouth dropped open, “You… really?” Her disbelief quickly morphed into excitement.

It was easy to understand why. Ainz looked her over more closely, her sword looked to be simple
steel, her armor was mostly leather with a few metal studs throughout. To call it basic gear would
be a fair to generous assessment. A full plate armored warrior and a fourth tier cleric were
practically guarantees of survival.

But before her excitement could verbally explode, the double swaying door of the inn echoed
again as several figures breezed into view.

“Brita! Love of my life, will you go out with me after this adventure?!” A sonorous and
mockingly romantic voice called out.

Ainz looked over to the entrance to see a blonde, decent looking man of fair complexion and
moderate build in high boots with leather armor over a red shirt. He wore a single sword and had
a strong looking arm extended out melodramatically.

“You know this one?” Ainz asked, suddenly reappraising Brita, who rolled her eyes.

“Yes, the idiot is Lukrut, and they’re the Swords of Darkness, the people I was going to work
with today. Which… I suppose it means you’ll be along for the ride.” She grinned sheepishly up at
Lupu.

“He’s going to hit on you. You get used to it.” Brita chuckled.

To Brita’s surprise, Lupu had a quick answer. “I do the hitting, and he’ll get used to it.”

“Joke’s on you, oh ravishing beauty! I’m into that!” Lukrut declared for all to hear, spreading his
arms out wide to the sound of a collective groan in the tavern area.

‘Great, a world of perverts… again.’ Ainz mentally groaned as the Swords of Darkness reached for
chairs to pull themselves up to where their comrade sat.

34
Chapter VI

A round of hefty explanations were followed by introductions, ‘Lukrut is a perverted idiot. But
not badly intentioned at least, despite his taunting.’ Ainz mused, though Lupusregina, far from
being merely offended, seemed to enjoy the chance to knock him down a peg with her responses.

“Come away with me and I will love you for a night or a lifetime!” Lukrut spouted the cheesy
line, only for Lupusregina to answer…

“That lie took longer to tell than you would last, I’m sure.” She flashed a winning smile at his
sudden deflation, his arms drooping and shoulders slumped with exaggerated injury.

“You’re so cold to me, Lady Lupu!” Lukrut clutched at his heart as if wounded.

“It takes more than a twig to start a fire. It’s not my fault all your equipment is short on quality.”
She chuckled, but the rest of his teammates roared with laughter as he was handily dispatched in
the game of wits, it went on until a slender swordsman smacked the blonde adventurer in the back
of the head.

His name was Peter, and Ainz noted that despite his youth, he seemed serious and in control, he
wore banded armor over a leather shirt, brown trousers and short, dusty cream colored boots. He
was blonde and blue eyed, making him look much like Lukrut, enough so that Ainz briefly
wondered if they were brothers.

Thankfully the other team members of the Swords of Darkness were more like Peter and less like
Lukrut. Ninya, a serious young man with a talent for magic, had short brown hair, and a
somewhat nervous and humble demeanor. He looked down or away whenever Ainz caught his
eyes.

It tickled at Ainz’s brain a bit. But he wasn’t sure just why yet.

Dyne, a somewhat heavyset, short druid with a thick light brown beard over the lower half of his
face was polite and deferential. He seemed comfortable with Peter being in charge despite being
several years older at least. Dyne was jolly and quick to laugh whenever Lupu shut down Lukrut’s
fumbling attempts at flirtation.

“I suppose I should show my face if we’re going to work together.” Ainz finally said, and took off
his helmet. He wiped his brow, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed the way Lupusregina

35
stared at him with greater intensity than he thought the winsome and playfully sadistic maid was
capable.

With tan features, ink dark hair and a squared, firmly defined jaw, by his own world’s standards
he made a handsome if exotic looking figure. ‘But what about this world?’ Ainz wondered.

“Oh so you’re a foreigner. No wonder you didn’t know how things work here.” Brita chimed in,
“I’ve seen features like yours on people from far to the south, I should have realized it sooner.”

“Yes, yes I’m a foreigner.” Ainz explained and put his helmet back on. Lupusregina’s long and
lingering look didn’t disappear, but nobody else seemed to notice.

“So, who is our client?” Ainz asked, setting his arms on his thighs and quickly shifting the subject
away from where he was from.

Peter reached out and took a mug of beer from a server that approached, and answered after a
deep swig, “A herbalist here in town, Nfirea Bareare. He’s going out to the forest of Tobb to
gather herbs for more potions, we’ll be his bodyguards. Then to Carne Village to buy up whatever
they’ve gathered from the outskirts. Then back here again, all in all, it will only take a few days.”

“Alright, so when do we leave?” Ainz asked as the reality of his first real adventure set in,
excitement began to build. ‘I’m truly outside! A real live adventure! I can hardly believe it!’ He
did his best to disguise his zeal to get going, though he slid his foot a bit as if to stand up
immediately.

“A few hours,” Peter answered, “he’ll be meeting us here, so if you want to settle into your room
first, maybe catch some shut eye so you can be fresh for the journey, go ahead.” He waved a hand
toward the stairs leading to the second floor, and Ainz took that offer up.

“That would be a good idea, we’ll come down in a few hours.” Ainz answered, “Lupu, come
along.”

“Sure thing, Momon.” Lupu replied and followed him toward the stairs.

The stairs creaked under the heavy steps of her master, but despite her excellent hearing,
Lupusregina noticed nothing about it, her eyes bored into his back, doubts swirled in her mind.
Doubts that gnawed at her gut for their treason, doubts that made her hate herself for the treason
of their very existence.

36
When the door closed behind them, Ainz drew out an eighth tier scroll and used it immediately.
The cold blue flame devoured it in mid air, and they were now ‘completely’ alone in that they
could not be overheard.

The beds were simple, cheap wooden frames with a cloth mattress stuffed with straw and with a
soft black bear pelt laying over top of it. The same was true of Lupusregina’s, and the mattress
gave under his weight when he sat down.

Lupusregina however, did not sit. She went to kneel at his feet and look up at him with wondering
yellow eyes.

“Tell me something, Lupusregina, you said you don’t hate humans, but… what are they to you?”
Ainz asked the question that had lingered too long at the back of his mind.

“Toys, I guess, my lord.” She answered reflexively, “My sister, Entoma I mean, is like that. She
sees them as food, but doesn’t care about them one way or the other. I see them as toys, but
otherwise don’t think much of ‘em either way.”

Ainz nodded, “That is pretty much what I thought.” He said, but then she kept staring at him.

“Is there something wrong, Lupusregina?” Ainz felt ice form in his stomach.

Unable to answer any way but truthfully, she gave a nod that stopped with her head hanging low.

“What is it?” Dread began to consume him, his breathing slowed, and fear began to follow.

“May I… may I see your face, my lord?” Lupusregina asked without looking up.

He answered by the slow movement of his hands again to his helmet and pulling it off.

What she did next was a complete surprise. She began to… sniff.

Starting from his feet, the sniff, sniff, sniff continued up his length until she was standing in front
of him, inches from his face. Her bright yellow eyes inches from him, Ainz couldn’t help it.

37
His breath quickened, so close to someone so beautiful, so radiant, her fire red hair and the soft
feminine scent that even to a normal human nose was noticeable in the subtle way every man who
desired women was born to know.

“Forgive me, my lord.” She said when she realized what her instincts had driven her to do. Her
already wide golden eyes seemed to redouble for a moment before she flung herself back and
returned to kneeling at his feet.

“Your nose told you the truth, did it not?” Ainz asked with grim rhetoric.

She didn’t answer him, she didn’t need to, they both knew the truth.

“So, that leaves only one question then, doesn’t it?” Ainz pressed, “Are you loyal to Ainz Ooal
Gown, no matter what he is, or aren’t you?”

Her answer was to remain on a bent knee with silent lips and downcast eyes.

“Lupusregina.” Ainz commanded, ice in his veins froze his heart, “If you cannot serve me as I am
now, tell me.”

“I-I er, well, forgive me, my lord. This is just a lot to take in, if-if I were more clever, like Lady
Albedo or Lord Demiurge, then I’m sure I’d know what to say.” She stammered out, clearly
distressed and flummoxed.

“Just state your loyalty. Can you serve me, or not? I won’t hurt you, I promise. You’re the
precious child of a dear friend. But if even my battlemaids aren’t with me, then nobody will be.”
Ainz said it as steadily as he could, but a part of him wanted to cry out in anguish at the very
thought.

The guardians, his maids and servants, the moment they’d come to life, bizarre as it was, it was as
if he’d watched his own children being born into the world, and now here was the possibility that
one, and if one, all… might reject him as their caregiver and provider.

“I am your servant. Now and forever. No matter what form you take, you are the Supreme
Being.” Lupusregina at last pronounced with finality.

38
Relief flooded through him and he wiped the sweat from his brow for the third time that day.
“Tell me then, will the others feel the same?”

The question was as much a demand as anything else, though she could hear the anxiety in her
master’s voice, and it shook her to the core. Not least that he could ask it, but that she herself
didn’t know.

“M-My lord, I feel Entoma, Pandora’s Actor, Yuri Alpha, CZ Delta, Sebas, and Lord Cocytus
would do so without hesitation. Probably also Lord Mare and Lady Aura… but for the rest? I just
don’t know… forgive me, but I just can’t say. You are the Supreme being, but most were created
with a deep dislike, hunger, or hatred for humans. Even I can’t say what they will do. Forgive my
inadequate answer, master.” Lupusregina answered as thoroughly as she could, which flooded
Ainz with relief.

‘If she had answered with their certain loyalty, I wouldn’t have trusted her answer at all.’ He
pondered and put a hand out to pat her head. “Your answer is more than adequate, but I should
tell you what happened at least. However, you must understand that under no circumstances are
you to reveal this to anyone.”

“No, of course not, this is for you to reveal, forgive my pretension my-” she said and he cut her
off.

“Canine instincts and senses, yes. Of course you would recognize that this was not an illusion.”
Ainz snorted and let out a grim chuckle. “I brought the best suited with me in terms of your likely
loyalty, but also the one most likely to find out the truth.” Ainz rolled his eyes and went on to
explain the morphomantic magic contained in the crystal.

“So, my lord, can you turn back?” Lupusregina asked, biting her lower lip when she asked, unsure
if she even should have done so.

“Maybe. The spell typically expires on its own, most morphomantic magic is dependent on
resistance and chance, and is not intended to be permanent. It may expire, it may not. If it doesn’t,
then I need to either find a way to turn again, or create a way, if no item for that can be found.”
Ainz admitted, then breathed a sigh of relief.

“The good news is, thanks to this, I now know that there are threats in this world that may harm
us. Had I not learned this, I might have sent one of my precious children out without a world item
or any kind of proper protection against high level magic or equipment. If anything happened to
any of you…” Ainz trailed off and stared down at the faithful battlemaid who, had she been in a
wolf form, surely would have been wagging her tail at the affection his words conveyed.

39
“If I have to, if it comes to it, if they won’t accept you… I’ll follow you anywhere.” She said with
steady resolve that was almost like a different person from the winsome and playful one he
recalled from earlier.

‘This is the loyalty I hoped for.’ He thought, but said out loud, “Hopefully it doesn’t come to
that.”

“Agreed, my lord, hopefully it doesn’t. But if it does, I am with you, and I don’t believe I will be
the only one.” Lupusregina replied, but then asked, “Does that mean my lord actually intends to
sleep for a little while?”

“Yes, I won’t take chances out there, and should be at my best. Wake me when it is time to go,
and until then… guard.” Ainz ordered, and the red haired battle maid gave a sharp and loyal nod.

“Yes, my lord!” She said with passionate loyalty, and Ainz sighed with relief when he stretched
out on the bed to take a very brief, and much longed for nap, and not even dreams could touch
him then.

40
Chapter VII

Nfirea craned his neck up at the onyx armored man in front of him. “Thank you for joining us.”
He said in a youthful voice that to Ainz seemed barely into manhood. The alchemist was slight of
build, not especially tall even for the people of this world, if anything, one might say he was
short. But he was open, friendly, and polite. He held a hand out readily in greeting.

“It’s my pleasure. I will do my utmost to ensure a safe journey.” Ainz replied and took his hand,
he gave it a gentle, but firm shake, and then Lupusregina stepped over to do the same.

Lupusregina’s gregarious and friendly smile was infectious, and it made the young man blush.
“Not to worry, we’ll take good care of you. Momon is the strongest man in the world, after all.
He’s as strong as I am pretty.” She winked, then when Nfireia turned a bright shade of red behind
his mop of blonde hair, she laughed at him.

“You’re a fun one.” Lupu added before Peter coughed and interrupted.

“Should we go?” Peter asked, and waved toward the double door.

“Ah, yes, let’s.” Ainz agreed, and took the first step outside.

Along the way Ainz made a point of learning what he could about adventuring through some
roundabout questioning from his traveling companions. They walked beside the horse drawn cart,
and though Ainz thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the feel of fresh, clean air in his
lungs… what he learned was nothing short of disappointing.

‘So they’re just monster hunters in the end, glorified exterminators, like hunting rats that are
particularly dangerous.’ The unhappy understanding, the blow that it was, made sense.

‘They need better equipment, so they hunt monsters to pay for it, many times dying in the process
since they don’t have the equipment needed to ensure survival.’ Ainz read between the lines, and
drew a parallel between the unloved but necessary mercenaries, and the temp agencies of his own
world.

‘You need them, but care nothing for them. No benefits, no loyalty, just use them up and throw
them away. Only the best of them, the ones who survive a long time, are revered in any way.’

41
Ainz recognized when he heard the story of Blue Rose, Red Drop, and other adamantite ranked
teams who were the pinnacle of humanity.

When he asked about the adventurers of the Slane Theocracy, the adventurers only groused.
“They don’t have any. Anyone strong enough to become an adventurer gets drafted into their
scriptures or their army.” Brita explained, though her voice was not exactly thrilled.

“You don’t approve?” Ainz guessed.

“No, definitely not, Momon.” Brita expanded, “Adventurers need teammates to survive. The
Slane Theocracy may arm, train, and develop their talented people, but then they only do their
own thing. If a serious threat appeared outside of E-Rantel, the guild could reach out to all the
other big teams for help, even across borders. It would be up to the teams themselves if they
wanted to help, and most of them would. But the Theocracy only decides what to do based on
politics.” She spat a thick glob of saliva into the dust to express her distaste. “Politics, it never
goes well for common people when that’s the going concern. So, whenever a big threat appears,
the Slane Theocracy mostly ignore it. Look at what’s happening in the Draconic Kingdom.” Brita
continued.

Rumbles of agreement came up from the rest, but Ainz was uncertain. He felt a drop of sweat
grow on his brow, fear of appearing ignorant, even though he was, always made him anxious at
work, and this was no exception.

Lupusregina came to the rescue, “What’s going on there?”

“You haven’t heard?” Peter said when looking over his shoulder, “The Beastmen Kingdom
started invading earlier this year, they used to just raid the border, but now it’s a full fledged
invasion. Beastmen eat humans, so it’s a national disaster that their Queen is trying and failing to
stop. The Theocracy shares a border with the Draconic Kingdom, but all they’ve sent are basically
retirees.”

“Not very neighborly.” Lupusregina answered and played with the mace at her side.

Mistaking her statement for sympathy, Dyne spoke up. “No, it isn’t, we’d help if we could. But a
beastman is a serious threat that anyone lower than a gold rank is unlikely to survive against, and
a gold rank is as good as dead if he tries to face two or more. True heroes are needed to face off
against something like a beastman invasion. We’re… we’re just not there yet.” He admitted with a
head that hung in reluctance.

42
“I see.” Ainz mused, ‘So the elite we faced… still, weak as they were, maybe they could get
stronger, what if…’

The stirrings of an idea began to take shape. But he needed more information.

“Brita, you said that if we’d healed you before we were a team, we could be kicked out of the
guild… what happens when adventurers are removed from the rosters? Where do they go?” Ainz
tried hard to keep his voice neutral.

“They become workers, they don’t get guild contracts, some of them become bandits, but most
take on the more dangerous jobs that the guild just won’t touch. They do have some strong
numbers, and can become workers for all kinds of reasons, like… healing without temple
approval.” Brita said and looked pointedly at Ainz from her place on the other side of the wagon.

“I see.” Ainz answered again and snapped his jaw shut.

“Not a man to waste words…” Was the thought they held around the wagon as their estimation of
Momon went up several more notches.

However, while they were thinking about that, Ainz was busy solving a different issue. ‘My level
cap is gone, but what I don’t know is what the status is for others here, the ‘elites’ of the
Theocracy proved to be pathetic relative to us, but maybe they have inborn level caps?’

‘My own was broken, even Lupusregina doesn’t know that, maybe others can be broken as well?
What if my new level cap is the ‘human’ level cap, if so, should I go back?’

Round and round Ainz turned these thoughts, keeping an ear turned to the rest of the
conversation, learning more about the poor state of adventurers in Baharuth was of particular
interest. As a result of the strengthening central government and military, more adventurers
turned to risky or illegal jobs, many had become workers because that offered more opportunity
than a guild affiliation.

Ainz’s plan continued to develop in his mind, without the certainty of the guardians or most other
loyalties, about which he still kicked himself, ‘Their loyalty should be to you, no matter what you
have become…’ He said that to himself many times, only for his innate human fears about the
nature of their settings and the unknown ways that may influence their choices, to rear its ugly
head again and cause him to keep silent.

43
‘Most players would want to support the Theocracy, heteromorphic guilds were few, and
demihuman guilds were only slightly more common. If others are here now, it would likely be a
human… which is an argument for me to remain as I am to better deal with them. Could I present
myself to the guardians on those terms? They should know the dangers of other players from the
last invasion. On the other hand that might only stoke their hatred to new heights.’ He kept the
sigh he felt rising, confined to his own tumultuous mind. Drifting mentally far from the buzz of
chatter around him.

______________________________________________________________________________

Albedo looked around the room to the other guardians. “Cocytus, what were the results of the
experiments in the arena?”

The insectoid being exhaled icy chill and answered, “He fought well.”

“Could you elaborate? What is he compared to?” She asked, “What could possibly compare to a
supreme being?” Her yellow eyes narrowed with annoyance, and the insectoid tapped his long
spear on the floor.

“Lord Demiurge?” Cocytus asked.

“Yes,” the slender devil in the sharp red suit adjusted his tie as he stood, “I observed through the
mirror how members of new world warrior bands fought. I saw three massacres in the Draconic
Kingdom, and a clash between two bands of raiders between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the
Baharuth Empire, a feisty little skirmish to say the least, nothing large, only a hundred men or so.
In addition, I and Cocytus observed some adventurers and worker groups in separate training
grounds. Thank you, Aura, for finding those.”

Aura flashed him a ‘V’ gesture with her right hand and a childishly happy grin.

“Lord Cocytus, could you explain the rating criteria?” Demiurge asked, placing a hand up on the
shoulder of his comrade.

“Yes. Speed, strength, dexterity, endurance, all were compared on a scale from human to supreme
being.” Cocytus explained, “Lord Demiurge assisted in the creation of this scale.”

Demiurge picked up seamlessly from Cocytus, “Quite right, I evaluated the various fights in
collaboration with Lord Cocytus’s expertise in combat, including the ‘AQ’ of various opponents.”

44
“AQ?” Albedo asked, her interest growing with the dual narrative.

Demiurge seemed, if it were possible, to have straightened himself up even more, and the other
Guardians responded by leaning forward with interest, sensing something remarkable was to be
said. “Aggressive Qualities, courage, and the willingness to press home the advantage. Lord Ainz
is not a warrior, he never defeated Lord Touch Me and never used combat as the method to defeat
Lord Takemikazuchi. However, since coming to this place, Lord Ainz has shown a degree of
growth as a warrior that would be considered impossible if he were not a supreme being. His first
tentative swings when we first saw him use ‘Perfect Warrior’ in Yggdrasil were on par with what,
back then, we would have said was a player of around level fifty.

Albedo’s eyes flashed bright as lightning, the stern rebuke of the harsh critique was on the tip of
her tongue when Demiurge held up one hand to tell her to stop. “However, within the first few
engagements in the arena, he showed skills on par with someone of level seventy to eighty.” His
mouth opened in a joyful smile, “It is as if this world has ‘strengthened’ him somehow.”

“You think Lord Ainz brought us here? Don’t you?” Albedo proposed, a steady look in her eyes,
the anger was gone and an intensity greater even than she thought possible, filled her up like a
pouring rain filled a vessel.

“I cannot rule it out.” He looked around at the other attending guardians. “We all heard the last
Supreme Beings speak of the coming end, and we heard it from Lord Ainz as well, Yggdrasil, the
world we knew, it was all going to die. The Supreme Beings returned to whatever world they
came from, content to let it come to a close, but our Lord…”

“The One Who Stayed.” Aura, Mare, Albedo, Cocytus, and Shalltear intoned with bowed heads.

“Yes, The One Who Stayed.” Demiurge bowed his head then said with reverence reserved for
gods, “We knew he didn’t want to let us go, he cherished this place, he didn’t want it to end…
perhaps he brought us here. Using his matchless might, he carried us to this new world.”

Albedo was silent for a moment, then she replied, “No, he seemed confused about why we were
here, how we were here. I have no doubt he wanted to save us, but then, why everything else?
Why the unfamiliarity with everything?”

“Perhaps he simply reached blindly to find some habitable place for us. Or perhaps something
interfered, he intended us to go to his paradise world with our creators. Perhaps this is all a test,
and he simply doesn’t want us to know how far he went for us? To abandon two worlds to save
us… his humility is profound. He doesn’t want us burdened with the knowledge so that we would

45
not feel inadequate.” Demiurge laid out the various options, and it left the room full of quiet
reflections within every head.

Lord Mare anxiously rotated the staff in quick, jerking motions in both hands, he clutched it
against his body like it was a security blanket, his dark elf ears twitched, and he said, “B-But i-if
that’s true, wh-what do we do?”

“We work harder, of course.” Shalltear answered, for once not preening, her blood red eyes shone
between the fluttering of her lashes as she blinked back her loving emotions for The One Who
Stayed. “If he doesn’t want us to know, then we say nothing. We clutch it to our hearts and show
him we were worth it.”

The eyes of the guardians were on her as one, even those of her rival. The Guardian Overseer
spoke first. “Lady Shalltear is right. If we’ve given him everything already, and he has gone so far
for us, then we must add to ourselves so that ‘more’ is ‘more’. It’s the least that we created
servants of Nazarick can do for the One Who Stayed.”

The rest of the meeting was routine, with trivial discussions about the wildlife and observations
on the village that had wisely come to love Lord Ainz as if he were their own. But Albedo’s heart
was already turning toward whether she should wear an apron… or nothing, when she waited for
him in his room on his return.

______________________________________________________________________________

“...It’s useful to be a talent holder, but unfortunately even that has its limits.” Ninya added to the
conversation, “Mine is good, but pretty limited really. I can learn spells in half the normal time,
but it doesn’t change the total mana I have for casting, so even if I could learn a higher tier faster,
my total mana doesn’t go up with it. So, right now I can only use tier two spells.”

Ainz listened with great interest from the moment he learned about talent holders, but only his
helmet kept the shock from his face at what Ninya said next.

“Some are really amazing, like Mr. Nfirea here, he can use any magical item, no matter what,
without any requirements.” Ninya waved her hand up at the young man driving the cart, and he
responded with a self effacing smile.

“I’m grateful for my gift, but it’s only as good as actually having items, and not many come my
way.” The young alchemist replied.

46
“I suppose that’s true.” Ainz answered with quiet calm while panic ran through his mind.

‘Could he use the staff? What if he could? This one is dangerous. Very, very dangerous. Or… very
useful.’ Ainz was turning that over in his mind when Lukrut chose to attempt to engage the fire
haired and radiant Lupusregina Beta.

“So Miss Lupu, what’s your relationship with Mr. Momon here? Are you husband and wife?” He
gave a wolfish grin toward her, and she paled immediately.

Her tongue was bound for the first time in Lukrut’s brief acquaintance with her, and though it had
been ‘very’ brief, he felt the way the question cut to the quick. All humor and mockery was gone,
and whoever she really was, was laid bare in a vulnerable moment. He snapped his lips shut and
the smile vanished, ‘Stupid question, idiot, that’s far too personal.’

The fire haired woman answered when his moment of humble self recrimination passed, “He
rules supreme in my heart. You… rule supreme beneath my feet.” Her jest was less than her
customary humor, but it still had her usual playful smile.

He accepted the unspoken rebuke and answered with, “Joke’s on you! I’m into that!”

“What aren’t you into, pervert?” Peter answered with a sour look on his face, and a dismissive
snort from his nose.

“Mr. Lukrut, please do not delve into our personal lives.” Ainz interjected, and Dyne quickly
voiced his agreement.

“It’s just rude, you know, prying like that.” The druid said from behind him.

“Right…” He put a hand behind his blonde head and rubbed it self consciously, “Sorry, that was a
bit too much.”

Ainz privately agreed with the sentiment, though it was difficult to resent it overly much, given
that it brought another of Lupusregina’s answers of loyalty.

47
Chapter VIII

Night’s cloak was Clementine’s favorite attire. Amidst the great graveyard of E-Rantel where the
dead existed alone, their own little world apart from the city. Stone graves and small monuments
dotted the area like a little forest of stone. She wove in and out of their haphazard emplacement, a
disorderly place. Were she not who she was and what she was, she’d have tripped a thousand
times.

As it was, the darkness proved no barrier to her, so she sprinted like the wind, the cool air rushing
past as she pushed through it, her feet trod on the graves of the dead without care for the insult
done to them. Her short blonde hair hung loose, framing a twisted smile that, had it been seen,
would have appeared to grow more twisted with every insulting step over the corpses of the
fallen.

At the center of the great expanse was a single tomb, a deep one, reserved for the wealthiest of
the wealthy who were kept superior and apart from the masses even in death, by having this place
to rest all to themselves.

Illuminated by magic, even that soft white glow could not touch the deft movements of the
woman who wore light leather armor to which countless small adventurer plates had been sewn
like a kind of armor over her breasts and upper thighs. She wore long leather gauntlets and
gloves, and at her sides were two sets of enchanted twin stilettos. The way they tapped against her
body during the run ceased almost the moment she’d begun to sneak.

Her breasts rose and fell very slowly, the run she’d just engaged in would have worn out a
common person, and would be very difficult for a soldier even without the obstacles, but for her it
had been barely more than a jog.

She went unnoticed by the light until she was within the deepest recesses of the tomb, said to be
one of the oldest segments, holding some of the nobles and wealthy elites of E-Rantel from some
six centuries earlier. There, nobody would be disturbing the living who chose to occupy it.

“Helloooooo!” She announced, and taking out a stiletto, she began to toss it idly in her hand. The
figure she spoke to was someone like her, at least somewhat.

He was cloaked, hooded in red, and held a staff in his right hand. He was hunched, old, and grim
faced. Utterly unlike the blonde woman in every way.

Every way but the one that mattered to them both.

48
He stood over a corpse, completed his spell, and the body began to move.

She barely noticed when the skeleton got up and went to where he pointed.

They were both utterly twisted.

“Hellooo Dale! I’m here, pay attention to me!” She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward
a little, “You can’t call a pretty girl like me out into the dangerous dark, all the way here, and then
just ignore her.”

“I know, Clementine, I know.” Dale said to the blonde and turned around to greet her.

Clementine was almost to Dale an instant later, her powerful legs launched her forward, and her
stiletto thrust forward ready to pierce his heart. Instead it struck a wall of bones and stopped dead
as the bodies that lined the room in the various catacombs that had been dug into the earth and
lined with stone as a kind of bedding.

“Don’t try that again, or I’ll kill you. And don’t call me Dale. Or would you like me to call you
‘Clemenjuice’ again?” His humorless face formed a toothless open laugh, and her eyes narrowed.

“Try to squeeze me, old man, and it’ll be me who does all the thrusting.” She said, though she
stopped her attack, stepped back, and sheathed her stiletto in a sharp motion while keeping her
eyes on him.

“It was your thrusting that got you that nickname.” His mocking laugh drew an appreciative one
from herself as she acknowledged the truth of her sadistic nature.

“You got me there, Dale.” She teased him with a wolfish grin.

She stared at him steadily, then pouted at his poker face.

When she grew bored, she looked around, “Where’s the rest of your little club?” She was right,
they were alone but for the dead and the undead.

49
“Do not refer to Zuranon as a ‘club’, you make it sound like we’re ladies at tea.” His eyes
narrowed and he clutched his staff a little tighter.

“Oh no, no. I’m sooo sorry.” She gave him a mocking apology, “As a token of my regret, well, I
have a little trinket for you.” She reached into the pouch at her side and took out a little circlet
with jewels dangling down around it, a spiderweb design ran up and down, and at its center a gem
as dark as the night through which she’d run.

Khajiit gasped and forgot her previous use of his second name. “This is-”

“Yep,” Clementine giggled almost girlishly, “The Crown of Wisdom from a Miko Princess, one
of the treasures of the Theocracy. I took it off some poor girl whose head seemed weighed down
by this heavy old thing. But, I guess she liked it a lot, because as soon as I pulled it off her blonde
little head she started screaming, raving, and screaming some more. She had a little accident
though, and fell onto my stiletto.” The giggle became a cackle as Clementine recalled the death.

“It is also useless trash.” Khajiit groused, “If nobody can use it, what good is it? You’d have been
better off bringing me a treasure of the six great gods. That… is pretty little garbage. Barely one
girl in a million can wear that and survive, let alone become a magic item I can use for high tier
spells. If I don’t have such a person, then?” He tapped his staff on the stone beneath his feet, the
echo resounding off the walls of the tomb for several lingering seconds.

“Even I wouldn’t want to tangle with the pervert they’ve got guarding the treasures of the six
gods.” Clementine let out a shudder, “Back when I was still part of the Black Scripture, I fought
the best of their best, and like all the rest of them, I couldn’t lay a hand on her. She’s beyond
humanity, and beyond perverted.” She scrunched her face in distaste. ‘Who would really lie with
a monster just to ensure they have strong children. A real pervert, that’s who. She should just get
off on murder, like me, like a rational person.’ Clementine thought.

“I’d have to take your word on that kind of strength, though I suppose it would take something
like that to deter you.” Khajiit admitted with some unhappiness. He hated crediting anyone with
telling the truth, but in the time he’d known Clementine, she’d never spoken of anything as
unbeatable as Zesshi Zetsumei, the one who guarded the treasures of the gods.

He chose instead to go back to her question rather than continue, “The rest of my disciples are in
other parts of the tomb, they gathered enough negative energy to raise skeletons themselves even
with their own weaker pools of mana. Thanks to the orb of death, this is much more efficient.”

He caressed the spot in his robe where the orb sat, though it had a twisted personality, comparable
to Clementine herself, it was always eager to help where death was involved.

50
“That’s good, because guess what, there’s a guy in E-Rantel who can use the crown...if you’re still
interested in getting your mommy back.” She winked at him, and Khajiit was all ears.

______________________________________________________________________________

‘So real.’ Ainz thought when the chirping of the birds hit his ears and they went along the road,
the warm sun that beat down on his magically created armor, was in a word, delightful. It was
hard not to smile about everything. Not for an instant did he miss his old life. ‘I may not look like
my old self, undead or living, but thankfully I don’t ‘feel’ like my old self either. My old body
was in such poor shape that even ten minutes like this would have had me collapse.’ More than
once he felt his hands coming up to flex his fingers, and the desire to feel the weight of his twin
blades kept gnawing at him like an itch he just couldn’t scratch.

“By the way, there are some special herbs I want to collect on the way to the forest, but I checked
before the journey, and it seems some goblins and ogres were sighted in the area. We’ll be taking
a little longer of a route than usual. Please be on your guard.” Nfirea didn’t sound nearly as
nervous as his seemingly frail body should have made him, and Ainz’s estimation of the youth
went up another notch or two.

Peter glanced behind him to where Ainz walked at the back of the cart, “This is your first time
out, so forgive my asking, but are you two sure you’ll be okay?”

Brita laughed at the question before either Ainz or Lupusregina could answer, “I told you Peter,
he threw Big Richard like a rag doll, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Strength is great, but Brita, you should know that isn’t everything.” Peter’s concern was
unabated.

“Not to worry, we can handle anything we’re likely to encounter out here.” Ainz’s voice was
steady and calm, and Lupusregina chimed in her own opinion.

“I promise we won’t embarrass you in front of the client… too much.”

“Your kindness, it touches me!” Lukrut said, clutching his chest at the heart.

51
“Careful boy, I touch you and it’ll be to hurt you!” Lupu taunted him, then bending down, she
picked up a small rock in her palm, held it out, and while he looked at her, she slowly closed her
fingers over it, and squeezed.

A moment later she opened her fingers, and it was broken to pieces. She tilted her hand to the
side, letting the new ‘pebbles’ fall down to the ground in front of her, where they were promptly
stepped on. She ground her foot into them for good measure. But the smile never left her face.

The men who happened to look back, sympathetically winced at her illustration.

Lukrut did not assert that he was ‘into that’ afterward.

“Let’s stop here.” Nfirea suggested when they passed by a slow moving river. The gentle waters
made no noise, it only drifted on seemingly without end. The constant low rumble of the cart, and
the noise of horses stopped a few moments later when they pulled off the dirt road and moved
over soft grass, ending their detour at the riverbank.

By the water, Ainz watched a dead leaf drifting slowly along. He was instantly curious and
glanced around. The leaf was clearly dead, browned, and what one would expect in fall, but here
it was high summer.

Nfiera looked up from where he was watering the horses and saw the way Ainz’s gaze followed
it. “Is there something wrong, Mr. Momon?”

Ainz shook his head, “Oh, no, I was just noticing that the leaf was dead, but everything else
seems to be alive…”

“Oh, have you never been by the Long River before?” Nfirea said while patting the white neck of
the horse as it drank.

“No… no I haven’t. Why?” Ainz cocked his head at the question.

“Well, that river, or so they say, crosses the whole continent, I’ve seen those leaves before, they
actually have a little magic in them, nobody really knows where they come from or why they
have magic. But wherever it is, it must be autumn now, and it floated all the way here. When I
was little, I wanted to go to the end of the river and find out where it came from, but… there’s no
way of doing that. Not with the Beastmen Kingdoms and Empires, and everything in the way.”

52
Ainz didn’t say anything to that, and Nfirea took it as criticism, returning his attention to the horse
and away from the towering adventurer. “It must sound silly to you, huh?”

“No, no. Actually, it doesn’t.” Ainz answered, “A long time ago, where I’m from, there’s a story
about people who lived in a world of poison, and all they wanted to do was see places that
weren’t poisonous. So they created imaginary worlds, just for the sake of exploring them and
seeing new things. I imagine anyone who is confined to very little, would want to see a lot. Isn’t
that why most people become adventurers?” Ainz watched the leaf until it passed out of sight,
barely noticing the way Lupusregina watched him in turn.

“I never figured you for a poet, Mr. Momon.” Ninya bowed his head to Ainz, and said, “That isn’t
why I became an adventurer, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy my friends, and seeing as
much as I get to. I’m very lucky, and thanks to my talent, I get to be someone who experiences
the world. Even though it’s dangerous, as long as I’m with my friends, it’s worth it. Due to both
my talent, and them, I won’t die as a nameless peasant never going farther than my family’s
fields.”

Ninya blushed and waved his hands out wildly when the stares of the rest of his team were
focused in his direction. “Not that I’m a softie or anything!”

Most of his team laughed, but Lukrut came over and put an arm around his comrade’s neck and
rubbed a knuckle into the top of Ninya’s head. “I knew you liked us a lot, but now you go and say
it!”

“Gaaah!” Ninya said and made a half hearted struggle until Lukrut let go with a chuckle.

They were traveling and chatting again in no time, and while they did so, Ainz could almost see
his friends in their places, when they were few, the guild was new, and before they even had
Nazarick yet. ‘My friends, are you out here… somewhere?’ The sobering thought lingered until he
felt the tension in those around him.

Then the mocking voice of the lecher in the group was gone, Lukrut’s absurd expression of
constant humor became serious, wolfish, predatory when he looked around the wagon. “They’re
coming.” He said with a steady voice.

“From where?” Peter asked, keeping his eyes ahead to ensure their hunters didn’t realize they had
been spotted.

“Over the hill, to our right, there must be around thirty of them at least.” Lukrut suggested.

53
Ainz glanced over to Lupusregina, she tapped her nose, pointed one finger ‘up’ and then flashed
ten fingers.

‘Forty.’ Ainz realized, ‘Lukrut isn’t a clown after all.’

Peter took command immediately, “Mr. Bareare, the best thing you can do is hunker down in the
wagon. Lukrut, stay at range and pull the turtle from its shell, Ninya provide support from back
here and Dyne, stay close and use your magic to slow down anyone who gets past us. Brita and I
will stay up front and use my ‘Fortress’ skill to keep them back while they’re whittled down.”

“Got it.” They said together while Nfirea stopped the wagon.

“What’s the best way to use you two?” Peter asked, glancing at Ainz and Lupusregina.

“Just stay back, we’ll handle it.” Ainz replied, and Lupusregina gave a big toothy smile and
flashed a V sign with her index and middle fingers.

“Easy, don’t worry about it, it’s Momon and Lupu to the rescue, even for perverts and frauds.”
She snipped her two fingers together like a pair of scissors, drawing a glance, and a nervous
chuckle from Luckrut when he took out his bow and drew his first arrow.

“Alright… but don’t worry, we won’t leave this all just to you, you’ve got all the support we can
provide.” Peter promised while Lukrut let the first arrow fly.

It went about halfway to the goblins and ogres that emerged from the tree line and embedded
itself into the grass. It stopped the creatures long enough to make them laugh, giving Ainz a good
look at them.

The ogres were clearly taller than he was, while the goblins were about the size of human
children. The ogres were a dusty brown, while the goblins a forest green. The ogres carried large
broken tree limbs as clubs, while the goblins were armed with swords, knives, and axes. The
ogres wore nothing but loin cloths, while the goblins wore a motley array of different armor
pieces gathered from wherever they could get them.

The enemy charged over the field, their many steps rumbling like distant thunder, and Lukrut
fired his second arrow, it flew like the bird the fletching was taken from, and pierced a goblin
through the eye, toppling it over dead in an instant.

54
[Twine Plant] Dyne said, and green vines grew up just where an ogre stepped and began to wrap
its way around the leg and over the body, holding it fast while another arrow flew through the air
to strike another target.

‘What are they doing…’ Peter wondered just before he severed the head of a small goblin that
came on with more speed than skill. He couldn’t resume his thought as another came on swinging
a sword. Peter caught the blow on his shield and then countered with a thrust that buried the
sword in the goblin’s chest.

Brita had only a half chuckle confined to her own head when she saw the brief disbelief at the
casual approach Momon and his companion had. ‘I told you, but you wouldn’t believe me. Well, I
guess ‘seeing it’ will make it easier.’ The iron ranked adventurer thought when she disemboweled
a goblin that attacked Peter from behind.

The goblin was slumping to the ground when Momon drew out his blades, and an ogre came on,
the massive club went up, and to Peter’s dismay, so did Momon. The dark warrior leapt up from
the ground, much higher than the ogre, then twisting on his way down, by the momentum of his
blade and the force of his own arm, cut the ogre vertically down the middle.

“By the four…” Dyne muttered when, faster than he could see it, Momon advanced against
another ogre and cut it in half across the waist, then another at an angle. Ogres with the strength
of five normal people, torn in half like paper in the hands of a child.

Blood sprayed into the air, and then they watched as Lupu went to work, she took the mace from
her side, and for an instant, Lukrut felt the urge to call out to a beautiful woman in distress.

Then the mace swung, and the red haired cleric broke the ogre’s club. The crack of wood was like
the crack of bone. And if anyone needed a comparison, she gave them one when she spun past the
stump of a club, brought the mace up again, and broke the ogre’s arm. It howled with pain with
the sickening crunch as the bone of its arm pierced its flesh from the inside out from the force of
her blow.

Her sweet smile never left her face when she hit it again, this time in the ribs on the other side of
its body and caved them in completely. It fell with a groan, not a scream, as its own ribs pierced
its lungs, and robbed the ogre of life.

‘Orichalcum? Or adamantite?’ Ninya wondered when he released his magic arrow and struck the
twine plant bound ogre in the face.

55
Thanks to Momon and Lupu, the battle was nothing but a massacre, the mace smashed heads into
pulp, and the swords wrought a harvest that turned one goblin into two with every swing. The
path of their movement could be followed by the trail of bodies and associated parts left in their
wake.

Not a single goblin or ogre fled the now red stained field of grass alive.

56
Chapter IX

“Why are you cutting the ears off?” Ainz asked when he saw the rest of the party crouched over
the corpses.

Brita looked up and winked, “Easy, remember how I said I skipped meals and alcohol to buy this
potion? Well that doesn’t save much… it helped, but this is how adventurers really make money.
The guild buys these things as proof of the kill.” She sliced off the top half of an ogre’s ear and
dropped it in a pouch.

“They don’t drop crystals or other items?” Ainz asked, ‘That is different from the game. So some
things are similar, but not everything.’ He reasoned when the others shook heads in denial.

“No, I’ve never heard of that.” Dyne answered, “That would be nice, but…” he gave a martyred
sigh, “We don’t have that kind of luck.”

“What about old ruins, dungeons, things like that?” Ainz pressed.

“Yes, but only really powerful, desperate, or foolish adventurers or workers would dare to go into
places like that. Nobody knows much of anything about the world from six hundred years ago or
so. At least not among humans, so those places are still found. However, few people are willing
to go inside without serious power on their side.” Peter answered.

“I lost my first party in something stupid like that…” Lukrut looked away and spat into the bloody
pool near to where he crouched. “We weren’t powerful or desperate, just what Peter said, foolish.
Stupid, naive fools who found a place and thought we’d become legends. I don’t even know how
they died, I heard their screams begin in the dark, saw the light of their torch go out, then there
was silence.” He dropped the partial goblin ear into his pouch and pushed himself up from his
knees.

“So I ran. I don’t even know what killed them. I want to go back to that place someday though,
find their bodies, and bring them home to beg their families’ forgiveness.” Lukrut’s lewdity and
jokes began to make more sense all of a sudden.

‘So he’s one of those.’ Ainz reasoned and chose to stay quiet.

57
Lupusregina however, filled the dead silence with her own opinion, laughter, clear, mocking
laughter. “Wow, you sure are stupid, aren’t you? I mean I knew you were dumb, but I thought you
were just the lewd kind of dumb. Not the everyday kind.” She held her belly and continued her
laugh, seemingly barely aware she’d made the young man angry until he stormed over to her.

Whether Lukrut intended to attempt to strike Lupu or yell at her, Ainz didn’t know, neither would
have been survivable. As soon as Lukrut was in Lupu’s face, she put a foot past him, hooked it
behind his leg, and gave him what, to her, was a little tap to the chest, but to him, a hammer blow.

He wheezed when his back hit the ground and his body bounced. “Miss Lupu! What was…” Brita
and Ninya started to shout, but rather than finish him, the red haired beauty put her hands on her
hips and bent over the wheezing ranger.

“Even if their bodies are still there, which, trust me, they’re already long digested, they’re gone,
but even if they were, they’re dead. Being weak like you are, you’ll just add yourself as a long
overdue dessert. And so what if you succeed? Let's say you stumble through the dark, poking that
little twig in places you shouldn’t, find a few bones, shove ‘em in a potato sack and run on home;
what then? Are you planning to dump the bones in front of their mommy and daddy? Are those
even still alive now? Besides, did you drag those idiots in or did they go in on their own? Quit
taking the blame for other people’s stupidity, you’re stupid enough all by yourself.”

Lupusregina straightened up and shrugged her hands out, “Not that I give a damn, one less
pervert in the world isn’t a problem, and it might be fun if you let me watch you make them cry
and clutch at bones and open up those fresh wounds all over again. But if you do plan on being
that stupid, well at least now you know you’re being stupid, stupid.”

Lukrut managed to get his breath back, gasping slowly became normal breathing, the long hiccup
like breath eased off, but he didn’t stand up, he stared up at the sky in relative quiet.

“You’re really smart, Lupu.” Lurkut finally admitted.

“Well, I’m not using blood to run two heads at once. Stop putting it all into powering the one on
that twig, and maybe you can begin to properly appreciate the unused one.” She heaped her
mockery on him and with a toothy smile, held out her V sign for victory again before stepping
‘on’ his chest and then walking on.

“If you peeked, I’m taking your eyeballs.” She said to the man who once again began wheezing
behind her.

58
“So cruel… I’m touched.” Lukrut moaned, costing several minutes more before he could recover.

______________________________________________________________________________

The hours of travel and peppering of Ninya and the others with questions about magic,
adventuring, and the local politics, left Ainz with new questions and not enough answers.
However, they didn’t seem to mind as it passed the time on the road and neither did he.

The wide-open world, with its endless sky and horizons that could be seen for miles upon miles,
made Ainz think of ‘explorer’ players. They cared nothing about levels, or bases, they jumped
into Yggdrasil wanting nothing more than to explore and see what they hadn’t seen before. ‘I
thought them fools before, but now? Now I think I understand them. Of course, out of loyalty to
my friends, my guild, and the children we made there, I must be a good ruler. But if it comes
down to it? If they learn the truth and reject me?’

His heart shook in his chest at the very notion, an ache settled there that he knew would someday
demand an answer, but instead he focused on the other half of that thought, ‘Then if I were alone,
or with a handful only? I could enjoy exploring this world for the rest of my days.’

It left him conflicted for most of the remaining walk for the day, until at last they settled down
into a campsite for the night. The roaring flame had a meal of thick stew ready in short order.
Ainz reached up for his helmet, removed it, and accepted the wooden bowl that was offered to
him. It wasn’t exactly smooth, and for a moment he wondered if he’d risk a splinter on his tongue
when he took a bite, but seeing his subordinate snatch the bowl and dig in with gusto, he could
hardly complain.

An explosion of flavor hit him in an instant, though it was a little more salty than ideal, but
compared to the tasteless rations of his former world, it was a feast. ‘Nazarick can do better,
vastly better, but… wait, when was the last time I ate?’ He asked himself and realized, ‘Before I
logged on. I’ve been so stressed with everything that it killed my appetite, but now I’m starving.’
He almost dug in with the same gusto Lupusregina was showing, her spoon flying from bowl to
lips like she was in a duel with her food. ‘Werewolf.’ He recognized the lupine trait, but despite
his hunger, Ainz took his time.

It was better that way, the full flavor of the chicken, potatoes, and broth came out as it slid over
his tongue, he had to fight to suppress the full expression of his enjoyment over the meal, lest he
break his calm exterior.

“You truly were impressive out there, Mr. Momon.” Dyne said with an open, friendly smile.

59
“Yeah, see, I told you!” Brita added and stamped her foot, “I’ve worked with you guys a bunch in
the last year, and you still don’t take my word for things.”

“You also said you were a man when we first met.” Peter pointed out, and the red headed Brita
crossed her arms in a huff.

“Because most parties won’t take women adventurers, and here I am, just an occasional extra
hand.” Brita snapped with a hint of bitterness.

“Are women adventurer’s frowned on here?” Ainz asked with interest at this unlooked-for
development.

“Not exactly.” Lukrut answered, “But a single woman in a party of men tends to pose problems,
so you don’t see many mixes. Women adventurers tend to form their own teams, or, like Brita, get
to occasionally join one like us for a short term assignment.”

“I see.” Ainz said, “That explains your conduct toward my partner here.”

Lupusregina felt the blush rise when her lord referred to her as his ‘partner’, but instead of
melting, she narrowed her yellow eyes. “One word, pervert, and there’ll be another woman in this
party.”

Lukrut chuckled, but said nothing as Ninya got up and spoke. “‘Scuse me, I’ve got to ah, go.”

Ninya turned and rushed awkwardly over to the treeline near to their blazing fire.

“Is it safe for Ninya to go alone?” Ainz asked as he watched the retreating back.

Peter answered, “No, not really. But Ninya gets really upset if anyone tries to go with him, people
have their own things, I guess. And here is probably as safe as anywhere to be alone.”

Lupusregina stood up and stretched out, “Well, I think I need to do the same, and if one of you
follows me…” She looked over at Lukrut, “Pervert,” she whispered, “you’ll be crawling back.”

She was gone before Lukrut could tell her what he was into.

60
Ninya squatted with his pants down and sighed as he relieved himself. “Thanks to the gods… I’ve
been holding that in for hours.”

Ninya closed his eyes and pitied the insects he drowned, “So, I was right.” Lupusregina said when
she poked her head out of the bush behind the magic caster and right beside Ninya’s head.

“I always know a woman when I smell her.” Lupusregina grinned with confidence while Ninya’s
mouth fell open in a silent scream.

Before the silent scream could become audible, the lightly tanned hand of the adventurer Lupu
came out and covered Ninya’s lips with two upright fingers. “Now now, use your bedroom voice,
I’m just curious about why you’re lying to them?” A cruel, sadistic smile spread over the cleric’s
lips, “Are you afraid that pervert will try to have his way with you? He’s harmless, I’m sure of it.
Or is it the rest of them?”

“L-L-Lupu I… err… what…” Ninya’s sudden fear turned into embarrassment, her blue eyes were
like saucers as she tried to wrap her mind around the absurdity of her circumstances.

“Well, what is it, oh and pull your pants up, you finished about twenty seconds ago.” Lupu said
and straightened up, rustling the bushes and bringing Ninya out of her stunned state.

The little magic caster scrambled to grab her pants and pull them up to her waist. She was still
fumbling with the cheap iron buckle and moved to stand in front of the temporary comrade to
spout denials, but in the face of the red haired beauty, she could not find even the words to lie.

She slumped, tears of rage in her eyes, “Please… please don’t tell them. I’m… I’m not afraid of
them raping me or anything, they’re decent people… but they’d kick me out. I don’t want to get
kicked out. I can’t get kicked out. I can’t…”

“How come?” Lupu asked her with a cockeyed look.

“You heard them, there aren’t many female adventure teams and male teams won’t take women
on, there’s always someone who falls in love, or maybe more than one and they fight or… nature
takes its course and they have to fill the slot when she leaves. Small teams can’t take that hit, so
they just… they just don’t let in women unless they’re really powerful. If I were higher ranked that
wouldn’t be a problem. Like Blue Rose, or like… like you’re going to be. But I’m this.” Ninya

61
held up her iron adventurer plate. “We’re a copper for twenty, so they can easily replace me with
someone else.”

“They hired Brita, didn’t they?” Lupu pointed out.

“Yes, but for one job, and Brita hasn’t got a team, she finds work for other adventurers and then
gets hired on as a bonus so she can go too. She finds out stuff that isn’t even put on the job boards
yet. Even so, she only gets the short jobs that last only a few days. That would be fine, but…”
Ninya shut her eyes and snatched up her staff to clutch it tight to her chest.

“But?” Lupu pushed.

Ninya felt no mercy from the cleric, ‘I knew something was off with her, she’s too open. Too
friendly. She’s got a truly twisted personality beneath the surface. She’s got me pinned down and
can expose me if she wants, there’s no choice, I have to tell her everything.’

“My… my sister. She was taken as a nobleman’s plaything, they call her a concubine, but really to
someone like that noble lord, she was just a toy. Tsuare was always beautiful, that’s why he took
her. I became an adventurer so I could-” Ninya was stopped when Lupu guessed.

“Rescue her?” The mocking smile of the cleric taunted her, but Ninya denied it.

“No, I can’t possibly fight a castle full of guards, even if I did, there’s nowhere I could run. I
hoped to make enough money, fast enough, that I could buy her back. Adventurers can make a lot
more money than peasants just regularly working, and we sometimes find useful things. So I
started doing this in the hopes of getting lucky, finding some treasure or saving up enough to buy
her out of wherever she is now.” Ninya lowered her head, it was the first time it had ever been
said out loud.

And now that she said it, it sounded utterly hopeless.

“Wow, is your whole party dumb? I thought it was just the pervert.” Lupu said with a hand on her
hip and scratching her head. “I guess it makes sense you want to help your sister and all, I’ve got
sisters too. But here you are running around scratching for coins to throw at the ones taking turns
on her? Damn, this whole country must be stupid.”

62
“What am I supposed to do!” Ninya hissed through tears, “I can’t take a castle by myself, I’m not
adamantite, I’m not strong, I’m just Ninya! A nothing peasant with a bit of magic talent and…
maybe just enough courage to risk my life.”

“That.” Lupu pointed at her, a vicious smile plastered in place. “Risk your life. So you get up
enough gold or silver or copper or whatever your sister’s holes are worth to them,” she paused to
let Ninya sob at the brutal assessment, then went on without mercy, “Throw them at the bastards
and they give whatever leftovers there are of your sister back to you. Then what? You might be
dumber than the pervert. She spends the rest of her life scratching at the dirt on a farm waiting for
the next one to take a fancy to her? Or maybe she’s so mutilated that she’s lucky nobody is
attracted to her anymore.”

Lupu’s words cut at Ninya’s heart like animal claws, but the cleric seemed to have no pity, “It
doesn’t seem to me that you’ll have accomplished anything. Look at that.” Lupu pointed to the
ground and out of reflex, Ninya looked. A group of ants was dragging a number of large insects
toward their little hill.

The mockery and insults of the dangerous cleric were hammered like a smith beating hot iron as
she pummeled the little magic caster’s soul with merciless words. “I’ve seen the soldiers of this
country, they’re generally pathetic so far. One jump above the average peasant. If you don’t like
how you’re being treated, then do something about it, or you deserve what they do. You deserve
whatever you let them get away with.” She put her hands to her cheeks in a mock dramatic
gesture and in a taunting parody of a woman’s voice she said, “Oh boo hoo, they’re raping our
sisters, guess we’d better give them coppers, and hope they stop. Oh boo hoo, they’re taking our
crops, guess we’ll go hungry.”

She then dropped the mockery and taunting, turning to a vicious tone with a predatory baring of
her teeth as she spoke, “The lot of you are idiots. Just kill them. There are a bunch more peasants
than soldiers, you can make weapons out of whatever you want. And they’ve got to eat. Who will
feed them if you don’t?”

“Are you… are you telling me to start a rebellion? That’s treason.” Ninya gasped at the almost
blasphemous suggestion.

Lupu shrugged, “I’m not from here, it’s not treason for me. And treason goes two ways, it seems
to me that if your noblemen are doing that kind of thing, they have already betrayed you. What
else can they do to you as punishment that they’re not already doing to you for fun? Starvation?
Kidnapping? Rape? Torture?” Her yellow eyes were wide as if she was enjoying the suggestions,
“If you don’t do anything about it, what do you expect?”

63
“You’ve got nothing, so you’ve got nothing to lose, and you do at least have guts enough to risk
your life, so why not risk it doing something that isn’t stupid? Maybe then you can get her back
‘and’ get even.” Lupu gave a mild titter, “Or don’t, it’s night there now, while you’re drowning
bugs pretending to be a man, I’m sure your sister is hating being a woman. You could have
started three rebellions in the time it probably took you to get to iron rank, and three more by the
time you’ve saved enough to get on your knees and beg them to take your money for her
‘remains’ if she’s alive or dead.” The titter died and Lupusregina turned and walked back into the
brush, leaving Ninya to sob alone beneath the shadowy night, concealed from the stars by the
branches of the trees.

‘That was fun.’ Lupusregina mused as she sashayed her way back to the camp.

64
Chapter X

When Lupusregina left with that twisted smile on her face, Ainz felt a little anxious, but brushed
it off. ‘She’s been watching Ninya curiously for awhile now. Is she interested in that one? No, I
think I’d remember if any of their settings included an attraction to the same sex. But then again I
can’t rule out Peroroncino’s influence anywhere.’

“Your teamwork is very good.” Ainz said, choosing to break the brief quiet when he held out his
bowl for another helping.

Nfirea chose to help him, accepting the bowl, and laddling more stew into it.

“Thank you, but that’s what happens when you work together for a long time, it isn’t anything
special. The Swords of Darkness have been at this for… oh, about four years now. We’ve gotten
very good at responding to one another’s actions without looking.” Peter said, praising his
comrades and sending Ainz’s estimation of the young leader up another notch.

‘Good, a leader should praise his subordinates before himself.’ Ainz thought, and added, “Yes,
that happens. I was with my comrades for many years, we were seamless, and it seemed we could
overcome anything… anything…”

The morose sense of loss hit him like lightning out of the sky as Nfirea handed back the bowl. It
slipped from Ainz’s nerveless fingers. The bowl fell to the dirt and the stew splattered over the
grass. “Forgive me… I… I seem to have lost my appetite, I’m going to go for a walk.”

When he was gone, Nfirea turned to the others, “What was that?”

“He lost them, I’d say.” Peter proposed.

“Yeah, definitely. They must have been close, I know that feeling all too well.” Lukrut
acknowledged. “The dead have no more problems, it’s only the living who suffer the loss.”

“It’s hard to imagine what kind of comrades could stand beside a man like that, but I would say
that’s the case.” Dyne added.

65
When Lupusregina returned, they looked behind her for Ninya, “Don’t worry about him,” the red
haired woman said, thrusting a thumb back over her shoulder, “He’s just having trouble getting
something out. He’ll be back eventually.”

The cleric’s smile vanished when she looked around, “Where’s Momon?”

“He said he was going for a walk, he mentioned his comrades and then…” Peter waved a hand in
the direction to which Momon departed.

Lupusregina’s face was serious, her lips tight shut, “Yeah, they’re gone, they’ve been gone a long
time. I knew them very well, they were amazing. Now he’s the only one of them left behind, and I
make a pale substitute.”

“Aww no! You’re amazing, Lupu! I’m sure he thinks so, otherwise you wouldn’t be with him.”
Nfirea insisted, “Not just anyone could stand beside a man like that!”

“The kid’s right, you know.” Brita insisted, “If you weren’t really useful, you wouldn’t be there.
No warrior worth their salt keeps anyone by their side that they can’t rely on. I won’t say I know
what his old comrades were like, but you know, he’s got you at his side right now and that has to
be so for a good reason.”

‘They’ll look beautiful screaming.’ Lupusregina thought to herself. ‘Ninya, the Pervert, and the
rest of them, I could get used to this, but oh how wonderfully they’d scream for me.’ Her smile of
pleasure was assumed to be at their praise, as she imagined their warm, open expressions twisted
into terror and fear.

It was so enjoyable that Lupusregina felt like she might lose control and climax in bliss at just the
thought. But she was a battlemaid before all else, and kept it clamped down enough to rise and
say, “I’m going to find Momon, he shouldn’t be alone now.”

“Of course…” Sympathy passed to her through the tone of their words, and soon Lupu was out of
view.

“So do you think they’re lovers?” Lukrut asked when the party was by itself again.

“Is that always where your mind has to go?” Brita asked with exasperation.

66
“Yes.” Lukrut said with a smirk, “Besides, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Look at her, what man
wouldn’t? And the usual rules aside, a pair doesn’t have that problem, especially when they’re
both crazy strong.”

“I actually agree with our resident pervert.” Dyne said and rubbed his chin in thought, “Women
are naturally drawn to strong men, it’s just a fact of life, and he’s probably on par with the
Warrior Captain.”

Nfirea gasped, “Wait, really? And you think women will just, you know, be interested in him on
that alone?”

“Probably.” Peter answered, “Think about it, what else matters but strength? You can’t expect
anything else to matter when that is the difference between survival and death.”

“B-B-But what if, you know, what if there’s someone else who likes her and, well he’s, and she’s,
and they’re really close and…” Nfirea stammered, and began to blush under Lukrut’s perverted
grin.

“Oh so you’re worried he might steal a girl you’re interested in. Is that it, Mr. Bareare?” Lukrut
swept a hand back through his hair and Nfirea didn’t even try to deny it.

“Well, work hard! If you give up, it’s all over.” Dyne said in the deep voice of a man who had
seen it all before.

“Oh, give the kid a break.” Brita groaned, “Pack of brutish idiots with their lower brains in their
pants…” the woman of the group said and marched over to Nfirea. She crouched in front of the
blushing young man and put her hands on his shoulders, “Listen here, if you want her, you better
say something. They’re wrong about strength always being enough, but one thing that’s enough
for a definite no is cowardice. If you don’t have enough guts to tell her you like her, or love her,
you’ll watch her fall into someone else’s arms one day and that’ll be that. Our plump little druid
isn’t wrong about that, if you stop at dreams, you’ll die alone in reality.”

“It’s getting late, we should start to turn in.” Brita suggested, and one by one their bedrolls were
laid out.

Ninya returned as they were made ready, “I’ll take first watch.” She said to her team, and one by
one they, without argument, drifted off to sleep.

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‘Rebellion. Wow, I never would have even considered that, but… she has a point. I’ve been
scrabbling for coins for four years now, barely making enough to keep myself alive and hoping to
get strong enough to make more money and get her back. If I’d rebelled and gotten people to go
with me? Maybe I’d have failed and died, but that can be true out here too. I could be killed at any
time, one bad arrow and it’s all over. She’s right though, the guards aren’t invincible, maybe I
could do something.’ The thought ran through Ninya’s mind over and over as she dreamed of the
possibilities.

She was still doing so when she saw Momon and Lupu return, she traded a few words with him,
and he went to lie down to rest, but his companion instead sat on the log right next to Ninya
herself.

“So, still thinking about it?” Lupu asked with an almost sultry look.

Ninya gave a little frightened nod.

“But I don’t know anything about war.” Ninya muttered.

“One of Momon’s friends was a military otaku… don’t ask me what that means, I don’t really
know the details, but he used to go on and on about war, how about I tell you what he said, they
were the wisest people I ever knew. Maybe you can do something with it.” Lupu suggested.
“Or…” She held her eyes close to Ninya, the yellow loomed like twin moons, inches away from
the little brown haired mage.

“It’s night time isn’t it… do you think she is sleeping?” The words loomed like the yellow eyes,
and like something born of nightmare hollowed out Ninya’s miserable soul.

“Tell me…” Ninya begged. “Please, Miss Lupu.”

“One time while I was with them, he started reciting this book from memory, it began like this:
“The Art of War is of vital importance to the state…”

And so time passed as Lupusregina recited what she remembered, and a world of unlooked for
information was opened in the mind of the little mage. She was so engrossed that they went on
through three sleep shifts and didn’t notice it until the recitation was done and she’d peppered the
ever more seemingly dangerous cleric with questions it never even occurred her to ask.

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When she lay down at last and Lupu took over the watch, to Ninya’s surprise, she slept, and
soundly, with a decision hard as iron in her heart.

______________________________________________________________________________

Ainz lay awake longer than the others realized, first troubled by his longing for his absent friends,
but also filled with a collector’s curiosity. Ninya had used magic he’d never seen before to create
a system of alarms around the camp when it had been made. That was a nervous sort of thing to
see. ‘That magic didn’t exist in the game. Yes, that is fairly benign, but what about other magics?
Are there spells beyond Supertier? Or even if there aren’t, that doesn’t mean there are no spells
that cannot hurt us badly. What if there is a spell that does instant death to werewolves? Or
something that just makes succubi so horny that they can’t fight? Who knows?’

He barely lent an ear to the lessons of Punitto Moe being passed from Lupusregina to the little
human mage. Ainz had problems of his own, but also the beginnings of a solution. ‘Those goblins
and ogres gave me some exp, not a lot, but it’s definitely true that I can gain it. I can gain exp
from summoned monsters, and from living beings here and I get more from the more powerful
ones. A single ogre was worth ten times a single goblin.’

The question of what humans were worth was an open one, but one thing he noticed. ‘One of
those goblins must have been more powerful than the others, because it gave me double what the
other goblins did, that means the more powerful the member of the species, the more exp I can
gain from killing them. If that holds true for every species, then I can start ‘grinding’ again and
build up to the new cap quickly. However, what it doesn’t tell me is about the caps of others.
However, there ‘are’ some people considered ‘expendable’ who will take great risks and whose
lives have wildly different values to Nazarick.’ While he thought this, he candidly admitted that it
was partially fear based. ‘Something to counterbalance the others if they give into their settings
when the truth comes out. I doubt they can reach guardian strength, but what if I can grind them
‘safely’ in the Arena with controlled monster summons? It’s a worthwhile experiment at least.’

He yawned as the plan took shape, and drifted off to an uneasy but optimistic sleep.

______________________________________________________________________________

The next day they were up and on the way, it didn’t take long to reach the great forest of Tob.
“Gather what you need, I’m going into the forest, Lupu, come with me.”

The others were gathered around assisting Nfirea and keeping watch when Momon and Lupu
began to fade into the green amidst the trees.

69
“Alright, Mr. Momon, please be careful and call for us if you need help.” Peter said with some
amiable concern in his voice.

Ainz waved a hand behind him, dismissive of the concern, and when they were well out of sight,
he looked down at Lupusregina Beta. “Are we alone?”

“Yes, My Lord. We’re far out of their range of senses.” Lupusregina answered and glanced
around the forest, the smells of living things were everywhere, the sounds and sights, vivid and
inviting, calling to her to hunt and kill. She licked her lips, but remained passive at her master’s
side.

Ainz cast the message spell. “Aura, did you find it?” He asked.

“Yes, Lord Ainz. Asleep in a cave, it’s a neat looking thing, do you want me to wake it?”

“Yes, wake it and draw it to me.” Ainz answered and cut off the spell.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Minute passed after minute, impatience began to build.

Just before Ainz could cast the message spell again, Lupusregina spoke.

“I smell it. It’s coming, should I, My Lord?” The battlemaid asked and fingered her mace.

“No, no leave this one to me.” Ainz replied with breathless anticipation, his breath quickened and
he drew his swords smoothly out of their place on his back.

A green snake tail darted out of the woods, he saw it coming far in advance, and deflected the
head of the snake tail with ease, batting it away like a child would an insect.

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“Impressive you are. Strong you must be. Leave you now must, or kill you I will.” The curious
creature announced from concealment.

“A brave thing to say when you’re hiding out of sight, submit to me, and I will spare your life. I’ll
let you be a pet to one of my children.” Ainz offered, and the snake tail rose into view, shaking
with anger.

“A pet not I am, dead, you are. A battle for our lives begins, survive, only one of us can.” The
voice said, and charged into view.

Ainz dodged with ease, raised up his sword, spun underhand, brought the sword up, and then
brought it down just behind the head of the monster, easily avoiding its claws and teeth, and it fell
at his feet with a spraying of blood.
The head separated from its body, the life began to go out of its eyes almost immediately, it
seemed to understand that it was dying, but without lungs to propel air, it could no longer speak,
its mouth moved, but made no noise.

Red stained the ground, and the tail behind it fell limp and lifeless behind it.

“A hamster monster?” Ainz asked when he looked down at the beast. The claws and teeth were
sharp enough for sure. The fur was soft to the touch, but when he pressed, he felt a thick hide
beneath. The tail was indeed that of a snake, the head gone lifeless along with the rest of it. Black
eyes stared at him from the front and the back alike, accusingly as if he were guilty of something.

‘How much exp did I get… let’s see…’ Ainz wondered and focused on his stats. ‘Twenty times that
of the strongest ogre… but still not very much, I’m still a long way from level one hundred and
one. But, with this, I should be able to rank up and get more advanced jobs very quickly. I need
money for Nazarick of course, but more than that, I need more power, I want to see where this
new level cap goes.’

“Lupusregina, take the head, we’ll rejoin the others.” Ainz ordered, and with a contented grin, she
nodded in acknowledgement. “What about the rest of it, My Lord? It’d be a shame to waste the
body.”

Ainz brought his onyx colored armored hand up to the chin of his helmet. “You’re right… call for
Aura, have it taken back to Nazarick, and let Demiurge have it for his experiments. We must
learn all we can about the life forms of this world if we’re to prosper in it.”

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“At once, my lord.” Lupusregina replied, sending the message while they walked back toward the
others, holding the oversized hamster head in hand like the trophy that it was.

72
Chapter XI

When Lupusregina held up the head of the hamster, they all took a step back in shock, eyes wide
as stars, “Even dead, those eyes radiate power and wisdom. How could you ever kill such a
beast?!” They exclaimed.

“I used my sword until it stopped moving.” Ainz answered the question with a dry tone. As fights
went, it had been frankly disappointing, but they detected none of that disappointment.

“Amazing…” Ninya and Brita replied together and with slow, sometimes flinching motions of
their hands, they reached out to touch the fur of the head.

“The Wise King of the Forest has taken down Orichalcum ranked teams before, few survive their
encounters with him. To think you two alone could kill him…” Dyne said with breathless wonder.

“Nah, I didn’t do anything. Momon killed it, I just stood by in case he needed me. It was easy for
him.” Lupu said proudly of her partner, her chin raised as if daring them to deny her claim.

Nobody did. “Amazing… you’re amazing…” the praise came from multiple quarters as the others
clustered around the head of the beast to take turns touching it, unperturbed by the blood that still
dripped from the beheading with a bit of spine still dangled down. Nfirea appeared a bit green at
the sight, and declined to handle the head, but he wasn’t short on praise either.

Or with curiosity.

“Peter, Brita, Mr. Momon, if it’s alright, could we stay another day in Carne when we get there?
I’d like to study the fur and see if I can apply it to any potions. I’ll pay you all extra for your time
of course.” Nfirea practically pleaded.

Ainz quickly called up his salaryman experience and rattled off conditions. “It’s fine by me, as
long as you compensate us for the extra supplies we use as well, and any expenses we incur while
there. And of course pay for the materials and let me benefit from anything you develop by
studying the fur.”

“Were you a merchant at some point?” Peter half joked, only for Ainz to laugh at him.

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“Yes. You might say that.” Ainz answered, and the laughter stopped.

“Yes, of course, that’s all fair, Mr. Momon, how about the rest of you?” Nfirea pressed the rest of
his companions.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Brita added, “To be honest, I’ve been thinking about giving up on
adventuring anyway, and I’d like to check the village out, it’s getting harder to find teams, and if
this has taught me anything, it’s that I’ll never reach the top, not with a peak that high to head
towards.” She pointed up toward Momon’s head and looked up at him. “You’re amazing.”

“Fine by me, an extra night in the village won’t be a problem. It’ll even be nice to relax for once.”
Peter answered for the rest of his team, who nodded along with him.

The trip toward Carne Village was uneventful with warm sun, fresh air, and thanks to a little
preservation magic from Mr. Bareare, the head didn’t stink up the journey. All in all, it was just a
pleasant stroll, right up until it came into view when they reached the top of the dusty road that
went up the hill overlooking the village.

“There wasn’t a wall here before… what happened here?” Nfirea looked down on the village, saw
a series of burnt up homes, toppled timbers, and the charred remnants of places where people
onced lived and slept. “An attack? Then how is it still here…?”

“You won’t find out from the top of the hill, Mr. Bareare, we’ll have to go down there and ask.”
Lupusregina said with flat out sarcasm.

“Right, Mr. Momon, could you take the lead? You know, just in case.” The young alchemist
asked, and without criticism, Ainz did just that.

“There are goblins ahead, should we kill them, Momon?” Lupusregina asked.

“No, Lupu, you smell humans down there too, don’t you?” Ainz asked, and she gave a slow nod.

“Humans, but no fear. They’re probably not hostile.” Lupu said to the group, sounding almost
disappointed.

“Then we go forward, but no sudden movements.” Peter instructed, and the wagon rolled forward.

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The goblins sprang up to their feet with barely a rustle among the high grass, arrows nocked and
drawn, ready to shoot. “Wait! I’m here to trade!” Yelled Nifrea.

“Someone go get the boss, nobody get arrow happy, we don’t want to fight… especially not
against that big guy there.” The largest of the goblins ordered the rest of them.

A moment later Ainz saw her, the familiar face of the girl he’d rescued before he was turned back
into a human. “Nfirea!” She shouted when she saw him and clapped her hands together just below
her mouth, “Everybody relax! He’s a friend.”

And the tension passed away to nothing.

______________________________________________________________________________

Demiurge stopped at the door as soon as he heard moaning sounds. ‘This is Lord Ainz’s room…
who would be…’ He stopped that line of thought and simply opened the door. Beneath the sheets a
shapely form writhed and undulated, clinging to something. He reached up and pushed his glasses
against his crystalline eyes.

“Albedo… what are you doing?” Demiurge let out a weary sigh as the nude succubus pushed
herself up and rested on her hands.

“I’m putting my scent here, so that it will be the first thing he experiences when our lord returns.”
She had a fanatical smile on her face and her wide yellow eyes bored into the solid crystal of his
own.
“Yes I… I see. But don’t you have things you should be doing? We must live up to our lord’s
expectations after all. And he is undead, it isn’t as if he needs sleep.” Demiurge pointed out as
reasonably as he could to the disturbing sight in front of him.

“Of course! Why this is only ‘one’ of my duties! Right, Lord Ainz?” Albedo grinned down at
what she clutched and for a moment Demiurge was forced to do a double take at the skeletal
visage that greeted him when she raised it up.

The likeness was flawless, it was indeed Lord Ainz… on a pillow. “Is that… a body pillow?” He
asked. His sense of exasperation growing, he kept his pulse even despite the mild annoyance on
display.

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“Yes, of course! I’ve had lots of practice sewing! I’ve made enough clothing for children both
male and female up to the age of five, but… I don’t know what to do if they have no gender.”
Albedo pouted a little, distressed when she looked down at the pillow’s face. She touched it
reverentially as if it were the lord himself.

“To think, The One Who Stayed… abandoned everything to be with us, I must give him many
children, and all happiness, it’s the very least we weak guardians, we servants, can do.” Albedo
said when she traced her fingers over the skeletal jaw.

“I do agree, but if the twins are any indication, the Supreme Beings had no issue with boys in
girls clothes and vice versa. Therefore, it seems unlikely that a genderless child would require
anything unique.” Demiurge answered, annoyance replaced with sympathy for her desires, since
he shared them himself.

“Thank you for the insight, Demiurge, that is a relief.” She reached up and touched her breast,
exhaling deeply with relief over the answer to the question that had troubled her so. “Speaking of
serving him, what have you to report?” Her voice became professional, as one would expect of
the Guardian Overseer.

“I’ve established a small facility, a farm you might say, where we can use human stock for
experiments of all kinds. My ‘loyalty’ experiments have been telling. That is to say, humans have
little of it.” Demiurge’s disgust was palpable not only in his tone, but in the way he tensely held
his hands behind his back. Disloyalty was the worst of sins for those created to be loyal, and it
heightened his hatred for the human captives even further from where it had been when
everything began.

“Oh, how have you been doing this?” Albedo’s brilliant mind began concocting all manner of
possible scenarios, but before she’d gotten through three of them in her head, Demiurge
explained.

“After our conversation the other day, I snatched up some humans from village survivors, just
some places that had already been raided and destroyed, that way nobody would miss them. I then
separated them by family. After that, I took children from one and put them with another and so
on. After a short while, I informed each group that the ones who had their children had started
abusing the ones placed in their care. The result was that each group started abusing the children
given to them as revenge. I continued to come up with ever more elaborate things, and then broke
them down into hierarchies and let them decide the punishment since the ‘abusers’ had broken the
rules.”

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He broke into a very broad grin, “Of course they settled on various mutilations, and I had each
one of them watch as it was done to one another. By sunset, these neighbors that had once been
friendly with each other, were eating each other’s roasted bodies simply to torture their
companions with the knowledge. In less than a day, loyalty was ruined, those pathetic wretches.”
Demiurge spat with both amusement and contempt. “Interestingly, the magic experiments showed
that we could feed the prisoners indefinitely just by feeding them their own severed limbs and
healing them, as long as the limbs were consumed first, the nutrition remained.”

“I see. That is useful, very useful.” Albedo acknowledged with obvious pleasure, “Are you going
to show Lord Ainz what you’ve done when he returns?”

“Dirty the Supreme One’s feet in a place like that?” Demiurge shook his head, “No, I’ll keep Lord
Ainz informed of everything of course, but the foul stench of human waste and such low
‘company’ is beneath his notice. Though perhaps if he would like a tour… maybe he could
improve my work. I suppose I’ll just have to bring it up to him and ask what he’d like to do.”

“That would be for the best.” Albedo replied with patient understanding. “Our lord is far, far
beyond us. Surely he can offer insights we can’t even imagine. Now if you will excuse me, this
will take a little longer.” She sighed and pulled the blanket over her skin again. She was already
writhing in the bed before Demiurge even left the room.

______________________________________________________________________________

Clementine ground her teeth. “Everybody dies so easily.” She groused to Khajiit. “It’s no fun
when they just take it. Adventurers have more spirit.”

“Then target adventurers.” Khajiit said as a zombie got up from where a still corpse had lain a
moment earlier. He drew back the black orb in his hand and stepped aside to let it pass.

Clementine spread her arms and watched the zombie lumber away. “Yeah, yeah. Listen Khajiiiii,
I’m getting bored. I’ve gone by their place three times so far and the brat still isn’t there, what if I
grabbed the granny instead.”

“She’s a third tier caster. You might lose.” The old man pointed out, to which Clementine
cackled.

“I’m Clementine, I’ve stepped into the realm of heroes. An old granny is no match for me, and
magic casters are always physically weak. I can handle her. Besides, she’s starting to get
suspicious, I think.” Clementine closed her mouth and drew her lips tight. “If she thinks

77
something’s up, she might make this harder. I’ll give it a few more days, but I want to see this as
much as you do.” She sighed with orgasmic bliss, “What was it called?”

“A death spiral. Yes, and if you have to take her, then you have to, but don’t do anything to put
my plans at risk, or you will be one of my zombies next.” Khajiit said to her with a long, steady
look while two of his acolytes carried another corpse into the room for him to turn.

“A hundred and fifty now, right? That orb sure is impressive.” Clementine said with a
begrudgingly favorable tone.

“It is. Thanks to this we’ll gather enough undead to draw even ‘more’ powerful undead, and then
more, and then more until they spawn on their own, and once finished, we’ll have enough to
destroy the entire city…” Khajiit showed the first traces of excitement, ‘Then I will have enough
power to turn myself into an undead of supreme power… and bring my mother back.’

______________________________________________________________________________

“So they’re gone… I’m so sorry.” Nfirea said with sympathy. He was sitting in Enri’s home, a
small house like any other in any village in the Kingdom, it was nothing but two rooms. A
bedroom shared by her parents, her sister, and herself… and the kitchen, living, and dining area all
combined into one that had no real furnishings to speak of other than a single crude, rough table
that would give you splinters if you weren’t careful.

“They were fine people, they shouldn’t have died that way…” Nfirea said and took Enri’s hand in
his, the warmth of her hand and the life flowing beneath was a comfort when he hung his head.
‘Idiot, you don’t have a right to mourn them like they were your parents instead of hers.’ He
cursed himself, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Thank you.” Enri replied, her head hung like his own, she didn’t draw her hand away, but rather
let her fingers interlock with his. “At least they were avenged. That magic caster, Ainz Ooal
Gown, killed nearly all of them. Though I heard his companion… Albedo, killed almost as many
herself when they tried to kill the Warrior Captain.”

‘Serves them right.’ Nfirea thought, then caught the name she’d said. ‘Albedo… Albedo, didn’t I…
yes, I passed Lupu and Momon in the alley, Lupu mentioned that name.’ It could have been
coincidence, but he wondered, it tickled his brain, ‘Was it?’

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“We’re very grateful to them both. The magic caster, Ainz, even gave me a red potion to heal the
wound that the knight gave me. I should have died, but instead I was healed instantly.” Enri
stopped talking when she saw the open mouth of her friend. “What?”

“R-R-Red? A red potion? Are you sure?” Nfirea stammered.

Enri touched a finger to her cheek and looked up and away while she brought back the memory.
The warmth of the sun shone through the window and caught her long vibrant blonde hair, for a
moment Nfirea forgot all of his curiosity and suspicion, and just lost himself in the sweet vision
of the flower of youth. ‘I love you. I’ll take care of you and Nemu and we’ll be a family and…’
The words hung on his tongue and would not leap past his lips.

“Yes, definitely red. I thought it was blood and it was scary, but it was a healing potion.” She
answered him. “If he hadn’t come, we’d all be dead.”

‘Bastards.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘Kingdom nobles are so utterly worthless, they’re trash, complete
trash. They don’t care what happens to anyone as long as they can drink and eat and laze about
doing nothing.’

He kept his anger suppressed as best he could, feeling Enri’s sadness return through the trembling
of her hand in his, she wiped her tears, “My sister is with me still, I can’t lose myself in sadness
forever, and we’ll get by. We still have our home, our farm, and wonderful friends like you.” Enri
gave him a weak, fragile smile.

He felt his heart both grow and break at once at the words, and he wanted to say more. His aching
heart was racing through the wound she’d unknowingly given him. ‘I have a good life as a
herbalist, I make plenty of money, I can be more… I can… if you… it would be easy to look after
Nemu, or even more children.’ The promise of a family in his dreams was so tantalizingly close,
she was looking at him with those wide, beautiful blue eyes. ‘I love you, you could live with me,
everything will be safe there.’

“Enfi?” She asked haltingly, using her favorite pet name for him, and the courage in his heart
died.

“Anything you need, I’ll help you.” He said as he failed to close the gap between his wish to
speak and his will to do so.

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“You’re the best friend a woman could ask for.” Enri said, and brought him in for an embrace. He
returned the hug she gave him, breathing in the scent of her clean hair and enjoying a warmth he
feared he’d never have the wish to ask for more of.

When the moment passed, he forced himself to another subject. “So, about those goblins?”

Enri finally smiled, “Those came from a magic item the sorcerer who saved us gave to me. The
horn of the goblin something, they follow my orders and are completely loyal. They’ve been a big
help rebuilding the village, they’re why we have an actual wall now.”

Her enthusiasm for the one who saved her stoked a bitter jealousy inside Nfirea that shared space
with his gratitude to the man, and yet more importantly, she mentioned using it shortly after he
left, which had been a fair while ago, relative to how long summons lasted. Yet they were still
here, summons were not normally permanent. The more questions he asked about the item and
the magic caster, the more he had to ask.

“So he used lightning magic, that’s at least third tier.” Nfirea said, and his suspicion that there
either could simply be two people named Albedo, or they both knew the same person increased.
‘Yes, that’s right, terrific warriors typically associate with each other like master craftsmen do. It
would make perfect sense.’

“Is third tier good?” Enri asked innocently. To which Nfirea could only chuckle.

“It’s better than me. I can only use second, and Granny can only use third, anything higher
requires talent. But since he had such a powerful item, maybe he can use as high as fifth tier,
that’s the realm of heroes and the limit for humans other than Fluder Paradyne.” Nfirea
acknowledged, his manly competitive spirit was somewhat annoyed that the mysterious Ainz had
not only saved the woman he loved, but was so much more powerful as well.

‘Wait, could this Ainz have been Lupu? She’s a cleric, but also crazy strong, and clerics usually
keep healing potions for when their mana runs out.’ It was an absurd thought. Utterly absurd.
‘What if she’s a magic caster from another country and Mr. Momon was her escort, that would
make sense, and she had him asking all those questions for her so she could learn the magic of
another country without sounding ignorant.’

Strange, but not impossible. One powerful person was amazing, two powerful people together
were heroic, three was beyond unlikely. Four, all in the same general area, all at once, without
being a team? No way. ‘Something stinks worse than my alchemy shop on brewing day.’ Nfirea
stood up slowly, “Excuse me, I’ll be back soon.”

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‘They are definitely the goblins from the Horn of the Goblin General that I gave to the girl… Enri,
I think her name was.’ Ainz realized after watching how the goblins behaved. They were stronger,
larger, better equipped, and definitely higher level than the scrawny malnourished ones Ainz and
the Swords of Darkness defeated in the previous encounter.

One of those goblins stood in front of a line of villagers who were drawing bows. He was giving
them instructions, and though they were following them imperfectly, they were following them.
The creaking of wooden bows bending to human will was followed by the noise of their twang as
they loosed their arrows at straw targets.

“They’re not bad.” Ainz acknowledged.

“They’re not, Momon?” Lupusregina asked from where they stood overlooking the sight. For
reasons not clear to her, her master had chosen to visit the graves of the villagers he hadn’t saved
before, and this gave him a perfect view of the practice of the living.

“No, not really. They’re not warriors, but… look at them.” He waved a hand out to encompass the
line of middle aged and young people, “They saw their loved ones killed and nearly lost
everything, now they’re determined not to suffer that same fate again. Resolve, even in the weak,
is admirable.” Ainz answered. “Ten days ago they were nothing but sheep to be slaughtered, now
they’ve resolved to become wolves and protect themselves. In time they may become worthy of
standing in a battle line. Remember, even Nazarick was not made in a day.”

A quick and quiet spell of level assessment informed him that several had already gained a few
levels. Two had gone up a level with swords, another two with spears, and the rest had all gone
up a level as archers. ‘At low levels that is to be expected, but it seems there’s a natural cap. Brita
mentioned having been adventuring for four years, and yet she is only level seven. Peter
meanwhile has been at it for half that long and is level nine. Ninya is even younger and has
reached level ten. Though that talent… I want to study it.’ Ainz thought, his greedy collector’s
mind at work.

‘And for that matter, what about the great gods? They were probably players like me, and some of
them could have been immortal races, could they be hidden and quietly power leveling humans?
If there are humans who can rise above me, one day we might not be able to defeat them. I need
to study this at length.’ Ainz concluded, just as Lupusregina addressed him.

“I understand, Momon. But we have company coming.” Lupusregina answered him, and they
stopped talking until Nfirea approached.

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“Excuse me, but… Miss Lupu, do you have a healing potion?” Nfirea asked.

“Is someone injured?” Ainz asked, and inclining his head toward the red headed beauty, she
reached into the pouch at her side and took out a red potion.

Nfirea gasped and stared at it, “Miss Lupu, are you Ainz Ooal Gown?!” He exclaimed, and she
took a step back, her jaw dropped and she stared up at her companion, completely dumbfounded.

Before they could say anything, Nfirea continued, “It’s just, I saw you both once before, Miss
Lupu mentioned Albedo, I wasn’t eavesdropping, I promise, and all I heard was the name… but
then Enri told me that Ainz had a companion by that name. A black armored warrior… so, ah, Mr.
Momon, would that make you, ‘Albedo?’

Ainz’s jaw fell as far open as Lupusregina’s jaw at the profound misunderstanding that had just
occurred. He almost didn’t know what to say, and so, he laughed. Deep and rich, ‘I see, he only
heard of Albedo as a black clad warrior, Enri never actually saw her, so now he sees me,
Lupusregina is a caster, so…’ It all made a twisted sort of sense if you misunderstood things a
certain way, so he answered, “You caught us. Yes, she is Ainz, and my name is Albedo. What
you heard before was us discussing the names we’ll use in this country. We prefer to remain
anonymous, can we trust you to keep it to yourself?”

“So that’s why you asked for this, huh boyo?” Lupu said to him and tapped the potion in her
palm.

He gave a rapid series of nervous nods, “Ah, yes of course, it was just too impossible to think of
there being four powerful people all in the same area and not having anything to do with each
other. Either they’d be on the same side or rivals, sooo… please forgive me!” Nfirea said and
suddenly bowed.

“You saved the woman I love and escorted me here and I’ve gone and pried too much, but also…
that potion, even knowing what I know, all I can think of is how much I want to make it!” Nfirea
exclaimed.

Lupusregina caught the feel of the eyes of her master on her, curiously, without his undead
nature, he was easier to read, especially now that she understood his transformation. “I see, well I
guess it’s fine.” She shrugged, “But giving up secrets like this isn’t something I’d ever just do, you
know. But if you’d work for me, that’s another thing.”

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“Work for you?” Nfirea asked, “But I have a shop and you could just buy whenever you like from
Granny and me.”

“If you’ve got a gold mine, do you let just anybody work it?” Lupusregina asked, “Besides, think
about it, this village is really grateful to me for saving it, so obviously you’d work here. Who else
lives here, virgin boy?”

He blushed, “You mean, I’d be close to the woman I love?”

“Right, I swear you stank more of lust when she came into view than any ten men fresh from
whore houses.” Lupu crinkled her nose and Nfirea blushed a deep crimson. “She has to be a
virgin too or she’d have noticed, but that won’t last long if you go wandering off. Maybe you’re
better hung than the pervert, but I’ll bet it can’t reach all the way here from E-Rantel.”
Lupusregina’s hammering of the young man kept him blushing and off kilter.

“There’s other men, men who are here, and she’s at the ripe age isn’t she, just lost her folks, a
farm is a lot to manage, and I swear I saw a few men watching her rear when she walked by.
Work for me, set up here, and you’ll get a chance at the girl. Or don’t, they’ve got whore houses
in E-Rantel, maybe that’ll be enough for you, eh?” Lupu’s wolfish grin wore him down.

“I’ll have to talk to Granny about it, but she’s been looking at retiring, if I throw the promise of
making a new potion into the mix, I’m sure she’ll be okay with me moving here.” Nfirea replied,
“It’s still a lot to take in, ah... I guess I should call you Miss Lupu. But… but thank you for saving
the woman I love.”

“It’s nothing.” Lupu waved her hand away, dismissing his gratitude. “It’s easy for people like
Momon and I, and it was kinda fun.”

Nfirea bowed deeply again, “Still, thank you. Your secret is safe, and I’m your man, both of you,
forever, for what you did to help my Enri.”

“Go get her tiger, before someone else does.” Lupu said and pointed toward the village again, and
he jogged away after slipping the red potion she’d offered, into his pouch.

As soon as they were gone, Lupu bowed her head. “I screwed up, master. Will my life be enough
to make up for it?”

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Her hand ‘turned’ and a sharp claw stronger than adamantite was pressed to her own throat, but to
her surprise, Lord Ainz was laughing again.

His armor clinked with the force of his shaking laughter, “It’s fine, Lupusregina, it’s fine. He
didn’t find out the truth, even if he was a little closer to it than comfortable. But still, be more
careful. We’re safe for now, besides, who knows how he might have reacted if he’d learned that
Momon was Ainz? As it is, a false secret not only won’t hurt us, but his keeping it will be a true
test of his gratitude and loyalty.”

“Yes, master.” Lupusregina replied and her red furred hand became normal again.

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Chapter XII

Nfirea’s wish to stay one day in the village to study the fur of the Wise King of the Forest,
became two days when he wished to study the blood, and then became three days when he wished
to study the eyes. So the days blurred as he worked on potion after potion. A house emptied by
the murder of its inhabitants during the attack became his new workshop.

Ainz didn’t mind, it was pleasantly relaxing in the village, the people were friendly and open
toward him, far more pleasant than the people of his own world most of the time. Brita and the
Swords of Darkness took up assisting with the training of the villagers just to pass the time, as
well as gathering plants from the now much safer area of the forest for Nfirea to test out with his
new subject. Meanwhile ‘Lupu’ under his direction, began to charm those around her with her
outwardly smiling and cheerful demeanor.

However, all of that was an aside to Ainz, who sat at the table with the village chief and his wife
in their home. “...not that we’re not impressed with the accomplishment, Sir Momon. But killing
the Wise King also removes a barrier to other monsters that may attack the village. He kept to
himself, and as long as we didn’t venture into his territory he wouldn’t come to us. Now with him
gone… who knows what monsters may appear?”

“I see… I see. I owe you an apology then, I acted rashly without thinking of what this would mean
for you.” Ainz answered, “I must take responsibility for this.”

‘Damn, I took the time to save them, and started establishing this as a base, only to remove
something defending the place, without thinking.’ Ainz cursed, ‘I need to solve this one or word
will spread that Momon is a glory seeker who doesn’t care who he puts at risk, that will be a
problem. On the plus side, the experience I gained from killing that thing was a lot better than the
ogres, it means I really can grind out a great deal if I just find strong enough things to fight.’ It
was a mixed blessing of a thought process for Ainz, who waited while the wrinkled faces of
husband and wife looked at one another with uncertainty.

“Are you… offering to stay and protect us, Sir Momon? We… we don’t have much. And what we
have, we’ve been saving to give as a gift to Lord Ainz as a show of gratitude when he returns.
We’re a poor place, we can feed you of course but… but not much more. We can’t possibly pay
you to stay here just waiting for danger.”

“What if I were to make this place my base of operations?” Momon said to them with a sudden
flash of inspiration.

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The pair shot their eyes to him, “I- Sir Momon I don’t understand?” The old mayor stammered
out.

“Most adventurers stay at the inn to look for partners. I don’t need another partner. Your village
has empty homes. It also has plenty of space. Give me one of the homes, and when I’m not
adventuring, I will reside here. In addition I’ll check the forest and deal with any monsters that
appear there. That should be good enough, right?”

“But… Sir Momon, there were two other monsters of great power in the forest, and when they
learn the Wise King has died, they’ll surely come to investigate.” The old mayor shuddered.
“Would you really fight them both?”

“Of course. They wouldn't pose a threat if they considered the Wise King to be their rival.” Ainz
replied, ‘So, others, I’ll have to check them out as well, who knows what might be done with
them? And Nfirea is very excited about what he’s found he can do with the Wise King’s body
parts. I wonder if we can harvest it again and again through resurrection? But that might be a bit
cruel, it was an intelligent beast. But if we make it quick, is there really a problem?’

“If… if you say so, of course we must accept. But you must at least also let us provide you with
food, and accept at least some coin from us for your efforts when you stay with us. Once we’ve
paid Master Gown back at least.” The old woman insisted and stretched out her aged hand to
cover the mailed one Ainz had allowed to rest on the table.

‘She can’t be much past her thirties, but looks much older, this place is hard on the body, clearly.’
Ainz concluded, but that sympathy was buried under a wave of satisfaction as he ‘completely’
acquired a village as his home base and eliminated the concern about where to stay, unlike his
undead body, this one needed rest.

‘Plus, I can keep an eye on Nfirea. An added bonus.’ Ainz considered, and then replied, “Yes, that
would be acceptable.”

The hand covering his, slowly enfolded its fingers into his palm and raised his hand up into a
handshake. Her husband did the same and the bargain was struck.

Then just like that, Ainz had a second home, he only needed to pick which one.

______________________________________________________________________________

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“I’m bored Khajiii, soooo bored!” Clementine groused for what had to be the hundredth time, she
dragged her fingers down her cheeks, “I killed two information brokers and nobody knows where
that brat went!”

“Maybe if you didn’t kill them, you might have better luck.” Khajiit said while rubbing his chin
and tapping his staff on the stone. “The rest are bound to go into hiding if a few of them
disappear. Rats always scatter when one of them is killed.

A twisted smile came over Clementine’s face. “I know, I know, but I like killing… no, I’m in love
with killing!” She clutched her stiletto in her left hand a moment later and licked a bit of dried
blood from the tip. “I need it! I can’t feel any kind of pleasure without it, so of course I killed
them…” Her wild wide eyes narrowed and she winked her left eye when she said, “Sorry if it’s so
annoying, Khajii, but you knew what you were getting into from the beginning.”

“The price I pay, eh. Everything has a price. Well, if the boy hasn’t come back and you don’t
know where he is, ask someone certain to know.” Khajiit suggested, and for a moment
Clementine looked at him in confusion.

“His grandmother, she will know if nobody else does.” Khajiit pointed out, “It is a minor risk, and
she is unimportant in the grand scheme of things, she’s a third tier magic caster, but if you catch
her off her guard, we might finally make some progress. I didn’t want to do that, but I can’t wait
forever either.”

“You’re the best, Khajii!” Clementine said and took off at a dead run out of their place in the
underground crypt.

“What a troublesome personality.” Khajiit muttered and waved his gnarled wooden staff out
toward the disciples waiting off to one side. They took his meaning, and brought in the next
corpse, this one was reduced almost to bones and it took all four disciples just to keep it in one
piece when they carried it to the small altar at which Khajiit worked.

Clementine made it back to E-Rantel with ease, her tremendous acrobatic skill made it easy to
avoid the crude, even pathetic guards meant to protect the city from threats. She was completely
unseen and unheard, shadow to shadow, alley to alley, under the cover of a spring night she
barely made a splash on the little puddles she encountered along the way.

Then she made it, the shop was famous to say the least, and to some degree that fame was its own
form of security. Nobody wanted to mess with third tier magic casters. Even Khajiit’s own
Zuranon found that the best policy was to avoid a needless fight.

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But the ex-Black Scripture Clementine was not nobody. ‘A quick stabby stab and they die like
anyone else.’ She laughed silently behind her twisted smile beneath the window of the home. It
was like any other residence of a prosperous merchant. The shop below, the living area above, the
walls made of crude plaster coated wood and had a pair of windows on the upper floor for light.

She looked up, the wooden shutters on the outside were closed, but that was no real obstacle for
her even without martial arts. She crouched low, took out a stiletto, then after one deep breath,
she jumped. Her powerful legs carried her up to the second floor and her hands caught the frame.
Not a sound went out from the point of contact, but ever the professional, Clementine stopped for
an instant to listen. She then slid her stiletto in the vertical space between the shutters and raised it
up till she felt the touch of the latch. One sharp motion, and the latch opened.

She sheathed the weapon and opened the right shutter, then inched along the window and opened
the left, behind the shutter there was a glass window. It was a silent testament to the prosperity of
the merchant to be able to afford one of actual glass. Most were simply open holes with shutters
to keep out cold. Again, it was no obstacle. Her stiletto jammed down at the tiny crack between
the window and the sill, then she pried it up a tiny bit. She paused to listen again, only the sound
of her own heart was there to reach her ears.

Her fingers pried the window open, and when it was done, she kicked her legs off the wall while
holding on to the upper frame and swung herself in feet first, tucking her legs in to ensure she
easily cleared the bottom of the window.

Clementine landed quiet as a cat on the floor, and crept toward a nearby room. The faint sound of
an old woman snoring reached her ear, and that smile became even more twisted. She drew from
her sheath a stiletto enchanted with mind control, and reached for the handle.

The door and its handle were obviously quite old, smooth cut and polished, but the handle was
wrought iron and had bits of rust here and there where alchemical ingredients had touched and
eroded it over years. There was no evidence of a lock, not that it would have done any good even
if the old woman had one.

‘No matter how skilled the magic caster, if they’re asleep and have no skill in detecting the
unknown, they might as well be a baby.’ Clementine mentally mocked the woman who slept in
bed in front of her. She could see that the famous Lizzie Bareare was a small woman, barely up to
Clementine’s chest if she’d been allowed to wake up. Even in the dark, the stiletto armed woman
could tell that her target had short white hair, and a mass of wrinkled skin around a broad nose.

The old woman tossed and turned beneath an expensive blanket, the room was the definition of
simple, a desk, an end table with a candle next to the plain bed, but it was obvious she’d spent
serious money on the comfort of the place she slept. The thick mattress might even have been

88
enchanted, but the blanket itself was at least very thick and made of very soft bear fur. Hatred
welled up in Clementine, old hate for the comforts of others, it made it even easier and more
pleasurable when she stood at the old woman’s side.

Clementine raised the stiletto up over one hand… then brought it down when the aged
grandmother rolled toward the predator again. Lizzie’s blue eyes flew open when pain ripped
through her body from the point in her shoulder where the stiletto pierced, it was only a mere
moment though. One moment of pain, confusion, and understanding, and then Lizzie Bareare’s
mind, belonged to Clementine.

“You seem to be injured, are you alright?” Clementine asked and put a hand on a spot of blood.

The bright eyes that once shone with intelligence, then fear, Clementine now looked down into
the hollow, empty face which then broke out into a smile of welcome like Lizzie was seeing an
old friend. “It hurts a little, but I feel good, how are you, my friend?”

“Wonderful, wonderful.” Clementine answered and clapped her hands together, the stiletto stuck
the woman to the bed, and so the old woman didn’t rise, she only lay at ease as if weary. “I was
just looking for your grandson, but it seems he’s nowhere to be found, I was hoping he would
play with me and Khajii, can you tell me where he is or when he’ll be back, pretty please, for
sweet little old me?” She pouted down at the old woman, and was met with an aged cackle.

Lizzie, as it turned out, was the talkative sort when mind controlled, as some tended to be, it was
rare, but when it happened, Clementine noticed it was always with magic casters. So it was no
real surprise when Lizzie Bareare answered at length in a sing-song kind of voice. “Oh, my
grandson loves to play with his friends, of course I’ll help you, he’s such a good boy, best boy,
even. He went out to gather herbs with a small team of adventurers, they took the long way
around and were going to stop in Carne Village to do some trading.” The old woman’s smile
became quite knowing, “He’s sweet on a girl there, I’ll just bet you he’s sticking around there to
flirt with her. He does that sometimes.”

“Thank you so much, you’re such a good friend to me, how about I fix that injury for you in
gratitude?” Clementine asked, touching the tips of her fingers together and tapping them
impatiently.

“Would you?” Lizzie asked, “You’re the best!” She added with joy on her empty face.

“I am the best.” Clementine said with back straight as she stared down at the prosperous woman,
eyes full of loathing, the powerful killer yanked the stiletto out of the shoulder, and began to poke
more holes in the helpless old woman.

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Mind controlled as she was, Lizzie couldn’t scream or protect herself, but she felt every ounce of
pain as Clementine tore her apart, blood spattered and spurted as old veins opened, the bed
soaked through with so much blood that when Lizzie at long last expired, there wasn’t total
silence. The stillness was shattered by the dripping red fluid, as it soaked through to the bottom,
the blood of the elderly pharmacist dripped to the wooden floor.

When the old woman drew her last breath, all Clementine felt, after one last burst of ecstasy, was
the warm afterglow as if she’d finished an evening with an incredible lover. She licked the blades
clean of blood, sheathed them, then looked around again. An adventurer’s plate hung on the wall.
‘Hers? Her son’s?’ Clementine wondered, but couldn’t ask the tortured, mutilated corpse.

She shrugged, as trophies went, this was her favorite, and the dead had obviously treasured it
enough to display it in private. She snatched it up with a deft yank that snapped the little leather
strap, and walked down the stairs, then right out the front door as if she were any other customer.
‘I wonder how Khajii feels about road trips?’ Clementine pondered as she vanished into the night.

90
Chapter XIII

Ainz settled in fairly quickly over the week that passed in the village, every day he and the
Swords of Darkness, along with Brita, stopped in to check on Nfirea, and every day he said, “Just
one more day, this is amazing.”

Ainz didn’t really mind, it was just the break he needed. Much to his surprise however,
Lupusregina seemed to be taking a liking to the blonde village girl he’d rescued on his first
venture out. Enri seemed oblivious to Lupu’s hidden sadistic nature, but not to the constant
teasing of the red haired battle maid.

Almost every time he saw the pair, Enri was blushing, and Lupusregina was laughing, though
Nfirea was not immune to the taunts of the battlemaid, and she often managed to con one or the
other into a compromising position. It was a nonissue to Ainz as long as the client didn’t
complain, so he let it pass while he watched the villagers live their lives.

Brita took to assisting with the hunting when not working with the other adventurers, and the lot
of them began spending more time with Enri’s summoned goblins. Initially skeptical, he was
watching on the eighth day with Lupusregina when she asked, “Momon, how come you find them
so interesting? I mean they’re just humans and goblins, right?” She scratched her head with sharp,
jerking motions of her hand that made Ainz think of the way a dog might have, and he let a light
chuckle of his own pass without comment.

“Yes, they are.” He explained with the noble voice he still hadn’t gotten used to having, “But that
is part of what makes them interesting. In Yggdrasil there was often discrimination and even
hatred between different beings, and in the other world, it wasn’t much different.”

“First world?” Lupusregina asked with wide blinking eyes, she was, if possible, even more
attentive when she stared up at him, secure in his ‘shared’ humanity with the villagers, he had his
armor on, but helmet off, though it was secure under his arm when he looked down to her.

“First world?” He repeated the question back to her.

“The world the Supreme Beings would go to when not in Nazarick.” She explained, and it hit
him.

‘Of course, they would have seen us come and go, perhaps remembering something of their time
in Yggdrasil, they don’t know it was just a game, to them, it was their world.’ Ainz understood,
and it prompted him to derail her question with one of his own.

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“What do you remember of those days, Lupu?” He asked, keeping to the adventurer name to
ensure it remained habitual.

Her yellow eyes were bright and happy when she answered. “Lots of things! I remember
watching my younger sisters be born, I remember the day of the great invasion… fighting our way
back and keeping the invaders busy to buy time for our creators… seeing you arrive, the fighting
retreat, the death of Aura and Mare. Then after, seeing them remade by the will of their creator.
So many moments shine bright as the daylight we’re standing in.” Lupusregina’s enthusiasm
became reverence, and drifted slowly toward sadness.

“When they one by one, the Supreme Beings I mean, said goodbye and vanished, I wanted to ask
my maker, Beast King Mekongawa, how I let him down the day he said goodbye, but for some
reason…” Her head hung like a dog caught in the midst of mischief, “I couldn’t speak.”

“What’d we do wrong, Momon?” She asked, using the name with the same reverence she would
have used calling him ‘Master’ or ‘My Lord’ in Nazarick. “We all kind of ask that to ourselves.”

“Nothing.” Ainz answered with absolute confidence that bordered on anger, his body tensed up, it
was like listening to a child ask why their mother or father didn’t love them. Only once had he felt
anger at his friends, anger he knew was unfair, that they left for the real world. Now, that anger
returned in force, that they were so cruel as to abandon their children.

Again, he knew, ‘That isn’t fair. They were ‘just NPCs’ back then, not alive. Not like they are
now.’ But it didn’t dissipate as easily as his prior moment of frustration. Chiefly because, as he
saw it, there was a sad child looking up at him and hoping for answers he couldn’t begin to give.
He put a hand on her head and suppressed the urge to say ‘Good dog’ instead he chose to say,
“Nothing. You did nothing wrong. Things happened, and they had to go, there was nothing you
could have done to make them stay.”

Lupusregina closed her eyes and raised up a little on her tiptoes to press her head a little more
firmly into his hand, a very canine gesture if ever Ainz had seen one. But she didn’t say anything
else.

He was the first to break the silence, shifting the subject, “In what you call ‘First World’, different
peoples often fought one another, in this one, things are often the same if the Slane Theocracy,
Beastman Kingdom, and Draconic Kingdom are any indication. I wondered if the villagers would
accept the goblins. They have, and now it makes more sense. Goblins didn’t kill their neighbors,
humans did. And because the villagers accept them, the adventurers do.”

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“Wouldn’t the adventurers hate goblins, though?” Lupusregina asked, remaining on tip toe until a
disappointed pout took over her face when Ainz’s hand withdrew.

“Perhaps, but adventurers travel a great deal, exposed widely to others, their minds are more
open, a closed minded adventurer is a poor one. They don’t see possibilities that someone else
might be open to, and so seeing the way the goblins work with the villagers and everyone at ease,
it is much easier for them to settle into normalcy.” Ainz explained, “They may not be much, but
they work hard, and are dedicated, so that gives them value.”

“I understand, Momon, but I still want to play with them.” Lupusregina’s wolfish, sadistic smile
took over for a moment, sending a shiver down Ainz’s spine.

“I am also one of them now, you know.” He reminded her, and she shot her eyes up to him and
gave her head a tiny shake.

“You are The One Who Stayed. No matter what else you are, you are that first.” Her yellow eyes
glittered with devotion, and against that he could say nothing, though his disturbance at her desire
to treat humans as toys had not left him.

It was then that they spotted Enri Emmott coming around a corner to oversee the construction of a
new home in place of one that had been reduced to a burnt out husk of fallen timbers and toppled
stone. The doorframe stood, but the rest was nearly gone or shattered to the ground. The change
in Lupusregina was not physical, but he felt it nonetheless.

“Is she your friend?” Ainz inquired as a father might ask his child after seeing them with someone
after their first day of school.

“Kinda. She’s fun to tease. She makes cute noises and blushes like a cherry.” Lupusregina replied
with a mild laugh.

“I see, well I do intend to have this village protected, so we’ll add her to the list of those whose
lives I will guarantee.” Ainz promised, “Now go, play, have a little fun.” He said, feeling very
much the parent when Lupusregina turned invisible and began to creep up on the unwary Enri.

Left alone for the moment, the smell of hot meat and vegetables wafted toward Ainz’s nose, he
sniffed the air and followed it, encouraged by the growling in his stomach.

______________________________________________________________________________

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Lupusregina waited until Enri was done with her work and the rebuilding was well underway,
then followed her. Undetectable by an ordinary human girl, it was child’s play to watch until the
blonde was alone with Nfirea. As soon as the pair was by themselves and Nfirea began to
stammer and sweat as he tried to have a normal conversation with the girl he loved, Lupusregina
snatched his hand and as if it belonged to her, then used it to swat Enri directly on her ass.

The blonde peasant jumped immediately, and somewhat impressively and spun around to stare
open mouthed at her friend. “Enfi!” She shouted.

“Aahhh, I don’t! I didn’t! I wasn’t! I swear!” Sweat was already springing up, and it became a
river, Lupusregina let Nfirea take back control of his hand and he stared at it.

“I lost control! I didn’t mean to! It felt like someone grabbed me!” He took a step back, and the
shock on Enri’s face became understanding.

“Come out here Lupu! I know it was you!” Enri put her hands on her hips and looked around
rapidly.

The red haired battlemaid crept behind Enri, blew softly on her ear and whispered, “How’d you
know?”

Enri jumped with a loud, “Eeep!” and spun around again, putting her hands protectively over her
derriere. When she landed however, Lupusregina had already begun pointing at the blushing pair
and laughing so loud she arched her back and faced the sky.

“Your faces! You two look so ridiculous! So ridiculous! You’re redder than cherries, and that’s
saying something, given that you’re both cherries!” Lupu exclaimed while she cried tears of
laughter.

“Damn it Lupu!” Enri said, “What’s gotten into you?”

“Just helping young lovers.” Lupu answered when she managed to stop her laughing and wiped a
remaining tear from her eye. “Really, you two should just do it already.”

Enri and Nfirea looked at one another, and never had the young man been so glad of the hair
hanging down in front of him. Enri however, turned her eyes back to Lupusregina and said flatly,
“Lupu, it’s not like that, he’s my best friend, I’ve known him since I was little.”

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“Yeah, so?” Lupusregina gave a full body shrug with her arms out and shook her head. “I swear,
it’s like everybody in this world is denser than rocks, you’re a village girl, who do you think
you’re going to marry? Me? That old mayor guy? Everybody else you know is either dead, young
enough to make you a pedo if you try, old enough to be your father, already married, or a girl.
And you’re pretty, but not my type. Besides, I’m a mimidoshi, I know lots of practical stuff, and I
know that unless it’s just business, you’re supposed to be like best friends with your mate. Silly
virgin. Besides, he’s game, just look.”

Lupusregina said and pointed.

The pair had been blushing the entire time, but Enri followed the path of Lupusregina’s arm, past
the tip of her finger and all the way down to the Nfirea’s very, very obvious erection.

Enri brought her hands up to cover her mouth, “Nfirea!” She exclaimed.

“Oh, don’t be that way.” Lupusregina said, “You’re a pretty girl and he’s a young man, what do
you think he is, made of stone? Maybe a bit is, but not the rest. I’ve done my work for now,
sooo… toodles!” Lupusregina winked at him and began to sashay away, cocky smile plastered on
her face.

“It’s up to you now, boyo, don’t screw her up.” Lupusregina whispered when she was passing
Nfirea.

When she was gone, Nfirea looked down and held his hands together like he was worried she’d
appear and take control of one of them again. “Heh, uh, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, she’s a strange one.” Enri replied and looked past him to be sure the beautiful, shapely
back of the cleric was still in retreat. “But… still, strange or not…” Enri looked down again,
Nfiria’s hands hung down in front of his manhood, “she’s not lying, is she?”

“No…” Nfirea finally whispered.

“This is… this is a lot to take in, Enfi, can I ask you to wait?” Enri asked, and to that Nfirea could
do nothing but nod.

______________________________________________________________________________

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“You don’t like traveling much, do you Khajiit?” Clementine asked on their third night of travel.

“No.” The old man answered, every hated inch of road was more dust on his dark red robes, every
step, a hated moment wasted in anticipation of the fulfillment of his plans.

“Awww, c’mon.” Clementine said, “The air doesn’t stink, you’ve got that big sky up there, what’s
not to love? You spend enough time in those dusty crypts, you’ll turn into a corpse yourself.”

Khajiit didn’t take the bait, he only took another bite of plain bread. “I like crypts and tombs.” He
finally answered, “I don’t like villages, I grew up in one of those, they’re trash places, good only
for harvesting.”

Clementine didn’t think of anything to say to that, and they went to bed shortly after. There
wasn’t a need, she didn’t much care for the places either, recalling how ugly village life was
herself.

‘Stupid parents, stupid brother, stupid village. Just one or two more days of travel, snatch the brat,
kill the rest, and then I get to watch a city die! What fun! Although… maybe I can kill off the
whole village too, we only need the one brat, why not wipe out the rest. Villages are disgusting
places, every one of them just like home… they can all just die.’ Clementine cursed everyone she
knew from her own village, and she did it by name.

Then for the thousandth time, she cursed the Black Scripture instructor who raped her when she
was still learning.

Then as Clementine’s last act before every rest, she counted. ‘One… two… three… four…’ She
mentally counted out every time she got the chance to do the penetrating, and finally fell asleep
when she hit the number that had finally killed him.

96
Chapter XIV

They arrived on the outskirts of Carne Village on their sixth day of travel. ‘For a man so eager to
get somewhere, he sure does walk slow.’ Clementine thought, neglecting at least partially on
purpose that he was both an old man and a magic caster, not an adventurer, merchant, nor a
young man accustomed to long walks.

“We’re here.” She said when they crested the hill and found themselves staring down at the
village.

“Do you know how to find the boy?” Khajiit asked her, and Clementine reached up with one hand
and tapped her nose.

“Sure thing, Khajiit.” She said in tandem with the tap. “The woman smelled like more than just
‘old woman’, it smelled like an alchemy lab, all I have to do is find that smell, and I’ll know
where he works and probably where he lives.”

“Fine, but what about the village? Strange that they should have a wall, very strange. What if
there’s trouble to be found here?” Khajiit asked with a narrow look down at the little place. The
wall was simple spiked wooden logs, each one roughly as tall as two people standing one on top
of the other, in addition, there was a watchtower with somebody in it, four of them in fact, facing
each direction by what were likely the entrance gates.

Clementine glanced down at him, even in the dark she could see that his gnarled old hands were
white at the knuckles where he was clutching his staff. “You worry too much, between the two of
us, we can handle anything, and walls go both ways. Sure it is supposed to keep people out, but it
also keeps them in.” Clementine pointed out. “I’ll sneak in, then you just conjure up a few undead
at one gate, then I’ll grab the brat, and go out the other. Easy.”

Khajiit considered her suggestion, it had merit, it wasn’t entirely quiet, but it didn’t need to be.
Plus it was difficult to ignore the appeal of more death that would come from his undead
rampaging through a defenseless village. The promise of more corpses was far, far too alluring to
ignore.

“Go.” Khajiit finally muttered, “Signal me when you need the distraction.”

Khajiit watched as the woman leaned into her run, sprinting over the ground toward the walls.
‘Definitely a Black Scripture.’ He acknowledged her skills privately and reached into his robe to
remove the Orb of Death. The few passengers along the road that fell victim to himself and

97
Clementine would likely never be missed, and they provided him with additional negative energy
to use at need. It still felt like a shame to waste it, but the chance at bringing death to a whole
village was just… wonderful, and that would make up the difference anyway.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Will you be returning to Nazarick tonight, Momon?” Lupusregina asked with a look in her eyes
that suggested she wanted to say more.

“No, this is important to my future plans.” Ainz answered, but it was an incomplete answer, and
he knew it. ‘I also don’t think I’m ready to face them all yet.’

She silently nodded and went to the small cookfire in the corner and stirred the cast iron pot.
“Forgive my humble attempts at cooking, but for now this is the best I can do.” She answered, he
could see the darting way her eyes went from him to the food, his insistence on informality grated
on her more than a little.

‘She is the best at it, though. Plus her little games with the peasant I rescued seem to be bearing
fruit. Protect his girlfriend and he will be grateful, the deeper his loyalty, the harder he will work
and the more he can be trusted.’ It was still an unhappy thought, and it made him recall the
anguish of his own uncertainty.

“Master.” Lupusregina stopped dead, she sniffed the air coming in through the window. Her
sudden formality and tension would have told him enough, but his own level one hundred senses
were alert, and he began to stand.

“I feel it too.” He whispered, then pointed toward the door. “Go.”

Ainz yawned against his will and reached for his helmet.

Lupusregina sprinted out the door and followed her nose. She exited the little hut just in time to
see the blonde woman sailing over the wall, then land rolling in the dirt without stopping.
Lupusregina narrowed her eyes, ‘That’s not bad, not great, but not bad, a damn sight better than
the rest of the adventurers I got to play with.’ She thought and watched as the woman slipped
around the village going door to door. Not to break in, but only stopping, then moving on.
‘Looking for someone, but nobody here is really important, except…’

98
Understanding hit Lupusregina, and a wolfish smile appeared on her face. She went straight to the
house of Enri and Nemu Emmott. ‘She’s looking for him. But he’s not home.’ Lupusregina
chuckled, the smell of sex in Enri’s house was impossible to miss, and she privately resolved,
‘Whenever I get a chance, I should ‘look in’ on them some more.’ When the battlemaid reached
the house, she slipped in through a small window and crawled along the floor.

The faint sound of womanly moans came from beyond a closed door ‘Guess I can’t call them
virgins anymore.’ Lupusregina said and maintained her undetectable status in the corner. She
listened in, enjoying her lewd and ‘strictly necessary’ eavesdropping.

She knew it wouldn’t be long before the blonde woman found this place, not if her nose alone was
good enough to detect her target.

______________________________________________________________________________

Clementine felt annoyance rise up in her like nothing else when she looked down at the empty
bed. “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Did I miss him again?!” She screamed in annoyance,
it had already taken far, far longer than she thought it should have to complete her objective.

But she did learn one thing. She stared in disbelief at the head on the counter. ‘The Wise King of
the Forest… somebody killed it. That thing has taken down entire orichalcum teams and even a
few adamantite ranked adventurers. Somebody killed it?! And if they did, why is it here?!’
Clementine felt a sort of rare anxiety, only a handful of warriors were her equal in the world, and
she knew all of their names, and was personally acquainted with a few of them. ‘If one of them
killed it, and is still here, that could be a problem.’

She reached for a chair, broke the leg off, tore a sheet, and then took up a bottle of clear liquid,
sniffed it to ensure it was alcohol, and then soaked the improvised torch.

A quick spark from her flint and it was lit. As soon as Clementine left the house she threw the
torch as high and far into the air as she could in Khajiit’s direction.

She then resumed her house to house search, more quickly than before until she found the house
with the alchemical smell, and heard the moans within. Instantly, she understood. ‘Oooooh, fun,
he found himself some little village slut to pound, lucky him. Well I hope he finishes quickly,
because he’s almost out of time.’ Clementine’s bemused smile became vicious when she found the
window, ‘Open... stupid. Even his grandmother was more cautious than that.’ She didn’t snort
with derision, but she felt it at the thought.

99
She climbed in, shimming through the small square, then down to the floor and over to the door.
She pressed her ear against the wood, the smell of sex and alchemical ingredients was coming
from inside. ‘Maybe one more minute.’ Clementine kept the chuckle to herself, and waited.

______________________________________________________________________________

Enri rocked her hips back and forth over her first lover, though she’d been inexperienced before, a
farm girl is never completely innocent, seeing the couplings of many beasts, living in small
houses with parents that did as parents do to become parents, total innocence was unlikely for
anyone. But the experience proved entirely novel, and she found she enjoyed it a great deal.

Shyness was long gone as she rode her lover to her eighth climax of the evening, and finally, at
last, collapsed on him when she felt his own pleasure crest. Their bodies were slick with sweat
from their exertions, and she sighed as she clung to him. He was breathing harder than she, but
when she kissed him, he reciprocated with greater passion as well.

“It feels like I’ve waited for that for a lifetime.” Nfirea said happily.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me you were in love with me?” Enri asked when she held his eyes in
hers, illuminated only by a small candle, the fire danced in the reflection of one another’s eyes.

“Because he was a weakling, duh.”

Neither Enri nor Nfirea had spoken, and for a moment each thought the other had, shock formed
on both faces at once and they turned their eyes to the open door. The candle illuminated a
slender blonde woman with a bare midriff, strange leather armor covered in various adventurer
plates, and holding a stiletto in hand. She had a vicious smile plastered on her face and tapped it
on her cheek.

“Be grateful, I let you finish first, call it a last favor from one woman to another, but I’m afraid
that’s the last bit of pleasure for you, girl. I need the boy, I don’t need you. Soooo…” She raised
her empty hand and wiggled her fingers, “bye bye then.”

“Whatcha doing there?” Lupusregina whispered into the blonde woman’s ear just as abject terror
appeared on the young couple’s faces.

Clementine whirled around ready to strike, only to find the impossible. Her thrust was stopped
dead by a tanned open hand. “Bad girl! Those aren’t your toys! Play with your own things!”

100
Lupusregina said, then closed her hand around the wrist of the still disbelieving, staring blonde,
and yanked.

Clementine smashed through the thin walls of the house, the shock and disbelief hurt more than
the blows themselves as she went sailing into the night air after the thunderous crash.

She heard the sounds of alarm being raised and the moans of zombies already beginning as
Khajiit began his part. ‘Dammit!’ Clementine groused and flipped herself over to land and slide
on her feet over the ground until she could form a crouch again.

The redheaded woman was quiet, and strong, and clearly dangerous. More worrying to
Clementine though was… ‘Who is she? I should know everybody capable of doing anything like
that. But I don’t recognize her at all.’

The woman emerged, stepping over the rubble of the ruined house and dusting herself off. “If this
were my maid outfit, I’d tear your throat out for getting it dirty.” The redhead said to her. Behind
the woman, Clementine could see her target, the woman he’d been screwing, and a little girl
frantically trying to understand what was happening and throwing on clothes while they tried to
work out whether to flee or where to go if they did.

“Bitch… you may be strong, and quiet, but I’m a Legend.” Clementine snarled, “You’re some
nobody… get out of my way!” She snarled, “Do that, and I’ll leave you alone, I only want the
boy.”

“My name is Lupu, but I guess ‘bitch’ isn’t totally wrong, if you think about it.” Lupusregina said
and laughed uproariously at a joke that Clementine couldn’t quite grasp. The woman who called
herself ‘Lupu’ went on. “Fraid I can’t do that, you see we’re supposed to protect that one, and that
means I’m going to have to kill you, or take you alive. But either way, you’re not leaving.”

“The undead! The undead!” Shouting and screaming carried up all over the village as people
rushed to the alarms of the watching goblins.

______________________________________________________________________________

“What the hell is happening!” Peter shouted in response to the alarm, his team was already
throwing on their armor and readying for the fight while the goblins bought them precious
minutes.

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“Why are the undead here?!” Brita shouted while she secured her belt.

“We can worry about that later, but we’ve got to go!” Lukrut shouted as he ran out the door with
Dyne and Ninya following hot on his heels.

“We’re earning our coin today!” Ninya shouted as encouragingly as she could, and stopped cold.
She’d expected to see Momon and Lupu at the gate, but the first thing she saw amidst the light of
villagers running with torches beneath the light of the moon, was Lupu facing off against
someone who was clearly not undead.

The attacker was clearly beyond the realm of heroes, darting in to finish Lupu off, only to be
batted aside like an ant. ‘Lupu is… playing with her? She’s playing with someone moving so fast I
can’t even see her…’

“Come on.” Ninya looked up when the voice reached her ear and a large hand rested on her
shoulder. She looked up to the towering figure of Momon. “We have to protect the village.” The
majestic voice all but melted her on the spot, only to reform itself into iron conviction.

‘If my home had a hero like this, my sister…’ Ninya had the momentary selfish thought, and it
redoubled her own resolve over Lupu’s advice, and she lept to follow Momon’s lead.

Zombies were climbing over the walls despite the goblin’s best efforts, the gate was giving way,
thunderous bashing and smashing from the stronger undead that cared nothing for injuries, slowly
began to force it to give way.

Lukrut was shooting arrow after arrow and hitting his mark, Dyne’s plants were holding the
undead in place, Peter lopped off heads. Ninya added her magic arrows to the defense, and
villagers gathered to protect their own, shooting arrows as best they could.

It would not be enough for long. “Stand back from the gate!” They heard the powerful shout of
Momon, “Stand out of the way! They’re going to break through!” Ainz felt the very human fear
rise with the stink of death, but thanks to the stats of his warrior body, it passed away almost
instantly as the fear resistance kicked in.

The cracks, thunks, and tears redoubled, almost like the undead understood they were going to
break through. However, because of his orders, the goblins and the humans alike began to fall
back. “Hold them back from climbing over the wall! I will take care of the rest!” Ainz gave the
order.

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“There’s over a hundred of them out there! You can’t possibly handle so many!” Brita shouted.

Ainz drew his two great swords. “Fifty swings each.” He snapped, and then the gate burst open.
The villagers cried out with alarm, and then watched in disbelief as the hero in black armor
charged alone.

The swords swung wide and swift, bodies were knocked to pieces, shattered, rotted heads spun
away and bodies fell without them. ‘I’m seeing a legend being born… the Battle of Carne… where
one warrior destroyed… how many are there even?’ Brita recognized, and nor was she alone. The
dark hero disappeared from view and the flow of undead over the walls began to falter.

“We’re going to live…” People said, and then they heard the crash at their backs.

They turned en masse, and Ninya recalled the sight she’d put out of her mind a moment ago.

______________________________________________________________________________

Clementine wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m going to kill you.”

“You said that, but as far as I can see, you’re only killing time, and you’re even doing a pitiful job
at that.” Lupu responded and tapped her foot. “Really, I was almost impressed at you, but you’re
just a one trick pervert, did you develop all those skills just to listen to people screw?”

“Bitch… you’ll pay for that!” Clementine shouted, and opened her arms, “I’m beyond human
limits, I kill and kill and kill and nobody can stop me, everyone fears me! I can rob the treasures
of cardinals and the homes of mages! I’m death itself!”

“Hmpf, little people often lift themselves by claiming lofty titles. But I see nothing special about
you. Saying you’re beyond human limits… that’s like saying you’ve got bigger boobs than a loli.
Who cares?” Lupu mocked her and Clementine’s face went red with rage.

“I will show you what that really means…” Clementine said, and crouched down. “Fucking bitch.”
She groused, and began to activate her martial arts.

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Chapter XV

The dead fell with absurd ease to Ainz’s blades, though he could feel the eyes watching him when
people and goblins returned to the walls. ‘Make my name a legend, and I can do damn near
anything.’ He thought as he put the last of them down, a few hundred undead were nothing, but…
the exp did add up, even if it was almost nothing individually. ‘Am I getting a little more because
it is a mob?’ He wondered, but then focused on the real question.

‘There’s no chance that this is a mere coincidence. That one Lupusregina is dealing with is a
fighter of some sort, not a mage. People who can do both are exceptionally rare, even nonexistent
other than myself. So she has a caster as a partner… a necromancer, no less.’ Ainz’s time as a
gamer told him that much beyond doubt, leaving only the question of where they would be
located.

Behind him he could hear the crash of another home being demolished. ‘Lupusregina is playing
with her food again.’ The thought almost made him laugh while he scanned the area. He called on
his experience as a guild leader and surveyed the landscape.

‘They ‘could’ be anywhere, but where are they ‘likely’ to be?’ He asked himself and immediately
ruled out the forest, even with a good view of the gate, that was literally all. No line of sight to
their partner or any idea what else was happening inside the village itself. That left one obvious
position right away that offered a way to see what the undead were doing ‘and’ let them see
inside. ‘The hill.’ He turned his eyes in that direction, and sure enough, a small figure stood,
visible to him only because of his high stats.

He sheathed his swords to give himself just a little more speed, just in case the person was faster
than he expected, and began to sprint.

______________________________________________________________________________

Clementine thrust again and again as fast and hard as she could, yet her blows were batted away
by the one calling herself, ‘Lupu’ with a single flick of her wrists. ‘How is this even possible? She
is a human, right?!’ The question hadn’t been seriously intended, but once the seed was planted, it
began to grow.

“Really, is this the best you can do? I’m disappointed, really I am, I’ve seen better out of soooo
many other lesser beings.” Lupusregina said and folded her hands behind her head, she let out a
sigh that was clearly intended to taunt.

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Clementine’s eyes, already narrow and full of hate, darted around, others were starting to gather,
none of them meant anything, they were weaklings, but it meant something worse. She glanced
past Lupu, and the woman picked up on her shifted attention.

“Oh, them? You really didn’t notice? Wow, you suck. Yeah, Momon took care of them, he’s
probably already on the way to take care of whoever you used to create all that rotten meat. He
might be a little cross with you for using the bodies of the families here though, he’s gotten to
kind of like these folks.” Lupu said, and the villagers stared at one another in horror, open
mouthed, and in many cases, weeping when they understood what Lupu had just told them all.

“I’ll end their misery once I’ve ended you.” Clementine snarled, her bosom heaved with deep
breaths, “One poke is all it takes.”

“Tell it to the lover boy back there.” Lupu jabbed her thumb over to where Enri and Nfirea stood.

‘How can anyone… how is this even possible?’ Nfirea ignored the joke thrown in his direction, he
shared the thought with the rest of the villagers, the zombies and other undead were reduced to
hunks of meat, and in front of them all an impossible fight was being waged. Lupu seemed to be
utterly indifferent in the face of a monster, and more importantly, utterly untouchable by it.

“You can only mock someone so much.” Clementine glared.

“Yeah, eventually I’m going to have to kill you, I’m just waiting for Momon’s word. Or you could
surrender, I could use a pet. Though I guess I’d have to housebreak you, can’t have you sniffing
around places you shouldn’t.” Lupusregina’s mockery redoubled and made the blonde howl with
rage and charge again.

______________________________________________________________________________

“What are you?! Who are you?!” Khajiit yelled while the dark warrior rushed him, he put up wall
after wall of skeletons, raised undead, and sent off acid and fire attacks… but the warrior avoided
most and simply bashed through the skeletal walls or literally slapped the undead aside and put
them down with that alone.

“Stronger than you, and nobody you’d know, nobody you need to know. A name is meaningless
to the dead.” Ainz declared and drew his twin blades as he came close.

105
“Skeletal dragons!” Khajiit shouted, holding aloft a dark orb in hand. That set the warrior
jumping backward, and relief flooded the long face of the red robed caster.

“You’re right to be afraid! Even one would require a team of adamantite adventurers, and I’ve
summoned two, and you’re alone! You handled low ranked undead easily enough! And this is a
setback! But it’s all over now! You’ll die here, Clementine will kill the rest of the village, and it
will all be over!”

Ainz looked up to the sky, true to Khajiit’s word, two skeletal dragons flapped bone wings and
bone tails. An ear splitting roar led to shouts of alarm in return.

“OK, so this is different.” Ainz begrudgingly admitted. ‘I wonder if they’re as weak as they were
in the game.’

______________________________________________________________________________

Clementine got up to her feet, her ears rang where Lupu slapped her. ‘The bitch actually slapped
me… me!’ It was a galling thought, but the roar splitting the air and the alarm of those who
watched her humiliation was a comfort. “You’re done for now, I’ll never admit this to Khajiit, but
his magic is really good. Your warrior friend is done for, how will he face two skeletal dragons?
Hadn’t you better start running? Since you did so well, I’ll even give you a head start.”
Clementine gestured to the wall and she waited for the panic to ensue.

The villagers and petty adventurers looked like they were about to break.

“No way!” Enri shouted her defiance when she felt Nfirea’s confident arm around her waist
holding her a little closer. “We’re not running! This is our home! You’re not going to kill us!
You’re not going to burn it! Nobody will ever take from us again!”

Clementine glared at the blonde peasant. “When I finish with her… you’re next.”

“You don’t have a chance.” Nfirea said with utter confidence.

“Nope, not even one. See that warrior is a lot stronger than me. I’m not even a warrior, I’m a
cleric.” Lupu said with a cocky grin and a raised chin, daring Clementine to disbelieve her.

106
It was a dare Clementine accepted, “Bullshit!” She spat into the dirt.

“I’ll prove it.” Lupu said and raised a hand, and in Clementine’s eyes, did the stupid and the
impossible both at once.

The healing light hit Clementine worse than a physical blow, not because it didn’t work, but
because it did. ‘How… how how how how how how how?! You can’t be this strong ‘and’ use
magic like this! It’s not fair! You’re breaking the rules!’

“See, all better, now I can play with you again.” Lupu clapped her hands together with excitement
and a giggle, and then took the offensive. She hit home before Clementine could even raise an
effort at self defence, the back of Lupu’s hand connected to Clementine’s jaw and flipped the
woman end over end six times in the air before the blonde woman landed face first in the dirt.

______________________________________________________________________________

Khajiit extended a hand toward the dark warrior when the skeletal dragons descended to guard
him. “Surrender, and I’ll let you serve me!” His aged voice was almost raspy, his long face and
bald head made him look almost cartoonishly villainish. An absurd notion on its face even if
things were not as Ainz knew them to be.

“No, I’d rather use these as an experiment.” Ainz answered, and advanced at Khajiit slowly
enough to allow one of the massive beasts, easily fifty times Ainz’s size, to bar the way. The claw
came out to stop, and possibly grip, Ainz’s body, and his sword came out to strike it.

Khajiit’s jaw dropped, the bones shattered like icicles hit by stones, the fragments fell down, and
the warrior swung again before those fragments hit the ground. Bits of bone began to fall like
snowflakes as he literally began to cut the undead monster to pieces.

“Go! Stop him!” Khajiit screeched, sending the second skeleton in to attack. For a moment
everything was obscured, there was only the sound of a crash, a smile of relief began to trace over
his face. “So, you couldn’t handle two…”

He frowned, the skeletal dragon was flapping its wings, but not moving from where it impacted.
“What’s wrong…” He wondered, until the dragon roared as its arm was wrenched away from its
body.

107
“That’s… that’s not possible!” Khajiit stammered when the dragon moved, and he saw that the
sword was buried pommel up into the dirt, and the dark warrior grasped the skeleton, and tore the
arm free.

“Many things that are impossible to believe, are very real.” Ainz replied, and then he yanked the
sword out, and proceeded to cut his way through the body of the dragon. The rain of bones
continued to fall as the beast continued to flail hopelessly. ‘Slightly stronger, but just as dumb.
Without constant control, all they can do is follow their last order.’ A huge drawback to undead
was the lack of intelligence in most of them, and these were no exception.

As one dragon collapsed with a crash into the dirt road, the other advanced, and began to suffer
the same fate. Khajiit held the orb in a trembling hand, “Ray of negative energy!” He shouted the
spell and black energy shot out to heal the remaining undead monster.

The dark warrior however, simply moved faster, and the trickle of negative healing energy that
had been pulling bones back into place, simply couldn’t keep up, and then gradually died out.
“No! No! No! I refuse to believe I’ll die here! Five years of preparation! Five years of work and
death in the crypt! Five years to destroy E-Rantel and achieve my fondest wish! All to die by a
nobody outside of a nothing village?!” He shouted his rage and began using his own mana to
desperately launch spell after spell, fireballs lit up the night, but his wild desperation, which
redoubled when the second skeleton crashed down, did not help his aim.

The dark warrior was closer, advancing faster than Khajiit could respond, he opened his mouth to
scream one last desperate spell and save himself from a fate he could no longer avoid, and his life
flashed before his eyes…

...Himself, the young Khajiit, playing by the water with his friends outside of the village they
were all born in.

...Himself and his mother having lunch, a little tiff over when he had to come home.

...His harsh words to her, the hurt in her eyes…

...His fun time playing again, but a lingering sense of guilt… a resolve to apologize…

...His return home. ‘Mom, listen I’m sorry I…’ the last words, and they died in mid sentence when
he saw her corpse lying there, dead.

108
...The guilt, an apology he could never give… learning she died of a rare illness and needed him
home so she could rest easy…

...The resolution, to give her back her life, no matter what…

...His first kill…

...His first spell…

...One after another… joining Zuranon and rising through the ranks…

...Learning about the death spiral, obtaining the Orb of Death…

...The morning of the present…

The sword was up, it was coming down, ‘I have to say the spell! It’s my last chance!’ He
understood.

But only one word came out.

“Mother!” Khajiit shouted for help which had died decades earlier, and the sword severed his
head from his body. He lived to see the world spinning end over end and felt the pain as he began
to roll down the hill. Dust in his eyes and the taste of it on his tongue, rocks jabbing into the skin
of his face.

He rolled down like a ball, unable to cast a spell as he could no longer speak, he felt his
consciousness fading, and a part of him wondered, ‘Will I live long enough to come to a stop?’

Khajiit got an answer to his question, his head finally rocked back and forth at the base of the hill,
his face looking up toward the endless sky, then his eyes began to close, and his life came to an
end.

“That was easy.” Ainz said while the head tumbled down the hill and the body toppled over. “I
guess that’s enough, and the exp I got from those skeletal dragons was a lot better than the undead
down there.” He yawned heavily and looked out over the village.

109
“Lupu! Finish it, I’ll be returning in a moment!” Ainz shouted, and started to stroll back down the
hill.

______________________________________________________________________________

When the skeletons fell from the sky, Clementine could barely believe it. “Impossible.” She
muttered, a sentiment shared by every single observer.

“Nah, it’s routine for someone that strong. Those were nothing, not even a warmup.” Lupu said,
and then she heard her master’s orders.

“Whelp, I guess that’s it for you then, playtime is over.” Lupu said with a smile as sadistic as
Clementine’s own.

The blonde crouched down, “So it is, if Khajiit really failed, I’d better get going.” She said, and
though she kept her voice confident, when she crouched down to launch herself at the red haired
woman again, she felt the ember of fear burst into flames, her opponent took the same posture,
both legs bent, one hand on the dirt, one hand up, despite being without a weapon.

‘She means to end it, fine, so do I, I’m beyond humanity, and she? She’s just a crazy skilled
copper plate nobody!’ Clementine meant the thought to reassure herself, and then she sprang into
action.

Her stiletto came out, and whooshed through open air, as expected, the woman knew how to
dodge, but Clementine was confident in her experience, and had a second one in hand an instant
later. She brought it out and tried to jab the redhead in her kidney. That too, whooshed past, but
this one went ‘behind’ the woman who stepped inside Clementine’s attack.

The blonde Black Scripture was quick to try to respond by changing her grip and bringing her
stilettos in, but to her horror, she felt hands holding her arms, and squeezed.

Her bones snapped under Lupu’s hold, and her will to fight snapped with them. Clementine let
out a wail of pain. She kicked and struggled, trying to escape. ‘Run! Run! This is a monster! A
monster! A monster! It’s not a human after all! Get out of here! Go! Go!’ Clementine told herself,
but the monster that held her broken arms was now lifting her up.

110
“Well, that’s it for you, I don’t really need you, any purpose you had, you’ve already served, so…
to use your words, ‘bye bye.’” Lupu was grinning up at her, licking her lips.

How the redhead intended to kill her, Clementine didn’t know, she barely listened to what was
being said, but understanding dawned when she began to feel the slow, steady pull on her arms
and felt the fingers of the redhead tearing into her flesh.

“No! No!” No please!” Clementine whimpered and cried as all her courage and will to cruelty
died with the feeling of the pull on her arms. Her flesh began to slowly tear away.

The ripping that sounded like paper tearing continued with agonizing slowness, the cruel yellow
eyes of the woman that Clementine recognized too late to be that of a true monster, bored into
her.

Then she felt it, the feeling of falling. Clementine collapsed when she hit the dirt and landed on
her back, up above her, she could see that Lupu still held her arms in the air.

“Hmm, I kind of thought one would tear before the other… oh well, I should have taken bets.”
Lupu mumbled, then raised a foot and stomped on Clementine’s ankle while the woman on her
back in the dust struggled to kick herself away from the horror of her own demise.

The ankle shattered, but the pain was less than which shot from where her shoulders used to be.

Clementine rolled over onto her belly, and began wiggling, crawling on it as she threw away the
last bit of pride to put just one more inch between herself and the one to take her life and her
pride and grind both down into nothingness.

“You made a bad mistake, and you don’t get to learn from it.” Lupu muttered, approached, and
put her foot on Clementine’s back.

The former Black Scripture felt the foot on her back, pressing her breasts down, grinding them
painfully into the dirt, adding one more final agony. The wave of cheers from her would-be
victims hit her like one last insult and she thought, as her brain finally began to die, ‘This has
been the worst day of my life!’

Then it was her last, and Clementine, died.

111
Chapter XVI

The aftermath of the fight was beyond anything Ninya had ever dreamed of. ‘A battle of heroes or
monsters, something like this.’ She thought, clutching her staff and staring around her in a daze,
‘people don’t even get to see this once in a hundred years. And it took place here, in a little
village…’

When Momon returned through the gate and Lupu walked away from the corpse of the blonde
killer to go and greet him, the spell was broken and cheers erupted. Torches were in many hands
by then, the resolute words of Enri Emmott electrified the crowd, and from it was born a
confidence not one village of humans had held in itself for six hundred years.

‘If my own village had been like this one, would Tuare have been taken? No… no not a chance.
Lupu was right.’ Ninya thought to herself, her eyes transfixed on the blood soaked cleric who
traded words that Ninya couldn’t hear over the cheering in the night. Torchlight cast shadows and
light about, making every man and woman taller and stronger and more active by their shadows.

Ninya turned her attention to Enri, the resolute villager’s entire body began to shake as she shed
the fear from the prior events now that things had calmed down. Calm or not however, the village
was not going back to sleep. The wounded were gathered and brought forward, it was difficult not
to pity them when she heard the village elder say, “Momon, sir, we suffered many injuries in the
fighting against the undead, could we ask for your partner to heal them?”

‘They know about the ban, now. So sad, they’ll…’ Ninya stopped the thought cold as a corpse
when she heard Momon’s answer.

“Lupu, go ahead, as long as nobody at the guild finds out, it will be no problem.” His majestic
voice when he looked down at the red stained, red haired cleric was like oil thrown into flames,
there was nobody who didn’t know what was being asked.

‘He’s risking his career as an adventurer, just to help some pathetic nothing village…?’ Ninya
clenched her jaw and jogged over, ‘It hurts, but… I have to stop him, or at least warn them…’

“M-Mr. Momon! Miss Lupu! If you do that and the guild finds out… you’ll be expelled! You
won’t be adventurers anymore!” Ninya stammered out her objection over the groans of the dozen
wounded. They had long, deep tears in their flesh, bite marks where entire chunks of flesh had
been torn away in the most desperate moments when only raw courage kept the wall from being
overrun. Shame washed over Ninya when she stood in the way of his effort at healing the
wounded.

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‘Someone like that, so noble, strong, there are many lives they’re destined to save, many great
things they’re destined to do! I can’t just let them throw it away for people like me!’ Ninya
screamed in her head and silently begged for forgiveness from herself and from the groaning men
and women.

It was enough to give Momon pause, however, and he glanced down at Lupu.

“That’s true. But it is not true if they are part of our Party. Am I correct about the laws here, you
can heal party members without concern for the temples?” Momon asked her, and Ninya gave a
shaky nod of her head.

“Yes, but you…” She snapped her jaw shut.

“Then we are taking the entire village into our party. There is no limit to the number of members
a party can have, is there?” Momon spread out his hands, and even the wounded ceased their
groans to stare.

“Ah, no, not technically, but…” Dyne interjected.

“And you can add party members whenever you wish as long as you register them afterward,
right?” Momon pressed on.

It was Brita who was the first to start laughing, she clutched her belly and lost all control,
doubling over with outrageous laughter, and from there, Lukrut joined her, followed by Peter,
Dyne, and at last, a disbelieving Ninya.

From there it spread to the whole village. “Momon, sir, what is your party called?” Enri asked,
struggling to hold back the laughter at his outrageous proposal.

“Axel.” Ainz replied in an instant.

“I don’t understand, why ‘Axel’ sir?” Enri asked, “It’s such a small thing. Most teams go for
something fearsome or large.”

“Because the wheel turns on it.” Ainz replied, and then it became a whisper.

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The whisper became a chant.

The chant became a cry like those of warriors in a battle line.

“Ax-el! Ax-el! Ax-el! Ax-el!” The word became more in the eyes of those who breathed it like a
sacred name.

“Get to work, Lupu, heal the team.” Momon ordered, and the bloody cleric with a broad and
vicious grin went from body to injured body, restoring them to their full strength and health
again. Bloody wounds vanished and the wounded were whole once more.

The victory, the healing, the unexpected salvation from unexpected danger, an ocean of
confidence was theirs and they had energy to boot, nobody wanted to sleep. Instead, the many
torches came together to form a bonfire and an impromptu festival was held. Food and drink went
about, music was played by those few with instruments, songs carried into the darkness around
the village, and carried on till beyond the break of dawn.

It was only with the coming of the light, the piercing rays of the sun as they chased away the
night and illuminated the true nature of what the village had survived the night before that
brought home how close they had truly come to annihilation.

Nemu clung to her big sister and whimpered when she saw the bodies of the zombies being
loaded into carts, Enri clung to the little girl, and felt her own sense of relief when Nfirea clung to
her in turn.

“They really saved us there, didn’t they?” Enri asked without looking up at him.

“They really did. I owe them everything.” Nfirea said, his words and face more grim and resolute
than Enri had ever known him to be.

“We owe you also, Enri Emmott.” The village elder said when he approached her, a hand folded
behind his back, and the other held in the hand of his wife, she turned her attention to him and
picked up Nemu to clutch her close.

“What?” Enri asked.

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“Without that wall, without the goblins, we would have suffered terribly. You insisted on both,
and that bought time for salvation, I argued against both the use of that item and against the extra
work spent on the wall. I thought archery practice was enough, I was wrong. I was wrong and I
think my time as elder is done.” The old man added, Enri’s bright eyes widened.

“Why are you telling me?” She asked, the heavy thud of a zombie corpse being dropped onto a
pile was louder in her ears and in her own mind than it probably was in reality. Past the old man,
in the distance, the remains of the two skeletal dragons loomed larger than she imagined any
creature could ever truly be.

“Because I think you should be the next chief. You were the mind behind the work we did, the
whole village will support you. And if you need an old man’s advice, I’ll offer what I can.” The
old man said in a self deprecating fashion with a little wry smile on his wrinkled face.

“You don’t have to answer right now, dear, things are still hectic and… a lot drunk.” He chuckled,
most of the villagers were not busy working on clearing out the bodies, they were instead clearing
out their bellies by throwing up the hours of alcohol consumption. “Think about it for a bit.”

“Ah- I- I will.” Enri stammered, and the couple left her alone.

“You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.” Lupu said when she eventually approached.

“Thank you… thank you… thank you…” Enri shot the words out with divine reverence and fell to
her knees in front of the red haired cleric. She looked up at the blood soaked woman, “I don’t
know how you fought like that, and I don’t care. You saved us… you fought for us. I can’t thank
you enough.”

Nfirea went down to his knees beside the woman he loved, “She’s right… without you two, I’d
have lost everything, probably even my life, she was definitely after me, but… why?”

“Heh,” Lupu chuckled a little, “You two put on a good show, I couldn’t very well let her ruin it.”
She paused to let their blushes return. “But as for why they wanted you? I don’t know, but I’ll bet
there’s a way to find out.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Hours passed and the many bones of the skeletal dragon were hauled toward the outskirts of the
village under Peter’s direction, Ainz saw the young warrior giving instructions to a score of

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peasants working with their carts, lining them up in a caravan formation. Curious, he approached
the youth.

“Peter, what exactly are you doing?” Ainz asked, watching the peasants load the bones into the
cart, the constant clatter and rattle grew loud as burly peasants, some less sober than others,
worked to tie square cloths over top of high stacks of the remains.

“Gathering the evidence for your promotion of course, Mr. Momon.” Peter said with absolute
deference in his voice, fully respectful, when the young man looked up, Ainz saw that Peter’s
eyes shone like he was staring at an idol.

“I don’t understand.” Ainz replied and took off his helmet to scratch his head.

Peter laughed, “You’re too humble, Mr. Momon. Forget chopping ogres in half, you alone killed
two skeletal dragons and a magic caster. Your partner killed a woman who I can only assume was
an adamantite ranked warrior…” His eyes fell, “If we’d had to face her… she would surely have
killed us all. Her armor was covered in adventurer plates, trophies, I guess. There’s copper, iron,
silver, gold, mithril, and even orichalcum. That narrows down her skill level a great deal, and
Lupu not only beat her, she beat her easily. So, we’ll transport all this back to E-Rantel with us,
get signed witness statements from the whole village, and you’ll get the plate you deserve.”

“I see.” Ainz said and thought, ‘That will make spreading my name much easier.’ Gratitude rose
up, so he reached down and put a heavy armored hand on the young warrior’s shoulder. “I won’t
forget your thoughtfulness. But do you think we’ll be leaving today?”

Peter thought that over, “That’s up to our client, but… I think we will, yes, at least long enough for
him to go back and see his grandmother. The roar of those skeletal dragons was really something,
who knows how far away they were heard? They were also very clearly visible against the moon
when they were up high, so they were visible for miles around. Anyone who saw or heard them
would go straight for the adventurer’s guild. If we wait too long, they’ll send an investigation and
suppression team.”

“Right, we shouldn’t waste time then.” Ainz answered with a decisive air and drew his hand
away.

“Oh, and by the way, we found this on the ground next to the magic caster’s body.” Peter said,
and held out a pouch. “I had Dyne tap it with a staff into a pouch, we don’t know what it does, but
it looked dangerous and definitely magical, you killed the man though. By common adventurer
custom, you keep what you kill outside of a team fight.”

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Ainz reached down and took the little brown cloth pouch, his respect for Peter went up another
notch. ‘Loot law for parties in the game seems to have been picked up here by adventurers, good
for him to keep it up.’ The appreciative thought was quickly concealed by his collector’s avarice
and when the pouch was in hand, he opened it up.

A little black ball sat at the bottom of the pouch. ‘Yes, that’s right, I remember it now… he held
this out and used it to heal the skeletal dragons.’ Ainz called up the image to his mind and then
sealed it up and cinched the pouch tightly to his belt. “Thank you, Peter.” Ainz said with the
utmost sincerity.

If Peter planned to say anything in return, Ainz never knew.

Because in the next instant, a gut wrenching, heartbroken wail stopped everybody in their tracks,
and it was coming from just inside the walls.

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Chapter XVII

Lupusregina was standing over the wailing Nfirea and scratching her head. “What’s wrong with
you, all I said was ‘go through the dead meat’s things and see if there’s anything useful there.’
Why does that merit a bunch of tears, did she turn out to be a childhood friend gone wrong or
something?”

Nfirea’s hand shook, the hair that hung down in his eyes hid the worst of his expression, his
knuckles were white from the tension. He didn’t look up at the red haired beauty, he only stared
down at the closed fist and sobbed.

He heard Lupu’s question repeated, a little more sharply, more commanding. His shaking fist
became shaking fingers as they opened slowly to reveal what lay within. A plate. Obviously very
old, obviously worn.

A name sat emblazoned on it. “Lizzie Bareare” Nfirea whispered her name like a prayer, tears ran
down his face and he said it again. “Lizzie Bareare. That is… was, my grandmother’s name.”

Lupusregina’s face formed a deep frown, ‘The only casualty of the whole trip is one person who
wasn’t with us, go figure.’

Nfirea’s shaking fingers dropped the little mithril plate. Enri however, caught it immediately, and
put her arm around his upper back while she held the plate in his stead. “Grandmother,” Nfirea
mumbled through his sobs, “That must have been how this one,” he waved a hand to the torso of
the woman who identified herself as Clementine, “Found me. She must have done something to
grandmother, mind control magic or something, and found out I would be here.”

Lupusregina Beta felt the orgasmic bliss rise in her as she watched the twisted emotional
suffering of the two humans, she’d helped bring the two together… in her own playful way. The
brief time knowing them had led to her finding enjoyment in their antics. Now they were
suffering one of the worst losses they possibly could… and the smiling sadist couldn’t have been
happier about it. ‘Yes! Yes! Oh… yes!’ Her mind screamed out as she was flooded with pleasure
that left her trembling with unrivalled excitement the sort of which she’d never felt before.

The battlemaid’s legs trembled so much her knees almost knocked, and finally she could stand no
more, and fell with a thud, knees hit the dust and scattered small clouds, she all but wept with the
bliss of the moment.

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‘Wow, she barely knows us… but she’s such a good friend already, she’s so hard hit by how Nfirea
feels… she feels his pain like it’s her own… what a good woman.’ Enri thought, and after putting
the plate back into Nfirea’s hand, she gently reached out to put her palm on Lupus thigh. Enri
gently pressed down on the soft green fabric of the traveling pants. “Hey… Miss Lupu… you
couldn’t have known, this isn’t your fault, you protected us, that’s good enough, you couldn’t
know they were going after Nfirea’s grandmother.”

The young man nodded without looking up, his eyes still latched on the mithril plate that Enri
pressed into his hand before touching Lupu’s thigh. Though he couldn’t yet look up, he could
speak, and did. “Yeah, don- don’t blame yourself. This was just… just a thing that happens. And…
and you made it right as anyone can be. You killed her killer for me, I’m… I- it’s- you’re amazing.
Beyond amazing. For the rest of my life, I’ll be thankful to you both.”

It took the battlemaid a moment to regain her breath from her moment of bliss, when she did, she
put her hands on their heads and tousled them gently before saying, “Thank Momon, not me.”
Lupu gave a very small, indulgent grin, “Everything I do, I do for him first.”

“You’re a team… that’s to be expected. But still, thank you, too.” Nfirea said when her hand
withdrew, “I still-” he stopped for another round of sobs, then picked up his words again. “I still
need to process this. Just… just give me some more time.”

He watched as Lupu gave him a polite nod, and when Enri came around to comfort him, he let his
head rest in her chest as he cried out his sense of loss.

“I’ll take care of the body, not to worry, I know what to do with it.” Nfirea heard Lupu say, but he
didn’t ask or care what it was she meant.

Lupusregina looked over the torn apart corpse and gave a light whistle. “I really tore you up last
night, didn’t I?” She said to the dead, pallid corpse with the empty death milky eyes that stared at
nothing. The corpse didn’t answer her, the dead never did have much to say, and even most
undead couldn’t do more than grunt.

She shrugged and bent down to start picking up the parts to take away and thought to herself, ‘I
guess I have to save the head, armor, and weapons for proof, I’ll bet you’re worth something to
get my Lord promoted. But your corpse, I’ll bet Entoma would like a snack, and maybe Solution.
Unless Lord Ainz has any plans for you, kind of a shame really. If you hadn’t gotten in the way,
you and I, we might have gotten along.’

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“Oh well, you really screwed the pooch, or tried to anyways.” Lupusregina continued chattering
to the corpse when she dragged it toward the gate, just then Momon came into the village. She
stopped as soon as he approached her.

“Lupu, what is it?” Ainz asked her, other peasants began going in and out, and as others sobered
up enough to work, they began to immediately pitch in, going out to the other gate and started
hauling dragon bones. While more carts were used to clear materials, goods, or otherwise
refurbished for the extra cargo. Almost every farmer had a cart and a horse or at least a mule, and
not one of them was slacking beyond what it took to be able to stand up again after their earlier
revelry.

Lupusregina jabbed her thumb over her shoulder toward Enri and Nfirea. “The blonde one here,”
she held up the head, “Killed his grandmother, the adventurer plate from when she was young
was found in the belongings of this hunk of meat.”

“Oh, how unfortunate.” Ainz replied, a well of pity rose for the young man as he mourned the
loss. ‘At least he isn’t alone.’

When everything was said and done, it took most of the village’s wagons to load up the bones,
but when that was ready, their client wasn’t.

It was evening the day after the battle when the adventurers and their client met up in the house
designated for the hero ‘Momon’.

They sat around the table while Lupu stirred the cast iron pot, the fragrant smell of cooked meat
and vegetables wafted over the table, it was, in Ainz’s view, somewhat improved. ‘Her cooking
skill seems to have gone up, not much, but a little.’ He considered that and filed it away for later,
‘I’ll need to see if the skill console is still accessible in the creation room, I may not be able to
make new NPCs, but being able to analyze the ones I have would be really helpful.’

“I’m just asking for another two days, that’s all, of course I’ll pay you for your time again, but I
just need to get ready for what I’m going to see when I go back. I know Granny is dead… I just
need to prepare myself before I collect her body.” Nfirea said with a quiet shiver that showed he
was still suppressing how he really felt.

“Another two days is fine by me as long as you have the coin, this has already been an adventure
and a half, so a paid vacation isn’t a bad idea.” Peter admitted.

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“I don’t mind either, any chance to hang out with the love of my life, eh Lupu?” Lukrut winked,
and without even blinking, Lupu stuck her ladle in, took out a tiny lump of meat, put it on her
thumb, and flicked it faster and harder than an arrow with her forefinger. It flew straight and true,
into Lukrut’s mouth, knocked him backwards from his chair, and tumbled with a thud onto the
floor.

He pounded his chest and coughed at the unexpected bit of meat in his mouth, and lay there for a
full half a minute before he groaned and began to rise and righted his chair to reseat himself.
“You’re so merciless, Lupu my love…”

“Better remember that.” She flashed a predatory grin.

“I’ll miss this.” Ninya said with a breathy sigh.

“What’s that?” Dyne inquired, his rounded face somewhat red, she answered him.

“I’m done. This is my last journey as an adventurer with the Swords of Darkness.” Ninya replied.

“Wait, are you… are you serious?” Peter asked, “What about your sister… weren’t you going to do
something about that?”

Ninya clutched her staff in her lap, “Yes, I haven’t given up on that, but this trip has taught me
something. I’m taking a lot of risks for no great gains, I’ll never get my sister back like this. It’s
been how long, and I don’t even know if she’s alive or dead anymore? For all I know she died a
year ago or more. Even if she is alive, this isn’t getting me closer to my goal, I need to do
something else.”

“What, exactly?” Peter asked, the rest of the team narrowed their eyes, suspecting insanity was to
follow.

“Nothing you need to worry about, besides, you don’t let women on the team so… I never should
have been here to begin with.” Ninya confessed, “I’m- I have been lying to you all. I’m a woman,
and Lukrut if you ask me to prove it…”

No jokes were forthcoming, instead they looked her up and down and reappraised her in a way
they never had before. Little things began to click into place for them all. Her habit of bathing
alone, relieving herself alone, the loose clothing that she always wore. “Huh… go figure.” Lukrut

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said and scratched his head. “Well… I guess… I guess all we can do is wish you good luck with
whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Look ahhh… I was going to wait until we got back and collected our pay, but I was thinking
about quitting too.” Peter said, and all eyes were on him.

He gave those at the table around him a sardonic half smile. “That fight, and the one before,
showed me limits I can never reach, if I continue doing what I’m doing, I’m just going to die a
pointless death, and take my team down with me.”

“You may improve with time, you know.” Ainz said to the young man, who put his hands on the
table and folded them together with fingers interlocked.

“You’re a good man, Mr. Momon, but what I saw out of you and your partner is a sign, a sign that
some people aren’t meant to rise to the top, and some people are born ready to be there. I’m part
of the former. I was the best fighter in my village, I wanted to be adamantite ranked, and I
thought if I could only work hard enough, that was possible.” Peter gave a snort, “We had big
dreams, the Swords of Darkness. We dreamed more than we ever had any right to.” He took out
the little black stone dagger that was the symbol of the bond of his team.

“Now that I know how far away that dream is, I might as well be a turtle dreaming of having
wings, or a fish dreaming of walking down a street or climbing a tree.” Peter’s fingers fidgeted
with one another when he turned his attention to Nfirea. “We’ll get you home, we’ll show the
guild what Mr. Momon and Miss Lupu accomplished, see them get the rank they should have.
Then after that?” Peter looked toward the window, “It looks like this village needs more hands,
maybe I can lend mine to it.”

“We need good people. And this is a good place to live.” Enri said with inviting warmth. Lupu
scooped up bowls of stew and began to fling them along the table, stopping them perfectly in
front of every person.

“The decision is yours of course, and I can understand it. Perhaps you should pass on your skills
here.” Ainz suggested, offering some hope to the young man that he had not wasted his time.

Dyne and Lukrut traded glances. “Wow.” Lukrut said and tapped his foot. “Look, I… you know
the thing I wanted to do. But… Lupu was right, what am I going to do, dump corpses at the feet of
their parents? I might as well stab them again. Maybe it made sense years and years ago, but
now? No… and the truth is that I want to be with my team, even its trickiest member.”

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He winked at Ninya, who rolled her eyes. “This is why I bound my breasts tightly down. Pervert.”
She said, and Lukrut had the decency to blush.

Dyne was the last of the Swords of Darkness, “I think… I think I want to keep trying out there.
I’m sorry, but I worked too hard on my magic to stop now. When I’ve reached the limits of my
skill, if there comes a time I can go no farther, I will come back here again. Please, stay alive until
then.” He reached down and took the little black dagger and, setting it on the table, he began to
slide it over to Peter.

“No.” Peter said and put a hand up with his wrist on the wood, “Keep it. As long as one of us is
out there, the Swords of Darkness are not gone.”

“Whelp, guess that means some of you have a new redhead neighbor.” Brita said with a bemused
expression.

Lukrut gasped and clasped his hands together, “Miss Lupu is staying here! Oh I knew it! You do
love me!”

Brita smacked him on the back of the head. “No, you imbecile! I mean me.”

He looked up at her with a sheepish, taunting smile that led her to sigh with exasperation. “I
always fall for this one’s antics…” Brita groused, and the gathering fell to idle chatter until the
time came to rest.

When Ainz and Lupusregina were alone at last, she approached him and began to remove his
armor. She was halfway through the process when she inquired of him, “Momon, what will you
do about bathing.”

Ainz reached up and stroked his squared jaw, “Right, I can’t very well return to Nazarick like
this… and I would very much like a bath.” He raised an arm and sniffed. “Sweat, yes I definitely
need a bath.”

Lupusregina hung her head and instinctively became formal. “I like the smell of a supreme being.
My lord does not ‘stink’.”

Ainz chose to let the comment pass and replied only, “I would still like a bath. I’ll visit the nearby
river tomorrow.”

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When he was down to his regular clothes, he flopped down in the bed, and turning his eye toward
the first of the maids to earn his unreserved trust, he gave a single firm order. “Guard.”

She seemed to stiffen, and her wolf-like nature became more obvious. It was like watching the
spirit of a loyal hound emerge from within one of his friend’s children. ‘If only they’d known,
they wouldn’t have left.’ He reflected, and finally drifted off to sleep.

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Chapter XVIII

Ainz stood at the edge of the river, the water was clean and perfect. The little noise of the
babbling waters as they ran over rocks was almost a kind of musical accompaniment. He wasn’t
wearing his armor at the moment, rather he was wearing a robe that was hastily put together for
him at his request by Enri Emmott. “Why would you take a bath ‘dressed’?” She had asked with a
cockeyed look.

“It is a custom in my country to wear one of these, I may have left my home, but it is still part of
me.” Ainz had answered, and that was that. The alacrity with which she’d worked was surprising,
she snatched a few unused bolts of fabric from someone, rushed back through her own door, and
with fingers moving like she was a master swordsman with her needle which was her weapon of
choice, she stitched an improvised robe together for him to use.

Her hands held it out at the shoulder and her head bowed with humility. “It’s a bit of a hasty job,
but I hope it will do.”

He reached out to take the robe from her, his hand on the collar, but she hadn’t moved, she was
obviously tense. “Something on your mind, Enri?” Ainz asked and drew back his hand.

She lowered the robe and raised her head, “May I ask your advice, Momon?” She bit her lower lip
and waited until he nodded and took a seat.

“I’ve been asked to take the role of the next chief. I’d talk to Lupu about it, but-” Enri stopped
speaking and, carrying the robe to the table to set it between them, she claimed a seat herself.

“You think she’ll tell you to do it, and you don’t want to hear that.” Ainz guessed.

The way the village girl bit her lip was answer enough.

“I agree with her.” Ainz replied. “Could I tell you a story?” He asked.

She looked up at the square jawed, dark haired, towering warrior figure, and waited.

“There was a man who had friends, his friends had children, and they had wonderful times
together, he and all of them. It was the happiest time of the man’s life, because he had no family

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of his own outside of them. Then something happened, and his friends were taken away. All that
was left behind, was him and their children. The children lacked direction, they were sad, they
were confused and hurt, and every time he looked at them, he saw the sense of loss in their eyes.
Faced with their desperate need, he chose to take care of them himself, because there was nobody
else to do it.” Ainz wished very much for his helmet at that moment to hide his face, but as he
spoke, he did his best to present an expression of stoicism. How successful he was, without a
mirror he was unsure.

“So… I’m supposed to be like the one in that story?” Enri asked, she formed a self deprecating
smile, put an arm on the table, and propped her cheek on her palm when she looked up at the dark
warrior.

“If you like.” Ainz suggested. “You don’t have to say yes, there may be others willing to take the
role. But you are young, full of ideas, and that young man, he’s an important figure. If you’re tied
to the village and he is tied to you, what does that make your village?”

Enri thought that through, and red creeped over her face, “But I’m nothing, just a peasant, I can
barely write my own name and only count well enough to sell my crops without getting cheated!”

“Nfirea can read and write. Have him teach you. The Swords of Darkness, for the most part, seem
set on staying here, they’re around your age, who better to guide and understand them? You’ll
make mistakes as a leader, but your very reluctance, makes you better suited for the role.” Ainz
suggested as gently as he could.

“So, what happened to the man in that story of yours?” Enri asked by way of distraction.

“I don’t really know, he’s very much alive and trying to take care of his friends’ children, I know
he treasures them, and he’s doing his best for them. Who knows how it will all work out.” Ainz
stood up, “Thank you for the robe.” He said and put it under his arm.

Enri stood at the same moment and bowed deeply. “Thank you for the advice.”

He left her there, and now he stood beneath the shade of a great tree for his first ‘new world bath’
he touched the water with a toe. It was warmer than he expected, and slowly he inched his way
down into it. The robe he’d been given was of green and black, the colors divided vertically and
solid rather than striped for simplicity. The dyes were simple and cheap apparently, and the cloth
locally made. Coupled with the green grass that he scrunched beneath his toes like a guilty
pleasure and the warmth of the sun, it was still surreal.

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Ainz couldn’t help but think, ‘I’ve never actually felt real grass before now… it’s remarkable.’ The
fresh air and clear water and the warmth in general was on a whole other level. From where he
stood he could see villagers out in their fields, hoes and plows busy wringing a living from the
soil, on the surface it seemed like just more back breaking work. ‘But this place at least, is well
fed, they eat what they grow, and don’t need breathing masks just to go outside. My world, for all
its technology, is a living hell, and for all the danger, this is paradise.’ His body sank down into
the water and the fabric floated around him, his warm hands cupped some of the water and
splashed it into his face.

The water ran over his skin and the tingling sensation that came with it left him feeling truly
alive. He took a long, deep breath. ‘From what Ninya told Lupusregina, there are a lot of people
who are like the worst executives back home. They ruin things for others just to get better things
for themselves. Gazef’s abundant gratitude to me suggests that true heroism is very rare among
those with the power to actually be heroes. If left to itself, this world will be ruined eventually
because nobody knows what lies far enough down the road they’re on.’

“If I take over this world, I can prevent all that from happening.” He muttered, and checked his
stats again. The two skeletal dragons were worth much more in terms of raw numbers, but they
still barely moved his exp bar. ‘I wonder if the world item that was part of me when the change
hit, has something to do with breaking the level cap?’ He considered the question that came to
him out of the blue, and lowered himself to sit in the river bottom. It brought the water up to his
shoulders, so he allowed his arms to float freely while he thought. He could think of no way to
experiment with that, which didn’t risk a potentially unpleasant side effect.

He turned his mind back to the idea of ruling instead. ‘From what Lupusregina says, Ninya has a
scheme in mind, it should be nurtured, perhaps we should find her sister for her, that might be a
useful way to gain her gratitude.’

“Should I wash your back, Momon?” Lupusregina asked, he didn’t look behind him to where she
stood.

“The water itself is doing that. But if you’d like to take a bath yourself, go ahead.” He said, and a
moment later he heard the sound of flowing water being broken by footsteps as the brown
skinned maid stepped into the waters and sat nearby. She took the same posture as her lord, legs
drawn up and arms floating freely, allowing the flow to carry away any grime. Her long red hair
was up to keep it from getting wet, and around her body was a robe similar to his own, though
with black and green on opposing sides.

“Enri?” Ainz asked, seeing it out of the corner of his eye.

“Enri.” She confirmed with a little smile.

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“Is there anything I can do,” Lupusregina looked around, sniffed the air, and was quiet for a
moment, collecting sounds, secure that they were alone, she finished, “my lord?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking about the needs this world has that requires a ruler that can guide
it.” Ainz said.

“Oh, the plan, yes, Lord Demiurge told us about that.” She said with a broad and enthusiastic
smile.

“Ah, yes… yes the plan.” Ainz said hesitantly. ‘What plan?’ He looked away from her and out
toward the fields so his confusion couldn’t be given away by his expression.

“What’s the next step… do you… do you show one of the others?” Lupusregina asked, her
admiring yellow eyes focused on her beloved master.

“Yes. I’ll need things from Pandora’s Actor, and soon. So he will have to be next. Plus I know he
has no special hatred for humans, and his loyalty should be high since I am the one who created
him.” Ainz said, though whether he was trying to explain it to her or convince himself, he himself
was uncertain.

“What kind of world will you make when you rule it, may I ask that, my lord?” Lupusregina
inquired.

Ainz’s voice became airy, distant. “A world where everyone wishes to be ruled eternally. A world
my friends would have been proud of. But before I can even begin with that, I need to know that
all the children of Nazarick will be with me. If even one will not, I don’t think I can bring myself
to stay.”

Lupusregina felt a sublime glow of privilege, being so privy to her lord’s mind was a deep and
rare honor, something she couldn’t have fathomed as even a possibility before the day they came
here, or even ten minutes ago before it happened. Yet it was so. “If you go, so do I.” She grinned,
“A great lord should never be without a maid. You may empty Nazarick if it comes down to it.”

Ainz snorted, “I like your optimism, your maker made you quite the girl.”

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She couldn’t help but beam at his almost parental praise and inched a little closer to him. His hand
came out of the water, droplets splashed and fell back into the river from which they came, she
didn’t even care that her hair got wet. Ainz’s hand was on her head, giving her repeated pats of
praise. ‘My sisters will be so jealous!’ The thought came up immediately, and with it, a profound
humility that Lupusregina Beta couldn’t help but think would never, ever fade.

______________________________________________________________________________

‘No, I can’t lead the village.’ Enri answered herself, ‘But I know how it can be led.’ She thought as
the door shut in front of her and the dark warrior was gone. She sent Nemu out to the adventurers
and to Nfirea, asking them to come at once to her house.

When they gathered together, she told them about the offer to let her lead the village.
“Congratulations.” Nfirea said, enthusiastic despite his still mournful state. “When do you take
charge?”

“I don’t. One thing that all this has taught me is that one person isn’t good at governing alone.”
Enri said and pointed to Peter, “You helped organize our training in ways even the goblins didn’t
think of,” then she pointed to Ninya, “you started checking to see if anyone had magical talent
that could be cultivated,” lastly she pointed to Nfirea, “you running a shop and a lab here may
make this village famous.” She lowered her hand and her gaze, “Everyone brings things to the
table, so everyone should have a say in how things work. Not just do what I say and hope I’m
never wrong. I think things are going to change, and change a lot very soon.”

“Why? And what are you talking about?” Nfirea asked, he looked around, the rest of the room
looked no less confused.

“The Wise King is dead, the Dark Warrior slew two skeletal dragons, and I’ll bet that the woman
Lupu killed was famous. Mr. Momon has personally offered to reside here, and we have our
walls, with all of that, this will be the safest village in Re-Estize. Safety is a peasant’s dream, and
we’re going to live it.”

They began to understand the meaning behind what she said, and it was difficult for any of them
to disagree.

Enri continued, “One chief isn’t enough, I want us to prepare for the future, start a council made
up of our fighters, our farmers, our traders… I don’t know all the details yet… I was hoping you’d
all help me with that. See, before this, all we had to do was have a big meeting and everybody
talked about stuff until we came to a decision. But if we get bigger, and we don’t have a lord
living here, we won’t have that option. What if we have people choose who to represent them,

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and they present all their ideas to the chief. The chief then decides what to accept among their
proposals.”

“Sounds complicated, and what if the chief or the representatives aren’t any good?” Nfirea
suggested the obvious problem.

Enri scratched her head and thought it over. “I suppose that’s possible. We’ve had plenty of bad
lords over the years. But we can just have everybody pick new ones every few years, they have to
keep asking people to let them do the job, and besides, that way we can always get new ideas
flowing and not…” Enri sighed, “Our chief was a good one, but he never liked change. We need
people open to new ideas and not set in their ways. So… so new people every five or six years will
keep new ideas coming.”

“So ah… what do you all think… should I present this to the village, you’ve all seen a lot more
than I have, that’s why I brought it to you first.” Enri bit her bottom lip as looks traded back and
forth.

“A lord took my sister as a plaything, I like any idea that keeps that from happening.” Ninya said,
clutching her staff against her body, “This might be worth a try, and if it doesn’t work out, it can
always be abandoned and the old system picked up again.” Ninya suggested, and that spurred
more positive expressions from the rest.

Enri sighed with relief, her shoulders slumped as nervousness at presenting the novel idea finally
fled. “Alright, I’ll present it to the village after you’ve all gone back to E-Rantel to finish your
task, the village will be waiting for you.”

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Chapter XIX

The sun was as at Ainz’ back, the birds were chirping, the breeze was mild and warm as it traced
over the small gaps in the armor, the turning of the wheel rolling over the long dirt road was a
steady, constant noise, much like the occasional snorting of the horse Nfirea drove. Rather than
walking beside the cart, he and the adventurers that had guarded the young man, rode seated and
chatted amiably.

Lupusregina, true to form, was a lively and engaging conversationalist, but equally true to form,
she used that charm to draw out words they might have otherwise held back. Though far from
brilliant, her brutal wit had its own way of making people see things the way she wanted them to.

Ainz was content to just enjoy the day and continue to call it a work trip, it had already lasted far,
far longer than he estimated, but it was only a matter of time now before it would end. Before he
could let his mind travel far down that road though, he saw a distant cloud ahead, and leaned
forward toward Nfirea, “Do you see that?” He asked.

The young man squinted, “Is that… is that a dust cloud?”

“It is, and the wind is low right now, so what does that leave?” Ainz made the question sharp, and
even through the shaggy mop of hair, he saw the face of his client turn pale.

“Stop the wagon.” Peter ordered when he heard what Ainz said.

Nfirea obeyed, pulling on the reins and raising his hand so that the others would see and do the
same.

None of the adventurers needed orders to know what to do next. Ainz vaulted from the wagon, a
majestic leap carried him beyond the front of the horse, his legs bent on landing and he quickly
straightened up. His great swords came out, and before his first step, the other adventurers took
their places in a wedge formation in front of the lead wagon.

Peter took up position at Ainz’s left, while Lupusregina took the right, and the team spread out
from there with Ninya at the rear. “Soldiers or bandits, but there isn’t a big difference between the
two sometimes.” The way Peter shifted his shield and gripped his sword a little tighter revealed
that the uncertainty was likely worse than either alone.

“I see, I see. Will soldiers bother adventurers?” Ainz asked.

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“Inside a city? No. And adventurers of high rank? Never. But you’re a copper rank pair and none
of us are above iron, so the guild might take a guard’s word for us starting trouble ‘outside’ of a
city.” Peter replied, and Ainz’s estimation of the Re-Estize Kingdom’s worth dropped yet another
notch.

“Wait… those aren’t… they can’t be? No way…” Peter whispered as the figures drew closer.

“What is it?” Ainz asked.

“Those aren’t soldiers, don’t you know who that is?” Peter’s voice began to reach a higher pitch
with every word.

“No, should I?” He asked with a furrowed brow beneath his helmet.

“The red cloak, the mask, Lukrut are you seeing what I’m seeing?!” Peter exclaimed and whirled
to face the ranger.

“Yes, unless you know another team like that, that’s Blue Rose!” Lukrut’s excitement was
palpable, and the entire team relaxed.

“Blue Rose… right, I’ve heard of them.” Ainz began to sheathe his swords, and Lupusregina
pouted, but put away her mace. “I thought they were a group of five women, but it looks like a
dozen people there.”

“It’s a suppression force, someone must have seen the skeletal dragons and an emergency
dispatch brought them in to deal with it. Heh, won’t this be a surprise?” Peter asked rhetorically
and began to wave his hand and shout.

“Heeeey! Hellooooo! Everything is fine!” Peter shouted and waved, and a wave of relief went up
in the form of countless sighs up and down the row of wagons.

“We better go deal with them, ah… Momon, Lupu, would you come with me?” Peter asked, his
face was flushed red, but the vibe Ainz got was hero worship rather than just anxiety alone. “You
are the two that took care of the problem, all we did was handle the scrubs.”

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“Fine.” Ainz answered, and the trio stepped away from the stopped carts, approaching the dozen
adventurers on horseback, and much to his surprise, as they slowed down, from among the group,
there was a familiar face. One ‘much’ better equipped than the last time he’d seen him.

“Gazef Stronoff.” Ainz murmured under his breath. When they were ten yards from the wagons,
the trio stopped, and a radiant blonde woman in expensive blue and white clothing rode up,
flanked by the broad shouldered dark skinned Gazef, it was the Head Warrior who spoke first.

“Did I hear someone say everything was fine?” There was some disbelief in his voice, but the
horse was reined in, he traded a look with the radiant, fair skinned blonde woman. She clearly
shared the doubt.

“I heard that there were two skeletal dragons in the area, did we hear wrong?” Relief and anger
warred on his face, and was mirrored by the tight lipped blonde.

“No, you heard right, I killed them.” Ainz explained.

The two on horseback stared at him with open doubt, their eyes focused on his copper plate.
“You? A copper plate? Killed not just one but two skeletal dragons.” The blonde woman replied.

“It’s polite to introduce yourself before you basically accuse my partner of lying, lady.”
Lupusregina snapped and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

The blonde snapped her back all the straighter and turned her eyes over to the copper plated
cleric. “Lakyus of Blue Rose. And you are?”

“Momon.” Ainz replied, “And my partner, Lupu, our team name is ‘Axel’. And yes, I did.”

“One skeletal dragon is difficult for a single adamantite adventurer team. You’re copper plates.
You really expect me to…” She stopped when Lupu pointed to the wagons.

“Go back there and look. We were just bringing the bones back for proof, they’re all there, along
with witnesses, witness statements, and so on. Including our client, Nfirea Bareare.”
Lupusregina’s face was clearly quite smug. “My partner took care of the dragons, and the Wise
King of the Forest, I took care of some crazy bitch named Clementine.”

The name echoed back beyond the pair and all eyes turned to the redhead.

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“You… you killed her?” Gazef’s brows went up.

“Sure, assuming that’s her body back there all wrapped up in pieces.” Lupu answered him, but
Gazef could barely comprehend it, he stared at the plate that hung down in front of her neck, and
she crossed her arms.

“If you’re going to check out a woman’s chest, be more discreet about it. Pervert Head Warrior.”
Lupu said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and letting out a snort of derision.

He did a double take and could not help but laugh for a moment before the gravity of her claim
came back to him. “Ah, how, exactly?”

“I tore her apart until the blood stopped flowing, people who lose both their arms tend to die for
some reason.” Lupu shrugged, “Go figure, right?”

Gazef traded a look with Lakyus, “We need… need to see this. To be sure. You understand.”

“Of course.” Ainz replied nonchalantly and the trio stepped aside. The Head Warrior raised a
hand and gestured forward, and the rest of the adventurers on horseback followed.

“Impossible.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Are they… copper plates, seriously?!”

The words came from the various adventurers who reached in and pulled out chunks of bone, and
looked for any evidence of falsehood. The peasants driving the wagons were quick to confirm
everything that was asked of them.

Yes, the dark warrior of Axel killed the dragons. Yes, the dragons were summoned by a magic
caster. Yes, they had the bodies.

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Gazef took up the head of Clementine, wrapped in a preserving cloth, she was unmistakable. If
the facial expression was any clue, the fearsome warrior had died in absolute terror and pain. The
wounds on her body also supported what the copper plated Lupu had said. The woman’s limbs
had been literally ripped off. A sword left clean cuts, a mace like the sort Lupu wore, that
crushed. But these were tearing marks, bits of skin dangled where it had been ripped away. Not
far from that, was the head of the Wise King of the forest, which drew comments, stares, and
disbelieving strokes of their hands over its soft fur.

He set the body parts down and turned to look over to the masked magic caster. He looked down
into her mask, and she through it up to him.

“How does a copper plate do this?” Gazef asked with a small whisper.

“By being stronger than that when they started.” The little magic caster said when the milky eyed
head of Clementine was put back into the wagon.

“Evileye, wasn’t it?” Gazef asked.

“Yes.” She answered and cursed her diminutive stature, she grabbed the top of the wagon’s side
and pulled herself up to look into the pile of bones.

“And that,” she pointed to the red robed corpse, “Is a Zuranon member who has had a bounty on
him for a long, long time.”

“You recognize him?” Gazef asked rhetorically when she let go and dropped back down to the
ground.

“I do. I never met him personally, but I’ve seen drawings of his face. There are not many people
who have long heads like that one, and one ugly face, even for an old man. His name is Khajiit
Dale something or other, he is, or was, a high placed Zuranon member. He broke from the main
branch a few years ago and disappeared along with a number of disciples. Somehow, he ended up
here.” Evileye replied and shook her head, “He came to a bad end, no real surprise to be had with
that. Most people like him, do.”

Gazef grunted, “A bad end, or in charge. I wonder what he was doing out here, but if he is what
you say, and who you say, it’s no wonder he fell in with Clementine. I definitely know who she
is. I fought her once, but couldn’t kill her. I always considered her a loose end.”

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“I’d say it’s tied up now. That’s for sure.” Evil eye looked up to the pile of bones.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Gazef’s armor clinked a little when he reached up and tapped the side of
his helmet. The armor was a rust colored red with a brass colored outline around the various
components, on his back was a long blue crystal sword. Clad in the treasures of the kingdom,
Evileye couldn’t help but doubt even Lakyus could defeat him as he was now.

And yet he was still clearly, obviously impressed.

“The guild will have to reevaluate them both before you think to take them to the capital for
anything, you know that, right?” Evileye asked, uncertain if he really did. ‘Good man, but dense
about guild politics.’ She rolled her eyes behind the mask and ignored the chattering of peasants
and adventurers as the story was told and retold.

“Is that so? Why?” Gazef asked her with genuine confusion.

“Because they’re copper plates. If people think copper plates can do this, it will degrade the value
of all the other higher ranks, next thing you know they’ll try hiring young and inexperienced
people off the books and then…” Evileye stopped speaking.

He understood. That was clear, the brief haunted, distant look was turned toward the other young
adventurers, iron plates, in the prime of life, vigorous, and vulnerable both at once. ‘How many
young warriors did he see die by taking on things they weren’t ready for yet? I guess it isn’t just
adventurers who suffer that end.’

“Come on,” she finally said, “If we take too long, we’ll be just rude, I’ll get Lakyus. It’s obvious
that they’re telling the truth now.” Evileye replied, and went to her sister while Gazef turned away
and walked over to the tall dark armored warrior.

“I don’t like that one.” Lakyus grumbled and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The glare was
toward the red-haired cleric.

“You don’t have to like her, but Gazef confirmed it, that was Clementine.” Evileye said in a low
whisper. ‘I swear, I love her, but she’s so stubborn!’ The magic caster rolled her eyes looking up
at the woman she considered a sister and tugged on the enchanted wrist length cloth.

“I know what that means, you don’t have to tell me, they have to be adamantite or nearly. How is
this even possible? We should have heard about power like that before now.” Lakyus kept an eye

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toward the redhead with the mace that was chatting with the big, beafy Moknak of the
orichalchum team ‘Rainbow’, but her question demanded an answer from Evileye.

“I can only guess, they’re foreigners, not many have dark skin like that, so maybe they have
reputations from somewhere else, somewhere farther south?” Evileye suggested, “The important
thing though, is that we have them reassessed as soon as possible. Adamantite teams are always
needed. If he really took down two skeletal dragons by himself, it would be crazy to make him
grind through iron, silver, and gold ranks as if he hadn’t done Adamantite feats already.”

“I still don’t like her.” Lakyus shot a glance at the brown skinned beauty, and gave distasteful
snort.

‘Was I that childish at that age?’ Evileye wondered with a roll of her eyes so large that she was
grateful for the mask that hid them.

“Whatever, let’s go.” Evileye replied and gave an insistent little tug on Lakyus’s arm.

The suppression team warmed up to the beautiful cleric with exceptional speed, though the dark
warrior was more quiet and sparse with his words, but that was often the way of heroes. He sat in
the wagon while the newly arrived senior adventurers rode on either side.

Idle chatter was the rule, but Evileye couldn’t help herself when she rode beside the dark armored
warrior. “How’d you do it?” She asked. “Some special item? Power?”

Ainz pointed to the great swords on his back. “I kept hitting them with these,” then he pointed to
the many carts loaded down with bones, “until I turned them into that.”

“How much did the village pay you to protect them?” Evileye asked, “They’re giving you a
bonus, I hope.”

“They paid nothing. I was escorting him.” Ainz jerked his thumb toward Nfirea. “I don’t normally
like escort quests, but I guess they can be okay.”

“So… why didn’t you two just grab him and run? All you had to do was protect your client,
right?” Evileye stared up at him, even mounted on a tall horse, she had to turn her face up to meet
the dark hero, and she immediately felt him stiffen at the question.

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“Then who would protect the village?” Ainz asked, she felt his stare through the helmet, and
against such an answer, she felt her heart, which had been stilled for over two hundred years, skip
a beat.

“You’re… serious, aren’t you?” Evileye looked at him cockeyed, like he was some alien thing
she’d never seen before.

“Of course. After I killed the Wise King, I gave my word I would protect the village.” He said to
her, and she bowed her head.

“I apologize for the rude question. I shouldn’t have assumed you were the sort to run away. But
most would have.” Evileye apologized.

“My name is Momon. And Axel is not ‘Most’.” He answered, and Evileye quietly promised
herself one thing.

‘I’d see him in an adamantite plate the day we return, even if I have to get a ladder to climb up
and put mine around his neck! That’s the kind of adventurer this world needs! A hero! A true
hero…’

Though her words were not spoken, the sentiment was shared up and down the line as in spare
moments on the trip, Momon’s noble words were spread among the peasants pulling the proof of
team Axel’s victory, with many a driver privately resolving that they would spread Momon’s
name throughout the whole of E-Rantel.

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Chapter XX

When they were within hours of E-Rantel, a member of Rainbow rode ahead to alert the guards of
the pending arrival of something all but unthinkable. It was because of this alert, and the natural
gossip of those who heard the word, that the gate was opened all the way and crowds got out of
the way in advance, ready to see what had never been seen before.

Lupusregina was true to form not twenty minutes before coming in sight of the gate. “Momon
killed two skeletal dragons, all you did was show up late and congratulate him. He should ride in
like the hero he is.” Lupusregina’s sharp yellow eyes and her fixed stare on the two members of
‘Rainbow’ along with the truth… that she was right, were effective tools.

And so, two of the orichalcum team members rode in the cart, lending their horse to team Axel,
and to add to that, Lupu had a further suggestion, one she gave with the twisted smile that seemed
to savor its own warped nature.

So it was that the head of the Wise King was mounted atop the tip of one of Ainz’s great swords
and held aloft for all to see, as if it were mounted on a pike.

‘The people of this world are impressed by strange things. At the end of the day, it was just a big
hamster. But listen to that…’ Ainz was glad the helmet hid the rolling eyes over their commentary.

“He actually killed that thing?”

“Such power in those eyes, even dead, I’m scared to look it in the face.”

“And look at those bones… so many… zombies, and is that a part of the head?”

The praise and awe came from numberless voices when they wound their way through the streets,
all the way to the adventurer’s guild, where a group of adventurers was already standing outside,
anticipating something they weren’t sure even the suppression force could handle.

There were two dozen adventurers outside on the grounds when the caravan began to line up. The
peasants hopped down with a single spry motion as if they were a military unit and began to
unload the bones and lay out the dead for counting.

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However, it was the Swords of Darkness that withdrew the heads and bodies of Clementine and
Khajiit as proof of their demise in front of the guild leadership and guild members who watched
in ever growing disbelief.

The clatter of bones was punctuated by the murmuring of armored men and women, many of
whom reflexively clutched at their armaments, swords, spears, hammers, and so on as the bones
were laid out end to end in row after row.

“Our contract is complete, Momon.” Nfirea said with a sad bowing of the head. “I have to… to go
see about Grandmother. If her body was left at home, it might have been reported by now and
taken by the watch. That means I’ll have to arrange for her funeral and everything else. But as
soon as I’m done I’ll move back to Carne and set up there. If you’d like to wait in the city for a
few days, I’ll put you up in the best hotel.”

“The best, isn’t that costly?” Ainz asked, lowering his sword to let Lupusregina retrieve the head
and watched while she approached, all smiles, toward the guild leaders and held it over her own
head for all to see.

Nfirea chuckled and shook his head. “Skeletal Dragon bones aren’t very useful to me, but they do
have their uses in some other fields, they’re tainted with magic, so a lot of casters will pay a great
deal for even one fragment. This though?” He inclined his head toward the rows that were still
forming. “This will end up being sold all over Re-Estize and perhaps as far as Baharuth or who
knows where else. The story will spread with the fragments, and in months if not weeks, ‘Axel’
and its leader ‘Momon’ will be on the lips of adventurers everywhere.”

Shock went through Ainz so much so that he froze. All he could manage was a simple, “I see.
That is good.”

‘Such humility out of such a powerful man, almost anyone else would be boasting, bragging and
talking themselves up… but he really doesn’t need to, does he? His power, his character, it all just
speaks for itself…’ Nfirea thought with a wave of envy through his body that he despised, and
resolved to overcome.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Two skeletal dragons. Do you see that?” Lupusregina grinned and pointed over and over, at the
bones. “Plus the Wise King of the forest, plus Clementine, plus Dale the long headed twit…” She
stamped her foot, dropped the head of the Wise King on the ground and set her hands on her hips.
“You name me any adventurer who did that much is less than Adamantite.”

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“She may be pushy, but she has got a point.” Evileye looked up to Pluton Ainzach and imitated
Lupu’s posture, though she tapped her foot on the grass instead. “If they were already
Orichalcum, you wouldn’t hesitate to promote them to Adamantite for this one, and we both know
it, Pluton.”

A broad faced, hook nosed man with brown hair and narrow eyes was quick to interject. “Abah,
ah, well, that may be so! But he’s only had just one adventure! Yes, it is an impressive one but
still… one must pay their dues!”

“Sorry, who are you exactly?” Evileye demanded, turning her attention to the adventurer who
stood with only a moderate amount of enchanted equipment.

“Igvarge, of Kralgra, a Mithril ranked team.” The largish man snapped his mouth shut, feeling the
stare behind the mask.

“Then shut up. If you had your way, one of the thirteen heroes would have to linger below their
due rank because they hadn’t been there long enough. One adventure with enough events to fill a
hundred adventures is worth more than one hundred adventures where nothing happens at all.”
Evileye scolded the man, who sucked in his teeth, clenched his jaw, and went silent.

Sweat sprang to Pluton’s brow, his eyes darted from the other adventurers to the adamantite Blue
Rose and over to the increasing body of evidence showing that the little magic caster was right…
and then to the uncommonly dangerous cleric and her companion.

‘This isn’t like being caught between a rock and a hard place, this is like being just surrounded by
rocks and hard places! I can’t offend Blue Rose, but I also can’t offend every other adventurer
here with a rapid promotion… no matter how impressive.’ His eyes continued to dart around until
he felt a gentle hand fall on his shoulder.

He swung his head over to find the radiant pale face of Lakyus looking at him, “Hey, now… those
are all good points… why don’t we split the difference here?”

“Split the difference… how exactly?” Lupu inquired of the Adamantite ranked swordswoman.

“There’s…” Lakyus glanced quickly over her shoulder and leaned in, “That matter.” She lowered a
hand and discretely pointed her forefinger toward Nfirea. Her words became a whisper that the
young man couldn’t have heard even if he weren’t in conversation with the dark hero. “His
grandmother was brutally murdered to find ‘him’, the fact that Clementine was with Khajiit at the

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village is no coincidence. Clementine definitely killed the old woman, but why? Why is her
grandson so important, it’s his skill.”

“You know something, don’t you?” Lupusregina guessed, her predator senses clawing at her
mind. Her nose itched when she smelled the anxiety on the pretty adventurer.

“I have it on good authority that Clementine did not leave for nothing. She took an item with her,
something she needed Nfirea to use. There isn’t much like that that would also be of interest to
someone like Khajiit or Zuranon in general.” Lakyus kept her eyes steady on Pluton, the middle
aged man had gone a bit too fat over the years, but the steel resolve of an adventurer in his youth
and long experience was not gone yet. He stared back and narrowed his eyes as he ran through
the list of items that might include.

“You’re sure?” Pluton inquired.

Lakyus crossed her arms, “Nothing in this world is a given. But I can’t think of any item more
likely than the Crown of Wisdom.”

“So… what’s this crown thing?” Lupu asked, “You’re talking ‘around’ me, and I don’t like it.” The
battlemaid clenched her jaw, but far from being dismissive, the blonde who had earlier almost
made Lupusregina want to claw her face off, spoke sincerely.

“An item of the old gods, used on certain people, it turns them into living items that can use
powerful, seventh tier magic. Almost nobody can use it, but since Nfirea can use anything
without any requirements-” Lakyus explained and then stopped short when Lupu facepalmed.

“Of course, yes that makes sense.” Lupu said as if she understood the obvious. ‘Seventh tier is
impressive to you people? See, this is why I think of you as just toys!’ The derisive thought was
covered by her gesture, and the other adventurers gave slow, sage nods.

“So I’m guessing you want me and Momon to go and sort this out, finish the job, get back the
crown thingy and prove we’re worth the cost of materials for new plates? That about it?” Lupu
winked at them and stuck out her tongue.

“Ah, er, yes. Well, that would do, but… an observer, we need someone beyond doubt, beyond
question to go and who will come back to confirm you are beyond question, Adamantite level.”
Pluton’s sweating resumed.

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Igvarge promptly spoke up. “I’ll go.”

“You’ll just slow us down, why are you even here? Shoo, shoo little manlet.” Lupu quipped and
held her arm out toward him with her palm down, and waved her fingers back and forth.

He immediately turned red with fury. “I’m a Mithril ranked adventurer you snot nosed newb! I’ll
not be talked down to by some other newb’s little-” He reached out to snatch her hand, intending
to put some pressure on her fingers and remind her of his seniority.

What happened next was not entirely clear to anyone but Evileye, and even through the magic
caster’s eyes, she wasn’t sure of what she saw. Igvarge’s hands moved with preposterous slowness
as far as the magic caster was concerned, but by comparison? Lupu’s hand moved faster than the
sound of speed itself. She had his wrist gripped in her slender palms, and squeezed.

The smiling face was gone as if it were only ever a mask, and raw sadism was naked and plain.
“Little what? Little man? Little what?” Lupu demanded.

He was down on his knees, gasping, clawing at her grip and finding all his strength was beyond
worthless. He managed finally to squeak out a prideless “No-nothing…”

Only then did Lupu release her hold, and the smiling face was back, she stuck out her tongue at
him, then said in a cheery voice, “Oh good, I thought we had a little misunderstanding there, I’m
glad we cleared that up. Now, as Mr. Ainzach was saying here, we need an observer, and since
Igvarge here is,” she coughed and gave a mocking look to the man struggling to stand on shaking
legs and rubbing his pained wrist, “no longer interested in observing, how about Evileye here?”

“Me?” Evileye looked up to the cleric.

“Her?” Lakyus added, she glanced over to the rest of Blue Rose, they seemed more interested in
getting stories from the peasants, and she knew them well enough to know they wouldn’t care for
an assignment they’d see as ‘babysitting’.

“Sure, you trust her, right? And she’s the strongest of your party, isn’t she?” Lupu asked, “If she
says we’re Adamantite, we are, and that’s that, nobody will argue against Blue Rose.”

“No… no I suppose nobody would do that.” Pluton acknowledged, “But this is still a quest, you’re
officially going to retrieve a possible great treasure. Eliminate any hostiles along the way… we
don’t have an immediate reward for this but…”

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“I can personally promise that the King will grant a reward of comparable value later.” Gazef said
as he approached the little group. “You’ll just have to trust my word, is that good enough for
Axel?”

Lupu pointed to Ainz, “That would be for Momon to decide, but I think he’ll be okay with that.”
She flashed a winning smile at the Royal Head Warrior, and he wasted not another moment in
going to speak with the onyx clad hero.

“That settles that, now… how about something to eat, eh? Something meaty.” Lupu gave Igvarge
a look as he backed away, and licked her lips. He did not linger any further.

‘Dangerous, she is extremely dangerous, and she’s the cleric?!’ Evileye contemplated, the rest of
the group were giving her once overs as well, the response to the perceived insult to Mr. Momon
had not gone over well at all, and to so easily crush a Mithril ranked warrior to his knees was
unthinkable even for someone a rank higher who was also a warrior. For a cleric to do that? What
did that make Lupu? It was a question for which the magic caster had no easy answer.

However, the charming brown skinned beauty with the fiery red hair in long braids, was almost
impossible not to like as far as Evileye was concerned, and it kept her thoughts on a singularly
enjoyable track that she wasn’t about to move away from. ‘Besides, if Momon likes her, and he’s
the kind of man he is, there must be a lot to her. And Igvarge was out of line, what would I do if
someone insulted Lakyus that way? Looking out for a teammate is just to be expected. Yes,
everything will be fine, and who knows? It might even be fun, and I’ll get a chance to be near
Momon again, and that… that I think I’ll like very, very much.’

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Chapter XXI

Once the full tally of bones and bodies were laid out, there was one more thing to do before
departure.

Say goodbye.

The armor of Clementine, which she had bedecked with the plates of the many adventurers she’d
slain, was held out by Momon. All present adventurers, even Igvarge, fell silent as one by one the
lightly armored and heavily armored alike came forward to look for the names of missing
comrades.

“Indari… wow, I wondered what happened to him… hard to believe.” Someone said, and taking
out a sharp dagger, they cut away the binding that held the gold colored plate in place. After
going through the rest, the young woman stepped away, knowing no more of the names.

A beefy warrior approached, thickly muscled, and carrying a large maul on his shoulder, he
slammed the head of it hard into the ground. He was bald headed and had sharp blue eyes that ran
over the many tags. ‘Stern fellow.’ Ainz thought, until water filled the blue eyes when he found a
name he knew.

“Gretchen…” His trembling hand touched the silver plate. “So it’s true.” He bawled like an infant
when he found the name on the breast of Clementine’s armor, his thick, sausage like fingers
pawed at the plate until he got a nail behind it, and yanked it away with such force that the leather
strips simply snapped.

So it went, one by one, until only a smattering of little plates remained with none to mourn them.

It was after the last of the adventurers had come and gone, that Pluton Ainzach approached and
held shaking hands up, “I-I will take the rest. The names on here must belong to other guilds, I’ll
put out word to the guildmasters there and send them back for proper honors.”

“That’s good.” Ainz replied, the man’s grief hit him like a hammer, and Ainz nodded respectfully
at the offer.

“That is the way it’s done. Every man and woman who registers knows there’s a possibility they
might die out there. Some go into too much danger, too soon, and that’s it. Some just have bad

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luck, a bad day and it’s the last. And some…” He blinked back watery pools and paused when his
voice choked up, “Some we just don’t know what happens, until somebody finds their plate.
Sometimes in a cave, sometimes in a monster’s belly, and sometimes, like now, on the armor of a
monster disguised as a human.”

Ainzach spat at the ground, and Ainz gently, reverentially laid the armor into Ainzach’s hands.

The remaining plates rattled on the handoff, then Ainzach turned to face those present.

“A moment of silence for the dead, may they rest easy in the afterlife, avenged, and free of pain.”
The plump guildmaster said, and quiet befell the area that was so great you could have heard a
pin drop. Heads bowed for the span of several breaths, and the called-for moment passed and was
done.

When it was, the guild members took it on themselves to disperse and return to the interior, while
Pluton Ainzach turned back to the dark hero. “Mr. Momon,” he said while looking up at the dark
hero’s helmet covered face, “You’ve done a service that, in my view, would justify immediate
promotion to adamantite. However,” he folded the armor up and tucked it under one arm, then
scratched his head in thought before going on, “Some folks would be unhappy by such a rapid
rise. The feeling may be that it cheapens the rank if it is achieved so quickly.”

Ainz crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘If I think about it like a job... right, it’s like when
somebody just joins the company and immediately gets a big promotion, it doesn’t matter what
they did, the others see them as not having paid their dues yet. Still, I did something big out
there!’ It rankled, but he kept ‘most’ of that from getting out of his mouth.

“I shouldn’t need to prove my strength again and again… but I understand. You’re about to offer
something, aren’t you?” Ainz guessed, and the plump face of the tense guildmaster relaxed.

“Yes, if an adamantite adventurer accompanies you on this task and attests to your strength,
nobody will argue against a promotion. Evileye of Blue Rose has volunteered,” he gestured to
where the short mage stood chatting with Lupusregina, she saw and waved her hand, hopping up
and down with almost childlike enthusiasm, “Just finish this, get her endorsement, and that will
be that.”

“I see, explain what you need then.” Ainz said and gave a quick, hesitant wave to the masked
woman. ‘She seems to like me, it would be good to have a friendship with someone outside of
Nazarick, even if they’re not especially strong compared to its children.’

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Pluton Ainzach went on to explain everything he knew, which proved to be far too little.

He was just wrapping up when Evileye approached with Lupusregina in tow. The masked mage
stuck her hand out toward him and he grasped it firmly, taking care not to squeeze too hard.

“So it looks like I’ll be joining you as an observer.” Evileye said in a childlike voice.

‘She sounds very young, is it the mask, is that a side effect of it, or an enchantment?’ Ainz was
very curious what lay behind the accessory.

“Just try not to get in the way, eh, short stuff?” Lupu said and winked down at the mage who
briefly took a step back, offended, until she saw the tongue sticking out and realized she was
being playfully taunted.

“Right… I’ll try not to get in your way.” Evileye replied with a chuckle as if that was too absurd to
even contemplate.

“So, where do we go first?” The little mage asked the pair, and for that, Ainz was grateful to have
a quick answer in the form of a question.

He looked down at the woman who was barely more than waist height to himself and asked,
“Where are there likely to be a vast number of bodies?”

“This is E-Rantel, a major assembly point for Re-Estize soldiers during our wars against the
Baharuth Empire. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a grave somewhere.” Evileye answered
with a disappointed sigh. ‘So, this really is all there is to him, jump to the obvious and no further,
and he made such a strong first impression.’

Ainz nodded in answer, “Yes, I see, I see.” He muttered and thought back to his days as a
guildmaster, it was a warm, happy memory, raiding tombs to build up his own necromantic skills,
and when he thought about that, it made sense.

‘Older graveyards are full, by definition, that’s why new ones get opened up, but they’re also little
used and so rarely visited, perfect place to hide if you’re a necromancer.’ Ainz thought and
dropped his hand down to put on Evileye’s shoulder.

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Her heart jump started almost immediately despite being quite dead, and then it did it again when
he spoke to her.

“That isn’t quite what I mean, I’m sorry, I thought the depth of my question wouldn’t be lost on an
adamantite adventurer.” Ainz replied, with Lupu chuckling when she moved to his right side.

“What I mean is, where would I find the oldest, deepest, and most heavily used graveyards, some
place that is almost never visited any longer?” Ainz asked the question more thoroughly, and to
him, it seemed she was pausing to think.

‘Stupid, you should have known a great man like him would think deeply and quickly about a
subject, you don’t get to be that powerful without learning a lot along the way!’ Evileye criticized
herself for the foolish moment of doubt and answered just before the silence could become
awkward.

“The oldest graves are south of the city, the great families are at the center, there are a great many
old catacombs that run underground all over the area, nobody ever goes there unless a member of
one of the city’s great families dies. Even then, they now use mausoleums above ground.”

“I see, so a deep system of catacombs that nobody ever visits and are swelling with all the bodies
a necromancer could ever wish for, is that right?” Ainz asked her, and to that, Evileye could only
incline her head and be grateful that she could no longer sweat nervously.

“Then let’s get going.” Ainz answered, and every heavy armored step he took, made the dead
heart of the little vampire woman, come to life again.

______________________________________________________________________________

Reaching the outlying graveyard took time on foot, but there was little reason to hurry, nightfall
didn’t concern the pair as far as Evileye could tell. When the shadows swept the land and dead
tree limbs took on the look of monsters in the dark that would tower over great heroes, the pair
she observed moved under and past them unafraid.

The way in was unlocked and unguarded, only a low iron fence that had rusted and fallen into
disrepair in many places served to separate the living and the dead.

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The brown trail was of hard, packed earth that crumbled beneath their steps, and the grave
markers went from clean white or granite, to old, gray, and moss covered in many places. More
than a few were cracked, and many more than that were broken.

Names forgotten because all who knew them passed away, were ruined forever when stones
toppled over the earth that covered forgotten faces, names were worn away by wind and rain, a
testament to the age of the area they now found themselves within.

Finally, Evileye watched as Momon called a halt by placing a hand on his teammate’s shoulder.
Envy shot through the little vampire mage at the familiar touch, while she also acknowledged
with a certain cocky pride in her own advanced recognition that, ‘He is a true professional, he
doesn’t speak without need in a potentially dangerous area.’

‘It feels good to have physical contact with someone again, the undead body had its uses, but the
same senses were… different, than this, even through armor.’ Ainz thought with a certain sense of
comfort at the feel of the shoulder under his armored hand.

‘A flawless sense of caution.’ Lupusregina thought with pride in her lord, ‘He wants me to check
and signal him covertly, that’s why he says nothing even though he knows I love it when he
speaks. Lord Ainz is so coooool!’ Lupusregina wanted to howl with excitement, but she focused
on the matter at hand.

She sniffed the air, it was heavy with the stench of death, and some living things, she turned
behind her to face the little magic caster, while not entirely certain what to make of her yet, she
acknowledged privately that Evileye recognized her master’s greatness instantly. That put her at
least somewhat better than a mere worm that had yet to see his greatness first.

Lupusregina tapped her own nose three times, and visibly sniffed the air to ensure her actions
were understood. The thick odor of death and decay was punctuated by the odors of some living
things, small animals for the most part, possums, coyotes, foxes, and others that might try to take
shelter among the scattering of trees and graves and broken old tombs.

She pointed off in a slightly different direction and raised a fist so that both could see her. She
opened and closed all five fingers four times. She then pointed ‘down’.

‘Twenty underground… she must have a talent for scenting things out, what’s that they call it?
‘Hunter’s Nose’ or something.’ Evileye pulled her faded memory to the fore and watched as Lupu
took the lead. Lupu’s simple traveling gear seemed to offer no protection on the surface, but it
was difficult not to notice that it somehow seemed impossibly clean as well.

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‘Enchanted, probably against damage too.’ Evileye realized, and her estimation of the copper
plate team Axel went up another notch.

‘This ‘is’ just like the game.’ The lifelong gamer in him came out in force, and Ainz pointed
Lupusregina off in one direction, while he went down another.

Evileye herself hung back and watched as the pair split, and she began to follow down the center.
She smelled the blood when it hit the air, but heard no scream.

[Fly], Evileye cast the spell and ascended into the air, her blood red eyes widened like saucers
when she saw the superhuman speed with which both Momon and Lupu ate up ground. He was
tall enough that his long strides carried him faster than the undead they encountered could
respond. Old, degraded blood of the sort that had lingered too long in a corpse for even a vampire
to desire, flowed into the dust and grass.

Momon’s sword never missed a neck and severed them clean off, sending corpses toppling with
quiet, final thuds.

Lupu was little different, her mace simply broke heads, but if Momon was a sprinter, Lupu was
an acrobat, leaping from place to place before any of the watching undead could respond or call
out to the masters that summoned them as guards. ‘She’s like a wolf chasing prey. I’ve never seen
such a deadly cleric, most of the time they’re frail at best. No wonder she brought Igvarge to his
knees so easily!’

Within minutes only, the undead were dead again, and without a skeleton or zombie letting out a
cry. Evileye descended upon the pair as they approached a large columned gate of white stone.
Heavy bronze doors barred the way within, and with the undead put back to the ground, there
were no guards to keep them out.

“Nice work.” Evileye acknowledged when she stepped close to the pair.

“Course, Momon is the best.” Lupu gushed, and when the towering dark hero reached out, took
the large handle with one hand, and pulled a door meant to be pulled by three or more, opening it
by himself… she was not inclined to disagree.

Within, torches flickered and glowed, casting the shadows of the dancing flames in endlessly
shifting patterns over white floors, leading far, far beyond easy vision, and giving away the
recent, even current occupation of the house of the dead, by the living. Without a trace of fear that
would have set many an adventurer to hesitating, Ainz said simply, as a hero might, “Let’s finish
this.” And placed one foot forward into the parade of shadows.

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That was when she watched the impossible.

‘There are times to go in stealthily, to hunt and stalk and kill your prey so that they die never
knowing that their death was coming, so that they die wondering what killed them. But not for
nothing, the hero charging forward is considered the greatest ideal.’ Evileye thought and watched
as the pair immediately began their charge.

Momon kicked a door in with such force that its iron hinges snapped and the entire piece flew
inward, crashing into someone out of Evileye’s sight, she immediately felt his life force die.
‘Head crushed. That’s a hero’s might.’

Charging a magic caster was a dangerous thing to do, and yet he did it. Rushing into the room, his
great swords swung in broad arcs just out of view until she caught up with him. Behind her mask,
the vampire mage’s eyes widened, the swords swung through a room that was fundamentally too
small for them to do so. Yet they did, and ‘why’ was more impressive than the two bodies that lay
cut in half on the floor. His swords cut through the stone and cut through the solid rock more
easily than an oar split the surface tension of water.

Scattered rocks along the wall testified to the raw power of the towering dark hero.

Evileye left Momon behind and followed the sound of the laughing Lupu.

Her ears told the story of what was happening, and yet she could barely believe it.

______________________________________________________________________________

Lupu smacked the door open when she found it around the corner, the back of her hand cracked
the door in half so simply that it toppled with ease, “Hi hi!” She wiggled her fingers at the three
magic casters that stood around a captive stretched out on a rack.

They wore dark blue robes and carried short wands, their faces were shrouded, but she could
smell their fear and shock, not to mention see it when they whirled around to face her. On the
rack, a pitiful specimen of a human lay strapped down. His arms and legs pulled so far that his
bones were obviously no longer connected to one another.

His head fell limply to the side, which likely took all the gaunt, emaciated man’s strength to
manage, in order to look at the one who caught his tormentor’s eyes.

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“R-Run.” He tried to whimper out, and as if his words were a trigger, the magic casters who
tormented him began to cast their spells.

“Charm person!”

“Sleep!”

“Confusion!”

‘Oh they want to capture me, how quaint.’ Lupusregina giggled and rushed forward, her left and
right hands caught the throats of two magic casters before they could utter another spell, closed
her fingers tight, and pulled.

Her nails dug into soft flesh and the acrid stench of urine hit her nose at the same moment fear
intensified in the dark eyes beneath the hoods. The pulling fingers ripped into the throats and tore
the flesh away, however the third man between the two was struck by her body during her charge,
and he flew backward over the table.

He rolled over the prisoner and tumbled end over end on the stone floor until he came to a stop
against the wall, striking his head and dazing him, but he did not die.

Lupu had a cruel smile etched on her face when she released the two once held fast in her grip,
they fell as if they were one person, living long enough to feel the agony as their knees hit the
stone floor, and long enough to feel the pain when their faces hit.

Saka rubbed the back of his head, hitting the wall stunned him, his vision blurred, his comrades
began their slow fall to the floor with spraying red droplets, now signifying only that his present
minutes were full of fear.

‘What happened? What happened with Clementine? What happened with Master Khajiit, who is
this? An adventurer…?’ Stunned or not, he could wonder such things by the time she hopped over
their victim and approached him. Her hips rolled in a sensual walk, the long red braids that hung
down her back were swaying in time with her hips, and red dripped from brown fingers that hung
loose and open like claws.

“You had a bad day now, huh, real bad day, but don’t worry.” The redhead was saying to him,
“I’ll make it all better.”

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Saka tried to understand the nonsensical thing the radiant, exotic woman was saying, but it made
no sense.

“You’re my master’s test, you know, and I aim to make sure he passes. Hesitation is weakness,
and he never hesitates. He is bold, brave and loyal, and he will have everything. You… you are
just a stepping stone, now be a good stepping stone, and stay still so he can step on you, and
move a little further forward.” The woman said and cocked her head to give a sweet, beautiful
smile.

‘Got to take her down…’ Saka thought with desperation, his body numbed from the force of the
blow, he still tried to raise his wand to fight back. His arm shook, fear flooded his entire body and
lent him strength to hold the blue crystal tipped wand in front of his body.

His lips opened to cast a spell, but before he could speak, he felt the dirty coppery taste of blood
on his tongue. His brown eyes spread open in horror, faster than he’d seen her move, her hand
shoved into his mouth.

The widened eyes trembled, the urge to fight was gone, all that remained was the urge to beg. He
shook his head and stared into her beautiful, apple like face, her yellow eyes held him intently.
“Hmpf,” she said to him a moment later, “Less courage than the village girl. Pathetic. She didn’t
piss herself when she was about to die.”

He didn’t get to ask what the mad woman was yammering about before the fingers bent and dug
into his tongue, splitting the soft flesh and then tearing back out away from his mouth. That pain
was bad enough, but hot on its heels was the raw agony of his teeth being knocked out from the
inside, they clattered to the floor so loudly that over his mutilated cries, he could still hear their
noise.

The taste of blood was gone, as was his tongue and her hand, she threw it on the floor and
stomped on it with a sickening squelch. “If I liked you, hurting you would be a lot more fun, but
as it is… you’ll have to do.” He held his hands over his wounded maw and shook his entire body
back and forth in denial.

He didn’t have a moment to try to work out what she meant, she showed him first. Her hands tore
at his flesh, and he let out tongueless cries as the sickening sound of his own tearing flesh reached
his ears. ‘No! No! Master! Master help us…!” Saka thought with desperation.

“Nothing to say? Cat got your tongue?” The woman giggled and crouched over him, the smell of
his own blood, sweat, and fear soaked his body like a torrential rain soaked the ground. “No… no,

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it wasn’t a cat.” She whispered as she came closer, her face looming close to his. “It was a wolf.”
She allowed her face to briefly begin to morph, and despair consumed even his sense of fear.

He lost consciousness. Fainting straight away and going limp. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Lupusregina muttered, stood up, and stomped hard on his head, the skull cracked open and the
brain within smushed as easily as mud under a heavy boot.

She turned around to see Evileye standing at the door.

‘Wow… just… wow. She tore them apart.’ Evileye could only look on, impressed at the corpses.

The victim on the table was in horrible shape, burned, mutilated, stretched on the wooden rack, he
could have been down with these monsters for weeks, or even months for all Evileye knew, and
the Dark Hero’s companion seemed to have taken his treatment very personally. ‘She really
wanted to avenge him…’ Evileye felt the sense of approval growing as she saw the way the last of
the necromancers had been torn apart.

“He’s still alive, you want to bring him along or just come back for him later?” Lupu asked her,
pointing at the man on the rack who had no strength to speak.

He blinked, and that was the first real sign of life Evileye saw in him, “We’ll come back, who
knows what’s further down.”

“Dead men who don’t know they’re dead yet, that’s all.” Lupu said, but under the eye of her
appraiser… she cast a simple healing spell on the broken man, and left the room just as Momon
passed it by.

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Chapter XXII

Evileye followed the bloody footsteps of Lupu as they descended deeper into the catacombs,
occasional undead came into view, only to be dispatched by what could only be described as
seamless teamwork. ‘They’re like my Roses…’ Evileye considered when the pair silently went in
two different directions in the same moment and dispatched the contents of two rooms at once.

As a mere observer, Evileye remained behind and checked each room, and each left her gawking.
Seconds was all it took, and dozens of undead were in pieces, zombies in one room, skeletons in
another.

But more troubling to Evileye was the intent for so many corpses, most necromancers wanted
only enough servants to attend to them while they conducted their research in private, delving
into forbidden arts because of their own private obsessions. A few sought to raise armies
intending some kind of conquest.

But the looming shadow of the Death Spiral, a thing she held out hope against, was more and
more obvious the further in they went. An undead that ended a life, created a new undead, a few
hundred, a few thousand, could potentially turn an entire city if they got within the walls.

‘They’re tearing apart years of work before my eyes, and if they didn’t, what would have
happened to E-Rantel?’ Evileye had no idea, but it wasn’t good. Guards mostly used spears and
swords, far from the best weapons against the undead. The possibility of success seemed all the
more likely as they continued to descend ever farther and found more and more rooms full of
corpses either already animated, or just waiting to be.

Shadows flickered over their bodies from the firelight as they came at last to the deepest depths of
the catacombs. ‘At least we haven’t found any armored undead, that would have been really
ominous.’ Evileye kept her chuckle confined to her own mind while the pair of adventurers
stalked the halls in front of her.

“This should be the final level, shouldn’t it?” Ainz asked and pointed toward the stairs going
down into the depths.

“Yes, I think so, but nobody has had really accurate maps of these places for a long time.”
Evileye looked up at him and answered with stars in her eyes hidden by her mask.

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“Good, stay behind me, they know we’re here by now, they don’t seem to have prepared an
escape route for themselves, so this is their last stand.” Ainz said and put a hand on both the
shoulders of Evileye and Lupusregina.

Evileye suppressed a shiver of delight, but her consummate professionalism wouldn’t let her
remain silent. “Sir Momon, you have excellent armor, but no shield, what will you-?”

He cut her off with a squeeze of his hand on her shoulder. “Trust me.”

Evileye fell silent.

Lupu leaned back and looked to his left side where Evileye stood and said with a little titter,
“Yeah, what Momon said, trust him, watch this, it’s going to be good!”

The shouting that made its way up the stairs confirmed the truth of his assessment, and he began
to walk down the stairs.

“Why so slowly? Wouldn’t a charge give them less time to prepare?” Evileye asked.

“Fear.” Ainz replied. “They’re already prepared, but fear will weaken them, we’ve stalked and
eliminated the entire catacombs, they only know we’re coming because nobody else has checked
in and nobody coming up has made it back. Though they may have heard some noises of
violence. Now they can only listen while some unknown force stalks in on them. Panic makes
haste, haste makes for bad decisions. It’s basic strategy.”

“Yeah, basic strategy.” Lupu echoed and stuck her tongue out at Evileye with a playful wink.

Evileye’s estimation of Momon went up another rank.

The stairs were not endless, though they were long, and the noise grew to a tumult and finally
began to ebb, the trio all knew why. The noise of Ainz’s footsteps was reaching them.

Down far ahead in the dim stairs, they saw the bright glow of orange light, and the faint smell of
lamp oil reached their noses. The two great swords of the dark hero came out slowly to the front
of Ainz’s body, but in a stance Evileye had never seen any warrior use before, the pommel’s were
held one end over the other so that the sword points were vertical as if it were one long edged
staff.

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She cocked her head, and looked to Lupu beside her when the woman fell back behind Momon,
the bloodsoaked cleric only rubbed her hands together and gave Evileye a knowing little look.

The unknown was made known when they reached the base of the stairs.

“Fire!” A voice from beyond shouted, and both fireballs and arrows launched en masse toward
the dark hero.

‘No!’ Evileye wanted to cry out, ‘He’s destined to save many lives! To do great things, even he
can’t take so many hits…’ She thought as his body was hammered by scores of arrows and
scorched by flames, and the Dark Hero died to protect them.

Or… that is what she should have seen.

Instead she saw the meaning of his unknown stance.

His greatswords spun like a chariot wheel locked into place, arrows were knocked aside and
fireballs failed to so much as warm his spinning blade, it moved with such speed in front of her
that even the Adamantite ranked Evileye couldn’t follow its spinning motion.

It even caused the humans behind the rows of armored undead to hesitate. From the back center
one of them, full of fear and awe and disbelief, had enough sense through his terror to give orders
to the stunned necromancers. “Again! Hit him! Fire! He can’t stop them all!” The disciple
screamed and fireballs flew again, while undead archers reloaded, aimed, and fired in unison. Still
the sword spun, and the dark hero did not move from his place in the door. ‘He doesn’t advance
because as long as he stands there, they can’t hurt us! True heroism! Of the highest order!’
Evileye thought with admiration that grew ever higher.

Her own acute senses were at work while she waited for the ambush to simply run out of mana
and arrows. The sound of breaking wooden shafts was as steady as dry pine needles underfoot on
a hike, it seemed without end, the constant shouts of ‘Fireball!’ came on again and again, and yet
to her dismay, Sir Momon did not even seem to tire, let alone miss.

His towering, powerful body blocked all access to herself and Lupu, and the cleric, true to the
nature Evileye had recognized, couldn’t help herself. She leaned against the wall and began to
clean her bloody nails. “How much longer, do you think?” Lupu casually asked.

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“Uh, ah, I don’t know, if they have mana enhancing items, a few minutes, then that’ll be the end
of the fireballs. The skeletons, if they have more arrows we don’t see, maybe a minute more.”
Evileye answered the radiant red stained, red headed adventurer.

“Sounds about right, guess you’re not bad at this stuff, huh?” Lupu asked her.

Evileye could only stare from behind her mask, “I’m one of the strongest adventurers in the
world.”

“Oh?” Lupu looked at her with sudden interest, “Seriously?”

“Ah, yes.” Evileye answered, briefly turning to look again at the way the dark hero ripped
through every attack without any effort whatsoever. “Or, I was.”

“That’s more like it.” Lupu chuckled, and curling her fingers over her palm, she brought them up
and blew on them with a cocky expression taking shape with the upturned corners of her lips.

‘Even Lakyus couldn’t do this without all of her swords, and she would have had to do something
else against the magic casters.’ Evileye understood very clearly that Sir Momon could do this was
something she would have deemed impossible even after seeing the remains of the skeletal
dragons.

The bright light and heat of the fireballs began to die down as magic casters began to run out of
mana, and the arrows tapered off a moment later.

“What are you waiting for!” A robed man shrieked and pointed toward the entrance. The crypt
core was a single wide open space with single stone coffins in place around the room, the faces
carved on them were chiseled and handsome, like the dead wanted to be remembered, but likely
only idealized representations of who they were. “Get them!” He shouted.

And the armored undead dropped their bows and took up swords. Their bone white jaws fell open
in screams that could not exist but for magic, and their feet clattered on the stone as they charged
with swords raised high.

“Now, Lupu, go, play, have fun.” Evileye heard Sir Momon order, and the pair broke from the
entrance.

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Momon charged with great swords swinging in massive, wide arcs, what anyone envisioned when
they thought of the word ‘Heroic knight’. But Lupu was almost wolflike, leaning far forward, so
far that more than once her hands were used to draw her along in a bizarre animalistic fighting
style as savage as the wolf the girl reminded Evileye of.

Her red braids flew behind her and she barely even used her mace. ‘Cleric? She’s a cleric?!! A
cleric should be back here!’ Evileye again reminded herself and watched the two tear through
scores of armored undead like their iron and steel armor wasn’t even there. The swords swept four
or five aside with every swing, and the clattering fearless masses of the undead died a second
time before the onslaught.

Lupu batted heads from shoulders or with a palm that had to be harder than steel itself, smashed
into chests with such violence that the undead flew back and broke their comrades into a jumble
of bones that rattled and shattered on the floor or against the walls.

It wasn’t lost on Evileye that the pair moved along the sides rather than in the center, the undead
were forced to split their numbers, and it put them on path to surrounding the now manaless
necromancers. ‘With me here at the entrance, they can’t go anywhere, they’re trapped between a
rock and a sharp (hard?) place.’ Evileye just held her hands together like a prayer as she praised
the dark hero in her own mind. ‘So cool! He’s amazing!’ She squeaked even in her own mind as
the duo reached the back, the necromancers had mere moments of terror for the most part, half
fell with the first swing of the sword, bodies severed in half at the waist, went flying and spinning
in all directions. Those unfortunates who survived to land in pain on the stone, tried to crawl
away. Some, missing parts of their arms, could not even do that.

Lupu simply punched, and heads exploded. Her mace was entirely unnecessary, and within mere
moments, there was only one man left alive. The red coated cleric approached to finish him off,
cracking her knuckles and staring down at him as he scrambled away like a crab through the
blood and viscera of his mutilated deceased companions. The sound of slapping hands striking
bright crimson puddles and splashing them about was accompanied by his cries.

“Mercy! Mercy! Please I surrender! I surrender! Don’t kill me! Don’t hurt me! I have
information! I can help you!” He held out a shaking hand from down on his back. Lupu glanced
up toward the dark hero.

He whipped his swords out, scattering bloody viscera over the walls and casting off the red stains,
satisfied he sheathed the swords on his back again.

“Knock him out and search him for now, let the authorities have him, he can die just as well later
as he can now.” Evileye heard Momon say, and approved of his judgement.

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A sound punch from Lupu later, and a limp man lay crumpled in a robe stained red by the failure
of himself and his fellows. Crouched over his body, she rummaged through his things and pulled
out a delicate looking jeweled circle. “Huh, I guess this might be what they’re looking for.”

“Mission accomplished then.” Ainz said, “We’ll go through the other rooms, see if there are any
remaining living captives, then head back.”

‘Spoken like a proper adamantite ranked hero.’ Evileye confirmed to herself, and followed as they
carried out the last of the cleanup.

Hours later, Evileye was telling the story of the operation to the entire guild from atop the dais, to
the crowd of adventurers below, and concluded it all by holding aloft the crown of wisdom.

“Mission accomplished.” Evileye said, and giving it back to Sir Momon, she watched him hand it
over to Gazef Stronoff.

“You may have saved this city and its people from a Death Spiral, from whom knows what kind
of terrible undead rising, and I am eternally grateful.” The hero decked in the kingdom’s treasures
replied. “Sir Momon, the reward for this will be beyond anything I have the power to give. Come
to the capital as soon as you can, and I will have to let the King himself settle on what to offer
you.”

“I would be honored to receive the King’s favor.” Ainz answered, “But saving the people is what
anyone would have done, what higher calling is there for an adventurer?”

Approving, awed mutterings filled the floor below.

Pride swelled the hearts of the adventurers below at the declaration and praise for their
profession, and more than one engraved his words on their hearts.

“Nonetheless, a reward is due, and a reward you will have.” Gazef answered and extended a
heavy hand.

The handshake between the two was almost like the joining of allies or the forming of a new
friendship in the eyes of those who saw it, and when it broke, Pluton Ainzach approached.

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He held up a pair of adamantite plates. “I have wanted to do this for a long, long time, and I
doubted I’d ever get a chance to. An adamantite plate is almost as rare as feathers on a fish, and I
am proud to bestow them now. These are marks not of what you’ve done, but of what you can do.
You stand at the peak, and from that peak, you can see all that needs to be done. I pray you do it,
and do it well.”

He then put one around the neck of the red haired Lupu, who flashed two fingers out in a V for
victory sign to the crowd that was already cheering down below.

She winked at them, and the story of the Beautiful Princess Lupu was born into legend.

The cheers redoubled when Momon lowered his head and allowed the adamantite plate to be
placed around his neck.

“Team Axel, welcome to the world of living legends.” Lakyus said and approached with an
outstretched hand of her own. “I look forward to working with you in the future.”

Ainz shook her hand with gentle courtesy, “And I with you. As my senior, I hope you will advise
me when I need it.”

He watched as her eyes blinked at the profound humility of the hero who, by all rights, should
have embraced the arrogance of the strong. ‘Better,’ Ainz thought, ‘to show deference to seniors
who have been on the job longer, who knew being a salaryman would provide so much useful
knowledge? I guess some things are the same in every world.’

With Lakyus stunned to silence, Ainz turned his attention to Gazef, “I will take you up on your
offer, but it has been a busy, busy time, so I hope you won’t mind if I take some time to rest and
to celebrate first. It won’t be long, however, I can promise you that.”

“Good, till we meet again!” Gazef said, and they all began to break up.

Evileye however, lingered, she put a hand on Momon’s arm and looked up at him, “Will I see you
again?” She asked in what she hoped was not a lovesick voice.

“Ah, yes, of course. We are fellow adventurers of the highest rank, I would imagine we will.” He
turned to walk away, but then it hit him, ‘wait, is that… is there something there?’ He wondered,
and recalled the way Bukubukuchagama had once let her eyes linger on him, and he’d wondered
the same thing. Back then he’d said nothing, this time, he chose a different path.

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“But…” he added, “I hope it will be soon, Evileye.” He said succinctly, and Lupusregina fell in
beside him.

‘Yay!’ Evileye felt the girlish excitement come to her at his final added words, ‘He says little, but
means it more. What a man!’ She thought, and when Lupu turned to look back at her and gave a
taunting wink, Evileye didn’t even let it bother her.

‘I can’t wait!’ The vampire mage thought, though the question she most feared also came up.
‘What will he say, or do, when I have to reveal what I am… a man that righteous, surely he’d
despise the undead…’

She set the question aside as one that would only ruin her hopes, but it was one she knew would
need to be answered some day. Just not… today.

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Chapter XXIII: Epilogue

Ninya and the rest of the former Swords of Darkness enjoyed the hospitality of the village,
deciding to delay their trip back to Carne and enjoy some of the money they’d gotten from their
latest, and ‘last’ reward for adventuring, they splurged. Peter now had several pieces of enchanted
equipment thanks to the generosity of Sir Momon, as did Lukrut, Dyne, Brita, and herself. There
had even been enough money left for drinks, and so, no reason to hurry.

So every village they stopped in, they spent liberally, making themselves very popular with poor,
nameless villages on their long circuitous route back to Carne and the work that would await
them there.

But Lupu’s words hung in Ninya’s mind, which was part of why she didn’t mind the delay, every
night, she recited the lessons she had learned from the adamantite ranked cleric.

And it was because she was up late at night in one poverty stricken village, that she was the one
to hear the scream, the slap, and the tearful sobbing. Ninya stood up from the table where she was
drinking and reciting lessons and bolted out the door expecting to find some little domestic brawl,
and instead found a crude carriage and some armed guards in cheap leather armor.

“Come on! You’re lucky I like you, I only slapped you a little bit! Just be good for me and if
you’re lucky I’ll even give you a bonus… you should be glad of the chance to bear my child!” The
nasally voice, the entitled pronouncement, it was the sort heard all over Re-Estize.

The nobles of this particular area were not particularly well off, but they were still nobles, though
even at a glance she knew the waifish man in the dirty clothing that had obviously once been
quite fine, was not actually the lord. ‘The local Lord’s son.’ Ninya realized.

‘Don’t get involved.’ The thought came to her as her eyes darted around her, nobody else had
emerged from their homes, and she knew why, ‘They’re thinking the same thing. Just like when
the Lord of my village took Tuare…’

Lupu’s words to her returned again, the mocking, taunting truths that were ground into her like
salt into open wounds, the instinctive fear of the nobles that was ingrained in every peasant man
and woman from infancy was like ice in her veins that froze her blood and compelled her to do
nothing.

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On the ground in front of her though, a pretty young peasant girl whose dress was already torn
and face red from a slap looked tearfully to where Ninya stood, the girl was young, quaking in
fear.

“Please! My lord, don’t take her!” A very thin older man pleaded, he and his wife knelt inside
their door and their hands were up and pleading, “Show mercy! We paid our taxes didn’t we?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t really enough, the least you can do is obey like good dogs.” He nudged the
blonde girl’s leg, “Yes, dogs, and she’s just a bitch.” He laughed at his own joke. “Now come on,
you!” He reached down and tugged the girl at the wrist, dragging her through the dust.

The slender little blonde yelped in pain when she was scraped over the dust.

Ninya’s blood had turned from ice to fire as the advice of the adamantite adventurer sent her over
the edge. “Hey! Let her go!” She shouted, and the noble, the villagers, even the peasant girl, froze
at the unspoken disbelief that someone had said the impossible.

“Excuuuuuse me!” The lordling exclaimed, affronted, “Don’t you know who I am?! I’m Lord
Philip, these are my lands, peasants, and therefore this is my business, not yours.”

‘Stupid adventurers!’ Philip cursed, ‘Don’t even know the faces of the people who rule the places
they visit, as soon as I’m the official lord, I’ll put a tax on their passing through my lands and
make them come pay respects to me personally.’

As if that settled the matter, he turned to his guards. “Take the bitch and put her in the carriage,
do I have to do everything myself?!” He snapped, ignoring Ninya again.

The old fear came up in Ninya again, in the light of the torches of the night, the young girl’s
fearful face was lit up bright as the sun, and Ninya’s old anger drowned her peasant fears in their
coming sea of rage.

“I said let her go, you piece of shit!” Ninya brought her staff up, the words of Momon echoed in
her mind, ‘Protecting the people is an adventurer’s highest calling!’

“Put that one down!” Philip shrieked and waved a hand toward Ninya.

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“Magic arrow!” Ninya cast her spell, and arrows of light ripped from the air to pierce the guard’s
cheap armor.

Ninya’s shouting had drawn the attention of the rest of her friends, the chaos drew out the other
three guards from where they were out of sight on the other side of the carriage, and the rest of
the village, hearing the unexpected chaos, began to poke heads out of doors.

Lit by torches, the former Swords of Darkness needed to know only one thing, that their
teammate was in trouble. Lukrut’s arrows pierced a guard through the throat, Peter clashed briefly
with another who clumsily waved a spear with a shout more of fear than of spirit, he ducked
beneath, and buried his sword to the hilt in the man’s guts.

Brita handled the last, avoiding the spear, bringing her mace down to break the wood, then while
the guard looked at it in brief dumbfounded confusion, she spun and smashed her new mace into
his face. He crumpled with a sickening crunch of bone and a thud into the dust.

Ninya ran with a banshee shriek to the noble, raised her staff, and began to hit the young man in
the face and head. Unused to warrior combat, she would have gotten derision from any instructor.

But she got only blood and screams of pain from the lord. Holding her staff in two hands, she
brought it up and down on the scrawny youth’s head.

Ninya shouted and screamed her hatred so greatly that she drowned out his screams of pain,
spattering blood over the fallen girl he’d dropped into the dust in his desperate failed effort to
protect himself.

It wasn’t until she felt a pair of hands pull her back and she began to breathe deeply, heavily, that
she stopped seeing red, and saw what she’d done. The head was a caved-in wreck, the young man
who identified himself as ‘Philip’ was very, very dead. Blood stained the ground and the
trembling body of the peasant girl.

“No more! No goddamn more!” Ninya shouted her rage at the uncaring sky.

Looking at the dead guards and dead lordling, those who had seemed invincible had been shown
to be frail, the godlike status of lords in the eyes of peasants took a mortal blow.

And with the fatal wound, the girl’s father and mother approached the dead guards and picked up
the fallen weapons.

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Thus was born a battle cry. “No more!” became a shout that threatened to split the sky.

______________________________________________________________________________

Ainz stepped through the gate that took him back to Nazarick. Lupu had cleared the hall and
passed on his orders that none were to be there for his return, as he had a private matter to attend
to that required the utmost concentration.

Lupu followed him all the way to the treasury, through the various traps and past the statues of
the Supreme Beings that had come and gone. She lingered there a moment, to look at her maker.
When she did, Ainz waited too.

“He would be proud of how you have performed your duties.” Ainz promised her.

“Thank you, My Lord.” Lupusregina said and stared up at the great black werewolf king. “I loved
him like a father, and tried to model myself after him.”

“I see a great deal of him in you. He was playful, whimsical, and ferocious all at once, but a very
good friend.” Ainz answered and touched the open hand of the werewolf statue. The open hand
with its terrible claws were meant to be in a posture of ferocity, but to Ainz, it was like an
extended hand of friendship. “I hope wherever he has gone, he is well.”

“Me too, my lord, but I am glad that you are the One Who Stayed.” Lupusregina replied, and
followed him the rest of the way to the treasury.

When they were at the door he asked her, “Tell me, have you ever met Pandora’s Actor?”

“No, my lord, never.” Lupusregina shook her head slowly, her shining black and white maid
outfit swayed with her, the slit portion of the dress exposing her long right leg up to the thigh.

“He is… unique. He is my creation.” Ainz replied. ‘Oh god, I was such a chuunibyou when I made
that one, what the hell am I going to face?! Please oh please be normal!’ He cried out in his mind
and opened the massive double doors.

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Glittering treasures of gold, priceless items, things that even alone would greatly enrich any
kingdom to possess them, mere flavor text in the game, they had come to reality now.

But all of that, he ignored. For there in the center of the room, was the Beast King himself,
Lupusregina’s creator.

“Father…” The battlemaid thought in an instant, her eyes wet with tears, and before Ainz could
even speak to tell Pandora’s Actor not to do that, the area guardian of the treasury returned to his
natural form, black pits for eyes and mouth and noseless face. Bright yellow uniform with
buckles and buttons, a red shirt and black tie and a flawless black and red military cap that arched
at the front and had a short brim coming out over his forehead. The guardian took a bow, his left
hand sweeping dramatically in front of his waist as he did so.

“Mein apologize mein Frau! I should not have taunted one so lovely with so heartbreaking an
image!” Pandora’s Actor exclaimed.

‘Oh no! He’s even more cringy than I feared!’ Ainz broke out into a cold sweat.

Lupusregina wiped her eyes and glared, “That was mean.” She said and crossed her arms.

“Ja. Mein regrets. I but thought it a mere prank… but I should have known better. Were mein
Vater to be gone, to see his like and learn it false would have broken mein heart.” Pandora’s Actor
said and only then did he slowly straighten up.

“Enough.” Ainz said in a slow, drawn out way, “No more pranks like that, now I’ve come here for
a reason.”

“Vater, if you need anything of the treasury, it is yours to claim and for me to inventory, I live but
to serve you!” Pandora’s Actor declared in a long, loud voice and raised a hand to his chest and
extended another out in a grand dramatic gesture.

‘Ugh… alright, this is the important part. Ignore the cringe, and just… do it.’ Ainz told himself and
took a deep breath. “Pandora’s Actor, is your loyalty to me as the undead creator, or is your
loyalty to me absolute and total, no matter what?”

Near at hand, Lupusregina took on a subtle defensive stance with one foot back, ready to charge
and transform if she had to. Created to buy time, she had no chance against Pandora’s Actor in a

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fight, even if he were not the strongest guardian, he was nonetheless a level one hundred, several
times stronger than her.

Ainz reflexively checked his exp rating, it had gone up considerably with the recovery of the
Crown of Wisdom, like he’d received a ‘Quest Bonus’, but it was still a long way from level one
hundred and one. ‘Still, if it comes down to it, I can handle him. Especially with Lupusregina to
buy me time.’

The doppelganger cocked his head in confusion and lowered his arms, the sense of drama gone,
he didn’t even speak any german. “Father, you are my maker. My loyalty to you is beyond even
my loyalty to these treasures or this tomb. No matter what, I am yours… but why… why would
you ask such a thing?”

Ainz slowly took off his helmet and stepped forward. “I don’t know if this is permanent, and I
know we don’t have any race change items, and I still find it hard to believe it worked… but…” He
touched his human face and traced his fingers over it. “This is me, for now. Do you still stand by
your words?”

“Father, who else knows?” Pandora’s Actor asked with baited breath.

“Only Lupusregina, for now. In time I will inform the others, when I can be sure none of them
would break loyalty, the hatred of humans their creators gave them may be far stronger than I
know. So I must prepare.” Ainz replied and gave a deep sigh. “Now, your answer?”

Pandora’s Actor dropped to one knee, bowed his head and covered his heart with his long
fingered hand, “To you, always you, no matter what your form, you are my maker! The One Who
Stayed!”

“Good.” Ainz answered and put a hand on his head. “Now, about why I have come. I learned a
great deal about the outside world, and because of the danger I yet face, I require many more
servants.”

“You wish to offer great rewards?” Pandora’s Actor waved at the endless treasures.

Ainz then turned his mind toward the workers he learned of, men and women who would take on
almost any job, on the edge of society, with no security and no options, and no way to change
that. He shook his head, “No, I wish to send them an invitation, and make an offer to them.”

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“An offer, my lord?” Pandora’s Actor asked.

“Yes, an offer they can’t refuse.” Ainz answered with relief and resolve blended into one.

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Afterward:
Creation is my happiness, and the dream of a lifetime exists on every page I produce. Thank you
for reading this far, and I hope you enjoyed it.
~ABD
Special thanks to:
The Drunken Gang of Perverted Idiots, without whose love of reading, writing, and creating
wonderful things, this project could never have been accomplished as it was.

My Patreon supporters whose support allows me the free time to write and create.

My commission client who paid for this to be made.

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