The Dark Warrior

“I think that man is dangerous.”

“... I know. Coming to this city was the right choice.”

“Momon-san, what is it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t mind me. By the way, can you introduce your last friend to

me?”

“Alright. He is a druid —— Dine Woodwonder. He can use healing spells, nature

manipulation magic and he’s also knowledgeable about herbs. Please tell him

immediately if you feel unwell, he has medicine that’s useful against stomach

pains.”

“Please take care of me!”

The man greeting him had a huge beard covering his mouth and coupled with

his bulky body he looked like a barbarian. But he stil looked younger than Ainz.

He had the faint smell of grass on him, which seemingly came from the pouches

on his waist.

“Next wil be us. This is Nabel and I’m Momon. Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Alright, pleased to meet you both. Momon-san, you can just address us by

name. Sorry for getting to the topic so fast, but let’s talk about the job. Actually,

what we want to ask of you is not really a job.

“Then…”

Hearing Ainz’s baffled voice, Peter lifted his hand to stop him, wanting Ainz to

ask his question later.

“The job is to hunt the monsters around the city.”

“Monster extermination…?”

Then it was a job. Or was there some adventurer regulation that made it not a

job? Ainz wanted to ask, but if that was common sense, it would be troubling if

the others thought he lacked knowledge, so he asked something harmless.

“What kind of monster are we exterminating?”

“Ah, it’s not really about exterminating monsters. We’re hunting monsters and

depending on their strength, the city will pay a suitable reward through the guild.

What is this kind of activity called in Momon-san’s country?”

So that’s it.

Ainz finally understood why Peter said this wasn't really a job: according to

YGGDRASIL game knowledge this activity would be called 'farming monsters':

“This is something we have to do to earn a livelihood.”

The druid -- Dine interrupted with a low voice. Lukeluther joined in:

“It’s not just a livelihood for us, it reduces the danger to the people around us,

ensures the safety of traveling merchants and secures the nation’s tax

collection. No one will lose out from our actions.”

“Most guild and nations do this, but it was unheard of 5 years ago, isn’t that

surprising?”

Everyone on the team nodded in agreement with Ninya’s words. They discussed

among themselves, giving Ainz no chance to join in. It would be too strange to

know nothing about this country, so Ainz decided to shut up and listen.

“Al of this is thanks to the Golden Queen’s wisdom.”

“It wasn’t put into place, but she wanted to execute this policy even if she had to

exempt taxes of the adventurers.”

“Oh—— she regarded adventurers so highly.”

“That’s right. An armed organization that doesn’t swear fealty towards a country,

and might even be seen as an enemy. Even the Empire wasn’t so

magnanimous.”

“That queen was rather wise, proposing many virtuous policies… it’s just that

most of them were rejected.”

“I want to marry a beauty like that--”

“Then work hard and become a noble?”

“Ah-- impossible, I can’t accept such a restrictive lifestyle.”

“I think being a noble isn’t bad. The laws of the Kingdom allow the aristocrats to

oppress the citizens, letting them do as they wish.”

There was strong sarcasm under Ninya’s smile. Ainz raised his nonexistent

eyebrow under his helmet while Narberal remained unmoved. Lukeluther

intentionally used a light tone and said:

“Wah—— your tongue is vicious like usual. You really hate nobles——”

“I know some of the aristocrats are honorable men, but because of that pig who

snatched my elder sister away, I can’t help hating them.”

“...We are going too far off-topic! These aren’t things we should be saying in

front of Momon-san and Nabel-san who will be fighting alongside us.”

Attempting to get back to the main topic, Peter faked a cough and said:

“That’s all, we wil explore the surrounding areas. Because it’s near the newly

developed region, there might be no monsters that are too strong. Wil Momon-

san be unsatisfied with this?”

Peter took out a parchment and laid it on the table, it appeared to be a map of

the nearby region. Information about vil ages, forests and streams were marked

simply on it.

“Basically, we are exploring the southern parts.”

From the center of the parchment he dragged his finger to the forest in the

south.

“We are mainly hunting monsters in the forest near the borders to the Silian

Theocracy. The only monsters who can use ranged weapons to attack from the

rear wil be goblins.”

“But the rewards for disposing such a weak monster isn’t high.”

Ainz was suspicious of the group’s easy-going attitude.

As far as Ainz knew, YGGDRASIL’s goblin had all sorts of names and ranged

from level 1 to 50. Their differences in strength varied widely, you couldn’t just

lump al goblins together. It could be disastrous if you weren’t careful.

Was their relaxed attitude due to their conviction that high level goblins won’t

turn up, or were the goblin in this world only that powerful?