Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 6

It took a long while for the Baroness to settle down.

Ainz shifted his gaze away from where she sat in the hold, hugging her knees. On both sides of the river, rows of vineyards stretched on like idyllic French scenery from Earth’s unruined past. As their vessel came around a wide bend, traces of the mist hanging over the Katze Plains could be seen ahead.

They sailed along, past many villages with simple harbours under construction. At a certain point, their ship passed a raft anchored on the river. Several crates were placed upon it. A single Death Knight appeared to be standing watch over them.

“What’s going on there?” He asked.

“Countess Corelyn is conducting a test,” Shalltear answered. “There are a few dozen rafts loaded with various products from the duchy. This one is inside her territory to act as a basis for comparison, arinsu. The others have been positioned across the border in the Katze Plains. If I recall correctly, the Countess is attempting to determine if there are any ill effects from the goods being exposed to negative energy for extended periods of time.”

Ainz briefly envisioned an assortment of possessed items and cursed goods being produced as a result, but it was baseless fancy. This world had all manner of tales that described such things, but he had never come across anything like that himself.

“I see. Have there been any results yet?”

“The Elder Liches working under her have been checking up on things for the past few weeks and they haven’t detected any changes. The different people examining the samples have come up with nothing, as well. Once she’s satisfied that it’s safe to transport goods up and down the rivers in other parts of her territory, she’ll have infrastructure built for those areas.”

“I didn’t see any ships being built in Corelyn Harbour,” he noted.

“Once the Frost Giants restore their shipbuilding capacity, new vessels will be ordered from them. Undead will crew these ships, which will allow them to operate in the Katze Plains without being attacked.”

Ainz nodded to himself. Once again, Countess Corelyn had shown her willingness to incorporate disparate elements of the Sorcerous Kingdom in her efforts to drive progress and development. He could only hope that others would follow her lead to create the harmonious nation that he had envisioned.

“Umu. With how she went ahead with building Corelyn Harbour, the Countess seems quite confident that everything will work out.”

“If everything works out,” Shalltear said, “she will be expanding the harbour once again.”

“Will there be a need for that?”

“According to her, this river…it doesn’t end in the Katze Plains. It flows out the other side, to the inland sea in the southeast. The Slane Theocracy, Draconic Kingdom and many other nations can be found along its shores and reached through rivers flowing into it. With our unique ability to navigate the Katze River with Undead servitors, Countess Corelyn plans to open trade and form diplomatic ties with every nation her fleets can reach. She intends to bring both prosperity and political goodwill to the Sorcerous Kingdom through the establishment of this maritime network, arinsu.”

“Hoh…”

The access that the Katze River provided to the inland sea to the southeast was something Pandora’s Actor had mentioned. He wasn’t sure if he had nudged Countess Corelyn in the right direction as Momon, but she was certainly capitalizing on the fact.

She seems docile and benevolent, but she’s far-sighted and ambitious, too. No matter how competent or incompetent, nobles always seem to go big.

“Has she presented these plans to Albedo?”

“Only the ones that require the approval of the Royal Court, and only when she is ready to enact them, arinsu. Since I head the Ministry of Transportation, Countess Corelyn has been consulting with me on many of her future ventures. The citizens of the Sorcerous Kingdom see Clara Corelyn as a noble amongst nobles, but most forget that House Corelyn is a merchant house.”

Her being of a merchant lineage might explain why everything that the Countess did seemed to revolve around flows of wealth and the creation of a strong, pervasive brand associated with her territory and its ventures. The way she went about it all felt non-threatening and structured for mutual benefit. No matter what she did, it seemed that everyone involved only stood to gain.

It was well past midnight when they approached the border of the Katze Plains. Baroness Zahradnik finally stirred from where she was huddled in the hold. She had been stealing peeks at him since he proposed that they take a break, and the slow progress of her efforts to become accustomed to him could be observed as time passed. The Baroness combed her dishevelled hair and wrapped her mantle around her shoulders before returning to join them again.

“Welcome back, Zahradnik-dono,” Ainz nodded in greeting as she approached. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t think these sensations will ever go away,” the Baroness replied, “but I believe I can at least hold a conversation now. Please forgive me if I must turn my attention away to collect myself.”

“Now that I am aware of the nature of your reaction,” he told her. “I won’t begrudge you any efforts to regulate your state of mind. Emotional suppression would have come in handy, but it appears that you do not possess it.”

“Emotional suppression?”

“I suppose you could categorize it as a passive Ability – one that cannot be disabled, much like your reaction to me. It works to calm emotions if they surpass a certain threshold, but as one who possesses this Ability, I will say that it is often a curse as much as it is a blessing. Having something to keep fury and sorrow at bay can be quite useful, but at the same time, joy and mirth are also subject.”

“That does indeed sound like it would be useful right now,” the Baroness said, “but I don’t think I’d want this Ability. Is it something common to Undead?”

“It’s difficult to gauge,” Ainz told her. “Albedo once conducted an experiment to investigate the extent and nature of Undead emotions, but an altercation arose when she got around to Shalltear.”

To the side, Shalltear let out an incensed noise.

“That gorilla was just trying to pick a fight,” she said. “My emotions are as pure and real as any young maiden’s.”

“Erm, that aside, Shalltear is the only Undead being that I was aware of that lacks Emotional Suppression. I suppose you have the distinction of being the second, to my knowledge.”

Baroness Zahradnik turned her gaze away, and Ainz followed it to the shore. They had just crossed an unnatural line that stretched away and over the horizon. On one side were the verdant vineyards of Corelyn County; on the other was the cursed region known as the Katze Plains.

A thick mist clung to the ground, denying sunlight to anything that might have tried to grow. The passing of centuries had leached away the vitality of the soil in a manner reminiscent of the ruined environment of Earth, leaving a reddish-orange clay that lent to its popular depiction as a bloody wasteland.

Still, signs of activity were present all along the border. Clouds of dust followed pairs of Death Cavaliers as they patrolled for encroaching Undead. With the new buffer zone inside the plains rather than inside the duchy, the local Farmers had built new fences all the way to the edge of the lifeless clay.

They passed another test raft loaded with goods, and Ainz turned his gaze over the riverbank to the south.

“We’ll disembark at the edge of the buffer zone here,” he announced. “Anchor the ship in the middle of the river and we’ll fly over to the southern shore. Do you have a way to fly, Zahradnik-dono?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” she replied. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for one in the markets, but there’s been nothing so far.”

Ainz examined her equipment. Now that she had put her rings away, the most powerful items on her person in his Arcane Vision were the two Infinite Haversacks on either side of her waist. Her gloves, boots and cloak were weakly enchanted, as was her necklace. Everything else appeared to be mundane, and she wore no other accessories.

He frowned at the sight. In Yggdrasil, a Player could, by default, wear three additional accessories in addition to their two rings. In addition, there was a slot for the head, face, body, arms, hands, legs, feet and underclothes. Full suits of armour occupied the body slot, so bracers, gauntlets, greaves and boots could still be worn with them.

With this being the case, the Baroness had the appearance of a newbie who could barely scrape by: woefully undergeared and sporting empty equipment slots.

If Mithril is around Level 20, this is pretty damn sad…

The Paladin Captain introduced in Corelyn Harbour had a proper set of gear. That a noble of the Sorcerous Kingdom could not even come close to comparing was an issue he would need to address.

He had a few pendants on hand with flight magic, but she was already wearing a necklace. Rummaging around in his inventory, he found a silver hairpin fashioned as a single feather. He handed it to Shalltear, who came forward with a smile to fasten it in her vassal’s hair. The Baroness’ fingers came up to lightly brush against the accessory, as if afraid to damage it.

“That hairpin will provide basic flight magic when you activate it…you do know how to activate magic items, I assume?”

Please say yes…

He had no idea how the natives activated magic items. Fortunately, Baroness Zahradnik nodded.

“Good. Basic flight spells are fairly slow, but they’re useful for crossing obstacles like rivers and cliffs. Let’s head out.”

They rose out of the ship, skimming over the river towards the shore. Several minutes later, they landed near a second, suspiciously unnatural line through the landscape. Rather than a mark on the ground, it was the edge of the buffer zone where the Undead had been cleared away by Corelyn County’s border patrols.

“Now, we have a lot of testing to do–”

As he spoke, several Zombies and Skeletons turned and started heading towards him. Shalltear darted out, obliterating them in an instant.

“Filthy wretches!” She sneered, “You dare bare your fangs at the Supreme One?”

“Why did they come after us?” The Baroness furrowed her brow in confusion.

“Ah – I forgot,” Ainz removed his Ring of Non-detection. “Concealing your Undead state means that other Undead cannot sense that you are Undead. They may turn hostile to your presence as a result.”

“Does that also apply if one conceals their presence?” The Baroness asked.

“No,” Ainz shook his head. “Foiling stealth requires a different sort of detection. I suppose that, as a Ranger, you can sneak around the Undead around us right now effortlessly.”

“Yes, I’ve used it to my advantage before. My opponent was drawing quite a bit of attention to himself at the same time, however, so I wasn’t completely sure if it worked that way.”

Heh, I guess classes with stealth do that here too.

He had lost count of the times where enemies with concealment skills had escaped him by fleeing into fields of mobs that couldn’t detect them. If one attempted to pursue their tormentor, they would aggro everything and their opponent would return to kill them while one was busy trying to get rid of it all.

The sound of shattering bones filled the air as Shalltear destroyed another batch of Undead that had been attracted by the disturbance. An idea formed in his mind as she dispatched them and more shambled over.

“Shalltear, return to my side.”

“Yes, Ainz-sama!”

“Zahradnik-dono, finish clearing this away.”

Baroness Zahradnik stepped forward as Shalltear retreated to stand beside him. Ainz frowned as she pulled a plain-looking spear from one of her bags. Ignoring the fact that it wasn’t even enchanted, a spear was a poor choice against the Skeletons coming towards them, who were resistant against piercing and slashing damage.

The noblewoman swept the base of her spear across in a wide arc, destroying the heads of a half dozen Skeletons. She then reversed her weapon to behead the Zombies that remained with a pair of quick slashes. Ainz stroked his chin thoughtfully at the display.

In Yggdrasil, weapons had base damage types attributed to them. Spears were piercing weapons, and the only way to deal bludgeoning or slashing damage with a spear was to use a Skill that specifically did so. These rules still applied to Ainz and Nazarick’s denizens, as well as any of their summons.

Those rules did not seem to apply to the natives of this world. In the Baroness’ hands, the spear transformed into a quarterstaff, a dagger, a sword, then back to a spear again. It extended and retracted, and there was no such thing as getting inside her reach. Even more so than the way she wielded her weapon, her flowing movements continually positioned her in advantageous ways. The Undead she fought could not touch her, and despite their being so much weaker than her, she offered them absolutely no quarter.

Spears were not common amongst Adventurers, being seen as the weapon of peasants and rank-and-file soldiers. The one native of this world Ainz had faced that wielded a spear was a Worker that opted to use flashy, powerful attacks. While Ainz didn’t think that there was anything particularly wrong with that, what happened afterwards swayed his impression.

When he was used to test Nazarick’s defences, it felt like he had been all flash and no substance. The Nazarick Old Guarders that were pitted against his party easily overwhelmed them, despite the Pop NPCs being estimated as lower in level and lacking in any experience. The Workers’ performance had been universally reported as dismal by every observer.

Is this what you call a difference in combat styles? The way she moves is faster and more defensive compared to that old man.

Unlike the woman he had observed for most of the day, the one before him shone with confidence and grace. At that moment, Ainz beheld a vision of one who had been born to reign over blood-soaked battlefields…

…and then that vision ran by, several Undead chasing after her.

Eh? Where are you going?

Ainz cast Life Essence, but the spell indicated that she was still at full health. After running about a hundred metres into the buffer zone, she turned around and destroyed the Undead pursuing her. The Baroness jogged back over to them.

“I dispatched that group out of the notice of everything else,” she said. “That should keep any additional Undead from coming our way.”

That’s right, huh. The people of this world wouldn’t think to farm experience by chaining aggro like that. They’d try to resolve things as quickly as possible instead.

So much for his power levelling idea. Not that anything around them was a challenge to his test subject. If they came across any areas with higher-level Undead, he would have her try again.