Overlord Volume 1 Chapter 4

Overlord Volume 1 Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Conflict

Translators: Ghoststaker, CoCayn, cerulean33

Editor: Namorax, Mecani

Proofreader: ImAKami

Collaborators: Imoutolicious LNT & Skythewood

Version 1.0

Part 1

The home of the village chief was near the Village Square, and right past the entrance was an large, open workspace next to a kitchen. Inside this empty livingroom stood a shabby table with several chairs around it.

Ainz was sitting on one such chair and observed the interior.

Shining through the lattice windows, the sun illuminated every corner of the house. Even without the use of 「Night Vision」 it was possible to clearly see the surroundings.

Ainz watched the woman standing in the kitchen corner and the various tools lying around the house.

No mechanical appliances could be seen anywhere.

When Ainz started considering that science and technology were less developed in this world, he immediately realized that his expectations were a bit naive. Even with magic, science wouldn’t necessarily advance quickly.

In order to avoid the sun, Ainz cautiously moved his hand on the old table. The simple work table started to wobble even though the metal gauntlets weren’t that heavy. The chair also creaked loudly, reacting to Ainz’s shifting weight.

In the truest meaning of the word, poor.

In order to put it out of the way, Ainz leaned his staff against the table. The staff reflected the sunlight, which created various to bright reflections. Although he was in a rundown village home, he still found himself surrounded by the illusions of a mythical world. Ainz recalled the amazed expressions of the villagers.

Upon beholding the high level staff Ainz and his companions had created, the villagers were in awe, causing Ainz to feel very proud. However, this fleeting feeling immediately became merely a normal level of happy, causing Ainz to furrow his non-existent eyebrows.

He really disliked his forced composure. However, being too scatter-brained would make it difficult for him to resolve future problems. Reflecting on this, Ainz prepared himself for the challenge in front of him:

He needed to negotiate with the village chief about the reward for saving the village.

Ainz’s true objective was gathering information rather than gold, but directly asking for information would raise suspicions.

Although this small village shouldn’t be too much of a problem, Ainz was still worried about the authorities of the land. If such people knew that Ainz frequently mingled with the villagers to gain information about this world, they would immediately manipulate him.

Am I being too cautious?

Ainz felt like this situation was similar to dashing across the road. There was a chance that he could get into a fatal accident at any moment. In other words, there might be a chance that he would meet with the world’s strongest fighters.

Strength was relative.

Ainz might’ve been stronger than anyone he had met in this village, however that didn’t mean he was stronger than everyone else in this world. Also, right now Ainz was an undead and judging from the girl’s past reactions, the general disposition towards undead was very obvious. He needed knowledge about his situation and he had to be careful since he could be attacked at any time by humans who hated him.

"I kept you waiting."

The village chief sat down on the seat across from Ainz and his wife stood behind him.

The village chief had dark, muscular skin and a face full of wrinkles.

From a glance you could tell that his robust body was forged through heavy manual labor. Half of his hair was already white.

Although his cotton clothes were stained with dirt, they didn’t smell.

From the weary look of his face, one would guess that he was more than forty years old. His actual age however was hard to accurately discern.

Apparently the today’s events caused him to age a few years. The village chief’s wife seemed to be as old as he was.

Although she formerly had the charm of a slim, delicate beauty, many years of hard farm work have washed it almost completely away. Her face was full of freckles. Now she was only a skinny, old auntie with disheveled, shoulder-length black hair. Even if viewed in the sunlight, its color would still be dull.

"Please."

The old lady put a humble village cup on the table. Albedo wasn’t served because she was still walking around the village.

Ainz raised his hand to decline the steaming cup with the boiled water.

He didn’t feel thirsty and he couldn’t take off his mask. But since he saw the hard work put into  preparing the water, he should have declined earlier.

By the way, the hard work refers to the task of boiling the water.

She started with a flint. Showering small sparks onto thin wood chips, she then let the fire grow larger. It took her a while to get the stove’s fire going, and then she had to wait until the hot water boiled.

She didn’t use electricity, but a fire she made by hand to boil the water. This was the first time Ainz saw anything like this and, he was very interested in the process. In Ainz’s original world, everyone in the past used gas to cook, so what she just did should be about as hard.

Regarding technology, Ainz wanted to use the opportunity to gather some information. Thinking this way, Ainz once again faced the village chief.

“Even though you boiled water especially for me, I’m truly sorry.”

"You are too kind, there’s no need to apologize."

Ainz, who is gently bowing his head to apologize, made the couple feel uneasy. They couldn’t imagine that the person ordering the "Death Knight" around would actually bow his head in order to apologize.

But this idea wasn’t the least bit strange to Ainz. Showing a friendly attitude before they started the negotiations was definitely a good thing.

Of course, he could always deal with it as he did with those sisters, using 「Confuse Humanoid」 or some other magic to pry out information and later use high level magic to change their memories. But that kind of thing should only be used as a last resort because the MP consumption for doing that would be too high.

Ainz recalled the feeling of using up MP: His body would feel oddly tired, as if it had lost something.

After he put on the mask and gloves, he had to use a gigantic amount of MP just to change ten seconds’ worth of memories.

“... Then let us get to the point, the discussion about my reward.”

“Yes. However, before we start the negotiation… Thank you very much!”

The Village Chief bowed in thanks, his head almost hitting the table. His wife also followed suit and bowed:

“If it wasn’t for you, all of the villagers would be dead. We are really grateful!”

Ainz was surprised to receive such heartfelt gratitude.

Recalling his previous life as Suzuki Satoru, he never received such thanks... No, the two girls from before also thanked him like this. It was just that he never saved anyone before, and now he felt like he did the right thing.

He didn’t dislike receiving this kind of sincere thanks even when he was still human, although he still felt embarrassed——perhaps this was a remnant of his humanity.

“Please raise your heads. Like I said before, this is nothing you should be concerned about. Because I wasn’t helping you for free.”

“We know that, but please allow us to thank you nonetheless. Because of your help many villagers were able to survive.”

“... As long as they pay more. First, let’s discuss the matter of the reward. As the Village Chief you should be rather busy.”

“Nothing is more important than spending some time with our saviour, however following my principles would be the sincerest form of respect.”

The Village Chief slowly raised his head and Ainz quickly started to use his non-existent brain.

To not rely on magic, but conversation to gain his information.

───How troublesome.

How much effect would his past experiences with sales have on the situation right now? Ainz hoped he would be able to use at least half of his old skills. Having mentally prepared himself, he spoke:

“... Then I’ll get straight to the point, how much can you pay me?”

“We cannot afford to be stingy for our savior. Regarding copper and silver coins, if we do not collect from everyone, we are unsure how much we have, but as for copper coins, we should have about 3000 now.”

Ainz still didn’t know how much that was worth, so he ridiculed himself in his heart.

Asking right now would be a fatal mistake, he should take a different approach and slowly guide the subject.

Anyways, since I was a useless salesman originally, my business skills were also very poor.

Although the number felt like a lot, but he did not know the value of the money, and thus could not determine whether this amount was appropriate. He absolutely has to avoid accepting too low a number or raise the number too high, otherwise he will expose his own ignorance.

No, the fact that they didn’t say that they would give him four large cows was enough to make him breathe a sigh of relief.

About to fall deep into depression, his mental state quickly settled down. Ainz reassured himself, he was really thankful for his undead body, at the same time he learnt something.

And that was, copper coins and silver coins was this village’s main currency. At the same time he also wanted to know where do these two currencies stand against each other, but he had no confidence about this information.

First he had to learn more about the value of copper coins. Not knowing something basic could become rather troublesome. But to know nothing about the value of currency would be extremely suspicious.

Before he started wanting to learn more about this world, he wanted to keep a low profile.

So that was why he kept on thinking, trying to avoid an even greater failure.

“It would be hard to carry so many small coins, I hope can be exchanged with coins of a bigger value.”

“Forgive us, it would be great if we could use gold coins to pay you. But… our village doesn’t have any gold coins…”

Ainz suppressed the urge to heave a sigh of relief.

The village chief’s answer turned the conversation into the direction Ainz wanted. So Ainz thought harder about his next question:

“So it’s like that. In that case, I simply wish to use the money I receive to buy goods from the village, I just want you to give me enough for that purpose.”

Ainz secretly opened his Item Chest from within his robes and removed two YGGDRASIL gold coins from it. One of the coins had a woman’s profile while the other had the profile of a man. The first coin was introduced after the [Valkyrie’s Downfall] Event, it was a revision of the currency used by the players until then, while the latter coin was the old currency that was used before.

Although both coins had the same value, both of them had different meanings for Ainz.

The older coin had accompanied Ainz from the moment he first started playing YGGDRASIL until the founding of Ainz Ooal Gown. It was during the peak of his guild’s activity when the game introduced the new coins, but since they had already completed all their equipment, the new coins were simply put into their Item Chests.

Becoming a skeleton mage, using magic to defeat monsters on the map, receiving gold coins which floated in the air. Going into a labyrinth on his own and defeating ferocious monsters on his own, obtaining a mountain of gold coins through great difficulty. After his guild members went through the labyrinth, sold all of their gained data crystals, earning these gold coins symbolizing their glorious history───

But Ainz threw away those nostalgic memories.

Keeping the old coin, he took out the new coin.

Once he placed the gold coin on the table, the Village Chief and his wife both opened their eyes in surprise.

“Thi-, this is!”

“This is the currency of a far away land. Can it be used here?”

“It should be possible… Please wait a moment.”

Ainz heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that it could be used, in the meantime the Village Chief left his seat, went into another room and brought something back you would only see in a history book.

That would be an antique balancing scale.

Next was the wife’s job, she took the gold coin along with a round object, seemingly comparing their size. After she saw enough, she placed the coin on one side of the scale and placed a scale weight on the other.

This looked like a process called 'weighing currency'.

Ainz dug through his memories, thinking over the meaning of the wife’s actions. If the first step would be comparing the size of this country’s currency to the other, then the next should be confirming the gold content of the coin.

It looked like the gold coin was heavier, since the weight on the other side of the scale began to rise. The wife puts another weight on the scale in order to balance both sides.

“Looks like it’s about the weight of two gold coins…. Please, may I ask if it is possible to scratch the surface…”

“Wi-, wife, you are being too rude! Please forgive us, my wife has said some insolent words…”

She seemed to think that the coin was gold plated. However Ainz wasn’t really unhappy, or angry.

“Go ahead… but if it’s really made of pure gold, you better compensate me with its full value, okay?”

"N-, no need, I am really sorry."

The village chief’s wife apologized and returned the coin.

“Don’t mind it, I want to know something else. What are your thoughts about this coin? It looks like a carved sculpture, right?"

"Yes, it looks very nice. Which country is this currency from?"

"Now this ─── this country doesn’t exist anymore."

"Oh, really......"

"…… Although it has the same weight as two common gold coins, coupled with the artwork one should expect a rather high value, am I right? "

"That might be...... but I’m no merchant and don't know how to properly judge an artworks worth......"

"Hahaha, you are right. So if I were to go shopping, this coin would be the equivalent of two common gold coins right?"

"Well, of course."

"Actually, I have several such coins. What kind of goods can you sell me? Of course, I’ll only buy as much as you’re willing to provide and it doesn’t matter to me if I have to pay the normal prices. You can even freely check out the coins. Please—— "

"Ainz Ooal Gown-sama!"

Ainz was startled by the village chief’s sudden shout, whose expression had become even more serious than before.

"...... Calling me Ainz is enough."

"So it is Ainz-sama?" The village chief was very skeptical at beginning, but after nodding several times he continued:

"I am well aware of what Ainz-sama is trying to say."

Becoming rather confused, Ainz wondered if a big question mark would pop up above his head.

This must be a misunderstanding, but since he had no idea what the village chief was planning to say Ainz had no idea on how to react.

"I am well aware that Ainz-sama does not want to sell himself short, since it is understandable that you expect a fitting reward for your hard work. To hire a person as powerful as Ainz-sama, we would need a lot of money, but you would like to receive something else in addition to the three thousand copper coins, am I right? "

Being unable to follow village chief’s train of thought, Ainz’s mind was in a mess and he couldn’t help being grateful he decided to wear this mask. Ainz took out the gold coins in order to estimate how much he would be able to buy with it since he wanted to roughly evaluate the market prices in this world. How did things turn out like this?

Without giving Ainz time to speak up, the village chief continues:

"However, just as I said before, the maximum amount this village can pay is around three thousand copper coins. You will certainly suspect there is more, but I can definitely assure you that we aren’t hiding anything from our savior Ainz-sama."

The Village Chief’s face was full of sincerity and it didn’t look like he was lying. If he was deceiving Ainz, Ainz could only blame for his own inability to read peoplestanding.

“No, we would never be able to gather the proper amount of money to pay a person as powerful as Ainz-sama. If everyone in the village gathered all their money, perhaps we might be able to satisfy Ainz-sama, but… our village has lost many people, if we were to pay you more then these 3000 copper coins we wouldn’t be able to survive the next season. It is the same with material goods, many fields will be short of hands because of our losses. So if we gave our supplies to you now, our future would be quite bleak. Although it is rude towards our savior, but if it is remotely possible… could we pay you back via installments?”

Huh? Could this be a great opportunity?

Having a moment of enlightenment, Ainz pretended to go into deep thought. His objective was right in front of him, now he could only pray to be successful. After a few seconds, Ainz finally spoke:

“I understand. I won’t ask for a reward.”

“Huh? Wh-.... Why?”

The Village Chief and his wife were dumbfounded. Ainz gently raised his hand, signalling that he still had something to say. During negotiations one had to properly consider what to say and what not to say, this was really troublesome and he didn’t know whether it was possible to smoothly get the information he desired, but he still had to try.

“... I am a magic chanter, after learning magic in a place called Nazarick I only ventured outside a short time ago.”

“I see. So that’s the reason you are dressed that way.”

“Ah, er. Yes.”

Ainz touched the Mask of Envy, casually wiping his brow.

If all magic chanters wore these kinds of mask, how would the people on the street react?

The image of Bali’s bursting streets popped up in his mind.

Ainz who didn’t expect to land in this world, suddenly noticed another thing he couldn’t understand. He wondered why they used the same titles as in YGGDRASIL.

The title of Magic Chanter was extremely common. It included Holy Hermit, Priest, Druid, Mystic, Sorcerer, Magician, Bard, Miko, Alchemist, Saint and other occupations. All of these classes in YGGDRASIL were known as Magic Chanters. If it was the same for this world, that would be an incredible coincidence.

Ainz continued to observe their reactions while he spoke:

“... Although I said I don’t want a reward, as a Magic Chanter I use a variety of different tools, and of course that includes fear and knowledge. These can be used as tools to make money. As I said before, because I was singlemindedly concentrating on my magic studies, I reached the point where I don’t really understand what is currently happening in the area, so I wanted to get informations from you two. Furthermore, I hope you won’t tell anyone else about the matter of me buying information. I’d be willing to consider this as a substitute for my reward.”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If something is free, then there has to be a catch somewhere.

After demanding a reward for saving these people, he suddenly changed his mind and no longer wanted to receive a reward. This would obviously cause some people to become suspicious about him.

But as long as the other party believed they had paid a proper reward, even if it was intangible, they would still be influenced by it.

In other words, if the other party believes they sold information to Ainz as a reward, they would become less suspicious and feel more at ease.

In fact, the Village Chief and his wife gave off a firm expression and nodded their head:

“I understand, we definitely won’t tell anyone about this.”

Ainz clenched his fists and secretly celebrated. His real-life business experiences were actually useful here.

“That’s great. Since I don’t wish to use magic to restrain you, I will believe in your integrity.”

Ainz stretched out his gauntlet covered hand. At first, the Village Chief was stunned for a second and after realising the intention he firmly gripped Ainz’s hand in a handshake.

Ainz was relieved that this world also had a tradition of shaking hands. If the Village Chief had made an questioning face, he really would’ve cried.

Of course, Ainz didn’t trust them completely. Regarding matters you don’t want people to speak about, the moment they were offered better benefits they would certainly leak the information in question.Even if a secret was kept at first, it was still possible for it to be leaked after the person in question had a change of mind. Since there was no such thing as a 'best solution', Ainz just had to take a gamble, believing that the village chief’s integrity was strong enough to not leak the information. He couldn’t really do anything to prevent that from happening and even if the information was leaked, he could still use it as a bargaining chip for the next time he had to deal with this village

But after looking at their grateful expressions and their sincere attitudes, Ainz’s intuition told him they would probably never betray him.

“So… Can you clearly tell me about this place?”

---

“.... How could this be.”

“Eh! Is there a problem?”

“No, nothing, I was just talking to myself. Sorry for making strange noises, causing you to worry…”

Ainz instantly resumed his original acting. If he still had his human body, he would’ve broken out in cold sweat right now.

The Village Chief just said “Oh, so its like this.” and didn’t pursue the matter.

Or maybe in his mind, he already thought of the Magic Chanter as a strange person. This would actually be more advantageous for Ainz...

"Should I prepare you something to drink?"

"Oh, no, I'm not thirsty, please do not bother."

The chief’s wife had already left the room and went outside——there were a lot of things that needed to be done. At the moment only the village chief and Ainz are in the house.

Ainz first questions were about the neighboring countries and he never even heard of the names mentioned by the village chief. Although he prepared himself psychologically, saying to himself that nothing will surprise him, but he was still surprised after hearing it..

At the beginning, Ainz constantly imagined that this world was based on the lore of YGGDRASIL. Since you could use YGGDRASIL magic in this world, perhaps it was somewhat related to YGGDRASIL. However, the names he heard had absolutely no relation to it.

The neighboring countries were the Kingdom of Re-Estize, the Baharuth Empire and the Silian Theocracy. In the Nordic mythology and lore of YGGDRASIL, these names didn’t appear.

His eyes were constantly shifting and his body was shaky. Ainz put his metal-gloved hands on the table and was barely able to keep his balance. He already knew that he arrived in a strange world and was mentally prepared for it, but it was impossible to not be surprised.

The impact was worse than expected.

This was the first time ever since his body became undead that he felt such a dramatic impact.

Trying to stay calm, Ainz recalled the names of those neighboring countries he just heard and their geographical conditions.

Beginning with the closest ones, Re-Estize Kingdom and Baharuth Empire. These two countries were separated by the Azellerisia mountains. To the south of the mountains was a large vast forest which belonged to the Kingdom. This village and the nearby fortress city were both located at the edge of the forest.

These two countries were constantly fighting against each other and there were skirmishes almost every year in the wilderness near the fortress city.

As for the country in the south, that was the Silian Theocracy.

To explain the relationship between these three countries in simpler term, it was like drawing a circle and putting a “T” in the center. This explanation might be a bit vague but it should be easy to understand. The Kingdom of Re-Estize on the left, the Baharuth Empire on the right and the Silian Theocracy to the south. There appeared to be other countries but the village chief only knew only about those three.

As for political events, there was no way for the chief of a small village to know more.

Which means ───

"... just now I made a fool of myself."

Just because the armor of the knights bore the emblem of the Baharuth empire, the village chief had assumed they were Baharuthian knights. But since this place was bordering the Silian Theocracy, they might have just as well been Silian knights in disguise.

Releasing all the knights had been a mistake, he should’ve kept at least one person to ask some questions. Now it was too late for that.

If this had really been the doing of the Silian Theocracy, then maybe he should warn the Empire. As for the Kingdom, since the villagers had been saved everything should be alright.

Ainz was deep in thought.

Was he the only one who came to this world?

That was impossible, the chances for other players to be here as well should be high. Perhaps Meromero also came here. The next step should be considering what to do in case he encountered other players.

From a Japanese person’s point of view, if other players got transported here as well then they should stick together. It would be best to cooperate as much as possible with each other when that happened. As long it had nothing to do with Ainz Ooal Gown, it wouldn’t matter what of concessions he would have to make.

The only problem would be if the other party considered him as an enemy. Although the probability for that to happen was very small, it wasn’t completely impossible.

Ainz Ooal Gown had always played the role of the bad guys and had been PKing all the time. As a result they were generally disliked. It wasn’t clear if that resentment has disappeared or not. Maybe the other party would try to bring him to justice, driven by their anger and hate.

In order to prevent being hated, he first had to try to avoid hostile behaviors in the surrounding area. Massacring the local residents, especially innocent people, would very likely enrage other players who had yet to lose their humanity. Of course, if he could provide the other side with a good reason for his acts, it might become a different matter. Saving attacked villagers from being killed for example.

All his future actions had to be justified with commendable reasonings rather than convenience. In other words, it was possible that next time he had to do things he didn’t want to do, but there was no way around it.

Still, if the other party still felt lingering resentment towards Ainz Ooal Gown because of the past, then fighting would become unavoidable. So he must draft out a countermeasure for that situation.

As for the fighting force of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, if the opponent had around thirty level 100 players, he should be able to easily destroy them. Since he was also to use the legendary stored inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, it could be compared to an impregnable fortress. If the enemies were only just as strong as those knights, the it should be easy for Nazarick to repel them.

But as one could imagine, fighting in a fortress without receiving reinforcements would be a very disadvantageous situation. Using Ainz Ooal Gown’s legendary items would make it very easy to kill them, but Ainz’ level would be reduced every time he released its maximum power. If he used it to repel every attack, there would be a day when he became unable to use them.

Ainz understood how easy it was to make mistakes or to not notice certain things when he just concentrated on fighting. But Ainz wasn’t a child, and so he would take the worse case scenarios into account before he started to act. That way he could think of counter-measures before the problem even occurred.

If he just wanted to live, then he wouldn’t need to think so much. He could just be like a beast and live in the forest. But because of his strength and the proud name he was wearing right now he couldn’t allow himself to do so.

If he wanted to live peacefully with others, he would just have to improvise.

Therefore it became an important as to how he would face combat in the future. He had to properly expand his military strength. Next he had to gather information about this world, including any news about other players.

“... This should be sufficient.”

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just that my predictions were different from reality, so I forgot myself. Right, are there any other matters you can tell me about?”

“Ah, yes I understand.”

The Village Chief’s talk changed to the subject of monsters.

This world was the same as in YGGDRASIL in the aspect that they both have monsters. Inside forests, there were Magical Beasts as well, in particular in the area called “Forest of the Sage Kings”. There were also Dwarves, Forest Sprites or Fairies, Goblins, Orcs, Ogres and other demi-humans. There was even a demi-human country established somewhere.

There were those called ‘Adventurers’, who receive rewards for defeating these creatures. Among them there were many Magic Chanters. They also established an Adventurers Guild within the city.

In addition, there seems to be a way to gather the relevant information in the Fortress City of Eae Rantel.

According to the Village Chief, Eae Rantel appeared to be the largest nearby city, even if it was unclear exactly how many people lived there. If he wanted to gather information, that would be the place.

Even though the information shared by the Village Chief were useful, there were still many things he didn’t know about. In order to clarify this, it would be faster to just send someone there to check.

Finally about the language. Although this seemed to be another world, it was strange how they could still understand japanese. So Ainz carefully looked at the Village Chief’s mouth and realised they were not speaking Japanese at all.

The shape of the mouth and the resulting sounds, all of them didn’t seem to be Japanese.

He should experiment on this later.

In conclusion, it appeared the people of this world once ate some kind of food called ‘Translation Konjac’. It was just that there was no idea who fed it to them.

It seemed like the languages of this world would be translated automatically before it was transmitted to the other person.

So, if everyone was able to understand each other, then it should be possible to speak to other species as well. Such as talking to dogs or cats. The only problem was that nobody knew who made it this way. But for some reason, the Village Chief didn’t think that this was strange in any way.

As if it was something completely ordinary.

——In other words, this was the common sense of this world. Thinking calmly about it, since this was a magical world, the fact that there would be a completely different common sense wasn’t strange at all.

The common sense he learnt throughout his past life and the common sense of this world was completely different. This was a fatal problem.

If he wasn’t familiar with the common sense of this world, it was possible for him to commit a fatal blunder. The trait “lack of common sense”, was definitely a bad thing.

Presently, Ainz was missing this common sense. He had to think of a solution, but since he couldn’t think of a good idea, should he just go to find a random person and get him to spit out all of his common sense to him? Of course not.

It looked like there was only one way.

"...... It seems I will have to live in a city for a while."

Many things will require him to learn about the common sense of this world. It was also important to understand the magic of this world. There were simply a lot of things you needed to know.

Deep in thought, Ainz heard the sound of gentle steps approaching the thin wooden door from outside. Although the footsteps were heavy, the time between each step indicated that they did not move quickly. They were the footsteps of a person who wasn’t in a hurry.

The moment Ainz turned his face in the direction of the door, somebody knocked on the door. The village chief couldn’t help but observe Ainz's face. Since the price for saving their lives was to explain things, he didn’t dare to leave without Ainz’s consent.

"Please go ahead. I just wanted to take a break anyway, so it doesn’t matter if you want to leave."

"I am very, very sorry about this."

The village chief gently nodded to apologize, stood up and walked towards the door. A villager appeared at the door, who first looked at the village chief and then towards Ainz:

"Chief, I'm sorry to bother you while you are talking with your guest, but the funeral is ready ......"

"Oh ......"

The chief’s gaze moved to Ainz, as if he was requesting his permission.

"It doesn’t matter, don’t mind me."

"Thank you. Tell everyone I'll be right there."

Part 2

The funeral was held in the cemetery at the outskirts of the village. The cemetery itself consisted of a shabby fence which enclosed an open space, with several vertical round stones that had names engraved on them.

The village chief read an epitaph to console the souls of the recently departed. He spoke of gods who didn’t exist in Yggdrasil and prayed that the souls may rest in peace.

Apparently they couldn't bury all the bodies due to a shortage of manpower, so they only buried a portion of them. From Ainz’s perspective, burying someone on the same day they died was a bit premature. Perhaps this world had religious practices unknown to Ainz and burying someone quickly was considered normal.

The villagers were all gathered inside the cemetery, among them Ainz also saw the two sisters he rescued - Enri and Nemu Emmott. Ainz confirmed that the two corpses over there are their parents; apparently their burial would take place soon.

Ainz observed them from a nearby position while embracing a thirty centimeter wand beneath his robe. The wand was made from ivory, decorated with gold at the tip. Its grip was engraved with runes and gave off a divine scent.

The wand's name was [Resurrection Wand].

With this magic item it was possible to bring the dead back to live. Ainz obviously had more than one wand. He even had enough of them to resurrect all the dead in this village and leftovers to spare.

According to the village chief, there was no magic in this world that could revive the dead. If Ainz were to use the resurrection wand, he could create a miracle in this village. But after the prayers were concluded and the funeral was coming to an end, Ainz slowly put the wand back into the Item Box.

He could resurrect the dead, but did not do so. It wasn’t because he believed that it was God’s job to manage deceased spirits, but rather because there was no point in doing so.  

Consider the two types of Magic Chanters, those who could use magic to kill and those who could use magic to resurrect others. It’s easy to imagine which one would be more likely to be involved with trouble. Even if they were resurrected with the condition to not tell anyone about it, the chances of keeping everything secret were small.

Everyone longed for the ability to defy death, right?

Under different circumstances he might’ve been able to cast Resurrection. But at the moment he didn’t have enough information; it was better to not use the wand.

"Just the act of saving their village should be enough to make them happy."

Ainz whispered a silent prayer while gazing at the Death Knight standing behind him.

The Death Knight was another mystery.

While inside YGGDRASIL, summoned Magical Beings expire unless they were called forth by special summoning methods. This Death Knight wasn’t summoned with such methods. It ought to have expired, but it didn’t.

Although Ainz speculated as to why, he couldn’t find an explanation due to his lack of information. While Ainz was still deep in thought, two figures appeared next him.

It was Albedo and a Magical Being with a human-like body shape that wore a black spider ninja costume which had eight legs that were like keen blades.

"An Eight-legged Spiderblade Assassin*? Albedo, this is ......"

TL Note: 八肢刀暗殺蟲

Ainz looks around him. The villagers do not seem to have noticed. For now let’s disregard Albedo. If you saw such a Magical Being, even if you were in the middle of a funeral, it’s still something you would normally stare at.

But then he suddenly remembered that Eight-legged Spiderblade Assassins belonged to the kind of Magical Beings that were able to render themselves invisible.

"He wanted to pay his respects to Ainz-sama, so I brought him over."

"It is a great honor to meet Momonga-sama——"

"——No need for courtesies. You are from the back-up troops right?"

"Yes, apart from me we have prepared four hundred servants to attack this village."

Attack? How did it turn out like this? Ainz couldn’t help himself and thought—— Sebastian really has no talent for delivering messages.

"... There’s no need to attack, the problem has already been resolved. Who is commanding you?"

"Aura-sama and Mare-sama. Demiurge-sama and Sharutia-sama are on alert inside Nazarick, and Cocytus-sama is patrolling the area around Nazarick."

"So it’s like this...... Too many of us would just get in the way. With the exception of Aura and Mare, everyone else shall withdraw. How many Eight-legged Spiderblade Assassins are here?"

"There are fifteen of us."

"In that case you are to remain on standby with Aura and Mare."

Seeing the Eight-legged Spiderblade Assassins nodding in understanding, Ainz shifted his sight towards the funeral. When the graves started being covered with earth, the two young girls started crying non-stop.

Since it didn’t look like the funerals would be ending soon, Ainz slowly walked towards the village. Albedo and Death Knight followed him.

Although interrupted by the funerals, Ainz still spent a lot of time here learning things such as common sense. After leaving the village chief’s house, the sun was already setting in the sky.

It appears that role in this heroic rescue drama took a lot of time.

But he didn’t consider this time wasted. As he got to know about this world, more and more unanswered questions were piling up. Learning as much as he did was enough to make him content.

While looking at a beautiful sunset, Ainz thought about what he should be doing next.

It was very dangerous to act without knowing the situation in this world. The best course of action was to first collect lots of information by concealing his identity and doing covert operations. But after rescuing this village, he was no longer able to conceal his identity. Even if the knights were completely wiped out, they belonged to a nation who would try to find out what happened. In his old world, scientific investigation was well-developed, and perhaps this world would have other means of investigation.

Even if there weren’t any well-developed investigation methods, as long as the village survived, one day someone would find traces of Ainz there. In order to avoid information leaks, the villagers could be brought back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. However, the kingdom to which these villages belong would certainly object. It wouldn’t be surprising if such an incident were treated as a mass-kidnapping.

There were two reasons for stating his name and letting the knights escape.

The first was because as long as Ainz wasn’t hiding inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, news about him would slowly start to spread. In that case it would be better if he was the one to disseminate the information.

The second reason was to spread the news that Ainz Ooal Gown had rescued the villagers by killing the knights. Of course, the primary intention was to let other YGGDRASIL players catch wind of this.

Ainz wanted to have a shelter inside the Kingdom, the Empire or the Theocracy.

On one hand, if there were other players in these countries, clues pertaining to their existence would start to surface. On the other hand, if Ainz were to mobilize all of Nazarick in order to search for these clues, not only would it take a lot of effort, but the risk would also be high. If someone had temperament like Albedo’s, giving him the wrong order would certainly create an unnecessary enemy.

With respect to intelligence gathering, becoming allies with one of these countries had a great deal of benefits. In order to protect the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s independence, having the backing of a strong party would be useful. But since he didn’t know about the relative strengths of these countries, he judged it would be wiser to not hastily associate himself with one at the moment. Also, since Ainz didn’t know who the strongest person was in this world, he couldn’t let his guard down. In these three countries, there might be someone even stronger than Ainz.

Becoming a member of one of these countries might bring quite a few disadvantages, but there should be a lot of benefits as well, right? The question is, how does he gain citizenship?

If the answer was to become a slave, then no thank you. He wouldn’t consider becoming a black-hearted corporate employee like Meromero either. That’s why he had to reveal his presence to all forces, observe their reactions and potential offers and choose the ideal side. These were the fundamentals of looking for a job.

So when should he immigrate? As long as Ainz lacked information, there was a possibility that Ainz would be manipulated.

Thinking about all this, Ainz wearily shook his head.

In these past few hours, he used his brain too much. He didn’t want to think anymore.

"Sigh … ... Let’s call it a day. We’re done here. Albedo, let’s head back."

"Understood."

Albedo’s answering voice was very tense. Since no danger was present, there wasn’t a need for her to be on alert.

Considering this, he could only think of one reason as to why. Ainz, using a low tone, inquired:

"...... Do you hate humans?"

"I don’t like them. Humans are fragile and inferior creatures. If I crush them like insects, there would be a pretty sight to behold...... these two girls are exceptions though."

Even though Albedo’s voice was as sweet as honey, what she said was still very cruel.

Considering that Albedo had the appearance of a warm-hearted goddess, Ainz thought that her previous sentence was at great odds with her appearance and began to admonish her:

"Is that so..... I understand how you feel. However, I hope you’ll calm down a bit, since knowing how to conduct oneself is very important."

Watching Albedo nod frantically, Ainz started to worry.

At this stage, Albedo’s likes or dislikes wouldn’t cause any problems, but that wasn’t necessarily true in the future.

Knowing the preferences of his subordinates was a matter of great importance.

After noting Albedo’s prejudice against humanity, Ainz started looking for the village chief. Courtesy obligated him to say his farewells before leaving.

He immediately located the village chief. The chief had a solemn expression and stood in a corner of the square speaking with several villagers, yet something wasn’t right. The village chief’s face showed a troubled expression as if something were about to happen.

Did something troublesome happen?

Ainz repressed the urge to say goodbye. When saving someone, one should do it properly. With this thought in mind, he approached the village chief:

“... What’s the matter, village chief?”

The village chief’s face lit up with a glimmer of hope.

“Oh, Ainz-sama. There seems to be people riding horses, who look like soldiers approaching this place…”
“I see…”

The village chief stared at Ainz with a worried look, as did all the other villagers.

Ainz gently raised his hand, telling everyone to be at ease:

“Leave it to me. All the villagers will seek shelter in the village chief’s house; the two of us will stay here.”

A bell rang, and the villagers began to gather. At the same time, Death Knight went next to the village chief’s home to guard it and Albedo stood next to Ainz waiting for his commands.

In order to dispel the village chief’s anxiety, Ainz cheerfully spoke up:

“Don’t worry, since this is a special case I’ll help you free of charge.”

The village chief ceases to tremble and forces a smile. He probably had already made mental preparations to bet everything on Ainz.

After a short while, several horsemen appeared on the road and slowly paraded into the square.

“... Their equipment is different and appears to be haphazardly arranged…. Are these even proper soldiers?”

Ainz was perplexed by their equipment.

The knights from before had an imperial emblem on their armor, and they were armed with matching swords and a full set of armor. But these horsemen, even though they were also wearing armor, had no discernable uniform. Some wore leather, while some didn’t even wear armor, exposing the chainmail vest usually worn underneath.

Some wore helmets, while others did not. The only thing they had in common was that all their faces were exposed. All of them were equipped with the same kind of sword, but some carried a bow, or perhaps a pistol, a mace or other spare weapons with them.

To put it nicely, this group looked filled with veteran warriors who have seen countless battlefields. If you weren’t feeling too generous, they looked like a ragtag mercenary group.

In the end around twenty horsemen rode into the square. Although they were wary of the Death Knight, they were still more or less able to neatly arrange themselves in front of the village chief and Ainz. From within their ranks a single man emerged and rode towards Ainz.

This appeared to be the leader of these men, having the most eye-catching and courageous appearance. He slowly surveyed his surroundings, looking at the village chief, then at the Death Knight and then at Albedo. He looked around for quite some time. But upon realising that the other party remained motionless, he suddenly pierced Ainz with his sharp eyes.

Even while being he was stared at with such fierce eyes, Ainz remained calm and unmoving. This kind of pressure wouldn’t even cause the tiniest ripple in his heart.

Not because Ainz wasn’t afraid of these eyes, his imperviousness was simply a side-effect of him being an Elder Lich. Perhaps his YGGDRASIL abilities allowed him to be full of self-confidence.

Having surveyed the area, the captain spoke with an imposing voice:

“——I am a knight captain of the Kingdom of Re-Estize, Gazef Strolonoff. Under orders from the king, I have come with a punitive force to fight against the knights of the Empire and have been patrolling around various villages.”

His deep, smooth voice resounded in the square and the village chief behind Ainz muttered:

“A knight-captain of the Kingdom…”

This person was never mentioned during my talk with the chief——With a slight undertone of blame directed at the village chief, he asked in a low voice:

“.... What kind of person is he?”

“According to the traders that pass through, he was the champion of a tournament held in the past, which was used to determine the King’s personal guard. Presently he is a direct subordinate to the King and commands an elite group of soldiers.”

“Is the person in front of me really that great…?”

“.... I don’t know. This is only hearsay.”

Ainz carefully looked at the horsemen; they clearly had the same emblem on their chests. Their emblem looked very similar to ones here in the village. That said, there wasn’t enough information and thus his identity couldn’t be ascertained.

Gazef looked at the village chief:

“You must be the village chief. Could you tell me who the man standing next to you is?”

“Do not bother. Hello, Sir Knight-Captain of the Kingdom, I am Ainz Ooal Gown, a Magic Chanter. Because the villagers were attacked by knights, I came to here to rescue them.”

Stopping the village chief who was about to answer, Ainz gently saluted, and introduced himself.

Gazef quickly stepped off his horse, making a loud sound from his heavy metal armor, he stood on the ground and made a deep bow:

“Thank you for saving this village, I am unable to repay your kindness.”

The air shook slightly.

As a Knight Captain, he would probably have been part of the privileged class, so showing such respect to a no-name like Ainz in a world with clear differences between the social classes would be a huge surprise to anyone. That said, in this country, or even the entire world, human rights had yet to be fully established. Just a few years ago, there were still countries practising slavery.

Even though their standings were completely different, Gazef still got off his horse to bow to Ainz. It was clear what type of a person Gazef is.

Ainz’s intuition told him that Gazef’s identity as Knight-Captain of the Kingdom wasn’t fake.

“.... No need to be so polite. In fact, the purpose of this was to receive a reward, so there is no need for thanks.”

“Oh, a reward. That is to say, you are an adventurer? Hmm… I see. Looks like you seem to be a great adventurer…...But please forgive my ignorance, I have never heard the name of Master Gown before.”

“I am a traveller who just happened to pass by here, so I am not a very well known figure.”

“... Currently travelling eh. I apologise for wasting the time of such an outstanding adventurer, but would it be possible for you to tell me what happened to the men who came and raided this village?”

“It would be my pleasure, Sir Knight-Captain. Most of the knights who came and raided this village are already dead; they should be unable to cause any more trouble. Is there a need to continue explaining?”

“... Killed…. Was the deed done by Master Gown?”

Hearing the way that Gazef addressed him, Ainz realised that names in this world were called in the Western and not the Japanese style. The sequence of a name would be Given Name + Surname and not Surname + Given Name. That explained why the village chief had shown such a strange expression when Ainz asked him to address him by Japanese custom. Though they were not familiar with each other, Ainz still asked the other person to call him by name. Of course the village chief would be confused.

Realising his own mistake, Ainz still used the shameless nature he acquired as a working member of society to gloss over his faux pas.

“... That is correct, but also not correct.”

Keenly aware of the meaning of Ainz’s words, Gazef looked towards the Death Knight, from which he could probably smell a thin scent of blood.

“There are two things I want to ask… Who is that?”

“He is one of my created servants.”

Gazef hummed, then with sharp eyes looked at Ainz from head to toe.

“In that case… What is that mask?”

“Because I am a Magic Chanter, I have to wear this.”

“Can you take it off?”

“If I do so, then that guy——“ His hand pointed to the Death Knight. “If he goes out of control it would be very troublesome.”

The village chief, along with the villagers inside the house, knew the strength of the Death Knight very well, and they all showed a surprised expression. Possibly feeling the change in the village chief’s mood and the surrounding atmosphere, Gazef nodded heavily:

“I see, in that case it would be better to not remove the mask.”

“Thank you.”

“Then——”

“Before that, sorry to interrupt, but this village was just attacked by knights of the Empire. If everyone were to carry weapons and enter, it may cause the villagers to recall their recent, frightful experiences. If I may ask, would it be possible for everyone to place their weapons in the corner of the square, and consequently put the villager’s minds at ease?”

“...What Master Gown has said is certainly correct. However these swords were bestowed upon us by the king; without the king’s orders we cannot lay them down.”

“——Ainz-sama, we are fine with it.”

“Is that so? Village chief… Also Sir Knight-Captain, please pardon my unreasonable request.”

“Master Gown indeed has the right idea. If this sword weren’t bestowed by the king, I would happily put it down. Then can we find somewhere to sit together, and would it be possible for you to recount the details of this incident? If you don’t mind, the hour grows late, and I wish to rest inside the village…”

“I understand. Then shall we proceed to my home——”

While the village chief was answering, a knight hastily ran into the square. Panting heavily, he had urgent news to report.

The knight loudly shouted an emergency situation:

“Captain! There are many shadows surrounding the area. They are approaching the village!”

Part 3

"Everyone listen up."

A calm, quiet voice could be heard by everyone.

"The prey has entered the cage."

The speaker was a man.

He had a common appearance; if he was in a crowd, he wouldn’t be particularly conspicuous. His only outstanding features were his black, artificial looking eyes and the scar on his face.

"Thou shalt devote thine faith to God."

Everyone prayed in silence. It was a simplified prayer to God. While carrying out assignments, even within domestic borders, they had to take their time to pray.

It wasn't simple, but they always had to exhibit a staunch and profound belief in God.

These knights who gave their everything to the Silian Theocracy, and to God, had a more profound faith than ordinary citizens. That was the reason they were able to carry out callous acts without feeling sinful. After the prayer ended, everyone's eyes became as cold as ice.

"Commence."

Barely a phrase.

They surrounded the village with perfectly coordinated movements, giving the impression that this was the result of constant training.

They were the Silian Theocracy's knights who specialized in carrying out illegal missions, only heard of, but never seen.

The Silian Theocracy had six such groups working for their intelligence agency. The typical duties of the Sunlight Scripture included the annihilation of demi-human villages. Although they had many opportunities to do battle, their numbers were quite small. Including the scouts, they numbered less than a hundred men.

That was because the door into the Sunlight Scripture was very narrow.

First, one had to be able to use Holy spells of Level 3, as well as all the normal high level spells that Magic Chanters were able to learn. Additionally, they had to possess superior physical capabilities, resilience and spirit, along with a deep faith in his religion.

In short, they were the cream of the crop.

Watching the men around him, the man softly exhaled. Once all the men dispersed it would be difficult to grasp all of their movements. But he had complete faith in his flawless cage.

With the success of his task within his grasp, the captain of the Sunlight Scripture, Nigan Goodrich Luin, felt at ease in his heart.

Those in the Sunlight Scripture weren’t experts in covert or outfield operations, and as a result they missed four other opportunities. Everytime they chased after Gazef and his group of knights, they always had be very vigilant to avoid being detected. If they missed this opportunity as well, their days of constant pursuit would continue without a doubt.

"Next time… I should ask the other teams for help and push the responsibility onto them."

Someone then replied to Nigan’s complaint.

"That’s right, our expertise is extermination after all."

The person answering was one of the team members who had stayed behind to protect Nigan.

"Looking at it, our task this time seems to be quite unusual. This is clearly an important assignment; it wouldn’t be strange if we were to enlist the help of the Windflower…"

"You’re correct. Although I do not understand the reason we were deployed this time, it’s nonetheless quite a useful experience. To infiltrate the enemy ranks is indeed good training. No, perhaps this was the ultimate objective."

Although that was what he said, it was clear to Nigan that accepting a similar task in the future would be troublesome.

This time his task was "To assassinate the Kingdom’s strongest warrior, the one unmatched even in the neighboring countries, Gazef Strolonoff."

Generally speaking, this didn’t seem like a task well-suited for the Sunlight Scripture, but rather one for the Black Scripture, which had fighters possessing strength of a heroic Level. But this time, nothing could be done about the situation.

Nigan knew the true reason the other groups couldn’t assist them, but he wasn’t allowed to tell his subordinates because that information was classified.

The Black Scripture had to deal with the upcoming resurrection of the Dragon King of Ruin, and were now protecting the divine artifact [Bewitching Calamity, Kei Seke Koku]. The Windflower Scripture was also using all its strength to chase after the traitor who stole the Miko Princess’ divine artifact, thus they had no forces left to assist him.

Nigan unconsciously stroked the scar on his face, vividly remembering the only time he had to flee like a coward. His mind recalled the face of the woman who carried the pitch-black, magically created sword that caused this scar.

In most circumstances, one could completely cure any wound without leaving a scar just by using magic, but Nigan deliberately left these scars as a reminder of his defeat.

"... Damn that Blue Rose."

Nigan detested the fact that Blue Rose and Gazef were both from the Kingdom. Nor could he forgive Blue Rose for being a priestess who served a different god. And there was the fact that she stopped Nigan’s attempt to destroy a demi-human village. She was also the type of person Nigan loathed most, both merciful and foolish.

"... The weak must look for many methods of self-protection if they want to survive. To not even know that, how stupid."

Noticing the suppressed anger in the artificial looking eyes of his leader, one of his subordinates quickly interrupted:

"Bu-, but the Kingdom is truly stupid."

Nigan did not answer, but he agreed with that statement.

Gazef was strong, so they had to weaken him by stripping him of his equipment.

The Kingdom was split into two factions, the King and the Nobility, who were constantly competing for political power. As long as they were able to get rid of Gazef, the King’s pivotal piece, the nobles would be able to move easily. Even if this mission was issued due to the influence of foreign spies, it wouldn't be surprising for the higher-ups of the Kingdom to support this assassination mission.

Since Gazef was just a simple commoner who had raised through the ranks using his superior swordsmanship, he was hated by the nobles.

And that was how the situation ended up like this.

The kingdom’s champion, killed by his own people.

Nigan considered all this as really stupid behavior.

Although they─the people of the Silian Theocracy─ were divided into six different religious factions, they would cooperate readily whenever the need arose.

One reason was their collective respect for each other’s god. Another reason was their knowledge of other races and demonic beings in this world that weren’t human. It would be very dangerous if they weren’t united.

"...It’s important that everyone follows the same teachings and walks the same road. Humans shouldn’t fight with each other; we should work together to pave a road for the future."

Gazef will be sacrificed to achieve this goal.

"... Do we have the ability to get rid of him?"

Nigan didn’t laugh at his subordinate’s anxiety.

The target this time was the Knight-Captain of the Kingdom——The strongest warrior of the neighboring kingdoms, Gazef Strolonoff.

Compared to raiding a huge Goblin Village and killing everything, this mission was a lot more difficult. In order to soothe his subordinate’s anxiety, Nigan calmly said:

"There won’t be any problems. Right now, he doesn’t have the Kingdom’s treasures because he didn’t receive permission to use them. Without those treasures, killing him should take no effort at all… No, if it wasn’t for this great opportunity, there would be no way to defeat him."

Knight-Captain of the Kingdom, Gazef Strolonoff, was one of the strongest knights. His superior swordsmanship made him very fearsome, but there was another reason as well.

He had the right to wear the Kingdom’s five treasures. At the moment the Sunlight Scripture only had intel on four of them, but if Gazef were to obtain permission, he could equip all of them.

The [Gauntlet of Endurance] that granted his bearer endless stamina. The [Amulet of Immortality] that provided regeneration. Made of incredibly hard steel, the [Guardian Armor] prevented any instantly killing attack. And [Razor Edge], a magically sharpened sword with the ability to slice through armor like paper.

Even Nigan himself wouldn’t be able to win against Gazef if he was supported by the treasures’ blessings which improved both his offensive and defensive capabilities. No, among all the humans, there should be no one capable of defeating him. But right now he didn’t have those treasures, so victory was assured.

"Also… We still have a trump card. This is a battle that we cannot lose."

Nigan placed one of his hands on his chest.

In this world, there were three magical items that were unimaginably powerful.

One of these treasures was left behind by the Eight Kings of Desire who briefly ruled this world five hundred years ago.

Another one came from an age long before the Eight Kings of Desire was defeated, when Dragons still ruled over the world; a hidden tool created by the magic of the highest ranking Dragon Lord.

The last one was a treasure left behind six-hundred years ago by the Six Great Gods; it was the basis of the Silian Theocracy’s doctrine.

These were the three magical items.

Note: 八欲王 was hard to translate. At first we had "king(s) of 8 Greed" and after discussing it for a while we decided to go with "Eight Kings of (earthly) Desires". IamAKami thinks the "king" is singular, but this way it makes a bit more sense. Skythewood cleared our confusion about the rest of the name. Thanks everyone!

And in Nigan’s possession was a treasure that only a selected few in the Silian Theocracy knew about, it was his sure-kill trump card.

Nigan looked at the steel wristband on his wrist. Several numerals floated up, displaying that the appointed time has come.

"Well then… Commence the attack."

Nigan and his subordinates started to cast their magic.

All of them used their high tier spells which summoned angels.

"Oh... There are indeed people."

Gazef, from a dimly lit room, peeked out at the silhouettes surrounding the village.

He perceived three people who were keeping their distance, slowly encroaching on the village.

They weren't armed and didn't wear any heavy equipment. But this didn't mean that they would be easily defeated. Lots of Magic Chanters disliked heavy equipment, opting instead for lighter gear. This was probably the case for these people.

Floating next to them were Magical Beings that shone brilliantly and had wings, which made it obvious what kind of Magical Being they were.

Angels.

Angels were Magical Beings summoned from another realm and many people believed that they were God's envoys, especially the people of the Silian Theocracy.

Although there was no way to prove whether or not Angels were envoys of God, the Kingdom still claimed these Angels were merely Magical Beings.

And even though the debate regarding Angels was one of the biggest reasons for conflict between the Kingdom and the Theocracy, Gazef didn't really care whether Angels were envoys or not; all he cared about was their combat prowess.

To Gazef's knowledge, Angels were stronger in comparison to other Magical Beings summoned with the same tier of magic. They had special abilities and could even use magic themselves. All in all, he considered them to be troublesome opponents indeed.

But you had also to consider what kind of Angels they were; not all Angels were necessarily hard to deal with.

These Angels were equipped with shining breastplates and had blazing longswords in their hands. Gazef wasn't familiar with this kind of Angel.

Next to Gazef, who wasn't able to gauge the Angel's true strength, stood Ainz who was also observing the situation. Ainz asked:

"Where did the Angels come from? And what's their objective? This village isn't worth attacking, right?"

"Master Gown, I have no clue... If they're not after possessions, there can be only one reason for their presence."

The twos' gazes meet.

"Is it because they have a grudge against Sir Knight-Captain?"

"Since I assumed the position of Knight-Captain, dealing with grudges is something that can't be helped. But... ...This is really troublesome. Since they have so many Magic Chanters who’re able to summon Angels, it seems very likely that they belong to the Silian Theocracy... ... And since they're carrying out this kind of shady activity it's pretty clear that they're from one of their special intelligence teams... ...The so called Six Scriptures. From both the numerical and proficiency standpoints, they have the upper hand."

Gazef, who was analyzing this thorny situation, forcibly relaxed his shoulder muscles. Although he appeared calm and collected on the surface, in his heart he felt very anxious and wrathful.

They actually forced me to leave my sacred treasures behind by using the nobility faction; I must have troubled them too much. However, if that venomous man remains in the palace it would be an even bigger problem. This opportunity to find out why he wants to kill me should be a stroke of luck. In any case, I would've never thought the Silian Theocracy had set its sight on me as well.

Gazef let out another "Hmmph!"

However, he lacked manpower and was absolutely unprepared. Normally he would be at the end of his wit, but perhaps he still had a joker up his sleeve.

"Is that an Archangel of Fire? It looks like one, but... why would a such a similar looking magical being appear... Is it because of a summoning spell? And if that’s the case... ...?"

Gazef shifted his gaze toward the muttering Ainz and inquired with a sliver of hope:

"Master Gown, are you willing to be employed?"

There was no response, but Gazef could perceive Ainz's general mood.

"With respect to payment, I can guarantee your satisfaction."

"Please forgive me for declining."

"Even if you only lent us the knight you summoned, that would be fine as well."

"Please forgive me for declining once again."

"Oh... ...Then as decreed by the Kingdom's law, can I subject you to conscription?"

"That's a dumb alternative... ...I wasn't planning on saying these words, but if you intend to use the Kingdom's authority, then I would have to resist a little bit."

The two stared at each other; the first to avert his gaze was Gazef.

"...To have been wiped out before even engaging with the Silian Theocracy's men, how frightful."

"Wiped out...You sure know how to jest. In any case, for understanding my position in this matter, I am very grateful."

Gazef closed his eyes, carefully examining the bowing Ainz who was expressing his thanks.

Gazef wasn't jesting when he said "wiped out." His intuition screamed at him that this Magic Chanter putting up a little resistance would result in a somewhat dangerous situation.

Gazef believed it was better to trust intuition than to rely on half-baked ideas, especially when facing a life threatening situation.

Who is he really?

While thinking, Gazef looked toward Ainz’ bizarre mask. What the hell is underneath this mask? Is he a person I know? Or...

"Is something wrong? Is there something on my mask?"

"Ah, no… it’s nothing, I was just thinking that this mask is very special. This mask can be used to control a Magical Being like that... in that case it should be a powerful item... right?"

"Well, this is a very rare and expensive item that is unique in this world."

If someone had a high-tier magic item, it also meant that the ability of the individual in question was very high. By this reasoning, Ainz’ chanting and magic abilities should be fairly strong. Having been unable to solicit Ainz’s assistance, Gazef felt a bit dejected.

Deep in his heart, he had hoped Ainz would accept this commission since he was an adventurer.

"...... Continuing this is meaningless. Well then Master Gown, please take care. Thank you once again for saving the village."

Gazef removed his metal gloves and reached out his to grab Ainz’ hand. Normally, Ainz should have also politely taken off his own metal gloves, but he did not do so. Gazef however didn’t care and tightly held Ainz’s hands, speaking his inner thoughts:

"I am very grateful to you for protecting innocent villagers from being massacred. Also...... I don’t want to ask this of you, but I hope you can protect the villagers here again. I don’t have anything to offer to you right now, nevertheless I still ask you accept my request ...... I beg you. "

"Well this..."

"If you ever visit the King’s capital, I promise that I will gift you whatever you desire. This I swear upon the name Gazef Strolonoff."

Gazef freed his hand with the intent to kneel, but Ainz’s hands stops him:

"... There’s no need to go this far... I understand, I will protect the villagers. This I swear upon the name Ainz Ooal Gown."

Gazef became slightly more relieved after hearing Ainz swearing by his name:

"Thank you, Master Gown. Now I can charge forward without worries."

"... Until then, please take this."

Ainz took out an object and gave it to the happy looking Gazef. It was a strange little sculpture and there didn't seem to be anything special about it. But——

"As long as it is your gift, I will gladly accept it. Well then Master Gown, although it saddens me, I will be going."

"...Shouldn’t we wait until nightfall before moving out?"

"The other side has a sort of "night vision" magic. Attacking in the night would be disadvantageous for us, but not necessarily for them. Besides... Master Gown needs to be able to observe the flow of battle."

"I understand, to have such a profound sense of planning, you are worthy of your title as the  Kingdom’s Knight-Captain. I wish you success, Sir Knight-Captain."

"And I wish Master Gown a safe journey home."

Ainz silently watched Gazef’s back gradually disappear. Albedo felt something change in her Master but didn’t inquire further.

"...Well ... Upon meeting the humans here, I could only muster enough empathy to treat them as insects... but after conversing with them, I’m starting to see them as small animals."

"Is that why you vowed to protect them, using your name as guarantee?"

"Maybe... No, it’s probably because he had the resolve to face his own death..."

The Knight-Captain had a different kind of resolve than Ainz had.

Ainz’s mind yearned for such a resolve.

"...Albedo, command the servants around here to knock out anyone who is hiding in ambush."

"Right away… Ainz-sama the village chief’s party arrives presently."

Ainz turned towards Albedo and saw the village chief and two other villagers running in his direction..

They were gasping for breath, panicking, and their anxiety was obvious. The village chief immediately opened his mouth to speak, as if even breathing was a waste of time.

"Ainz-sama, what are we supposed to do? Why is Sir Knight-Captain leaving the village, leaving us unprotected?"

The village chief's voice had a lot of fear in it, but there was a hint of anger as well.

"... He is doing the right thing, village chief-sama ... the enemy’s target is Sir Knight-Captain. If he stays here, the village will turn into a battlefield. Furthermore it doesn’t look like the other party is willing to let you escape. He has your best interests in mind."

"So that’s why the Knight-Captain left... then, then should we continue to stay here?"

"That would be a bad idea. After Sir Knight-Captain, they will probably target the village next. As long as we remain inside their net, we won’t have any place to run to. However... our opponents will likely have to use all their forces to subdue Sir Knight-Captain, presenting us with a great opportunity to flee. That’s when we should escape."

That was the reason the Knight-Captain made a big fuss about his escape. He wanted to bait the enemy into using all their forces to attack him.

After understanding the intentions behind Gazef’s actions, which had a very low chance of surviving, the village chief lowered his face which had turned red. For the sake of creating an opportunity for the villagers to escape, he was willing to charge onto the battlefield and sacrifice his own life.

Not understanding this, even misunderstanding everything and throwing tantrums. The village chief was probably ashamed of himself.

"I was just assuming... misunderstanding their good intentions ...... Ainz-sama, what should we do?"

Even the villagers behind the chief were showing their remorse:

"Although we live near the forest, we’re don’t actually have protections against demon attacks. We were just lucky, but misunderstood and thought it was safe. We didn’t even think of a method of self-defense; as a result not only did we lose our dear neighbours, but we also become a burden to outsiders...."

"There is nothing you can do. The other side consists of soldiers trained for combat. If you tried to resist before my arrival here, maybe you would already have been put to the sword."

Ainz tried to solace them, but he felt that his words were spoken in vain. Regardless of who did the consoling, it wouldn’t change the fact that the village found itself in an irredeemable disaster. One could only pray that time will heal all.

"Village chief, we don’t have time. In order to honor the intentions of Sir Knight-Captain, we must act quickly."

"Th-, then… Ainz-sama, what should we do?"

"... I will keep an eye on the situation, and when I see an opportunity to escape, I will protect everyone while they do so."

"I am always troubling Ainz-sama, this is truly...."

"...... Don’t worry. I have already made a promise to Sir Knight-Captain... For brevity’s sake, please gather all the villagers in a big house; then I will cast my defense magic on it."

Part 4

The horse’s excitement reverberated from its trotting hooves.

Even if it received training as a steed of war——no, because it was trained as a steed of war, it was especially perceptive as to when it was approaching the grounds of death.

There were only four or five enemies trying to surround the whole village. This meant that there was a huge gap between each one. If that was the case, shouldn't they have some sort of method to ensure that not even a mouse would escape from their net?

In other words, lethal traps might be somewhere in the vicinity.

All things considered, Gazef still decided to force his way through. No, considering the situation, this was the only option.

Upon gauging the distance between the enemy and himself, Gazef decided that a long-distance engagement would be extremely disadvantageous.

Defending here would be more foolish than simply charging ahead.

If he had an archer by his side this would be a completely different matter, but right now he had to avoid engaging the Magic Chanters at long range.

It would’ve been marvelous if the houses were made of stone or if the village was a fortified city. But using wooden cottages to defend against magic attacks was a really bad idea. They might just as well burn along with the whole building.

There was only one idea left, but only a heretic would take it.

That was to let the village become a battlefield and force Ainz Ooal Gown to engage in combat.

But carrying out this plan that would completely destroy their original goal of protecting the villages. That was why Gazef was willing to fight under these dangerous circumstances:

"After engaging the enemy, immediately lure the encirclement net over here, then quickly retreat. Don't miss any opportunities."

Upon hearing the fierce replies behind him, Gazef furrowed his brows.

How many of them will survive this battle?

These men weren't stronger than any other humans, nor were they born with any superpowers. They were simply men training their hardest under Gazef's direction. To lose these men, the fruits of his meticulous labor and hard work, would be a pity.

Even if he decided to jump into danger, these men would still follow him willingly.

Gazef wanted to apologize to his subordinates for dragging them into this, but after turning his head and looking at their faces, he swallowed his words.

The expression of the soldiers behind him showed that they were ready to follow Gazef to hell under any circumstances.

His subordinates knew very well what dangers lay ahead; there was no need for any kind of apology. They said to Gazef, who was feeling ashamed:

"Don't worry about it, Captain!"

"Yeah, we came here by our own volition. We swore to fight alongside Captain!"

"Let us protect our country, both the people and our comrades!"

There was nothing left to say.

Gazef roared:

"Charge! Tear them into pieces!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!"

Gazef spurred his horse forward, his subordinates following. The whole force charged so fast and hard that they left a trail on the ground, as if an arrow had been shot from their original position.

The mounted Gazef picked up his bow and nocked an arrow.

Even if he wasn't steady, Gazef could still shoot as if he were standing on the ground. He released the arrow and it pierced the head of one of the Magic Chanters in front of him——At least that was the way it looked like.

"Pah! Futile as expected. Maybe a magic arrow would penetrate, but... you don't have what you don't have and there's no point in whining about it either."

The arrow bounced off as if it had hit a sturdy helmet. This absurd degree of hardness was obviously caused by magic. Gazef knew the only way to penetrate a magical shield like that would be to use a magical weapon.

But since Gazef had no such weapons, he discarded this trait of thought immediately and put his bow away.

The Magic Chanters started retaliating with magic.

Gazef marshalled all of his mental forces; he assumed a defensive stance in preparation to resist.

Suddenly——His steed neighed loudly; it raised its front pair of hooves and kicked violently.

Seizing the reins, Gazef leaned forward and hugged the neck of his horse, relying on his agility to prevent himself from falling off. He was able to stay calm despite the sudden event, but when he thought back on what could've happened a shiver ran down his back. There were more important things to think about in front of him.

Emotionally excited, Gazef was panting heavily, his breathing in chaos. He flogged the horse on its abdomen, but it didn't budge an inch. It was as if someone with higher authority than the person mounted on its back was giving it orders.

There could be only one reason for such abnormal behavior.

Mind Control magic.

The horse was targeted by this kind of magic. If Mind Control was casted on Gazef, he might resist; however, since the target was just a war horse and not a demonic beast there was no need to worry about it resisting.

Gazef felt irritated at himself for not realizing how the enemy indirectly attacked him.

He quickly jumped off his horse.

The subordinates behind him evaded him one after the other by veering past him on both sides.

"Captain!"

Most of his men approaching from the rear slowed down, trying to reach out in an attempt to haul Gazef onto their horses.  But the Angels were faster, diving down from the air at high speed. Gazef brandished his sword at the Angels and suddenly flashed it once.

The sword strikes of the Kingdom’s strongest knight had enough power cleave a man apart with one strike. However, the Angel didn’t die even though it suffered heavy damage from the hit.

Blood sprayed into the air, but it immediately reverted back into Magic Power and disappeared.

"No need! Start the counter attack!"

After Gazef gives orders to his men, he glares at the angel who escaped with a piercing gaze. Even though the opponent was severely injured, it was still full of fighting spirit, trying to find a gap in Gazef’s defences.

"So it’s like this."

Gazef’s swordstrokes felt off and he knew the reason for it. There were monsters with special abilities, as long as it was not hit by a weapon made of a specific material, it would substantially reduce the amount of damage it received. The angels apparently possessed this ability, which allowed them to survive such strong hits from Gazef.

Thus——Gazef decided to gather all his strength and his blade started to shimmer with light as he prepared himself to unleash his special skill 「Focus Fighting Power」.

Noticing an opportunity, the Angel brandished his flame-red sword. But——

“——Too late.”

In the eyes of the Kingdom’s strongest knight, the Angel’s movements were too slow.

Gazef’s sword moved.

This attack was a lot more powerful than the blow before, so Gazef’s sword cut easily through the Angel’s body.

Suffering devastating damage, the body of the Angel slowly melted into the air and disappeared. Shining brightly, the wings scattered and disappeared, creating a fascinating dream-like scene.

If not for the desperate blood-filled situation, Gazef would have definitely admired it. But right now he was not in that kind of carefree mood.

He looked around, intending to confirm incoming enemy attacks───And couldn't help a wry smile.

The Angels received reinforcements.

And Gazef knew very well these weren’t normal reinforcements.

“...What am I supposed do against magic? Damn it.”

He cursed the Magic Chanters who were able to easily create soldiers out of thin air. Gazef calmly counted the number of enemies around him, confirming that all the people encircling the village were here. With that the encirclement around the village should be gone.

“Now then Master Gown, the rest is up to you…”

Gazef felt satisfaction, having been able to save the lives of the villagers. As he stared intensely into the eyes of his enemies, the sound of galloping horses became louder and louder. Those were the sounds of his men coming back after luring the enemy away.

“I told them to retreat after luring the encirclement out… that stupid… prideful bunch of idiots.”

Using all his strength, Gazef charged..

Perhaps this one moment in the battle would be the only and best opportunity. Because of the horsemen’s speed, the Magic Chanters will have to focus all of their efforts to stop them from linking up with the main force. Considering the flow of the battle, the Magic Chanters only had one course of action. The horses of his subordinates neighed and acted the same way as Gazef’s horse did a few moments ago, they raised their hooves high and many of the horsemen fell off their horses. The Angels didn’t miss this opportunity to strike.

Although the horsemen had similar fighting strength as the angels, but the horsemen were clearly at a disadvantage due to their lack of special abilities and the difference in their baseline capabilities. As expected, since there were only half as many horsemen as there were Angels, they were slowly forced into a corner. Coupled with the magical attacks of the Magic Chanters, the gap between the two forces began to widen. One by one the horsemen fall to the ground.

Gazef couldn't bear watching their inevitable demise and cast his sight straight ahead.

His target was the enemy commander.

Even if he killed the commander, his opponents wouldn’t retreat. But this was the only way everyone could survive.

More than thirty Angels blocked Gazef’s charge. He wasn't happy seeing his opponent strengthening their defense.

"Out of the way ───,"

Gazef unleashes his hidden Kill move.

His hands emitted heat, which started to spread throughout his body.

Gazef broke through his physical limitations, achieving hero-level strength. At the same time, he simultaneously activated various martial arts skills─── an act that could be described as a warrior’s magic.

Gazefs stared at six angels flying in the surroundings.

"「Sixfold Slash of Light」"

This martial arts skill created rapid flashes.

With one move he hit six enemies.

Those hit were cleaved into halves, which became dissipating balls of light.

The rest of the Angels gasped in of surprise while Gazef’s men cheered loudly.

Although his hand ached from using his trump card, something of this degree wasn’t enough to hinder him.

As if receiving orders to stop the applause, a large number of the angels started their attack again. One of them swung at Gazef with a red flaming sword.

Just when the Angel was about to hit him with its sword, Gazef immediately activated his martial arts skill and his body dodged instantly with a mist-like motion.

Before the Angel even had the chance to swing its sword, it already suffered Gazef’s sword strike. This one move let the angel transform into a ball of light.

Gazef attack did not end there.

"「Full Throttle」."

With movements similar to flowing water, all the angels’ strikes were taken care of.

Using his unique skill, he continues to attack two angels. Like a miraculous scene, Gazef’s stubborn resistance creates a trace of hope of winning for his men.

However, the Theocracy would not allow such thing, and with mocking voice they extinguished the soldiers’ glimmer of hope.

"How exciting. But… let’s end this. Everyone who lost their Angel, summon replacements. Use all your magic to target Strolonoff."

His boiling emotions instantly cooled down.

"Not looking good."

Gazef muttered in a low voice while he dissolved another Angel. There won’t be any applause even though Gazef continues to strike down angels. The faces of his men were full of anxiety as they readied their swords to face the enemy.

Be it numbers, weapons, training or abilities

Gazef’s troop was inferior in every way. Their only weapon ——the hope of victory—— has disappeared.

Gazef fought back by using his reflexes to avoid the weapons of his enemies. Although he only needed one strike to destroy an angel, the enemies’ main force was still far away.

Although he hoped his men would make a difference, they were unable to break through the defence of an Angel without a Magic Weapon. They couldn’t use skills similar to Gazef’s 「Focus Fighting Power」, nor did they have any weapon enchantments. Even if they managed to injure the Angels, it was still difficult to cause fatal injuries.

It was hopeless.

Gazef bit his lips and could only continue to wield his sword.

He used several instant kill moves in a row; his record for the consecutive uses of 「Six Fold Slash of Light」 was constantly increasing.

Warriors like Gazef could use up to six different martial arts skills during combat. Including the hidden move, he can use up to 7 types in battle.

He was currently using his martial arts skills [Body Strengthening], [Mental Enhancement], [Enhanced Magic Resistance], [Magical Weapon Enchantment] and martial arts skills to attack five different targets.

The reason he didn’t activate his limit of seven different skills was that the amount of concentration required would be too great.

Especially 「Six Fold Slash of Light」, which required three times as much concentration.

Even for Gazef, who had only two different finishing moves——one which required him to use up all his energy, and another one that used up four times as much concentration.

If he could use these martial skills, he could easily defeat the Angels. But even if he did so, they would continue to be summoned back. As long as he did not defeat the summoner, he would have to keep on facing wave after wave of Angels. Waiting for the enemy to run out of magic power was another idea, but by that time Gazef would have already exhausted all his strength.

As a matter of fact, the sword in Gazef’s hand was slowly getting heavier: His heart was beating erratically.

「Instant Counter」was a skill that made it possible to follow up on an attack: It allowed the user to return to his original posture after attacking once so that he can attack again. Although it was possible to attack again quickly, forcibly changing the posture of the body created a great burden on it.

The 「Full Throttle」 technique allowed the user to temporarily speed up his mental state, increasing the speed of his attacks. But continuous usage accumulated a huge amount of mental fatigue.

Together with the use of 「Sixfold Slash of Light」, the burden on his body was immense, but if he didn’t use it, there would be no way out of this.

“Doesn’t matter how many of you come! You Angels aret no big deal!”

This roar full of vigor startled the Theocracy’s soldiers, but immediately a calm voice made them regain their composure:

“Don’t mind him, that’s just the roar of a beast caught in a cage. There’s no need to be anxious, just wear him down slowly and avoid getting too close. The claws of this beast are long indeed.”

Gazef glared at the man with the scar on his face.

If he could just kill that commander, it would be possible to reverse the situation. The problem was the thing next to him, Angels different from those wielding flaming swords, in addition to the distance separating them and the many layers of defensive barriers in front of him.

He was just too far away.

“The beast plans to break out. Let him know the meaning of impossible.”

The man’s calm voice made Gazef feel impatient.

Even if he used hero-level strength, for someone like Gazef who only knew about melee combat, there was almost no chance of winning.

But—— so what? If this was the only way to get rid of the enemies’ commander, all he could do was to use his strength to break through.

With sharp eyes, Gazef began to sprint.

But he knew this would be a difficult task.

The Angels continuously thrusted and slashed their raging flame swords at him, but he dodged them and countered at the same time, only to feel a sudden pain after  defeating them.

The pain felt like he was rammed in the stomach. Following at that direction, he saw a group of Magic Chanters using a some kind of spell.

"Since you are priests, you should at least act the part by casting some healing spells, right?"

As if to deny Gazef’s sarcasm, he was hit by an invisible shockwave.

Even if it was an invisible attack, as long as there weren’t too many of them, Gazef was confident that he could react and dodge the attacks by watching his opponent’s eyes. But since there were more than thirty attacks, the best he could do was to use all his strength to protect his head by using his sword and arms as cover.

He almost fell to the ground as his entire body cried out in agony, until it reached the point where he became unable to tell which part of his body the pain was coming from.

“A-hak!”

Gazef’s throat couldn’t stand the taste of blood, causing him to spit out a mouthful of it;

The taste of iron coming from his throat made Gazef cough out a mouthful of blood. Being hit by invisible shockwaves, Gazef took a few steps back, choking, trying to avoid being hit by the Angel’s sword. He was unable to dodge the enemy’s sword and luckily it bounced off his armour, but the impact of the attack still got through.

He reflexively swiped at an Angel, but since he lost his balance the Angel was able to dodge easily.

Breathless, Gazef’s sword hand was trembling.

As if his intensely fatigued body was whispering into his ears, telling him to lie down and rest.

“It’s about time to enter the final phase of the hunt. Don’t allow the beast to rest, order the Angels to press the attack.”

Even if Gazef wanted to catch his breath, after listening to the orders of their commander the Angels attacked mercilessly one after another.

First he would dodge, then pierce it through the side with his sword. He would use his tough armor to block the attack of the next Angel swooping down from the sky.

Although Gazef wanted to retaliate, there were just too many attacks.

The accumulated fatigue sapped his strength, he could only handle one enemy at a time now. He practically had no more energy left to activate his special skills as one by one, his men fell to the ground, allowing the enemy’s attacks to focus completely on himself.

He was unable to break through the enemy’s encirclement and felt death slowly creep closer and closer to him.

In a moment of carelessness he nearly crumbled to his knees, but without delay he raised his spirit again and fought on.

And once again the magical shockwave flew towards Gazef, hitting him as he was struggling to move.

The scene in front of his eyes swayed heavily.

Not good!

Gazef used all the remaining strength in his body to maintain his balance. But something seemed to be wrong with it, since all his strength started to disappear.

Suddenly he felt the grassy ground pricking his face, showing that he had already fallen to the ground.

Even though he tried his best to get back up, his body did not listen. At this moment, the swords carried by the Angels signified 'Death'.

“Give him the fatal blow, but don’t do it yourselves, send in the Angels to assure his death.”

I’m doomed.

His trained hand trembled nonstop; he couldn’t even lift the longsword grasped in his hand, but he still wouldn’t give up.

Grinding his teeth, he let out a sharp growling sound.

Gazef was not afraid of death. He had already taken countless lives himself, so he was mentally prepared to face the same ending on the battlefield.

As he had told Ainz before, there were people who bore grudges against him. One day, this hate would become a sword and take his life.

However, he could not accept this current situation.

To attack so many villages, to murder unarmed, innocent villagers just to lure Gazef into a trap. He absolutely couldn’t let himself die with this kind of shame, but most of all he couldn’t tolerate his own powerlessness.

“GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME——!”

With his whole body, he let out a huge shout.

With blood and saliva flowing out from his mouth, Gazef slowly stood up.

Feeling the awe-inspiring presence of a man who shouldn't even have enough strength left to take a single step, the Angels could not help but fall back.

“Hu--—! Hu--—!”

The simple act of standing made it hard for him to breathe, his consciousness was fuzzy and his whole body felt as if it was buried under a thick layer of mud. But he couldn’t rest, the moment he did everything would be over.

Furthermore, even with this amount of pain, it could not be said that he would be able to understand the pain of the villagers who died.

“I am the Knight-Captain of the Kingdom! For my beloved Kingdom, and to protect this Kingdom’s people! How could I possibly lose to you scum who had tarnished this Kingdom’s name───!”

This man will protect the villagers.

So the only thing he could do is to defeat the enemy in front of him to his utmost ability.

Wanting to protect the future of the people of the Kingdom. He only thought about this.

“...It’s because you keep on saying such nonsense, that you’ll die in this place. Gazef Strolonoff.”

Gazef glared at the enemy commander, as he listened to his enemy’s ridiculing words.

“If you had just chosen to abandon the villagers in the frontier, then it wouldn’t have ended like this. It's impossible for you to be unaware that your life alone is worth more than the lives of a thousand peasants. If you really loved your country, you would have abandoned these villagers.”

“You and I…. will never… see eye to eye!”

“What good can you do with your current body? Stop needlessly struggling and lie down like a good boy. I shall have some pity on you and grant you a painless death.”

“If you really… think that I can no longer act, then why don’t you… come over here and cut off my head? With me looking like this… it should be really easy right?”

“.... Well, looks like you’re all talk. If you still want to fight, do you actually believe you have any chance of winning?”

Gazef simply stared ahead, his trembling hand holding onto his sword. Hazily looking at the enemy in front of him, not even caring about the restless Angels surrounding him.

“... What a waste of time. How foolish. Once I kill you, those surviving villagers will be up next. Everything that you did up till now only served to prolong their suffering.”

“Heh, Heh…. Hehehe….”

Gazef had a smile across his face.

“...Whats so funny?”

“...Heh, you're the foolish one. In that village… there’s still someone stronger than me. That man is unfathomable, he’ll be able to defeat all of you just by himself... thinking about killing… the villagers he’s protecting, is an impossible task….”

“... Stronger than you, the strongest warrior in the Kingdom of Re-Estize? Do you really think you can trick me with something like that? How stupid.”

A smile floated onto Gazef’s face. What kind of face will this person make when he encounters that unfathomable man, Ainz Ooal Gown? That would be the greatest reward Gazef could  receive in the afterlife.

“.... Angels, kill Gazef Strolonoff.”

With that cold command, countless wings began to move.

As Gazef ran forward with the determination to face death, a voice could be heard next to him.

——Looks like its time to tag in.

The scenery in front of Gazef changed from blood soaked grasslands to the interior of a simple house.

Around him were the figures of his men and the worried expressions of the villagers.

“Th-, this place is…”

“This is Ainz-sama’s Magically Protected Warehouse.”

“Village Chief...Ma-, Master Gown does not seem to be here…”

“No, he was here just moments ago, but he seems to have swapped places with Knight-Captain-sama, disappearing in front of my eyes.”

So it was like that, the voice in my head just now was…

Gazef relaxed his body. What happens next would be out of his control. Gazef fell to the ground, the villagers rushed towards him.

The Six Scriptures. An opponent the Kingdom’s strongest warrior was unable to defeat.

But in his mind, he did not believe Ainz would lose.