40 Back to work!

A large group of workers, adventurers who refused to work with the adventuring guild due to the restrictions and rules it set in place, could be seen traveling through the countryside. Carts filled with supplies and weapons for the oncoming excursion were traveling with them, and many of them could be seen wearing smiles and laughing.

The reason for all this joy was rather simple, a noble had recruited them to venture into a newly discovered tomb, and the payment they would receive for this job was immense! Of course, none of this was legal, but that's what workers are for. They would do anything for a price, unlike the guild which followed laws and had regulations set in place.

Many teams of great renown were gathered here, such as Foresight, Dragon Hunt, Heavy Masher, and Tenmu.

Foresight is a group known for their thirst for money and battle. They had many accomplishments under their belts, including fighting in the Grand Arena against various mighty monsters. Not to mention their ventures into the Great Forest of Tob, where they slayed a Manticore, a crazed Dryad, and many other monsters while they were also collecting herbs.

The group consists of Hekkeran Termine, a blonde man with blue eyes, and the leader of the group. Aarche Eeb Rile Furt, who is a more petite mage girl with blond hair and blue eyes, notably, she has a talent that allows her to see how much magical power her enemies have. A talent that caused even Fluder Paradyne, the court mage of the Empire, to offer her a place in the magic tower. Next up is Roberdyck Goltron, a holy paladin/priest who serves as the party's tank and healer. And last but not least there is Imina, lover of Hekkeran Termite.

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The four could be seen walking side by side, with each one of them being rather excited, though the veterans knew better than to allow themselves to be consumed by eagerness and joy.

Exploring new dungeons is incredibly risky and scary. Nobody knows what could be in them, but this also means the potential for great wealth also exists, and like how a lamp attracts flies, the workers swarmed towards the light.

Little did they know, they were not flying to a lamp, but straight into the sun.

Aarche sighed, her staff in hand.

"You know you guys don't have to do this for me right...?"

Roberdyck spoke up at this with a friendly smile on his face, "Nonsense! We are more than happy to help you Aarche."

"Yeah, with this, you won't have to worry about your siblings anymore and will be more than capable of living peacefully on your own." Hekkeran Termite, the leader of the group, spoke up, agreeing with Roberdyck.

Imina patted Aarche on the back, "Dont worry okay? We are doing this cause we want to."

"...I'll repay all of you for this one day, I promise," Aarche said, genuinely grateful for her friends.

The truth of the matter is that Aarche needed money, enough money to keep her delusional parents, who were stripped of their noble status by the Emperor, afloat despite their expensive and outrageous bouts of shopping.

However, recently, Aarche has decided that enough is enough. She will take her two young sisters and leave, with her talent and strength, it should be easy enough to survive alone. But for this, she needs a lot of money. Which is why the group is known for their immense greed.

Money is not important to them, but they need it to survive, so it becomes important whether they like it or not.

Aarche's eyes glazed over as she remembered the many, many debts her parents accumulated, which would no doubt fall on her when her parents failed to pay up. This tomb must be full of gold, her and her sisters' lives depend on it.

Her determined gaze was suddenly interrupted as the leader of Tenmu, Erya Uzruth, a human man with blond hair, walked up followed by his three elf slaves.

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The group instantly glanced at Imina, who is also an elf, to be relieved the woman managed to keep her anger in check, though they all decided to end this conversation as fast as they could without being rude.

"My friends of Foresight! So good to see you on this excursion, at least someone here is good enough to watch my back." He approached Hekkeran and shook hands with him, the men smiled at each other while Imina looked at the slaves.

Each one had a different hair color, one being blue, another being brown, and the last one being blond. All of them had tattered clothing- no, they were more akin to dirty rags, and they smelled of sweat and... another liquid too.

It was no secret that these slaves were not just for combat purposes with their magical abilities, but considering all of them were female and the broken look in their eyes, they were most likely sex dolls.

Imina felt her mind become clouded by rage, which Roberdyck noticed and swiftly acted upon by leading her away from the slaves.

Seeing Imina walking away, Erya smiled a bit more, the man was provoking the elf woman intentionally, and it was no secret he desired her. Hekkeran's hand twitched towards his blade-

...But Hekkeran suppressed the urge to gut the man like a fish and instead put his hand to his waist, like that was what he wanted to do all along. As annoying and arrogant as Erya is, he is rumored to be equal to Gazef Stronof, he is not to be messed with without preparation.

"So, what do you need from Foresight?" Hekkeran got straight to business, he wanted this man away from him and his group as soon as possible.

"Oh nothing much really, just wanted to say hi." He looked at Imina, who could be seen ranting to her friends in the distance, "But I see the lady is still not in the mood to see my charming face, so I shall excuse myself."

Hekkeran nodded and walked to his comrades, but not before witnessing a plant root suddenly grow in front of Erya, causing him to trip and fall straight into some mud.

Everyone resisted the urge to laugh, though Imina resisted significantly less than everyone else, laughing without a care. Erya angrily turned to his elf slaves, who winced in fear.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU DID THAT?!" They all shrunk and flinched as he approached them, his hand raised and ready to beat them, but Hekkeran got involved before things could escalate more.

"They didn't do it, none of them spoke a spell or moved their hands."

Imina also ran up and got between him and the elves, she couldn't free them from him, but she could at least protect them while she was around.

Erya paused and gave Hekkeran a long look before nodding. "Fine, I shall believe you." He then dragged the slaves with him after Imina got out of his way, he then walked ahead.

Imina complained, "What an asshole, who does he think he is?!"

"A powerful swordsman sadly, I hope he dies in that tomb," Hekkeran spoke, more quiet than Imina.

It would be bad if he heard them and a rift formed between the two groups. In a dungeon, they needed to have each other's backs, not fight against one another.

"I hope not, if anything in there can kill him with those buffs provided by the elves, we would be in serious trouble," Roberdyck spoke up, and everyone nodded, albeit begrudgingly.

"I wouldn't mind if he had a heart attack though." He elaborated, making everyone laugh.

The group traveled for a while, being left alone, though they did hear some interesting things.

"Hey, do you think they really hired a group of adamantine-ranked adventurers to protect our gear?" Imina asked after hearing someone else mention it.

It was a fair question, those guys were not cheap to hire, not to mention the tens of gold-ranked adventurers who were manning the carts with their equipment and who would also serve as guards for their stuff when they arrived at the mansion. The costs would no doubt be insane.

Roberdyck shrugged, "We should not question the whims of the rich, I am happy as long as we get paid fairly for our work." Everyone nodded at this.

The group traveled, now reaching a forest, inside of which there was a mansion that belonged to the noble they would do this excursion for and also where their belongings would be kept for its duration.

As the conversation died and they traveled through the woods, suddenly, people began to murmur as they looked into the forest around them, specifically, they all looked to the right, where a man in great black armor could be seen walking towards them, on his side, a woman with a ponytail could be seen, while two children energetically ran around, playing what seemed to be a game of catch on various branches.

They moved with speed none of the people gathered here had seen in their lives, they could barely keep track of them as they ducked and weaved between the thick branches, unknown to them, the two children were holding back a lot, mostly cause they wanted to show off and grow their reputation more with this action.

Aarche felt dizzy the second she saw Nabe's magical power, but when she even glanced at Thoth and Aura, she passed out immediately as she felt a wave of primordial fear go up her spine, causing her comrades to huddle around her, shouting at the adventurers to get their healing potions.

Murmurs could be heard, many wondering who this man is, only to be told that he is the legendary Sir Momon of Darkness himself, not to mention Miss Nabe, The Blessed Child, and Aura.

Momon was of course dressed in his signature black armor, giving an aura of unwavering strength and confidence while Nabe wore her brown cloak over her black shirt and pants. Thoth, the blessed child, wore white and gold leather armor, giving out an aura of radiance and warmth, Aura also wore leather armor, though hers was more that of a hunter's, she also had a green staff on her back which gave her some more druidic abilities since she is not truly a druid.

Their group approached the large group of workers, with Thoth and Aura getting there first.

Thoth, hanging from a tree branch like an ape, shouted back to Ainz with a voice fit for a child.

"Momon! Those people we were looking for are here!" His voice thundered across the forest, amplified by magic, reaching Ainz clearly despite the tens of meters between them, Thoth didn't even need to use magic. But once again, this is a calculated show of strength to subdue the other party.

Everyone, after removing their hands from their ears, looked at each other.

"These guys are the real deal," they all thought, but Arche knew exactly how real of a deal they were. Sadly, she was unconscious, so she couldn't tell anyone.

Thoth dropped down from the tree he was on and floated down to Foresight, who were too busy tending to Aarche to notice him.

"Get me that healing potion fast!" Hekkeran shouted at the adventurers, who quickly retrieved a healing potion for them.

Before they could get it to Aarche however, Thoth spoke up, "That won't do anything you know~"

The group turned to him, surprised they didn't even notice his approach.

"What can help then?" Roberdyck asked since he was the calmest out of everyone around at the moment.

"I can-" Thoth began speaking, but was interrupted by Imina, who shouted.

"Do it then!" The area became silent as everyone realized what Imina had just done. Shouting at an adamatite ranked adventurer? That is an offense one could be killed for by the adventurer in question.

"... What's the magic word?" Thoth asked with a smile, prompting Imina to say "Please."

Thoth then cast "[False Data: Magical Power]" hiding his magical power from all who would try to see it. He then put his hand on Aarche's forehead and simply ordered her to wake up, his eyes glowing gold as he did so.

Aarche woke up with a start, gasping in terror.

Everyone was relieved, and while Aarche was also happy to be awake again, she couldn't eliminate the sheer fear she felt as she looked upon the three monsters, all filled with magic.

"What happened to you Aarche? Are you feeling okay?" Imina asked, prompting Aarche to reflexively glance at Thoth, who gave her a sweet smile. To Aarche however, it was a sinister grin, the grin of a monster in a child's skin.

"I-It's okay, I just felt dizzy for a second. I'm fine now." She lied, which caused her great guilt, but she couldn't tell the truth while that monster was around.

"Alright, if you say so," Imina could tell Aarche was lying, but she trusted her friend to speak on her own eventually.

Momon, Nabe, and Aura meanwhile were watching the scene from a distance, allowing Thoth to show off his powers while also spreading the knowledge that he acts like a child, a ruse created by him of course.

As Momon looked at Thoth, he suddenly heard a voice call out to him, the leader of the worker group Dragon's Hunt, an older man with wrinkled skin and little hair on his head wielding a spear, approached Momon.

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"It is an honor to meet an Adamantite-ranked adventurer such as yourself Sir Momon."

Momon nodded in acknowledgment, "It is an honor to meet you as well..."

"Parpatra Ogrion, though you may just call me Parpatra if you wish."

"I see, it is an honor to meet someone who managed to live for so long while doing such dangerous work. You must no doubt be skilled."

"Haha, not at all, I was simply lucky." Everyone around had never heard such an obvious lie, the cunning old man knew exactly what to do during every situation to maximize profits while also maximizing his group's chances of survival.

A glint suddenly appeared in Parpatra's eyes, "I am curious how strong you are however, would you be willing to spar with me?"

Aura reflexively spoke up on behalf of Ainz "You think you-" but was cut off by him.

"I believe this to be too risky, I am not used to holding back, I may kill you on accident." The workers around all felt insulted, it is well known of the tension between the adventurers and the workers, with both sides viewing the other poorly. This bout of what seemed to be arrogance only fueled the flames.

"Haha! I will have you know I am not as weak as I look." He then prepared his spear.

"...Very well." Momon did not bother drawing his swords, nor did he do anything else to prepare, he simply motioned for everyone around to give them some space.

"There should be a limit to your arrogance you know!" Parpatra shouted, genuinely irked by Momon's arrogance.

He rushed forward, determined to show Momon that workers are not to be underestimated, however, as he charged, he noticed Momon's finger moved slightly. He immediately realized his head might get cut off, and he stumbled back, much to the confusion of everyone around.

"The hell is the old fart doing? Did he lose it?" A random worker asked.

"No, you idiot! Dont you see Sir Momon's stance? He is full of openings on the surface, but in reality, he is ready to kill Parpatra in one go!" Everyone gasped in fear as they realized this, they had been tricked so easily!

'What stance?!' Momon shouted in his mind, he was just standing with his knees slightly bent so he could take any impacts better, that's all he did!

"I see you don't underestimate me, Sir Momon..." The old man said as a bit of sweat poured down the side of his face.

"I never underestimate anyone, everyone here is worthy of respect." The adventurers and workers alike felt touched by such a powerful man showing his respect to them, so much so that his previous "arrogance" felt more like him being genuinely concerned for them.

"I see, you are truly extraordinary, Sir Momon. Then allow me to give this one last shot."

The old man then rushed forward, utilizing a martial art to attempt to knock Momon on his back, which failed as the man didn't move an inch, causing great shock in Parpatra, who attempted to stab Momon through his helmet.

Momon moved his arm so quickly no one could react in time, one second, the spear was on its way to make contact, in the next, it was crushed into pieces by Momon's hand.

Everyone was shocked.

"I apologize for the spear, I have Nabe repair it for you."

"...Thank you," Parpatra said after a shocked pause.

He didn't see his hand move, he felt only the wind move, if Momon wanted to, he could kill everyone here without even blinking, let alone struggling at all. It would be over in a minute at maximum.

Parpatra felt truly humbled again, 'maybe I should retire after this excursion is over' he thought to himself with a wry smile.

As he thought this, Nabe mended his spear together, since she is a maid of Nazarick, she had spells like this which thematically fit the role, and repairing such a shitty low-level spear was incredibly easy for a Nazarick denizen.

He looked upon his spear in shock, "I-It looks like it's completely new!" he shouted, surprised.

Momon turned away from Parpatra and spoke to everyone, "Now then, I believe we should continue, our employer is no doubt eagerly awaiting our arrival."

This received approval, and the group began to travel to the mansion.

As they traveled, Erya, the man with the female elf slaves, clicked his tongue while looking at Aura. The racist bigot was no doubt frustrated that an elf stronger than him dared to exist, and Thoth noticed this click.

'Oh, I will play so many fun games with you~' Thoth thought as he felt the desire to punish the wicked surge like a tsunami, but he controlled it for now, though for a second, Aarche could swear she saw a few eyes open and close on his skin...

...It was probably just her imagination.

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