Chapter 13, The Runaway Cat
On the third day after traveling through the Great Tomb of Nazarick to another world, the residents of Kahn Village ten kilometers away still knew nothing about it.
By the same token, these villagers, who had little information, had no idea of the misfortune they were about to encounter.
The morning sun gradually illuminated the earth, and the darkness in the forest quietly receded like a tide. The thick white mist shone and flowed together with the morning light.
Enri, a girl from Karn Village on this day. Emmett, as usual, went to the well to fetch water after getting up.
Holding the bucket, open the door, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and then walk towards the well platform.
"...Yohoo." Enri rolled up her sleeves, revealing her skin that had not been exposed to the sun. Her snow-white complexion was quite eye-catching. Although the arms that have been trained for a long time in farm work are slender, they are very strong and slightly muscular.
While putting the barrel into the well, Enri looked around carefully, but did not find the cute little black cat she met yesterday. She couldn't help but sigh in disappointment, "...Hey, everything is fine. It’s still the same as usual!”
Indeed, in a small and isolated rural place like Kahn Village, there is rarely anything new happening. Occasionally, some gossip about family affairs can be talked about for a long time. For example, the biggest news in the village these days is the unfortunate incident at the village chief's family. Yesterday, the whole family overslept and delayed their farm work. Then the village chief fell and fell into coma while going into the woods to collect firewood. He didn't wake up until the evening. As a result, there was no fuel at home to cook dinner, so he had to borrow firewood from his neighbors. Everyone Said that their family was riddled with bad luck. (Poor village chief...)
While thinking this in her mind, Enri carried the bucket and walked home, but suddenly she seemed to hear some noise.
Looking in the direction of the sound, her heart was gripped tightly by fear she had never experienced before!
——The messy sound of horse hooves, rising smoke, and what follows... wailing?
It sounded like a bird being pinched, but it was definitely not the sound of a bird!
Enri couldn't help but feel a chill running down her spine, and her mind went completely blank. She just subconsciously threw away the bucket, turned around and ran towards home.
The ominous sound came again, making Enri's heart beat violently: This is the wailing of humans! Absolutely right!
The roaring of horses, the wailing of men, as well as the chaotic shouts and the smell of burnt wood are becoming more and more clear.
In front of Enri's eyes, she could already see strangers wearing armor slashing familiar villagers with swords.
Enri continued to run hard towards home. When escaping to a spacious place, he would shrink down as much as possible, or hide in the corner of the house and move. When he saw a familiar villager lying at his feet, he would just try to cover his mouth to avoid making any sound. Fortunately, there were not many enemies pouring into the village at this time. Enri finally managed to run into her house and saw that her father, mother and sister Nim were all safe, and she couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
However, just when the four members of the Emmert family were finally reunited and were about to pack up their packages and escape into the forest, disaster suddenly struck:
A knight dressed in full armor, holding a bloody sword, appeared at the door, with the emblem of the Bajas Empire engraved on his chest.
Even with Enri's limited knowledge, she knew that the Bahas Empire was her homeland. Enemies of the Kingdom of Yestije have often waged war against the Kingdom over the years. However, previous wars usually only burned in fortress cities. The surrounding area of Lantier has not yet spread to this remote village.
However, today, the peaceful life belonging to Kahn Village seems to have finally come to an end.
There is absolutely no point in resisting until death. The machetes and axes that ordinary farmers can possess cannot deal with such a strong full-body armor.
"...Let's go!" Enri's father burst out with a desperate cry, rushed forward desperately, and used his own body to temporarily hold back the knight's hands and feet. Although it was only for a very short moment, he still successfully pushed his family away. A way out.
Immediately afterwards, her mother was chopped down shortly after escaping from the room. Only Enri was left holding her sister's hand and still running with great strides.
The sound of horses neighing, roaring, metal clashing, and the smell of burning continued to spread from every corner of the village.
The fear in her heart seemed to freeze her body, and her violent heartbeat made her breathless.
But for the slightest hope of survival, sixteen-year-old Enri dragged her sister and ran desperately to the big forest outside the village.
Unfortunately, she was a little slow after all...
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At the same time, Lich King Flying Squirrel, who had already brought a large number of people and supported them to the vicinity of Kahn Village, lost control at the critical moment.
Because, until this moment, he was shocked to discover that this trip to show off seemed to have missed a serious link.
In order to show off in front of the indigenous people of this world, majestic retinues, luxurious robes, dazzling staffs and armors were all prepared. The skull heads, which tend to cause fear, are also covered with gorgeous costumes and special masks.
But what about my name?
As a great, noble, wealthy magician who travels around the world, how can he lack a resounding name?
"...The name Momonga doesn't seem to be loud enough! It doesn't matter in the game, but that's not the case in reality."
Standing in the forest outside Kahn Village, Lich King Momonga muttered in distress, "...especially since the other party can also understand the meaning of Japanese..."
——As a typical Japanese perfectionist, Momonga-dono also seems to have the problem of paying too much attention to details.
"...The greatest and greatest Supreme Lord! How can there be any problem with your name?"
Albedo, the demon stewardess who was set to be deeply in love with the Lich King, immediately became excited when she heard her master's belittling words, "...Who! Who dares to question and despise Momonga-sama's noble name?" No.? Albedo will definitely take the heads of such rude and rebellious people!”
However, Wang Qiu and others took it seriously - even if there are many cultural differences between Japan and China, saying someone is like a mouse in Japanese is definitely not a good word of praise. In martial arts novels, there are many knights who are not particular about their names. Some are called Ah Fei, some are called Ah Niu, and some are even called Ah Gou, but I have never heard of anyone named Ah Shu. Even if there are legends about the so-called "Golden Mouse" Bai Yutang and the "Five Rats in Tokyo", they are still the names of thieves. And associating the majestic great magician with the mouse seems to be cheap no matter how you look at it.
"...Indeed, the online name Flying Squirrel, whether used as a real name or a nickname, seems a bit too rustic."
Ignoring Albedo's look that seemed to kill someone, tabby cat mage Wang Qiu calmly agreed, "... Considering the social environment here, should we choose a new Western name? For example... Merlin? Gandalf ? Harry Potter? Or Voldemort?"
"...It seems like you won't be able to react to a new name so suddenly! And for some reason, I always feel that there is some deep malice in your suggestion..." Momonga glanced at Wang Qiumiao suspiciously. "...However, what you said is not unreasonable. We have arrived in this fantasy world. , it seems necessary to follow the local customs... Well, let's just use the guild name, which is also Western. Everyone, from now on, when you call me, you will call me Ainz Ooal Gown. ——Just call it Ainz. Do you have any opinions? ”
Ainz, the Lich King who had just changed his name, asked several guild NPCs around him. Of course, no one raised any objection.
——There was only one answer from the beginning. No one in the Great Tomb of Nazarick would oppose the Supreme who led them.
Albedo immediately agreed with a smile on her face: "...I understand, sir, we all remember your new name. Long live Lord Ainz Ooal Gown! The greatest and wisest. The Supreme Lord Ainz Ur-Gown, all the members of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick swear an oath to you. Immediately afterwards, the other guild NPCs bowed to their lord and shouted, "...Long live Lord Ainz Oul Gong!" Lord Gong! We will dedicate everything to you and remain loyal to you!”
As for Wang Qiumiao and other kitten players, after exchanging a few glances with each other, they all bowed their heads to express congratulations out of politeness.
Faced with such a fanatical atmosphere, the Lich King seemed at a loss for a moment and could only nod casually, indicating that he understood everything.
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After solving the last pretentious detail, the exploration team from the other world continued through the forest and headed towards Kahn Village.
Then, at the edge of the forest, they discovered that the small mountain village in front of them, which was supposed to be very peaceful, was now so lively that it seemed a bit too lively.
"...It feels very noisy...Is this...some kind of festival going on?"
In the distance, he vaguely saw people running around the village, constantly entering and exiting the houses early in the morning. Lich King Ainz couldn't help but say in confusion.
Regarding this serious lack of crisis awareness, Wang Qiu had the urge to reach out and hit his skull hard.
"...No, this is not a celebration. Lord Ainz, this is a massacre!"
Standing on one side was the dragon steward Sebas, one of the few kind-hearted people in the Great Tomb of Nazarick where monsters were rampant. He stared at the scene in the distance with sharp eyes and answered with a voice like steel. There was obvious disgust in his tone.
Ainz was shocked when he heard this, and cast a magic similar to a telescope. When he looked closely, he saw the corpses of many villagers dressed up and armored knights waving swords. It was obvious that the knights were massacring the villagers unilaterally. Every time they swung their swords, a villager fell down. The villagers had no means of resistance and could only flee everywhere, while the knights seemed to enjoy chasing and teasing them, even leaving their horses in the wheat field.
This is massacre... Out of the "remnants of the human soul", Ainz, who had transformed into a lich, still felt disgusted by this sight.
But his mood was only a little unhappy, and it had not risen to the level of anger. Even these unpleasant emotions were mainly focused on the "disruption of reservation plans" rather than the massacre of villagers by the knights. After all, Ainz, who can choose the Lich in the game, has never been a righteous partner. He will never get mad at the sight of such a scene and recklessly go up to "hoe the strong and help the weak"!
First of all, he is still not sure how powerful these majestic-looking knights are. Although he is a max-level player of level 100 and has several powerful NPCs with him, there are also quite a few knights attacking Karn Village. Once a fight breaks out, there may be damage, and this is obviously not worth it. After all, these villagers are not related to him, and he, a visitor from another world, seems to have no reason to save them.
Besides, knights who massacre villagers may not necessarily represent evil. Although this scene looks like a unilateral killing by the knights, the villagers may also have their own ways of killing, such as harboring rebels, colluding with enemy countries, selling banned drugs, etc., or they may have contracted the plague and must be killed. If it is dealt with, there may still be a war between countries. If he repels the knights who are acting under orders, he may even endanger their country.
In this case, the best countermeasure should be to continue to stay here and do nothing to save him. Because I can’t see the reason, value and benefit of saving people.
But the problem is...not only do you have your loyal subordinates here, but there are also a group of "ancient players" from the 21st century...
In terms of status, they should be equal to him, and he seems to have no power to give orders to them.
Therefore, Lich King Ainz thought about it and decided to seek the opinions of these allies first.
"...Um...Mr. Wang, what are you going to do? Should you continue to Kahn Village as originally planned?"
Then, Lich King Ainz raised his head and asked a certain tabby cat mage who was lying on a branch of a tree overlooking the killing field.
"...Huh? Are you asking me, meow?" Wang Qiu, the tabby cat, turned around and blinked, "...I respect your judgment on this matter, meow..."
However, as soon as he said this, he suddenly got stuck, and then he roared: "...Rachel! Flor! Damn it! Why do you just rush up to me so casually? Sense of discipline?" Where are they all? There's nothing we can do! Attack together!" Then, as Lich King Ainz was stunned, a group of Meows ran towards Karn Village like wild horses. ……