Chapter 15: I don't know what to call this........
'I only body slammed you, pussy'
Fafnir thought to himself in annoyance, the fight ended too quickly. He and the beast only got one hit each, and the beast gave up. Some Wise King, one would think if the inhabitants of the forest fear her, she would be more powerful. And she just gives up after one body slam.
Tina: So this is the Wise King of the Forest! What a majestic beast.
Fafnir looked back and forth between Tina and the Wise King of the Forest, checking to see if Tina was making fun of him, but Tina seemed to be entirely serious.
Tina: We've seen some majestic beast in our travels, and the Wise King is one of the best.
Lakyus: Great job at taming it, Fafnir-san. Thought, I am surprised at out fast it gave up.
'THANK YOU.'
Nfirea: But-wait, if you take this monster away, and thus its sphere of influence, won't the other monsters attack En- Carne Village because it's not there to scare it off anymore?
Fafnir raised his chin to indicate the Wise King of the Forest. She got the message and responded,
Wise King: By village you mean…ah, well, the balance of power in the forest is now in chaos. Even if this one was there, this one would not be able to guarantee their safety by any means.
Nfirea: No way
Fafnir did not care for the shocked Nfirea, his mind rambled about some of the benefits of letting this happen. In truth, Fafnir always intended to protect Carne, it was too valuable as a trove of information. However, by taking the Wise King it could kill multiple birds with one stone. He could pull up his reputation by taming the Wise King and bring her as proof. He could also frame the thing as doing a favor for Nfirea and thus make Nfirea indebted to him. This was Fafnir's plan in order to make up for the miscalculation with the Wise King of the Forest.
He merely smiled inside. Just as Fafnir was thinking about how to guide the conversation, he could feel Nfirea looking at him. He seemed to be wavering between speaking and keeping quiet, and his mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. Fafnir understood the turmoil in Nfirea's heart. Nfirea probably felt that it was too troublesome, and did not want to leave everything to him. Nfirea quickly made up his mind about something and addressed Fafnir with a serious look on his face.
Nfirea: Fafnir-san
"Yes"
A secretly delighted Fafnir waited for what Nfirea would say next. However, Nfirea's words vastly exceeded Fafnir's expectations.
Nfirea: Fafnir-san! Please let me join your team!
"Hmm?!"
Nfirea: I want to protect Enri… Carne Village, but I don't have the strength to do it now. So I want to become stronger! I want to learn the secret to your strength, Fafnir-san! I don't mind if it's just a little bit! However, I can't hire an excellent adventurer like you on a long-term basis with the amount of money I have! So please, let me join your party! I have some confidence in my ability as a herbalist, but I'm willing to carry luggage and do other menial labor! Please allow me to do this, I beg you!
Fafnir just stared at Nfirea, he never could have expected this. One question did linger in his mind, Why didn't he ask Lakyus to train him. She was already an official, Adamantite-Ranked Adventurer. Fafnir was just someone who is rumored to be at the strength of an Adamantite level.
Nfirea: I've always been researching herbological knowledge. I didn't give that decision much thought because my grandmother and father were both herbalists… but now I've found the path I want to walk, and it's not as a herbalist.
"So, you want to become a great magic caster and protect Carne Village, then?"
Nfirea: Yes!
Nfirea seemed to have shed his youthful attitude, and looked straight at Fafnir, his eyes filled with a manly resolve.
"Forgive me, but I cannot. Do not let me discourage you, your determination isn't easy to come by in people. In order to join my team, you must meet a few criteria. At the moment, you have only met one of them. Therefore, I am sorry, but I cannot let you join."
Many conditions needed to join the Guild, one being an active member of society, another is having an inhuman avatar.
"However, I do understand how you feel, and I will remember that you wished to join my team. As for protecting this village, I will exert all my power to aid you. However, I might need your help in the future"
Nfirea: Yes! Please, I'm eager to help!
"Is that so, good. I will lend my aid whenever it may be needed"
A sick smirk appeared in Fafnir's mind, he would honestly rather kill Nfirea due to his restriction bypass. He has the potential to be a high threat to Nazarick, in both his herbological knowledge and his restriction bypass. Even the information he had could just be taken from his mind, unlike the villagers, they were their own small society. Better to see how they would react, to small things such as the goblin horn, and half-human creatures. Nfirea on his own? wouldn't be as beneficial as the village.
Fafnir and Nazarick are comparable to scientists, and the village is an isolated part of society in a controlled environment. Giving them items from the new world and see their reaction, and such. Best uses for items in the new world and so on in this case all that would be the "Independent Variable". Treating the village more like rats in a cage. Nfirea would only be good for things that went on in the city but even then, Fafnir could choose to kidnapped someone higher up on the chain, and get even more knowledge than Nfirea could provide.
Nfirea would be best suited to be given to Demiurge, as it would not only break the boy. But also give Demiurge the research material of the new world and its herbological. Which he could refine and make better, and he could research Nfirea's biology as a Talent Holder, what changed and what stayed the same. This could possibly result in creating Nazarick's own "Talent Holder" giving them extra abilities. The only problem with this is people will see him disappeared, and think he was with Fafnir last. So it would logically be him, so he would need a way to get Nfirea alone and make him willing to leave the city for another location. The best place would be Carne, remote and already in the area of Nazarick.
[Time-skip]
They had spent a night outside on the way to Carne Village, and another night within the village itself. After that, they left Carne Village for the city of E-Rantel in the morning, and thus their journey of three days and two nights came to an end. It was almost nightfall by the time they returned to the Fortress City.
The main roads were lit by streetlamps made from {Continual Light} spells, which cast white-colored illumination, while the nature of the pedestrians had changed as well. There were no young women and children to be seen, but instead working men returning home after they were done for the day. The two rows of shops on either side emitted cheerful and pleasant sounds, the happiness of most men finally going home fill the air.
Looking around, the city had not changed much in three days. Or rather, Fafnir had gone to Carne Village right after arriving in E-Rantel, so he did not have much basis for comparison. Still, he felt that the peaceful streets remained the same. They turned off the main road, and then Fanifr and company came to a halt. Obviously stopping in the middle of a busy thoroughfare would be a big hindrance, but nobody dared complain. This was because nobody dared go near him. Fafnir shrugged tiredly and then peeked at the people around him. Just about everyone walking past on the street seemed to be looking in Fafnir's direction. No, they were staring at him and whispering to each other.
The sounds of their chatter filtered into Fafnir's ears, everyone was discussing matters in tones of praise, surprise, or outright fear. While Fafnir was annoyed that it was only due to him was riding the Wise King of the Forest. It wasn't that Fafnir, didn't take pride in taming the beast, but he was annoyed it was the only reason people knew of him. Not how he manhandled the gold ranks or being requested by name by Nfirea. But for only taming a beast.
This reaction was entirely understandable. The people were praising the Wise King of the Forest as a mighty creature, to Fafnir, it just felt like he was lied to and cheated. Of course, he didn't expect a world enemy threat, nor a dragon level one, he at least expected a slight challenge. It was as easy as breathing, it barely took a minute and so he was left unsatisfied.
Lakyus: Since we're back in town, it seems the assignment is over.
Nfirea: Indeed, you're right, the request is at an end. Then… while I've already prepared the arranged remuneration, I still have to pay the bonus we negotiated in the forest. Could you come to my family's store with me?
The wagon behind Nfirea was piled high with herbs. In addition, there was tree bark, strange fruits which looked like branches, a gigantic mushroom that was large enough for a man to put his arms around, extremely tall grasses, and other such harvests. To an amateur, they seemed like nothing more than plants, but to a trained eye, they were a heaping pile of glittering treasure. After subduing the Wise King of the Forest, they were free to fully explore the region in its former sphere of influence. They discovered many rare and valuable herbs, as well as other efficacious ingredients which could be used to make other potions. Nfirea picked and picked nonstop, promising the others that he would pay them a generous bonus on top of the prearranged amount.
Lakyus: I'm really sorry, Nfy, but Evil is waiting on us. we barely made it back in time.
"Since I brought a monster into a city, I need to register the Wise King of the Forest with the Guild. Lupa, could you go with Nfirea?"
Lupa: Sure, I'll be more than enough to move things around.
Fafnir nodded in response to this suggestion. Since he could simply register by nonchalantly asking the Guild receptionists, he did not want to go to the Guild with them. He would have to pretend that he knew how to read this and write that, and it might well cause all his hard work over the past few days to go up in smoke. It would be bad for it to be revealed that Fafnir could read or write, it may make him seem like he was nothing but a brute with a sword.
"Then, we'll let you take care of business."
Fafnir nodded slightly, and then he and Nabe parted ways with Nfirea, and Lakyus and her team did the same and went a different direction. Nfirea and Lupa both left, However, Lupa, turned and winked at Fafnir, as he nodded.
Thinking of the money made from this job, Fafnir reached for his laced-up money pouch. His fingertips pressed it flat almost immediately, a sign that there was not much money inside but he could easily tell that there were still a few coins left. However, he had the night's lodgings to worry about. It might not be enough if he included the costs for food and drink, the only one who didn't need to eat was, Nabe. The ring on her finger was imbued with magic that removed the need for her to eat or drink, which helped a lot in cutting costs.
Nabe could wear and use two rings, and one of her ring slots was allocated to this one. Initially, it had been chosen to protect against consuming something poisonous, but it had proved unexpectedly useful in this situation. However, he still needed to eat, as did Lupa and Fou. Now they have taken in another mouth to feed. He glanced at the Wise King of the Forest beneath him.
'I wonder what should I name her.'
It wasn't long before they could register the Wise King, but it took about one and a half hours. The most time-consuming part of the process was sketching an identification picture of her by hand. While magic could have sped up the process, Fafnir did not want to go to the extra expense of paying for a spell, which had led to this situation. In the end, he decided to name the Wise King: Shika. The old Japanese word for Deer.
What was surprising, was that a gift was left for Fafnir. It was a saddle, one that was a perfect fit for Shika, Fafnir was dumb he knew who left this. Lakyus obviously had a crush on him, why he had no idea. But she did nonetheless.
Using his superior athletic ability, he mounted the Wise King of the Forest with a masterful vault. If he were an athlete, his name would have gone down in the history books. The pedestrians were gasping in awe as far as his eyes could see. He could even hear the sounds of women screaming in excitement. In particular, he felt the piercing gazes of his fellow adventurers burning into him. After seeing the copper plate around Fafnir's neck, their eyes went wide with disbelief.
Just then, a voice called out to Fafnir and halting the process of ordering Shika to move out. The voice was an aged one. When he turned to look, he found an old granny.
Granny: Say, would you be the people who went herb-picking with my grandson?
"Forgive me, but you are?"
Fafnir could guess the answer. If this granny's words were genuine, then there could be only one answer to that question.
Granny: My name is Lizzie Bareare. I'm Nfirea's grandmother.
"As I thought, as the answer your question, I'm one of the adventurers who escorted your grandson to Carne Village. My name is Fafnir, and this is Nabe."
Lizzie smiled at the bowing Nabe, she was clearly in awe of her beauty.
Lizzie: She's an unbelievably beautiful girl. And what is the name of the creature you're riding?
"It is the Wise King of Forest, Shika."
Shika: This one is Shika! This one is very pleased to meet you!
Lizzie: What!? This mighty beast is the legendary Wise King of the Forest!?
The adventurers around them who heard Lizzie's cry were even more surprised. With shocked looks on their faces, they whispered, "Is that really the monster of legends?" and so on.
"Indeed. After receiving your grandson's request, we encountered it at our destination and I managed to tame it."
Lizzie: You actually… tamed the Wise King of the Forest.
She was dumbstruck and could do nothing but stare.
Lizzie: Then where is my grandson now?"
"Ah, he went home first with the herbs. We're heading over there now to collect our payment."
The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at him with a strange look in her eyes:
Lizzie: Oh, I see… then, shall we go together? I'm quite interested in your adventurer types."
Fafnir nodded, as the group proceeded through the streets of E-Rantel, led by Lizzie.
[Time-Skip]
Lizzie: Then, please come in.
Once they reached the storefront, Lizzie came to the front door and took out her keys. Then, she looked down and pushed. The door swung open, without any resistance.
Lizzie: What's this? This is too careless of him.
She muttered to herself as she entered the shop, Fafnir heard and his mind went to Lupa and a small plan he had. He meant for her to take Nfirea and stage a kidnapping. A reasonable way to go missing, But did she act this early, and if so why was she so careless to leave evidence such as the door. As Fafnir walked in, a metallic tang hit his nose, knowing this was the smell of blood, he grabbed Lizzie's shoulder pulling her back.
Lizzie: What is it?
"I smell blood"
Lizzie: Blood!
Her voice was filled with confusion and surprise. Fafnir paid her no heed but instead placed his hands on the hilts of his sword. Nabe figured out what he was up to from that action and she drew her sword as well.
'She didn't kill Nfirea did she?'
Fafnir drew his weapons and entered the store. He kicked the door open and kept to the right as he went in. Though this was a stranger's house, completely unfamiliar to him, there was no trace of hesitation in his footsteps. He came to a door which led down, and then turned to Lizzie, who had just caught up with him.
"What is this place for?"
Lizzie: It's for herbs storage room, it leads to the back door.
Although she was not sure what was going on, Lizzie sensed that something was wrong and began to worry. However, Fafnir ignored her and pushed the door open. He had to be ready for anything, this could be the doing of Lupa, but he had no way to confirm. As his order was the find a way for Nfirea to go missing and raise no questions.
As they entered the room, the first thing they saw a fair-skinned hand, a clean-cut off from its owner's body. Blood traced from the hand to the backdoor before it stopped.
Lizzie: This, what is this.
A shocked Lizzie made to enter with shaky footsteps. Fafnir put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving forward and quickened his pace to get ahead of her. This clearly wasn't done by Lupa. An unknown enemy has made its way into Fafnir's plans, why it annoyed him slightly that it was an unknown, but this unknown helped his plan.
Lizzie: My grandson! Nfirea's gone!
"Nabe survey the area"
Nabe: Right
Nabe quickly left, to search upstairs for clues. As Fafnir stayed, and searched the basement, scratch marks littered the ground near the hand. A tooth wasn't far from the hand neither, a few locks of blond hair laid on the ground. Sighs of struggle, he thought as he picked up the hand he could see letters that he didn't know, he called Lizzie over to read it for him.
"Come see this."
Fafnir pointed to the letters written in blood the hand would not be visible unless someone moved them.
Lizzie: This is… the sewers? Does it mean he was taken to the sewers?
"Sewers, huh. No, it might be a trap set by the opposition. I have no idea how big the sewers are, searching them might take a long time. What do you think?"
Lizzie: There are numbers there, 2-8, what could that mean?"
"Those are even more suspicious. Although I don't know what those numbers mean, I can guess that you can divide the city into eight sections, or it might just be a simple 2-8. Could Nfirea really write that? Did he really have the time to think of all that? Even if he did write it, how much could he have learned from the enemy? This is far too much of a coincidence. it's a set up"
Lizzie frowned her already wrinkled face, directing something that approached anger at Fafnir, who was analyzing the entire situation with unexpected calmness. Sensing her anger approaching him:
"Anger will solve nothing. it will only make the situation worse"
As much as he was being a hypocrite, he was right. Anger would never solve this, especially if she was getting angry at the person trying to save her grandson. Lizzie sighed, and push it to the side.
"We need to think of something quickly."
Lizzie: Isn't that obvious… what do you mean by that?
"Is it not obvious. The opposition left the hand on purpose, the cut easily cut through the hand with ease. No bone, nor blood splattered. Even nail markings, meaning the hand was forcible yank, and cut off. If they could do all that, and bust the door, they could have easily taken Nfirea out. Yet theirs signed of struggle. They seemed to have done it for fun. Otherwise, they did it because they were absolutely sure they would not be exposed, or that they were completely confident in their ability to escape. They even hurt Nfirea badly, teeth and hair pulled out. No doubt a sadistic."
If they wanted to kidnap Nfirea, all they would have to do is overpower and knock him out, which would have bought them enough time to escape. However, the enemy did not do that, which meant that they had other things to do, or because they wanted Lizzie to do something. The latter was easier to deal with. It was the former which was tricky. Nfirea's life and talent were valuable, but they might not be able to use them for long. The only question left is, will they kill?
After Lizzie realized the meaning hidden in Fafnir's words, her gray face turned white. With no idea where Nfirea had been taken in this gigantic city, they would need to search the whole of E-Rantel, which would take far too long. Their only clue was the sewers, but Fafnir saw it was a trap. The flame of Nfirea's life was ebbing away with each passing moment. Fafnir calmly turned to the panicked Lizzie and asked:
"How about hiring us?"
Fafnir knew this was the perfect chance, he could make them indebted to him. he could also persuade Lizzie and Nfirea to move to Carne and use them there, or stop them halfway and give Nfirea to Demiurge.
"Isn't this something you should hire an adventurer for?"
A light came on in Lizzie's eyes as she understood what Fafnir was getting at.
"You are a very lucky woman, Ms. Bareare. At the moment, I am the strongest adventurer in this city If you hire me, I will accept your request, I can guarantee his safety. However, the price will be very high"
Lizzie: That, that's right if it was you the one who tamed the Wise King of the Forest then there's no doubt about your strength…I'll hire, I'll hire you!
"Is that so, are you willing to anything?"
Lizzie: What is enough to satisfy you?
"No, you must not be understanding me. I'm asking are you willing to even sell your soul for your grandson?"
Fafnir's eyes glowed, as he spoke throwing Lizzie off, her eyes widened in shock, and her body trembled violently. Her throat went dry, fear swallowed her body.
Lizzie: I've heard that demons will grant any wish in return for men's souls. Are you a demon?
"And what if I was? What would you even do with that knowledge? So I'll ask once more, Lizzie Bareare, do you want to save your grandson?"
Lizzie did not respond, silently biting her lip.
"Then there's only one answer, right?"
Lizzie: You fucking demon, fine, I'll hire you. I'll give you everything I have, so please save my grandson!"
"Everything, heh. Very well, the pact is sealed. Then, let's not waste time. Do you have a map of this city? If you do, hand it"
Lizzie had her doubts, but she still handed the map to Fafnir immediately.
"Then, we shall find Nfirea's location next."
Lizzie: Can you do such a thing!?"
"The kidnapper was stupid enough to leave blood from Nfirea. Or rather, they could be smart and leading us straight to them, as another trap. They have a lot of confidence, to boldly challenge someone like this-"
Halfway through, a voice spoke in Fafnir's mind. It was the {Message} spell.
{Entoma: Artorias-sama.}
The voice was somewhat high-pitched, and there was something like rustling in the background.
'Entoma?'
{Entoma: Yes, it is me, I have a report to deliver.}
'I'm busy now. I'll contact you again when I'm free.'
{Entoma: Understood. Please contact Albedo-sama as soon as possible.}
Lizzie: Something, wrong demon.
"No, nothing. Just watch"
Lizzie merely made a "hmph" sound mumbling something under her breath, something along the line of "Demon's work" and she left, as Nabe walked in. Unrolling the map, Fafnir placed the map over the blood that was on the floor. He dampened the paper, hovering his hand over the map. Fafnir spoke.
"{Bloody Clairvoyance}"
When using divination-type magic, you need to prepare yourself thoroughly against the enemy's counter-detection spells before casting it. This is an ironclad rule. When considering that the opposition might use {Detect Locate}, it's a basic precaution to use {False Cover}, {Counter Detect}, and the like to protect yourself. However, {Bloody Clairvoyance} allows the user to bypass all this and automatically defend themselves. However, while this may seem like the most powerful divination-type spell, it's not without its weakness. The counter-detection protection will end at a random time, maybe five seconds after activation, or ten hours after. Not only that, if the enemy had the right spell in the right order, {Bloody Clairvoyance} will turn on the caster. While most players would have found how the order, this was changed to make it change everything. The spell is a heads or tails, one may get lucky one day but get unlucky the next. Which is one reason, that most if not all player didn't use it.
The blood moved as if it was alive, it circled an area on the map and dried up on the area. Making a permanent marking.
"There."
While he could not understand the characters, he racked his brains for some clue as to where "there" was. Only seconds later he came up with a suitable answer.
"The graveyard, huh. As I thought, it wasn't the sewers after all."
E-Rantel was also a military base, and the graveyard was massive, almost the largest of its size. The spell pointed to the deepest reaches of the graveyard.
Now for the second part of the spell, to simply show the are surrounding the person. An image floating in mid-air revealed countless human shapes. However, their movements were oddly stiff. In addition, there were many inhuman objects within the image. There was a boy in their midst. He was dressed strangely, but there was no mistake about him.
"So he's definitely there. And the metal plates should be nearby… hm, a big mass of undead?"
There was a group of the undead around Nfirea. They were all low-tier undead, but they were present in surprising numbers.
Nabe: What do you plan to do? Teleport in and wipe them all out at once? Or perhaps use flight magic to attack them from above?"
"Don't be silly. Wouldn't either of those methods mean that the problem gets solved without anyone knowing about it? Whoever created all these undead must have done so in preparation for something of earthshaking proportions. Therefore, if we save Nfirea and deal with that matter at the same time, it will greatly boost our reputations. If we do this on the quiet, we will only receive Lizzie's payment, and we won't be able to gain much fame from it."
That said, if they did not take care of the situation quickly, there was a high chance that Nfirea might die. Even Ainz a lich could not summon this many undead and control them, so there must have been some sort of trick at work here. Nfirea's life might well be an important part of that trick.
"We're ready. We're heading to the graveyard now"
"What about the sewers?"
Lizzie's voice came from far away, accompanied by the patapata of her running footsteps.
"The sewer is just a red herring which the author of this tragedy left for us. They're actually in the graveyard, together with an army of undead. There are easily thousands of them there."
Lizzie: What!?
Of course, it was an estimate. How could he have counted all of them?
"No need to be shocked. We intend to cut a path through them. The problem is that we can't guarantee that the undead army won't escape from the graveyard. You need to tell as many people as possible to hold the undead back if they see them spilling out. There's no proof, but I'm sure that a lot of people will be willing to listen to a big name like you. If the undead ran wild and there was nobody stopping them… that would be troublesome, no?"
"That's all I have to say. Time is tight, so I'll be heading over right now."
Lizzie: Do you have a way to break through that army of the dead?
Fafnir smirked. His eyes glowed brightly, Lizzie back away in slight fear.
"Of course I do. I am a Demon after all."
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Shimo_Kiba
Shimo_Kiba 4860 Words