Overlord (WN)

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Negotiations Part 3

Translators: Frostfire10

Editor: Greenfish

More than one kilometre away from the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

There was a small tent in the middle of the plains. Small, but large enough to fit three humans.

The entrance to the tent was slightly ajar. A man peered through the gap at Nazarick with a pair of binoculars. His unmoving figure was almost like a doll. If his shoulders were not shifting up and down, it would not be strange for someone to actually think that.

While taking long but shallow breathes, the man gazed intently at Nazarick. A voice spoke from within the tent.

"How is it?"

At those words, the man seemed to stirr alive. Rotating his stiff shoulders several times, the man spoke to the ones inside.

"….After that there\'s been no movement."

Only the walls of Nazarick could be seen from the man\'s position, and there was no visible movement around that area. Hearing the man\'s reply, a third man spoke.

"So we don\'t need to report."

"Yep. Not right now."

"….That\'s the job of the team watching the main gate. We just need to pray that they don\'t miss anything."

Just who were the three people inside the tent?

To put it simply, they were secret agents sent by the Empire.

They were magic casters that could use the 2nd Tier of magic and also rangers that had infiltration skills. They were extremely outstanding secret agents even in the Empire to have mastered both skills. To put it simply, they had the ability to instantly kill a weak knight.

The three of them were sent to observe this location, the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

—No, not just them.

If one could sense everything, he or she would notice that there were several teams like this surrounding Nazarick. There were four such teams, making a total of twelve people.

One might think that this was a mere twelve people, but this was actually up to ⅗ of the total number of experts of their level.

The Empire boasted a population of over eight million, and to have this many experts come to observe Nazarick made it clear just how important the Empire viewed it to be.

In actuality, this level of caution was normally unthinkable, and was probably the highest level of caution possible ever since the Blood Emperor unified the government.

One might wonder why such people would do such an eye-catching act of pitching a tent in wide open grasslands. However, would people with ranger skills ever do such a foolish act?

The reason was precisely to be inconspicuous.

This was a result of magic.

This tent was a magic item called [Camoflauge Tent], and seemed to blend into the grasslands.

After answering, and rubbing his tired eyes with his fingers, the man once again placed the binoculars against his face.

As he did so—

"There\'s movement."

The man lowered his voice. There was a hint of warning in his words.

Inside the small field of vision of the binoculars, the man saw a shadow fly up from the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. Since there was a large distance between them, the shadow seemed small, but it was very large in actuality.

The man could make out the flapping movement of wings and the whiplike movement of a tail. In contrast to the speed of its elevation, the frequency of its wings flaps was low. It was probably due to a magical ability of its race.

"Is it the usual wyvern?"

"No…. It feels different."

He compared the flying shadow with the wyverns in his memory. As they observed Nazarick they had seen the figures of wyverns fly up from Nazarick multiple times. However, this shadow was different from the wyverns.

No, it was true that the wyverns that flew out of Nazarick several times were slightly different from those in the man\'s memories. However, this time it was completely different and looked nothing like a wyvern.

The first time the man had seen a wyvern, was when he was dispatched to a country south of the Empire which had a lot of mountain ranges.

That country had a flying knight troop, and they raised wyverns for that purpose. When he was sent to that country to observe, he had seen wyverns.

Those wyverns had long scorpion-like tails, and winged forelegs. He had remembered those dragon-like figures.

However the flying creature looked like a winged snake.

Then what sort of creature was that?

The man flipped through the book of his memories, but could not come out with an answer. The snake had quickly risen up to a height of three kilometres. Then it began to fly parallel to the ground.

"Let\'s be silent for now."

"Ah. Let\'s do that. We also should send a <Message> to warn them."

They believed that it was impossible for them to be discovered from that height, but it was an unknown monster. The word absolute did not apply.

The man closed the entrance and held his breath along with the others. As he did so—

Ribbit Ribbit ribbit~♪

The man widened his eyes and he looked around. Being inside the tent, he naturally saw his two compatriots.

Considering how the two were also making surprised expressions, it was not one of them making a joke.

The man heard the wind rustling the grass outside the tent. No matter how much he focused, that was all he could hear. Inside the silent tent, he spoke out in a suppressed voice.

"….Do you hear the sound of frogs?"

"….A, ah."

A similarly quiet reply came back. As they listened to the surroundings, they focused all their attention on their hearing.

If this was a swamp then they would not think that it was strange. However this was grassland, and was not a place for frogs. Well, no, some frogs did exist here, but they were all monsters.

The Camouflage Tent had an excellent power against detection via sight, but none against audio or nasal cues, and thus had a limited effect against animalistic monsters. There were monsters with special sensory skills, such as Dragon Sense or life detection.

Because they were worried that the snake from earlier had a special sensory skill, they had decided to hide in the tent.

The ribbits sounded at the same time as the snake appeared.

Was this a coincidence or an unfortunate encounter? Either way, this was an abnormal situation.

The men felt that monsters were approaching, and slowly moved their hands towards their weapons. However since they had no knowledge of the monsters\' true bodies, it was difficult to decide if they should retreat or fight.

The three prefered to avoid a fight, but even if they did, they had to prepare to retreat.

"<Quick March>"

They cast a 1st Tier Magic. This instantly increased their movement speed by about 20%.

They then cast <Camouflage> of the same rank. This made it more difficult for them to be detected. One might think that <Invisibility> might be more effective, but considering that this was a grassland, this method was better.

"Contact them with <Message>."

"Got it— What?"

"What?"

"<Message> is not activating….?"

There were several reasons why <Message> did not connect. Such as if the recipient was in a metallic room, blocking themselves off with magic or if they were dead.

However, either case was abnormal. This was as there was no way the recipient would ever hide in a place where <Message> could not reach.

The three men looked at each other with grim expressions.

There was only one answer.

"This is bad! Retreat now!"

Faster than they could react—

Ribbit ribbit ribbit croak croak♪

—The sound of frogs could once again be heard.

In an instant, an unbeveliable sleepiness descended on the men\'s bodies.

The fact that the men that could use 2nd Tier magic felt this tired made it instantly clear that this drowsiness was magical. This desire for sleep was similar to the one caused by the 1st Tier magic <Sleep>. However, even after knowing that it was far too late.

They did not even have the awareness left to try to support themselves with their weapons.

The three men fell to the floor of the tent. Their breathing became slow and even.

The moment the men fell prey to sleep, the entrance to the tent shook. However, there was no one there. On the other side of the entrance was the scene of unchanged grasslands. It was probably a trick of the wind. It would be normal to think that— If the floor did not sink slightly due to someone\'s weight.

The snake-like monster that flew up from Nazarick was called Quetzalcoatl. There were two figures riding on it.

One was the master of Quetzalcoatl, Aura Debay Fiora. Despite receiving the rushing wind with her body, her shining golden hair was not ruffled by it. No, perhaps her body did not even feel the wind.

Since this was a magically created saddle, it was stable no matter how the snake moved, and felt no wind pressure.

There was another figure.

Behind Aura— there was a frog monster who, similarly, was ridin on a saddle.

Tsuveck Priest Lord.

The bipedal pink frog held an extravagantly decorated staff, and was clad in beautiful priest clothes. Described like that, he might be off an image of weakness, but he was terrifyingly strong. Breaking the motif of a thin frog, he had an appearance that was sprinkled with toppings of evil traits. While he could only use a mere six spells, he was a powerful monster that was above level 70 and could cast spells of up to the 10th Tier.

"Aura-sama. All of them have fallen asleep."

What left his frog-like mouth was a clear and austere voice. One would make a wry smile at the gap between his voice and appearance. However, Aura was used to this.

"Hmm."

—She nodded slightly. The Tsuveck Priest Lord continued.

"The Eight Edged Assassins have begun their apprehension. Do you have new orders for the Tsuveck Singer Songwriters?"

"How long is the effect of their curse of sleep?"

"At least 30 seconds but it changes depending on their resistances and ability, but there seems to be no one notably strong so it should last for several minutes. Ah, or until they are attacked."

"Is that so—"

Aura nodded. With this the Eight Edged Assassins could apprehend them easily. Either way she had fulfilled her master\'s orders.

"Then order the bards to retreat. There are only the five of them so they should return and stay in a safe lake. The Eight Edged Assassins should round them up and head to Nazarick…. Are there many of them?"

"Yes. There were twelve observers. However I believe the Eight Edged Assassins can carry them by themselves. Shall I ask them?"

"Yup. Please."

"Yes."

The Tsuveck Priest Lord raised a deep cry. The frog-like Tsuveck tribe had a special method of communication and this ability allowed them to communicate over several kilometres much like <Message>. In Yggdrasil, one had to be prepared to face the whole tribe when sneaking into their territory.

The Tsuveck Priest Lord had contacted the Tsuveck Singer Songwriters with this ability and nodded in satisfaction.

"There are no problems."

"So it seems."

Aura\'s visual ability had locked onto the positions of several tiny dots far beneath her. They were the Eight Edged Assassins rolling something towards Nazarick.

She saw that their multiple hands could easily transport three bodies simultaneously.

"Now, let\'s go back. Let\'s go, Quetzalcoatl."

The snake tilted its long neck, looked at Aura, and began descending according to its master\'s will. This was quite a rapid descent, but Aura and the Tsuveck Priest Lord did not lose their balance. On the contrary, Aura seemed to enjoy the change in scenery that accompanied it.

"Are we not collecting the tents?"

"According to Ainz-sama. It would be scarier to leave them and have others wonder what happened. However I believe that we have hidden them quite well?"

The Tsuveck Priest Lord heard his master\'s words and looked in the direction of the tent. He did not have detection skills, but with his high ability stats he could roughly tell that the was something strange on the plains.

"….There is some distance so I think it is fine."

"Well, is that so. I don\'t think they are watching using <Mirror of Remote Viewing>."

Cocytus\' subordinates usually observed the surroundings of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. It was mainly the <Intelligent Swarm> who did this with the occasional help from Kyouhukou. Apart from this they used divination magic. The <Mirror of Remote Viewing> was one of them.

Originally, Cocytus\' subordinates detected their existence the moment they came and watched them pitch their tent. They had ignored them until it came time to collect them.

All in order to laugh at their serious observing figures.

The ground approached, and Aura ordered Quetzalcoatl to head to the log house. The winged snake cut through the wind.

They finally reached the log house. Around the horses and carriage that Ainz had ordered to be collected, Quetzalcoatl touched the ground as light as a feather.

It would not be strange for the horses to quiver in fear should a giant snake appear. However, the horses were calm, as if Quetzalcoatl was their friend.

"Umm, depending on when Quetzalcoatl returns to Nazarick, the confidentiality order is cancelled."

"Understood, I shall immediately contact them."

"And the movement of the carriage—"

Aura stopped her words. This was as the door opened with one of the battlemaids, Entoma leaving the log house. Behind her were Nazarick Old Guarders.

If there were gaps in the door, Aura could peek into Nazarick\'s surface department. However she could not due to Entoma and the Nazarick Old Guarders blocking them. It was as if they had suddenly sprung up from the ground.

"Aura-sama."

"Hmm? Will you help me collect the carriages?"

"Yes."

Entoma agreed without a single change in her expression. No, it was impossible for Entoma to move her face.

However, it was not just Aura feeling that she had a faint desire to run away from her.

"There is no effect on you right?"

"….I hate smells that force me to be friendly."

"Sorry. I think I can handle horses with my skill, but I\'ve no confidence."

There was no way Aura, whose strength lay in Beast Taming, actually felt that she lacked confidence. She was saying this because she felt it was troublesome to tame them.

Entoma\'s had a disbelieving air about her, and Aura, sensing it, made a wry smile.

"Umm, then, let\'s quickly collect them!"

Aura ordered her subordinates in a hearty voice. Behind her, Entoma gave chase while thinking [Ah, she ran away].

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