85[Fanfiction] Volume 14: The City-State
Disclaimer
I do not, in any case, own Overlord novel or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama. I am merely writing a fanfiction of his work and present it to you as such. This is not part of the novels.
About the story
This fanfiction is supposed to take place after the Holy Kingdom Arc (Vol. 12 & 13) and relate a fan story of the conquest of the Karnassus City-States Alliance. Most of it will be told from the perspective of the humans (and the main protagonist), but there will be scenes from the standpoint of Ainz and his servants to give a better understanding of the plot. Please understand this choice while you read and may you enjoy it.
I planned the fanfiction as a volume (meaning 8 to 11 chapters depending on how I will cut them), and the story is expected to end. However, I take a lot of times to complete a chapter, and it may end up in having a significant delay between the release of the next one. Forgive me in advance for the trouble. I try to stay true to your expectation, but I can't promise anything.
To finish with this boring stuff, I want to say that the real heroes are you — the readers — and that you deserve the best out of us — the writers. I merely hope that you will find my best to be entertaining enough.
That said : Have fun & stay awesome !
Many thanks to nobetteridea, for proofreading and helping me improve this chapter.
Chapter 1 — Falling legends
Part 1 - Border of the Karnassus City-State Alliance
"Ainz-sama."
A crackling voice resounded — like the threatening noise of a wasp.
『Is that you, Cocytus ?』
"Yes. I have a report to deliver. Gargantua is in position."
Ainz suddenly panicked under his mask. What would he do if something went wrong ? It was an essential part of the plan — as it would seal the fate of the Karnassus City-State Alliance with just a single battle. So— why did he have to make things difficult ? Why did he tell the Guardians that it served as a training session to teach commanding skills to Aura ?
Ahh — what did I do...
At first, he had thought of delegating the matter of strategy to Cocytus, but the latter had protested, that the victory should be for the Sorcerer King to take and that Ainz should take command of the army. However— he couldn't possibly take on this responsibility. His knowledge didn't suffice for leading an army into battle...
So he had found this excuse that Cocytus took well — thinking the Supreme One was trying to hone his skills as a teacher. And they went with the idea of letting Aura command under Cocytus supervision.
But what if she lost the battle in terms of strategy ?
Since it was his decision, they would probably end up looking at Ainz in disappointment as the whole plan would crumble into nothing.
"Ainz-sama ?"
My tummy hurts… If needed, I will send Shalltear in reinforcement.
『Umu... You may begin. I trust this will be a good learning experience for you and Aura. 』
"Understood. Then. We will do what is necessary to bring you victory."
At the border between the Baharut Empire and the City-State Alliance
It was a freezing night, and they had a wall to guard—
That was quite an unenviable situation for the two watchmen who observed the land offered to their sights.
"Bloody hell. I hate taking the first guard duty !"
After a loud yawn, the taller of the two stretched to answer the complaint.
"Can't deny that. Although, these nights will soon be far behind us — just deal with it."
"Damn. If we ever get out of here and nothing happened, I swear, that I will punch the guy who warned Lord Drusus about this 'potential monster attack.'"
The other guard couldn't help but let out a snort of amusement at that silly statement. What an absurd idea to hurt a Mayor's source of intel... If a man treasured his life, he would stay away from the high-ranked nobles and endure their whims without complaining.
Perhaps he should knock the idea out of his friend's head ?
He thought of a sentence to retort to the dumb dreamer but stopped midway as he noticed something in the distance.
"Oyy— did you see that !? The mountain freaking moved."
His friend looked at him for a second before bursting out laughing.
"Ahh ha ah ! Are you having hallucinations ? A 'moving mountain' ? Don't tell me you can't handle a night without sleeping — or is it due to the stew ? Eh eh."
The guard rolled on the floor laughing while the other watched him with an angry look.
"Come on ! Stop it ! This is not funny !"
"Bwahaha ! Even the storytellers wouldn't be bold enough to narrate the story of 'moving mountains.' You've got quite the imagination to try and frighten me !"
With a grumble of dissatisfaction, the guard turned his back on his friend and, by innate reflex, watched the top of the rampart from where they came.
"…What the —"
He rubbed his eyes out of astonishment — maybe his friend was right after all, and he was having hallucinations ? Because there was a young woman who walked in their direction with a torch in one hand and the insignia of the Alliance embroidered on her cloth.
"T—The heck are you doing here !? Stop right where you are and state your identity !"
Hearing the rising voice of his companion, the other guard stopped laughing and rose back to his legs — wiping the tears flowing from his left eye. It was only a matter of time before his expression changed to a a look of perfect incredulity upon seeing the woman.
"Err—"
"Sorry to bother you ! I'm looking for Mirkah, my friend" she said.
It just resulted in the confusion of the veteran as to who she was and why she was here. What an odd situation… If not for the name of his general, the guard would have sounded the alarm right away — yet, he wanted to know why the girl thought of this excuse.
"At three freaking am ?!"
"Uhh… I thought I could see him as soon as I arrive. Is it wrong ?"
This reply was clearly unsatisfying, causing the watcher to turn to his friend and seek help.
**You— deal with her. This is stupid.**
The latter gave a cold gaze before getting back to the lady.
"Aherm… I'll trust you, since you are wearing the first company's insignia, but don't expect a warm welcome from the general. Uhm… He decided to take the first watch with us for the army to follow his humble example. You'll find him at the next tower."
"That's all I asked for ! Thank you !"
The girl departed to follow the rampart road, while the guards looked at each other in confusion.
**The general's whore ? After all, she was searching for him at the right place...**
**Well. He must be quite broke if he had to buy a night with an effeminate lad. Eh eh.**
The two guards laughed at the weak joke, while watching the girl walk away.
"—sigh— Well. Joke aside, if it's not a fake, it must be important, since the girl wore that uniform… It better not be another monster alert. I'm already fed up with one."
The other guard shrugged his shoulders to show that — either way — it wasn't their responsibility to take care of her.
"Let's just get back to work — or we'll end up shame-naked for neglecting our duty."
Grimacing at the idea, the guard returned his eyes back to the plain and forgot about the woman for a while.
Their duty?
It was holding this "wall", which served as a natural obstacle against massive invasions. The high authorities feared that monsters from the Baharut Empire would flee the country and attack the City-State Alliance from this valley...
But it was a stupid order.
Even if the Sorcerer Kingdom had perturbed the forces lying in the shadow of their neighbors, monsters knew better than to strike a border fortification like this one. Anyone would question the very reason that pushed a high-ranked man to mobilize a cohort because of this mere suspicion — furthermore at the word of a low-born.
Basically what good would it do?
Give a sense of security to the citizens? Yet — it was costing a lot of food, money and time for a relatively uncertain payoff. The distant light from their military camp was proof of the price they had to pay for such an extravagant expedition. And that was without taking into account that the soldiers would get impatient — doing nothing but patrolling.
If you thought about it, there was something wrong with the decision.
— Although, it was dangerous for a soldier to analyze the choice of a Mayor and he stopped pondering it at once. After all, you should better keep a distance from all these dark schemes
Instead, he sighed and turned back to those 'oh so dangerous' grass plains .
It was a pleasant view. Conveying the feeling of being untouched by the hand of humans for generations of peace — all you ever needed to relax and let your imagination wander. However— upon closer inspection the scenery was disturbed by something abnormal in the distance, causing the veteran to tilt his head.
Curious to see what it was about, he leaned closer with interested eyes.
"*grumble* ...Can't see shit in this darkness."
"Mhh ? You said something?"
Ignoring his friend, the guard kept looking with a puzzled look — making his colleague shift his line of sight as well.
Indeed, there was a weird phenomenon distorting the air — like a heat shimmer advancing toward them. Both of the guards could clearly see it despite the darkness of the night.
"The heck is that ?"
It could not possibly be the product of a natural event, since they had hardly ever heard of anything like that, plus their sense of hearing seemed to be failing — as if the usual melody of the night was muffled, or non existent to be more correct.
Irrational fear seized the mind of the two guards as they realized the situation. They gulped by innate reflex.
It was no coincidence that the cicadas had stopped singing and that they did not hear the owls anymore — there was definitely some kind of magic at work.
The shimmer was a veil.
Over what ?
They had no idea, but logic screamed that it was disguising something dangerous — far more terrible than just the effect of a cold breeze. The watchers could only keep their eyes fixed on the mysterious danger that approached, frozen by curiosity and fear.
"[…]"
Time passed, and after a minute, the invisible cloak disappeared to reveal a frightening sight —
"— !"
The watchers' hearts skipped a beat as the color drained out of their faces, seeing that the fields had been replaced by the horrifying view of a vast army of undead—
Skeleton archers, full armored undead in tight formations or even anti-cavalry units — the frightful army was ready for a overwhelming attack of the City-States.
The humans of the military camp were wholly outnumbered five to one — their expedition being a force of dissuasion and not a real army. But, as impressive as the force of undead could be, it merely stood as a pile of bones compared to the far more alarming threat standing in front of them.
— There stood a behemoth, whose existence violated reason itself.
It resembled the product of a nightmare in every possible way. His body was a mountain, made entirely of stones and rocks, while his head surpassed the height of the wall — observing the two men from above. If not for the cuteness of his face, the two panicked soldiers would have thought themselves to be asleep in a dream filled with horror.
Time froze —
It felt like an unbearable eternity of unbearable suspense, waiting to see what would happen and what they would become.
"What are you waiting for, Gargantua ? Don't pay attention to this thrash and just destroy the wall. We're here to kill everyone anyway..."
Hearing the words of the dark elf who had just arisen from the shoulders of the beast, the watchers knew there was but one fate for them —
[Death].
They tried to think of a way out. But it was useless. The stone golem was already rising his hand high in the air to destroy the wall, and their teeth were clacking in terror. The soldiers knew they could not resist — it was a goddamn mountain who wanted to kill them after all... So, they just fell to their knee, dropping their weapons and letting desperation take the place of their rationality.
"M—Monster !"
The strength of the swing shattered the flank of the wall into thousands of fragments which were propelled everywhere — raising big clouds of dust as they landed in tumultuous impacts. It stirred a chaos that could be felt from hundreds of miles around, waking people up as they peeked at the origin of the disaster and letting anarchy replace the calm pace of the night.
— The wall had been destroyed.
It was the truth. There was now a gaping hole instead of the watchtower where the two guards initially stood — and the army of undead already rushed across the frontier to perpetuate their dark intentions.