Rerugen walked closer to the smoke that was not too far in the distance now. He heard screaming and instantly he froze up. "This is no longer a game, I could die huh?" a cowardly thought crossed his mind, supposedly All of his stats were still the same in the new world as they were in the game. But would that be enough for what was now a real-life scenario? Besides, why should he save anyone if it does not benefit him? 'Yeah, I hated people in a regular world. Who is to say I will like these people any better?!'
suddenly he heard a loud high-pitched voice call out. "Help!" a little girl with short reddish hair ran towards him as two knights that were a little oddly dressed in Rerugen's opinion, chased after her. The girl suddenly stopped as she noticed Rerugen, he was wearing the Imperial Unit's Military-fantasy mix uniforms that did not look like the army chasing her or that of her countries.
"Who are you?" one of the knights asked as he grabbed the girl while she was distracted. "N-no, let me go!" the little girl shouted desperately as tried and failed to get out of their gripe. "None of your business. Are knights typically chasing after children with murderous intent?" he wondered if it was a war or maybe a bandit raid and these knights were just trying to make sure this girl was not caught by any fleeing bandits. Regardless, whatever it was, he could see this girl was afraid of them. She was a peasant, like how he was in his old life in a poor family, and much like him that meant she was caught up in things not caused by her village. But by people at that top. "That is none of your business!" Before the second knight could approach Rerugen a swipe of Rerugen's finger a spell off that cut the Knight clean in half. He did not care even if they were the good guys here, he needed to let some steam off.
"y-you. You're an elf! What's an elf doing here?!" The knight dropped the girl who went running behind Rerugen's legs. "I…guess I am. Not that it's any of your concern." he held a hand out and with a high thunder spell, the knight was dead in an instant. "T-thank you. M-mr. Elf." the girl stuttered out as Rerugen adjusted his glasses "They were just bothering me." Rerugen began to walk away but then the girl gripped his legs. "Wait you have to help the others!" she yelled as Rerugen shook her off him, she grunted as her butt landed on the ground.
"I have somewhere to be. It is not my problem." Rerugen sounded cold but that was because he was in a hurry to get as far away from Tanya as he could. And he was only a little bit out of the forest the base was in. "Please! The empire won't send anyone to help us! They never do!" the girl sniffed between yelling. Rerugen looked back at her, and he sighed. "Fine. but I'll leave you people behind if it becomes too much for me."
Suddenly Rerugen heard someone say "Or us." he looked up in fright, Tanya was using her class's ability to fly and Deimano was flapping demonic wings to be nearby. "Sil- no mean Tanya, what are you doing here?" Tanya sighed and landed beside him and the girl "To go after you and make sure you didn't get yourself killed. Also, I think this is a good opportunity to get some information about the land around us. Don't you think?" sensing he was not being given a choice he and Tanya let the girl lead the way back to the smoking village in the distance.
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After putting on a mask and other effects to cover up his true undead appearance, Ainz managed to find the village without much trouble. Along with Albedo who was wearing her armor to cover up her appearance. When they arrived they saw two girls, one a young girl and the other was older and holding the younger girl tight. Before the two armored men could kill them Ainz killed them in a flash with magic. "There are others" Albedo pointed out, though she herself did not understand why Lord Momonga was wasting his time helping humans, she thought it was better not to question his brilliance till she knew what he was planning. Not knowing he really just came here to find out more information about this world and that he could do so after saving these villagers.
Ainz noticed that one of the girls was hurt so he brought a potion to the older woman. At first, she did not accept it, but seeing her little sister in pain she decided that she might as well trust this masked stranger. He did after all save her life. "T-thank you. Sir." She tried to sound grateful as she helped her sister drink the potion. Albedo gripped her fists, she did not think this woman was sounding very grateful. She should be bowing at her lord's feet and saying a million praises! But Ainz stopped her from doing anything.
"Who are you? What is this place? And why are These men, why are they attacking you?" he asked calmly as the woman tried to process all of Ainz's questions at once. "I am Enri Emmot. My home is Carne village. These men aren't from our country. I don't know why they are attacking us." Ainz stood back up still seeing more knights, some of whom spotted him as well. He decided now would be a good time to test his magic.
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From above Tanya could see the carnage of the village below her. These knights were coordinated, coordinated to be bandits who got lucky and managed to get some knight armor. The girl from the village also mentioned that the knights were not from the Baharuth Empire, which from context Tanya guessed meant that was the country they were in. She gave the signal for the others to move in. while she raised her rifle, loaded a magic bullet, and used a spell for a silent effect. The bullet would be weaker as it was not an offensive spell. But thanks to her stat spot spell, she could tell these knights were too low compared to her for that to matter. She could see the leader, he might be able to survive, so for now she focused on the others.
Meanwhile below Rerugen cast a shock lance and killed a knight below. "Two people over here! They both are wearing odd uniforms! And…is one of them wearing a robe?" The knight was confused a bit due to Deimano's Yukata, the demon just shrugged. "Close enough." he then cast another spell while the little girl behind them both hid behind a well.
The man in charge of the raiding knights was staring as his men killed the villagers. Men. woman. Children. His blood ran ice cold. He hated this, he hated seeing innocent people die, let alone on an order he gave to his men. He had expected, he had hoped, that imperial troops would have shown up by now. But yet it seemed despite having intentionally sent a messenger out to warn the emperor of the attack, no soldiers were sent. "Damn it," he said under his breath. He had to start a war between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire, that was why he was wearing armor from the kingdom!
He was actually from the Slane Theocracy, and he was given orders by the higher-ups to carry this mission out. They were apparently carrying out another plan at the same time to take out the hero of the kingdom and wanted to have the imperial emperor declare war on the Kingdom to make it seem like he was the one who was responsible. The man had initially turned it down when it involved killing entire villagers on the border between the two countries that the Slane Theocracy wanted to go to war. 'Oh don't be like that. I know we only let you see your daughter once a year, she is precious to us as much as she is to you, our own future hero. But the black scripture cannot allow anyone outside its membership to see its hidden base. And your daughter still needs training. But, maybe with the Kingdom's hero gone, we can let you see your daughter again. ' That alone was enough to coax him, even if a few villages had to be wiped out.
"Sir Sioux!" a knight shouted out as he ran in a hurry. Behind him, Sioux could see a few knights retreating, he sensed a demonic presence as well. Quickly he drew his holy sword. "Have the Imperial forces arrived?" he asked the knight who was retreating towards him, "i-I don't know sir. But an Elf is here taking all o-" Before the knight could finish something went right through his helmet and head, the knight fell over and was no longer moving.
"What the hell?" Sioux quickly motioned his men in a defense formation while he inspected the object that had killed the knight. A small now broken-up metal piece. "Is this some kind of magic? Even not burned up I probably would not recognize this." Suddenly more knights were killed instantly, in the exact same way. The bullets fell through them like rods through paper. Sioux looked up and saw someone above them, flying yet they had no wings. They were aiming at an object that he did not recognize. Suddenly the figure held out a hand, firing an enhanced electrosphere at his exact location. Caught up in his own mind he barely noticed both balls of electricity flying towards him. One of his men pushed him far enough away to get out of range. But when he looked back the three knights that were near him were vaporized, along with two houses now being half destroyed.
Rerugen and Deimano made their way to the center of the village where the enemy knights were. The villagers, the little ones that had survived at least, ran past them. From above Tanya could see the leader's face now that his helmet armor had fallen off, it was Anton Sue, or Sioux, either way of course it was him. "Seriously?" she pulled on her face a bit, The third time she has to kill him? Well, maybe she does not have to. That will depend on him.
When Tanya landed it took no time for Sioux to notice hers and Rerugen's long pointed ears. He tensed up a bit as thoughts crossed his mind. "Elves? But how?" he was certain that elves were not to common in The Baharuth Empire, and the outfits these ones wore were not familiar to him either. Had their long-standing enemy, the Elf Country, found out about their plans and intended to oust the Slane theocracy?! That was bad news, it at best would sour relationships with both the empire and kingdom. And at worst leads to all-out war. Tanya grinned in a way that made all the remaining knights back up besides Sioux, though he did flinch. "Now I am sure each and every one of you is as confused as I am. So, I will cut a deal. Those of you who surrender and answer our questions we will spare. Those who do not surrender will be fired upon and killed. If you survive though I can assure you I have people who will take pleasure in interrogating you afterwards."
Sioux was not sure what to do, but he quickly came up with a plan. He had a holy blade after all. He could probably kill them. But still, this Elf leading them looked so young, he knew it was likely this elf was still older than him. But it made him think of his daughter who was the very reason he was doing all of this. He placed his blade in front of him but stuck it a bit near the ground. "My name is Sir Antoan Sioux. What about you…elf. Have you come to save this village?" Tanya did not like his tone there, she could feel the obvious sense of superiority from him. Did he somehow not see all of these dead men? Suddenly Sioux asked, "And are you from Elf Country?"
Tanya's eyes narrowed a bit. She cannot lie so easily here, the country names were unfamiliar to her. It was likely that this Elf country already had a military and knights, ones with uniforms unlike hers. "No, I am not. And quite frankly I could care less about this village. but…I came here to find information. Answer to the best of your ability. I may kill you otherwise." she held up a finger and asked two questions with a look of confidence, a look which shook the hearts of the enemy. "First, where are you from? And second, why are you attacking this country? Which must say before you assume anything, no am not working for the Baharuth Empire." She tilted her head a bit "You can think of us as more of a mercenary group who happened to be in the area." Rerugen coughed a bit, he was not even shocked that Tanya already had a perfect explanation for who they were without giving too much away. He himself could see the sword the leader had would greatly damage Deimano due to his demon race, luckily his features were hidden at the moment so any chance of him being focused on was low.
With a very loud gulping noise Sioux walked forward, sword still in hand. "We are from the kingdom. We were sick of the empire's constant yearly invasions so we decided to take it upon ourselves to teach them a lesson. So mercenaries like you can leave us be." Tanya shook her head "A shame, I gave you a chance to tell me the truth. Lesser Strength." That last bit was a spell, it increased Tanya's physical strength. Up close Sioux could see her eyes were glowing an oddish light green, he got the sense that it was when he was answering her question. Still, he was aware of the spell so he quickly raised his sword and swung down at Tanya. "Body of Effulgent Heliodor" She spoke a second spell quickly and the sword did not damage as a result of the spell not only reducing slashing damage but also negating the first slash attack made after it was cast. And since she is not a demon, at least not racially, the additional blessed damage did not take effect. She brought back her rifle and slammed the back of it against Sioux's armor and he gasped in pain before falling to the floor.
"How are you so strong!" Sioux asked as Tanya placed her boots on his solder and kicked him down. He was now fully against the ground and the rifle was point blank by his face. "Do you want to die that badly? I don't know why, but I am getting a fatherly feeling from you. If you have a daughter or son, how would they feel if you died?" The man's eyes widened, could this elf read his mind? No, she was guessing, maybe she just did not want to kill him? he found it hard to believe given how easily she and her allies had killed his men. Still. He did not want to die. He closed his eyes and said quietly "I am from the Slane theocracy. I…cannot say why I am here. But I apologize for it all. Please forgive us. If not me, then at least my men. And please don't inform the Kingdom and empire. My country will be in danger, and my daughter will be in danger if you do." he bowed his head, and the other knights lowered their weapons, realizing if Sioux were beaten they stood no chance.
Tanya grinned widely "Get the villagers, tell them the knights are going to leave after they've answered all of my questions." Tanya looked down at Sioux "You'll leave behind any valuables besides weapons and armor as well. I have no need for them but maybe the villagers do." The man nodded his head and stood up "So…what do you need answered?"
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A man named Gazef Stronoff had finally made it to Carne village. He was the hero of the Re-Estize Kingdom and was sent here by the king to stop some supposedly imperial knights that were harming villages. He and his men had some feeling it was a trap set by either the empire or the nobles who hated that commoner-born hero. Either way, it was bad news, and the king had offered to send someone else. But Gazef remembered what it was like in a rural village without many warriors or knights around to save them. He refused to let that happen. But when he arrived he heard a masked magic caster had already saved the village, he needed to meet this man.
Momonga had managed to find out a decent amount about this world. The currency was a little different than it was in YGGDRASIL, Luckily he found out he could still sell the material the game's money was made from to get some of the new worlds, so it was not the worst. He could do the same with many others. The village chief only knew so much though, so he got a decent bit of information. That, they were in the Re-Estize kingdom. Lucky it seemed the chief was too grateful after saving them to question why he did not already know all of this. He also got a map of the new world, at least of all the countries nearby.
One last bit of, slightly more mortifying news, is that he felt nothing while he watched the survivors bury their dead. He had an item he could use to bring them back from the dead, but he was toying with the idea of bringing them back to life. But he was unsure how necromancy was viewed in this world so he would rather not risk it. Still, he was shocked at how little he felt. Even as he watched Enri and her little sister crying over their parent's grave. Albedo was confused as to why humans even bother mourning their dead when even by age they die so quickly, but luckily Momonga was able to keep her from saying that to the grieving villagers.
He decided to withdraw back to Nazarick now that he had as much information as he could get here. But Albedo stands in front of him when another armored man approaches him, other knights behind him. "I am not here to fight, I was sent by the king. I heard you were the man who saved this village. Is that true?" Gazef approached closer as he talked. Momonga had Albedo stand down and he walked forward. After the two shook hands Gazef would say "I am Gazef Stronoff. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for saving these people. If not I may not have arrived on time. May I know your name?" Momonga knew that question was coming. Gazef had heard from the village chief that the man was the hero of the kingdom. Compared to the floor guardians Gazef was nothing, but he had an impressive reputation for a common-born human for sure. "I…am Ainz Ooal Gown." Albedo did not correct him of course. "I have lived in isolation for a long time. And when I finally leave my place of solitude I found this village being attacked. I saved them simply for that reason. And slightly selfish reasons as well as the world seems a little different than I remember it being."
Gazef did not catch on that the 'little different' part was a lot more than Ainz let on. "Thank you once again." A knight runs towards the two, but before he can say why he is rushing over Albedo suddenly says, "Multiple hostile people have shown up outside the village." Gazef turned to the knight who nodded and added "They surrounded the village as well!" The trap was revealed and they were all trapped inside. "Get all the villagers inside, and defend them, I will deal with the enemy by myself."
He would face Ainz once more "Forgive me for asking Ainz, but please protect Carne village just a little longer." Ainz nodded and took out a small statue "Take this with you. Trust me." Gazef smiled and took it he rushed towards the force surrounding the village. Ainz wished he could watch the display of marital skills, but what would be the point of his trick if he went with Gazef?
Later Gazef was on his knees and panting a bit. Despite insisting against it his men wanted to fight with him. And yet even with all of them and his Martial Arts skills, he had failed to beat back the invaders. He found out they were the Sunlight scripture, he could figure out himself that meant they were from the Theocracy. Why they wanted him dead was unknown. He had done well, but then their magic along with summoned "angels" that were immune to his physical attacks overwhelmed them. Their leader, Nigun Grid Luin, grinned at the Hero.
"A shame to see the hero having fallen so easily. I wonder how the Kingdom has not been conquered yet if you're their greatest warrior." Nigun taunted with obvious confidence. Gazef smirked and said "There was far stronger than me back at the village." he could see more spells being charged, and about to accept his fate Gazef suddenly found himself in the same house the villagers hid in. "m-mr Ainz was just there." he heard one of them say, he then looked down at the statue and smiled "guess I owe you my life as well."
The men of the sunlight scripture stared in awe as the masked castered was unaffected by their spells. They were confused as to how he even replaced Gazef's place in an instant. Nigun wiped his arm a bit "Get him!" he ordered two angel flames which rushed towards Ainz. Nigun's smile dropped when Ainz seemed unaffected by their attack, and then crushed by Ainz.
Ainz could tell these were similar to creatures in YGGDRASIL and ones too low-leveled to affect him damage-wise. "I will give you a choice. Surrender or face death. Not a painless one either." Out of fear, the entire swarm of Archangel flames rushed Ainz. only to be caught up and destroyed by his "negative burst" spell. Nigun summoned a stronger "angel" called Principality Observation, which Ainz also easily destroyed with a hellflame spell. Finally, using the special item he was given Nigun summoned a Dominion Authority, the stronger monster he could summon with it. But with a black hole spell, it was also easily dispatched. The sunlight scripture began to retreat, but Ainz prepared another spell "You should have surrendered when I offered it."
After defeating the sunlight scripture and its leader Nigun, Ainz said one last goodbye to Gazef, the latter hoping they would meet again and that if he is ever in the capital hesitate to meet with him. He and Albedo went back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
Ainz tried to sneak out in dark armor to see the world from above. Demiurge had caught him and insisted he go with just in case Ainz needed protection. While activating a fly spell he briefly enveyed Argent Silver whose class came with the ability without the need for racial wings. From above Ainz jokingly said, "Maybe I could conquer this world." To Ainz it was a joke. But unknown to him was Demiurge took it very seriously. As Ainz watched the world from above he realized what he wanted. That is just one other player who was out there, especially a member of his guild, he wanted them to know. He wanted to get his name out there, perhaps telling Gazef that his name was "Ainz Ooal Gown" was a good thing.
In the throne room, Ainz would make his announcement before all the floor guardians who were bowing before him. "From now on you will all refer to me as Ainz Ooal Gown. our goal is simple. To spread that name and the great tomb of Nazarick as far as it can go." All of the guardians bowed their heads "Yes lord Ainz Ooal Gown!" If he could feel anything Ainz would have felt chills go down his spine, which he was mostly just bone anyway. He looked at all the flags in the throne room, he would make sure the name spread.
It was a pipe dream, but he had hoped it would help him find someone...or they find him.
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After they returned to the base Tanya was very gleeful. She had gotten a lot of information from Sioux. While she would still need to learn more she planned to become an adventurer for that, she was positive she knew enough to prepare for later plans. In addition, the older brother of the girl they saved first she could tell was Granz's reincarnation. He looked too much like Granz for it to be a coincidence. She doubted he would be much help, but it meant she could use the village for other things rather than ignoring it after today.
And though she would not admit it, the grateful villagers did make her feel a little like she did in the previous world when she saved people from demons. Not a whole lot. But it was nice to feel it.
Rerugen had not said much on the way back, he was holding a flower the little girl they saved gave him. All she had left was her older brother. In order to "buy their silence" Tanya had left Deimano behind to rebuild the village, thanks to his magic he likely would not take long so right now it was just about waiting. Rerugen had this aching feeling. He should not care about other people, and yet here he was feeling sorry for the villagers. They lost friends and family. And yet he was feeling sorry for them. Deeply sorry.
"So what are your thoughts?" Tanya asked as she noticed he was stopped at the entrance. Rerugen looked at her with unhappiness but not because of her. "You mentioned that if you beat these 'gods' or whatever they are you will be able to live a life that is to your exact liking correct?" Tanya nodded to question and as if reading his mind she asked "I am guessing you want the same?" Rerugen nodded back. "I can do that. That is already what I want to do. For all of you."
She meant all of the reincarnated people. And people besides that, like those from her previous life. Especially one person but Tanya did not mention that. Rerugen adjusted his glasses "Then I accept…we should discuss that plan of yours then." Tanya smiled more "Indeed. We should."
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"Hehehe, these people were no fun to kill. Their screams of agony were the only good part!" a woman in a cloak said as she spun a piercing small knife in her hands. Her name was Clementine and she was hired to kill Anton Sioux, and any men he had left, and take his sword back to the Slane Theocracy. She was told to leave his body so that he would not be revived.
Meanwhile, amidst other bodies, Sioux was just barely clinching to life. He could not believe how easily they were wiped out. Early on in the fight, he had desperately called out Tanya's name. Yet no one came. He was crawling towards his sword. As memories of two things happened. His daughter and her smile. The last time he saw her she looked so cheerful as well. And finally, the last thing Tanya had told him before they separated ways. "Names Tanya by the way. Let's meet again, Next time I wanna see if your daughter is doing well."
He did not understand why Tanya cared. But he was grateful. He managed to grab his sword and stand up. Clementine however stabbed him through the back of the neck, leaving him no time to even turn to face her.
As he bled out on the ground Clementine licked her now blood covered weapon "Hehe. I wonder if that Tanya he shouted for was a friend. I was told they would not use my name as the one who killed him. But I wonder…Maybe I can use her name to spark conflict between this Tanya and this man's adorable daughter~" She found it ironic that despite her traitorous actions against the Black Scripture and Slane Theocracy as a whole they would find her and hire her for this underhanded job. It was just like them. So hopefully they would indulge her when she made the suggestion.
She started laughing historically as she took Sioux's sword and left the corpses behind. Sioux as he died said one last word. "...Mary…"