“…No, I didn’t commit a crime.”
“Oh! …Yeah! Of course—I didn’t think you did! You would never do something like that!”
Watching her force a laugh, he felt his shoulders relax. “But thanks, Enri. I know it sounds weird, but I feel better. For now, I’ll just work toward getting on an equal footing…” So I can hold my head high in front of you. So I can tell you that I like you, that I love you.
Enri hadn’t had any idea what he was talking about for a while now, but she reacted to his determination with a smile and a nod anyway.
2
“Huh…” Ainz looked at one part of the village and made a noise that might have indicated he was impressed. Several villagers had formed a line. It was a truly diverse mix of ages and sexes. There was a plump mother in her forties but also a boy who was just entering his teens. The thing they had in common was the earnest, even hostile, look on their faces. Nobody was there to play around.
A goblin holding a bow was speaking to them. Despite Ainz’s superior sense of hearing, he couldn’t make out what was being said at such a distance.
After a little while, each villager slowly nocked an arrow. The bows were plain, short ones. They looked shabby and awkward, like the villagers had cobbled them together themselves.
They drew their bowstrings all the way back. Their targets were bundles of straw made to look like humans set up a little ways away. The goblin must have given an order—everyone loosed at once.
Despite how sad the bows looked, the arrows flew admirably and burrowed into the bundles of straw. Not a single one missed.
“Not bad!” Ainz found himself uttering modest praise.
“Do you mean that?” Narberal’s questioning voice came from where she was standing by behind him.
She probably doesn’t understand why these achievements are worth praising. These villagers are like children playing with toys compared to the archers of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Realizing how she felt, the illusion face under his helmet smiled wryly. “As you point out, nothing about their technique is particularly amazing. But these people never used a bow until ten days ago. They aren’t out here because their spouses, children, and parents were killed, and they don’t want to let another attack like that happen—they want to bare their fangs and fight when it does! That’s worth praising, isn’t it?” What was praiseworthy was the hatred that drove the villagers to do this, that was all.
“M-my apologies. I didn’t think that far…”
“That’s fine. It’s not necessary for you to think that far. And truthfully, there is nothing whatsoever worth praising about their technique.”
Watching another wave of arrows slice through the air and sink into the bundles of straw, Ainz suddenly had a thought. How strong will these people be able to get? And then, How strong will I be able to get? He had come to this world at the Yggdrasil level cap of 100, with his surplus experience points maxed out at 90 percent of a level. He wasn’t sure, but he figured that since his abilities had carried over, that XP would, too. The question was whether it was possible to get that 10 percent and reach level 101 or not.
He had the feeling he was approaching the answer. I can’t get any stronger than this. This is my peak power. Ainz’s power was one that could not grow, whereas the villagers’ weakness represented unfathomable possibilities. If by some chance, beings in this world had no cap and could advance past a level comparable to Yggdrasil’s 100, there would come a day when the Great Tomb of Nazarick would no longer be able to triumph. And that—
“It’s definitely not impossible…”
The Slane Theocracy’s Six Gods, whom Ainz suspected were players, appeared six hundred years ago. The gap between their arrival and his own was a mystery, but given that grotesques had no notion of a life span and the fact that some classes had special life expectancies, there was a fairly good chance they were still alive.
If the Six Gods were still behind the Slane Theocracy, the country might have been using them to power level (earn XP faster than usual by assisting a strong player) for the past six hundred years, in which case it wouldn’t be strange if they had people over level 100.
But then why hadn’t the Slane Theocracy taken over the world? Perhaps there was some comparable power out there. Or it was even possible that level 100 wasn’t really so powerful at all. Thinking all of that made Ainz feel like he was being stabbed in his nonexistent stomach.
If the Six Gods really were players, in his current uninformed state, he needed to endeavor to make things proceed amicably. But according to the info he’d gotten from the Sunlit Scripture, the imperial knights who attacked the village were actually people from the Slane Theocracy in disguise, which meant that saving the village would have been an act of hostility against them.
“I wonder if it was a mistake to save the village…”
I really need to make gathering intelligence my highest priority. As he was absentmindedly thinking about those things, he noticed a boy running toward him. The eyes that were normally hidden behind his hair could be seen each time his bangs bounced, and Ainz noticed that he was looking squarely at him.
Something about Nfirea gave him a bad feeling—the way he was running reminded him of the headman from before.
“What’s the rush? Another emergency? I swear, this village…,” Ainz grumbled as Nfirea came to a halt in front of him.
Breathing heavily, his forehead slick with sweat, Nfirea pushed his damp hair out of his eyes and turned his serious expression to Ainz. As if he couldn’t decide what to do or whether he wanted to talk to Ainz or Narberal, he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind and addressed Ainz. “Momon, are you Ainz Ooal Gown?”
The suddenness of the question left Ainz speechless. Of course, he had to say no, he was not. But would I be forgiven for denying the fact? It’s the name my friends and I built up together. After taking it for my own, would it really be okay to deny it?
His hesitation answered for him. “I see. Thank you very much, Mr. Gown, for saving this village and for rescuing Enri.”
In response to Nfirea’s bow, Ainz finally managed to mumble, “No. I’m not…”
Nfirea nodded that he understood. “I know you must have some reason for hiding your name. Even so, I wanted to thank you for saving the village—no, for rescuing Enri. Thank you so much for saving the woman I love.”
Nfirea bowed again, deeper this time, and Ainz said nothing. He did have that Love, huh? Live it up while you’re young! thought older guys tend to have and was feeling fairly nostalgic, but there was something more important on his mind. “Aw, geez. C’mon, raise your head.” That response implicitly acknowledged that he was Ainz Ooal Gown, but no matter how many excuses he made, it was impossible to negate Nfirea’s thinking on the matter anyway. Ainz was utterly defeated.
“Also, Mr. Gown, there’s something I’ve been hiding as well.”
“…Come with me. Nabe, stand by where you are.”
After giving the order to Narberal, Ainz gave Nfirea and himself some room. He was worried that if the kid said something weird, Narberal would flip out. Once they were far enough away, Ainz faced the boy.
“Actually…” Nfirea swallowed hard. Then, he continued with a look of determination on his face. “That potion you gave that lady at the inn, you can’t make it using the usual methods, Mr. Gown—it’s very rare. I wanted to know what kind of person would have such a potion and how to make it, and that’s why I made the request. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, I see.”
What a screwup. He had given a healing potion to Enri in this village. Then he gave someone the same type in E-Rantel. That must be how he figured it out. Maybe I should get that potion back. I wish I had asked that adventurer woman her name. Well, regretting it now won’t change anything.
Ainz felt he had made the best move he could have in E-Rantel. When she had said, You’re wearing that fancy armor, so you must have at least a low-grade he
aling potion on you, right? maybe she didn’t mean anything in particular, but it narrowed down his choices a lot.
For example, say someone gets out of a luxury car. If it’s easy to tell they poured a lot of cash into their appearance as well, then the car will be judged appropriate for its owner. But what about if the person looks poor? In that case, it will seem like they used their entire salary on their car, and they could end up the target of ridicule.
Ainz didn’t want that to happen. If he had refused back there, he would have been envied for his fancy armor and for having such a beautiful companion, and there was the possibility that stubborn rumors would follow him around. Once people start talking behind someone’s back, it doesn’t ever stop, and lots of people love to pick at an open sore.
Ainz had come to the city to become renowned as an adventurer, so he had to avoid doing anything that could lead to disrepute.
He had given away the potion after considering all of those things. It had been a gamble, and it hadn’t worked out, but he didn’t regret it. It wasn’t a fatal error; he just had to bounce back. He wasn’t the kind of lucky guy who never slipped up.
Still, he didn’t know why Nfirea was apologizing. “It’s not like you did anything wrong.”
“Huh?”
“It sounds bad if you say you were keeping secrets while shaking my hand with a smile, but you requested me for networking purposes, right? What’s wrong with that?” He was genuinely puzzled.
“You’re very understanding…” Nfirea seemed impressed.
Ainz was cocking his head in his mind, though. Networking was one of the basics of being a working adult; there was nothing wrong with making connections. But part of him did understand. He probably feels like he was trying to get close to me to steal industry secrets. “If I told you how to make the potion, how would you use that information?”
Nfirea yelped in surprise and then thought a moment before answering. “I didn’t think that far ahead. I just have this thirst for knowledge, you know? I think my grandma is the same way…”
“I see. Then that’s fine. If you had some kind of sinister plan, it’d be different, but otherwise there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“Wow. I can see why…people…admire you…” The sweat had dried, and the mumbling boy’s hair had fallen over his face again, but behind it his eyes gleamed in adoration, like the way a kid who loves baseball would gaze at a pro player.
Perhaps the boy’s reaction reminded Ainz of the awe he had felt when he first met his powerful friends back when he had been getting PK’d all the time. He suddenly felt a wave of self-consciousness, but it was suppressed.
Ainz was surprised he was so moved, but he composed himself and got down to business. First, there was something he needed to ask. “By the way, are you the only one who knows I’m Ainz?”
“Yes. I haven’t told anybody.”
“Okay, I appreciate that.” Having gotten that far, he realized he had no idea what he could say to Nfirea to persuade him, so he just made his request point-blank. “Right now, I’m an adventurer called Momon. I’d like it if you could remember that for me.”
“Sure. I kind of figured. I know I’ve probably made things awkward for you, but I still wanted to express my gratitude. Thank you again for saving Enri and the village.” Nfirea thanked Ainz with all his heart, eyes earnest.
“Okay, that’s enough. I just happened to be there.”
“But if that was really all, you wouldn’t have had any reason to give away those horns.”
Ainz hadn’t been trying to be particularly nice, but if Nfirea wanted to interpret it favorably, that was just fine. He didn’t say anything else, just nodded quietly.
Before Nfirea turned to walk away, he again gave Ainz his heartfelt thanks for saving the village and mentioned, as a client, that they would be heading into the forest in an hour.
Ainz was watching Nfirea’s figure recede when Narberal rushed around in front of him and flung her head down. “My apologies, Lord Ainz!”
“People can see us. Raise your head.” As she straightened back up, he mumbled with an edge of irritation, “Yeah, it’s all your fault for dropping Albedo’s name.” Actually it’s not at all, but that was a big screwup. I can pin this on her so she doesn’t mess up like that ever again—better to nip it in the bud. And here she is calling me Ainz, what the heck… Not that there’s anyone around to hear her, but…
“Allow me to apologize with my life!”
She didn’t seem to be joking.
Everyone in the Great Tomb of Nazarick was like that. They called the forty-one members of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown “Supreme Beings” and worshipped them as absolutes. Devotion made them happy.
It was a bit much for Ainz, but he felt it was good if the beings he and his guildmates had created were overjoyed to be loyal to him. And he also figured that this was probably his fate as one of their creators.
So here was the NPC Narberal. If Ainz ever told her to kill herself, even as a joke, she would no doubt do it immediately. The fact that she was asking permission stemmed from her ultimate loyalty—her belief that her life belonged to her master.
“It’s fine. Everyone makes mistakes. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. You can make mistakes, just don’t make the same one twice. All is forgiven, Narberal Gamma.”
She wanted to pay for her mistake with her life, but on the other hand, she was loyal to Ainz, who wouldn’t allow it, and wanted to obey. These two contradicting feelings put Narberal between a rock and a hard place, but Ainz felt it when the scale eventually tipped.
“Thank you very much! I’ll be careful not to commit this type of error ever again!”
“Well, don’t worry too much. My plan to go undercover as Momon the adventurer hasn’t failed yet, so we just have to be careful from now on. Of course, it may become necessary to do away with the boy…”
“I could do it this very moment.”
“Ha, no. It would be bad for us to fail this job.” Nfirea’s grandmother was a famous apothecary in E-Rantel. Ainz had no intention of incurring her wrath. “Well…we’ll play it by ear.” Or rather, he just couldn’t think of anything else to say.
3
Looking toward the woods, there was an open space about one hundred yards deep in stark contrast to the thick forest growth. It had been created when the townspeople, protected by goblins, cut trees to build the fence, but it looked like the gaping jaws of a giant magical beast.
That was where Ainz and company did their final check.
The client said, “Okay, we’re about to head into the forest, so I’m counting on everyone to protect me. That said, once we get a little ways in, we’ll be in the Wise King of the Forest’s territory, so we should be less likely to be attacked by other monsters. The only thing is that the area we met those ogres in yesterday was also the Wise King of the Forest’s territory. Something might be happening in the forest. I’m sure adventurers don’t need reminding, but please be careful!” Nfirea’s eyes flicked to Ainz for a moment and then to the Swords of Darkness. “Well, I think we’ll be fine as long as Momon is here.”
“If the Wise King of the Forest does appear, we’ll cover the rear. I don’t mind if everyone escapes ahead of us.”
Everyone gasped at how confident he sounded. After the fight with the ogres and goblins the other day, they were more than aware of how much more powerful he was than them.
Every time someone said something like, I wouldn’t have expected any less! Ainz’s skin crawled a bit. He wasn’t used to being praised, since up until recently he hadn’t been. He was jealous of the proud attitude emanating from Narberal as she stood next to him.
“If you do need to run, can I ask that you move away as quickly as you can? If the Wise King of the Forest turns out to be a huge magical beast, we’ll need to fight with all we’ve got and I don’t want anyone getting caught in the cross fire.”
“Understood. Then, if it comes to that, we’ll take Nfirea and esc
ape to the edge of the forest. Momon, don’t try to do the impossible.”
“Thanks. If things get hairy I’ll escape right away.”
“Um, Momon…” Nfirea trailed off but then seemed to muster his resolve. “Would it be possible for you to chase off the Wise King of the Forest instead of killing him?”
“…Why would I do that?”
“Well, the reason Carne hasn’t been attacked by monsters is because the Wise King of the Forest makes this area his territory. If he gets defeated…”
“I see…”
“Momon can’t do that! Like, I know he’s strong, but he’ll still have to give a hundred percent in a fight against a legendary magical beast! Who has the leeway to—?”
“Got it.”
“What?!” Lukrut yelped in surprise. The other Swords of Darkness may not have vocalized their shock, but they wore it on their faces.
“It might be tricky, but I’ll keep things at the shooing-away level.”
It was as if they were frightened of his overflowing confidence, despite being fellow adventurers.
“But you’ll be up against…a magical beast who’s lived for hundreds of years…”
“Only someone very strong can get away with that attitude…”
“Knowing you, Momon, it’s not pride or arrogance talking, so…”
In contrast to the Swords of Darkness, Nfirea, who knew a bit more about Ainz’s strength, seemed relaxed. Ainz looked at him and smiled on the inside.
The boy’s wish was that monsters not appear around the village of Carne. So he could fulfill it by deploying other monsters to guard the territory, i.e., even if he killed the Wise King of the Forest, he could just send over some minions from Nazarick.
“Okay! To jump right into things, the herb I’m gathering today looks like this. If you see some, please let me know!” Nfirea pulled some kind of wilted plant out of the big pouch around his waist.
The Dark Warrior Page 14