Chương 6: Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Finally getting useful info
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Some time after saving Enri, near Carne Village
A horn blew from the direction of the village.
"Hm?"
I looked onto the village's direction. I can't identify if that's a call for retreat, or call for reinforcement. It could be either one of these two, but I'm pretty sure the Death Knight and the Abyss Watcher could handle it. Meanwhile, Momonga's doing some experiments on the soldier's corpses but stopped to look in the direction of the village as well.
"That reminds me..."
I haven't sucked blood out of people yet. But don't thirst for it like a normal vampire. Is it because I'm a True Vampire? I want to drain some blood out of people but these corpses have either bled out, or turned into Squire Zombies.
"This physical damage reduction is quite something."
"Oi, Momonga."
"Hm? What is it, Mercury?"
"...Can I talk with you for a moment? I don't like anyone hearing our conversation."
"Use the 'Message' skill to contact me directly."
I didn't know that the 'Message' skill can link telepathically. That's quite something, instantaneous communication network that doesn't require electrical devices is a boon.
'Hello? Can you hear me Momonga?'
'Loud and clear Mercury. What is it you want to talk about?'
I sighed. I'm not good at apologies, so I don't usually apologize.
'I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I wasn't thinking straight and definitely not thinking about the welfare of Nazarick. For that, I apologize.'
'No, you were right. Just because we're inhuman, doesn't mean we should act inhuman. Touch Me-san would've said the same.'
'Still, being angry just because we're not helping someone is a bit self-serving, don't you think?'
'How so?'
'By being angry at someone who wouldn't help, you want to satisfy your own conscience because you have someone to blame if you failed.'
'That's harsh thinking, Mercury-san.'
'It's my version of it after hearing your response a while ago. You're right, we can't save everybody. But wouldn't it be common sense to save the ones you can?'
His laughter sounded through the mental link, but his skull doesn't make any movement. It seems he can separate his thoughts and his actions quite well.
'That's exactly what Touch Me-san would've said.'
'Oi, oi. I'm not Touch Me. Stop comparing me to that guy. Even though we're alike in our view of right and wrong, that doesn't mean you can compare me to him.'
'Hah, well, the summoned monsters must be expiring any second now, so don't you think we should gun it to the village?'
'No, the soldiers died to your unsheathed sword. It means they're weak in comparison to us. Looks like we won't be fighting hard that much here, after all.'
'Yeah, the only hard job is information gathering, and I volunteered myself to essentially be the Head of Information Department. What a pain, I just want to laze around like Sloth.'
'Same. I want to take a bath, but I'm just bare bones now.'
'Sucks for you, I still have flesh AND a tongue. Can't eat delicacy unique to this world now, can ya?'
'! I knew going skeleton race was a bad idea!'
We both shared a good mental laugh after that.
"Momonga."
"Hm?"
"I think we shouldn't keep our hosts waiting."
"Ah, you're right."
"Also, remove that aura of yours and hide your skeletal parts. We don't want to scare the villagers even more after witnessing a massacre."
"You're right, I haven't even noticed."
His oppressive aura which I was already used to went out like a candle light. He then took out a mask which I haven't seen before and put it on. He also took out two gauntlets that I have seen before though and put them on as well. Their name was Jarngreipr and they enhance the wearer's strength. It looks roughed up, but it's still made by one of Ainz Ooal Gown's members, which means that it can amplify the wearer's strength by a lot despite its appearance.
I guess that means I should hide my face as well, but I already have my helmet on, so it doesn't matter anyways.
"'Fly'."
Momonga cast 'Fly' and floated up to the air, Albedo following suit. I opted to stay on the ground, because I'm fast at running anyways. Momonga gunned it, flying faster than that night when we went out for fresh air. Not wanting to get shown up, I legged it, trusting Sloth to keep up with me.
In no time at all, we arrived at the Carne Village. There were corpses lying here and there, but picking one up would be strange to the onlookers, so I didn't. There was so much blood though, and that made me feel giddy and excited. I quashed it down with a large effort, and walked on ahead.
"Death Knight, that will be all for now."
What? The Death Knight that he summoned is still standing? I didn't know that, but now that I think about it, I can also feel a mental connection with my summoned Abyss Watcher. I also felt two more connections, meaning he probably summoned two people to help him or he turned some corpses into them.
"Abyss Watchers, that's enough."
I also verbally ordered my monsters to stand down, because it would be weird if Momonga only ordered the Death Knight and those three obeyed as well. Momonga floated down, with all the poise of a skeletal mage descending from above.
"My name is Momonga. The knight behind me is Mercury."
Nobody dared to talk. It was quite deafening if not for the villager's muttering and the blowing wind.
"If you throw down your arms, I can guarantee your lives. Of course, if you would rather fight—"
Someone dropped their sword. The others followed suit. There was only three remaining out of god-knows-how-many soldiers. It was quite funny in a way that only I can comprehend.
"You seem quite tired. Although, don't you think your heads are held a bit too high before the master of the Death Knight and the Abyss Watchers?"
They immediately prostrated themselves. They don't look like they're worshipping us, they looks more like death row convicts on the chopping block. Momonga tried to cast 'Fly', but I stopped him with a raised hand. I walked towards one of the knights closer to me and knelt to him.
"In exchange for your lives, tell your commander—no, your masters— this. You can make trouble here, but—"
I grabbed his helmet and removed it. I forcefully grabbed his hair and made him look into my eyes.
"—if you do, make sure you signed yours and your family's last will and testaments because along with your country, they'll suffer before dying. Understand, you scum?"
The knight tried to nod, but since I grabbed his hair, it was failing. I let go of the hair, forcefully shoving him away from me.
"Get lost. Make sure you tell your masters this, or else you and your bloodline are on the chopping block."
The knights scattered and ran away. If I wan't in public, I would've tortured him before making him drink potions then torture him again, over and over.
"Fucking assholes," I spat.
The villagers looked at me with fear, so approaching them was out of the question. I guess it's up to Momonga now.
"Momonga, can you tell your Death Knight to clean up his zombies? It's quite messy in here." My voice wasn't heard by the villagers, but it was picked up by Momonga.
Momonga nodded. He must've sent a telepathic order, because after a second, the Death Knight was collecting those zombies already.
"Y-You are..."
"Don't worry. My friend and I saw this village and decided to help." Sighs of relief flowed out from the villagers. Some even outright cried. Even so, the still look tense. "That said, we do expect a reward from this, so we're not exactly heroes."
There. Saying that makes us more human than a hero that saves everyone they come across. Anyhow, the tense looks were gone and they were worried on how to pay us. If it's money that we need, then they're definitely not surviving the next few months. But since we only need information for now, they're safe.
"With the village in its current state..."
Momonga raised his hand to silence the othey guy who's talking.
"We'll discuss that later. I rescued a pair of sisters before I came here. I will go bring them over now. Can you wait here for me?"
On the outside, I paused walking for a second. On the inside, however, I am panicking like a headless chicken. Shit! I forgot about those sisters! Momonga, please tell me you have mind-altering abilities. I don't want to kill someone I saved.
Without even waiting for a response, Momonga turned around and walked away. I'm a few meters behind, but that's enough to set up a mental message link.
'Momonga, do you have mind-altering skills?'
'Yes, I do.'
A flood of relief poured out of me, but it wasn't visible.
'Oh thank god. To be fairly honest, I forgot about those sisters. Thank you for reminding me.'
'No problem.'
There was silence.
'As a vampire, don't you have your 'Hypnotizing Eyes' skill?'
'Yeah, but I find it distasteful even though there's no demerit attached to it. I did abuse it on YGGDRASIL though, and I will abuse it when I meet some nasty people here as well.'
Timeskip, Afternoon, Village Chief's house, Carne Village
So! Shortened version of what happened incoming.
Albedo and Sloth were patrolling the village, but Sloth was outside of the village so she could spot people coming to this village. We're in the village chief's house, talking about our rewards. We took some money from them, but what we really came for here was information. Momonga's backstory was that of a secluded magic caster and mine was that of being a close friend of him who avoided any signs of humans and human civilization, but decided that I can't avoid people forever and decided to save the village. By doing so, us being clueless isn't suspicious at all and I have an excuse for screwing up sometimes while talking with people. The village chief and his wife were kind enough to let us know about the world, but since I don't trust anyone but Momonga, I took it with a grain of salt.
Money from YGGDRASIL also doesn't work here, which was within my expectations. Apart from looking good, we can sell it for some cash in this world. But since it looks so clean and iconic, it would be dangerous to let others see it in fear of them tracing it back to us.
Next was the kingdoms around us. It pretty much confirmed that we were in another world, but I'm sure that Momonga already knows that. We're located in the Re-Estize Kingdom, with its disliked neighbor Baharuth Empire. Below them was the Slane Theocracy which sounds like the suspect for the massacre of this village, even though the emblems belong to the Baharuth Empire. Their purpose is to probably cause discord among these two nations that already hate each other. It's nothing but a guess, but if I'm right, then it would be quite funny because Theocracies are supposed to be filled with men who preach the word of their god and dislike killing, and yet they're doing behind everyone's backs. Now that I think about it, I should've hypnotized the man I stared at earlier, but I only used my menacing aura and my blood red eyes to drive fear into him.
The nearest city is the fort-city E-Rantel. Monsters appear in this area, but the adventurer's guild mops them up for a price. Feigning ignorance, we had him explain the adventurer's guild, even though it's quite obvious what it is. I'll have to go into that city and gather some more reliable information instead of village news. I know I shouldn't complain since I demanded that I save them, but still.
The last thing that I didn't notice until Momonga pointed it out was that even though he spoke Japanese, and I spoke English, we can still understand each other perfectly. We also can understand the village chief and the others, so does that mean that the auto-translation transferred from YGGDRASIL? Thank the devs for being so meticulous.
After that, the burial for those who died was held. They were not even proper tombstones, they're just rocks roughly in the shape of a tombstone. It kinda signifies just how big the difference is between a village and a city that has a cemetery.
Of course, as a necromancer, I can revive them with a high-tier resurrection spell, but since Momonga told me that we still don't know if resurrection spells exist in this world, we can't just reveal our hands willy nilly.
The summoned monsters still haven't disappeared yet. We concluded that having a corpse serve as a medium lets them stay permanently, or at least for a long time.
Momonga and I were standing off to the side where the villagers are giving their respects to the dead. I would've pressed 'F', but I don't have a keyboard to do so. Also because I couldn't give a care. They were dead, and that's sad. But if you remain sad for too long, you won't enjoy life as it is while you're still grieving even though the time to grieve has already passed. You should remember their death as a form of reminder that you are mortal, and that you have to do your best so you can live without regret. Us undead passed the stage of death already, and now we live without needing food or water or air and all the things that a normal human would need. In a way, it's a gift, but to Momonga, it was a curse. He can't even taste food anymore, the poor guy.
Anyways, Albedo approached us after that. Behind her was a spider in a ninja outfit.
"An Eight Edge Assassin? What for, Albedo?"
"He wanted to pay his respects to you, Mercury-san."
"Oh, how refreshed my soul is when I see the Su—"
"Eight Edge Assassin, what is your purpose here? Are you a part of the support troops?" It sounded a bit harsh, pardon me for that. I just hate people who look up to me. Look up to Momonga, he's taller and gaudier than me.
"Y-Yes. There are 400 vassals beside myself who stand ready to assault the village at any time."
Aw, would you look at that. I startled him because of my harshness. I beg you to not look up to me, or I would be forced to add more poison to my words until you leave me alone.
"No need for that. The Abyss Watchers and the Death Knight took care of them already. Who's the commander?"
"That would be Aura-sama and Mare-sama. Demiurge-sama and Shalltear-sama remain in Nazarick on alert, while Cocytus-sama is supervising Nazarick's perimeter security."
"I see… well, too many cooks spoil the broth. Everyone but Aura and Mare are to fall back. How many of you Eight Edge Assassins are there?"
Thanks for intervening, Momonga. I'm not that good in handling groups of soldiers.
"There are 15 of us in total."
"Then you can stay with Aura and Mare."
After that, they left without the villagers noticing our conversation. Are they deaf or something? No way they heard us, unless magic shenanigans happened. Yeah, it's probably magic shenanigans that I don't know.
And while the two sisters cried endlessly, we stood at the sidelines, watching emotionless while the villagers cry for their relatives.
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