The undead made by Ainz's magic and his skills were stronger than ordinary monsters of their kind due to Ainz's class skills. Naturally the same applied to the Death Knight he had just created. However, it was only a level thirty five monster, and it was nothing in comparison to the monsters which required XP to create, like Overlord Wiseman and Grim Reaper Thanatos.
The fact that it was still fighting until now meant that the enemies were weak.
In other words, there was no danger.
He wanted to jump for joy when he thought about it, but he had to okay the role of the dignified master, so Ainz quashed that thought. However, he clenched his fists tightly, under his robe.
"The enemies who attacked the village were too weak. Then, let us go check on the survivors."
Before Momonga set out, he realised that he had some things to do first.
To begin with, he deactivated the special effects of the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. The malevolent aura which wreathed it vanished like a candle flame in the wind.
Next, he withdrew a full-face mask from his inventory. It was gaudily decorated, and its expression was hard to describe, being somewhere between crying and anger. It resembled a Balinese barong mask.
The mask looked creepy, but it had no special powers. It was a simple cosmetic item which did not contain a trace of data.
Only those who were logged onto YGGDRASIL for more than two hours, between seven pm and ten pm on Christmas Eve, would possess this mask — no, as long as they were in the game during that period of time, they would automatically receive it. It could be called a cursed item.
This mask was known as the Mask of the Jealous, or the Jealous Mask.
Once, when he wore this mask, he was flooded by messages. "Has the company gone mad? We've been waiting for this. Nobody in our guild has it, can I PK him? I'm done with being a human being~" and other such things in a certain large message board.
Then, he took out a pair of gloves. Their rough exterior betrayed the fact that they were crudely made and had no special properties.
These gloves were called Jarngreipr, and they were an armor item made by one of Ainz Ooal Gown's members for fun. Their only ability was to increase the wearer's strength.
He used these items to hide his skeletal appearance.
Naturally, there was a reason for this emergency camouflage. It was because Ainz realised he had made a fatal mistake.
Ainz was used to YGGDRASIL, and looking like a skeleton did not frighten him. However, to the people of this world, Ainz's appearance was synonymous with terror. Both the sisters who had nearly lost their lives and the fully armored knights were afraid of him.
For the time being, he would use magic items to change his appearance from a "dreadful monster" to "menacing magic caster." That ought to reduce how frightening he appeared. Then he thought about the Staff. In the end, he decided to keep it with him. Besides, it was not a problem for him.
"Rather than beg your god for aid, you should not have massacred these people in the first place."
With that line which only an atheist could come up with, Ainz looked away from the corpse, whose fingers were folded into a gesture of prayer, and cast a spell.
"「Fly」."
Ainz floated lightly into the sky, Albedo soon followed him shortly afterwards.
"『Death Knight, if there are any surviving knights, leave them alive. They are useful to me.』"
The Death Knight sent its acknowledgement of Ainz's will back through the mental link they shared. It was difficult to put the distant Death Knight's thoughts into words.
Ainz flew toward the place from whence the horn blast had come, as quickly as he could. The wind lashed at his body, because he had never flown this fast before in YGGDRASIL. The robe plastered to his body felt a little uncomfortable, but that passed swiftly.
He soon reached the sky above the village, and Ainz looked down on the landscape beneath him.
Ainz discovered that part of the village square was darkened, as though it had absorbed water. There were many corpses and a few trembling knights, as well as the Death Knight.
Ainz counted the panting knights, who were too tired even to move. There were four of them in total. Though there were more than he expected, a few extra would not be a problem.
"Death Knight. That will be all for now."
His words seemed strangely incongruous with the surroundings, like he were buying something at a store. But to Ainz, this situation was as casual as going shopping.
He slowly descended to the ground, accompanied by Albedo.
The false knights stared at Ainz with mouths agape. They had been hoping for a rescue, but what had come was the man responsible for everything, and his arrival shattered their hopes.
"Greetings, gentlemen. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown."
Nobody answered.
"If you throw down your arms, I can guarantee your lives. Of course, if you would rather fight—"
One sword was cast to the ground. It was shortly followed by the other swords being thrown down until there were four blades on the ground.
Nobody spoke during this time.
"...You seem quite tired. Although, don't you think your heads are held a bit too high before the master of the Death Knight?"
The knights immediately prostrated themselves before him without a single sound.
They did not look like vassals before their lord so much as convicts awaiting execution.
"...I will permit you to leave with your lives. In exchange, tell your master — your owner — this."
Ainz used the effects of the 「Fly」 spell to move near one of the knights, and then he removed his helmet with the hand that was not holding the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. He noted the man's exhausted eyes, and their gazes met through the mask.
"Do not make trouble around here. If you make a disturbance here, I will slay you with the rest of your country."
The trembling knight nodded as hard as he could. His frantic gesture looked quite comical.
"Get lost. And make sure to relay this to your master."
He jerked his chin, and the knights fled like rabbits.
"...Ah, this act is tiring," Momonga quietly grumbled as he watched the knights run away.
If there were no villagers around, he might even have stretched his shoulders. Although he was doing the same thing in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, playing the role of a dignified person was very tiring for an average salaryman like Ainz. Yet, until the curtains closed on this act of his, he had to wear yet another mask.
Ainz resisted the urge to sigh and walked toward the villagers. Albedo followed behind him, her every step accompanied by the clanking of metal.
"『—Clear up your zombie slaves』," Ainz ordered the Death Knight.
As Ainz drew closer to them, he could more clearly see the confusion and unease on the villagers' faces.
It was not that they were not happy at being rescued from the knights, but frightened by the person before them.
Ainz finally realised this. He was powerful, much more so than those knights, so he did not consider this situation from a weak person's point of view.
He decided to reflect on this, and pondered it quietly.
If he went too close to them, the outcome would be the opposite of what he was hoping for. Therefore, Ainz decided to stop at a distance from them, and spoke in a kindly tone.
"You have been saved. Be at ease."
"You, you are…"
One of the villagers was saying that, but even in the middle of speaking to Ainz, his eyes never left the Death Knight.
"I saw someone attacking this village, so I came here to help."
"Ohh…"
As the noises spilled out, looks of relief dawned on the faces of the villagers. Even so, they could not be completely at ease.
What a pain. Should I try a different approach?
Ainz decided to handle this in a way he did not like much.
"...That said, this was not for free. I expect a reward commensurate with the number of villagers whom I saved."
The villagers looked at each other. It would seem that they were worried about money. However, their doubtful looks faded away. This crass demand for money in exchange for salvation seemed to have allayed their suspicions somewhat.
"With, with the village in its present state…"
Ainz raised his hand to silence the other man before continuing.
"We'll discuss that later. I rescued a pair of sisters before I came here. I will go bring them over now. Can you wait here for me?"
He had to make sure those sisters did not talk and give away his true identity.
Without waiting for them to reply, Ainz slowly headed off. At the same time, he thought about using magic to alter memories.