Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 14

Ah, hmm…what would be the appropriate thing to say in this situation?

“Umu,” Ainz Ooal Gown said with the most regal bearing he could muster.

After the NPCs finally returned to their respective tasks after the tournament matches, Ainz found himself with little to do. Suzuki Satoru would have retired to his home to immerse himself in the world of Yggdrasil before collapsing into his bed for a few hours of sleep. That life was no more, however. Perhaps one could say that he was living the life. Or, rather, the unlife.

This, of course, came with its pitfalls. For one, he couldn’t sleep for three hours a day like he used to, thus he had three extra hours per day to burn. Combined with the time he once put into work and Yggdrasil – basically his entire schedule – he had a lot of time to kill. Habits drilled into Suzuki Satoru compelled him to find something to do. Paperwork or connecting with clients or something…except as the Sorcerer King, he had very little on that front awaiting his attention. These days, Albedo performed most of the executive functions and the only bits of administrative work that reached him were finalised proposals that required his seal of approval.

What else was a king to do? He wasn’t sure. Spying on Emperor Jircniv only made him painfully aware of the idea that he should be doing more than acting kingly, but any anonymous proposals that he made were slapped down by Albedo with the utmost disdain.

And, so, he made do with looking busy. His charade had led him away from the arena and across the Sixth Floor on an ‘inspection’, which ultimately led to him staring up at Baroness Zahradnik, who was hanging upside down from a tree.

“As expected of Ainz-sama!” Aura exclaimed from nearby, “You know exactly what’s going on!”

“Wh-What do you think, Ainz-sama?” Mare asked.

Aura flicked a knife at the Baroness, severing the vine wrapped around one of her ankles. The young noblewoman flipped over in midair and landed on her feet, untangled her skirts, and fled deeper into the forest.

Eh?

“Does she have something else to do?” Ainz asked.

“Mmh…I guess she went to look for the next resource node,” Mare said.

“Ah…”

I guess they’re seeing what she’s capable of gathering. At least that’s something that I can understand.

They ran similar experiments when the first set of natives moved into Nazarick. With the way that Yggdrasil’s shitty devs had designed the procurement of resources, it had led to some traumatic experiences among the test subjects. Failure to pass harvesting skill checks led to the node being wasted, a trap being triggered, or some combination of the two. Of course, there was no way to retaliate against a resource node.

Back in the early days of Yggdrasil, he had tried his hand at mining in a desperate attempt to work up the funds to buy new equipment. His very first try resulted in a cave-in that killed him, so he gave up on the idea.

“What has she been able to gather?” Ainz asked.

“She’s been able to successfully do Third-tier foraging nodes about half of the time so far, Ainz-sama,” Mare replied.

“That should pin her as a Level Seven or Eight Ranger?”

“Since she’s missing some core Ranger abilities, we’re trying to narrow down her Job Classes.”

“Hoh…”

Though the natives were all relatively low-level, the prospect of discovering new classes, magic, and items always excited him. However, the realities of realising the potential of the Dwarf Runesmiths had him on the lookout for more useful things he could add to the Sorcerous Kingdom’s industrial power. Otherwise, he would feel like no progress was being made.

“Speaking of which,” he said, “how is your progress regarding farming advanced crops?”

“I-I’m sorry, Ainz-sama,” Mare’s ears drooped. “We haven’t been able to reconcile the two systems yet.”

Ainz rested a hand lightly on Mare’s head.

“Mah, I never expected it to be easy. We have plenty of time to figure things out. Aura, track down the Baroness for us.”

“Got it!”

Not long after founding the Sorcerous Kingdom, Ainz’s hopes of being able to cultivate crops of Yggdrasil plants were unceremoniously squashed by reality. In this case, it was literally reality, as the production methods of their new world were alien to those of Yggdrasil and more akin to what one might find on the Earth of the distant past.

In the game, one gathered materials from ‘nodes’ that respawned at a loosely fixed rate. Even things like grain were collected in this manner, yielding a small stack of items that went into one’s inventory. Those items, in turn, would be used in one recipe or another. Those recipes would yield a consumable, which usually granted some bonuses.

The native production system, however, was ‘realistic’. One didn’t usually harvest grain from a ‘node’ using the gathering abilities available to Job Classes such as Alchemist, Druid, or Ranger. Instead, one used a scythe or some other tool and got to work mowing down an entire field of grain. Instead of getting a small stack of materials, wagons would be filled to deliver to a storage facility. While a whole new production Job Class had arisen as a result of this activity – which was colloquially known as the ‘Farmer’ – anyone could try their hand at reaping the fields without the fields exploding or swallowing them whole.

By the same token, the small stack of materials harvested from a resource node in Yggdrasil couldn’t feed people the way that a farm did. A field the size of the Sixth Floor using the Sorcerous Kingdom’s agricultural techniques could feed a small city. Between the Fourth and Sixth Floors, the Nazarick only produced enough food to sustain less than a hundred permanent base NPCs.

Experiments early into the formation of the Sorcerous Kingdom revealed two critical issues with growing Yggdrasil plants in the New World. The first was that the local Farmers didn’t possess levels high enough to harvest most of what Nazarick had to offer. Enri Enmot – who presumably had at least one level in Farmer – had demonstrated the ability to identify and gather low-level herbs in the Great Forest of Tob, but she couldn’t harvest anything higher when they brought her to the Sixth Floor on her tour around Nazarick.

The second issue was that, while a plant from Yggdrasil might be able to survive in the outside world, it couldn’t be mass cultivated as the local crops could. Indeed, even efforts to grow native alchemical herbs in a garden led to inferior products. Some subtle efforts had been made to chase rumours of superior crops abroad, but, so far, it was a puzzle with no solution in sight.

“She’s over here!” Aura called.

Ainz made his way around several huge tree trunks to arrive at a small clearing in the forest. A snort escaped him when they found Lady Zahradnik’s rear sticking out of a purple flower blossom. Two of Aura’s pets, who laired in the same clearing, sniffed at the stranger curiously.

“Blue Planet-san got stuck in one of these things once,” Ainz said.

“H-He did?” Mare’s eyes went wide.

“He did,” Ainz nodded. “Someone stuck this one here to remind him of that time…but why would Zahradnik-dono try to harvest a Sixth-tier plant?”

“I don’t think she can tell exactly what tier it is,” Aura said. “So far, it seems that she can sense if a higher-tier plant is dangerous, but not how dangerous. She can tell whether it’s useful, as well. Still, she probably wouldn’t have tried harvesting it if we hadn’t asked her to go around trying.”

“I see.”

They stared at the butt sticking out at them. Aura cleared her throat.

“Should we pull her out?” She asked.

“Can we pull her out?” Mare asked back.

“If I recall correctly,” Ainz said, “this one digests anything it swallows with acid. I believe she’s immune to acid, so…”

Was she stuck in the flower for all eternity? Maybe there was a timer.

“We could try harvesting the plant…”

Aura equipped a dagger and approached the node. She separated the blossom from its stem in a smooth, practised motion. The huge flower unceremoniously fell to the leaf litter below.

“Is she a material now?” Mare asked.

“It doesn’t work that way…” Ainz said, “Probably.”

In response, Lady Zahradnik righted herself and rose to her feet. The flower was still clamped over her upper body and her attempts to shake it off seemed futile.

“Hold on,” Aura said, “I’ll try and get it off.”

Aura led Lady Zahradnik to a low-hanging branch nearby. The Dark Elf hopped onto the branch, reaching down to tug on the severed stem of the flower. The young noblewoman was lifted off of the ground along with it. After some violent shaking, she finally fell out, covered in a layer of slime.

“Ew,” Aura made a face.

“A-At least it doesn’t smell bad,” Mare offered.

The Baroness got onto her hands and knees and crawled into the nearest bush.

“Hey!” Aura said, “Is that any way to act in front of Ainz-sama?”

“Just kill me!”

“I heard that you were performing some experiments,” Ainz said. “I hope you don’t mind my joining in.”

“Your Majesty may do whatever he wishes,” the bush replied.

Aura took a stick and poked the bush. Ainz turned to Mare.

“How far have you gotten?” He asked.

“We just started, Ainz-sama,” Mare answered, then pulled out a notebook. “As Ainz-sama says, she has the foraging capability of a Level Seven or Eight Ranger. We also think she doesn’t have access to the Favoured Enemy System. She has a pet, so she should have access to the Bonding System. She also has Tracking, Pass Without Trace, and, based on her activity in the Adventurer Guild, she’s chosen the Two-Handed Weapon Combat Style.”

That’s pretty rare. Not that we couldn’t figure that out before.

In Yggdrasil, the most popular Combat Style for Rangers was Bow, followed by Dual Wielding. Mounted Combat came in at a distant third.

“What else is she missing?” Ainz asked.

“Well, Endurance is worthless for the Undead,” Mare said. “Maybe she threw that away.”

Did that make any sense? Even in Yggdrasil, one couldn’t ‘throw away’ something that was baked into a Job Class. On the other hand, if she was getting all of her Ranger perks from Racial Class Levels, then it made perfect sense. His levels in Skeleton Mage traded a handful of Wizard perks for Undead ones.

“Losing access to the Favoured Enemy System is pretty huge,” Ainz said. “It’s basically a Ranger’s calling card. If I understand it correctly, most of the Rangers in the region base their livelihoods off of it.”

They had done some extensive testing back during their exploration of the Katze Plains, but he only vaguely remembered the parts where they tested her capabilities as a Captain.

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“Yes, Your Majesty,” the bush said. “Most foresters are specialised in Beasts or Plants, depending on their specific occupation. I believe that Rangers in the local town and city militias specialise in Humans. I haven’t focused my efforts on being a Ranger, however. I swear I’ve been doing what I can to grow as a Captain, Your Majesty!”

Ainz frowned at the note of desperation in the bush’s voice. Lady Zahradnik knew about the Class System, so it stood to reason that she didn’t want to contaminate her build. At the same time, for someone who could just die and get up again on their own, it shouldn’t have been more than an annoyance.

Unless the unwanted levels are buried under everything else. That would be a huge pain in the ass.

“I believe we hypothesised that your Revenant Levels at least in part follow a Ranger archetype,” Ainz said. “This should be easy enough to prove, since most Heteromorphs enjoy huge stat advantages over Demihumans and Humanoids. How has Zahradnik-dono been doing in the Adventurer Guild?”

“Um…she hasn’t undergone an assessment for a long time,” Mare said. “That was back when we only used tests in the Adventurer Training Area, and she qualified for Mithril.”

“There’s no way she’s Mithril,” Aura laughed. “She spars against Death Knights every day and wins, you know? Our Mithril ranks can’t do that.”

“She can beat Death Knights?” Ainz peered at the bush, “What about the other types?”

“The Death Warriors can best me if they can stay on the offensive,” the bush replied. “I can win against the Death Knights because I can outlast them. The equipment that I’ve been so graciously granted plays a major role, of course.”

So her defences and regeneration allow her to win in a battle of attrition against a Death Knight, but a Death Warrior can still burst her down. I guess that makes sense.

If they were in Yggdrasil, he would have said she was at least a Level Thirty warrior-type with strong sustain. Their new world, however, contained too many alien mechanics and other unknowns for him to make a confident prediction.

“In that case,” Ainz said, “how about we make that assessment now? We’ll be able to keep things private if we do it here.”

“R-Right away, Ainz-sama!”

Mare started withdrawing various items out of his inventory, starting with a stack of binders. Logs of various sizes came after that, followed by some charts and posters. He opened the first of the binders and flipped through its pages until he arrived at one with a large table.

“Um…first will be carrying capacity,” he said. “Find the heaviest log you can lift and move around with.”

With a rustle of leaves, Lady Zahradnik appeared from the bush. She had somehow cleaned herself up and fixed her appearance while hidden. After walking slowly along the row of logs she stopped at one marked ‘1 Tonne’ and lifted it off of the ground. A moment later, she set it down again.

Too heavy?

Rather than look for a lighter burden, she went over and picked up a much larger log marked ‘4 Tonnes’. She wandered around with it a bit, teetering back and forth as she did.

“It would be much easier to move if there was a better way to carry this thing,” the Baroness said.

“Is that the most you can do?” Mare asked.

“It’s about the most I’d be able to manage while travelling long distances, my lord. Assuming the route has suitable clearance.”

Mare frowned as he scanned the table in the binder. Ainz leaned in to see what he was looking at.

“Is there a problem?” He asked.

“I’m trying to guess how her Heteromorph levels figure into our statistics,” Mare answered. “Wh-What do you think, Ainz-sama?”

Ainz scanned the rows and columns of the table. Aside from two or three people, the Adventurer Guild’s membership was Human. According to Mare’s numbers, Mithril-rank Fighters could carry between five hundred kilograms and a tonne. There was also an Orichalcum-rank Ranger and Paladin, but neither could do better than half of what Lady Zahradnik was capable of.

How did it work again? The average Heteromorph has triple the physical capabilities of the average Humanoid. If we assume that she has Eight Levels in Revenant, does that account for the difference in strength? We need other points of data…

“She doesn’t wear out,” Aura said.

Ainz and Mare looked up at Aura, who had gone to sit on the branch from before.

“She doesn’t get tired, right?” Aura said, “That means she can go full power all the time.”

“Mmh…” Mare looked back down at the table, “So if we assume that her carrying capacity is the same as everyone else’s maximum lifting capability, it doesn’t seem as crazy.”

“How about determining her total levels?” Ainz asked, “That would likely make our guesswork much easier.”

“Her danger sense is subjective, though,” Aura said. “It tells her how strong something is relative to herself, not its actual levels.”

“Have you tried teaching her how to con targets?”

“I hadn’t thought about doing that…is it possible?”

“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty,” Lady Zahradnik said, “but I’m not familiar with that term.”

Ah, crap. I used MMO terminology, didn’t I?

Due to their everyday interactions with the NPCs, game-related terminology proliferated between members of the Adventurer Guild before he knew it. Lady Zahradnik was often busy performing her duties in other roles, however, so she might not have picked up the vocabulary to the same extent.

“It’s not exactly a proper term,” Ainz said. “I suppose you could say it’s slang. ‘Con’ is short for ‘Consider’, which is an…ancient technique to determine the level of a target relative to one’s own. In Aura’s case, the Skill that cons a target displays its relative level in different colours, with each colour representing five per cent of the Skill user’s level.”

“That’s right,” Aura nodded. “As an example, the colours go from dark blue to light blue to dark green as they get lower relative to ‘even’, which is within five levels of me. If a target is dark green, they have a three-colour difference, meaning they’re somewhere between Level Eighty-Five and Eighty.”

“…does that mean my lady is Level 100?”

“Yup!”

Ainz cleared his throat.

“Aura’s version of the Skill is a higher-level one that will reveal additional information about the target, but low-level Rangers should have a basic version. Strangely, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, a much more vague ‘danger sense’ is in common use.”

“It may be that the Skill existed at one point, Your Majesty,” Lady Zahradnik set down the log. “But, if I were to guess, it fell out of use for the same reason that our Adventurers favour using Difficulty Ratings. Without a thorough knowledge of Class Levels, ‘danger sense’ and Difficulty Ratings are infinitely more practical. The strength of Demihumans and Heteromorphs relative to Humanoids is a good case for this. Knowing that someone is a Level One Beastman means very little to those who do not know what that entails, but stating that the Level One Beastman is Difficulty Rating Thirty puts their strength on an understandable scale. As someone who has gained a sense of Levels and their implications, however, I wouldn’t mind learning this Skill.”

The Baroness looked up at Aura. Aura scratched her head.

“It’s, uh…you activate the Skill and it’s like bibibibibibibibiching! Then you get the info.”

“I see,” Lady Zahradnik said.

“You do?” Ainz said.

He took a step back as the young noblewoman’s gaze went to him.

“Wh-What is it?”

“Is there a manual for this Skill, Your Majesty?”

“That is a very good question,” he said. “The Library may have some useful information…or maybe it’s stored away in the Treasury?”

It wasn’t the way that Players learned new spells, Skills, and Abilities, so one could say that he was fishing for answers. At the same time, it could very well be that the answers actually existed. The books and items in the Great Library of Ashurbanipal and the Guild Treasury had all become real articles, so a Race or Class Promotion item might hold the relevant information. He hadn’t done much checking himself because he was afraid that a certain bearded maniac would ambush him.

“Our resources are vast,” Ainz said, “so it may take you a while to find anything related to what you’re looking for. I’m sure the library staff will be more than happy to assist you, however.”

“…with all due respect,” Lady Zahradnik looked down at the log in front of her, “I feel that Your Majesty is being far too generous. Someone of my humble station doesn’t deserve such consideration.”

Ainz held in a sigh. It would have been far easier to deal with the Baroness if she was greedy. If that were the case, he could have treated everything as strictly give and take…and he had no qualms about disposing of self-serving individuals if need be. Instead, Lady Zahradnik was like a character from a fantasy story or bygone era, who prioritised long-term relationships built on trust, reciprocity, and a strict sense of hierarchy that defined one’s rights and privileges.

Not that it’s undesirable…

Broadly speaking, Ainz considered her a good influence on the children of his friends. The very behaviour that made her difficult to deal with served as a desirable example that he had no wish to change. In his world, there were his friends and those associated with them, and then there was everyone else. He wanted those on the ‘inside’ to share the closely-knit bonds that he once had with the members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

“Out of curiosity,” Ainz said. “Do you plan on betraying the Sorcerous Kingdom at some point in the future?”

The atmosphere around them suddenly changed. Aura stood up on her branch while Mare stepped in front of Ainz. Lady Zahradnik immediately went to a knee before him.

“Y-Your Majesty,” she said, “the thought has never crossed my mind! What must I do to–”

“Then I see no problem with it,” Ainz told her. “You may not consider it in these terms, but you are an asset with proven value to the Sorcerous Kingdom. Furthermore, do you not think that the Sorcerous Kingdom will benefit from any discoveries that you make? Many of our citizens may have gotten on board with the idea of a peaceful and prosperous nation, but you of all people should understand what is required to keep it that way.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Understand that I don’t disapprove of your sense of propriety, but the way that you frame things can be rather…self-centred in a strange way. Going around thinking by default that you don’t deserve one thing or another will eventually see you taken advantage of or worse.”

“To be honest,” Lady Zahradnik said, “it has already happened on multiple occasions.”

“…then why haven’t you changed according to those experiences?”

“I don’t know, Your Majesty. My friends would say that it’s because I’m a stubborn Frontier Noble.”

This woman is just as bad as the NPCs in some ways.

Just like the denizens of Nazarick stubbornly insisted on remaining in the same state that their creators had left them in, the Baroness stubbornly insisted on remaining true to her rigid values. It wasn’t so hard to believe that this was a major reason why she got along so well with the NPCs.

“That’s not necessarily an undesirable quality,” Ainz said, “but you should always strive to improve what can be improved, no?”

“Of course. By Your Majesty’s Will.”

He felt that he should say something about her fervent response, but Aura and Mare seemed pleased for some reason.

“Let’s continue with our testing, shall we?” Ainz said, “I’m curious as to what our findings will be.”

They continued through the battery of tests that had recently been developed for the Adventurer Guild. The tests covered several areas that helped to pinpoint key traits of the class archetypes that they knew of. With Baroness Zahradnik, however, the results seemed to lead to as many questions as answers.

“Her sensory abilities are significantly above what a Level Seven or Eight Ranger should have,” Mare said. “Where is the difference coming from?”

“A piece of equipment, perhaps?” Ainz suggested.

“My civilian garb is wholly defensive in nature,” Lady Zahradnik said. “I removed any accessories that might influence the results.”

“So she has a non-Ranger class with enhanced sensory abilities?” Aura crossed her arms, “Bard or Rogue, maybe?”

“I haven’t done anything Bard or Rogue-ish in my recollection, my lady.”

“Maybe it’s from the type of Commander she is,” Ainz suggested. “Conventional Commanders don’t have enhanced powers of observation, but a ‘Captain’ that is supposed to operate in the thick of battle might. Do you know of anything that might suggest this, Zahradnik-dono?”

“My heritage has always mixed our role as Frontier Nobles with that of being Rangers, Your Majesty,” Lady Zahradnik replied. “I can’t say whether that means it is a Job Class in itself.”

Ainz brought up a hand to stroke his chin in thought.

How troublesome.

Most members of the Adventurer Guild had straightforward assessments due to their singular focus on filling one role or the other in a party. One already knew what to expect before an evaluation, and those expectations tended to be in line with their findings. While the Baroness undeniably had some powerful Prestige Classes in her build, trying to untangle the web that it created was an arduous task.

“How about we approach this from a different angle?” Ainz said, “What is your capacity for Martial Arts, Zahradnik-dono?”

“Five Focus Levels without resorting to Limit Break or sacrificing health,” the Baroness replied.

“So at least twenty-five warrior archetype Job Class Levels or their equivalent. That on its own would qualify you for Orichalcum.”

On a whim, Ainz used Summon Undead V to create a Wheep. The black bile leaking out of its orifices and sores hissed and sent up wisps of rancid gas as they dripped onto the leaves.

“Out of curiosity,” he said, “what does your danger sense say about this summon?”

“It’s stronger than I am,” Lady Zahradnik said, “but I can defeat it.”

Ainz considered her immediate response. It wasn’t something that one would normally hear. After factoring in his build’s bonuses to Undead summons, the Level Thirty Wheep could come away even against a non-specialised caster’s Level Thirty-Four summon.

“How did you come to that conclusion?” He asked.

“I’ve deployed Wheeps in battle before,” Lady Zahradnik answered. “Their advantage comes in the form of damage reduction, regeneration, and the deadly bile that they emit, which makes them excellent vanguard troops. I am immune to the bile and my weapon has a high enough enchantment level that it bypasses their damage reduction. It would be something like fighting a super Zombie for me.”

“Indeed,” Ainz nodded in agreement, “you’re quick to make accurate assessments of your odds in combat. I would wager that most powerful warriors would tell people that the summon was weaker than them if they were in your shoes.”

“Regular Adventurers or Mercenaries probably would since it affects their business,” the Baroness said, “but I see no point in doing so.”

“Hmph. In that case…”

He dismissed the Wheep and summoned a Greater Wight with Summon Undead IV.

“This one is much closer to my strength, Your Majesty,” Lady Zahradnik reported.

“Is it stronger, or weaker?”

“It feels about equal.”

Does that mean she’s Level Twenty-Six?

It was an iffy way to determine one’s level, at best.

“I am assuming here that these warrior-type summons follow roughly the same power curve as an Undead warrior like yourself,” he said. “If that’s the case, it means that you are roughly Level Twenty-Six. That being said, the power of Heteromorphs at lower levels is such that you could claim to be in the Realm of Heroes and no one would be able to disprove the statement.”

“Should we issue her a Second-Class Adamantite Tag, Ainz-sama?” Mare asked.

The Baroness shifted on her feet with an uneasy expression. Ainz chuckled at yet another display of her austere nature.

“If she desires it,” he said, “it would be best to go through official procedures. Momon drew quite a bit of fire from the other Adventurers back when he skipped his way up to Adamantite and I can’t guarantee that it wouldn’t happen here. Emotions can make even the most civil individuals irrational, after all. Now, how about a change of scenery? We should get you familiar with the rest of Nazarick.”

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