A group of knights hurdled into the center of the village, like cattle waiting to be slaughtered.
Bodies of dead villagers were scattered on the ground, many of them belonging to women and little children.
Frightened villagers looked at him in fear and at the Death Knight in horror.
These were the scenes that greeted Ainz as he landed in Carne Village.
Seeing how the villagers were looking at the Death Knight with even more fear than at the knights who had almost killed them, he was fairly sure that the undead were not well received by the people in this world.
Although it could also be because the Death Knight had been too wild.
He stole a glance at some of the cornered knights, particularly at one who was bleeding on the ground.
What a shame.
It would have been more convenient for him if the undead didn't suffer discrimination, but he was already used to that.
"Hello, people of Carne Village, and knights of the 63rd Company of the Slane Theocracy." He politely greeted everyone.
"My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, but you can call me Ainz if you want."
Silence and confused faces greeted him. Most of all, their gazes were still focused on the Death Knight behind him.
"Oh. This one is a Death Knight," he patted the undead on the shoulder, "It's under my control, don't worry about it."
He heard a collective sigh of relief from everyone.
Apparently, he had underestimated how much fear his Death Knight could inspire in these people.
For him, it was only a weak level 35 summon, but for these people, it was a nightmarish monster they couldn't hope to defeat even if all of them fought together.
Then again, if they react this way to the Death Knight, how would they see me if I revealed my true nature to them?
He smiled under his mask at the thought.
"Well. Now that we understand each other, I must say that I came here to save this village, so I ask you, knights of the Slaine Theocracy, do you intend to oppose me?" He turned to look at the group of knights, only for them to throw their weapons on the ground.
The men who were gleefully killing the villagers a few hours ago were now bawling their eyes and pleading for him to spare them.
"Hum… For people begging for my mercy, don't you think your heads are a bit high?"
THUD!
All of them dropped to their knees immediately.
"Please have mercy, Ainz Ooal Gown-sama!!!" Their trembling voices echoed through the village.
Ainz looked at their pathetic state and suddenly felt his interest drop to the ground.
How boring.
These men showed no brilliance whatsoever. Their weakness was a given, but the absence of courage or cunning that he felt from them was an eyesore.
Enri Enmot, who faced a knight with her bare hands to protect her sister, was dozens of times better than these knights.
"Ok. You'll maintain your pathetic lives. But tell me, who's your leader?" He only needed them for information, and the leader should be the one holding it.
The knights then frantically pointed at a man who was lying on the ground.
As Ainz moved towards him, he noticed the puncture wounds in the man's limbs, which were still bleeding. If nothing happened, the man would die in a few minutes.
How annoying.
Just as Ainz was about to heal him with his touch, he felt a nauseating smell coming from the man. It smelled like urine and feces.
Retrieving his hand in disgust, Ainz simply pointed at him.
"[Ray of Negative(Positive) Energy]" A golden ray, belonging to a 3rd-tier spell, flew from his finger and landed on the man.
Normally, this spell would be enough to kill the man at full health, so now that it was changed, it healed him from the brink of death to full health in an instant.
The man got up, his face morphing into an ecstatic expression.
"You have my thanks, magic caster." The man thanked him curtly.
"Now, if you can escort me back to my country, I'll make sure that you are handsomely compensated."
Upon hearing this, Ainz looked at the man, perplexed by his unfounded confidence.
Is this the attitude of someone whose life depends on my will?
"Hoh? And what makes you think that I would do that?" The man got his curiosity. Was there something wrong with his head?
" I'm a noble in my country, and my family has many assets. Why would you choose to help these poor commoners who can't even reward you properly, instead of me, who can give you a fortune and status?" The man, whom his [Eye of Discernment] showed was called Belius, answered matter-of-factly. His tone seemed to suggest that what he said was the most logical thing in the world.
"Tell you what," Belius then showed a struggling expression, "I'll even give you one, no, two of my elf slaves when we get there. What do you think?" Seeing his lack of reaction, Belius tried to up his offer.
From the brief conversation he held with this man, Ainz reached a simple conclusion.
This man is an idiot.
Well, his face screamed nepotism, and from the reactions of the other knights, he could tell that this man was strongly disliked by his peers.
And after listening to him, he couldn't blame them for that. In his life as Suzuki Satoru, he had seen many moronic superiors who made their subordinate's lifes harder.
But elves, huh? So this world has more than just humans. I wonder what other races live here.
"That's an interesting proposition, but I'll have to decline."
He then opened a [Gate] and cast [Message].
[Demiurge, I'm sending you more humans. Interrogate them with Neuronist however you like, but try to keep them alive.]
[Of course, Ainz-sama. I'll be exceedingly gentle with them, fufufu.]
Ainz then pointed at Belius.
"With the exception of him, all of you enter this portal." Seeing a bit of hesitation in their movements, Ainz ordered the Death Knight to help them out, and in no time, he closed the [Gate].
The villagers looked at him curiously, and he addressed them.
"Excuse me, but is there someone here who can represent this village?"
***
Ainz sat at an old wooden chair that creaked under his weight.
His Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown had been transformed into a ring on his finger, for he feared breaking something in this poor household by accidentally hitting it with the staff.
Sebas stood upright behind him, while the village chief sat at his side.
The village chief was a middle-aged man with ordinary features and a calm voice. He had invited Ainz to his house so they could talk privately, and they had been at it for a while now.
Ainz chose to go with the identity of a magic caster who had been locked into research for a long time and who was now traveling with his servant.
If the village chief doubted his cover, he didn't notice. And it wouldn't be a big deal even if he did. Ainz was, after all, the one who saved this village.
They were talking when suddenly, he felt a thread connecting him to something snap, and flinched.
"What is it, Gown-dono?" The chief asked him, concerned.
"It's nothing. Just remembered something I lost in the past."
"Oh! If it's something that belonged to you, it must have been something important. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It was not that important." Ainz reassured the man.
What he felt was his Eyeball corpse vanishing.
It had not been destroyed, but just vanished after its summoning time was over.
Whenever he created an undead in Yggdrasil, if he didn't dismiss it or it was destroyed, the undead would vanish on its own after 100 minutes.
Looking at the time, it wasn't surprising that the Eyeball corpse had vanished. What was surprising was that the Death Knight was still standing outside of this house even as they passed the normal duration of his skill.
It seems that using human bodies will allow certain undead to remain in this world permanently, but there is some sort of level cap for that, or maybe the Death Knights are the exception. I need to run more experiments.
I need more bodies.
[Aura, I need you to do something for me.]
[What is it, Ainz-sama?]
[I need you to retrieve the bodies of the humans killed in the other villages and ship them to Nazarick. Have Shalltear help with this.]
[Shalltear? Ugh.] She seemed displeased with having to work with Shalltear. [But if Ainz-sama wants it, then I will do it.] Even so, it seemed that her loyalty was still stronger than her dislike for Shalltear.
As one of the few people who could use [Gate] in Nazarick, Shalltear was the perfect fit. Her undead subordinates could also be used for manual labour without problems.
[You only need to coordinate with her. Show her where the villages are, and help her by setting a perimeter so she isn't seen.]
He knew of their estranged relationship, so he wouldn't force them too much.
[Thank you, Ainz-sama!]
After finishing his conversation, Ainz turned to the man kneeling at his feet.
Belius had a vacant look in his eyes, as if his soul had left him.
This was the result of Ainz using [Dominate] on him.
"Now, tell me, why have you come to this village?"
***
"The Warrior Captain of the Re- Estize Kingdom, huh?" Ainz had no idea who this was, but in Belius' words, he was the strongest warrior in the region.
After the last few hours, he was skeptical about what someone like Belius would call 'strong', but then again, this was someone a country felt the need to devise a convoluted plan just to isolate and kill, so maybe there was some credence to that.
The Sunlight scripture he talked about should be the 100 or so magic casters that Aura had found nearby.
Should I deal with them?
"Chief, I saw that you reacted to this title. Do you know who this Warrior Captain is?" The chief had flinched. Apparently, hearing that his people were slaughtered just to set a trap for one person had left him in shock.
"I don't know him personally, but I heard that he is named Gazef Stronoff."
"Well, maybe we'll see him if we wait for a while."
If the Slane Theocracy made this plan and even deployed one of their scriptures, they should be fairly certain that this Warrior Captain will come. So I think I will wait for a bit longer in this village.
Ainz got up and ordered Belius to follow him.
Belius was still under the effect of [Dominate], so he followed Ainz without resistance.
He had considered lifting the spell, but the man was simply too annoying to be left conscious.
Leaving the house, he saw many humans crying over dead bodies. These were their neighbors and loved ones, people whom they saw every day, but who now wouldn't ever wake again.
Seeing this, Ainz contemplated using one of his wands charged with resurrection spells to bring these villagers back to life, but changed his mind.
He was not sure if they could even be resurrected in the first place.
In Yggdrasil, when a player died, they could respawn in their guild base or in the last city they visited, but if they did so, they would lose 5 levels and drop the item with the highest data capacity on their person.
Resurrection spells could mitigate these problems, and in Yggdrasil, there were 3 of them, all divine spells.
[Raise Dead], of the 5th tier, reduced the level loss to 4, and the person would drop the item with the second-highest data capacity.
Resurrection, of the 7th-tier, only reduced the levels by 3, and you dropped the item with the third-highest data capacity.
True Resurrection, of the 9th tier, reduced the levels by 2 and made the person drop the item with the fourth-highest data capacity.
According to Sebas, the villagers were all level 1 beings, so even the highest resurrection wand on his person wouldn't be enough to guarantee that the person would revive.
If he tried and the villagers returned as undead, all the goodwill he built would probably be wasted, so he gave up on this.
Huh?
He saw a commotion ahead and moved to see what was going on.
As he moved, the villagers parted to make a path for him, and that was when he saw the reason for the commotion.
A dozen little green monsters sporting weapons were escorting the two Enmot sisters back to the village.