Текст книги "Overlord - The Invaders of the Large Tomb"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Jircniv pulled away the curtains peering through a semi transparent window, everyone dropped their jaw at seeing the dragon sitting on the courtyard.

“W-Why is there a dragon here? Where did that dragon come from?”

“Foreign affairs minister! Did you hear of anyone who was going to disrespectfully arrive riding a dragon and land in middle of the courtyard?”

“I know of no such thing!”

“Was there an arrangement with the dragon from the Council? Is that not it!?”

“…Their appearance is completely different from what I had heard. The description from the ministry of foreign affairs should not be wrong.”

“No, the biggest problem is that the thing was allowed to get this far! The Emperor is here! What are all the palace guards doing?”

Dragons could be said to be the mightiest beings in the world, with powerful bodies wrapped in sturdy scales, a lifespan far exceeding those of human beings, as well as all manner of special abilities and magic. Of course, there were exceptions as well, and some dragons had been slain by adventurers in the past, but there were just as many cases in the past where cities and even countries had been destroyed by the flames of wrathful dragons. One such city in the south had been destroyed just twenty years ago.

For such a being to appear in the middle of the imperial palace, it was a dire emergency.

Just as Jircniv gulped while looking over the dragon, two small figures descended from the dragon’s back.

If one squinted their eyes, they could see that they were children tanned by the sun.

“They seem to be dark elves.”

Fluder calmly uttered the race of those two children.

“Paradyne! That dragon, where is it from? And where did these two come from?”

“That dragon was something even I didn’t know about...”

Naturally, the same went for the two people who had disembarked, and the dragon that had landed in the courtyard was soon surrounded by a ring of knights. Although the knights were the pride of the Empire, in the face of a dragon they did not seem very reliable. As was to be expected of the strongest living creature in the world.

Among the knights, a man holding a shield on each arm came forward.

“Oi, oi. He’s the one going out? Well, it can’t be helped… although losing him is definitely going to be a waste.”

The person who moved forward was one of the Four Imperial Knights, the ‘Immovable’ Nazami Enec.

Nazami was one of the Empire’s most powerful warriors, and in terms of defense he was considered to be the strongest among the Four Knights. But even as a warrior who could resist many types of attacks, he still looked too small and insignificant in comparison to a dragon. Those were the words spoken by “Lightning” Baziwood Peshmel, as though confirming his comrade’s death, and nobody could deny them.

“Your Majesty, please retreat!”

“Tell me then, where can we retreat to? Where would we be safe?”

In response to the minister's proposal, Jircniv snorted.

“But your Majesty!”

“I know what you all want to say. But abandoning the palace will make me a laughing stock. Even if the opponent is a dragon, which doesn’t seem to be from the Agrando Republic, and if it is making such a move knowing that I won’t escape…… then that dragon may be as intelligent as I heard them to be, it seems to know the political situation of the Empire very well.”

Although Jircniv kept the nobles on a tight leash, that was only possible with the help of the knight orders. If news spread that he had fled the capital because of a dragon, the nobles might think that Jircniv’s military power was weak, and thus band together in revolt. Although he would not lose to an unruly mob, the Empire’s national power would fall drastically.

Even if we fight or retreat, there will still be a huge loss. This sure is an annoying chess move, just what is the story behind that dragon?

In the end, the number of people in the courtyard increased again. Forty royal guards surrounded the dragon, along with sixty knights, and even arcane and divine magic casters were present among their numbers.

“Only having one hundred and twenty people sure is unsettling. Your Majesty, how about letting me join them?”

Jircniv’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Fluder was the Empire’s greatest trump card. Yet, it was unclear if it was wise to let him deal with a dragon, whose species was known to be strong. Thus he was hesitant, but he also trusted that Fluder could safely escape back to him even in the worst situation.

But there was something Jircniv did not know.

The old magic caster had made that suggestion so Jircniv could not retreat using Fluder’s teleportation magic.

“Understood, gramps. Could you tell ‘Immovable’ to retreat as well?”

“Understood. However, I can’t estimate the strength of these people. They should be very powerful, so if you want to retreat, you should start making preparations now.”

With that said, Fluder opened the window. He flew out using flight magic and hovered in the sky.

“Now then, can everyone hear me!? I am a servant of Ainz Ooal Gown-sama, Aura Bella Fiora!”

During that exact moment, another voice echoed through the air.

“The Emperor of this country sent a bunch of disrespectful people to the Great Tomb of Nazarick where Ainz-sama lives! Ainz-sama is very unhappy, so if the Emperor does not apologise, we will destroy this country!“

Jircniv’s face twisted. How did they come to that conclusion? How did they piece together all the small clues?

As he looked back into the room, he found expressions of surprise staring back at him. Then, when they realized what Jircniv had in mind, they shook their heads.

“For starters, let’s kill everyone here! Mare!”

The other dark elf standing by his side thrusted her staff toward the courtyard. In that instant, a localized earthquake seemed to shake the courtyard. Because it was contained, Jircniv did not feel much of the strong shaking. However, the earth screamed and a complex pattern of cracks opened up in the ground, like a spiderweb with the elves and the dragon at its heart.

Except for Fluder who was floating in the air, the knights, the guards, the magic casters, everyone else was swallowed by the earth.

The dark elves must have placed themselves outside of the earthquake’s effective range, because they were unaffected. The dark elf calmly withdrew her staff, and as quickly as it had occurred, the rents in the earth were sealed once more. The spiderweb-pattern of cracks sealed themselves in the opposite manner of how they appeared, returning the ground back to when it was originally before.

The knights gathered in the courtyard just now were nowhere to be seen. It was truly a shocking conclusion.

“Good, they’re all dead! Now, if he doesn’t show himself soon, we’ll kill everyone in the city next… Since we don’t know which one’s the Emperor, we’ll just wreck this entire city and stop caring about anything! So come out, come out, Emperor, wherever you are!”

“Y-your Majesty!”

The trembling servants addressed him with pale faces.

“…I was about say that we stepped on a dragon’s tail, but in the end, the dragon came instead.”

Jircniv struggled to control his trembling. As an absolute being who wielded the authority of an Emperor, he could not afford to show fear in front of his subjects.

Ainz Ooal Gown… who is this person… … No, now is not the time to think about that.

Jircniv turned to the window and shouted.

“I, Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix, have something to say! Dear emissaries, would the two of you like to continue this discussion inside?” He then turned his head to his servants, “Prepare the finest welcome for our guests! With haste!”

As his servants hurriedly rushed out, he looked back to the dark elves.

…I underestimated them. However, if these are just subordinates… how can I not handle them? Even so, I can’t retreat here. If they want to negotiate, then we shall have a war of words. Ainz Ooal Gown, I will break your ambitions here!

 

Epilogue

Translator: SifaV6

Editors/Proofreaders: Namo-chan, Skythewood, Ferro, Nigel, Rockgollem

“Well then, here are the one hundred gold coins as promised. And this is the contract.”

After taking a quick peek at the contents of the bag, Arche’s father nodded his head in satisfaction. Without any hesitation, he quickly signed his name on the parchment and then stamped it with their family seal. His fluid actions revealed that this wasn’t the first time that he had done this.

“Now there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”

Eyeing the parchment that was handed to him, the man nodded. If Hekkeran and Imina were here, they would definitely reveal their displeasure. This man was the same man that had visited them previously at the inn.

The man glanced at the parchment a few more times while he waited. After verifying that the ink had finished drying, the man carefully rolled up the parchment, and stored it.

“Yes, most certainly.” Pointing towards the bag of coins in front of Arche’s father, the man asked, “By the way, are you not going to check?”

“Heh, I’m fine with it even if it’s one or two coins short.”

“Is that so?”

Towards the generous yet foolish response made by Arche’s father, the man nodded once more.

The amount of coins had already been verified before, so there shouldn’t be any problems. But it was definitely not a good sign seeing a family that was nearly at the end of their rope to still be acting this way. No, perhaps their house was fated to end the moment that man became its master.

However, it was exactly people like these that made the best customers.

“Well then, you’re fine with the usual interest rate and loan term, I presume?”

Towards this question, Arche’s father responded in a manner as if he was without a doubt someone from a wealthy and high class background.

The man nodded his head once more, showing that he understood.

“…By the way, is your daughter still well and healthy?”

“Hm?”

The man suddenly remembered that there were three daughters in the family.

“I’m talking about Arche-san.”

“Ah, Arche huh? Right now she’s out making money.”

“…Is that so?”

While your daughter is out and about earning money, what are you doing instead?

A look of disdain briefly appeared in the man eyes as he thought about this. He started to pity the girl with this kind of a father.

The man wasn’t without emotions.

However, it was more important for him to recover the amount of coins that had been lent previously including the interest on top, and to ensure this cycle of loan and repayment continued. He couldn’t care less about meddling in other family’s businesses.

“Just because she was able to make a bit of money, she started to act arrogantly.”

The man frowned when he heard the unpleasant mumblings made by Arche’s father. After all, if a troublesome situation was to happen, it might cause a delay in the interest payment. If possible, the man would like the current situation to continue as long as possible. For that, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Did something happen?”

“No, nothing big. It’s just that my foolish daughter seemed to have forgotten about her obligations to her parents for raising her from birth and is starting to become disrespectful.”

“If it’s just that then…”

“Honestly! It’s about time to let her understand her insolence! I need to teach her what being an aristocrat is all about!”

The man swallowed the rest of what he wanted to say. However, he couldn’t help but let out a final remark.

“It must have been really troublesome.”

“Of course. Such a foolish daughter…”

The man had purposely omitted who it was that he was talking about and allowed Arche’s father to mistakenly believe that it was said for him, which resulted in more and more muttering.

One hundred gold coins was an incredible sum. However, at the rate that Arche’s father was spending, he would soon be out of money again. If that happened, he would most likely come back to borrow more. The man had already decided not to lend any more until the money previously lent had been repaid.

The man glanced around the room.

What he saw was a room filled with luxurious furniture and decorations. Should the worst happen, he should still be able to recover what was originally lent, even if he had to sell them.

The man lowered his head in order to hide his thoughts.

“In the end, isn’t it weird for the daughter of the Furt family to be doing that kind of dirty work? The friends that she associates with all seemed to be of common birth too, they probably share the same vulgar character.”

“…Is that so?”

The man thought deeply about the two people that he met in the inn, and finally gave his reply. Perhaps it was due to misunderstanding the tone of the man’s reply, Arche’s father quickly spoke once more.

“Mu, I didn’t mean all commoners are like that. I was mostly referring to those that are adventurers.”

“Perhaps that is so.”

“Isn’t it? My daughter began to rebel exactly because of them. I will need to properly punish her later. In the end, it is natural for a daughter to listen to her father. She’s still ten years too early to be giving me lectures.”

After taking one final glance at the unhappy father, the man stood up from his seat.

“…Anyway, I must head over to the next customer now. We will talk more next time. I will be counting on you for the timely repayments.”

♦ ♦ ♦

“Just when will onee-sama return?”

“Perhaps a little longer?”

Inside a certain room, using the bed as a chair, two young girls sat side-by-side next to each other. Their facial features were exactly the same.

A slight flush of red could be seen on their tender white cheeks, which made them look like little angels. They possessed delicate faces which looked very similar to their older sister’s. One could definitely anticipate just how their appearance would bloom in ten to twenty years’ time.

The two of them wore matching outfits consisting of a pure white dress without a single ruffle. Their small white feet dangled from below, making a ‘pa-ta’ ‘pa-ta’ sound as they aimlessly kicked into the air.

“Is that true?”

“It is true…”

“Is that so?”

“That is so…”

“When onee-sama return, we will be moving right?”

“That’s right…”

The two of them laughed happily. They had very little understanding on the meaning of moving, but they did know it meant that their favourite onee-sama would no longer be going away. That was the source of their excitement.

Their sister—Arche, often had to leave home for extended periods of time. Although they did not know what she did, they understood that it was something important. That was why they never voiced any selfish wishes to Arche. However, even so, they couldn’t help but have the desire to wish to be able to play with their gentle sister more.

That’s right, the two of them loved Arche very much.

She was an extremely gentle, knowledgeable and warmhearted sister.

“Onee-sama, still hasn’t arrived…”

“Still hasn’t arrived huh…?”

“Looking forward to it aren’t we, Kuuderika?”

“Un, very looking forward to it, Uleirika.”

“I want to read together with onee-sama…”

“I want to sleep together with onee-sama…”

“Kuuderika is too cunning…”

“Uleirika is also very cunning…”

The two of them looked at each other and a smile then began to form on their faces, gradually turning into cute sounds of laughter.

“In that case, Kuuderika can also join in, together with onee-sama and I.”

“Un, Uleirika can also as well, together with onee-sama and I.”

The two of them smiled once more, looking forward towards the fun and exciting future that awaited them.