The day started like any other. Enri had been out gathering medicinal herbs from the forest near the village of Carne. She was fairly popular around the village, thanks to her kind and hardworking personality.

“Hey, Enri! Morning! How were those cakes?” A man shouted, waving at her from outside his door. Giran, the town baker, had given her mother a tray of baked pastries as a favor. He was a large, bulky man with a friendly demeanor and a charming smile. 

Enri smiled cheerfully back at him. “They were amazing, thank you! How’s the baby?” Enri stopped and started small talk with the man, remembering that his wife had recently had a child.

“Ahh, very good! Though, she seriously cries all the time! Keeping me and Anna awake!” He chuckled.

Enri laughed awkwardly. “Ahh, well, yes. Babies do that. Nemu did it all the time when she was younger. She doesn’t do it anymore now, though.” 

“True, true! Where ya headed?” The man replied jovially.

“I’m heading into the forest to collect some herbs. Mother needs them for homebrew medicine.” Enri replied, holding up the woven basket she held in her arm for him to see.

“Ahh, gotcha. Well, don’t let me be keepin’ ya then! Better to get home before dark, yes?” Giran chuckled.

Enri nodded quickly. “Oh, right! Mother will be angry! Sorry Mister Giran, I’ll have to leave you!” She waved, hurrying off in the direction of the woods.

“Enriii! Heyyyy~!” 

Enri stopped as she saw a young girl approaching her with a devilish grin. “Kira! What are you doing out here?”

“Hiding. My father wants me to meet another guy.” The young girl rolled her eyes and scoffed as she explained her situation. Kira had been a good friend of Enri’s ever since they were young. Their parents knew each other well, so Enri couldn’t remember the first time she met Kira, as they were both toddlers at the time. She was by far Enri’s first and closest friend. 

“Kira, how many is that? You have to get married eventually!” Enri scolded her friend, but the other girl simply scoffed once again and crossed her arms. 

“Hmph. Fine, then I won’t tell you the super special secret news that Trader James told me,” she replied, turning her head away, but smirking at Enri out of the corner of her eye.

Enri narrowed her eyes at her friend, wanting to leave her but she couldn’t help but feel a little curious. “Okay, fine. I’m sorry for scolding you. What did he say?” She asked, tilting her head.

Kira grinned wider and turned back to Enri. “He said he talked to Nfirea~! He’s coming by the end of the week!”

Enri perked up, and a look of excitement crosses her face as she leaned closer. “Really? Is it true?”

Kira giggled. “Aww, you’re so cute! Yes, it’s true! Good luck with your future husband, I’ll keep trying to escape mine.” She shrugged.

Enri blushed and looked away. “Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

Kira nodded. “Mhm! Your reaction was great. I feel like I can face my father now! Not.” She deadpanned.

Enri shook her head. “Wait, sorry, speaking of fathers, I just remembered I should really get these herbs before nightfall. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Kira!” She turned and hurried off, waving as she disappeared into the woods.

It was later that afternoon when everything changed.

When Enri came out of the woods again with a basket full of herbs, having finished her excursion, she found that it was still light out.

‘Thank goodness! Please don’t be mad, Mother!’ The young girl thought to herself as she rushed home. Pushing open the door to her house she stepped into the kitchen and placed the basket on the kitchen table. “Mother! I got what you needed!” She called out.

“Thank you, Enri! That’s a big help!” She heard a woman’s voice call from the other room. 

“Mother, where’s Nemu?” She asked, glancing around for her younger sister.

The figure of an older woman appeared in the doorway and started unpacking the herbs Enri had picked.

“I’m not sure, sweetie. Maybe in her room?”

“Enri!! I’m here!” The young girl rushes into the kitchen and attached herself to her older sister’s waist.

Enri laughed and patted her head softly. “I see, I see. I missed you, Nemu! And where’s Father?” 

“Out hunting,” Her mother replied

Enri was about to respond when suddenly she heard a knock on the door. Her mother looked up and walked over, only for the door to slam open in her face. Standing in the entryway were a pair of knights in metal plate armor and full combat gear.

“Ehh—?” 

Enri barely had time to process what happened. Before her mother could even voice her confusion, a long steel sword was buried in her chest.

Enri’s eyes went wide. She gripped Nemu’s head tightly and pulled Nemu’s head away, she didn’t want her sister to witness such a scene. Stumbling backward, Enri gripped her sister tightly. “Nemu, it’s okay, big sis will protect you…” she whispered softly, though she had no idea what she was gonna do against armed knights. She stared at the corpse of her mother, as the light faded from her eyes. It all happened so quickly… is this how she was going to die…?

Just then, one of the knights was tackled into the wall by a large male figure.

“Enri! Take Nemu and run!” The figure shouted, as the knight hissed in anger and plunged his sword into the back of her father, even as he held the soldier tightly around the waist. “Go!”

Enri didn’t have time to protest. Nemu was the most important. She grabbed her sister firmly by the wrist and rushed out the back door, with the young girl trailing behind. She heard stumbling behind her, and the sound of heavy metal footsteps, but she didn’t dare look back. She ran, as fast as she could with Nemu behind her.

Enri gasped as she struggled to suck in air through her cracked, dry throat. Her lungs burned and her legs were sore. Her hand which tightly gripped the tiny hand of her younger sister was covered in sweat. She felt her fingers slipping but only tightened her grip further. There was no way she would be letting go now…

“Enri! W-Wait, I can’t keep–!” With that protest, Nemu tripped and fell flat onto her face in the dirt, causing Enri to stop. Of course, the selfish thought of abandoning her sister and saving herself crossed her mind at that moment, but such a thing was out of the question, and Enri immediately felt a pang of guilt for even imagining such a possibility. Hugging her sister tightly, she turned her back to the approaching knights. Why was this happening? Why were they doing this?

Enri felt the cold sting of a blade enter her back between her shoulder blades. ‘I’m dead…’ she thought to herself, but when she felt the warm wet trickle of blood down her back, she realized it wasn’t a lethal blow. They had been just short.

Enri looked back at the knights, seeing them raise their swords in preparation to cut her down like her parents before her. Enri wasn’t religious, but in that moment she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed. Prayed for anyone to help. Prayed to even the Seven. No, she’d take anything at this point. She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t die. She had to protect Nemu. If anyone, anything was listening. Even the Dark Gods, she would gladly sell her soul if it meant—

Enri paused. The swing hadn’t come. She slowly opened her eyes and looked back at the knights. They were standing frozen on the spot. Was this what it was like to die? She had heard that when someone is about to die, every second feels like hours. Is that what this was? 

But no, time was passing as normal, or at least her perception of it was. The knights were frozen by something else. They were looking up and past her.  Their blades held frozen on the spot in fear and confusion.

Enri blinked… and slowly… turned her head to follow the direction of the Knights’ gaze.

She let out an audible gasp. A dark, all-consuming void had appeared in front of her. It filled her entire vision and was paper-thin yet seemingly infinite in depth. 

As Enri watched, slowly, out of the shroud of the void, a figure appeared. First, a golden staff, encrusted with the most expensive-looking jewels. It was followed by a bony white skeletal hand, then an arm, and finally the full figure emerged, wearing a dark purple robe that appeared so unimaginably expensive that even the wealthiest of nobles would struggle to afford it. Perhaps all the gold in the world couldn’t buy something so extravagant.

But the figure wearing the robe was far from an extravagant noble. On the contrary, it was the pure embodiment of death, of evil. It was a pale white, bony skeleton. Its eyes were dark, hollow holes, with only a pair of tiny red crimson flames dancing within them. Perhaps evil was truly the best word to describe this figure. The aura it exuded was one of pure fear. Briefly, Enri wondered if this was Death, coming to harvest her soul as she died. But then a second figure appeared from the void.

Unlike the embodiment of death which stood beside her, this figure looked somewhat attractive. In fact, she was extremely attractive, holding a beauty that suggested a dangerously enticing quality about her. The seemingly elven woman wore a dark crimson plate armor, one that shone brilliantly like it was made of pure rubies. It left much less to the imagination than one would expect from armor, but the majestic aura she exuded made Enri acutely aware that even a direct strike to the woman’s exposed midriff would fail to even scratch her. She was mesmerized briefly, and it was then that she finally realized who these beings were.

She didn’t expect them to answer her prayer, but it turned out they had. The Dark Gods had heard her, and they had arrived.

Enri gulped as she watched the two gods anxiously. It was great that she would be saved, but did she really have to offer her soul in return…?

<X>

“[Grasp Heart]”

As Momonga spoke, he held his hand out toward one of the knights. An image of the man’s beating heart appeared in his hand, and with a forceful crush, he obliterated the image. The knight slumped to ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, as if his actual heart was destroyed.

Momonga looked at his palm in surprise. [Grasp Heart] was a 9th-tier death-attribute spell in YGGDRASIL with an instant-kill effect. It was the best way to end a fight quickly against an unprepared opponent. Even if the spell was resisted, it would cause a stunning effect, which Momonga had planned to use as a chance to escape. The fact that it worked meant that these knights had zero resistance against instant-kill spells.

The second knight took a fearful step backward, before he frantically turned and ran, he sword clattering to the ground as he left it behind. Momonga considered letting him leave, but it would be prudent not to let his enemy escape. However, he also wanted to get a gauge for how strong his enemy was. He quickly fired off an [Appraisal] at the Knight.

<Human LV5 Name Yvain Crawford

Status: HP 34 (+40) (green)              MP 9 (blue)

 SP 31 (yellow)                                       24 (red)

Average Offense Ability: 14 (+9)      Average Defense Ability: 16 (+10)

Average Magic Ability: 4                   Average Resistance Ability: 8 (+1)

Average Speed Ability: 7 (-3)

Skills:

Strength LV3 • Cooperation • Swordsmanship LV2 • Crude LV1 • Solidity LV1 • Heretic Magic LV1 • Heresy Resistance LV1 • Taboo LV3

Skill Points: 200

Titles:

Merciless • Monster Slayer • Human Slayer • Human Slaughterer

>

He was weak. Extraordinarily so. Even though Momonga didn’t have a complete grasp on the stats and skills that governed this new world, he could tell he was miles above this knight. Even just the level alone was enough to tell him that, and the massive difference in stats only confirmed it.

Momonga raised his finger and pointed at the knight. “[Lightning!]”

A bolt of lightning exploded from his fingertip, hitting the fleeing knight square in the back and roasting him alive, before the man slumped to the ground, with nothing but a charred corpse remaining.

“It seems that we were a bit overly cautious,” Momonga observed aloud to his friend. “They died so easily even to third-tier magic.”

<Condition satisfied. Acquired Title [Rescuer].>

<Acquired skills [Healing Magic LV1] [Light Magic LV1] as a result of Title [Rescuer]>

Momonga looked up as he heard the announcement of the game voice. So it seemed that there were ways to acquire titles in this world as well. It was pretty easy to assume that a title that was so easy to acquire probably wouldn’t be particularly strong, but skills were still skills, and Momonga wouldn’t complain about it.

“My Lord, My Lady, I am here.” A feminine voice announced, as a figure in dark armor with a large halberd stepped out of the void behind them, the portal closing behind them. “What are we to do with these lower life forms?”

Buku stepped toward Enri, shooting a glare at the armored woman. “Enough, Albedo. We’re helping them. For now, the ones in the armor are our enemies,” she admonished, squatting down to the girl’s level. You’re hurt. Here. Drink it.” She produced from her inventory a small red potion and offered it to the girl.

“B-Blood…!?” The young girl squeaked in fright, causing Buku to chuckle.

“Of course not. It’s a healing potion. No need to be afraid.” She flashed her a charming smile, and the girl immediately relaxed and took the potion. It seemed that Buku had quite the trusting visage.

“Th-Thank you miss!” The girl quickly gulped down the potion, turning to look over her shoulder in surprise when she found that the stinging pain in her back had disappeared. “Wow… even my clothes…” she whispered 

Buku stood up as Momonga stepped over, tossing a pair of small, wooden blow horns at the girl’s knees. “You should be safe if you stay here. Blow one of those horns and an army of goblins will appear that you can command at will.” He told her, before turning and starting towards the village.

“U-Um! Excuse me…!” Enri and her sister were both on their knees bowing at this point. “Th-Thank you for saving us… May I ask your names?”

“My name…?” Momonga turned, pausing for a moment. He glanced over at Buku, before turning back to her. “You’d do well to remember it… My name is Ainz Ooal Gown!” He declared triumphantly.

Buku stared at her friend for a brief moment, but she was quick to catch on to what he was doing. “Yes, my full name is quite long, so you can call me Buku Ooal Gown. Or just Buku.” 

<X>

The knights stood horrified as the undead monster carved its way through their forces. Towering at over 2 meters, one would expect the monster to be a slow, lumbering giant, but it was fast, big, and powerful. With a leap and a swipe of its sword, it cleaved another fleeing knight in half, slicing clean through metal plate armor like it was paper.

Londes stood transfixed as he watched the merciless slaughter playing out before him. Turning to his superior, he looked for any hope of direction. The undead was too powerful to take head-on, and fleeing seemingly only encouraged it to attack. 

Captain Belius was a man with impressive strength. His [Swordsmanship] Skill had reached Level Four. Few in the regiment dared challenge him. Many favored him as their captain for his strength, despite the fact that he wasn’t a particularly good leader.

So it should have been no surprise to Londes when he heard the desperate words from his captain’s mouth. 

“All of you! Attack! Be my shield!!” He roared, attempting to send his loyal men into the blender that was in front of them. The undead seemed to have heard his shout, however, and quickly turned on him and started approaching.

“What are you all just standing there for?? Protect me!! I can give you money! 600 gold pieces! No, 700!” He desperately pleaded with his unforgiving men to throw themselves to his rescue.

“Captain…” Londes murmured, appalled by the disgraceful state of his captain. The undead impaled Captain Belius through the chest with its sword and slammed his body against the wall of a house, as the captain continued to let out gurgling pleas to his men. 

“E-Eight hundred!! Nghkk—! A thouthan~! Tenn thouthan—!” He let out a girlish shriek as the monster buried its blade into the man’s heart, the light fading from his eyes.

Londes hasn’t moved, but he recognized it was only a matter of time before the creature turned on him. He gripped his weapon, at the very least he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Death Knight! That’s enough!” A deep voice rang out, halting the monster in its tracks.

Londes turned in the direction where the voice had come. So this monster was under the control of a magic caster. But what he saw defied expectations.

Standing in the road were three figures. The voice appeared to belong to the only male figure in the group, a masked spellcaster wearing a dark purple robe. The two armored women standing on either side of him he would only assume to be the man’s guards, but it was the woman in crimson armor who spoke up next.

“Who is your captain?” She asked one of the frightened knights, only for him to shakily point to the corpse of Belius. The woman sighed and nodded her head.

“Ah, I see. Then who’s the current in command?” She cocked an eyebrow.

To Londes’s surprise, the knight pointed at him. True, he was close to Belius, but he didn’t have any official rank above the others. But perhaps he should have expected something like this to happen, after all the knights would probably do anything to save their own skins.

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.” The dark elf woman replied with a grin, before turning and stepping toward Londes. “So captain, I’d like to know—“

“Elven filth!” The woman was interrupted by one of the knights charging her, sword raised, as he swore at her. The woman looked over at the charging man in full plate armor and heaved a sigh, with an almost bored expression, and slammed her fist into the man’s chest plate.

Her fist cleanly tore through the metal and sent the man flying, careening into one of the buildings and splattering into a bloody corpse against the wall before slumping to the ground. She then cleared her throat and spoke in a loud voice.

“Anyone else want to try something funny, try appraising me first.” 

Her point was clear. Since nobody here could use appraisal, after that demonstration of strength, it would be impossible for anyone here to harm her.

The impossibly powerful elven woman turned on Londes once again, her glare sending a chill of discomfort down his spine. At that moment, he wasn’t even certain if that was because she was appraising him, or because of the pure fear he felt from staring down an entity that could only be described as a god.

“Hey, leader, You’ve been good, so we’ll let you and your men go. Run back to your country, and when you tell them what happened here, tell them that Ainz Ooal Gown is coming for them.” She smirked, cracking her knuckles.

Londes had been trained in the way of courage, and never backing down from a fight. He had defeated several monsters in his time of impressive strength. But even still, he didn’t need to be told twice. If a Legendary-class entity such as this woman issued him a threat, he would be the first to oblige. This was hardly an important mission anyways.

So Londes turned like a coward and ran.

Buku smirked as she watched the fleeing knights and turned back to Ainz. “Hey, Momo, did you see that? I was cool right?” She giggled, before she appeared at his side in a flash and leaned against his shoulder.

Ainz sighed and waved her off, shrugging her away from his body. “Yes, yes, very cool. Now if you’d focus, we’re not done here.” He reminded her, turning back to the gathered villagers. The knights had assembled most of the still-surviving villagers in the center of town, presumably to make them easier to slaughter. A man to the front of the crowd stood up from his knees and spoke anxiously, who Ainz assumed to be the chief or leader of the village.

“Excuse me, sir…?”

“You may call me Ainz Ooal Gown.” The Overlord responded. 

“Ah, Mister Gown, Thank you for saving us…” He trailed off. Noting how anxious the man seemed, it was clear that even with the mask and gauntlets Ainz had used to hide his skeletal form, the three of them still weren’t fully trusted.

“Think nothing of it. We just happened to be in the area,” Ainz replied, but the man visibly tensed. Of course, it would be suspicious of him to just help them for no reason. “However, I did not do it for free.” 

This, ironically, seemed to cause all of the villagers much relief, as their tense expressions visibly relaxed.

“I’m… sorry, we don’t really have a lot of money we can offer…” The chief started, but Ainz was quick to cut him off. 

“I am not interested in money. What’s far more valuable to me is information.”

The village chief nodded slowly. “Then, please, come into my house. We can discuss it easier there.” He offered, gesturing to a building off to the side of the road.

<X>

The village chief was surprisingly willing to offer any information he could, having bought Ainz’s story about being a group of magic casters isolated from the world for many years, and answered as many of their questions as they wished. The man explained that the village of Carne in which they were located was part of the Kingdom of Re-Estize. A mountain range divided the Kingdom from the Slane Theocracy to the south, and the Baharuth Empire to the east. A small area to the southeast of the kingdom, and close to Carne, the Katze Plains, was the only place where the mountain range split to allow for travel between the two nations. Apparently, the Kingdom and the Empire had extremely hostile relations and regularly battled on the plains outside the fortress city of E-Rantel, located at the border to Re-Estize and the closest major city to Carne.

Based on the crests the knights wore, the village chief assumed that the knights were from the Baharuth Empire, but Ainz did not dismiss the possibility that they were agents from the Slane Theocracy who sought to harm the admittedly already negative relations between the two nations. 

The village chief expressed that there were other nations, but he couldn’t remember anything about them and lacked a map that showed them, as they were too far to be of any interest to Carne.

The currency from YGGDRASIL wasn’t recognized in this world, though the gold itself still held value. Ainz concluded that it was best to refrain from using it, as it could draw too much attention to himself.

When Ainz asked about the gamelike system that appeared to govern the world, however, the village chief expressed confusion. He explained that it’s been a core part of life for longer than he was alive, and his father and grandfather weren’t alive for a time when it didn’t exist, if such a time even existed. When Ainz followed up with a question about the “Chief Administrator D” that had been referenced back when he arrived in this world, the man also appeared clueless.

As Ainz was about to leave, a man knocked on the door to the house, and the chief opened it. “What is it?”

“A group of soldiers on horseback are heading this way…” The man replied anxiously.

The village chief furrowed his brow in concern and looked over at Ainz. “Mister Gown, it appears we may not be out of the woods just yet. I hate to impose on you and your comrades once again after you so generously saved us…”

Ainz quickly held up a hand to silence the man. “Think nothing of it. We put in the effort to rescue you, if these new soldiers hold ill intent towards your town, you can consider this part of our effort,” he replied.

“I see! Thank you, very much Mister Gown.” The village chief quickly bowed his head in gratitude, before following Ainz and the others out of the building.

Stepping onto the main town road, they could see that indeed, there was an army of soldiers on horseback charging toward the village. Ainz quickly ordered Albedo to stand back, before he and Buku stepped forward along with the village chief.

The lead soldier was a large, tanned, and dark-haired man with a powerful frame and heavy-looking plate armor. He halted his mount about ten paces from the three of them and dropped to his feet, stepping toward them.

“Village Headman, I presume? And who are these two?” the man asked, glancing at Ainz and Buku curiously.

“This is Lord Ainz Ooal Gown and Lady Buku Ooal Gown, they were the ones who protected us from an attack by Imperial Knights.” The village chief explained.

The soldier turned to the two with a surprised expression. “Is this true? You two saved this village alone?”

Ainz nodded. “Yes, that is correct. We happened to be passing by and couldn’t just sit and watch.”

The man lowered his gaze and extended a hand out to shake. “I am the Warrior Captain and Hero of Re-Estize, Gazef Stronoff. You both have my gratitude for protecting the villagers.”