When Lupusregina left with that twisted smile on her face, Ainz felt a little anxious, but brushed it off. ‘She’s been watching Ninya curiously for awhile now. Is she interested in that one? No, I think I’d remember if any of their settings included an attraction to the same sex. But then again I can’t rule out Peroroncino’s influence anywhere.’

“Your teamwork is very good.” Ainz said, choosing to break the brief quiet when he held out his bowl for another helping.

Nfirea chose to help him, accepting the bowl, and laddling more stew into it.

“Thank you, but that’s what happens when you work together for a long time, it isn’t anything special. The Swords of Darkness have been at this for… oh, about four years now. We’ve gotten very good at responding to one another’s actions without looking.” Peter said, praising his comrades and sending Ainz’s estimation of the young leader up another notch.

‘Good, a leader should praise his subordinates before himself.’ Ainz thought, and added, “Yes, that happens. I was with my comrades for many years, we were seamless, and it seemed we could overcome anything… anything…”

The morose sense of loss hit him like lightning out of the sky as Nfirea handed back the bowl. It slipped from Ainz’s nerveless fingers. The bowl fell to the dirt and the stew splattered over the grass. “Forgive me… I… I seem to have lost my appetite, I’m going to go for a walk.”

When he was gone, Nfirea turned to the others, “What was that?”

“He lost them, I’d say.” Peter proposed.

“Yeah, definitely. They must have been close, I know that feeling all too well.” Lukrut acknowledged. “The dead have no more problems, it’s only the living who suffer the loss.”

“It’s hard to imagine what kind of comrades could stand beside a man like that, but I would say that’s the case.” Dyne added.

When Lupusregina returned, they looked behind her for Ninya, “Don’t worry about him,” the red haired woman said, thrusting a thumb back over her shoulder, “He’s just having trouble getting something out. He’ll be back eventually.”

The cleric’s smile vanished when she looked around, “Where’s Momon?”

“He said he was going for a walk, he mentioned his comrades and then…” Peter waved a hand in the direction to which Momon departed.

Lupusregina’s face was serious, her lips tight shut, “Yeah, they’re gone, they’ve been gone a long time. I knew them very well, they were amazing. Now he’s the only one of them left behind, and I make a pale substitute.”

“Aww no! You’re amazing, Lupu! I’m sure he thinks so, otherwise you wouldn’t be with him.” Nfirea insisted, “Not just anyone could stand beside a man like that!”

“The kid’s right, you know.” Brita insisted, “If you weren’t really useful, you wouldn’t be there. No warrior worth their salt keeps anyone by their side that they can’t rely on. I won’t say I know what his old comrades were like, but you know, he’s got you at his side right now and that has to be so for a good reason.”

‘They’ll look beautiful screaming.’ Lupusregina thought to herself. ‘Ninya, the Pervert, and the rest of them, I could get used to this, but oh how wonderfully they’d scream for me.’ Her smile of pleasure was assumed to be at their praise, as she imagined their warm, open expressions twisted into terror and fear.

It was so enjoyable that Lupusregina felt like she might lose control and climax in bliss at just the thought. But she was a battlemaid before all else, and kept it clamped down enough to rise and say, “I’m going to find Momon, he shouldn’t be alone now.”

“Of course…” Sympathy passed to her through the tone of their words, and soon Lupu was out of view.

“So do you think they’re lovers?” Lukrut asked when the party was by itself again.

“Is that always where your mind has to go?” Brita asked with exasperation.

“Yes.” Lukrut said with a smirk, “Besides, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Look at her, what man wouldn’t? And the usual rules aside, a pair doesn’t have that problem, especially when they’re both crazy strong.”

“I actually agree with our resident pervert.” Dyne said and rubbed his chin in thought, “Women are naturally drawn to strong men, it’s just a fact of life, and he’s probably on par with the Warrior Captain.”

Nfirea gasped, “Wait, really? And you think women will just, you know, be interested in him on that alone?”

“Probably.” Peter answered, “Think about it, what else matters but strength? You can’t expect anything else to matter when that is the difference between survival and death.”

“B-B-But what if, you know, what if there’s someone else who likes her and, well he’s, and she’s, and they’re really close and…” Nfirea stammered, and began to blush under Lukrut’s perverted grin.

“Oh so you’re worried he might steal a girl you’re interested in. Is that it, Mr. Bareare?” Lukrut swept a hand back through his hair and Nfirea didn’t even try to deny it.

“Well, work hard! If you give up, it’s all over.” Dyne said in the deep voice of a man who had seen it all before.

“Oh, give the kid a break.” Brita groaned, “Pack of brutish idiots with their lower brains in their pants…” the woman of the group said and marched over to Nfirea. She crouched in front of the blushing young man and put her hands on his shoulders, “Listen here, if you want her, you better say something. They’re wrong about strength always being enough, but one thing that’s enough for a definite no is cowardice. If you don’t have enough guts to tell her you like her, or love her, you’ll watch her fall into someone else’s arms one day and that’ll be that. Our plump little druid isn’t wrong about that, if you stop at dreams, you’ll die alone in reality.”

“It’s getting late, we should start to turn in.” Brita suggested, and one by one their bedrolls were laid out.

Ninya returned as they were made ready, “I’ll take first watch.” She said to her team, and one by one they, without argument, drifted off to sleep.

‘Rebellion. Wow, I never would have even considered that, but… she has a point. I’ve been scrabbling for coins for four years now, barely making enough to keep myself alive and hoping to get strong enough to make more money and get her back. If I’d rebelled and gotten people to go with me? Maybe I’d have failed and died, but that can be true out here too. I could be killed at any time, one bad arrow and it’s all over. She’s right though, the guards aren’t invincible, maybe I could do something.’ The thought ran through Ninya’s mind over and over as she dreamed of the possibilities.

She was still doing so when she saw Momon and Lupu return, she traded a few words with him, and he went to lie down to rest, but his companion instead sat on the log right next to Ninya herself.

“So, still thinking about it?” Lupu asked with an almost sultry look.

Ninya gave a little frightened nod.

“But I don’t know anything about war.” Ninya muttered.

“One of Momon’s friends was a military otaku… don’t ask me what that means, I don’t really know the details, but he used to go on and on about war, how about I tell you what he said, they were the wisest people I ever knew. Maybe you can do something with it.” Lupu suggested. “Or…” She held her eyes close to Ninya, the yellow loomed like twin moons, inches away from the little brown haired mage.

“It’s night time isn’t it… do you think she is sleeping?” The words loomed like the yellow eyes, and like something born of nightmare hollowed out Ninya’s miserable soul.

“Tell me…” Ninya begged. “Please, Miss Lupu.”

“One time while I was with them, he started reciting this book from memory, it began like this: “The Art of War is of vital importance to the state…”

And so time passed as Lupusregina recited what she remembered, and a world of unlooked for information was opened in the mind of the little mage. She was so engrossed that they went on through three sleep shifts and didn’t notice it until the recitation was done and she’d peppered the ever more seemingly dangerous cleric with questions it never even occurred her to ask.

When she lay down at last and Lupu took over the watch, to Ninya’s surprise, she slept, and soundly, with a decision hard as iron in her heart.

Ainz lay awake longer than the others realized, first troubled by his longing for his absent friends, but also filled with a collector’s curiosity. Ninya had used magic he’d never seen before to create a system of alarms around the camp when it had been made. That was a nervous sort of thing to see. ‘That magic didn’t exist in the game. Yes, that is fairly benign, but what about other magics? Are there spells beyond Supertier? Or even if there aren’t, that doesn’t mean there are no spells that cannot hurt us badly. What if there is a spell that does instant death to werewolves? Or something that just makes succubi so horny that they can’t fight? Who knows?’

He barely lent an ear to the lessons of Punitto Moe being passed from Lupusregina to the little human mage. Ainz had problems of his own, but also the beginnings of a solution. ‘Those goblins and ogres gave me some exp, not a lot, but it’s definitely true that I can gain it. I can gain exp from summoned monsters, and from living beings here and I get more from the more powerful ones. A single ogre was worth ten times a single goblin.’

The question of what humans were worth was an open one, but one thing he noticed. ‘One of those goblins must have been more powerful than the others, because it gave me double what the other goblins did, that means the more powerful the member of the species, the more exp I can gain from killing them. If that holds true for every species, then I can start ‘grinding’ again and build up to the new cap quickly. However, what it doesn’t tell me is about the caps of others. However, there ‘are’ some people considered ‘expendable’ who will take great risks and whose lives have wildly different values to Nazarick.’ While he thought this, he candidly admitted that it was partially fear based. ‘Something to counterbalance the others if they give into their settings when the truth comes out. I doubt they can reach guardian strength, but what if I can grind them ‘safely’ in the Arena with controlled monster summons? It’s a worthwhile experiment at least.’

He yawned as the plan took shape, and drifted off to an uneasy but optimistic sleep.

The next day they were up and on the way, it didn’t take long to reach the great forest of Tob. “Gather what you need, I’m going into the forest, Lupu, come with me.”

The others were gathered around assisting Nfirea and keeping watch when Momon and Lupu began to fade into the green amidst the trees.

“Alright, Mr. Momon, please be careful and call for us if you need help.” Peter said with some amiable concern in his voice.

Ainz waved a hand behind him, dismissive of the concern, and when they were well out of sight, he looked down at Lupusregina Beta. “Are we alone?”

“Yes, My Lord. We’re far out of their range of senses.” Lupusregina answered and glanced around the forest, the smells of living things were everywhere, the sounds and sights, vivid and inviting, calling to her to hunt and kill. She licked her lips, but remained passive at her master’s side.

Ainz cast the message spell. “Aura, did you find it?” He asked.

“Yes, Lord Ainz. Asleep in a cave, it’s a neat looking thing, do you want me to wake it?”

“Yes, wake it and draw it to me.” Ainz answered and cut off the spell.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Minute passed after minute, impatience began to build.

Just before Ainz could cast the message spell again, Lupusregina spoke.

“I smell it. It’s coming, should I, My Lord?” The battlemaid asked and fingered her mace.

“No, no leave this one to me.” Ainz replied with breathless anticipation, his breath quickened and he drew his swords smoothly out of their place on his back.

A green snake tail darted out of the woods, he saw it coming far in advance, and deflected the head of the snake tail with ease, batting it away like a child would an insect.

“Impressive you are. Strong you must be. Leave you now must, or kill you I will.” The curious creature announced from concealment.

“A brave thing to say when you’re hiding out of sight, submit to me, and I will spare your life. I’ll let you be a pet to one of my children.” Ainz offered, and the snake tail rose into view, shaking with anger.

“A pet not I am, dead, you are. A battle for our lives begins, survive, only one of us can.” The voice said, and charged into view.

Ainz dodged with ease, raised up his sword, spun underhand, brought the sword up, and then brought it down just behind the head of the monster, easily avoiding its claws and teeth, and it fell at his feet with a spraying of blood.

The head separated from its body, the life began to go out of its eyes almost immediately, it seemed to understand that it was dying, but without lungs to propel air, it could no longer speak, its mouth moved, but made no noise.

Red stained the ground, and the tail behind it fell limp and lifeless behind it.

“A hamster monster?” Ainz asked when he looked down at the beast. The claws and teeth were sharp enough for sure. The fur was soft to the touch, but when he pressed, he felt a thick hide beneath. The tail was indeed that of a snake, the head gone lifeless along with the rest of it. Black eyes stared at him from the front and the back alike, accusingly as if he were guilty of something.

‘How much exp did I get… let’s see…’ Ainz wondered and focused on his stats. ‘Twenty times that of the strongest ogre… but still not very much, I’m still a long way from level one hundred and one. But, with this, I should be able to rank up and get more advanced jobs very quickly. I need money for Nazarick of course, but more than that, I need more power, I want to see where this new level cap goes.’

“Lupusregina, take the head, we’ll rejoin the others.” Ainz ordered, and with a contented grin, she nodded in acknowledgement. “What about the rest of it, My Lord? It’d be a shame to waste the body.”

Ainz brought his onyx colored armored hand up to the chin of his helmet. “You’re right… call for Aura, have it taken back to Nazarick, and let Demiurge have it for his experiments. We must learn all we can about the life forms of this world if we’re to prosper in it.”

“At once, my lord.” Lupusregina replied, sending the message while they walked back toward the others, holding the oversized hamster head in hand like the trophy that it was.