Gazef Stronoff

Gazef and his unit moved through the plains, desperately chasing after the Baharuth Empire's raiding party.

The villages they passed by were safe and sound, however, the people there could only be described as insane or delusional.

When Gazef asked what happened and questioned the people there, they told him things he found to be absolutely impossible.

Apparently, Death and his guardian, a monstrosity in the body of a child, descended from the sky to protect them, killing any soldiers that came near and leaving behind an absolute massacre without even lifting a finger.

After that, they healed them, gave them food, and proceeded to vanish.

Now, Gazef is not a fool, he knows too well that something must have protected those villagers, so he thought of a more realistic option: A powerful magic caster with an undead mask appeared along with his apprentice came and helped the villagers, they used magic to create food for them and then they left, their immensely powerful spells must have muddled the minds of the villagers.

Still, to do something like that, they would have needed to use sixth-tier magic, the most powerful tier Gazef knew about.

His right-hand man caught up to him on horseback, his brown hair and brown eyes made him look rather ordinary, but he was a great warrior in Gazef's mind.

"Hey Gazef, do you actually believe those villagers?" He questioned, obviously finding the things they said impossible.

"No," Gazef replied, "but there has to be a reason for them to believe those things, no matter what, someone saved them, and that someone is very powerful." 

"I see, that makes more sense," he nodded along, "but shouldn't we return to the capital and request better equipment then? You know exactly why the nobles forced you here without your best armor."

"...I do, but we cannot just leave the lives of these villagers up to some third party with who knows what intentions."

"But Gazef, you are far more valuable to the kingdom than some villages, you should know that as well."

"...Tell me, you were raised in a village too, right?" He nodded, "Then let us be the heroes they so desperately hope for, we must prove to them that the king cares, even if his subjects sometimes lack in that department."

and so they continued to ride on, but unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.

Members of the Sunlight scripture were keeping a close eye on their target, the chief warrior of the kingdom.

They returned to their hidden camp to report on the head warrior's movements, their plan coming to fruition.

The man was bravely rushing into Carne Village, where they would encircle him and his men and kill them all, leaving the kingdom without its strongest warrior and symbol.

It would be a catastrophic loss for the kingdom, yet the greedy nobles did all the hard work for them by making him exposed like this.

Nigun could be seen within the camp with a pleased smile as he heard the report from the two scouts.

He dismissed them with a wave of his hand, indeed, everything was going smoothly.

Suddenly, a bunch of bait meant to lure Gazef to the village arrived, their breaths out of control as they collapsed to the floor.

"What is the meaning of this!" Nigun knew these incompetents would fail him, they were supposed to destroy the village and hold the villagers hostage while they surrounded Gazef, leaving him with no option but to surrender or die.

But now, that plan was ruined!

"S-Si-r-Sir-T-They!" The people were a stuttering mess, their eyes wide and clothes soiled with piss.

Nigun's face scrunched up in disgust at the sight.

"Get them out of my sight! We don't have time to deal with this." The cowards must have broken the second the villagers started to heavily resist, truly, only the members of the Sunlight scripture were worth anything, not the useless bait sent to sacrifice themselves for the plan.

"Get ready to depart!" He shouted the command, but to his shock, the men who returned refused to do anything once they heard it.

"NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" They seemed desperate like they were going to face one of the most terrifying demons in existence.

Nigun walked to the desperate soldiers and yelled in their faces: "Do you have no faith in God?! He is on our side, and to do his bidding is the greatest honor!"

"We head out now." Nigun finished with absolute certainty but to his shock, the men took out their swords, some killed themselves before he could blink while others attacked him.

They shouted with madness and desperation in their voices, believing themselves to be in the right.

They were protecting their comrades from those... things, they would kill them if they must, for death is better than meeting death and judgment while still alive.

They stood no chance against the army of angels that descended upon them in mere moments, but the sequence of events certainly brought down morale.

Nigun is no fool, such extreme actions would have some reason behind them, so he carefully considered recalling the attack in favor of safety.

As he was thinking, an invisible creature reached out a hand towards him, manipulating his mind without anyone even noticing.

"What are you waiting for!? We must move now!" Nigun shouted, and so, the camp headed out to encircle the village.

Inside the village itself, a young boy and a magic caster could be seen, the magic caster was wearing a strange-looking mask which he only put on now, another part of their plan.

They successfully shocked the villagers around the area, now they would no doubt be fanatical worshipers of Ainz Ooal Gown, but Gazef would need to be treated differently, they didn't want so much attention so soon.

If Gazef alerted the king and his faction of the developments, the kingdom would not be in the ideal state for a takeover, no, first they must drag the kingdom to its breaking point, and then smash it through the ground, all while using divine magic to look like Gods.

Thoth was quite proud of Ainz for coming up with the plan for spreading their name around the area while also guiding the Sunlight Scripture to the desired point.

Each time they intervened and saved a village, they wiped the memories of the attacking soldiers, and when no one was looking, they revived the ones who died and wiped their memories as well, replacing them with more convenient ones.

They also sent some agents to keep subtly influencing Nigun and his troops with mental control spells, guiding them a bit more forcefully.

This way, the opposing party would have no idea anything was wrong, leading them to continue acting as normal while also guiding them to the spot they wanted them to be in.

They only released them of the cycle now, since there was no more point to keeping it going. They would be dead soon.

Ainz walked over next to Thoth, his mask still on his face, the villagers didn't dare to question the thing that saved them, so they simply did their best to ignore it.

Thoth kept an eye on Enri and her family, they were all eating and enjoying themselves, the family not separated as it was in his universe.

Thoth spoke to Ainz, breaking the awkward silence.

"Thank you lord Ainz for allowing me to come with you and for making a compromise with your lowly servant."

"It's nothing, and don't call yourself lowly, you are nowhere near lowly, in fact, I believe you and the other denizens of Nazarick to be much greater than I could ever be."

"Haha, thank you, lord Ainz, I shall do my best to live up to your expectations."

The dust cloud kept getting closer and closer until the village chief also noticed it.

He ran up next to Ainz and Thoth, though his steps were still a bit shaky as he got closer to them.

Gazef and his men arrived at the village, his eyes scanning the two people of interest.

It seems like he was right, a mage and his apprentice must have saved the other villages, including this one.

Just to be safe, he asked a question to the village chief after greeting him.

"Village chief, who are these two people next to you?" The chief froze for a second, how was he supposed to introduce two God-like beings? Luckily, Ainz took the mantle from him and introduced himself and Thoth.

"Greetings head warrior, my name is Ainz Ooal Gown and this is Thoth, we saw the villages in the area getting attacked and decided to intervene.

After hearing this, Gazef jumped off of his horse and walked towards Ainz, who observed the man's movements with caution.

"I am most grateful to you, Gown-dono." The head warrior was about to bow, but Ainz stopped him.

"There is no need to thank me, I merely did what I wanted to," Ainz spoke.

"Head warrior!" A man came running up to Gazef, "Unknown people have surrounded us!"

"What?!" Gazef immediately turned to the soldier who whispered into his ear.

"...I know they aren't after us."

"If they aren't after you then..."

"It seems you are very disliked, head warrior."

"Haha, you could say so."

"Dismount men! We must rest while we can." The soldiers did as ordered and got off their horses, letting the animals rest a bit.

"Now then, let us discuss things a bit more elsewhere." Ainz motioned to the village chief's hut.

"Lead the way, Sir Gown."

The four men walked to the two-story building and went to the second floor, the village chief was asked to wait outside, and I (Thoth) walked inside with the other two.

It was an indescribable feeling seeing these characters interacting in front of my eyes, hearing their words to each other, and seeing the bond that was forming in front of my eyes, it felt amazing.

I don't know why I was brought here, or who did it, but I am incredibly grateful to them, for they allowed my dream to become a reality.

Meanwhile, as things developed in the house, the angel sister could be seen sitting on a nearby tree.

"Man~ Sir Seraph is so cool~" The wizard fangirled over Thoth, the image of his half-exposed form still in her mind.

It was to be expected, they had never seen something so powerful and beautiful for 450 years, their souls screamed in excitement when they felt the Seraph unleash even a fraction of his power.

"I know right?!" The bard angel felt the same way, and seeing them dish out divine justice felt incredibly satisfying.

Those men were responsible for many innocents dying, and the amount of sin they committed was certainly noticeable, so when Thoth exposed his form to their guilty souls, they felt very fulfilled, knowing that justice was still enforced, at least in this small part of the world... It made them smile.

"Eeek! And his wings were so shiny!!!" The two were completely fanatical about their newfound superior, though neither harbored any feelings toward him right now.

No, this was pure, utter faith and respect which made them so obsessed.

The two stopped fangirling for a second when they saw the large encirclement around the village.

"Hah~ Such fools, they don't even know the mistake they are making and the sins they have committed."

"Preach it, my sister! They will be enlightened soon enough."

"Though I wonder what the Elder one is planning now, he wanted us to protect that girl for a reason no doubt, I wonder what she will do in the future that is so important..."

"Hmm... And I wonder why he is serving that undead, it seems like there is a reason for it though..."

"Of course! There must be, we both know something is going on with his soul, so the Elder is probably trying to keep him in control so he doesn't become fully evil!"

"I see, that makes sense!"

"Yep!"

"...Anyway, I wonder what the guys are up to?"

Meanwhile, with the male angels, they were nowhere near as active.

They merely blessed the potions Nfirea made, making them more effective and pure, encouraging more people to go to his shop, and earning him more money in the long run.

There was nothing to protect him from, at least not yet, so the two angels entertained themselves by playing cards against each other, the cards were made with magic and were made for their size.

"Haha! I win again!" Warrior shouted, their presences were erased with magic, so no one could hear them.

"Yeah Yeah, whatever," Protector complained, he's been losing constantly for about three hours, and he was getting sick of it.

"Aww c'mon, big guy! It's not your fault I'm better!"

"Oh fu- I mean... thanks..." Protector strongly disliked swearing, so he kept himself under control.

"Haha!" Warrior laughed a bit more, but eventually, he composed himself enough for another game.

This time, he allowed Protector to win a few games sometimes by giving himself handicaps, though Protector was not aware of them.

Just as the two were having fun, they both immediately stood up off of the shelf they were on and looked outside.

A woman could be seen there, an eerie smile on her face and a hood covering her face.

"Hey..." Warrior spoke, "I know, that woman is dangerous." Protector finished for his friend.

"Well... It seems we won't be getting bored anytime soon, that's for sure." Warrior joked a little.

"Being bored doesn't sound so bad anymore..."

Back in Carne Village, Gazef got on top of his mount and rode out along with the rest of his men, the village chief, panicked, asked Ainz and Thoth why he was leaving.

"The head warrior will make a distraction for us to get away, they were most likely targeting him, so they won't attack the village, and if they do..."

"Haha, well, they can certainly try," Thoth spoke, leaving the imagination of the chief to fill in the gaps.

The chief gulped in fear, happy that these two were on his side.

"W-What should we do then?" He asked, receiving a response from Ainz, "Gather everyone in the most durable building in the village just to be safe, someone might slip our detection and cause chaos if we aren't careful."

"R-Right away!" The village chief began to gather everyone. When they heard it was a command from the duo, they immediately obeyed and everyone ran inside the village chief's home.

"Now then..." Ainz spoke, "Let's show this world the might of Ainz Ooal Gown.

"Your wish is my command lord Ainz." Thoth spoke, excited for the coming scene.