Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 2, Chapter 2

Winter's Crown: Act 2, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It took a moment for the first solid thought to register in Ainz’s mind.

Tall!

She was nearly of a height with him, which was rare to see amongst the Humans in the region, never mind for a woman. He glanced down past her medium-length skirts – maybe she was wearing heels…no. The only female Human that he could recall surpassing this woman in height was Gagaran of Blue Rose, who he had met back during the operation in the capital of Re-Estize.

Ainz supposed that the warrior types that he had seen were often uncommonly tall when compared to others, yet this woman did not have the imposing and burly look of Gagaran. Instead, she possessed a lithe figure and stride that more closely matched the graceful posture and movement of Nazarick’s maids. Exuding confidence and charm, such a striking woman should have commanded the attention of those around her…yet no one seemed to notice her at all.

Many things did not quite add up. It seemed that she had come from the cathedral…a member of the Temples? Maybe a Paladin? He understood that the class existed in this world from a few of the reports that crossed his desk, but he never really interacted with the local temples for the obvious reasons. In addition, he had explicitly ordered the Temples in the Sorcerous Kingdom to be left alone, as they were essentially branches of a multinational corporation in this world. A single unfortunate incident could potentially result in international backlash, damaging the Sorcerous Kingdom’s reputation far and wide. He hoped she wouldn’t preach at him.

The woman glided to a stop a comfortable distance away. She smiled warmly, greeting them with a slight inclination of her head.

“Good afternoon, Momon, Nabe,” she said in friendly, mellow tones, “I hope the day finds you well.”

“Umu.”

He offered a neutral response to her greeting. It felt somewhat rude to do so, but he was preoccupied with trying to puzzle out just who this woman was. He did pay some attention while skimming over the reports that crossed his desk, but they generally did not offer personal descriptions of individuals – instead focusing on facts, figures, conjectures and projections. Pandora’s Actor interacted with so many people that she may not have even appeared on them in the first place. Out of the corner of his visor, he saw Narberal give the barest of nods.

“Woodlouse,” she said.

Huh? That was something like one of her usual insults, right?

Ainz glanced back and forth between the two. Usually, when women came Momon’s way, Narberal would fend off perceived hindrances through projecting her smug superiority, cool intimidation and cutting attitude. Her current expression, however, was strictly neutral. The tone of her voice was not overtly hostile, either. Then why had she initially been on the defensive? She did not move to interpose herself between a potential threat or annoyance, so that meant…this woman was an acquaintance of Darkness?

“Is there something I can do for you?” He asked her.

“I noticed the two of you when I was on the way out from the cathedral,” she replied, “so I thought I would come offer my greetings, and my thanks.”

“Your thanks?”

“Yes, for that matter.”

“Of course…that matter.”

What matter? Someone tell me what’s going on!

The young woman’s warm expression did not change in the slightest. She seemed entirely genuine. Narberal offered no hints to him at all.

“It was no problem whatsoever,” he decided to conclude the conversation before he sunk deeper into this unfamiliar mire. “I’m glad that I could satisfy your request.”

“I should have expected no less from the Legendary Momon,” she lowered her head in apology. “I hope you will forgive me for underestimating how thoroughly you could fulfil our desires.”

“Think nothing of it,” he told her. “If you’ll excuse us, we have an appointment at the Expeditionary Office.”

The woman seemed to think on his words for a moment before responding.

“Of course. You must be observing the next training session. Please – do not be late on my account.”

The woman inclined her head once again, and Ainz breathed an internal sigh of relief. How did she even infer exactly what he would be doing with such confidence? Despite her polite manner, he had a feeling that she had directed the entire conversation from start to finish, and he had just mercifully been released. He turned and strode off to get away from her, but his steps froze when she spoke again.

“Ah – Nabe?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Your partner might be one to flit from branch to branch,” the woman said lightly. “Please be sure to hold onto him tightly.”

Ainz turned back around at the cryptic words, but the woman was already walking away. She looked back towards them with the same, friendly, smile on her face and waved before disappearing off in the direction of the Merchant Guild.

He looked over at Narberal. They held each other’s gaze for several moments before her eyes suddenly widened and she turned her head away, blushing furiously.

What the hell just happened!?

“A-anyways,” he forced his voice out, “we should be on our way.”

“Y-yes, Momon-sa–n,” Narberal replied in a meek voice.

They returned to the central district in silence, with Ainz resisting the urge to scratch his head furiously in confused frustration over the strange incident. It didn’t help that Narberal kept stealing surreptitious glances in his direction every once in a while. He couldn’t ask her in public, as any number of people might overhear them, so he would have to find out when he went back to switch places with Pandora’s Actor.

The thoughts were still tugging at him from a corner of his mind as they neared their destination. The Expeditionary Office – he really needed to have that changed – was one of the office buildings formerly occupied by the city administration. Albedo’s restructuring of the territory’s bureaucratic apparatus into a more efficient form cut down on the offices required from a half dozen to two: including the Royal Villa. With their need for additional space, the Adventurer Guild was allocated one of the vacant offices, facing the main promenade running through the central district. Shalltear had recently claimed another for the new aerial transportation network.

Though its limestone architecture still retained the pompous-looking embellishments with the same themes as the rest of the district, the only other thing that Ainz could really say about the Adventurer Guild office was that it was clean. The staff that maintained the central district kept it in the same shape as every other government building, making sure the planters and beds were watered and stocked with blooming flowers. The Adventurer Guild hadn’t come up with any emblems for itself yet, so the walls were bare of any banners. Every window was closed, their heavy curtains drawn tightly shut. The result was that the exterior gave off a ubiquitous aura, and the members of the Guild were too busy implementing the new changes and training to care about the appearance of the office itself.

Due to its prime location in E-Rantel’s main plaza, the original branch office still served as the public-facing building of the new Adventurer Guild, but Ainz still thought it would be best to improve every aspect of the organization’s appearance for marketing purposes, even if it was just an administrative office. The solid oak door whispered open as they made their entrance, revealing an empty and unadorned foyer with an unmanned front desk. It appeared that the main floor was being renovated for something – hallways were dusty and the walls were being taken down. Any labourers he might have been able to ask about the work appeared to be off for lunch, so he continued on his way.

They climbed the stairs to the top floor where the observation rooms were located, stepping into the first open door. Several heads turned, immediately noting his entry.

“Oh, if it isn’t Momon,” Moknach’s voice rose in surprised greeting. “You just missed a crazy one.”

The rest of the room’s occupants looked up from their meals – it appeared that they were taking their lunch between observing the training sessions. Moknach was the only Adventurer he recognized: the remainder appeared to be newer members that had risen through the ranks and were now serving as proctors for lower level training. The sight of these new faces was vaguely gratifying, as it was proof that his idea for building the foundation of the guild’s membership through training offered by the Sorcerous Kingdom was indeed producing results.

The true result that he desired – that of the Adventurer Guild becoming an organization that truly explored; truly Adventured – still seemed to only be a glimmer on the horizon, but progress was progress. The reports from Mare, Pandora’s Actor and Ainzach showed that the membership, though growing in numbers very slowly, was almost at a size where they had enough members to begin hammering out the workings of the expedition system. Even though the initial stages were probably not going to be very exciting, he still looked forward to witnessing it. It was here that he felt the most qualified to contribute ideas to, after all.

“Hoh, is that so?”

Ainz made his way into the room, walking in behind the row of tables facing the set of Mirror of Remote Viewing used to observe the proceedings. They were currently deactivated, so he could not get an inkling of what had happened at a glance.

“What rank was the team?” He asked.

“Silver,” Moknach replied, “Was a brand new grotto run. On paper it should have been a steep challenge, but it was smashed mercilessly. Mare went to take a look at the aftermath in person.”

The Adventurer Training Area, after weeks of development, had expanded far beyond Ainz’s initial expectations. Mare had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the project, shocking even Aura with his zeal. Beneath a large portion of E-Rantel’s outskirts to the northwest was a massive facility which housed all manner of environments for the new Adventurer Guild to train in. Mare was constantly refining and improving his work, creating the impression that the facility was constantly under construction. It changed on a regular basis, so every week the Adventurers were faced with brand new layouts and challenges.

“Grotto, hm…did any Demihumans participate?” He set out a line, recalling how the themes loosely worked.

“Yep, was Lizardmen this time,” Moknach nodded. “They looked like a solid bunch too – a good balance of combatants – but, well, I’m not sure if they even know what hit them. With all the opportunities we’ve been given to train and learn, our members have gotten far better than ones of the same rank that we had in the past.”

“I’m sure His Majesty would be happy to hear that,” Ainz replied in a lively voice. “He has great hopes for the Adventurer Guild in the future.”

“Hehe…we’re just getting started,” Moknach said as packed away the leftovers of his lunch. “I can’t wait until we start seeing Platinum teams at work. Gear’s still a bitch though – I don’t know what we would have done if His Majesty hadn’t opened up imports from the Dwarf Kingdom to us.”

The reported quality of the Adventurer Guild members was the main reason Ainz had come to observe a training session. According to both Ainzach and Pandora’s Actor – and now Moknach – the performance of members under Gold-rank were already far beyond previous expectations. Low rank Adventurers were normally of dubious, non-uniform quality with a poor life expectancy, so he wanted to see with his own eyes how much they had improved relative to his own experiences with them.

There was a patter of feet in the hallway, and Mare entered the room.

“Did you find anything wrong?” One of the seated Adventurers asked.

“No, everything’s working,” Mare replied. “The next group is ready, so l-let’s see how they do…”

Mare looked up at Ainz as he finished speaking.

I have my ring of non-detection equipped, so he shouldn’t be able to sense me…

Or at least that was the hope. Ainz looked down at Mare.

“I came by to watch – I hope you don’t mind my being here.”

“N-no…it’s okay. Then…”

Mare turned to walk over to activate the two Mirror of Remote Viewing and pulled a clipboard out of his inventory. His eyes moved back and forth as he scanned over its contents before putting it away again.

“T-they’re about five minutes away – does anyone have any questions? We have a Fighter, Rogue, Bard, Druid, Monk and Wizard for the second run. I hope we have the right proctors here…”

Ainz cheered Mare on silently in his heart. Speaking before others was often hard, and it should be doubly so for the timid Dark Elf who was the age equivalent of a Human child. He nodded silently as Mare went through his last minute checks before the session started. Running out of things to double check, he finally turned to adjust the mirrors. What greeted Ainz was the fantastic vista of a verdant cavern system, an intricate natural dungeon that Blue Planet would surely gape in awe over.

“?Clairaudience?.”

One of the proctors cast the divination spell on the mirror focused on the main body of the party, and the sounds of the Adventurers moving through the ferns and giant mushrooms in the cavern filtered into the room. They stopped in a sheltered position, and their scout set off to perform reconnaissance. The second mirror focused on the scout, while the first continued to transmit the rest of the party as they discussed amongst themselves.

This is almost like I’m watching a live stream – no, it actually is a live stream…of a real fantasy world.

Ainz crossed his arms and raised a hand to cradle his chin as the session continued. The proctors leaned forward in their seats. When the action began in earnest, he could only stand and watch as he had to keep track of so many things happening at once. The Adventurers, as reported, were far more skilled than the ones he remembered when he was climbing the ranks. And it was no wonder: the dungeon itself was so deadly and unforgiving that he thought that there was no way that anything they encountered on the field could be so severe.

If this was Yggdrasil, the newbies running this dungeon would have cursed the shitty devs for overtuning it. The bitching on the forums would be endless. How many times would people wipe on this? Wait – doesn’t that mean that these Adventurers are actually more skilled than low level Yggdrasil players?

He supposed that it should be the case. These Adventurers were career professionals in this world, not newbies playing for recreation.

A particularly dangerous sequence of events triggered his emotional suppression, which he was thankful for, else he would have let out an embarrassing sound. Even though it was a party of low levels, the challenges they faced were so full of suspense that his attention remained riveted to the scenes unfolding before him. A part of him felt that it was a shame the Adventurer Guild’s activities were treated as confidential – the Imperial Arena would definitely be put out of business if the Sorcerous Kingdom exported this training as entertainment.

Forty minutes later, the session ended with the Adventurers barely eking out a win over the final showdown with the Lizardmen. Though he didn’t need to breathe, or had any way to, Ainz finally let out the breath he had been holding for half an hour.

“If these get any more exciting,” he said, “even members not assigned to be proctors will be clamouring to watch.”

“You got that right,” Moknach laughed. “That might be half the reason why we’re looking forward to Platinum training sessions – they’re bound to be even better than this. Hmm…maybe we should add that as a perk in our recruitment efforts? Actually, I guess it already is, but it’s hard to convey all this.”

“You said this morning’s team ‘smashed’ this exact same dungeon?” He recalled Moknach’s statement from earlier, “Was it due to party composition, or something else?”

“They were roughly the same, save for a single position – so I bet you can guess who was there.”

Ainz had no idea who Moknach was talking about. He focused on nothing in particular, putting on a contemplative pose.

“I see…that one, then?”

“Yup,” Moknach nodded as he looked down to take some notes, “that one.”

Oh for the love of – you too?

“Speaking of which…” Moknach looked up and to the side. “Mare – this run should be around where you had it, right? The results from this morning were probably due to one person.”

“Y-yes, that’s right,” Mare turned away from watching the recovery operations in the mirror. “We’ll be able to use this for a few days. I’ll start working on the next one.”

The proctors offered their feedback on the new dungeon section in turn, after which discussion over the group’s performance started in earnest. Not wanting to loom over the proceedings and interfere with their work, Ainz excused himself and left the Expeditionary Office together with Narberal.