CARNE VILLAGE 1
They were nearing the village's edge. Behind them, Enri heard the clanking of metal—and at a regular pace, too.
Praying in her mind, she glanced back. As she'd thought—as she'd worried the worst-case scenario might be—a knight was chasing them.
But we're so close! She wanted to hurl the words in frustration, but she held them back. She didn't have any energy to waste.
If she had been alone, she probably would have despaired and lost the energy to run. Her little sister, whose hand she held, gave her strength. Yes, the wish to save Nemu's life was the only thing keeping Enri going now.
She threw another glance over her shoulder as they ran. The distance between them had not changed much. Despite the armour, the knight wasn't slowing down.
"Agh!" If Enri was severely fatigued, Nemu was completely exhausted. She cried out as she tripped and nearly fell.
The reason she didn't fall was that the two of them were connected by their tightly held hands. But having to pull her threw Enri off-balance as well.
"Hurry! Get up! We must run!"
"I-I am!"
But when they tried to run again, Nemu's leg cramped up and wouldn't move right. When Enri panicked and went to pick her up, she realised in horror that the knight was right next to them.
The sword the knight held was slick with blood. And that wasn't all. His armour and helmet had both been splattered.
Enri stared the knight down, shielding Nemu.
"There's no point in resisting." There was no tenderness in his words. They were said with more of a sneer. His slimy tone seemed to imply that he could kill them either way.
Enri glared bitterly at the sword raised over her head. She could look at it with the sternest expression in the world, but its ominous sparkle told her two things.
One: In a few seconds, she would almost certainly die.
Two: As a mere village girl, there was nothing she could do to escape.
'I have to at least save Nemu'
That thought didn't allow giving up as a choice, but the knight in full plate armour blocking their path sneered at her determination. She closed her eyes, hugging Nemu in order to use her own body to shield her from the attack.
She braced herself in the raven-black darkness for the agony that would come…
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[3rd Person POV]
"Momonga-sama, I have returned. I have completed all tasks assigned to me and await further instructions." Sukuna said, bowing to Momonga.
"Ah, yes… Well, good job. Do try your best in the future as you have today. For now… just stand with Sebas over there." He instructed.
He then went right back to fiddling with the artefact kept on his desk.
'Ah, he's about to help Carne village!' Satoru realised where this was leading, before deciding to accompany him.
'Maybe I'll get to test out my abilities as well.' I hoped.
After a while, something that looked like a village appeared. It was about six miles south of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
As he zoomed in, something seemed off.
"Are they having a festival?" Momonga wondered.
"No, that's not it…," Sebas, who had moved beside him, answered in a steely voice as he watched the scene with a piercing gaze.
Sebas's hard tone gave Momonga a bad feeling, and he furrowed his brow as he zoomed in farther.
Knightlike figures in full plate armour were brandishing swords at simply dressed people who seemed to be the villagers.
It was a massacre.
The villagers fell one by one each time a knight raised a sword.
"Tch!" Momonga clicked his tongue and went to change the view. This village held no value for him. If he thought he could have gotten some information, there might have been a point to saving it, but like this, with most of the villagers dead, it was useless. But a thought kept nagging at his head.
"What will you do?" Sebas asked, as if he'd been waiting for the right time.
There's only one answer. "Ignore them. We've nothing to gain by saving them." Momonga answered calmly.
"Understood."
Momonga casually glanced over at Sebas; behind him appeared a vision of his former guildmate.
"Right, Touch?"
But then Momonga remembered something Touch Me had once said "When someone's in trouble, it's only natural to help them."
He slowly exhaled and broke into a resigned smile. With that quote in his mind, he couldn't very well not go and help them.
"I'll repay the debt I owe you. I have to test out my combat abilities in this world at some point, anyway…" Talking to someone who wasn't there, he zoomed out to look at the entire village. He combed over it, searching for villagers who were still alive. Soon he found a pair of two young girls, possibly sisters, running away from a knight. Momonga realised he would have to take immediate action.
"Sebas, put Nazarick on the highest alert level. I'm going ahead. Sukuna, you are to follow me. Also, prep Albedo. She must be in the next room. If something happens and I become unable to retreat, send her in fully armed—but no Ginnungagap."
"Understood. But if you need an escort, then I would—" Sebas started.
"If you escort Momonga-sama, then who will relay orders? If there are knights rampaging through that village, there's the possibility another group could appear near Nazarick while we're gone. If that happens, we will need you here. " Sukuna debated.
The scene in the mirror changed and Momonga saw a young girl send a knight
staggering with a punch. Then she took a younger girl—was it her little sister?—
by the hand and tried to escape. Momonga immediately opened his item box and
took out the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.
Meanwhile, the girl's back had been cut. There was no time to lose. The spell
glided out of his mouth. "Gate."
Momonga casted the most reliable teleportation spell in Yggdrasil. It could cover any distance and had a failure rate of 0 percent. He entered the gate and Sukuna followed just behind him.
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