Chapter 11: Ruler of Nazarick
While the villagers were conducting the funerals, Ainz decided to stroll the village alongside Shalltear. Failure to observe their burial customs was brought by the existence of [Death Weaver], he was afraid that he might succumb to its allures.
Looking at the homes of the villagers as he walked the village, he couldn't help but frown at their poor living standards. Having been to the village chief's home, he had already confirmed that the technological advancement was equivalent to that of the Middle Ages back in his previous world.
He wasn't so naive as to expect this world's development to follow that of his previous world. Still, he had expected the existence of magic to make the people's living standards to be somewhat good. Unfortunately, it seemed the villagers only knew the existence of magic but never really saw it or practiced it.
This was what encouraged him to learn what kind of magical system this world operated on, but by the looks of things, he was inclined to believe that it was similar to tier magic. That would honestly explain why he was able to cast it and also the same speed of mana recovery. Even so, he still needed confirmation.
Ainz audibly sighed when he noticed how much he still didn't know.
"Is something wrong, Lord Ainz?"
Shalltear asked with a bit of worry. Had he been in his Dyig'Eri form, he would have expressed a smile at her concern. It was nice to have someone genuinely worry for you.
Ainz looked up at the sky and noticed the fast approach of dusk. They had really been in this village for quite a while.
"What do you think about this village, Shalltear?"
Something was brewing inside Ainz's heart, something he had felt the first night he saw this beautiful world.
The Valkyrie's eyes clouded a bit, as the question was unexpected. Even so, she still provided him with an answer.
"I think it's a disgusting place that doesn't deserve to be graced by your magnificent presence, My Lord."
Her words were harsh and honest, and Ainz couldn't help but agree with them. No, he didn't agree with the village not deserving to be grace by his presence, but he agreed that the village was disgusting to some degree.
"Hmmm... Then what do you think should be done to make it worthy?"
He was conveying the fact that he intended on coming to this village again in the future. Offering criticism without solutions was a bad practice, thus he wanted to know the Valkyrie's solution to this problem.
But unlike before, Shalltear's answer didn't come as fast. He was somewhat relieved that she was actually pondering it instead of simply offering to burn everything to the ground and rebuilding.
Previous questions had revealed that the Valkyrie was in fact confused about the humans of this world. Ainz understood her confusion somewhat, if he went by her sense, this would be the third type of humans he had seen.
Because of the invasion of the Great Tomb, the Valkyrie's exposure to humans had been the strong type, thus seeing these weak ones left her a bit confused. He had told her to not associate these humans with the ones from YGGDRASIL, physically or mentally. The aim was to halt any lingering resentment they might harbor from the invasion.
While it might have been different for them, the event was ultimately just a game to the other players. Of course it was different now, attacks against the denizens would be met with his full fury, but he also didn't want the denizens to act like a bunch of maniacs.
He looked at Shalltear who was still deep in thought.
"You needn't provide me an answer immediately, think it over some more and come tell me when you are ready."
He said while looking at the playing children in the distance, their innocence made them dismiss the tragedy that befell the village pretty easily. Even so, he could still see that the memories would be stuck with them for a while.
The sight caused him to think about himself, the kind of future he wanted for Nazarick. Despite the beauty of this new world, its misery was on par with that of the dystopian Earth. And to be honest, Ainz didn't want to act like there was nothing he could do to fix it.
If there was something he was sure of was that he had the necessary strength to introduce change. Acceptance of this world being his new home meant that he had the responsibility to make it better, even if it's just a tiny piece of it.
But why, he could just isolate himself in the Great Tomb, it had everything he could ever want? No, it didn't. He didn't want to be stuck in one place while there was a healthy planet to explore.
Was that really it, did he just want to explore this new world? Another wave of suppression washed over him as the image of Albedo with a slight bump on her belly flashed more than once.
Ainz would be lying if he said this was the first time such an image flashed in his mind.
— I wonder if she's still inquiring about the wardrobe situation of the denizens?
There hadn't been any attempt at communication from Albedo thus he concluded that was the case.
Ainz truly just wanted a world where his child/ children could roam free without need to worry. To provide a better world for Nazarick and its denizens.
Naturally, he wasn't naive enough to think such a goal could be so easily achieved, and right now, his number one problem was information. Still, Ainz didn't feel like this goal was impossible.
Looking up again at the sky, his heart was a lot lighter than he was previously.
The walk continued for a while until something caught his attention, their attention. Shalltear looked in the same direction as him. It was one of the Eight Edge Assassins. Panic caused him to look to the sides to make sure the kids didn't see it.
This once again reminded him of the folly of his [Divine Attention, its ability to negate the visual magical effects was a bit too good, so good that it failed to tell if someone was using magic to cloak their appearance or not.
His only solace was the fact that it wasn't a passive ability, but due to his paranoia, he always kept it active.
After concluding that there was nothing to worry about, he gestured for the Assassin to get closer. He was sure that it wouldn't have left its station if it didn't have something important to report.
"Allow me to express my heartfelt gratitude for granting me this honor, Lord Momonga."
The Assassin gave a slight bow, although it was hard to tell given its weird body, or maybe arachnoid would be appropriate. Ainz nodded in response after inquiring about its presence.
"What news do you bring for me?"
"Yes, we had spotted a large number of human knights approaching on horseback."
"Are they dressed the same as the captured group?"
He didn't really know nor understand why a second group would come right after the last one failed to return. Proper conduct dictated the use of a small unit to act as a reconnaissance team to understand what had happened.
But before he could burn his nonexistent brain trying to understand the intentions behind the act, the Assassin answered his question.
"No, these ones are dressed differently."
— A different group then? No, it's too early to think that.
"Do they look strong? In conjunction with the last group of course?"
"It's hard to say, My Lord. But if I had to guess, I would say they are slightly stronger."
Ainz deliberated over how to approach the situation, for all he knew they might be different from the previous ones. And even if they weren't, he had the necessary strength to stop them before they could cause trouble.
"Allow them passage, I wish to meet them."
"As you command, My Lord."
The Assassin quickly vanished, well Ainz reasoned it would have looked like he vanished if an ordinary person saw it. He was able to see it's movements, albeit it was still fast.
— I'm starting to think Nazarick might be broken.
If the knight were indeed a proper baseline for strength, then Nazarick would be considered Gods.
"Want to fight them if they end up being hostile?"
He asked Shalltear. To be honest, Ainz wasn't really a battle junky, thus he would probably just accidentally kill them if he tried. He had also noticed that aside from the initial shock, his newly found power didn't consume him.
"I don't really think they would provide that much of a challenge, My Lord."
He chuckled at the Valkyrie's answer, despite being the strongest guardian, it seemed she too wasn't a battle junky. Ainz wondered if Nazarick's strength would remain constant due to the lack of enthusiasm towards the pursuit of strength.
If he had to guess, Cocytus would be the only one who would want to get stronger.
— I should investigate if the level cap still holds true in this new world.
Ainz was more inclined to think that such a thing no longer apply, but he was also aware that growing stronger indefinitely was impossible. Without game rules, it also meant that things like EXP no longer existed.
This made him worry about what the skills that required him to use EXP to use would cost him.
Ainz rid himself of such thoughts and suggested a compromise for Shalltear.
"Fighting seriously would definitely turn it into a massacre, but if you were to entertain them, it would make for an interesting show."
"If My Lord wishes it, then I shall do so."
The two of them continued to walk, their destination to the funeral. Given the amount of time that had passed, he reasoned that they should be finished by now.
— I should probably inform the village chief about the newcomers.
Given their current state, he doubted the villagers would be welcoming to more men bearing swords.
—————————
A few minutes later, Ainz stood at the village center accompanied by the village chief — who stood on his left for some reason — and Shalltear by his right.
"Master Gown, please allow me to thank you once more for aiding us."
Ainz shook his head, this was the fifth time he had done so.
"Like I said, it is the responsibility of the strong to look after those weaker than themselves."
"Even so, I still have to thank you."
Truthfully, Ainz was glad to receive such genuine gratitude, it made his forced modest behavior appear natural. Yes, Ainz didn't really think that the strong had the responsibility to protect the weak, because if that was the case then there would be no suffering.
The truth of the matter was that the strong had the power to do whatever it was they wanted, and while Ainz didn't want to be a replica of the cruel bosses from his previous world, he knew that he might need to get his hands dirty in the future.
Even so, he would try to appear modest whenever the chance presented itself, thus the current situation.
He had told the chief to gather everyone in his house where he casted a few protection spells, what edged him to do so was information about a group of white cloaked individuals with obvious malice who were slowly moving to surround the village.
If Ainz had to offer a guess, he would say this was the missing piece from the conspiracy. The whole thing had been a trap from the start, and Ainz was eager to see who the intended target was.
To think his venture of trying to act like a hero would turn into something this grand, it would be a lie to say Ainz was displeased.
He looked at his shadow, the creatures inside it. While the initial purpose was to use them as shields in case of an emergency, he might need them for something else should things go accordingly.
He looked at the distance where sounds of galloping horses resounded. There were many, but he was unable to gauge exactly how many there were. Even so, Ainz was patient, happily patient for some reason. No matter how he sliced it, this smelled like an opportunity.
The sounds grew louder as the seconds passed, Ainz looked at the village chief who looked uneasy. He even considered offering words of reassurance but soon decided against it. While he didn't intend on letting the villagers die, he did wish they would learn something from this tragedy.
The folly of weakness.
Dust started to pick up as the horsemen became visible, even at a casual glance, one would be able to discern that the men were in a hurry.
— Ahh, fable knights, forever journeying to help the innocent.
While their attire was a bit shabby compared to the false knights, the air around them was something else. Ainz was awed by their conduct.
— Don't be gullible, you moron.
Only the denizens had the right to do the to him. The lack of anxiety in the presence of the unknown was definitely useful. A look to his right also revealed that Shalltear was just as relaxed.
The confidence of the strong, or was it arrogance?
The galloping of the horses took a slower tune, and Ainz was able to properly perceive their formation. It was an arrow with the leader in the middle.
Getting closer to the center, the formation parted as the individual presumed to be the leader became visible. Ainz studied the bulky man with keen interest.
— Quite the imposing figure.
Just as Ainz was gauging the man, it seemed he was doing the same to them. As the person at the front of them the man's eyes lingered heavily on him.
Ainz was quite intrigued by the individual as his eyes reminded him of those of Sebas. Had he had the corresponding strength, Ainz would have deemed him someone worth interest.
— I see why those knights targeted the villagers.
People like him weren't really that hard to predict. Ainz continued to study the man, but this time he focused on his strength. He had a rustic feel about him, making Ainz unable to pinpoint his actual affinity. There was also a pulse on his hip and on his finger. Reactivation of his [Divine Attention] skill allowed him to see an all too familiar energy signature on his sword and an obvious 'foreign' one on his finger.
A phantom smile floated on Ainz's face behind the mask. His initial intrigue had turned into full blown interest. For a moment he even considered capturing him and bringing him back to Nazarick.
A buzzing sound echoed in his mind.
'My Lord, they have started to move closer, should we deal with them?'
The voice of the Assassin resounded within his mind.
'Let them be, but do keep an eye on them.'
The message ended and Ainz saw the leader was now standing imposingly, looking down at them. Unfortunately, his fierce eyes and stature did nothing to Ainz's nerves, and the man's flickering attention wasn't lost on him.
— I guess it's only appropriate for her to steal their attention like this.
It wasn't just the leader but all his men were looking at the smiling Sanguine. Ainz, who noticed this, could only thank his foresight, had he brought Albedo, a lot of these men would have been corpses by now.
Yes, even Ainz was scared of his thoughts, and that he would kill people for looking at the CORRUPTED angel lustfully was clearly not normal, right?
"Ahem!"
He tried to regain the attention of the rustic knights. The leader was the first to recover his composure.
"I am the Warrior Chief of the Re-Estize Kingdom, Gazef Stronoff. The king had ordered me to apprehend the knights that had been killing villagers and burning villages down."
Villages? It seemed that his guess on the knights having prior practice was indeed true. The confirmation somehow managed to leave a bitter taste in his nonexistent mouth. Even so, he was still able to gather a lot of things from the man's — now known as Gazef Stronoff — short introduction.
And Warrior Chief? He was a bit confused why it wasn't Knight Captain, despite their rustic equipment, these individuals were clearly knights. Of course there was a chance that the Knight Captain title just didn't exist in this world.
And there was how he said he received orders from the king, that meant he was a direct subordinate of the king. If the Warrior Chief title was equivalent to a Knight Captain, that would mean the person in front of him was actually a Royal Captain of the King's Guard.
The only problem was why this Warrior Chief had so few individuals under his command? Although he wasn't really sure how strong the people in front of him were, he doubted they would have 'apprehended' the false knights without incurring major losses.
Ainz noticed a slight shift in the village chief's mood when Gazef finished his introduction. Having been told that he never traveled outside the village, Ainz could only guess that the village chief knew the name from the adventurers that frequent this village.
But why fail to tell him about such an important individual? If Ainz had to guess, it would be because the village chief forgot or just wasn't confident in the validity of the information.
Gazef's eyes went to the village chief, the existence of Ainz and Shalltear must have made him somewhat invisible.
"You must be the village chief, could you tell me who the people beside you are."
Normally, Ainz would have waited for the village chief to introduce him, but the aura around the village chief was a bit apprehensive, thus the reason he opted to do the introduction himself.
"Do allow me this pleasure. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of Nazarick. And this is my servant and Valkyrie; Shalltear Bloodfallen—"
He deliberately put emphasis on Nazarick and Valkyrie, he wanted them to know just who there were dealing with.
"—pleased to meet you, Knight Gazef Stronoff. I came about this village when I heard screams and cries for help."
Gazef looked a bit dumbstruck before he looked at the surrounding houses a bit more.
"So they managed to arrive before us once again?"
"It is unfortunate, even though I was a bit late and thus many had died before I dealt with the false knights."
The Warrior Chief's eyes widened as he looked at him.
— He's quite gullible.
Ainz shook his head internally.
"You stopped the knights?"
"Yes, I reasoned that people who would so casually kill innocents didn't deserve mercy, but I did let a few of them return to their superiors to deliver a message."
That was obviously a lie, but he needed Gazef and his knights not to be apprehensive towards him, thus he tried his best to appear benevolent and righteous.
And from the looks of things, it seemed to have worked. Gazef dismounted before offering him a bow.
"Thank you for saving these villagers, Master Gown."
"Please don't behave in such a manner, Knight Stronoff. I only did what anyone would have done."
Gazef grimaced a bit at his words, it appeared as if the knight knew about the conspiracy to some extent.
"Unfortunately due to the recent events, I had advised the village chief to move the survivors to his home, lest they start panicking."
The knight nodded in understanding, the following was just an exchange of information and menial things like who the false knights actually were and how many villagers they had 'ransacked'.
Gazef also asked if it would be possible for Ainz to remove his mask. Naturally, he refused but rather than growing suspicious, the knight just nodded in understanding. The reaction had made Ainz wonder if there was something connecting masks and casters he didn't know about.
Despite his many faults, Ainz found Gazef's presence a bit refreshing. If only the man was a bit smarter.
Ainz turned his attention to the fast approach of one of Gazef's men. He could already guess the reason for the behavior.
"Captain! There are many shadows surrounding the area. They are approaching the village."
—————————
Ainz remained focused on the view before him even after Gazef and his men moved to intercept the enemies.
Talks with the Warrior Chief had indeed confirmed that the people who attacked the villagers were from the Slane Theocracy. It seemed his guess on them trying to add fuel to the flames of conflict between Re-Estize and the Baharuth was partially wrong. Their main purpose was to rid the 'pillar' of the kingdom which was Gazef.
Minus the idiocy of the nobles of the kingdom, Ainz saw merit in such an approach, and while he didn't want to admit it, Gazef was obviously the 'biggest' problem with the Kingdom. Given his personality, Ainz had thought he would be someone who tried everything within his power to better the lives of the commoners.
Unfortunately, it seemed the man was content with playing 'pawn' to people with superficial power. The fact was only made more apparent by the fact that he was actually the strongest man within the kingdom.
Ainz obviously doubted that to be true, but it didn't change the fact that Gazef was officially recognized as such.
Ainz had gone back to his cold and calculative state. The fiery orbs behind his mask flickered somewhat as he looked at the floating figures summoned by the individuals in white robes.
"Archangel Flames, obvious products of YGGDRASIL magic."
While he had suspected it, seeing it was a bit jarring. It was now apparent to him that tier magic was practiced in this world. The visage of the Warrior Chief riding towards his inevitable demise would have looked heroic any other day.
Ainz looked at the cloaked individuals who were responsible for the low tier summons. According to Gazef, they were one of the secret units under the Slane Theocracy known as the Six Scriptures.
And according to Gazef the Slane Theocracy was a nation that fervently believed in human supremacy and strived to rid all other races.
It only took the mention of human supremacy for Ainz to deem it a hostile nation. Players be damned, he wasn't going to let a ticking time 'bomb' like that continue existing, especially not if his powers allowed it.
— I wonder if these Six Gods are players?
Even with his hatred for the nation, he wasn't going to act rash, thus the reason why he was observing the battle between Gazef and the scripture.
"Are you going to rescue the Warrior Chief, My Lord?"
The Valkyrie's sweet voice caused some of the coldness to disperse somewhat. As for her question:
"Yes, I have deemed him important, although I have yet to decide if he will 'come' to Nazarick with us or not."
The abilities that the knight showed were things that didn't exist in YGGDRASIL, and the Warrior Chief's ring was also a product exclusive to this world. There obviously merits should he kidnap him. But doing so would mean sacrificing a good 'pawn' capable of gaining him access to important information about the ruling class of the Re-Estize Kingdom.
Of course Ainz could just 'ask' Gazef to tell him about the nobles and royals of the Kingdom should Ainz choose the former approach. Unfortunately, the problem with that was how easy the Warrior Chief was to deceive, given the shrewdness of aristocrats, Ainz couldn't rely on Gazef to provide him accurate information.
What about the skills Gazef was using, surely they warranted immediate investigation? They did indeed warrant investigation, but just not immediate. Watching Gazef had made it clear that usage of them came with a hefty price.
— Whatever kind of energy the skills are using to fuel their activation is definitely not ideal.
Looking at Shalltear, he could see that she too wasn't impressed by them. Of course, Ainz didn't rule out the possibility of the denizens just not being impressed by anything outside Nazarick, it wouldn't be out of the question.
The Warrior Chief took a step back, just narrowly preventing his neck from being cut in half by the energy sword from an Archangel Flame. But rather than performing a counter on the summon that overreached, Gazef dashed forward towards the man who was controlling the Archangel.
"Smart, disposing of the summoner is equivalent to killing two birds with one stone."
Scared for his life, the cloaked summoner quickly tried casting some attack spells, low tier attack spells. Unfortunately for the cloaked individual, Gazef seemed to have adequate magical resistance, at least enough resistance to not be dealt severe damage by a 1st tier spell.
Reaching the summoner, Gazef immediately performed a smooth vertical slash, intending on cleaving the summoner in half.
A BAM sound resounded as the Warrior Chief's sword met and shattered the barrier protecting the summoner. The impact caused Gazef's sword to recoil backward, the momentum carried the Warrior Chief with it, even so, he still found a way to deliver a spartan kick on the summoner's stomach.
Ainz, who saw this, couldn't help but laugh at Gazef's meticulousness when it came to fighting. The man was using every advantage he could get his hands on.
"He had only managed to take one of them down while all his men had been left out of commission. No matter how I look at it, his loss is inevitable."
Ainz looked at the heaving Warrior Chief, continual use of his [Martial Arts] had left him in a fatigued state. His attention moved to the arrogant captain of the scripture unit, so arrogant was this moron that he left his face uncovered and had a Principality by his side.
— Is it because I watched spy movies in the past?
He didn't understand why the leader would announce himself like that, if someone like the stoic maid was here, she could have easily taken him out and sent the rest of the men into panic.
Ainz looked at the man again before shaking his head, the existence of the magical item on the man wasn't lost on him.
"Lord Ainz, I think someone is trying to pry on the battle from afar."
"I noticed, and it seems they put no countermeasures to prevent counter detection."
Ainz inwardly looked for a way to exploit this folly to his advantage.
"Should I stop them, My Lord?"
"No, let them pry. I will mark the person in charge to make it easier for Nigredo to pinpoint them later."
Given what he had gathered, Ainz expected the people doing this to be the Slane Theocracy. Their actions made it better for him to come to a conclusion about how to proceed.
"This scripture is obviously coming to Nazarick with us. I can't let them go, especially not that arrogant captain of theirs."
Like Gazef, the captain of the scripture was a high-ranking individual of the Slane Theocracy. But unlike Gazef, he wasn't gullible, this meant Ainz could trust his information about the workings of the Slane Theocracy to some degree.
And with a clear link to the Slane Theocracy, Ainz didn't need to agonize on whether to let him go or take him to Nazarick.
"Shalltear, I will leave it to you to capture them. Thin their numbers to thirty, and do try to put on a show."
"Lord!"
The Valkyrie looked enthusiastic. Ainz reason she might have sensed his displeasure with the Slane Theocracy. It was unfortunate, but he would have to use the village as bait.
Even so, he didn't intend to let the villagers die from his actions.
Minus the existence of a hostile nation, Ainz was content with the amount of information he was able to get on this excursion.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BoombaTheSaint
BoombaTheSaint The Saint: Sorry folks but Ainz isn't interested in forming friendships with shortsighted individuals. Gazef will be treated like a pawn and the Slane Theocracy like an actual enemy.
Question: Why the hell was Gazef wearing that ring on his ring finger, I mean he doesn't have a wife, so why?
Remember to provide feedback.
Well, until next we meet again.
Bye bye.
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