Chapter 7: Chapter 7 - Saviors
Fighting the test creatures was getting dull. The summoned beast could offer no real resistance. Even as inefficient as he was with the melee weapon, his impressive speed and agility just made it impossible for lower-level creatures to do anything to him.
Fighting with his sister had the opposite problem.
While in long-distance he could take her down easy enough, but when it came to melee weapons Buku had a massive advantage, not to mention her near invulnerability, which pretty much allowed her to wipe the floor with him.
The only upside was that after two days of training, a minor powerup happened. With no UI to speak of, he just felt like level one hundred and one was reached and that each subsequent one would take an exponentially larger effort to reach.
It was the third day since they were in this new circumstance and Pero started to get restless. 'I wonder when Momo- dammit, I mean Ainz, I should drill into my head that he changed his name, will finally decide that it is time to explore the world. Sitting inside is getting boring.'
"My Lord, is something wrong?" Etzli asked from the seating area of the arena. For the last few days, she had followed him around everywhere. Of course, he could have left her in his quarters but the Vampire bride took it as an order to wait and would just stare into the wall until he returned.
"No, just lost in thought," he replied.
'I need to get this girl to have some other hobbies.' Pero mused as he glanced at his concubine. "Don't worry about me."
"Of course, my lord. Please forgive me for assuming." Etzli jumped to her feet and bowed.
"Relax, darling. Remember you don't have to be so formal with me." Pero replied, knowing that it would fall on deaf ears.
'Maybe I could go see what Ainz is doing and suggest we go outside. But what to do with Etzli? I know! I'll tell her to go pick something from my collection and read.' "Hey, I plan to go talk with Ainz; meanwhile, why don't you pick something from the bookshelf in my quarters and read? Then we would have something to talk about later."
Obviously, the vampire bride took it as an order and ran off to do what her new master had ordered.
Pero shook his head. 'Maybe in time…"
Returning to his plan, he teleported to the ninth floor and went straight to Ainz's office. He knocked and was let in by the maid almost immediately.
Ainz and Ulbert sat in front of a row of what looked like remote-viewing mirrors, watching something intently. At first glance, both were following some dramatic events unfolding somewhere outside with one mirror showing a village burned to the ground and another a group of cavalrymen.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Pero greeted them and approached the table with the mirrors.
"Watching locals engaging in some sort of conflict. There is a group that is just burning down villages and killing everyone." Ulbert pointed at one mirror. "Then there are these cavalrymen chasing after them, and finally, there is a third group that is trying to lay a trap for the cavalryman group." Ulbert pointed at the other mirror.
"And if my calculations are correct, they all will meet in this village where the shit will go down. So, want to place a bet on how it pans out?" Ulbert asked at the end.
"Why don't we go do something about it? What is the freaking point of all this new power if we are just sitting inside." Pero said, sitting down between them.
"This is not our fight. We do not know the whole picture and we don't know how strong they are." Ainz said with indifference in his voice.
"Sure. But I don't want to sit inside for a year until both of you figure out everything about the world!" Pero groaned. "I mean, come on. We are level one hundred, and in my case one-oh-one."
"You leveled up?" Ulbert looked up from the mirrors. "I better start training as well."
"We will go outside when we know the basics. For now, let's see where this leads." Ainz created another chair and motioned for his friend to sit down with them.
"Well, it's fair I guess, but those poor saps will get fucked then." Pero pointed at a mirror that showed a peaceful village.
"True, those peasants are toast." Ulbert remarked. "Looks like in this world the leaders don't give two shits about common people either."
"Kinda hits close to home, doesn't it?" Pero said, scratching his beak.
"Still, I don't see why we should stick out our necks for them. Even if these humans are not automatically hostile towards heteromorphs, I doubt they will see us as friends either." Ulbert said, taking a cookie from a snack plate and biting into it.
"I mean you have a point there but… feels kinda weird giving so little fucks about humans, you know." Pero said, reaching for a snack as well.
"I was wondering about that as well. I don't feel anything seeing this slaughter." Ainz remarked just as the first group had reached the next village and cut down the first villagers.
'Damn, this is fucked. Those poor saps can offer no resistance.' Pero mused while the attacking soldiers started to burn down houses and kill more of the panicking peasants. Some of the women were getting dragged aside by the soldiers for a rather obvious reason.
"You know, Touch Me would have charged in and helped them by now," Pero said, gauging Ainz's and Ulbert's response.
"Why do you have to bring up that self-righteous prick right now?" Ulbert scowled.
"I guess you have a point there. If we are willing to forget our humanity so fast, how will we make a better world than Earth?" Ainz stroked his pointy chin with two fingers.
"Fine, let's go kick some ass. But I want some of them alive for interrogation." Ulbert gave in as well.
"Let's go then. Pero, get your sister and gear up. Meanwhile, I'll call Albedo to prepare as well. We will use a gate to the outskirts of the village and approach it with utmost caution." Ainz gave out orders.
Upon hearing the plan Pero immediately teleported away.
"Leaving nothing to chance huh?" Ulbert remarked standing up. He stretched and put on his half mask letting his cloak assume its full terrible form.
"It's better to be safe than sorry. Overpreparing won't hurt us." Ainz said standing up. He pulled out the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown from his inventory and started to buff up himself and Ulbert, who mostly specialized in demonic and destructive magic and had a rather small selection of utility spells.
While they made the final preparations Albedo charged in clad in black plate armor from head to toe, which unsurprisingly still showed her feminine side with rather a narrow waist, high-heeled plate boots, and an unmistakably female breastplate. She held a massive black bardiche in her right arm and kneeled once the door closed behind her. "Lord Ainz, I have prepared the strike force of fodder units. Should I send them out first?"
"We will go ourselves and you can send the strike force afterward. To our assessment, these people should not be too strong. By their movement speed, none of them are above level fifty." Ulbert said.
"Albedo, rise. Be prepared just in case. The possibility of someone hiding their true power always exists." Ainz said.
"Even a level one hundred player won't stand against my firepower longer than fifteen seconds." Ulbert oozed confidence.
Finally, Pero and Buku entered the room with Pero already holding his bow while Buku had a large shield in her left hand and a medium-length sword in her right. Same as Albedo's armor hers too was made to accent her female side.
After all, those types of armor were much more popular in the game, and thus their designs were much cheaper to get than overly practical-looking ones since every 3D artist had flooded the Yggdrasil markets with similar designs.
At least they still had the full practical functionality, unlike many who chose rather decorative and overly sexualized armor which often didn't cover the midsection or left a deep cleavage in plate and chain armor.
Then again, in the game how armor looked served a purely decorative purpose and high-tier chainmail bikinis gave better protective stats than a low-tier full plate. This likely wasn't the case anymore so it was better to be mindful of such things.
"We are ready, let's go kick some ass." Pero shook in anticipation knowing he would end human lives for the first time. 'Why am I as excited as I was to get laid for the first time? Guess my Murder God side is already manifesting.'
Ainz applied buffs to Albedo, Pero, and Buku as well and cast a gate spell to the outskirts of the village. "Albedo, Buku, go through first we will cover you. If you think there is even the smallest chance of losing we are immediately retreating."
"Got it." Buku replied, stepping through the black void of the gate.
"As you command Lord Ainz." Albedo followed her.
‹X›
This morning started just like every other one. While her mother prepared vegetables for the morning stew, she had to go fetch the water from the village's well.
Enri sleepily pulled the heavy pulley while looking around and watching villagers preparing for their day. Once the well's bucket was reachable she pulled it up and poured the water into her bucket. With a feeling of a job well done, she pushed aside her blonde locks and wiped off a few droplets of sweat from her forehead, and picked up the basket.
With long blonde hair tied in a braid, brown eyes, and a simple yellowish-brown dress she looked like the most typical village girl you could find in the Kingdom of Re-Estize.
As she returned to her house, her friend Mili a short brown-haired girl with brown eyes, left her house and greeted her with a smile. "Good morning."
"Good morning. What are you up to today?" Enri returned the greeting.
"I have to help father with the field till noon and then I'll go look for herbs near the forest. Do you want to join me?" Mili replied.
"I can't. Mother wants me to help her to clean the house and scrub off all the rot from the storage room walls." Enri shook her head.
"I'll ask Thom if he wants to come with me then." Mili flashed a mischievous smile.
"Have fun then. Don't let your father see you leave together." Enri replied knowing that the two were rather close.
"Oh don't worry about it, father knows and approves," Mili said and added walking off. "See you around."
'I should find someone myself too. I wonder if Enfi will visit soon. Ah, who am I kidding, a fancy city boy like him won't ever consider someone like me.' She let out a long sigh.
The boy with blonde locks almost always covering his eyes, visited the village about once a month to pick up herbs for his and his grandmother's shop in E-Rantel. Well-spoken and polite, not to mention good-looking, the boy was a welcomed guest each time. Especially because he paid a fair price for herbs that villagers had gathered.
Before she could move on, a scream interrupted her daydreaming. Enri turned her head to see a plate-clad horseman cut down one of the villagers while other attackers spread out and chased after other people.
Mili was too close to them and before the stunned girl could respond a man kicked her in the face from horseback, jumped off the horse, and started to drag the stunned girl by the hair towards the nearest house.
'Oh Gods, what is happening!?' Enri dropped the bucket and ran toward her house.
More and more plated soldiers showed up. The screams came from everywhere now. 'Father, mother, Nemu!'
She was about to enter her home when she felt a strong hand grab her shoulder in a painful grip. She let out a scream. "Help!"
Another man in plate armor came into view as she struggled to get out of the grip.
Suddenly the doors flung open and her father charged past her. She felt that she was let go, hearing a thud behind her.
Mother ran out of the house pushing forward her little sister Nemu. The ten-year girl had her blue dress stained with tears as she whimpered not understanding what was going on.
"Take Nemu and run!" her mother shouted and charged the other soldier.
Enri grabbed her sister's hand and dragged her towards the woods just outside the small village.
"Enri what…" Nemu cried.
"We have to run!" She shouted back at her sister holding back her own tears.
'Mom, dad…' She heard their screams. 'They can't…' She refused to believe that her parents just gave their lives to save her and her sister.
Dragging her sister became harder and harder. She couldn't keep up. Someone was running after them. That damned sound of plate armor ratling got closer and closer as she tried to maneuver between the trees on the uneven ground.
Nemu's breath became ragged, she simply couldn't keep up. "Enri I can't!" her sister cried.
"We have to run!" Enri pulled her sister forward.
Something, some weird darkness appeared in front of her. Without thinking she switched direction but stepped on a soft patch. Her feet sank in. She fell. A jolt of pain went up from her thigh.
More of that horrible rattling and then suddenly the sound stopped as a man shouted. "By the six what is that!"
Enri looked up and saw two plate-clad figures and behind them, Death itself stood. She screeched in terror and covered her sister with her body. 'Please Gods help us!' She pleaded with any deity that would be willing to help her in this hopeless situation.
‹X›
As the scene shifted Ainz first saw two of the attacking soldiers staring at him in shock. Only then did he notice two girls on the ground with one of them pierced in the leg with a large fallen branch.
Pero, who appeared right behind him, lifted his bow and shot. The arrow passed through an opening on one of the soldiers' helmets and went through the head and the backside of the metal helmet like it was made out of jelly, causing the head to explode in the process.
"Whoa" Pero exclaimed.
The other soldier saw his peer killed so effortlessly, flipped around and ran.
"Let's see how the other one will fare against a mid-tier spell; dragon lightning." Ainz lifted his arm and shot the spell from his index finger. The running soldier got hit with the lightning bolt and fell with a scream, the horrible smell of burned flesh filling the air.
Almost instantly the two girls laying on the ground vomited and soiled themselves.
"That one looks hurt. Ainz do you have a healing potion on you?" Buku asked while looking at the two girls who were shivering in sheer terror.
Ainz pulled out one of the minor healing potions and approached the girls trying to ignore their current state which considering his much sharper senses was not the easiest task to do.
"You seem hurt. Here this is a healing potion."
The oldest of two girls looked up and responded with a weak whimper. "P-please don't hurt my sister."
"These wretches dare to reject the generosity of a Supreme Being." Albedo sneered at the lifting of her bardiche to strike the two humans.
"Albedo they are scared. Put down your weapon!" Buku got between her and the girls.
"As you wish, Lady Buku." Albedo reluctantly took a step back and lowered her weapon.
Buku flipped around and kneeled before the girls and spoke in a soft voice. "No one is going to hurt you. Here, let's get that branch." She extended her hand to help her up.
The blonde girl reluctantly accepted her hand and let go of the younger one and tried to lift herself off the ground with the help of Buku. The branch had torn her dress and pierced her tight quite deeply and didn't let the girl go.
Buku grabbed the branch and pulled it down, finally freeing the girl. "There you go. Now drink this!" She offered the potion once again.
"R-red? I-is it blood?" The older girl stared at the potion while the smaller one hid behind her.
"It's a basic healing potion. Take it, it will help. I promise." Buku said and pushed the potion towards the girl who finally accepted it and cautiously drank its contents.
The potion's effect was immediate. The girl's eyes went wide as she touched the spot where the branch had pierced her leg. "I don't feel pain anymore. My leg… it's fine now."
Ainz meanwhile inspected the headless corpse with curiosity and said. "That armor has no padding inside."
"Yeah, that is strange. Looks like some sort of false flag operation." Ulbert agreed, knowing that they were bait to lure in the incoming horsemen group.
'I wonder if there will be a difference if a corpse is used for summoning. A sacrificial death knight won't hurt just in case.' He lifted his hand over the dead body.
The unit usually was only level thirty-five and a high-level player could erase all its hit points with one blow, but it had one great advantage; a death knight could take any hit and survive with one hit point, but only once. On top of that, with Ainz's necromancer specialization, his summons were stronger than usual, and in his case, a death knight would be about level forty.
The dead body liquified into a black goo which quickly rose to about two-meter height and turned into a rotting figure clad in black plate armor, holding a massive shield and sword.
"Kill everyone with such armor." Ainz pointed at the other corpse.
His summon gave a mental confirmation that it had understood the order and ran off.
"He just ran off…" Ainz looked as the death knight disappeared between the trees. "We will certainly need to experiment on the behavior of summons."
"But you told him to go for the soldiers," Ulbert said.
"I forgot that they now take orders literally. In Yggdrasil he would stay by my side and attack only when something gets near me," Ainz replied, looking away.
"That's them being alive, or undead in this case." Ulbert shrugged. "Let's finish up here and move on." He motioned at two girls that were getting tended to by Buku.
"Now that you are all better, can you tell us who is attacking your village and why?" Ainz asked, taking a step in her direction.
The girl took a step back holding her hand on the younger one's shoulder and pushing the girl behind her. "I-I don't know. W-we are just f-farmers. We don't have anything."
"Why do you fear us?" Ulbert asked the girl.
"I'm sorry. I d-didn't mean to." She whimpered in response.
"It's fine we are not here to hurt you. You just are the first human we have met in a while." Buku said. "Maybe let's start with introductions. "I'm Buku, this is my brother Pero, Ainz, Ulbert, and Albedo."
"I'm Enri and this is my sister Nemu." The older girl said as the younger one peaked from behind her.
"It's nice to meet you two." Buku took off her helm and flashed a smile. "Can you both tell us if others would fear us because of our looks?"
"I don't think people would fear you Miss Buku but others…" Enri stopped and gulped.
"Humans fear nonhumans?" Ainz asked.
"Y-yes. W-we have not met friendly ones before and I don't know anyone who has." Enri said.
"I see, looks like some disguises will be needed." Ainz said activating his doppelganger ring. He took the form of a noble-looking European man with dark brown hair and brown eyes. The open robe showed a lot of well-toned chest and stomach. Ainz looked down and quickly closed it up.
He then tossed Ulbert and Pero rings of their own. Pero changed into an elf looking like his sister's twin with the same heterochromatic eyes and long blonde hair. His face however had a slight two-day blonde stubble. Same as Ainz he had an exposed torso since his armor provided only a few thin lines over the chest.
He looked down and remarked with a smirk. "Nice."
Ulbert's appearance changed to that of a very handsome man with short pitch-black hair and he had Mephistopheles facial hair reflecting his demonic nature.
Since Albedo's wings weren't visible she didn't need to change anything and her horns could easily be mistaken for being part of her helm.
"So what are we doing with witnesses?" Ulber motioned at the girls.
Enri became sheet white instantly understanding what was meant by that and said with a stutter. "W-we won't tell anyone, p-please d-don't."
"You both seem like smart girls and won't tell anyone our secret right? We wouldn't want to scare your friends when we help them." Buku said, glancing at Ulbert.
{ You seriously want to just kill them? } Buku addressed Ulbert including all her friends in conversation.
{ They know what we look like. If they decide to blabber about it, and things go south, you'll have to off the entire village instead of two girls. }
{ Leaving them as is has the minor threat of us getting exposed but if we kill them now it just defeats the whole purpose of saving them in the first place. In either case, we should take some precautions } Ainz said while contemplating what to do.
{ I get your point but they are just two scared girls. You can't lobotomize them just because they saw your true form. } Buku looked at the girls once again.
"Mom and dad are in danger." Nemu motioned in the direction they ran from.
"We will help them, don't worry." Buku leaned forward and flashed the girl a smile while noticing Enri's expression.
She knew their parents were dead but could not tell her little sister yet, a feeling Buku knew far too well. Being older than her brother she was the one who had to break the news about the death of their parents to her brother.
She herself was fourteen back then with Pero being just eleven. She, a child herself, now had to take care not only of herself but her younger brother as well. It was a pure stroke of luck that she landed her first voice acting gig soon after and didn't have to try to sell herself to keep both afloat.
Ainz took a few steps forward, making Enri and Nemu freeze up. Enri looked up at the now human figure and gulped. With human soldiers, there was a chance of them getting away but every part of her being screamed at her that there was no escape from these monsters.
"Ainz?" Buku contemplated if she should step in or not.
{ I will alter their memories. It won't harm them. } Ainz sent her a message and touched Enri's forehead, making her believe that she only saw them as humans and elves.
Nemu tried to hide behind Enri but Ainz silently activated hold species on her and quickly changed her memories as well.
After a moment of confusion, both girls snapped out of it, and the youngest once again pointed at the village. "Please help. Mom and dad are in danger."
"My minion is dealing with the attackers as we speak." Ainz calmly said. Paying even the slightest bit of attention to his summon gave all the knowledge of what the death knight was doing. At this point, his death toll was seventeen humans with him chasing the panicking soldiers.
"Aw man, that's not fair. I wanted some target practice as well." Pero whined.
"If we hurry you can get a few of the remaining ones," Buku said, stepping forward. "You two should follow us." She said to the two girls.
{ Albedo, you said that our stealth teams are spreading out through the area right? } Buku once again used the joint message channel.
{ Correct, Lady Buku. }
{ Make sure they keep an eye on these kids. }
{ As you command, Lady Buku. } Albedo replied. 'Why are they protecting these lesser beings? I don't see any point in spending resources on them. Ahh, I will analyze the situation afterwards to figure out if they hold some strategic value I'm not seeing right now.'
Ainz cast flight on his friends and Albedo so she wouldn't have to show her wings and Pero as the most eager one already shot up above the treeline.
"P-please w-wait." Enri stuttered. "W-what if there are more of them in the woods?"
"We have our allies monitoring the area." Ainz said. 'I guess I could leave some thrash item with them just in case.' He pulled out two Horns of Goblin General from his inventory and tossed them at Enri. "If you see anything hostile, use them and a bunch of goblins will show up to help you."
In Yggdrasil, the item was nothing more than a beginner item used to summon about ten to twenty-five goblins of up to level twenty in strength, depending on the user's summoner level, and was considered useless for anyone above level forty or so.
"Thank you." Enri grabbed the two horns and clutched them close to her chest while Nemu held on to her skirt and watched the group fly up above the trees.
‹X›
"And another one goes SPLAT!" Pero shouted with glee when his arrow hit the target and made the plate-clad soldier explode into a gory mess.
"Leave some alive. We need to get some answers from them." Ulbert said to his friend. "Ainz, maybe you should stop your minion. The guy is on a killing spree."
"Good point." Ainz agreed, sending the death knight an order to stand his ground and not attack soldiers that are not actively targeting villagers.
"By the way, what kind of story are we telling them when they ask who we are?" Pero asked, putting away his bow.
"Oh, I haven't thought of that. We can't exactly tell that we are from another world and are our game avatars now, but if everyone is as weak as those soldiers, no one will buy the idea of us being simple travelers either." Ainz said.
"What if we roll with Tabula's idea and just call ourselves Gods or some ancient awakened beings?" Peros suggested.
"That may be a bit too much for a start, even if they are weak compared to us. I think we need some middle ground that is believable enough!" Buku shot down her brother's suggestion.
"Then we will tell them we are a guild that lived deep within this forest and honed our skills isolated from the outside world. When we scouted the area with the remote viewing mirrors, it seemed that the forest covers an enormous area. It should be easy to convince people that our home is deep within a forest and hard to find." Ainz proposed.
"That is a great idea." Ulbert agreed. "Even less chance for anyone stumbling upon Nazarick's entrance in the plains if everyone thinks it's somewhere in the forest."
"Let's get back to the task at hand. Looks like some soldiers are trying to escape." Buku pointed at the running figures.
"Once they are out of the view of the others, order them to be rounded up and sent to Neuronist for questioning," Ainz ordered Albedo.
Albedo's lips curved upwards as she sent the orders to the eight-edge assassins encroaching on the poor fools who thought they could escape the grim fate awaiting them.
All other commotion in the small half-destroyed village had ceased at this point. In the town square, the rest of the villagers had huddled together fearfully watching not only the remaining few soldiers but the black figure that had massacred them and now stood between them and the men that kneeled before the monster shaking in their armors.
Ainz landed first next to the death knight with his friends closely following. The moment her feet hit the ground Buku approached the soldiers and asked with barely hidden disdain "Why are you killing these farmers?"
"Back off, you stinking subhuman, we will only talk with your masters!" One of the soldiers pointed at Ainz and Ulbert, still shaking in fear.
Buku snarled and kicked him in the chest with full force. A deafening shock wave was heard as the soldier shot away like a bullet with only his plate armor keeping the remains in one piece.
"Damn sis, that guy will land in another country." Pero let out a chuckle.
"That piece of shit got off easily! The next one who opens their fucking racist mouth and says anything besides what they are asked is getting a proctology exam with a damn sword!" She glared at the remaining soldiers.
"Going all medical on them, I should take notes." Ulbert joined Pero in laughing at Buku's short temper.
"As you see, our friend is not known for her patience so for your own sake tell us why you were attacking these farmers?" Ainz stepped forward.
"Kill us! We will not betray our country!" One of them replied.
"Brave even in the face of death. At least you have redeemable qualities. Very well. Run back to those you serve and tell them that this village is under our protection." Ainz told the soldier and motioned for them to leave.
{ Lord Ainz I assume they too should be sent to Neuronist Painkiller? } Albedo asked.
The six men jumped to their feet and ran away as fast as they could clad in heavy plate armor.
{ Tell her to make sure she gets out of them every bit of information she can. } Ainz replied.
{ My Lord, one of the villagers moved } Albedo messaged, taking out her bardiche and stepping behind Ainz to protect him.
A man, about forty years old with a bulky build walked towards them with slow steps. He eyed Albedo's weapon warily but by some miracle was finding the courage to approach the group.
He stopped about five meters away from the group and lowered his head. "Thank you for helping us. We don't have much but we will do our best to pay your asking price."
Ainz tilted his head 'He assumes they should pay us?' "I see, but we don't require monetary compensation," Ainz replied.
The man and the group behind him instantly tensed up. Ainz eyed this simple farmer who despite looking like he ate dirt for dinner was willing to cough up what few coins they had to pay for saving them.
'They are fearful of someone who would help for free. Hmm, maybe they hope we are some sort of heroes for hire. In either case, I can ask to provide information.' "However we will ask you for any information you can provide about the surrounding area. My associates and I had not left our dwelling for quite a while and are unfamiliar with what changes have happened in our absence."
"We don't know much but I have a map," the man said.
"That is a start. Please bring it to me." Ainz said to the man. "The rest of you be at ease."
While people stood up one by one and observed the carnage, Enri and her sister reached the village and went to talk with their friends.
{ So many dead. } Buku remarked looking around. { Any plans for what we are doing next? }
{ I took the liberty to put Demiurge on reconnaissance watch. The remaining two groups are moving closer to our location. We need to decide on our next step. } Ulbert said.
{ The raiders who are being targeted by the other group are likely part of the nation this village belongs to. So the other ones are likely in cahoots with the soldiers we killed and captured. Still, I doubt they will break fast enough to get a concrete answer before both groups arrive. } Ainz said.
{ Ok, let's go on a hunch here. We saved this village so we could grease elbows with whoever is in charge in this area and so it would be beneficial to make the incoming horse raider group indebted to us. } Ulbert tried to hide his smirk as a plan formed in his head.
{ How do you plan to do that? } Buku asked.
{ Ooh, we are making a scenario where the one group gets fucked and we save them at the last moment like we did to befriend the Demonic League. } Pero joined the conversation remembering how they gained a demon player guild as allies.
Said group was the most dominant group of Helheim when their newly formed guild Ainz Ooal Gown just got Nazarick as the guild dungeon. Despite protests from Touch Me, Ulbert had sold information about the demon guild location to the Seraphim guild who planned an assault on their guild base.
When the Demonic League's first line of defense got overwhelmed, Ainz Ooal Gown was first to respond to their call for help and took the angel guild by surprise, helping to crush their assault.
{ Exactly. I could go have a chat with the leader of the group who is setting up the trap and make sure they are up to the task. When shit hits the fan you will save their asses and voila we are the new best buddies of this nation. } Ulbert cackled in their minds.
{ Going full chuuni again? } Buku asked with a deadpan tone.
{ Let him have his fun. Ulbert's plan is sound, we have to be sure there are no nasty surprises from either group. For all we know, max-level players could be among them. } Ainz said.
{ Don't be afraid of your own shadow. No max-level player would move with a snail's pace unless they are specifically targeting us, which is very unlikely considering no one would know who we are. } Ulbert just shook his head.
{ In either case, be careful. If something that we cannot handle happens, we immediately retreat and put Nazarick on the highest level of threat response. } Ainz warned his friends.
{ Sure, I'll be careful. You'll definitely see if someone tries to get sneaky on me. I'll be off then to set things up. Demiurge already sent me the location of the guy I need to have a chit-chat with. Albedo, send some backup just in case. } Ulbert said and teleported away.
The man returned with a map and handed it to Ainz. "I'm sorry sir, the map is on the older side but it should be readable enough."
Ainz took the folded-up map and carefully unfolded it to not tear the paper that barely held together. 'Hmm, I should have guessed I wouldn't know the local language. Let's see if translation glasses work.'
Ainz turned to stand with his back to the direction the soft wind blew and took out the translation glasses from inventory, putting them on his nose. He motioned for the man to stand behind him and asked. "What can you tell me about these nations?"
"The kingdom Carne belongs to is Re-Estize." He pointed at the most detailed nation surrounded by mountains, forest, and sea making it very defendable.
"Our village is here and the nearest city is E-Rantel." the man moved his finger.
"This is the Empire of Baharuth. We have a yearly war with them around harvest time. A lot of our men are conscripted to fight." the man pointed to a nation east to Re-Estize.
"And this one is the Slane Theocracy. They are humanity's protectors and actively fight monsters." The man finished his explanations.
"I see. Thank you for the information." Ainz folded up the map and put it in his inventory. "We will be on the lookout if more attackers are coming."
"Can we gather the fallen?" The man asked.
"Of course. You can collect the remains of your people." Ainz said to the man and then gave orders to his summon. "Gather all the soldier corpses and put them in a pile over there."
"I'll go check on the girls," Buku said.
"Ainz hit me with another fly spell. I'll look around." Pero stretched and prepared for another liftoff.
With his friends leaving there was just him and Albedo remaining standing. The death knight dutifully piled up the dead bodies of soldiers. Soon the next part of the show would start.
'I hope Ulbert doesn't go overboard… who am I kidding, I know he will.' Ainz mentally prepared for the worst.
Bonus Story - The Observer
She was one of Slane Theocracy's most valuable assets. Relzania Tatian, better known as the Thousand Leagues Astrologer, had an unique talent; remote viewing. This talent let her observe any part of the world she put her attention to making her reconnaissance abilities irreplaceable.
As any other day when she wasn't on field duty as one of the Black Scripture members, she sat down at the table in her quarters living room and prepared a row of crystals that would hold the recordings of her observations which then would be delivered to the cardinals with her notes.
Even though her talent alone would have been enough to make her an extraordinary individual, on top of that she also was a fourth-tier magic caster and an excellent melee fighter being able to go toe to toe with highly trained soldiers. These traits were what earned her the seventh seat in the Black scripture which was the most elite unit Slane Theocracy had at its disposal.
Her usual battle gear consisted of a handbag, glasses, and what Gods had called a schoolgirl outfit which was part of the divine gifts they left behind when ascending back to the heavens. Sure her pretty face with orange eyes and very light brown hair combined with the outfit's very short skirt turned the heads of the men but it was rare anyone dared to make any sort of remarks.
All the gear of the Black Scripture had come from the Gods and all looked rather eccentric making each member very distinguished.
As she prepared to record the first area she was tasked to look at today, the cleric assigned to her came in with a knock carrying a tray with a mug of tea and her favorite cookies. "Lady Tatian, your supper."
The man was about fifty years old with short grey hair, dressed in the usual clergy garb.
"Thank You." She said absentmindedly, already clearing her mind for a better recording.
"May I suggest you pick less sugary and more nutritious meals more often?" He said in a fatherly tone.
"These help me work." She picked up one of the cookies and said a thinly veiled lie. The only reason she ordered the sweets at least once a day was her insatiable sweet tooth which the man was very aware of.
"It is unbecoming of a young lady." he just shook his head. "If you need anything I will be in the prayer room.
"Sure, I call when I'm done."
She started observing the Holocaust Scripture's activities in the Elven kingdom while holding onto a recording crystal ready to activate it, the moment she saw something of importance. The war that had started about a century ago still raged on and was the biggest source of elven slaves as every captured elf, as a lesser creature, was automatically considered a slave.
The Scripture specialized in conducting assassinations, guerrilla warfare, and counter-terrorism often conducting acts of terrorism themselves. She took a sip of tea and started to write a report as she watched.
When she first discovered her skill, Relzanu had to close her eyes to use it, but now she was so used to double vision that she could observe and write a report at the same time.
Next was the Dragon Kingdom. The beastmen's attacks on the failing kingdom were ramping up. To her knowledge, the Queen of the Dragon Kingdom had requested the Theocracy's help more than once, being denied each time but given a vague promise of help, once the special units were available.
She stumbled to another settlement being consumed by the bestial creatures that used humans as a food source.
'Those sub-human monsters all should be wiped out!' She almost gagged seeing a human child, about five years old, being eaten by a bear-type beastman who didn't even bother killing the child before eating it.
'I hope the cardinals find a way to send the Sunlight Scripture there soon.' She wrote down her observations recording the fall into the crystal as well.
Finally came the Sunlight Scripture's activities. She started to watch and saw decoy soldiers killing peasants and Nigun with his troop waiting to ambush the Re-Estize warrior captain if he finally showed up.
'Ugh, why do they send such animals to deal with humans?' The eagerness of soldiers to torture and rape innocent peasants filled her with nothing but disgust.
Relzania trusted the Cardinals' wisdom, who often reminded her that sacrifices must be made for the greater good. "Oh the Great Six, soothe the souls sent to you. May their afterlife be happy and peaceful." She recited a small prayer.
Slowly a strange interference started to appear making her vision blurry. Relzania took a breath and cleared her mind once again thinking that it was her agitation that caused the blurriness but nothing helped.
She reached for another cookie and downed it with tea trying to stabilize her vision. Giving up on making the vision clearer, she started to write the report and took another sip of tea to wash down the last crumbs.
Then one soldier was attacked by something and sent flying. She almost spat out her tea in surprise. Some black blur moved fast and started killing soldiers, one by one.
The blurry figure moved in a way she had seen before.
'A death knight in Re-Estize! Nigun will have a hard time taking it down.' Fighting with such a legendary monster like that was reserved for the Black Scripture and the rest of Theocracy's forces were a backup at best.
She grabbed an empty crystal and started to record watching with much more interest. 'Maybe the appearance of that monster is a blessing from the Gods and it will kill Gazef as well. If that happens, Re-Estize will fall to the Baharuth Empire and people will stop suffering there.'
Whatever the outcome of the event was, it was bound to be a game changer, she was sure of it.
Proofreading by Visur Nyxan, Ethal07, Sad_Smiles, and Tophrel.
AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available or if you are interested in becoming a beta reader.
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