Chapter 1, Part 4

Go Gin woke up in the early morning and exited the log cabin. As usual, he was the only one up this early, or rather, the only one among those who slept in the cabins. The treants and dryads were already awake, or rather they rarely slept. He didn’t mind, Go Gin quite enjoyed those peaceful, early mornings. He ran a few miles to a nearby lake, where he spent close to an hour swimming, before returning to the Green Hole. Most war trolls didn’t enjoy swimming, but he did, he found the sensation of flowing through the water to be quite strange and relaxing.

By the time he got back, the lizardmen were already up, preparing breakfast. The meal consisted of some fruits the dryads had given them, as well as some fish, which was caught in the lake Go Gin swam in earlier. Trolls were omnivorous, so as long as there was plenty of food it was fine. Afterwards, he joined the lizardmen as they moved to a designated area in the village, where they would practice fighting. They split up into pairs and began their daily training. However, Go Gin’s partner was not a lizardman, rather it was a giant beast named Hamsuke.

Although, the hamster was a bit lacking in Martial Arts, because of her tail allowing for pseudo-ranged attacks, she offered plenty of trouble for the troll. Additionally, he would sometimes practice against one of the Death Knights, whose defensive capabilities coupled with being impervious to fatigue made for a challenging foe as well. Go Gin tapped his club on the floor as he waited. He had to wait for nearly half an hour before Hamsuke and the ever-present Death Knight finally showed up.

“This Wise King is sorry for being late, I am,” Hamsuke apologized. “It’s just, I have gotten too used to Orb-san waking me up,” she added

“What about this fellow? Surely, he could wake you up as well?” Go Gin asked motioning at the undead being that came with Hamsuke.

“Maybe, but he doesn’t talk much,” Hamsuke shook her head. “Then, shall we get started?”

Go Gin nodded and the two of them got in position. He smiled as he measured his opponent — Hamsuke was truly formidable. Her tail attacks extended surprisingly far and could come from unexpected angles. She also wore magnificent adamantite armor, which was crafted and enchanted by the dwarfs and looked like a mix between the armor the lizardmen wore and the armor one would see on a war horse. This armor along with her soft fur made Hamsuke extremely adept at absorbing blunt damage. And while she only had a couple of Martial Arts, she also possessed several spells, which the troll needed to be cautious of.

Go Gin tightened the grip on his club. Here I go, he thought as he lunged forward with a swing. Predictably, Hamsuke retreated while attacking with her tail. He moved to the side to dodge the counter-attack and rushed forward with another swing. Hamsuke jumped backward and activated one of the symbols on her body. Recognizing the symbol as one that cast [Blindness] he placed his arm in front of his eyes, blocking the spell. Unfortunately, this also blocked his view, which the hamster used to launch her own attack.

When Go Gin lowered his arm, he saw Hamsuke rolling toward him like a giant wheel, surrounded by her tough tail. He grasped his club at both ends and used it to block the beast from rolling over him. After the momentum of the roll was exhausted, the two of them separated, each taking a step back. For a few moments, they stood still, before launching simultaneous attacks. Hamsuke jumped forward with [Slashing Strike] while Go Gin used [Flow Acceleration] as he advanced.

With everything in slow motion, he saw Hamsuke’s attack coming at him, side-stepping it, he swung his club at her torso. The impact forced Hamsuke to stumble backward, but it wasn’t the first time she fought the war troll, so she knew exactly what happened. Go Gin followed up with another attack, but Hamsuke’s tail had already created an arc-like defense that looked like an upside-down U, placed slightly in front of her. Even if he was moving faster, such a defense would still block overhead and side swings. Go Gin tried to use his club to poke Hamsuke in the face, but the hamster caught the club with her paws. Her tail immediately swung at Go Gin’s feet, trying to sweep him.

His weapon caught by the opponent, and with a leg sweep incoming, Go Gin chose to rush forward and shoulder-ram the hamster. Hamsuke let go of his club and jumped back, dodging his attack, a moment later his legs were swept by the hamster’s tail swing, and he fell on his back. Hamsuke didn’t waste any time, and jumped on top of Go Gin, trying to crush him underneath her weight. He rolled away, got to his feet and immediately attacked. However, his weapon was intercepted by the beast’s tail, while her claws slid against his armor.

Go Gin retreated and regained his composure. This quick exchange illustrated perfectly why fighting Hamsuke was so troublesome. Not only did the hamster use the tail, in addition to her front paws to attack and defend, she was also rather creative in using her massive body weight as a weapon. The occasional spell only added to the variety. In contrast, with his metal club Go Gin’s only really dangerous move was to crush Hamsuke’s head. However, with only that one area to protect, catching Hamsuke with a head blow was nearly impossible.

The two of them continued to fight, Go Gin desperately trying to get a good hit in, while Hamsuke was doing her best to damage the troll. After about two hours the hamster asked for a break. She took off her armor and flopped on her stomach, her face looked like she was about to die from a heat stroke.

“I win once again,” Go Gin smirked.

“You and your unlimited stamina. Just wait until this Wise King gets used to fighting while wearing armor, you should,” Hamsuke replied in between rapid breaths.

“You have been saying that for months,” the troll chuckled.

“You should… fight him, while I… recover,” Hamsuke motioned at the Death Knight which came with her and had been standing motionless while the two practiced.

“Fine, I’ll fight him. At least he doesn’t have issues with his stamina,” Go Gin trolled the giant hamster.

The Death Knight reacted to his words and took up a position opposite Go Gin’s. Then, the two began to fight. In contrast to Hamsuke, the Death Knight fought very predictably. However, getting past its huge tower shield was still difficult. And despite it being a skeleton, it was surprisingly heavy, not allowing Go Gin to bully it with his superior strength. At some point during his fight with the Death Knight, he saw Zaryusu, the leader of the Lizardmen’s group, reprimand Hamsuke for pushing herself too far. She should’ve stopped sooner, instead of fighting until failure, since now the recovery would take much longer. He was right, Hamsuke still hadn’t recovered by the time their practice ended.

The lizardmen returned to their cabins and began to prepare dinner, while Hamsuke slowly shuffled off toward the small cave Mare had created for her. Looking at the retreating beast and the Death Knight, which silently followed her, Go Gin talked with Zaryusu. Also, he was much stronger, Zaryusu had more experience fighting challenging foes.

“It’s like I’ve told you already, Gin-san, your club is the worst weapon to fight Hamsuke-san with. If you used a sword, you could not only use thrusts but could also threaten Hamsuke’s eyes, forcing her to be much more cautious even of your casual attacks,” Zaryusu said.

“True, but I like this club, it had been my weapon for many years,” Go Gin sighed, he didn’t want to change weapons. Plus, there was just something satisfying about crushing his opponents with the club, a sword just wouldn’t feel the same.

“Don’t get me wrong, it is an excellent weapon and normally wouldn’t be inferior to a sword. But against Hamsuke-san,” Zaryusu spread his hands.

“Guess I’ll just have to try harder. Maybe I can develop a Martial Art that would let me win,” Go Gin shrugged.

Maybe he would have changed weapons in the past. After all, changing a weapon in order to defeat your toughest opponent was not at all unreasonable. But things were different now. Ever since he reached adulthood, and accepted Osk’s deal, he had no equal. Sure, magic casters could beat him by using [Fly] and he had heard tales of the Thirteen Heroes and the Demon Gods they confronted. But, that was in the past, while he had never encountered anyone stronger than himself.

And then, his match with Ainz came. For the first time he had lost, but more than that, he had experienced just how far he was from the ultimate strength. A feeling he would experience over and over as he met the various servants of the undead king. A frog in a well, that’s all he was. He now understood that there were many stronger than him, some absurdly so. What was the point of defeating Hamsuke by changing his weapon? Hamsuke wasn’t the peak of martial power. Even if he could defeat the hamster by using a sword, it would not make him any stronger. On the other hand, if he pushed through, and obtained new Martial Arts, that would make him stronger. And becoming more powerful was his goal all along.

Go Gin looked at the metal club in his hand and nodded. I have a long road ahead of me, no need to second guess my weapon choice.

***

Berta glanced at the brooding face of Kegor Elan Bosk. The two of them have been riding on horseback for quite a while and were now getting close to their destination. I should talk to him, see if I can make him calm down, otherwise his mood might impact our mission, she thought.

“So, what’s going on with you? You’ve had that sour look on your face for days now,” she began.

“Ah? Hm, I guess it’s just the missions we’ve got. First, we meet that arrogant Ijaniya bitch, and now this freak,” he shook his head dejectedly. “I was so excited to become the Captain of Windflower Scripture, but, it’s not working out the way I thought it would. I mean, even the first mission I got was to escort that dark elf. What happened to just stabbing people in the face? Or at least spying on them?”

“Haha, that’s what you are upset about? Not getting to kill anyone?” Berta laughed.

“We are the Scripture focused on spying and assassination,” he shrugged, “I hope we can get some actual work after this, instead of just playing messenger.”

“It’s temporary, isn’t it? Once the undead’s kingdom is dealt with, I am sure we’ll be back to our usual job,” she said.

“I sure hope so…” Kegor replied, the wind muffling the rest of his speech about wanting to stab people.

“Well, don’t let your mood interfere with the negotiations, we want this guy to join us, don’t we?”

“Yea, yea, you don’t need to remind me,” he said dismissively.

With that done, Berta didn’t continue to talk and the two rode the rest of the way in silence. After another hour they came to a small, remote village in the western part of the City-State Alliance. The village was so tiny it didn’t even have an inn, posing as alchemists in search of rare herbs, they left their horses in the care of some peasant’s wife. The two then ventured into the nearby forest — it wasn’t really their strong side, but as Scripture members, they had been taught how to navigate forests. Kegor looked at the map they had made based on the information they’ve gathered and began to walk.

They trekked through the forest for several hours, before they finally came to a clearing, in the center of which stood a log cabin. The two looked at each other, Kegor nodded and proceeded forward.

“Anybody there?” He yelled as they got closer. “We don’t mean you any harm, we just want to talk!”

There was a sound of a commotion inside the cabin, but the door didn’t open. Instead, there came a shout.

“Who goes there?”

“We’ve come to talk on behalf of the Slane Theocracy. The world needs you once again, Black Knight,” Kegor shouted back.

Some more noise came from the cabin before its door swung open. A figure clad in a hooded robe walked out, after looking around it focused on the pair of newcomers.

“How did you find me? And what does the Theocracy want from me?” It asked in a deep, male voice.

“It wasn’t easy, but we had to talk to you. As for our reason, should we perhaps talk inside?”

The man looked at the surroundings once more, then gave the two of them a long, hard look, before he finally motioned them to come in, and went back inside. They followed and found themselves in a small, simple house. There was only one room, in the middle of it stood a table and a few chairs, the owner’s bed was against a wall, large cabinets were against the other two walls.

“Quite a simple living arrangement, for a man hailed as the Hero of this nation,” Kegor remarked.

“If you learned of how to find me, I am sure you know the reason for this as well,” the man replied while taking a sit on the bed, his hood completely concealing his face.

“I’ll get straight to it. There is great danger out there, and the world needs you once again,” Kegor said.

“Heh, the world needs me to save it? Me? Someone who couldn’t save his temple, nor his comrades. I sought to atone for my sins, but even in this world I couldn’t protect the one who mattered most,” there were regret and sadness in his voice.

“You fought against the Demon Gods, that’s worthy of being called a hero. You can still fight, surely you will answer the call again,” Berta said.

“Heh, is this the face of someone who fights for the good? Take a good look,” he said as he removed his hood.

Kegor and Berta gulped, the information they’ve obtained had given them certain hints as to the man’s condition, but it was still a shocking sight. The skin on most of his face was red and looked to be made up of small squares, like the skin of a crocodile. One of his eyes was completely red, while the one still looked normal, except for the red pupil. Horns were protruding from the sides of his head as well as from his forehead. Seeing their shock, he took off a glove, showing that his hand was covered in the same red, scaly skin as his face. His fingernails were an inch long and black.

“This is the hand that will save you?” He asked once again before he put the glove back on.

“Your curse is unfortunate, but no matter how you look, inside your chest beats the heart of a hero. Besides, don’t you want to reunite with your friend?” Berta asked.

“And who would this friend be?”

“We are hoping for Rigrit Bers Caurau to join us,” Kegor said.

“Rigrit? I thought she’d be dead by now. I guess it’s a pleasant surprise,” he mumbled.

“Alright, tell me about this new danger.”

 

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