Outside E-Rantel, near the edge of the forest.
Unlike E-Rantel, which was illuminated by magical lights from Continual Light, the outskirts of the city were cloaked in darkness. It wasn't pitch black to the point of complete blindness, but it was clearly far from ideal for human activities.
In this shadowy area outside the city, a place glowed with firelight.
It was a wide campsite, roughly twenty meters across, with a carriage parked.
Within the campsite, tents were set up for resting, with wooden stakes driven into the ground around them and thin strings strung between the stakes, each hung with bells—clearly a warning setup meant to alert the people in the camp if anything approached.
In the center of the camp, a campfire blazed, serving as a source of light, and around it sat several armed adventurers, casually chatting while eating simple food.
From time to time, they glanced toward a man clad in full, pitch-black armor and a woman wearing a deep brown robe standing in a corner of the camp.
Needless to say, they were none other than Ainz and Narberal.
At this moment, Ainz was standing in a corner of the camp, his finger pressed against his temple as if he were meditating with his eyes closed, while Narberal watched him quietly, standing nearby without saying a word.
"Hmm, all the Eight-Edge Assassins I sent to monitor him have been killed."
Ainz's voice was calm, showing no emotion as he spoke.
"All of them?" Narberal's delicate brows furrowed as she lowered her voice. "Was it that insect?"
"Umu." Ainz replied confidently. "Until the very end, the Eight-Edge Assassins maintained Message's connection, so I could hear them and knew they were fighting him."
Upon hearing this, Narberal was momentarily at a loss for words because this meant one thing.
"Riezel Brynhart… that man is definitely no ordinary person."
Ainz stated this conclusion calmly.
"From what we know, even for servants like the Eight-Edge Assassins, it should be tough for anyone in this world to deal with them."
"At least, in my eyes, there's no one publicly powerful enough to take down even one Eight-Edge Assassin in this kingdom."
"Yet, that man took them all down with ease by himself."
"Such strength... it's unlike any native we've encountered."
From the death of the four Eight-Edge Assassins, Ainz confirmed this fact.
What Riezel didn't know was that when the Eight-Edge Assassins were exposed and prepared to retreat, they sent one final report to Ainz, which had been part of his plan.
Ainz had ordered the Eight-Edge Assassins that the moment something felt off, they were to use a one-time item he had given them to report the situation to him.
Because of this, Ainz learned of the encounter almost as soon as the Eight-Edge Assassins were discovered by Riezel.
Ultimately, after some calm consideration, Ainz gave the Eight-Edge Assassins a single order—to confront Riezel and test his strength.
Following that order, the Eight-Edge Assassins stopped trying to escape and turned back to attack Riezel.
In the end, they sacrificed themselves, and Ainz managed to gauge part of Riezel's strength.
"So, that insect... is he a player?"
Knowing Ainz's plan, Narberal asked in a voice filled with caution.
Based on their understanding of this world, it seemed unlikely that any human, other than a player, could defeat four Level 49 Eight-Edge Assassins in such a short time.
At least, this was what Ainz and Narberal thought.
However, the true question was—
"If Riezel Brynhart is a player, then what exactly is his stance now?"
Ainz murmured, almost as if talking to himself.
"He sought us out not long after we first arrived in this world... Was that act planned beforehand?"
"And if it was, why did he dare to come alone? And how did he already know so much about this world before we did?"
"Could it be... he arrived in this world before us?"
"If he really did come here earlier, then how could he have known where Nazarick would appear?"
Instead of clearing things up, the questions only multiplied.
Ainz couldn't make sense of Riezel's previous actions.
What was Riezel really aiming for?
Since their meeting, Riezel hadn't brought up YGGDRASIL even once. Instead, he had shared information about this world and, in exchange, had taken knowledge of some magic that had little value back in YGGDRASIL.
Did any of that really have a point?
What had Riezel been thinking at that time?
Ainz felt as if he might drown under the weight of these endless questions.
Moreover, if Riezel was indeed a player from YGGDRASIL, then why were there no traces of YGGDRASIL on him?
'He had almost no equipment on him, just a pendant the first time we met, and it didn't seem to be an item from YGGDRASIL either.'
'Several days later, when we met again in E-Rantel, he had added a ring on his finger and a sword at his waist, but I'd never seen either of those in YGGDRASIL either…'
'And the name Riezel Brynhart… I've never heard of any player by that name either.'
'Could it be he hid his real name, like I did, for some purpose?'
'Damn it… there are just too many things I don't understand.'
Ainz rubbed his helmet, feeling a headache that technically shouldn't have existed.
He couldn't help but feel preoccupied with the man named Riezel Brynhart, who seemed to have many secrets surrounding him, many potentially tied to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. If he didn't uncover these secrets, he couldn't be sure whether Nazarick might be in danger.
"No, it won't do… we still don't have enough information..." Ainz muttered helplessly. "Looks like I'll need to find a way to get closer to him..."
Upon hearing this, Narberal immediately offered a suggestion.
"Should we deploy the Floor Guardians?"
"No."
Ainz rejected Narberal's suggestion without a second thought.
"They are Nazarick's strongest line of defense. Until we confirm that Riezel Brynhart is a threat to Nazarick, I don't want him getting anywhere near them. We can't risk anything happening."
"For now, it's best not to provoke him. If we can maintain a friendly relationship, that would be the best. Once we've gathered enough information and understand his motives, we can decide how to deal with him."
"Understood..." Narberal replied reluctantly. "And what should we do about the Eight-Edge Assassins he killed?"
At this question, the nonexistent eyes under Ainz's helmet seemed to light up.
As the base of the guild known as Ainz Ooal Gown, the Great Tomb of Nazarick was not only home to the forty-one guild members, known as Supreme Beings, but also to other NPCs.
Currently, the Great Tomb of Nazarick held only Ainz as a player, while the rest were now merely servant NPCs brought to life.
However, among these NPCs, there were distinctions.
As previously mentioned, the game called YGGDRASIL had an incredibly high degree of freedom, not limited to aspects like job classes, magic, races, and various equipped items—it extended into many other areas as well.
For example, when a guild had a base ranked high enough, members of that guild could access several special privileges.
One such privilege was the ability to have NPCs protect their base.
In YGGDRASIL, there were two types of NPCs.
One type would respawn automatically after a set time with no cost required, even if the NPCs were destroyed completely—meaning these NPCs would simply refresh on their own.
As for the other type, they were entirely original and custom NPCs, designed by the players themselves from scratch.
Compared to the former, these custom NPCs could not only be created at a higher level but also be equipped with items chosen by the players. With enough attention to detail, a player-created NPC would almost certainly outclass any automatically respawning NPC by a significant margin.
Needless to say, the NPCs of the Great Tomb of Nazarick were created this way, and after accompanying Ainz to this world, they came to life.
Naturally, the NPCs created by the forty-one Supreme Beings held a status and value far above that of the automatically respawning NPCs.
NPCs like Albedo, Demiurge, and Narberal belonged to this elite category, each meticulously designed by a guild member of Ainz Ooal Gown.
For Ainz, they represented the efforts of his former guild companions, the crystallization of their thoughts and care—or, in a sense, their children.
By comparison, the automatically respawning NPCs in the Great Tomb of Nazarick were little more than irrelevant NPCs, nowhere near the status of the guild members' creations.
Since the Eight-Edge Assassins were not custom NPCs created by Ainz Ooal Gown's guild members, even if they were killed, Ainz wouldn't be upset.
However—
"Even if they're just servants, they're still servants of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, not something to be casually killed by just anyone."
A red glow, carrying an unidentifiable emotion, gleamed from within the eye sockets of Ainz's helmet.
"If there's ever a chance, I'll make sure he pays for this."
Upon hearing this, Narberal had no further objections and merely nodded.
"Let's go back to everyone now."
Ainz turned toward the campfire.
"Don't forget, we're adventurers Momon and Nabe right now, not Ainz Ooal Gown and Narberal Gamma. We have to complete the quest we were hired for."
"Yes, Lord Ai—"
"Hm?"
"Ah, no, I mean... Mr. Momon."
"Good."
With that, the two returned to the campfire, joining the other adventurers.
===
At the same time, in a vast area near the outer walls of E-Rantel, there was an exceptionally large cemetery.
E-Rantel was known as the Fortress City, the Re-Estize Kingdom's frontline against the Baharuth Empire and the Slane Theocracy, making it the city closest to these neighboring countries.
As a city so close to the battlefield, E-Rantel saw soldiers fall regularly, creating the need for a cemetery large enough to lay the dead to rest and prevent them from becoming undead.
Naturally, this cemetery was where E-Rantel placed its numerous fallen, with a temple-like mausoleum at its center that exuded a chilling, eerie atmosphere at night.
Shortly after the fierce battle in E-Rantel, which had stirred up quite a commotion, someone appeared at this place.
"Oh my, how creepy~"
A female voice suddenly rang out, carrying a hint of ferocity, like a carnivorous beast.