Departure

The fortress city of E-Rantel stood at the intersection of three borders — those of the Slaine Theocracy, the Baharuth Empire, and the Re-Estize Kingdom. It was so named because it was defended by three layers of walls. The districts enclosed by each concentric circle of the walls were distinctly different from each other.

The inside of the town was lively, with large crowds going about their day. Amidst the crowds, the stall owners energetically shouted their sales pitches to the people walking by, while the older women haggled with the merchants as they looked for fresh food.

The rowdy, energetic atmosphere of this place should have lasted until the sun went down. However, it suddenly went silent as a group of three figures emerged from a five-story building nearby.

Everyone in the plaza froze where they stood, their eyes were drawn to the three of them. One of these two people was a girl, who looked to be in her late teens. Her tapered eyes gleamed like onyxes, while her thick and lustrous black hair was tied into a ponytail. Her snow-white skin shone like pearls in the sun.

What drew their attention most was the air of elegance which surrounded her, followed closely by her exotic beauty that would make anyone do a double take. Although the dark brown robe she wore was plain in make, it looked like an opulent dress on her.

The gender of one of them was unclear. Or rather, there was no way to tell their gender because that person was sheathed in an intricately engraved suit of full plate armour that was edged in gold. There was no way to see that person's face through the narrow slits of the closed helm which that person wore. A pair of greatswords were visible below that person's flowing red cape, and they looked as impressive as that person's armour.

The final one was a man, who was wearing some eastern looking clothing, referred to as a Kimono by those who understood what it was. His face was tattooed with marks, and although they were not fashionable at all, he could be considered quite handsome. He held a strange club in one of his arms while the other held a spear.

The three of them looked around, and the fully armoured person took a step forward.

The onlookers watched the trio vanish into the distance, and then immediately began whispering about what they had seen. They did not seem afraid of their arms and armour. That was because the building the pair had just left was called the "Adventurer's Guild." It was a place that only monster-hunting professionals would visit, so it was hardly strange to see armed people coming out of there. The pair walked quietly down a narrow road.

After verifying that there was nobody else around them, the light-footed woman turned to the fully armoured person beside her and said "Ainz-sa—"

"—No, my name is Momon. Neither are you Narberal Gamma, battle maid (Pleiades) of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, but Nabe, Momon's adventuring partner while this is Ryou, an acquaintance we met on our journey, not Ryoumen Sukuna, one of the great guardians.."

The person in full plate — Ainz — interrupted the girl — Narberal — halfway through her reply.

"Ah! My apologies, Momon-sama."

"Also, don't call me -sama. We are simple adventurers, and companions. It would be weird to address me like that."

"B-But! How could I possibly be so disrespectful to the Supreme One?" Ainz gestured at Narberal to keep her voice down. She had raised it in her excitement. Then, in a tone that was somewhere between resignation and helplessness, he replied "Like I've already said, several times, in this place I am Momon the Dark... no, just Momon, and your partner. So don't call me -sama. That's an order."

After a short silence, Narberal reluctantly replied "Understood, Momon-sa—n."

"Forget it, this is fine too. Actually, dropping the -san would be good as well."

"But... would that not be too disrespectful...?"

Sukuna interrupted saying "We cannot reveal our true identities. You must understand that, right?"

"Yes, Sukuna-sama, however…"

"Enough. Naberal, Sukuna is correct here. You need to be careful about how you act, especially in a place like this."

"There we have it. Momon-dono's words are absolute, so please give it your best. Now then, Momon-dono, may I be permitted to take your leave?"

"Umu. You are allowed to go. However, I must remind you, keep in touch. Are you sure you are alright with not having Yuri alpha accompany you?"

"Your concern brings me the greatest joy Momon-dono, but it will be alright. She is better utilised in other ways."

"Is that so? Still, keep an eye out and always keep a [Message scroll] ready. Sebas and Solution should be visiting eventually. Meet them when you have the opportunity."

"I hear and obey Momonga-sama."

Saying this, the man with the tattoos took his leave. After getting far enough fron=m the other two, he stretched his arms as he internally sighed in relief.

'Finally! Freedom is mine. From now on, no worrying about psychopathic monsters hunting me down… for now at least. I'll need to make money, and a lot of it. First, I will become an adventurer in the capital of Re-estize and get to the highest rank, so I can make some money fast, in case someone finds out who I really am and I need to hide. I think a family needs about 3 gold to live for a month. I'll live a well to do life so we can make it 5 gold for me alone, so twelve months and I want to live till 100 at most. Add a bit more to account for emergencies so that comes out to…10,000 gold coins or a thousand platinum… This is fucking hopeless. That sort of money is gonna take years to make. But still, this is my only plan right now. All right, I ve got to find a map, or someone who is headed for the capital and get there. Also, I need to complete a few quests of the adventurer guild to make enough money to last me while I get there.'

Thinking this, the man set out, hoping to find a way to get to the capital.