The Undead King

by Kugane Maruyama

  His wife was probably around the same age. Ainz got the feeling she’d been a trim beauty at one point, but hard work in the fields had worn most of her charm away. Spots had appeared on her face, and all that was left was a thin old lady. Her shoulder-length black hair was messy, and although her skin was tanned from the sun, she had a gloomy air about her.

  “Here you go.” She placed a shabby cup on the table. The reason there wasn’t any for Albedo was simply because Ainz had had her go check out the village.

  He refused the steaming water with a raised hand. He wasn’t thirsty and he couldn’t take off the mask, anyway. After seeing how much work went into it, though, he felt bad for not declining in advance.

  Making hot water was hard work. First, she had to use a flint to make a spark. Then, she had to arrange thinly sliced wood chips to make a fire. From there, she moved it to the earthen oven to build the flames up. It took quite a while to heat the water.

  In some sense, it was interesting for Ainz to see how water was boiled by hand without electricity—he’d never witnessed it before. In the past in his world, people used to cook with gas or something; he imagined it must have taken about the same amount of labor. I should take this opportunity to learn about their technology, too.

  He turned back to the headman and his wife. “I’m sorry I put you to so much trouble…”

  “N-not at all. No need to bow.” The both of them were flustered at Ainz’s politeness. They probably never imagined the one who had been ordering the death knight around up until a bit ago would bow his head to them.

  For Ainz it was nothing strange. It was only natural to behave amicably with the people one was about to negotiate with.

  Of course, he could always use some magic like Charm Person to get info out of them and then manipulate their memories with an elite spell as he had with the two sisters, but he wanted to save that for a last resort. In any case, it would cost a ton of magic points (MP).

  Even now there was a heavy, leaden feeling at his core. Even just to overwrite a couple minutes of memory to make it so he had been wearing the mask and gauntlets from the beginning seemed to have cost quite a lot of MP. It was a serious loss.

  “Well, then, shall we skip the formalities and get down to business?”

  “Yes, but before that… Thank you so much!” The headman bowed his head so aggressively Ainz thought he would whack the table. A beat later his wife followed with her thanks and a bow.

  “If you hadn’t come, we would have all been killed! We are so grateful!”

  Ainz was startled by the depth of their gratitude. I’ve never been thanked so profusely in my whole life. Well, the two sisters before thanked me the same way, but… Ah, I guess I had never saved someone’s life before, so it makes sense…

  The vestige of Satoru Suzuki, the man he’d once been, was a bit self-conscious in the face of their genuine thanks, but he couldn’t say it felt bad.

  “Please raise your heads. As I mentioned before, you don’t need to worry about it. I did it expecting something in return.”

  “Of course, we understand. But please, still, allow us to thank you. It’s thanks to you that so many of us were saved.”

  “Well, then, padding my fee a bit will suffice. Shall we begin the negotiations? As headman, you must be very busy.”

  “There’s no one who deserves my time more than the one who saved our lives, but yes, let’s begin.”

  Watching the headman slowly raise his head, Ainz got the gears in his brain moving. He had to get the information he required through conversation alone, without relying on magic.

  What a pain. I was trained as a businessman, but I wonder how effective my techniques will be. He made up his mind and began to speak, feeling half like whatever would happen would happen.

  “To get right to the point, how much can you offer?”

  “We have nothing to hide from you to whom we are so indebted. I’d have to check to see how much silver and copper we can come up with, but for copper it would probably be about three thousand pieces.”

  I have no idea how much that is! Ainz shouted in his head.

  He had asked in entirely the wrong way. He ought to have taken a different approach. He’d been a horrible businessman in his former life, after all, so of course his technique was horrible.

  The number of coins sounded high, but he couldn’t just accept without knowing their value. Accepting too low of a sum or overcharging would stand out too much and had to be avoided. I guess I should just be glad they didn’t offer four cows or something.

  Just as he was about to get depressed, his mood stabilized. Thankful for his undead body, he consoled himself by considering that he’d learned at least one thing: Silver and copper pieces were the currency circulated in villages. He wanted to know what other denominations there were, but he wasn’t confident he could lead the conversation in that direction.

  The bigger issue was the monetary value of a copper piece. He would run into a lot of trouble from here on out if he didn’t know it. Not knowing the value of the currency would make him stick out way too much. He wanted to stay on the down low as much as possible while he was still clueless about the world, so he furiously spun his brain’s gears, even just to avoid any more mistakes.

  “Carrying so much small change would be a burden, so would it be possible to make it a little more compact?”

  “My apologies. If I could, I’d like to pay you in gold pieces, but…we don’t really use them in this village, so…”

  Ainz suppressed a relieved sigh. This was just the chance he’d been looking for. Now he just had to think how to take it. He felt like his head might start steaming from the effort.

  “Then how about this: I’ll buy some of this village’s goods at a reasonable price, and then you can pay me with the coins I give you.” Ainz surreptitiously opened his item box beneath his robe and picked up two of Yggdrasil’s gold coins. One featured the relief of a woman’s profile, and the other, a man’s. The former was currency that came into use after the huge update, “The Fall of Valkyria,” and the latter, naturally, was the old kind. Monetarily they were both the same value, but he was more attached to one of them.

  The old currency had been with him since he’d started playing; they had used it when they formed Ainz Ooal Gown and for most of the time the guild had existed. When the update was released, the guild was in its heyday and he’d already collected pretty much all of the gear he wanted, so he’d been just throwing the new coins into his item box.

  The handful of coins that appeared in the air the first time he’d gone hunting as a skeleton mage, the mountain of coins he got when he snuck into a dungeon solo and frantically fought off all the active mobs that attacked him, the golden sparkle when he sold data crystals acquired in a successful raid with the guild…

  He dismissed the nostalgia—but put away the old coin and took out the new one. “If I wanted to shop with this, about how much would it be worth?”

  “Th-this is…?”

  “It’s a coin from a far-off—truly distant—country. Can I not use it here?”

  “I think you can… One moment, please.”

  Feeling relieved to hear as much, he watched as the headman stood up and brought something over from the back of the room. Ainz had seen one once in a history book: a money changer’s scale.

  From then on it was the headman’s wife’s job. She first held the gold coin up to a disc-shaped object, seeming to compare sizes. Once she was satisfied with those results, she placed it on one side of the balance and put a weight on the other side. He had the feeling she said something about currency by weight.

  Ainz rummaged around in his memory to guess the significance of what she was doing. First, she must have compared it to this country’s currency for size, and now she must be checking it for content. His gold coin was lower than the weight. She added another weight to balance them out.

  “It’s as heavy as about two of our gold coins. E-err, do you min
d if I make a slight scratch on the sur—?”

  “Bah! Don’t be rude! My most humble apologies. My wife has been most—”

  “It doesn’t bother me. You can destroy it if you like, but if the inside turns out to be solid gold, then you’ll have to buy it from me…”

  “N-no, I’m sorry.” The headman’s wife bowed and returned the coin.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s a matter of course when considering a deal with someone. So, what do you think about that gold piece? That relief is gorgeous, right? A work of art!”

  “Yes, it’s quite beautiful. What country is it from?”

  “It’s from a country that no longer exists.”

  “Oh, I see…”

  “So it’s worth two of yours, hm? But considering the artistic value, I would think it could be appraised a bit more highly. How about it?”

  “That may be… However, we aren’t merchants, so it’s difficult for us to assess artistic value…”

  “Ha-ha-ha. Indeed, I see. So then if I shop with this coin, we’ll say it’s worth two of those, all right?”

  “O-of course.”

  “Very well. It so happens I have several of these coins, so I wonder what amount of goods you’ll be able to sell. Of course, I will pay a fair price. You can charge me the same as you charge anyone in the village. Please take your time in investigating the matter.”

  “Lord Ainz Ooal Gown!” The suddenness of the headman’s voice practically gave Ainz’s nonexistent heart palpitations. His earnest expression was firmer and more striking than before.

  “…Ainz is fine.”

  “Lord Ainz?” He seemed puzzled for a moment, but then quickly nodded a few times before continuing. “I understand just what you mean, Lord Ainz.”

  Ainz imagined a big question mark popping up over his head. He had a feeling there was some kind of misunderstanding, but since he had no idea what the headman was talking about, he couldn’t say anything.

  “I know you don’t wish to be seen as cheap and that for your reputation you’d like to reach a compromise. It must cost a fortune to hire someone as strong as you, Lord Ainz. And that’s why you want some material goods in addition to the three thousand copper pieces.”

  Ainz was completely confused by the headman’s proposal and was glad he was wearing a mask. The reason he’d presented the gold coin and asked how much he could buy with it was to get a general idea of what things cost in this world. How did things end up going in this direction?

  He didn’t interrupt, so the headman continued. “However, all we can afford to offer is three thousand copper pieces. It’s only natural that you would doubt us, but we have nothing to hide from you, our savior.” The headman’s expression was brimming with sincerity, and there was not the faintest suggestion that he might be lying. If I get tricked here, I’ve got only my inability to judge character to blame. “And of course I don’t expect that someone as powerful as you would be satisfied with the paltry sum our small village can offer. If we went around the village collecting, perhaps we could scrape up something more adequate, but we’ve lost a lot of workers—if we pay more than the amount I mentioned, we won’t be able to make it through the next season. And that goes for goods as well. Since we’ve lost hands, there will be fields that don’t get tended. I predict extreme hardship for us in the near future if we give up produce now. I’m ashamed to ask this of you who have just saved our lives, but would you at least be willing to split everything with us?”

  Oh! Is this my chance? Ainz felt as if he’d walked out of a dense forest to find a panoramic view. He pretended to be deep in thought. He could see where he wanted to go. He just prayed he would get there. After waiting a few moments, he replied, “I understand. I don’t require any compensation.”

  “What?! Wh-why not?” The village headman and his wife’s eyes widened in surprise.

  Ainz raised a hand to signal he was going to continue talking. He guided the conversation, thinking what information he should give them and what he should keep to himself. It was a pain, and he wasn’t 100 percent certain he could pull it off, but he had to. “I’m a caster and until quite recently had been holed up in a place called Nazarick to research magic.”

  “Aha, I see. So that’s why you’re dressed like that, huh?”

  “Ah, well—er, yes,” he mumbled, fingering the jealousy mask. If casters dress so bizarrely here, I wonder what the cities look like… Bali’s Barong and Rangda walking down the street came to mind. He’d begun to hope this wasn’t such a shocking world as all that when he realized something strange: The word caster made sense to them.

  In Yggdrasil, the word caster had a broad meaning. It lumped the countless magic user classes—priests, clerics, druids, arcaners, sorcerers, wizards, bards, miko, talisman wielders, mountain hermits, etc.—all together. What a coincidence if it were the same here.

  “I don’t need compensation, but…” Ainz stopped here to judge their reaction. “A caster makes use of various things—fear, knowledge. You could call these the tools of our trade. But, as I mentioned, I’ve been holed up doing magic research, so I don’t have much current knowledge of this area. I’d like to get some information from the two of you, and then have your understanding that no one is to know you sold it to me. Let’s do that instead of monetary or material goods compensation.”

  “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” so the saying goes. Of course he would ask for something. Anyone in negotiations with someone who just saved their lives and who said they didn’t need anything in return would probably feel like something was fishy, so he had to make it seem to them like they’d compensated him—even if that compensation were intangible.

  In other words, if he could convince them that selling him information he needed was a fair trade, they wouldn’t get suspicious.

  And in fact, both the headman and his wife nodded intensely. “You have our understanding. We’ll never tell anyone.”

  Great! Ainz was glad his business know-how was worth something after all and did a mini–first pump under the table. “Oh, good. And I won’t be using magic or anything to enforce your promise. I trust you.”

  Ainz stretched out a gauntleted hand. Initially startled, the headman seemed to realize what was going on and took it. Ainz was relieved they had handshakes in this world. If he had been given a look like, What are you doing? all he would have been able to do was cry.

  Of course, he didn’t trust them completely. If they were offered a reward, and it was good enough, they might spill the beans. By sealing the deal on their character alone, it just depended on their character. It wasn’t about which was better, just Ainz chose to bet on the village headman’s decency. If word got out, then it got out. He could just use the fact as a trump card in his next dealings with this village. Recalling their expressions of gratitude and the sincerity of their interactions with him, though, somehow he felt they wouldn’t betray him.

  “Well, then, I hope you can teach me many things.”

  “What the heck?!”

  “Is something the matter?”

  “Oh no, just talking to myself. Excuse me. I didn’t mean to shout.”

  For one moment, Ainz fell out of character, but he picked up the act again right away. If he’d had a human body, he would have no doubt broken out in a cold sweat.

  The village headman said only, “I see,” and didn’t probe any further. Maybe casters already had a reputation as weirdos in the village. That was no problem with Ainz.

  “Would you like something to drink?”

  “Oh no, that’s okay. I’m not thirsty, but thank you for asking.”

  The headman’s wife had left. He’d had her go outside to help with the cleanup and such. Ainz and the headman were the only ones left in the room.

  The first question Ainz asked was about the countries in the area. The response had been all places he’d never heard of. He’d been prepared for anything, but surprise won out once reality was shoved in his face. At first,
he’d been running his brain over many possibilities, but in general, he’d been thinking he must have been in the world of Yggdrasil. He could use Yggdrasil magic, so he figured there must be some connection. But now he was met with names of places he was completely ignorant of.

  The countries in the area were the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Baharuth Empire, and the Slane Theocracy. Yggdrasil’s world was based on Norse myths—he’d never heard of any places like these.

  His eyes were swimming, and he felt like he might collapse, but he steadied himself by putting his hands on the table. He’d just ended up in an unknown world. He’d been prepared to accept it, but he couldn’t suppress his astonishment.

  The shock was just too big. It was his first time being hit so hard by something since becoming undead. In order to calm down, he decided to review what he knew about the surrounding topography.

  First, the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire. Their territories were divided by a mountain range. From the southern edge of the mountains stretched a forest, and about where the forest ended was where the Re-Estize Kingdom’s domain, containing the castle town and this village, began. The two countries had poor relations, and there was fighting on the plains near the castle town what seemed like every year during the past several.

  Then to the south was the Slane Theocracy. To get a rough idea of how their territories fit together, it was easiest to think of an upside-down T tilted so it pointed up and to the right, but slightly melted so the long edge bent to go straight up. On the left was the Re-Estize Kingdom; on the right, a bit larger, was the Baharuth Empire; and below the bar was the Slane Theocracy. Supposedly there were other countries as well, but that was all the info the village headman could provide. As for the countries’ relative power, the headman of a tiny village wouldn’t know that, either. In other words…