Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 14

Through the misty darkness of the Katze Plains, an Undead army marched purposefully towards the silent ruins surrounding the looming keep tower. The Undead were divided and ordered into neat ranks, maintaining a precise formation. At their head, astride an Undead Beast in the form of a horse, rode their commander. The flag of the Sorcerous Kingdom fluttered from where it was attached to her upright spear.

About halfway through clearing the surroundings, Baroness Zahradnik had acquired the Undead horse as a makeshift mount. A while later, she returned to the ship to retrieve a spare flag, stating that it was only appropriate that their army should have a banner.

Ainz and Shalltear followed the army from above, and a sense of anticipation grew within him as it advanced towards its objective.

By the standards of the region, it wasn’t a very strong army. Nor was it very large: he simply lacked the vocabulary to describe it. A single Mithril-rank Adventurer could probably wipe out the entire thing with relative ease. If Ainz had randomly come across it, it might have been a curiosity due to its organized appearance. By following the Baroness as she raised her forces, however, he held a sense of investment and progress.

Weak as the army was, he still felt like they were on the edge of a climactic battle scene. There was just one thing that could have spiced things up even more.

“In all this time,” he said, “I haven’t heard her issue any commands.”

“I believe she’s been using her communication Skill this entire time, Ainz-sama.”

“I see. Well, I suppose that makes sense.”

Certain commander-type classes in Yggdrasil had Skills that allowed for simultaneous communication with many people. Hearing her commands and watching the army move in response would have added to the excitement of the battle, but there was no point in her shouting at the top of her lungs and potentially attracting attention if she could just issue them silently.

“By the way, what sort of Commander Class Skills and Abilities does she have?”

“In addition to the communication Skill she’s using right now, she has some sort of Ability that provides a small buff to her loyal vassals. This includes her subjects and her household, arinsu.”

Everyone…does that mean the entire population of her territory?

If that was true, it was remarkable in itself. Commanders in Yggdrasil had Skills and Abilities that could affect raid groups and guilds at most, which was nowhere remotely near the number of subjects one could have in their territory. Did this mean that Jircniv subtly influenced millions of his loyal subjects as their Emperor? What was the threshold of loyalty required to receive these benefits?

“Have the effects of this ‘small buff’ been measured?”

“Yes, Ainz-sama. The Elder Liches working under her have been trying to determine exact values using the data that the administration has collected on her territory, but things are still rather vague, arinsu.”

“Hmm…do you have some tangible figures, at least?”

“I think the easiest way to put it is that she provides an array of bonuses that make the functioning of her territory smoother. The competency of her loyal subjects increases slightly, there are fewer accidents and they are harder to shake mentally. The overall effect has been stated to be a two-point-five per cent improvement in the overall performance of those being influenced by this passive Ability. This includes the Undead under her command as well.”

Taken at face value, it appeared to be a tiny bonus: one that would only be noted with the stringent bookkeeping provided by the administration’s Elder Liches. On a national scale, however, this tiny bonus could mean the difference between starvation and economic stability. He recalled Punitto Moe once saying that the more developed nations of Earth – before its environmental collapse – allocated anywhere from One to Four per cent of their total economic output on military spending. Did this mean that a nation with capable administrators and loyal subjects could fund a standing military through class bonuses alone?

Even when considering things on a smaller scale, this ‘small’ bonus was still significant. Providing a smith with a competency bonus meant that their products would be superior. In Yggdrasil, a Blacksmith’s skill was a factor in determining the quality and maximum data capacity of an item frame. It was the difference between replacing one data crystal with a better one or even adding another data crystal entirely. The effect this had on the market value of the item was not linear: it was explosively exponential when it came to the highest quality items.

While he was fairly certain the bonuses conferred would not add several zeros to the end of the price tag of the low-level items here, it would still have some impact. The value of exports would increase and thus would the amount of wealth entering Nazarick’s coffers through tolls and taxes. With that wealth came the ability to pay for fully activated base defences and powerful mercenary NPCs. The more they understood and harnessed, the more effective a tool these previously unknown Civilian Job Classes would become.

His eyes flared brightly as he seized upon a detail that he had almost missed.

“Did you say that the Undead are affected – as in those I created?”

“Yes, Ainz-sama.”

That wasn’t right. As far as he knew, it was impossible unless the commander was in the same party or raid as the summoner. Shortly after taking E-Rantel, he had tested whether it was possible to further augment his created Undead by placing commanders over them. Even a Crypt Lord, which was specifically designed to strengthen any Death Knights under its command, could not strengthen Death Knights under his control when he assigned them to it.

Now that he thought about it, Farmers overseeing skeletal farmhands were a sort of ‘commander’, and their production bonuses seemed to be unaffected by the fact that they were using Undead created by him. He viewed it as a curious perk, but the fact that an individual with a genuine Commander class could affect Undead under his control was another matter entirely.

“Is Cocytus aware of this?”

“Cocytus and Ludmila correspond semi-regularly, so I believe that he should know about it.”

“I see…no wonder he seemed so enthusiastic in that proposal to raise local commanders for the Royal Army.”

At the time, Ainz thought the main selling point of Cocytus’ proposal was the fact that, unlike his Undead creations and any Mercenary NPCs that they might summon, local commanders could be resurrected – for a much lower cost than summoning a new Mercenary NPC – and thus retain valuable experience.

The idea that any local commander could also affect the forces assigned to them with their Skills and Abilities cast the proposal in a new light. Even if the commanders remained at a low level, being able to act in a full capacity as a commander meant that the much higher-level forces under them would be that much stronger.

Below, the Baroness stopped at a point where the thick mists obscured the ruins. Her forces continued forward to take their positions. Ainz wondered just how much stronger the makeshift army was under her command.

“Have these passive bonuses increased as she’s levelled?” He asked.

“I think her Elder Lich said something about the autumn harvest providing more concrete data,” Shalltear answered. “They noticed her initial bonuses quite early on, however, so it’s likely that nothing significant has shown itself in their bookkeeping.”

Maybe she has to hit some skill breakpoint…or maybe it improves at specific levels? I wonder if the Job Classes here have capstones…

There were too many unknowns. It was extraordinarily difficult to investigate Job Classes when those that possessed them weren’t even aware of Job Classes or Levels or the idea that they had Skills and Abilities. Everything was a matter of common sense to them. Even in what would be considered well-explored Job Classes – such as common Adventurer ones – there were all sorts of holes that should have been filled by something.

“How about active Command Skills?”

“Active Command Skills…ah – there was one. Shortly after I took her as my vassal, Ludmila demonstrated an active ability that fortified the mental state of one of her maids. She learned how to activate it after I coaxed her to try. When I spoke to Pandora’s Actor about it, he said that Emperor Jircniv was observed to do something similar during his first audience in Nazarick.”

“Did he, now…”

“Yes,” Shalltear nodded. “Upon his entry to the Throne Room, the Emperor and his entourage faltered. Aura noticed that he issued a Command Skill without opening his mouth, and several who possess superior sensory ability confirmed this. His first application was ineffective, but his second attempt broke them out of their Shaken state. Considering the sheer magnitude of what they were confronted with, the Skill that the Emperor used was probably several times more potent than Ludmila’s.”

“The difference between an Emperor and a Noble?” Ainz mused, “Something easily mistaken for weight of authority, force of personality or persuasive ability…or perhaps it is one and the same in this world. I have witnessed many here overwhelmed by their fear, so it is a useful Skill for a Commander to have. Was there anything else? Commands that augment specific actions, or perhaps something like an aura?”

Shalltear furrowed her brow, tapping her lip with a finger. After several moments, she shook her head.

“I apologize, Ainz-sama, but I am unaware of her having anything else that might be a Command Skill.”

Ainz floated down to hover near the Baroness’ head. The army looked to be in position, with her Skeleton Archers in the front of the Undead Beasts.

“Zahradnik-dono,” he said. “What Skills and Abilities will you be using for this assault?”

“There’s the one that I’ve been issuing orders with,” she twisted in her seat to look up at him, “but the only other Skill I have appears to mentally fortify the subordinate that I use it on. Undead are immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities, so it’s redundant here.”

So I have a commander who can augment my Undead, but she doesn’t have any Skills that can be used on them. What sort of joke is this?

“You haven’t taken any steps to develop Command Skills as a commander? Surely you must have come across some hints that might lead you to one.”

At his words, she seemed to hesitate. A moment later, she replied in an uncertain voice.

“I have a lead, Your Majesty, but the memories that come with it are not pleasant.”

“What happened?”

“Once I learned about the deeds of House Fassett,” she said. “I was furious – so furious that I had to excuse myself from the meeting I was attending in an attempt to rein in my anger. My household felt it. My maids started doing things more aggressively, and they remained like that until I was finally able to bottle everything up.”

An attack buff?

Having someone pick up a new and useful skill and never use it again was something he had never seen or heard of happening before. It would be a laughable notion, had they been in Yggdrasil.

“You don’t appear to be the type that gets hung up over old memories,” he noted. “There must be something else.”

“…it is as you say, Your Majesty. The Skill seems…hazardous. It doesn’t just affect combatants: it affects civilians, too.”

“So you fear that, upon activation, all of your subjects will experience an increased sense of aggression.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I can just imagine all of the accidents that will take place as a result.”

While that did seem troublesome, it was still no excuse to sit on the Skill without figuring out how exactly it functioned.

“Where did this happen?” He asked her.

“In E-Rantel’s central district.”

“I assume your maids were somewhere in the district?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. My lady’s maid was accompanying me. Three other maids were in a manor in the district.”

Since it was a fortress city, E-Rantel was nowhere near as large as the sprawling capitals of Re-Estize and Baharuth. The radius of the central district was far smaller than a battlefield, which Ainz assumed the ability would cover.

“Did this Skill affect the residents of your territory?”

“If it did, nothing was reported.”

“In that case, let’s determine the radius of this Skill…”

He was about to say that he would contact the Elder Lich working under her, but he had no idea which of the hundreds of Elder Liches it was.

“Shalltear, contact someone that’s in a position to observe the subjects in her territory. They are to note any signs of this ‘aggression’ that Zahradnik-dono described.”

“At once, Ainz-sama.”

Shalltear nodded, and Ainz turned his gaze down at the Baroness. She turned her attention forward, licking her lips nervously.

Several minutes passed, then the Baroness straightened on her mount with a dangerous gleam in her eye. The banner of the Sorcerous Kingdom was raised high above as her voice rang over the field.

“Mark: 150 metres!”

The heads of the Skeleton Archers swivelled to gaze at some location beyond the mist.

“Nock!”

In perfect unison, the entire rank of Skeleton Archers nocked their bows.

Eh we’re starting now?

“Draw – loose!”

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