"You had to be there to see it. Momon destroyed those guys."
"Yeah. I'll never forget how he cut that [Fireball] in half using only a twig."
The excited voices of Sword of Darkness echoed through the Bareare Shop as the morning light streamed through the window, signaling a new day.
Around the meeting table, Ainz saw Ninya, Peter, Lukrut, Dyne, Lupusregina(stubbornly staying while covering her nose), and Enri eating breakfast.
Seeing people who hadn't witnessed his fight, the members of Sword of Darkness quickly began to recount every detail of the duel, from what caused it to his parting words to Igvarge.
Hearing his own words coming out of their mouths made him cringe a lot, but that was a price he was willing to pay.
He looked at his Status Window.
Influence: 556
His Influence had more than doubled since coming to E-Rantal, and this increase was already showing results.
Ninya Blumrush
Peter Mauk
Lukrut Volve
Dyne Woodwander
Nfirea Bareare
Enri Enmot
Previously, with his [Eye of Discernment], these names, floating above their heads, would be simply written in white, but now they turned into a deep green.
On the other hand, the name Lupusregina Beta was written in a soft green, with hints of yellow.
When he compared those to Albedo's name, that had taken a deep red color the previous night, he got a pretty good idea of what these colors meant.
Power levels?
Or perhaps a measure of how much of a threat they are to me?
It's hard to be sure, but in the end, the color can give me a rough idea of how powerful an individual is.
Now, as for how useful this is going to be in a world where the majority of people are under level 30, I have no way of knowing.
Maybe I should just be glad that if a player shows up, I won't be taken by surprise.
In the same way strength affected one's physical damage output, the amount of Influence he had determined how strong the skills issued by his system would be.
As such, he had no doubt that as this stat increased, the amount of information his [Eye of Discernment] gave him would also increase.
"That's amazing, Momon. I knew you were powerful, but I didn't expect you to be this strong. Maybe you could even become an Adamantite adventurer in the future." Nfirea praised, and he could see the boy's eyes through his bangs, shining with excitement and worship for the strong.
He really is a child, huh?
"But how did you get so strong? What is your secret?" And then Nfirea asked him a sensitive question.
The humans at the table turned their attention to him, clearly curious about his answer.
By killing mobs until I reached level 100 and then using the 10th-tier spell [Perfect Warrior] to convert my levels to warrior classes is probably not an appropriate response for this question.
"The Dark Order has its own secretive methods that I'm forbidden from sharing, but just know that they are brutal, revolving around surviving the harshest conditions, and constantly putting our lives on the line."
He decided to blame his fake order for this.
"I see… It makes sense for these to be secrets." There was disappointment in the faces of Nfirea and Sword of Darkness, but no one complained.
He didn't blame them; it was only natural to search for ways to grow in power, and he was no different.
No, maybe his thirst for power was even greater than theirs, since he seemed completely incapable of growing stronger by conventional means.
"There's no need to be disappointed, Young Bareare. From what I've heard, you are fairly accomplished yourself and might even possess an amazing talent. Is that true?"
"Yes, Nfirea is very famous in the city, and even people from other cities who come here know his name." Ninya quickly added.
"I was surprised to hear you were so famous, Nfirea. Why didn't you say anything when you came to visit?" Enri then asked in mock anger.
"Don't be mad, Enri. It's just that you always dozed off when I spoke about my job, so I stopped talking about it."
"I-I did that?"
"You don't remember? There was even a time you asked me if I had cast a spell to make you sleep, saying that after I started talking, you suddenly felt sluggish."
"Oh… I remember that, but are you sure you didn't? I had such a good nap that day…"
Are they going to ignore all of us and continue bickering?
Ainz observed the two teens trapped in their own world.
Enri seemed way more relaxed than he had ever seen her, and happy too.
Maybe these two really do have feelings for each other.
He remembered the words the people from Sword of Darkness had said to Enri on their trip.
He couldn't be sure of that, being the newbie at love that he was, but there was something that even he noticed.
Even if Enri has feelings for Nfirea, that's something she is yet to realize.
And considering what she has been dealing with, I would say romance shouldn't be one of her concerns at the moment.
Nfirea, on the other hand, seems aware of his feelings, but his timid nature keeps him from making a move.
From his observations, Enri Enmot was an assertive girl, full of courage that bordered on recklessness, able to stand her ground in front of the strong when protecting someone.
She was a natural-born leader who lacked the introspection to see her own qualities and in this case, maybe her own feelings.
Nfirea, on the other hand, seemed like a timid overthinker, full of introspection, but lacking the courage to externalize his own thoughts and feelings.
For a researcher, his personality was more than adequate, but if he wanted to pursue Enri, he would need to break out of his own shell.
Ainz continued to observe the two teens with the amusement of a senior watching children play until he thought the time was right and interrupted.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but my time is limited, and Nfirea, you still haven't answered my question about your talent."
"Oh, you're right. Sorry."
Nfirea had his face flushed, with sweat rolling down in throves, no doubt due to Enri's proximity.
He put some distance between them and sat facing Ainz.
"I call my talent 'Magic Item Affinity ' because it allows me to use any and all magic items, regardless of their requirements."
It's just like I heard.
He signaled for Lupusregina, and she handed him a wand.
"I find this talent of yours fascinating, so could I ask you to show it to me using this wand of [Cure Wounds]?"
He handed the wand to Nfirea.
Wands were expendable items that could store spells and would be destroyed once all the spells stored in them got used.
Despite that, they were very popular in Yggdrasil for the simple fact they didn't require mana to activate.
But they had one simple requirement to be activated.
You needed to know the spell.
Of course, there were ways to circumvent this limitation, such as some skills for thief-type classes or one of his rings, the Ring of Mastery Wands.
He had already verified that Nfirea didn't have any magic items on his person, and his job classes were very clear to him, so if Nfirea, as a low-level arcane caster, could use a wand of a divine spell, this would be enough proof that his talent was effective.
"Oh, I don't mind, but is it ok for me to waste a spell of your wand?"
"It's fine; just humor me."
"Okay."
Nfirea grabbed the wand and quickly activated it, sending the spell in his direction.
Apparently he didn't feel right to use it on anyone else, since the wand didn't belong to him.
The wand shone with a white light, targeting Ainz.
He felt the spell hit his body and stop, unable to penetrate him due to his High-tier spell immunity, so he quickly deactivated it.
Once deactivated, the positive energy clashed with the negative energy in his body, threatening to burn him, but he quickly intervened, converting the foreign positive energy into negative energy and letting it settle in his body.
That was dangerous.
Almost exposed myself.
He looked at the naive expression on Nfirea, oblivious to what had just happened.
"Was this enough, Momon?"
The boy handed him the wand.
"It was incredible, thank you."
Thankfully, [Blessing of Life] has also gotten stronger with the extra Influence; otherwise, I don't think I could have made such a smooth conversion without getting exposed.
He returned the wand to Lupusregina.
His talent seems to be as absurd as other people say.
I would love to see if there's a limit to it, but if I keep handing him items and asking questions, it would be suspicious.
He looked at the timid boy who held a powerful talent that was woefully wasted on him.
With a talent like this, I could not only free up one of my ring slots but also use better equipment combinations and access so many more spells…
His build may not be the strongest for PvP, but his expanded spell list, more than double the usual limit, allowed him to be very flexible, and he was known to tailor his equipment and strategy to his opponents, making him a difficult revenge killer.
Acquiring Nfirea's talent would increase this advantage even more, so he felt tempted to snatch the boy as soon as he was alone, to run experiments, and finally steal the talent.
"That was really cool, Nfirea!"
But one look at Enri Enmot hugging the boy made him reconsider.
There was no need to rush this.
"I thank you for your hospitality, but it's time for us to visit the Magician's Guild, so I bid you farewell."
He got up, followed by Lupusregina and Nina.
[Shadow Demon, you are to stay hidden. Only intervene in case her life is in danger.]
Without anyone noticing, a silhouette slipped into Enri's shadow.
***
"His presence is really something."
Once Momon left, Nfirea finally felt comfortable enough to speak up.
"I know, right? I feel so nervous when he stares at me… It's like staring at a predator ready to pounce." Peter readily agreed.
"What do you mean?" Enri asked, confused.
"What do you mean what do you mean? Don't you feel the pressure that Momon emits when he speaks? It's like he could snap your neck in an instant, and after seeing him fight, I'm confident that he is capable of that." Dyne added.
"Maybe Enri-chan doesn't feel it because she is not used to fights to the death?"
"Hum… maybe you're right; the ability to sense danger is essential for adventurers, but a normal civilian might not be able to see that. Although Enri, didn't you stop Momon from killing those goblins? His sword almost reached you at that time, so didn't you feel the pressure he emitted?" Peter then turned his attention to Enri.
"What! Enri, are you okay? You're not hurt?"
Hearing this, Nfirea panicked and quickly started to look for wounds on Enri's body.
"It's okay, Nfirea. Momon didn't hurt me in any way."
Upon hearing that, he stopped mid-movement and noticed that, in his panic, he had been touching Enri.
He felt the rush of heat going up to his head, and created some distance between them.
"Sorry, Enri." He mustered a few words, fearing that she might misunderstand his actions and call him a pervert.
"Huh? Ah! It's okay, Nfirea. What's a bit of physical contact for people who used to take baths together?"
"Oh? You two have gone that far? I'm jealous." Lukrut whistled at the two of them, and Nfirea felt the urge to flee the house.
"We-we did that when we were kids; don't misunderstand!"
The members of Sword of Darkness erupted in laughter upon hearing this, making him notice that they had just been teasing him.
"Yeah, we are just good friends; don't misunderstand that." Enri delivered a gut punch to his confidence with the ease of someone stepping on an ant.
This garnered sympathetic gazes from the other men, but he was already used to it.
He knew she didn't see him as a man.
"As for what you asked, Peter, Momon doesn't make me afraid; if anything, he makes me feel safe. He kind of reminds me of Ainz-sama, in the way he is so powerful, but also gentle."
It's just like I feared.
Enri is attracted to powerful men.
"I think I understand what you mean. Momon is a really solid guy, and it's hard to imagine that he would hurt anyone for no reason. Lupita, on the other hand, seems like someone who could kill us in our sleep."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Lupita-chan is very cute… but yeah, agreed."
"Is she really that dangerous? She looked so composed here."
"Let me tell you about how she almost killed everyone…"
Time passed as they continued their conversation, and soon it was time to open the shop.
Sword of Darkness left, promising to come back later so they could all go sell Enri's herbs in the market together.