Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 6

With a flag in hand and a tall cup of melon soda in the other, Ainz Ooal Gown, the Supreme Overlord of the Great Tomb of Nazarick and sovereign of the – reportedly – burgeoning Sorcerous Kingdom, sat in the shade of his VIP booth in the Sixth Floor’s arena. They were between matches early in the Nazarick Grand Tournament, and denizens from across the tomb had come to spectate the event.

How did it come to this?

His gaze drifted over the buzzing crowd. Not three weeks ago, he suggested combat readiness drills for the NPCs. They seemed confused at first – perhaps even worried that he had seen any number of shortfalls in the quality of Nazarick’s defenders – so he offhandedly added that he wanted to see the results of their training over the past few years. From there, what was meant as a simple exercise for the sake of the NPCs – who had next to no real PvP experience – transformed into a grand demonstration for the Master of the Great Tomb that spared no expense.

“Ainz-sama! How about another hot dog?”

Tokitsu called up to him from below the pavilion. To promote the atmosphere surrounding the festivities, Nazarick’s Head Chef had gotten the blacksmith to create a hot dog cart, complete with a red and white parasol. It was a piece of cosmetic furniture from a book in the library, but it seemed to function just fine as the real thing. Ainz wasn’t sure if it was because Yggdrasil’s art team was simply that obsessed with detail or whether it was a phenomenon related to Nazarick’s translation from the game.

Ainz looked beside him to where Mare was seated.

“How about it, Mare?” He asked, “Would you like another one?”

The Dark Elf boy smiled up at him in response with a flush on his cheeks.

“I-I’ll always want Ainz-sama’s hot dog,” he said shyly.

Bukubukuchagama-san…

Ainz glanced furtively at his surroundings, but he couldn’t make out anything beyond the cheerful faces of those nearby. Mare was designed that way. That had to be the case. It wasn’t as if the way he saw Mare was like that.

“Ah, ehm…” He leaned forward over the railing and held up a bony finger, “We’ll have one more.”

“One Nazarick Supreme Frankfurter, coming right up!” The Boarc boisterously announced.

He sat back down and handed Mare his soda. The boy greedily sucked on the straw with his full, glossy lips. Ainz ripped his gaze away from the sight and cleared his throat.

“So,” he said, “who’s in the next match?”

“Narberal and Lupusregina, Ainz-sama.”

“Ah, the first big match of the tournament.”

It was the first day of the tournament and, thus far, the matches were ‘appetisers’ that involved the few Mercenary NPCs still active around the base. The display was, quite frankly, disappointing. Each match was about what one would expect from a fight between two Mercenary NPCs in Yggdrasil. They easily overpowered any of the world’s natives that Nazarick had come across so far, but would be laughably simple for a high-level Player to defeat.

Of course, they would be able to overwhelm a single Player through sheer numbers, but he couldn’t say that he was getting his money’s worth when he considered the insane volume of materials that had to be put through the exchange box to pay for just one of them. Narberal and Lupusregina, on the other hand, were Guild Base NPCs who had not only demonstrated the ability to learn and adopt new tactics, but also spent plenty of time outside of Nazarick. The both of them had been active since their arrival, so he looked forward to what they had come up with.

A Homunculus Maid arrived with the hot dog on a sparkling silver platter. For the second time, he was tempted to tell her that it wasn’t supposed to be presented like that, but he didn’t have the heart to in the face of her unspeakably pleased expression.

“How do you think the match will play out, Mare?”

“Mmh…Narberal will win.”

“You think so? Why is that?”

“Because she has a lot of experience. She must have learned so much from Ainz-sama while you were adventuring together!”

“I-Is that so?”

It was an unexpected answer – one that he wasn’t sure amounted to anything. The only thing he actively tried to improve when it came to Narberal was her sharp tongue.

“Wouldn’t that mean she has an overwhelming advantage if you factor in their level difference?” Ainz asked.

“Lupusregina has a better-optimised build, so they’re pretty close in terms of their effective combat power.”

Ainz nodded, somewhat pleased with the response. An important part of Mare’s work with the Adventurer Guild was understanding the Job Class builds and figuring out how to make them work with the Adventurers. That knowledge, of course, could also be applied to Nazarick’s denizens.

A set of especially raucous cheers – which sounded more like excited screams – sounded from the Homunculus Maids as Narberal and Lupusregina took to the field from opposite sides of the arena. Ainz eyed the two contestants, trying to figure out how their fight would play out.

“I believe that Narberal is at a major tactical disadvantage,” Ainz said. “She can take flight to keep Lupusregina from entering melee range, but the fact remains that Narberal is a highly specialised Elementalist. As a Cleric, Lupusregina can handily counter what she can bring to bear.”

Narberal was optimised for lighting-type spells. So long as Lupusregina cast the appropriate defensive enchantments, she would run Narberal out of mana with plenty of leeway. From the outset, it felt like it was Lupusregina’s fight to lose.

“That’s true,” Mare frowned slightly, then brightened again. “B-But I trust that Narberal’s experience with Ainz-sama will win the day!”

Whyyy…

The crowd calmed slightly as Aura hopped down onto the field with a loudspeaker in hand.

“It’s time for this morning’s maiiiiin event!” Her voice echoed off of the stands, “In the black corner, we have everyone’s favourite cool beauty, the third sister of the Pleiades, Narberal Gamma!”

“Narberal nee-sama!”

“Narberal nee-samaaa!”

The Homunculus Maids exploded into excited squealing again. Narberal’s pristine features didn’t shift in the slightest.

I can’t say she doesn’t live up to the promotion, but how is she going to win?

Ainz Goal Gown did not know defeat. According to Mare, this included by proxy using knowledge he couldn’t recall ever sharing.

“In the red corner, we have the second sister of the Pleiades, Lupusregina Beta!”

“Hey!” Lupusregina shouted over the cheers, “What happened to the rest of my introduction-su?”

“I’m not reading that,” Aura told her. “There are children present!”

Hm? Lupusregina is always so mild-mannered. What could she have possibly written as her introduction?

“Will Narberal stomp her opponent’s face into the dirt? Will Lupusregina be able to maintain her dignity as the older sister? We shall soon see!”

“Why does that sound so ominous-su? I sense favouritism-su.”

“Are you accusing the referee of taking sides?” Narberal asked.

Lupusregina’s golden gaze flickered to Aura for a split second.

“No…”

With the potential complaint settled, Aura leapt back onto the edge of the stands. She sent a pointed look in his direction.

Ah–this is my part.

Ainz set down his flag and picked up a small rubber mallet.

“Lupusregina. Narberal. I look forward to your performance. Show us how the might of Nazarick has evolved!”

He struck the gong next to his throne, signalling the start of the match. The two battle maids immediately started casting their spells.

“「Fly」.”

“「Protection Energy – Electricity」.”

“「Protection Energy – Fire」.”

“「Resistance 」.”

“「Protection Energy – Negative」.”

“「Penetrate Up」.”

“「Reinforce Armour」.”

“「Minor Dexterity 」.”

“「Shield Wall」.”

Ainz nodded along as the two battle maids enchanted themselves with the appropriate countermeasures against each other’s builds. Lupusregina couldn’t fly, nor did she have any flight items, so both had correctly discerned that the match would become a magic duel. On the back of Narberal’s Shield Wall, Lupusregina launched her first attack.

“「Flame Strike」!”

A pillar of flame streaked down from the sky – or, rather, the ceiling – and enveloped the War Wizard. The flames dispersed a moment later, revealing Narberal, who was gritting her teeth in discomfort. Flame Strike was half fire and half divine damage, so Narberal’s defensive enchantment against fire damage could only absorb half of the spell. Lupusregina’s only other spell damage options against the living were purely fire or negative energy, so the Fifth-tier Flame Strike ended up being her most efficient option.

“It looks like she took some damage,” Mare said.

“Still,” Ainz mused, “that’s some very expensive damage. Lupusregina is effectively spending double the mana for the damage–no, less than that since Narberal will evade at least a few of the attacks.”

“Narberal’s in an even worse situation, right?” Mare said, “She has some backup spells to use against resistant enemies, but they’re not good enough to get past Lupusregina’s healing. She can evade those spells, as well. Once both of them run out of mana, Lupusregina will be able to beat Narberal in melee.”

“Indeed. The matches were listed a week in advance, so I’m curious to see what preparations Narberal has made to overcome this challenge.”

While Narberal’s magical offence was potent for her level, her set of backup damage spells didn’t benefit from her elemental specialisation. She had lightning attacks that partially bypassed resistances, but Lupusregina’s defensive spells absorbed a set amount of damage rather than resisting it. In terms of damage per mana, Protection Energy beat out spells of the element it warded against by two to one, so it was effectively a hard counter against single-element casters like Narberal.

Mare put on a distressed look as Narberal was pummelled by another Flame Strike.

“Mmh…this is hard,” he said. “I wonder what Ainz-sama taught her that will win this.”

He could only pray that this ‘Ainz-sama’ fellow was such a genius he could ignore mechanical limitations.

“Ah~” Lupusregina sighed as she rested her mace over her shoulder. “You’re making your onee-chan sad.”

“This fight is far from over,” Narberal replied.

“Being stubborn isn’t good-su. Why not just throw in the towel, Na-chan?”

In response, Narberal produced a slender object from her inventory. Ainz leaned forward, trying to make out what it was.

A wand? If so…

Narberal pointed the object directly at Lupusregina. The Werewolf Cleric frowned when nothing happened.

“Is it broken? Na-chan…did you get scammed by a Merchant in E-Rantel?”

A Merchant? Come to think of it, I don’t recognise that skin from Yggdrasil…

Even the simplest of wands in Yggdrasil had a fantasy-ish look, but the one in Narberal’s hand looked like nothing more than a sanded fescue with no particle effects. Around the arena, the spectators looked at one another in confusion. More than a few of them made disparaging comments about the seemingly faulty artifice on display.

“Poor Narberal-sama, how could they do something like this to her?”

“If those filthy Humans cheated her, we should level a few dozen villages to teach them a lesson!”

“No, villages take materials to build. We should flay ten thousand Humans and use their skins to hang them from E-Rantel’s walls as a warning. The Humans will spawn more of themselves in no time.”

Below on the field, Lupusregina planted the head of her mace on the ground, continuing to watch her younger sister point the stick of wood at her.

“Hey, Na-chan,” Lupusregina said, “If your strategy got messed up by this, we can have a rem–ahghl.”

“Ahghl?” Ainz tilted his head.

“What was tha–ahew!”

Once again, Lupusregina jerked mid-sentence. Ainz stood and placed his hands on the railing, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Protection Energy – Ele–eway! Protect–eep! Prot–owah.”

The Cleric’s attempts at casting a spell were interrupted with each wave of Narberal’s wand as the Doppelganger conducted the Werewolf through an awkward-looking dance. Eventually, Lupusregina regained control of herself – probably by silentcasting the spell she had been trying to get on herself since the odd occurrences started.

It sounded like she was trying to get her Protection Energy – Electricity back up again, so the wand has a lightning-type spell? I wonder how many charges Narberal used…

Ulbert and the other mages in Ainz Ooal Gown saved mana for boss fights by using wands during dungeon clears, but they always complained about the cost of doing so. Of course, it was unlikely that the wand Narberal wielded was anywhere near as expensive as those required to clear high-level content at a decent pace. Even so, several things had piqued Ainz’s interest.

Not only is the wand plain looking, but the spell it’s casting has no visual or audio effect. I can’t recall any offensive lightning spells that didn’t have those.

Aside from the spells that dealt sonic damage, the ever-popular Evocation school was all about flashy effects in Yggdrasil. Even the humble Magic Arrow caught the eye. Indeed, many considered this a drawback in PvP, as it would announce the presence of a mage to everyone in the vicinity, drawing would-be gankers from kilometres away. This was something that had gotten Ainz killed several times in his lonely days as a newbie.

“Mare,” he asked, “would you happen to know what spell is on that wand?”

“S-Sorry, Ainz-sama,” Mare looked down at the floor as if he had committed some great blunder, “All I can tell is that it’s a lighting-type spell.”

Ainz placed his bony hand on Mare’s head.

“Mah, don’t be so hard on yourself. Everyone is here to show off the new things that they’ve learned, so it wouldn’t be strange if they discovered something previously unknown to us.”

Out on the field, Narberal continued waving her wand at Lupusregina. The Cleric refreshed her Protection Energy – Electricity spell again, this time before it was used up.

“You may be saving yourself some mana,” Lupusregina called up to her sister, “but that puny thing won’t last much longer. It barely even tickles-su!”

As if on cue, Narberal’s wand-waving stopped. Lupusregina smiled as the Doppelganger examined the stick of wood with a frown. Then, the Werewolf’s frown joined her sister’s as Narberal produced two more wands from her inventory.

“W-Wait,” Lupusregina said, “how many of those things do you ha–blyah! Hieh!”

The Cleric jerked twice, as if shocked by jolts of electricity. Above her, Narberal played both wands like a pair of drumsticks.

“Ref!” Lupusregina called out once she silentcast her defensive shield again, “This is dirty-su! This can’t be legal-su! She’s using the power of money-su!”

The wands stopped moving. Every gaze went to Aura, who was watching the fight intently from the nearest railing.

“What are you saying,” Narberal replied in imperious tones. “These are wands I bought using the money I earned together with Momon-sa–n. How can such a thing be dirty?”

Aura raised a hand as she made her judgement call.

“Allowed!”

“You damn whaaaale–hyah!”

“I see!” Mare said brightly, “So this is Narberal learned from Ainz-sama. If you’re going to have trouble with a fight, just use cash shop items!”

Ainz tightly clutched the railing in front of him to keep himself from hiding his face in his hands. The wave of mortification washing over him was subsequently cancelled out by his emotional suppression.

Well, it wasn’t as if Nishikienrai was a part of the No Cash Shop Alliance. In fact, he was the exact opposite. Like father, like daughter, I suppose…

It may have been a point of gamer pride back in Yggdrasil, but there was no reason not to use every advantage available now that they were in a real world. Not doing so would be foolish to the extreme, though, at the same time, he hoped that the NPCs wouldn’t indulge in frivolous excess.

Lupusregina stubbornly cast another defensive spell, determined to outlast Narberal’s assault. Eleven wands later, the Cleric was twitching on the ground.

“Shtaaap! It’s going to come out-su! Iyah!”

Narberal floated to the ground, warily eyeing her incapacitated sister.

“Hehe…” Lupusregina panted, “This might become a bad habit.”

The corner of the Doppelganger’s lip curled in disgust, then she gave her sister a good stomp. Aura hopped down from her perch.

“Winner: Narberal Gamma!”

A great cheer erupted from the crowd. Ainz nodded in satisfaction. As he had intended – well, maybe not exactly as intended – it was likely a good learning experience for Nazarick’s denizens. He applauded the fight with everyone for half a minute before raising his voice to speak.

“Narberal. Lupusregina. You have both done well.”

Narberal genuflected on the sand of the arena. Lupusregina hopped up as if nothing had happened and followed suit.

“You have our utmost gratitude, Ainz-sama!”

“From this battle,” Ainz said, “I trust that everyone understands that preparation not only lies in putting what one was gifted with as denizens of Nazarick to optimal use, but also in employing what one has gained over time. If there are other Players out there somewhere, they will undoubtedly do the same. Now, would you care to explain the device you employed in the battle, Narberal?”

“As you command, Ainz-sama,” the War Wizard rose to her feet and raised a wand over her head. “This is a locally-produced wand which I purchased using the funds earned as a member of Darkness. The most important thing about these wands, however, is the spell that they’ve been charged with.”

“Umu,” Ainz said. “I’ve noticed its uncharacteristic traits. Is it a spell unique to this world?”

“It is as you say, Ainz-sama. Your impeccable foresight knows no bounds! Because Ainz-sama graciously allowed me to accompany him as an Adventurer, I was able to purchase these wands. Because Ainz-sama shared his knowledge with us, I was able to see an opportunity to improve. Because Ainz-sama founded the Sorcerous Kingdom, the mage who produced these items came here to toil for Ainz-sama’s sake. Indeed, everything is thanks to Ainz-sama!”

“OHHH!!!”

A cheer rose from all around him, one far greater than was lavished on the victorious Narberal. Ainz stood as stiff as a stone, hoping his discomfort at the undue praise would somehow pass for regal reservation. It never ceased to amaze him how the NPCs could somehow attribute everything that went right to him.

『Ainz-sama.』

His hand went to his temple.

『Aureole. This is rare.』

Aureole Omega was at her usual post in the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary on the Eighth Floor, overseeing the defence of Nazarick while the other NPCs were spectating the tournament or preparing for their matches. A sense of unease crept through him, but then he reminded himself that a general alarm hadn’t been sounded.

『Forgive me for interrupting your enjoyment of the festivities, Ainz-sama, but we have a disturbance on the upper floors.』

『…what sort of disturbance?』

『An outsider is running amok on the Second Floor.』

He froze at the unexpected statement. An outsider? On the Second Floor, no less? Nazarick’s defences weren’t fully activated, but a single intruder who could make it to the Second Floor would be extraordinarily powerful by the standards of the locals.

『Is the situation under control?』

『Yes, Ainz-sama. She shouldn’t be able to get through Shalltear-sama’s domain. Actually, she’s been trying to leave after meeting with Shalltear-sama.』

Shalltear was an unfathomable terror from the natives’ perspective, so that much was understandable.

『Well, we can’t have that, can we? Keep this outsider running around, I’ll be right with you.』

Mare looked up at him as he turned to leave.

“Did something happen, Ainz-sama?”

“Aureole just contacted me about something,” Ainz replied. “I’ll see you at this evening’s match.”

He exited the arena through the nearest teleportation gate. A harsh, dry wind greeted him the moment he appeared upon the barren wasteland of the Eighth Floor. He took the single, sandblown path that lay before him, eventually arriving at the entrance of the Cherry Blossom Sanctuary. The Area was fixed in a state of perpetual spring, creating a single vibrant location in the middle of the otherwise desolate landscape.

Ainz passed under a procession of red torii as he ascended the hill, his robes sweeping aside the sakura blossoms carpeting the steps. The Cherry Blossom Sanctuary was fashioned in the style of a Japanese shrine from the previous century before Earth’s biosphere had collapsed. Coming to the Area always filled him with a sense of wonder and he would wonder why the people of Earth thought such a beautiful thing was worth destroying.

Aureole Omega, the lastborn of the Pleiades, greeted him at the top of the stairs. The black-haired Human was adorned in her red and white Miko outfit and she cradled the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown in her hands. Two of the Uka-no-Mitama, Aureole’s Level Eighty-Five Mercenary NPC Lieutenants, stood on either side of her. As one, they bowed respectfully as Ainz ascended the final step to the sanctuary.

“Welcome, Ainz-sama.”

“Umu. Have there been any new developments?”

“There have been plenty, but none appear to threaten Nazarick. This way, please.”

He was guided to the temple at the end of the courtyard. Inside, several Mirrors of Remote Viewing had been set up to monitor different areas of the Guild Base. One of them was focused on the arena on the Sixth Floor. Aureole gestured to a mirror displaying the dark environs of the Second Floor, which one of her other lieutenants was manipulating to keep track of the intruder…or at least the aftermath of the intruder’s passing.

Ainz leaned forward, cradling his chin between a thumb and forefinger.

“Hoh…it appears our guest has anti-divination countermeasures.”

“Yes, Ainz-sama. We can only track her through direct observation in the rare case that security spots her. Otherwise, we can only follow her through the results of her actions.”

Would that explain how the intruder got in? Security was more relaxed than usual since almost everyone was at the tournament.

“Why didn’t the POPs detect her?” Ainz asked, “Do we have some type of Rogue on our hands?”

“A Ranger, I believe.”

“I see.”

That made a little bit more sense. Unless one of the patrols around Nazarick got very close to them, a Ranger would have no problems sneaking through the grasslands surrounding the guild base and they would leave no trace of their passing.

The Uka-no-Mitama manipulating the mirror stopped scanning the catacomb tunnels when she came across a patrol of Nazarick Old Guarders. Several looked like they had been knocked down by blocks of stone. One by one, they were destroyed by their unseen assailant.

“Rocks fell onto them? How can that be?”

“The outsider has been setting traps using materials from the Guild Base, Ainz-sama. She ambushes our patrols once they spring them.”

“Someone is setting their own traps inside Nazarick?”

Was that possible? He wasn’t sure if it was. As far as he could recall, no intruder in Yggdrasil had ever bothered trying to set traps inside the Guild Base.

“What’s the intruder’s objective?” Ainz asked.

“Only escape, as far as we know. It looks like she’s mapped out most of the teleportation traps on the Second Floor already, but we’ve physically blocked the way to the First Floor with Death Knights. She won’t be able to get by them.”

“What about Shalltear? You mentioned that she’s already run into the intruder. I’m surprised she hasn’t dealt with her yet.”

“About that…Shalltear-sama didn’t have the heart to chase after her, Ainz-sama.”

Hah?

Was the intruder so catastrophically ugly that Shalltear was repelled by the sight? Peroronchino had designed her with a strike zone as vast as the Guild Treasury, so Ainz found that difficult to imagine.

“Still,” he said, “an intruder is an intruder. She should have done something about her. I can’t imagine Albedo would be very pleased about Shalltear’s response.”

“I consulted with both Albedo-sama and Demiurge-sama. They said it was fine to let her do as she pleased. I’ve taken the opportunity to have her test our defences.”

Ainz settled onto a silken cushion in front of the mirror, his initial sense of alarm long faded away.

“An experiment, then?”

“Yes, Ainz-sama. This one is far more cunning than those gangs of ruffians from the Empire. She’s very good at deciphering our defensive schemes and countering them.”

“Is that so? Well, that’s good. Use her as you see fit.”

“By your command, Ainz-sama.”

He watched as the invisible intruder made her way around the second floor, leaving piles of disintegrating POPs in her wake. It was fortunate that they had someone new to test the upper floors’ defences after the Workers’ dismal showing. All they ever seemed to do was resort to brute force, then panic when brute force didn’t work.

She has no problem handling the Nazarick Old Guarder patrols, but avoids the Nazarick Master Guarder posts. Assuming it’s because she can’t defeat groups of Master Guarders, that should put her somewhere in the so-called Realms of Heroes…but did someone like that exist in the region? The equipment available around here tends to make people weaker than they should be.

Ainz kept himself up to date on the local ‘threats’ – mostly to see if there were any prospective recruits for the Adventurer Guild. There were some with heirlooms that he suspected were odds and ends from Yggdrasil, but there was no one particularly eye-catching. At best, there were a few private individuals in the Empire that Emperor Jircniv could never manage to entice into his service.

“Do we know where this person is from?”

“Yes, Ainz-sama. Our intelligence on the subject states that her family is from the south.”

“The south? As in the Theocracy?”

That, too, was a possibility. The Theocracy was rumoured to have far more powerful individuals than anyone else in the region. They even claimed to have many ‘Godkin’ who were descended from what were probably Players from the distant past. That was one advantage that Ainz would never have…and it concerned him that there might be veritable armies of powerful Player descendants just waiting for an excuse to pounce upon hapless newcomers to the world.

“No,” Aureole said, “We believe they hail from farther to the south.”

“So we’ve attracted eyes from powerful interests beyond our awareness?”

The young woman in the miko outfit gave him a curious look.

“I believe that Ainz-sama already knows this, but the subject under observation is a Human Area Guardian ruling one of the southern Areas in the Sorcerous Kingdom.”

“…”

In a rare moment of recollection, Ainz immediately knew who that was. There could only be one person who matched that description and could also run around the upper floors as they had witnessed.

“Shalltear-sama invited her over and she just arrived today,” Aureole continued. “Something happened while she was in the Adipocere Chamber. Knowing Shalltear-sama…”

Dammit, Peroroncino-san!

Ainz released a long sigh. Truly the troubles wrought by those two siblings could reach across worlds. He rose from his seat, wondering how he could salvage the situation, then froze as he glanced at the mirror again.

“Wait, isn’t this place…”

“Yes, it’s the junction near his room, Ainz-sama.”

A sense of dread filled his being as he recalled several incidents that had occurred in the Katze Plains. Things had become dangerous.

“Is something the matter, Ainz-sama?”

“This is bad,” he said. “We must keep her away from him at all costs!”