78

Unfortunately, a summoned creature like the Bone Vulture did not give Ainz any other information other than the fact that it was destroyed, so Ainz himself was not sure what he was supposed to find in the last position that the Bone Vulture had been in. Maybe the vulture was killed in one blow, and equally as possible that it managed to survive in a long and fierce battle, in which it died only by accident. If Ainz had used the "Undead Slave Sight" he would have been able to control the undead like a puppet, but such an ability would have needed Ainz's direct control. And since he still needed to pay close attention to his surroundings, he was forced to simply use the summons as a net to blindly gather information. Namely, by the fact that for whatever reason, his summoned undead were destroyed.

Of course, while the destruction of the summoned creature should be taken as an act of hostility, Ainz was fully aware that the undead summoned by him looked like a crazed monster to most people. So while his summoned creature was destroyed, it doesn't naturally mean that the one that destroyed it was an enemy. And given Ainz's very non-confrontational nature - he sincerely believed that he would be able to establish peaceful contact with these new people.

If not... Well, data crystals were also a very useful find.

The ship under Ainz's control moved with incredible grace, easily dissecting the waves and ignoring the weak wind that should have hindered it's path, easily moving at a speed enviable even for modern, to Ainz, ships. The ship easily sailed through tens of kilometers in a matter of moments. Fortunately, being created by a spell, Ainz's ship was protected from the many unpleasant accompanying problems of moving at such speeds, like wind or sea waves. And therefore, after only a dozen minutes, Ainz could see a black dot slowly rising on the horizon.

After seeing his quarry, Ainz slightly reduced the speed of the ship and, regretting the lack of a powerful scout with the ability to see far-away things like Archer, extended a hand to his inventory. A second later, a huge mirror the size of a grown man appeared in his hands - the heavily gold-framed Mirror of Remote Viewing hung in the air when Ainz released it from his hands.

"Wow!" Nero, who appeared just a moment later next to Ainz, looked at the new shiny toy with childish enthusiasm, "You have a lot of treasures up in your sleeves ~ umu!"

Ainz felt a small amount of pride when he heard these praises, it made a smile to appear on his face, while he nodded. "This mirror comes in handy in my work."

After a second, the mirror, which at first only reflected the appearance of Ainz and Nero, changed. The mirror which before only shows the reflection of those who stand before it now shows something else instead - his backside, a feat impossible to a normal mirror. A second later, raising his hands to the mirror, Ainz was able to slightly change the image shown, after which, with a couple of manipulations, the invisible observer from behind Ainz rose from its position and went forward at an incredible speed.

"Magnificent! The many applications I can see for such a thing ~ umu!" Nero's exuberant voice made Ainz smile, but her further remark caused his smile to slightly distort, "Finally, a mirror in which you can see how you look from behind! "

"Ahem..." - Ainz nodded, "I suppose it can be used like that, of course... But usually it is used for other things."

"Espionage is such an unreasonable affair," Nero thoughtfully waved Ainz off. "But many people would have sold their souls for the opportunity to see themselves from behind in the mirror!"

Ains, not sure how he should react to such a remark, only nodded in reply, and then looked at the mirror.

A moment later, in front of Ainz, a clearer picture of that "black dot" seen earlier on the horizon appeared. And it seems that it was not just one thing ..

"Huh, it's a whole fleet!" - Ainz felt his surprise being suppressed, after which he looked even more attentively at the image before him. The black dots on the horizon they are approaching turned out to be ships - a whole host of ships, at least several dozens in various sizes. Moreover, each ship looked very impressive - Ainz was by no means a military historian, but he assumed that the ships, which looked as if it had just stepped off the pages of a historical chronicle, was festooned with three or even four masts several tens of meters long, was supposed to be very large.

Ainz then looked at his ship to compare. No matter the way you see it, Ainz's ship, despite the fact that it cost a huge amount of mana to create, was much smaller, barely reaching three tens of meters in length and possessing only two masts. In addition, Ainz's ship didn't have any defensive weapons - the creation of magically enchanted guns or autonomous guards would require Ainz to use data crystals, and the final result would be very ineffective without the bonuses from crafting classes. To compare, all the ships he could see on the horizon carried on board several dozen cannons. On the other hand, Ainz could console himself a little that the objects created by his spells had a strength superior to that of Adamant, so a simple powder weapon would have to try very hard to sink his ship... However, to Ainz, being stronger than Adamant is not that great of a boast. In Yggdrasil, albeit rarely, one could still see Players of the fortieth level carrying Adamant equipment...

In any case, another look at the mirror allowed Ainz to identify the ship which, apparently, at the very least also participated in the murder of his summon. At least such a fact was hinted at by the presence of a person who was currently standing in the very center of the deck, continuing to look with interest at the sky. No, taking a closer look, Ainz noticed that the figure was not alone and another figure was approaching the person looking with interest at the sky. With that observation done, Ainz pulled the mirror's vantage point back a little to see a couple more large ships separated from the main mass, approaching the leading one.

"Calico Jack" - shifting the observer's position a little, Ainz looked at the inscription on board the ship, and then he looked closer to the figure that he spotted earlier, with a closer look it turned out to be a female.

A female of medium height with a luxurious mane of golden hair, almond-colored eyes and a burgundy camisole, wide open so as not to hide...

'Where did she get such a big chest?!' - Ainz felt how his suppression of emotions, which usually intervened in moments of panic, rage and confusion, had to manifest itself when he looked at the girl's really huge… Goods. However, this did not happen because of his libido suddenly bursting out, but because of the real shock that he experienced when he saw in reality a chest the size of the head of an adult man. In duplicate, as expected of a female breast.

"I don't like her anymore," Nero said, next to Ainz.

"And to me - it's quite the opposite," the voice of Mozart, calmly approaching from the other side of the mirror, sounded much more interested than the voice of Nero.

Unfortunately, the mirror could not transmit sounds, so Ainz could not hear the girl's voice. But he could see a huge old musket, that looked disproportionately large in her hands, appeared in her hands. As much as Ainz could tell, the musket was clearly longer than the girl herself was tall - and, judging by the light haze still rising from the muzzle of the musket, it was responsible for the death of the Bone Vulture, it was clear to Ainz that his summon was shot.

After a second, another character appeared in the field of view of the mirror. To Ainz's surprise it was a girl of very short stature, about the height of Cainabel. However, since the one who just appeared was wrapped up completely in a closed gray cloak with a high collar that hid the entire lower half of her face, it was difficult to say. Only her turquoise eyes and frowning eyebrows, as well as short white hair, were clearly visible. On the belt that held her cloak closed hung a blade wrapped in red paper that was — again, disproportionately large to her, the curved saber was almost the size of the girl herself.

Apparently, the girl wrapped in a cloak, said something, causing the girl with a musket and more than outstanding breasts to laugh and wave her hands in response.

"They look to be in a pretty peaceful mood..." - Ainz nodded, after which he thought. He definitely should make some kind of contact with the newly-found Servants… At least he thinks that they are Servants, though their 'unique' appearance suggests such. However, formally, they still had attacked his summon. Of course, Ainz did not consider this a significant detail, but it was not known whether the two girls in front of him considered it something worthy to call offense about... Moreover, Ainz was definitely not the best person to negotiate, so, looking away from the mirror, Ainz looked at a much more suitable Servant to address such issues.

Teleporting, to Baal, was as natural as trying to walk with his own feet - and, more importantly, much more efficient in terms of time and effort.

Therefore, moving to the newly discovered opponents on their ship was a very easy act for Baal. Moreover - he was very joyful - for a simple reason. His goal was to find out as much information as possible and, if possible, persuade a possible adversary with the possibility of an alliance. Or really submission, if you were to compare these two 'Servants' with the real capabilities of Ainz and his Servants, then only total submission would make sense. In itself, this act was not only easy enough - and, most importantly to Baal, it served as an excellent card that he could play against Cainabel. In other words, the mission entrusted to him could not but cause Baal to smile and joyfully anticipate the moment when he would be able to climb another step, a position in which he would find it more convenient to spit on Cainabel.

Therefore, when he arrived on the deck of ship of his targets and he found his chest being pierced by the short cloaked girl's blade, Baal did not experience a single bad emotion.

"Who are you?" The girl's voice was slightly muffled because of her high collar, but still quite distinguishable.

"Well, if you wanted to ask such a thing, why did you start right away with poking with sharp pieces of iron?.." Baal sighed mockingly while looking at the girl. Hmm, yet another fact of her appearance struck Baal - the girl's face, hidden behind a high collar, was obliquely crossed by a large old scar - however, it does not particularly spoil her appearance in Baal's eyes, - "As for who I am... Hm, as they say - Speak of the Devil..."

A wonderful feature of the first Noble Phantasm of Baal was the amazing invisibility of its activation. No one felt a single change in the mana surrounding them - but Baal seized the initiative when his Noble Phantasm was activated.

"Who are you, I ask again?" The blade in the girl's hands, however, was a little weakened at the moment when Baal did not demonstrate his danger.

"My name is Baal, my title is that of the Seventh Uninheritable Demon Emperor," Baal stepped back, flourishing with a bow, and then looked at two girls, "Now, please, will you tell me your names? It seems to me that politeness should be answered by politeness…"

The girl who had previously held the blade at Baal's chest nevertheless slowly lowered it and exhaled, - "Mary Reed."

After a second, a second one, a full-bosomed blonde, who still held a musket in her hands, approached Baal and started introducing herself with a smile- "Anne Bonny. And now I ask - who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh, of course I am ready to answer all your questions," Baal nodded slowly, "I am only a Servant under the control of my Master. I believe the same will be true for you?.."

"We don't have a Master," Anne answered calmly, not noticing how easily she answered the stranger's questions.

'Hm, apparently... They make a single Servant together…'

"Fascinating!" Baal smiled, looking at the two girls at once, "As for my goal, it is simple. I arrived here by order of my Master to make a friendly contact."

"If you are from that golden bastard, you can pack up and run away from the ship right now," Mary answered coldly, while still lowering her blade completely.

'So they don't know about the problems of the Singularity, they are fighting against a certain "golden bastard", man... There is too little data to analyze.'

"Oh, I can assure you that my Master is not golden and not a bastard at all," smiled Baal, "and he has never crossed paths with you at all."

"The golden bastard didn't cross paths with us," Anne answered, leaning on her musket, after which she looked at the slowly approaching large ship, "He crossed paths with the Admiral - and she is very angry with him for that."

'Pirates, admiral of the pirate fleet... There are not many candidates for such a role - especially considering that there were not so many naval commanders among the pirates. Perhaps the most famous of these is…'

"IN THE NAME OF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT, YOU ARE ARRESTED FOR VIOLATING THE PIRATE CODE OF GRAN BLU!" - After the very loud shout, a man suddenly jumped aboard the Calico Jack. He wore a luxurious blue admiral's uniform with an excellent body and looked to be pressed with a steel press, and while the uniform itself was impressive, the man was anything but. He wore a completely stupid look in his eyes, with an unkempt large black beard and mustache on his face, and his hair looked completely dirty and was currently disheveled by the wind - "Just to think, you have the privelege of Fleet Admiral D Teach himself judging you all by pirate laws!"

"Him again..." Anne, who had previously been smiling at Baal, instantly rolled her eyes as soon as the newcomer appeared on the deck next to her.

Baal spent several seconds studying what had just appeared, after which, having come to a certain conclusion, he smiled a little with a shake of his head in a hint of a respectful bow, "Edward Teach, I assume?"

Teach, hearing his name, rolled his eyes, and then approached Baal. Surprisingly, despite his seeming thinness, he decently towered in height over Baal, appearing to exceed two meters in height.

"Blackbeard, I prefer to be called by the nickname," After that instant reply Blackbeard began to look suspiciously at Baal, "And what is an ikemen doing in our fleet here?! Do take into account that these two are a hardcore yuri-pair, even my charms honed by years of 4chan do not work on them, they could not be seduced by men at all."

Baal blinked, trying to catch the reason for such a conversation. All of Baal's intelligence could not fathom why Edward Teach, the most terrifying pirate widely known by the nickname Blackbeard, would be talking about such a thing. No, of course, as a properly summoned Servant, he had received all the information that was supposed to help him with modern culture, but Blackbeard's manner of speaking somewhat unsettled him.

"Teach, shut up," Mary's voice sounded angry, but in the current situation, Baal could not blame her for this, "Keep a distance of three meters from me. If you come any closer, I'll kill you."

"Even the Yonko would not be able to win a battle with the Shichibukai so easily!" Teach instructively raised a finger up.

Baal thought for a second, trying to remember exactly what this reference was to, before the answer to the puzzle in his head took shape.

'How interesting, what unexpected details…' - "Speaking of which, about this…"

"STFU ikemen!" Teach instantly reacted, after which he turned to Bonny. "What happened here, by the way?"

"About this, Baal was trying to tell you," Anne, clearly annoyed by the appearance of Blackbeard, tried to interrupt his conversation, "And if you interrupt us again, I will tell the captain that you tried to touch us again ."

"2ch is dead, they can't stand even a little bit of shitposting," Teach rolled his eyes, then looked at Baal, "Well, what do you want, ikemen?"

Baal thought over the words of Blackbeard. He was capable of understanding demonic speech - and he hears them more often than you might think, Cainabel sometimes cursed using it. Enochian - usually in battle, when he killed another armada of angels. And a couple of unpronounceable languages of the Alien Gods - rarely used, but Baal had to do it.

And not one of these languages caused such a strange rejection and misunderstanding as the language used by Blackbeard.

"Indeed, as they say - Speak of the Devil..." - Baal used his Noble Phantasm once more, after which he smiled, "In general, I wanted to find out about what you are currently doing with the whole fleet..."

"We were tracking this one asshole," Teach sighed. "He stole something of great value from the Yonko!"

'There are not many things of great value in the Singularity…'

Baal smiled. "Oh, I see. A debt of honor…"

"Something like," Blackbeard yawned, after which he looked once again at Baal, "Damn, I thought that it would be a good fight, flew in with such an edgy battlecry!"

"Hang me if you are not a disgusting cockroach," Mary looked at Blackbeard with contempt, "What Yonko? What are you talking about?!"

"No matter whom I ask - no one knows about One Piece! What for do you live so long at all then…" Blackbeard muttered offendedly, and then turned toward Baal, - "So what did you say there, ikemen?"

"I think it's really best for me to discuss this with your admiral," Baal smiled when he saw a Servant coming to Calico Jack from the largest ship in the fleet. The last of the Servants in this fleet, if his senses has not failed him at least..

"In the name of Francis Drake, if someone doesn't explain to me what is happening in my fleet right now — I will fucking hang you all, motherfuckers!," the appearance of the loudest person announced to Baal that his assumption was true.

"The most famous great naval commander and pirate," Baal glanced at the girl approaching him, "Francis Drake."

The girl wore a bright red camisole on her shoulders, her pink hair descended to the level of her lower back, and, being completely unkempt, lay in complete disarray. Her huge breasts — even larger than Anne's — almost jumped out of her clothes at her every step, and in her blue eyes, on a face crossed by a huge old scar that almost divided her face in half, reflected bewilderment, anger and some interest.

"Anne Bonny, Mary Reed - as one Servant, Edward Teach, and Francis Drake' - Baal smiled - 'Only Bartholomew Roberts is missing for the full picture... Well, what can you do, this is real life after all.'

Baal smiled, after which he canceled his Noble Phantasm. He had already received all the information that he wanted. And most importantly, during the conversation between the Servants he had enough time to examine each of the Servants in much more detail than anyone could have imagined.

Yes, he could not easily study magic signatures like Da Vinci and was not so skilled, in truth, in magic... But mindfulness was a very important skill - for demons and for emperors. And if you live and experience as much as he had lived and experienced - then you definitely learn to notice various small details. Therefore, he should pass some information to Ainz...

The score is one zero in favor of Baal.

Teleporting, to Ainz, was very easy even when considering the need to transfer all his Servants temporarily aboard another ship. Fortunately, his spell-crafted ship was still fully under his control even at a distance, so Ainz was not worried about the need to leave it unchecked.

No, Ainz was currently worried for another reason.

"Fight me," these words and the pistol aimed at him — judging by its appearance, was from the golden era of pirates — met Ainz the moment when his legs touched the ship.

Ains blinked at the unexpected change in the situation in front of him and then looked at the one who had demanded a battle from him - Francis Drake - "I'm sorry?"

"I said - fight me," Drake just grinned, not even changing her pose and still continuing to point her gun at Ainz.

"Ahem," Ainz shook his head, "but I arrived as an ally..."

"Fight first, then talk," Drake continued to grin, not even changing her expression an iota, while moving her pistol a little to the side, pointing it at Cainabel. She, having seen such an action, only grinned, "Whatever you would like and what you were planning to tell me, I am ready to listen to you only after you prove to me that I should bother listening to you. Prove to me that you have the power to make me listen - and then we'll talk."

Ainz blinked in confusion once more.

No, of course he was 'lucky' enough to meet not one or two NPCs operating with the logic "prove your strength, and after that we will listen to you". And he had even met some players with the same mentality, like his guildmate Takemikazuchi, who valued a good battle above all tactics and agreements. But, frankly, in this new world Ainz forgot a little about the existence of such a personality.

"Ahem, I see," Ainz nodded, after which he looked at Drake, who only smirked in response to his actions , "I understand."

Despite the many interesting abilities of the various Servants, Ainz was confident that victory over Drake, if necessary, would be given to him without any problems. However, at the same time...

'It can lead to many extraneous problems,' Ainz looked at his surroundings. The easiest way to deal with the Servants without killing them was a spell like "Ethereal Form", but this spell was of the ninth rank. In other words, Ainz could not cast it at the enemy without putting his body at risk. It would be nice to also be able to win by casting one of the spells for restricting the movement of the target, but Ainz was not sure that he would be able to defeat anyone this way. As Altera's fight with Cainabel showed, a Servant could well have a way around these actions.

And, of course, a battle with combat spells was absolutely forbidden - just one spell like "Explosion" could wipe out a dozen of the ships from the face of the earth. In other words, the only choice Ainz was left with...

"Okay," Ains nodded, after which he glanced at Drake. "Will you fight with your Servants against me?"

"Depends on how many of your summoned friends would fight on your side," Drake grinned.

'Hmm, she somehow had managed to determine that I was a necromancer or summoner..." - Ainz felt a prick of apprehension - 'In that case... I'd better fight seriously.'

For a second Ainz felt Baal trying to contact him, but he dismissed it, he needed all the concentration he had. Ainz then took a step forward, "In that case... I'm ready."

Drake looked at him, then shifted her gaze to the Servant behind Ainz and spread a wide smile, "Ha, you are a damn brave guy! Alright, show me what you got!"

After that, Drake symbolically lowered her hands, giving Ainz the opportunity for a first strike. Ainz did not bother acting like a noble knight and took full advantage of the opportunity to the fullest.

After a second, Drake, who was before looking at Ainz with an easy smile, fell to her knees, after which she fell to the ground.

The alleged battle took less than one second.

Silence reigned on the ship. On the part of Anne, Mary and Teach - out of shock, on the part of Mozart and Mashu - out of surprise, on the part of Altera -of understanding, on the part of Nero - of admiration - and only on the part of Baal and Cainabel was the silence out of boredom. They were the only ones who know such an unbalanced fight would end.

Ainz blinked, then glanced at the collapsed Drake, who was still lying on the ground. "Huh?"

Ains planned not to stretch the battle for too long - first he was to open the battle with "Remote Paralysis" to determine Drake's resistance to magic and abilities that limited her actions. Then, after determining whether this type of affliction would be useful, summon undead of the appropriate type, and then strengthen its abilities while retreating to a position where he could act from the back rows. And finally when the next Servant would intervene in the battle, use teleportation on him to place him at some distance from Ainz, giving Ainz the opportunity to deal with Drake before he needs to deal with the teleported Servant.

His plans broke on the first point when Drake fell to the ground from the effect of his spell.

"Are you still planning to simply look at the girl lying at your feet?!" - Blackbeard looked at Ainz indignantly, - "Either remove the paralysis - or use it to the fullest!"

"Shut your filthy mouth," Mary sent Blackbeard an indignant look, forcing him to roll his eyes and murmur something under his breath.

Ainz, not completely sure of the correctness of his actions, lifted the spell from Drake. After which, feeling a little awkward from what had just happened, took a step towards the girl while giving her a hand to lift herself. Drake slowly raised one hand in response, after which she took off the ground and...

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" - the first thing Ainz saw when Drake lifted her face was an expression of sincere surprise and joy, accompanied by sincere laughter, "Damn me if that was not a fun defeat!"

Ainz looked at the girl a little confusedly, expecting words of bitterness from her.

"Damn, it was either self-confidence that struck me in the head — or I was lucky enough to run into the most badass motherfucker in these seas!" Drake, not a single bit upset by her loss, looked at Ainz, while keeping a huge smile on her face, rising from the ground, "Well, so we had decided whether I will listen to you or not."

Ainz then began to prepare to speak. Well, that was before he was caught completely unprepared by Drake's next words..

"What's your orders, Admiral?" Drake glanced at Ainz, still holding a huge smile.

"Ha?" Was the voice that came simultaneously from the Servants of Ainz.

Blackbeard, retaining a sour expression on his face sighed, - "But I wanted to beat her myself and become the admiral…"

"Ha?" This voice then came separately from Baal, who blinked in incomprehension.

"The admiral was replaced, long live the Admiral," Bonny and Reed said quietly enough, but clearly.

"HAAAAAA?!" Lastly the loudest voice belonged to Ainz himself.

Skill: Supertier Magic (A +++) (Case)

As expected, the reason for the existence of this skill is purely because of the game Yggdrasil. As in the game, Ains has thirty super-tier magic spells, four of which he can cast once per day. Perhaps the only difference from the game conventions of this skill is its connection with "Yggdrasil" and the fact that [DATA_CORRUPTED]