Chapter 4, Part 1

Old characters mentioned in this part:

Kegor Elan Bosk – the captain of the Windflower Scripture, first introduced in volume 13

Black Knight – member of the thirteen heroes (likely dead in the original, but I chose to keep him)

Yavon – an undead, the head of Zuranon and the first disciple of Surshanna, introduced in vol. 13.

Death’s Call – the name of Zesshi’s Scythe (mentioned in vol. 14, Chapter 2 Part 3)

***

A group of about thirty people on horseback was riding on a road through a lush field. The dust on their clothing made it obvious that they had been traveling for a while.

“Are we there yet?” Asked one of the front riders.

The captain of the Black Scripture, Loras Shiro Xaden, cast a glance at Zesshi Zetsumei. He could detect a hint of annoyance in her voice but wasn’t sure if that was due to the long journey or due to her not being able to fight any of the undead they’ve encountered.

“According to the map, we are almost there,” he told her. “What’s with you?” He added after looking at the rider on his other side.

“So many undead. Once we are done with this mission, how long will it take us to clean up this country?” The captain of Windflower Scripture, Kegor Elan Bosk asked.

“I am glad you don’t doubt our victory, but don’t lose your focus. This mission is the hardest we’ve ever had,” Loras replied.

The image of a young dark elf girl grabbing Zesshi’s scythe that was in mid-swing was quite vivid in his mind. And Mare is supposedly a magic caster. If he can do that to Zesshi, then what about actual melee fighters of the Sorcerer King? He had expressed such thoughts to his superiors, but the Cardinals were insistent that this was the best and perhaps only chance the Theocracy would have at eliminating the Sorcerer Kingdom.

The sound of an approaching horse interrupted Loras’ thoughts. He looked up and saw one of their scouts coming over.

“Sir, there is a village surrounded by a wooden fence about two miles ahead. The lookout towers are manned by goblins. As per your instructions, one of the scouts went ahead to let them know that we are coming,” the scout reported once he got close to the group.

“That should be Carne Village,” Loras nodded and sent the scout back.

“The Scriptures of the Slane Theocracy having to be polite to goblins, who would’ve thought,” Kegor shook his head.

“I wonder if any of them are strong… maybe they have a goblin king?” Zesshi ran her head over the handle of her scythe.

“Remember, you can’t get into any fights, Zesshi,” Loras reminded her.

“Yeah, yeah. I just hope there will be someone worth fighting in the end.”

“But how did the Sorcerer King get the goblins to live with the humans?” Kegor wondered.

“Goblins are just like other monsters – they only respect strength. Once they are overpowered, they will do what they are told. And as for humans, what choice do they have? If they try to fight the goblins they would incur the Sorcerer King’s wrath,” Loras responded with a shrug.

“We’ll have to liberate them, afterward,” Kegor nodded thoughtfully.

“You are getting ahead of yourself again,” Loras laughed.

They spurred their horses onward and soon the village came into their view. Although, it looked more like a military base than a normal village. Surrounded by a tall, sturdy wooden wall, with lookout towers every few hundred yards. Once they arrived at the gates, they were greeted by about thirty goblins.

However, these goblins looked very different from the normal monsters they were accustomed to. Instead of wild monsters they appeared organized and disciplined, projecting an aura of experienced warriors, perhaps even surpassing that of the Theocracy’s regular army. A goblin with particularly evil expression stepped forward.

“On behalf of General Enri, we welcome you to Carne Village,” he greeted them, “Please follow me, I will guide you to your quarters,” he added.

“General Enri? That must be their commander. I wonder how strong he is,” Zesshi mumbled.

The goblins apparently had a rather good hearing and judging by their expressions they took quite an offense to her words. The goblin that greeted them turned around, staring at Zesshi with an even more murderous look on his face than he had prior. After a brief moment, he turned around and waved his hand for them to follow.

As they rode after the goblin, they noted that it was dressed rather peculiarly – he wore a red cap, a brown sleeveless shirt, brown shorts, and steel boots. He was armed with a scythe. He also radiated an aura of death, which gave even the experienced Scripture members a pause. It would be easy to imagine how much carnage such a monster could wreck if it was encountered by a group of adventurers in the wild.

Also, while Zesshi didn’t view this goblin as strong, she could recognize his power, which made her even more curious about the strength of the one who commanded him.

“We aren’t alone. There are several of them following us,” Kegor whispered to Loras, who nodded.

He had noticed that there were several other goblins moving stealthily along with the Theocracy’s group. Just how many goblins of such power are there, Loras wondered? The group advanced without incident and soon came to the center of the village.

There stood a statue of an undead being – the Sorcerer King, they guessed. Their guide continued on, but the Theocracy’s group briefly stopped and stared at the statue, before following. It was the first time they saw the image of the Sorcerer King. And although the statue likeness was unknown, it gave off an impression of power. As did the way it was treated – the area around the statue was brushed clean, with not a speck of dust, while some flowers were laid at its feet.

A little while later the goblin guiding them stopped. “We have prepared these buildings for you to stay at,” he motioned to several houses beside him. “In order to lower the chance of any… incidents, this area is located in the part occupied by humans. Of course, should any incidents occur, the punishment will be swift,” he added as an evil smile twisted his face.

After delivering this warning, the goblin turned around and was going to walk away, when a knight in black armor and a red cape appeared.

“Thank you for leading them to their lodging,” Momon nodded to the goblin as he approached.

“Mhm, I am simply following General Enri’s orders,” the goblin replied before leaving.

“Momon-san? I am Loras Shiro Xaden, the Captain of the Black Scripture. And this is Kegor Elan Bosk, he leads the Windflower Scripture,” Loras offered his greetings.

“That goblin doesn’t like you?” Kegor asked with a chuckle.

“I am but an outsider. These goblins follow the chief of this village – Enri, as such they consider any outsiders as a threat. The more powerful, the higher the threat level. Not to worry though, they are loyal to the chief and will not attack unless provoked,” Momon explained after shrugging.

“But, isn’t this the territory of the Sorcerer King? Shouldn’t they be loyal to him?” Kegor asked curiously.

“They are loyal to the village chief, and she is loyal to the Sorcerer King, he seems to be satisfied with that,” Momon replied.

“Wait, she?! Enri is a female goblin?” Zesshi asked dumbfounded.

“Enri is a human girl.”

“A human?! Why are the goblins following human’s orders?” Loras asked, by now Zesshi wasn’t the only one stunned.

“Loyalty is a complicated thing,” Momon said while spreading out his hands. “Regardless, let me fill you in on who’s already here, and you can tell me who else is coming.”

***

A few days later, several members of Blue Rose, Sir Armoreth and Momon were sitting at a table in the only tavern in the Carena village.

“They just rub me the wrong way,” Gagaran exclaimed as she slammed her cup on the table.

“That’s why I asked Enri to house them in the other district. This way you won’t come into contact,” Momon replied with a chuckle.

“I don’t like them either, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t strong. And against Jaldabaoth, we could use all the strength we can gather,” Evileye replied.

“Enri-chan is a nice girl. I was so surprised when I met her,” Lakyus said. “It’s crazy how she became the commander of all these goblins.”

“I wonder, why did the Sorcerer King give her the goblin-summoning horns? Couldn’t he just use them himself to secure this village?” Gagaran mulled.

“Perhaps he can’t? Or maybe he thought it would work better if they were under control of a village girl? This way the villagers don’t feel like they are under his control,” Sir Armoreth ventured a guess.

“Who can say? Supposedly the Sorcerer King is great at scheming, perhaps it’s all a part of some grand plan,” Evileye nodded.

They were going to continue this discussion when the door to the tavern swung open and a man wearing a dark plate armor walked in. He looked similar to Momon, though his armor was plain with no decorative designs. He also only had a one-handed sword which hung from his belt. He scanned the room and then moved towards the seated adventurers.

“Sir Armoreth, Evileye, my old friends. It’s so nice to see you again,” the man exclaimed as he spread his hands in a hug.

“Black Knight, how have you been?” Armoreth asked as he stood up and walked toward his old friend.

“The damn curse has almost got me,” the man replied, “on the plus side, I get to see the two of you again. Not to mention, I get another chance to redeem myself in the service of humanity.”

“Yes, so few of us are still left… so many friends are gone, but we must go on,” Evileye said, there was a profound sadness in her voice, as she remembered the old friends who were no more.

“Ah, you must be Lakyus. Well, it’s good to see my weapon being used for good causes, even while I was in exile,” Black Knight addressed Lakyus.

“I am surprised you kept one of your swords, I thought you’d give them all away when you chose to go into exile,” Armoreth said.

“The other swords could be used by the new generation of heroes,” he motioned at Lakyus, “However, this Hyumilis is too dangerous to be let out into this world. I’ll make sure it disappears when my time comes.”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Armoreth nodded, “I understand.”

“Why don’t you join us? I’d love to hear more about your adventures,” Gagaran offered.

***

“Interesting. A devoted paladin whose order’s temple was afflicted by a demonic corruption. Then he found himself transported into this world, and after wandering around the land he chose to join the thirteen heroes in their fight against the Evil Deities?” Ainz summed up what Pandora’s Actor had told him about the Black Knight.

Black Knight and Sir Armoreth were the two most mysterious members of the alliance against Ainz. As such he wanted to learn as much as he could about them. Sir Armoreth was a mystery he couldn’t fully crack. In contrast, Black Knight was much easier to figure out.

A cursed order of Templars, going by the level of the sword Lakyus has he should be around level fourty to fifty. Hmm, The Order of Zar, was it? Ainz thought as he recalled this information. Due to the cursed paladins qualifying as demons, it was a popular leveling spot for users of holy magic and those with anti-demon abilities.

Of course, since it was located in Asgard, Ainz had never leveled there, and only visited the place in search of PvP encounters. Still, he had quite a few fond memories of the time when he along with the members of Nine’s Own Goal rolled through the place, wiping all the humanoid players who were shocked to encounter heteromorphic players in Asgard. Ainz smiled as he recalled the good times he had.

“Good job, Pandora’s Actor. The last group should arrive at Carne Village tomorrow, but see if you can gather more information regarding Armoreth while you can,” Ainz gave his orders.

They had already asked the Elf King about him. Sadly, the Elf King was a self-absorbed bastard and couldn’t even recall all of the Evil Deities he met, much less some hero like Armoreth.

It doesn’t matter. Whoever he is, we’ll find out soon enough. Ainz concluded before going back to what he was doing before Pandora’s Actor [Messaged] him with the new information.

***

“What’s the matter?” Evileye asked Lakyus who was staring through the window.

“This is an interesting village. They show no fear toward the Sorcerer King, and in fact, their worship of him appears to be genuine.”

“It makes sense given what has happened to them,” Evileye shrugged.

“That’s the thing though, saved by an undead, to them the humans who attacked them are the real monsters. The people of E-Rantel were more fearful, but they haven’t suffered at the hands of the undead King either.”

“Are you having second thoughts about what we are doing?” Evileye asked. “It’s true, the Sorcerer King hasn’t abused his populace, yet. But will that always remain the case?”

“That’s what the Theocracy argued,” Lakyus chuckled.

“Just because they are a bunch of bastards it doesn’t mean they are wrong. Besides, Momon-sama is willing to do this, I can’t abandon him.”

“I know, I know. And we won’t abandon you,” Lakyus spread her hands, admitting defeat. “Let’s just hope everything works out.”

“It will. We have Momon-sama and Sir Armoreth, and Black Knight. Not to mention whoever the Theocracy is bringing.”

“True. The strongest humanity has to offer have gathered here. I guess I am just worrying over nothing.”

***

Zesshi was sitting in a chair, her scythe resting against its back. In her hands, she held a Rubik’s cube, which she twisted absentmindedly.

“How much longer are they going to take?” She complained to Loras, who was sitting nearby.

“I am sure they will be here soon, another day or two at most,” he replied.

“I had my hopes up, but this is turning out even more boring than guarding the treasury.”

“Is it?”

“Of course! There were so many times I could fight someone, but instead, I had to hold back. Not to mention, this General Enri turned out to be just a regular girl. I really thought she would be someone powerful enough to make for a fun fight,” Zesshi put her toy away. “And now I have to wait for some slow fools to show up. Not to mention, even when we teleport to Nazarick, we won’t attack right away,” she shook her head dejectedly.

“But, you should have your wish, in the end, Jaldabaoth is quite powerful,” Loras tried to cheer her up.

Due to concerns about spying, it was agreed that no one would mention the real goal of the allied strike force and instead they would pretend like fighting Jaldabaoth was their only mission.

Zesshi continued to skulk when the noise from outside drew her attention. She, Loras and several other members of the Black Scripture left the house to see what was happening.

Outside, there was a group of ten mounted riders, they were loosely surrounded by several dozen goblins, including several red caps.

“There, that’s where you’ll be staying. And you better not do anything stupid, or you will regret it,” one of the red caps threatened after pointing at a house next to the ones occupied by the Scriptures.

“You overestimate your ability. But, there is no need to worry. My associates and I didn’t come here to pick a fight with you,” a man with a deep, grating voice responded.

The goblin scowled at the man but chose to leave without a response. The group dismounted and started to make their way toward the house the goblin indicated when the one at the front saw the Black Scripture members. He froze in place momentarily, before making a beeline towards Zesshi.

Zesshi watched as the man approached, however when he extended his hand toward her scythe she couldn’t remain silent.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing?” She asked in a voice full of killing intent.

The man ignored her and instead ran his fingers over the pole of the weapon, before tracing his fingertips over the curved blade.

“Death’s Call,” he said in his grating voice. Still one could feel the melancholy he apparently felt. “It’s been so long since I last felt it.”

“Are you… Yavon-sama?” Loras guessed, though he couldn’t see the man’s face since he not only wore a hood but wore a strange mask as well.

“Indeed, and these are my associates,” Yavon waved to the other nine people. Apparently, he did not feel it prudent to introduce them by name.

“I am Loras, the Captain of the Black Scripture, and she is Zesshi,” Loras introduce them.

“The humanity’s protector. Yes, I’ve heard of her,” Yavon nodded. “Now that everyone is here, when will we go to this Nazarick tomb?”

“How do you know that everyone else is already here?” Loras asked curiously.

“It’s not hard to track movements of such famous figures. And due to the nature of some of our members, we wanted to arrive last,” Yavon explained.

“I see. Then we will inform Momon, who will, in turn, contact the servants of the Sorcerer King. Once they are ready, a portal will be opened and we can travel to the home of the Sorcerer King,” Loras explained.

“In that case, we will stay in this house until it’s time,” Yavon said before leaving.

***

A few hours later everything was ready, and the groups which made up the alliance strike force met up near the quarters of the Theocracy. It was the first time the other members saw Yavon’s associates. Although they didn’t advertise they were Zuranon’s executives, their appearances still gathered quite a negative reaction.

“They are all wearing hoods, are we sure they are friends?” Climb asked.

“I am afraid I would draw my blade if I were to run into one of them in a dark alley,” Brain laughed.

“Be at ease, they are here to assist us with our mission,” Loras said loudly, trying to put a stop to such suspicions.

“Hmm, you can’t trick me, I will recognize the stench of an undead anywhere,” Black Knight said as he stepped forward and walked directly in front of Yavon.

“Says the one who reeks of demons,” Yavon retorted.

“I might be cursed, but I am still a paladin. Slaying undead is my calling,” Black Knight exclaimed, drawing his blade.

“Have you already forgotten the reason we all gathered here? Dealing with such fools is simply annoying,” Yavon shook his head.

“Put your weapon away, there is a much bigger goal at stake than settling personal disagreements,” Momon said as he stepped forward as well.

After a tense moment, Black Knight sheathed his sword and stepped back.

“You are right, I was just caught off guard,” he said.

“Still, I can’t believe the Slane Theocracy would ally with an undead to defeat…” Lakyus stopped herself before she could finish, “Anyway,” she waved her hand dismissively.

“Nabe?” Momon asked looking at his group mate.

“It should open now. There,” Nabe pointed at a swirling [Gate] which appeared near the gathered crowd.

“Alright, let’s go, everyone,” Momon announced, as he walked toward the swirling energy and stepped into the [Gate].

Going into an unknown via a [Gate] provided by one’s enemy was always dangerous. But they were pretending to be the Sorcerer Kingdom’s friends, an allied force which came together in order to confront Jaldabaoth, should the demon show up again. If they showed any signs of distrust the other side might begin to question their sincerity as well. Besides, Momon, who served as their main infiltrator into the enemy’s rank didn’t show any fear.

One by one they all went through the [Gate].

What awaited them on the other side was rather surprising. As they swiveled their heads looking around, they could see that they were located in the center of an outdoor arena. The spectators’ seats were filled with golems, while the gates at either end of the arena were closed.

“Outdoors? Weren’t we supposed to teleport to a tomb?” Sir Armoreth asked.

“This isn’t right. We were supposed to teleport to the guest quarters, where we would stay until Jaldabaoth made his move. What is this place?” Momon said loudly enough for everyone to hear, as he looked around, seemingly as astonished as everyone else.

A sudden noise drew everyone’s attention – one of the gates into the arena opened and a lone figure walked out. At first, the shadows concealed the figure’s features, but as it came closer its features became more and more visible. By the time it stopped, it was standing in the light, fully visible to all those gathered.

The arena fell silent.

*****

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