Ainz spun in midair and cut through the level eighty kuraokami that otherwise towered over him.  An authentic ice dragon summon, it was on par with a greater fire elemental, with long ice scales and blue eyes with dark pupils.  Its snake-like body would wrap around its prey to confine them, and then it’s great maw would snap down for a devouring.  ‘Those things were a problem for lower-level teams in the game, but at this level?’  Ainz recalled, but now it was barely a challenge, and it was only that much because he didn’t have all the warrior skills he needed. 

 When his sword clove the body in two all the way down until his sword struck the sands below, ice shattered like shrapnel over most of the arena.  It pinged off of Ainz’s armor like easily ignored hail.  Lupusregina however, dodged like an acrobat, spinning and twisting her limbs and body in the air like a cat.  ‘Is she a werewolf, or a werecat?’  Ainz joked to himself before she landed in a prowling posture on all fours with fearless eyes locked on the icy target, ready for the order. 

 Lupusregina rolled away, and per her master’s instructions, shifted to her wolf form and rushed in, the ground tore up under her racing paws, and her claws tore like wild and maw tore like she was starving, into the icy flesh.  She did almost no damage compared to her master, but for this experiment, that was unimportant. 

 The monster’s head fell down with a thunderous crash, it stared at him with defiance, its lips drawing back in a growl, its icy breath wafted from an open mouth so large it could swallow Ainz whole, armor, swords, and all. 

 But it was woefully outmatched.  Ainz swung his blades in a constant hack, cutting his way through the snout and jaw until he reached what passed for its brain, and with a decisive blow that scattered shards of ice in all directions, it died. 

 The entire beast went limp, and then vanished.  ‘Good, now to check my xp, and Lupusregina’s.’  This was their eighth experiment, and still he had seen nobody else from Nazarick, and put off all requests from the others to come and see him. 

  ‘I am busy with an urgent matter.  Ensure my last orders have been carried out, and I remain undisturbed until I summon you one by one.’  That had been Ainz’s answer, and every subsequent plea had been similar, only increasingly more curt. 

 Not that he didn’t feel any guilt, the dreaded sensation that he was tormenting his friend’s children by keeping away from them was like nails on a chalkboard to his conscience, and yet the possibility of what might happen was too dreadful to him in too many ways to let him give in to their plea. 

 The Kuraokami had been quite valuable, at least relative to the other beings he’d encountered thus far, and more importantly it was a ‘safe’ opponent.  Easily defeated, and yet also netting a reasonable amount of xp.  When Ainz checked Lupusregina however, he was shocked. 

 ‘Impressive, very impressive.’  He thought when she knelt before him with eyes downcast, she had indeed gained substantial xp, totalling twenty-nine percent of his own.  ‘It seems that their racial levels don’t count, but in each of my duels, she has managed to gain a percentage equivalent to her total job class levels.  So, a level one warrior might gain one percent of what I gain in the course of a duel.  Nothing at all worth speaking of at first, but for a high-powered monster like this relative to the New World?’ 

 The possibilities opened up in Ainz’s mind, only one question remained.  ‘New Worlders seem unable to check their relative skills, but I can.  What if I were to formally make a new world member my servant, could I increase their skills sufficiently to make them useful?’  It had been a question that haunted his brain for weeks.   

 Workers were such a perfect idea, he couldn’t get away from it, though he also turned his mind to the ‘ex’ adventurers that intended to settle in Carne.  ‘Loyalty is always an issue.’  Ainz mused, ‘But there are ways to ensure it, to win it.  Enri, Nfirea, they’re proof of that.’   

 “Shall I summon another, my lord?”  Cocytus asked his master in the silent interval.   

 Ainz thought it over, then asked, “The Guardians have had regular intelligence meetings while I’ve been gone, isn’t that right?” 

 “Yes, my lord.”  Cocytus answered, cocking his head at the unlooked-for question. 

 “How far has Momon’s reputation spread?”  Ainz asked, and Cocytus knelt to answer. 

 “The adventurers praise Momon in E-Rantel.  Word is spreading also throughout Re-Estize through Blue Rose, they used flight magic to return with great speed, the little one has been especially vocal.  Within a few weeks, through message spells and travel, Momon and Lupu of team Axel will be household names.”  Cocytus was openly proud of his master, though it was only Ainz’s general understanding of the guardian’s body language that let him recognize it. 

 “Good, we’ll need to do a few more jobs just to seal that reputation.  Which reminds me…”  Ainz turned his eyes back to the kneeling Lupusregina. 

 “You made those two into sort of ‘pets’, didn’t you?”  Ainz asked, and he didn’t need to be clearer, Lupusregina gave a wolfish grin up at him and shifted back the form of a beautiful red-haired maid. 

 “Ninya and Enri?  Yes, My Lord.  Ninya is a funny little thing, and that Enri smelled like a bitch in heat for her man, they’re both fun playthings.”  Lupusregina giggled girlishly before covering her mouth to stifle the undignified noise. 

 “I see, we’re going to go back that way and do a few more jobs before we go to the capital of Re-Estize.  Would you like to look in on them?”  Ainz asked, and his servant nodded rapidly like a dog that had its eyes locked on a treat in her master’s moving hand. 

 Unable to resist, Ainz removed his onyx armored glove and patted the top of the battle maid’s head.  Her vibrant red hair was soft, even luxuriantly so, and reminded him of that of a dog he’d touched once, it gave a little under his touch, and when he patted, she pressed her head reflexively into his palm.   

 He could feel the warmth beneath, and it was only reluctantly that he took his hand away.  “Then we will, but first, we do this until we both gain a level.”  Ainz answered, then drew his swords again. 

 “Alright Cocytus, summon another one.”  He ordered, and Lupusregina rushed over the sands, scattering the surface of the arena behind her in her urgency to move out of range until her master’s order to attack would bring her forward again.   

 

---

 

 Ninya and the rest of her team were quick about organizing the village, the initial glee at seeing the dead body of the entitled noble and his guards however, settled into fear within hours. 

 That very morning, the village elder called a meeting in the village square. 

 Ninya looked them all over.  They were dirty, far from well fed, and exceedingly ‘scruffy’ with unkempt beards and gnarled, hardened hands.  There was no real order to speak of among the village, the oldest men milled about in front with their wives, with the younger members behind them. There was no discipline or consistency among them but the fact of their poverty and hunger.  Growling bellies spoke to one another of their hunger.  

Up at the front, the village elder, a frail old man put their feelings into words in simple terms, leaning on his staff and shaking from age and fear he said, “If we turn the visitors in, the lord’s lord may spare us.  That is our best hope.” 

 Ninya and her teammates stood off to the side, apart from the gathering, she spat in the direction of the bloody ground where dead noble brat’s body had been lying until a short while ago. 

  “You’re dreaming, old man.”  Peter said, echoing Ninya’s sentiment, his arms folded in front of his chest, “Ninya,” he turned to his teammate and looked down at her, “What is the penalty for striking a nobleman?” 

 “Death.”  She answered reflexively. 

 “And what is the penalty for rebellion against the crown?”  Peter asked further.

 “Also death.”  Ninya answered, and the hush came over the crowd. 

 “You all look hungry.  Am I wrong?”  Peter asked, and growling bellies answered him. 

 “Your lord sends most of your food up to his lord, and leaves you very little to eat, now somebody said that wasn’t actually the lord, just one of his sons, I don’t know what it was like here, but I’m guessing even if he’ll forgive you for this, his lord won’t.  So, will your local lord back your rebellion, or his master?”  Peter probed, and the silence held until the village elder answered… 

 “His master.”  

 Voices of fear and trembling went up from the villagers, mothers clung to their young children and husbands to their wives. 

 Ninya stared, her eyes sweeping the group with frantic urgency, “They’ll make an example of you all, you know they will!  Your lives are nothing, nothing to them!  Wiping out a village and then scooping up a group of people from somewhere else and dropping them here has no more meaning to them than changing clothes!”  She slammed her fist down into her open palm. 

 “You didn’t want this, I get that, and I’m sorry I forced it, but it is forced.  If you want us to go, we’ll go, but if we stay, we can help you!  It’ll be a while before the brat is missed, and that’s our chance!”  Ninya urged them, then Lukrut interjected. 

 He scratched his head and let out a troubled sigh, “Look, the truth is this place is done for, even if we fight, that’s good for what, a skirmish or two?  Then the Baron will send a few hundred armored soldiers and,” he snapped his fingers, “that’ll be that.” 

 “So, what do you want to do?”  Ninya demanded, and true to form, the ranger had a suggestion.   

 “I say we just abandon the whole place, go to Carne, Mr. Momon mentioned making it his base of operations, and it has walls. Even a Baron would think twice about making an enemy out of an adamantite ranked adventuring team by attacking their residence.” 

 Ninya thought that over, and so did the rest of the village, the vote wasn’t unanimous, but it was overwhelming.  Carne was a different domain, it had space to spare, actual walls, and above all, an adamantite patron that had the favor of the Royal Head Warrior. 

 That had been on the first day, and several nights later, Ninya found herself explaining the situation to Enri Emmott and her little council.  Enri sat at the center of a table that had been set out in the middle of the village square, and at her left and right side, canted like bird’s wings, there sat a table of villagers and a table of goblins. 

 At Ninya’s back, the many families that chose to join her and the former Swords of Darkness, shuffled with eyes downcast, glancing up occasionally through their tear blurred eyes, seeking to convey their hopeless desperation through their glances. 

 When the diminutive young rebel at heart finished explaining what happened, she couldn’t think of anything more to add, so Ninya said only… 

 “Please… don’t make them pay for what I did.  Help me, I… I beg you.”  Ninya said, and went down to one knee and bowed her head as if Enri was lady of the land herself and not just a village chief. 

 Enri felt her blood run cold at the violence, but… not as cold as she expected.  “I understand what you want, but you’re asking us to risk not only ourselves, but also our benefactors, Ainz Ooal Gown, and Mr. Momon and Miss Lupu.  It’s only a matter of time before your Lord figures out where you’ve gone.  Then what?” 

 “I don’t know.”  Ninya said, flustered, “Tell them you captured me, offer me to the Baron in exchange for the security of everyone else, I’m the one who killed the lord’s son, nobody else… I just… I’m sorry, I couldn’t just watch while he took that girl!” 

 Behind her somewhere, Enri heard a young girl begin to sob. ‘The intended victim.’  Enri concluded, and turned her eyes to the left and right to the two tables. 

 “Well, what do we say?  Do we let them stay, offer them sanctuary, and risk a fight?  Or do we send them out to die?”  Enri clenched her jaw, torn between the safety of her village and the fear felt by those in need, she knew her answer despite what it might cost. 

 “I myself, want to let them stay, we can ask Mr. Momon and Master Gown if they will mind giving us advice on what to do, and if they object, I guess we have no choice.  But for now, at least, I say let the newcomers stay.  We have lots of land to be worked, don’t we?”  Enri added, and various heads nodded at both tables. 

 “Jugem,” Enri said, “they need to get practice right away, after we get them settled on farms, start breaking them into groups for training, “we don’t want the tragedy we faced, to ever happen again.”  Enri stood up, her palms flat on the table, and while her goblin leader nodded in acknowledgement of her orders, Enri turned her eyes to the newcomers. 

 She then gestured to the goblins at the table, “These goblins are all part of the village too, treat them like your neighbors, they’re part of this village, and if you can’t tolerate that, then we can’t tolerate you.  Am I understood?” 

 Enri leveled her eyes at the disorderly assembly, Ninya kept her eyes bowed, and her team went down to one knee with her.  The remaining newcomers imitated those who led them to Carne Village, and bowed their heads and went down on one knee as well.   

 “That is fair, and… thank you, Chief Enri.”  Ninya uttered with breathless thanks.  “I’ll make sure you don’t regret this.” 

 And so the assembly broke up, and the village of Carne doubled its numbers in a single day.  Within two days homes had been assigned among the empty buildings and ‘guests’ were taken in while new homes were built.  Farmlands that would have had to lay fallow, were instead parcelled out.  And before long, Brita and Peter had a whole new crop of people using wooden sticks to train with swords, while Lukrut aided with the bow, and Ninya began to organize people into working groups. 

 In Enri’s mind, everything was working out marvelously, within two days of that, Nfirea returned to open up his workshop in Carne, and ‘working out marvelously’ became absolute bliss. 

 It was in that blissful state, the heady afterglow of a lovemaking that left Nfirea panting and heaving so that he could barely move, that Enri found herself interrupted. 

  “Miss Enri!  There are some dark elf children to see you!”  The shout from outside snapped her to instant awareness. 

 ‘Elves are very, very far away from here, but… I can think of two people who might have some elves in their service… and I wouldn’t want to keep either of their servants waiting.’  Enri recognized and immediately began to throw on her clothing. 

 “I’ll be right there!”  She shouted as she rushed to grab her pants.