The Dark Warrior (13 page)

Ninya had realized Ainz was staring, and although he had warmed up a little since they had first met, he still wore a forced smile when he came over. “You don’t need to watch so closely! It’s not such an interesting spell, is it?”

“I’m extremely curious about magic, so I take a great deal of interest in what you do, Ninya.”

“Really? But Nabe is a way better caster than me!”

“But you can use spells she can’t.” Ainz saw Narberal lower her head slightly. He could tell from the corner of his eye that she was more jealous than embarrassed. “I’d like to be able to use magic like you can.”

“You want to learn magic even though you’re that good with a sword? You’re a hard worker, huh, Momon? Although I suppose that attitude makes you a model adventurer.”

Lukrut chimed in without looking up from the oven he was building. “Magic isn’t something you can just learn overnight. First you gotta get this connection-to-the-world thing, but the only ones who can do that so easily are the ones who have a natural knack for it. I heard if you don’t, all you can do is study little by little till you get the feel.”

Ninya’s smile vanished and was replaced by a serious expression. “Momon, I think you have the aptitude. I get the feeling you’re different from normal people. There’s something about you that…just doesn’t exist among humans.”

Ainz’s nonexistent heart skipped a beat—it sounded almost like Ninya had vaguely realized he was an undead. He was using illusions and anti-intelligence magic, but it was plenty possible that unfamiliar spells or special abilities could strip off his mask.

He cautiously asked, “Oh…? I know I’m strong, but I don’t think it’s to a degree that is nonexistent among humans. I showed you my face, right?”

“Mm, it’s not a question of looks… More just, that amount of power is not human. You were killing ogres in one hit…! I guess men are about power and not looks, huh? I mean, you got a babe like Nabe with you.”

Considering Lukrut’s remarks with a level head, it seemed like the illusionary face he’d created was being called ugly, and when he thought about the people he had met so far, he had to agree.
There’s too much beauty in this world. You can look at anybody in the street, and they have nice, regular features. I used to consider my face worthy of a supporting role, but now I wonder if I’d even make the bill…

“Faces aside, Lukrut is right. The ones they call heroes are on another level from ordinary humans. That really sunk in for me today.”

“Er, I don’t think I’m a…hero, though. I’m not fishing for compliments here.” Ainz answered Ninya pretending to be flustered, while suppressing his sigh of relief.

“Would you like to come meet the person who taught me? My teacher has the talent of being able to tell how much natural aptitude someone has. For magical magic, it’s apparently even possible to know what tier.”

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been wondering: Isn’t that the same talent that the empire’s head wizard has?”

“Yes, it’s the same one.”

Ainz couldn’t let this chance pass. He could get more info if he pressed.

“…What kind of ability is it, exactly?”

“The way my teacher explains it, every caster has a magic aura. The more powerful they are, the bigger the aura. My teacher has the power to see those auras.”

“H…hmm…” Ainz’s voice was about to go too deep, but he controlled himself to reply in a normal range.

“My teacher collects kids with good auras and trains them.” Ninya continued to say that he had been found in just that way. Ainz made appropriate feedback noises while inwardly cursing that there was such a talent—it could mean trouble.

“So if I think I’d like to use magic, what should I do first?”

“Maybe finding a proper teacher is a good place to start.”

“…So maybe…I could be your disciple?”

“Mm, I think it’d be better to find someone stronger than me. But the thing is, in the kingdom almost all the schools are private, and if you’re not affiliated with any of the magic-related guilds, you can’t get in. And the people who do get in are usually kids, because their brains are still malleable. To get in at your age, you’d have to have someone pretty important pulling strings for you. In comparison, the empire has a solid magic academy and the theocracy also offers some fairly high-level education—in faith magic, of course.”

“Aha. Is it pretty easy to get into the empire’s magic academy?”

“It’d probably be pretty hard, actually. The academy is a facility mandated by state policy, so for a nonnational…”

“I see…”

“And about you being my disciple: My apologies, but I have something I want to do, so I don’t have time to spend on that.” Ninya’s face darkened, and there was something sinister and threatening in his expression—a thinly veiled hostility.

Guess I should steer clear of that subject. Doesn’t seem like there is any benefit to pressing him anyway.
Just as Ainz made that decision, Lukrut casually interrupted.

“Hey, sorry to bug you in the middle of your chat, but food’s almost ready. Could you go get the other three?”

“I’ll go, Momon.”

“Aww! You’re leaving, Nabe? Wouldn’t you rather make this meal the fruit of our love? Come cook with me!”

“Drop dead, centipede! Or do you want me to force-feed you boiling oil so you can’t talk any more nonsense?”

“Would you give it a rest, Nabe? I’m going with you.”

“Sir! Understood.”

Ainz thanked Ninya before leaving the tent and walking over to where two of the others were sitting on the ground working a little ways away.

Peter and Dyne were completely absorbed in the inspection of the weapons they had used earlier. They applied oil to the swords so they wouldn’t rust and checked all the weapons carefully to make sure they hadn’t bent.

There was fresh damage to their armor, and the swords had dings from where they had clashed with the goblins’ weapons. These makeshift repairs were standard, considering that one’s life could depend on them. They were focusing so hard Ainz almost didn’t want to interrupt.

After telling those two dinner was ready, they let Nfirea, who was tending to the horses a little ways away, know as well.

The sun was just about to disappear below the horizon… Its evening rays had dyed the sky crimson when dinner began.

Stew flavored with smoked and salted meat was ladled into everyone’s bowl. That plus crusty bread and dried figs, along with walnuts and other nuts, made up the night’s meal.

Ainz looked down at the salty-seeming soup in his bowl. He couldn’t feel the heat of it through his gauntlets, but considering everyone was eating without waiting for it to cool, it must have been just the right temperature.

Now what?
Ainz was undead with a body that couldn’t eat or drink. He could create illusions to make it look like he had a body, but as long as he was made of bones and had a bottomless mouth, any soup he put in would spill right out. There was no way he could let them see that.

Unfamiliar food in an unfamiliar land… Despite how simple everything was, Ainz thought it a shame that he couldn’t eat any. He had pretty much lost the desire for food entirely, but sure enough, when a bunch of tasty-looking dishes were laid out, his curiosity was piqued. He was rather frustrated he couldn’t eat. It was the first time since coming to this world that he regretted being in his new body.

“Oh, is there something you don’t like in it?” Lukrut asked, since Ainz wasn’t touching his food.

“No, it’s not that. There’s a specific reason…”

“Oh yeah? Okay, then. Don’t feel like you have to force yourself to eat it. Actually, it’s mealtime and all, what about taking off that helmet?”

“…It’s against my religion. There is a rule that one must not eat in a party of four or more on a day one has taken a life.”

“Huh? You believe in some strange stuff, Momon, but I guess the world is a big place. I can’t believe there’s a teaching about how many people you can eat with on a day you kill something!”

Once they found out it was to do with religion, everyone’s suspicious looks softened.
I suppose religion has the potential to cause trouble in this world, too.
Momon prayed to his nonexistent god to thank him for helping him out of that situation and then asked Peter a question to change the subject. “So, you guys are called the Swords of Darkness, but none of you have terribly dark-looking swords.”

For his main weapon, Peter had a (not terribly) magical longsword, Lukrut had a bow, Dyne had a mace, and Ninya had a staff. Nobody had a black or dark-colored sword. Peter’s sword and Lukrut’s sub-weapon, a short sword, were close in shape but were nowhere near the right color.

By mixing special powder into the metal, it was possible to change a sword’s color, so it would be easy enough to make a sword look dark—it was actually strange that none of them had one.

“Ohh, that.” An awkward smile played across Lukrut’s face, like he’d been reminded of some past embarrassment. Ninya’s face was turning a shade of red distinctly different from the reflected light of the fire. “That’s what Ninya wanted.”

“Please stop. I was young and stupid.”

“You have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s important to dream big!”

“Dyne, would you give me a break? Seriously…”

The other Swords of Darkness chuckled warmly at him, and Ninya looked like he was about to start writhing from the awkwardness of it all. The name seemed to have some special meaning for the group.

“Uh, we’re named after four swords that belonged to one of the Thirteen Heroes a long time ago,” Peter declared, grinning from ear to ear. He didn’t seem like he was going to add anything else.

That’s great, but I have no idea what you’re talking about… I know the Thirteen Heroes were super-powerful heroes who destroyed evil spirits that were terrorizing the land two hundred years ago, but I don’t know who they all were and what kind of gear they had. Is that bad? Or should I just say, “Huh?”

While Ainz was wavering, Narberal spoke up from beside him. “Who were they?”

Nice!
Ainz struck a victory pose in his head, but the Swords of Darkness seemed unsettled. The reality of someone not knowing magical weapons so famous they had named their whole team after them must have been a shock.

“You haven’t heard of them, Nabe? Well, I guess you wouldn’t have. Some people think of the Thirteen Heroes as evil or say they had demon blood. They were deliberately left out of the sagas… And people say the powers they had were insane…”

“The Swords of Darkness are four swords that belonged to one of the heroes called the Black Knight: Demonic Sword, Killineiram, that gives off dark energy; Canker Sword, Coroquedavarre, that is said to inflict wounds that never heal; Death Sword, Sufiz, that takes your life if it so much as scratches you; and Evil Sword, Humiris, the special ability of which is unclear.”

“Hmm.” Narberal seemed to have lost interest, and everyone smiled, embarrassed.

But Ainz cocked his head a bit. He had heard of those special abilities somewhere before. After thinking about it, a vampire came to mind. Shalltear Bloodfallen had a class called cursed knight that had skills just like that.

The cursed knight was a priest knight sullied with a curse and one of the more powerful classes in
Yggdrasil
. It was also heavily penalized, so it wasn’t very popular. Among the skills it could acquire were the ability to give off a wave of darkness, inflict wounds that couldn’t be cured except with the strongest healing magic, and cast an instadeath curse.

Ainz narrowed his illusionary eyes. It couldn’t be a coincidence. It was possible that the Swords of Darkness were swords with effects that happened to match cursed knight skills, but there seemed to be a bigger chance that the hero who had wielded them
was
a cursed knight.

To meet the minimum requirements to be a cursed knight, one needed a cumulative class level of at least 60, which meant that this Black Knight person had to be at least level 60. No, to have all those skills he’d have to be at least 70.

That would mean that the evil spirits he fought must have been about the same level, but Nigun had been shouting about how the angel he’d summoned, the dominion authority, had defeated an evil spirit like it was some big deal, so Ainz wasn’t sure how the power balance worked. If he went by the information he’d collected thus far, it made the most sense to assume that evil spirits came at all kinds of power levels, but he wouldn’t know the truth unless he either got his hands on those swords or met the hero.