Ch21. Hired

"Ainz-dono, would it be possible to hire your party?" Gazeff bluntly asked, knowing his men had no chance to win the upcoming encounter. If the enemy lured him here on purpose they would not be stupid enough to bring insufficient force to deal with him. The fact he wasn't allowed to bring the Kingdom's treasures with him wasn't lost on him either.

Ainz didn't answer and just looked at the hooded figure who was introduced as Rei, causing Gazeff's attention to swap onto him.

Sensing his cue, Rei inwardly smirked while taking a step forward before speaking, "And if we refuse?" He amusedly asked, causing Gazeff's expression to grow dark.

"Then, I am afraid I will have to insist and invoke the Re-Estize's conscription laws." He gravely said, trying to sound firm but Rei saw right through his facade. The man was quite conflicted about uttering that sentence.

But... both knew how effective it was.

The second Gazeff said that, his band of warriors tensed, preparing for a fight to break out. Fortunately for the poor sods, Rei had the presence of mind to remind Momonga to keep a short leash on Albedo while he told Solution to not act out otherwise these men would have been already changed into mincemeat the second Gazeff uttered his threat.

Rei snorted, "You wouldn't survive that."

Gazeff was taken aback at the casualness of Rei's remark. The sheer lazy conviction behind it made him sure the hooded man wasn't taking him seriously but... it was hard to argue against a party that already wiped out an entire company of knights by themselves without even receiving a scratch in return. Yes... Gazeff knew his threat was empty but he simply had to try it.

The Head Warrior was about to dejectedly accept the situation, already seeing that the only way to resolve the issue was to ride his troops right into the trap and hope they would break through the enemy ranks in order to retreat. He knew many of his warriors would not survive it but he had no choice but to bravely face this challenge head-on.

It was then that Rei's voice brought Gazeff back to reality, "But... depending on the amount, we might be persuaded. State your offer, Head Warrior."

Hearing Rei offering help to the Head Warrior, Ainz almost did double-take. 'Are you sure it's wise to help them? We know nothing about the enemy!' He sent a Message to Rei.

'Don't worry. I will go deal with them while you will stand back and act as a backup if necessary. At worst, we will teleport away. This is a necessary small risk with a possibility to get quite a lot of rewards.' Rei tried to calm him down.

'Wait! You want to fight them ALONE!?' Ainz panicked. 'Absolutely not! That's-'

'MOMONGA!' Rei mentally screamed, causing Ainz to subtly flinch. Thankfully, that was when his emotional expression decided to do the hard work for Rei and forcefully calmed the skeleton down. 'Don't worry. I know what I am doing.'

Ainz mentally grumbled his protests but it was too inaudible for Rei to actually decipher what he was saying. It was obvious Ainz was not satisfied with the situation but trusted Rei's judgment enough to not interfere unless necessary.

Gazeff perked up when he heard Rei offer their services but his elation quickly turned to a concerned frown, "We have only eighty-three gold coins with us. Would that suffice, Rei-dono?" He asked, knowing his offer was laughable at best. He just asked them to risk their lives for measly eighty gold coins when hiring adventurers for such a mission would take five hundred gold coins at the very least as it would require the involvement of a high-ranked adventurer group.

Frankly, Gazeff didn't pack much money as this was a hastily put-together mission so this entire situation was putting him in a tight spot. For peasants and low-end adventurers, that would be a lot of money but from what Gazeff noticed, he doubted the people in front of him lacked money.

"Eight hundred thirty gold coins. That's our price, Head Warrior." Rei raised the offered price by tenfold as if he was just casually discussing the weather, "Naturally, you will only have to pay us after the completion of this little mission and since you don't have enough funds with you, you can repay me at a later date when I visit the capital city. What do you think?"

Gazeff was utterly shocked when he heard the demand but he didn't have much choice. Either accept or let his men be slaughtered like pigs. "I think... that's acceptable." He sourly answered.

'Aren't you afraid he would scam you, My Lord?' Solution mentally asked Rei who chuckled.

'No, my dear. People like him... they are the rarest breed of all. The stupidly honest folk whose honor would never let him do something like that. He will pay.' Rei started, finding amusement in the fact Solution doubted Gazeff's sincerity, 'In fact, I reckon if I don't show up to pick up my gold from him, he would even organize a search party for us. That's the kind of person the Head Warrior is.'

'You mean an idiot?' Solution mentally deadpanned.

Rei just stayed silent. He agreed with Solution's remark but there was no point in telling that to her. Honor was commendable but foolish. Especially in a world riddled with slavery, crime, wars, and who knows what else.

"Well, then. I'd like you and your men to protect the village while I and Solution take care of the pests." Rei nonchalantly stated, making Gazeff and his warriors stare at him as if he grew a new head.

"Er... Rei-dono... you want to go against them alone?" Gazeff unsurely asked, not expecting that. He thought he was going to pay eight hundred gold just for help in the battle. Not that he was paying for the battle to be fought in his stead. That was a complete difference! Now it made sense why Rei asked for so much money. He wanted to face the enemy alone!

"Of course not!" Rei exclaimed, causing Gazeff to sigh in relief.

'Of course, he would not do something so foolish.' Gazeff shook his head.

"I am taking Solution with me!" Rei added, gesturing to the maid standing next to him and the Head Warrior froze at the sheer absurdity of that statement.

"Ainz-dono..." Gazeff weakly tried to turn towards Ainz for support but the hulking man in lavish robes wearing the Mask of Envy just helplessly shook his head.

"Once he gets something into his head, nobody can talk him out of it. I recommend you to just do as he says. You will avoid an unnecessary headache, Gazeff-dono. Don't worry, I will be close-by and prepared to intervene if anything goes wrong."

Ainz didn't like this plan at all but he had to admit it had merit. They desperately needed the currency of this world and trying to gather it the honest way would take time. Ainz was amazed at Rei's resourcefulness. Not only is he going to do a huge favor for an influential person of the Kingdom but he made sure he will be paid for it.

Once again, Ainz dejectedly realized he would probably reject being paid and get caught up in roleplaying while spouting some bullshit like 'Helping those in need is common sense.'. Not for the first time was he glad Rei was with him to take care of these things.

'If only I could hole myself in Nazarick and not care about anything but its maintenance and administration.' Ainz wistfully sighed, dreaming of his perfect utopia but then he remembered all the immense expectations the NPCs were putting on him and promptly shuddered. 'Or not... Maybe taking a trip outside of Nazarick for a month would be really nice. Umu...'

As for Gazeff... he still had a hard time accepting he would be practically benched during the upcoming battle. His pride and honor as a warrior were slighted but he didn't dare to argue. He knew these two magic casters were stronger than him. He could feel it. He had to think like a leader, not a warrior, and this way his subordinates would not be put into unnecessary danger.

Plus... the villagers really needed his protection. Or so he persuaded himself.