11 Carne Village (2)

The group set out of the city, their caravan alive with activity.

The Swords of Darkness are all very interesting personalities, the pervy elf has already hit on Nabe more times than I could count, and we've barely left the city.

To be honest, a part of me was irritated by his constant pestering, but I kept up the act of being a child for future benefits.

"So, where are you guys from?" the blond elf asked.

"A far away country, you wouldn't have heard of it," Momon answered.

"How did you get to E-Rantel?"

"We walked, obviously."

"Why did you go to E-Rantel?"

"To make money."

The pestering just kept going, until eventually, his questions started getting a bit too brave.

"Are you also an elf Momon?"

"No, I am human."

"Sir?" A small child-like voice asked, Lukrut (the elf), looked down to see Thoth

"Oh yeah? What is it, little guy?"

"Please shut the fuck up." His tone never changed from his childish and friendly tone, which made him sound rather funny.

A few people laughed as the child told Lukrut off for his annoying questions and pestering.

"None of this is your business, also, you hitting on Nabe is sad, have you considered actually finding a partner? Hell, has any woman actually been interested in you beyond just your cash and strength? You know, your non-existent personality? Just stop."

"Damn, okay jeez." Lukrut's ego was completely crushed by the child.

Thoth, now satisfied with the peace returning, brought up a warm smile and said "Thank you!"

"That was brutal!" Nfirea said, "and very deserved." Dyne added.

"Yeah yeah whatever." Lukrut waved them off, trying to keep some of his ego alive.

Meanwhile, Aura and I did a very sneaky fist bump, both of us satisfied that the annoying elf finally stopped being annoying.

"I apologize on my companion's behalf." Momon, not wanting to make any enemies, apologized quickly.

"It's fine, he deserved it." Peter, the brown-haired human leader, joined Momon in de-escalating the situation.

"Exactly!" Thoth spoke up again, earning another laugh from the group.

Their travels were rather uneventful, with Lukrut now keeping to himself for the most part, the group did not have much to talk about, so a peaceful silence covered the caravan.

That is until Aura detected some very brave ogres.

"Lo-Sir Momon, some ogres are approaching us from the forest."

Lukrut focused, and after a minute, he could also hear them approaching.

"She's right, let's get into formation," Lukrut confirmed.

"You all stay with Nfirea and we'll take care of the ogres, make sure you protect him from any that slip this way."

"You got it, Sir Momon," Peter said while commanding the others into formation.

At this moment, a large group of ogres came charging from the woods, the ogres were carrying large wooden clubs that looked like tree trunks.

The Swords of Darkness steeled themselves for a tough battle ahead, but they were a bit surprised when Momon and his group began approaching the enemies with absolutely no care whatsoever.

Thoth, to keep up his appearance as mainly a priest and magic caster, kept his distance a bit along with Aura and Nabe, who made sure as few ogres slipped by as possible, though they did allow some to slip through.

Momon pulled out his two large, black greatswords with ease, wielding one in each arm, he sliced through the first ogre as easily as a knife slicing through butter.

He kept up his momentum, using his speed to bring his sword through the second ogre close to him.

The Swords of Darkness gasped at the impressive feat of strength, Nfirea couldn't help but mutter in shock, "An oger in one hit...?"

"They must be as strong as the chief warrior..." Peter muttered back absentmindedly.

"Really? But that would make them adamantine level!"Nfirea shouted in shock.

Just who is he trying to trick here?

Their argument was interrupted as a few ogres rushed past their valiant allies towards them, they would have to discuss these things another time.

Thoth, Aura, and Nabe meanwhile simply fired off tier 3 or 4 spells every now and then, squishing the ogres towards Momon so he could get the most praise and attention, which he certainly did.

It was remarkably easy, even Momon, limited by his armor, could have slaughtered millions of these creatures without help, it makes sense considering they literally can't hurt him.

And so, the ogres tried to retreat, but this time, there was nowhere to go, so all 30 ogres met their end outside the forest.

Ninya could be seen kneeling beside an ogre, with a small knife in hand, he cut off an ear from the ogres around him.

Momon approached him from behind, he cast a large shadow, so Ninya turned around without Momon even announcing himself.

"What is it, Sir Momon?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just collecting the ears from the ogres, we need to show proof of our kill so we get paid after all."

"I see, so crystals don't appear once a monster is killed?"

Ninya looked at Momon with a strange expression, sheer confusion on her face before she answered.

"...I've never heard of monsters carrying crystals before..."

"I see, thank you for your time."

"It's no problem!"

'Do monsters drop crystals where Momon is from? What a strange land that place must be.' Ninya felt compelled to ask, but seeing how hostile Thoth became when Lukrut started to ask personal questions, she decided it was best to stay silent.

The group gathered all of the ogre ears and continued to travel, the forest around them and the rolling hills made for quite the scenes, and the distant mountain range also added to the scenery.

"Man~ With you four around, I don't think there is any need for us," Lukrut spoke.

"Nonsense, without you, the ogres would have managed to get to Nfirea, we four don't have any skills when it comes to protecting a VIP, you are better than us at that."

"He right you know, nobody is perfect, and with the dragons that live in that mountain range which could attack any second, we should stay on guard."

"I disagree with your first point." Nabe spoke up, but Momon quickly diverted the conversation back to the mountains, "There are dragons in the mountains?"

"Yep, and they are pretty strong from what I hear."

"I see." 'I wonder just how strong those guys actually are, they were the strongest race in the game, but seeing how weak everyone in this world is, they might also prove to be disappointing. Still, it's better to act with the idea of them being strong.'

The group continued moving forward until night fell, they set up a camp and started a fire.

All of them sat around the fire, with the Swords of Darkness telling some interesting stories from their past adventures.

"I wonder, why are you all called the Swords of Darkness?" Momon asked.

"Oh gosh..." Ninya immediately cringed and covered her face

"Haha! No need to be ashamed Ninya, the name was your idea and it sounds really good!"

"Yeah!" Lukrut cheered on Dain's efforts to inspire some confidence in Ninya.

"Ugh..." It seems they failed sadly, as Ninya continued to cringe, only barely looking through the cracks in her eyes.

"You see Sir Momon," Peter began answering the question, "The name is inspired by the legendary black knight."

"..." 'Yeah, and??' Ainz thought to himself, 'Shit, this is common knowledge here probably, I have no idea who that is!'

Thoth raised his hand like a child in a classroom, and once everyone turned to him, he asked "Who is that?"

'Great job Thoth!'

The rest of the night went fairly well, I stopped Ninya from angering Momon by subtly shaking my head at her while she was in the middle of her sentence, making her re-think and realize how hurtful her words could have been.

There is no need for unnecessary conflict, and while I would ensure these guys lived, I don't care enough to help them grow their relationship with Momon.

They just need to spread his reputation more, end of story.

The trip to Carne Village was completely uneventful after this, so uneventful that I decided to grab a knife and rip off some wood from a tree trunk to make a small statue of Ainz in his skeletal form.

I didn't think much about it until Nfirea saw me carving the statue.

"What is that?"

'Shit. I wasn't paying attention, but this isn't a bad development anyway.'

"I- It's just a silly carving."

"It looks super pretty! You are very talented Thoth."

"Thank you."

As we neared the village, Nfirea had a huge smile, already excited to see the girl he loved, but he was quite surprised by the durable-looking fence around the village.

"That's weird, there wasn't a fence here before..."

Indeed, as the group walked, they were ambushed by a group of well-armed goblins, some with swords and others with bows and arrows.

"State your business!" The goblin leader shouted.

The adventurers brought out their weapons to show they wouldn't be taken down easily, and even though Momon didn't take out his swords, the goblin leader felt a chill crawl up his spine as he felt Momon scan him.

"Hey calm down, we don't want to fight, especially that big guy there, we just need to know who you are before we let you in."

"I am Nfirea Bareare, I want to see Enri."

As Nfirea introduced himself, Enri arrived, she smiled seeing Nfirea, "Nfirea!"

"Enri!"

"Okay guys, stand down." The goblin leader ordered, and the troops lowered their weapons in response.

The adventurers lowered their weapons as well, sighing in relief.

Enri looked at Thoth, who sent her a message to expect his arrival with Nfirea and some others and gulped in fear.

She was understandably nervous, one of the eldritch beings that saved her entire village was now in front of her, disguised as a simple boy, tricking some adventurers into thinking he was perfectly normal.

If it was for his amusement or some other purpose she didn't dare to ask or even imagine, such things are better off being kept outside her imagination and mind.

She led the group inside the village, the Swords of Darkness took this as an opportunity to rest while the Nazarick group headed up to a hill above the village.

Nfirea walked with Enri to her home, he wanted to know what happened so suddenly for all of these things to be here now.

Needless to say, Nfirea was shocked by what happened, and to be honest, if what Enri said was true, it was a miracle the village survived.

"You said it was a large skeletal magic caster and a small child-like creature?"

Enri shuddered remembering their appearances, but she nodded anyway.

"Oh! You might know more about this than me, but they also gave me a potion."

Enri pulled out the familiar red potion, and Nfirea's eyes went wide at the sight.

To think those two were the same people who saved the village!

Nfirea rushed outside, with Enri calling out to him behind him, but he had no time for such things.

He needed to confirm this himself, one could call him brave, stupid, or ignorant for daring to approach such terrifying beings with such reckless abandon.

As Nfirea ran towards the Nazarick group, the angels from Enri and Nfirea sent a message to Thoth informing him of the situation.

As Nfirea ran to the group, Ainz asked them all a question.

"What do you think of the humans?" He asked while looking at the village folk doing their best to shoot their bows

"They are pathetic creatures." Nabe was the first to answer, her answer expected by Thoth.

"Nabe," Thoth interjected, "You need to see more of Lord Ainz's plan with the humans."

Nabe and Aura both perked up at this, while Ainz leaned closer, trying to figure out what his plan was.

"Lord Ainz is clearly trying to get you to think about their strengths, which are their adaptability and determination, they are arguably one of the weaker of the races, yet they have managed to thrive anyway, Lord Ainz is trying to get you to think about the future."

Thoth gestured to the villagers down below.

"Wouldn't such an adaptable and determined race make for great subordinates? Look at them, after being nearly killed, they didn't collapse and fall to despair, they decided to learn more and defend themselves, though they are not anywhere near Nazarick's standards, Lord Ainz clearly believes that they will make for fine subjects in the future, should they be groomed for that purpose."

"Oooh!" Aura exclaimed in wonder, "That's why you and Lord Ainz went to save such lowly creatures!"

"Kukuku..." Thoth held in the urge to scream "Sasuga Ainz-sama!" like a certain devil liked to do, and he nodded his head.

"Indeed Thoth, you have seen right through me." Ainz nodded his head.

"Surely you jest Lord Ainz, I'm merely trying to do my best to live up to your expectations. As your humble servants, it is the least we could do."

"You should give yourself more credit, your insight was still impressive."

"Thank you for your praise Lor-"

As Thoth was about to complete that sentence, Nfirea could be seen running over.

"Ah- It seems things are going according to plan Lord Ainz."

"Umu, indeed they are..." Aura and Nabe looked completely impressed by Lord Ainz and his vast intellect, and they were both just as impressed with Thoth, who could glimpse even a fraction of it.

Nfirea arrived, completely out of breath, to save everyone some time, Thoth cast [Greater Recovery] so that Nfirea would start to speak.

"Sir Momon, are you Ainz Ooal Gown?!"

"...I am."

"I see," Nfirea bowed in front of Momon, "Thank you for saving the woman I love!"

"It's fine, but you need to keep this a secret understood?" Ainz warned the boy, "if word gets out, I will know." The threat didn't need to be emphasized more than that, and Nfirea let out a nervous "Y-yes!"

"Good, now leave us be." Ainz dismissed Nfirea, who promptly left to return back to Enri, who would surely have a lot of questions if she learned of her, for now, friend just confronting death and judgment face to face, she would probably have a heart attack.

And so the hour passed, and as it did, everyone prepared to enter the Forest of Tob.

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