Chapter 320: 320 It can’t be me, right?
Reiger knew that Ye·Lantern was already being watched by others.
There was a Magic Singer who controlled the undead, scheming in the shadows to turn Ye·Lantern into a city of the dead, and to turn its inhabitants into the undead.
Once Ye·Lantern became a city filled with the undead, that city would surely give rise to more and stronger undead creatures.
The Magic Singer who controlled the undead planned to use the power of a ritual to transform himself into a wise, high-ranking undead who would never age or die within this soon-to-be city of the dead.
For this purpose, the other party was preparing in the graveyards of Ye·Lantern, using the environment of the gravesites and the power of a magical artifact in their possession to secretly create and summon as many undead as possible, amassing an army of the undead.
If this army were to launch an attack on Ye·Lantern, then in the absence of Mountain Copper and Fine Steel level adventurers to protect the city, it was not impossible for the enemy to conquer Ye·Lantern and turn it into a city of the dead.
For this very reason, the other party also joined forces with a betrayer from the Black Scriptures of Slane Theocracy.
The Six Scriptures directly under the Slane Theocracy, and the strongest among them, the Black Scripture, whose every member has stepped into the Heroic Domain, are formidable foes of absolute strength, terrifying adversaries unmatched by the natives.
Reiger knew of their existence, knew what they wanted to do, and even more, knew that they were bound to fail.
For when they officially commenced their actions against Ye·Lantern, they would fall right into the trap of a player from another world who planned to make a name for himself as an adventurer.
Indeed, I am referring to Ainz.
In the original story, Ainz used these two individuals as stepping stones to build his reputation, thwarting their conspiracy in one fell swoop, protecting Ye·Lantern, and thereby accumulating a great deal of merit.
And it was from this incident that the adventurer known as "Feifei" gradually became renowned, which greatly facilitated the subsequent plans of the Old Bones.
This was precisely the reason why Reiger intended to take down the mastermind behind it all.
"Since they’ve sent people to cause me trouble, wouldn’t it be rather rude to myself not to find something for them to busy themselves with?"
That was the idea Reiger had in mind.
If his memory served him correctly, in the next few days, two events closely related to Ainz would occur in and around Ye·Lantern.
One involved the actions taken by Kajit and Clementine to turn Ye·Lantern into a city of the dead, which would have a direct bearing on Ainz’s calculations to make a name for himself as an adventurer.
The other was related to a Guardian of the Nasalik Underground Tomb.
When Ainz, as Feifei, arrived in Ye·Lantern, a Guardian of the Nasalik Underground Tomb had also received his orders to capture some humans who wouldn’t draw attention yet could use martial arts or magic in the vicinity, for the purpose of gathering intelligence and various experiments.
That Guardian would encounter an accident during the operation, running into a group of unwelcome guests dispatched by the Slane Theocracy, and ultimately fall under their mental control, breaking free from the oversight of the Nasalik Underground Tomb and becoming a wild monster by the roadside, hostile to anyone who attempted to attack her.
This was also the event Reiger previously mentioned that could be exploited to shear the wool of the insufferable Ainz Ooal Gown.
The betrayal of the Guardian was a catastrophic event for the Nasalik, akin to the sky collapsing.
At that time, Ainz would need intelligence, would want to know who facilitated all this, and what exactly had transpired.
Then it would be Reiger’s time to enter the stage as an "informant."
But right now, Reiger didn’t want to wait for that opportunity to come on its own.
He wanted to take the initiative.
"Then let’s go find those two who are preparing to cause trouble behind the scenes first."
With that in mind, Reiger used the "Fly" magic, left the city area, and headed for the graveyard.
Thanks to this, when Reiger arrived above the graveyard, landing on top of the sanctuary, he chanced upon that very scene.
"What kind of expression will that adventurer who saved Gejiev Storunov show under such circumstances?"
"How many of his bones do I need to break, how many of his muscles do I have to puncture, before he will weep and beg for mercy?"
"Ah, I really want to see it soon."
As Reiger descended slowly from the sky, he heard Clementine utter these sentences with a chilling laugh, and his expression turned peculiar.
Then, Reiger spoke out.
"The adventurer whose bones you want to break, whose muscles you want to puncture, wouldn’t happen to be me, would it?"
As soon as these words left Reiger’s lips and reached the ears of Kajit and Clementine, the two froze in place.
"Who!?"
Kajit was the first to recover, raising the black staff in his hand toward the direction of the voice, which was where Reiger was.
"[Acid Javelin]!"
Kajit immediately chanted a spell, causing the gem on the tip of the black staff to burst forth with the glow of magic power.
An acid javelin formed at the front of the staff, turning into an arrow released from the bowstring, shooting fiercely towards Reiger.
Reiger simply sidestepped, avoiding the incoming acid.
His movements were casual and his expression was as calm as still water, not even diverting his gaze from Kajit and Clementine as if the attack had never happened.
"Tch..."
Kajit clicked his tongue in surprise.
As for Clementine, she also raised her head at this moment, looking towards Reiger.
"...when?"
While staring intently at Reiger, she muttered these words in a grumbling tone.
Clearly, the former ninth seat of the Black Scripture was surprised, shocked that she had not noticed Reiger’s approach.
She was a warrior, one who had stepped into the Heroic Domain. Her senses were much sharper than others, and being extremely sensitive, she was adept at detecting danger. Even the experts from the Windflower Scripture who specialized in espionage couldn’t get close to her without her noticing.
That Reiger could approach so brazenly without her detection greatly surprised Clementine.
"Did you use some kind of stealth magic?"
If that was the case, why had her magical item, which she carried with her at all times to alert her to such magic, failed to react at all?
Clementine was puzzled.
She didn’t know that Reiger hadn’t used stealth magic, for he had no need to.
Reiger had never intended to sneak up on her; he went unnoticed simply because those who truly understand the world could voluntarily seal their own fighting spirit and aura, making themselves appear as ordinary people with no presence in the eyes of others.
It was for this reason that many found Reiger both contradictory and mysterious. Though he should have been noticeable, he lacked presence, which was quite bizarre.
Unless Reiger deliberately made some noise, those who did not directly see him would find it difficult to notice him immediately.
Of course, this was irrelevant to the current situation.
"You two are Kajit and Clementine, are you not?"
Looking down from above at the two of them, Reiger searched his memory for the original work and successfully found their names.
"I hadn’t expected you to come out on your own, which certainly saves me a lot of trouble."
Reiger descended from mid-air, landing in front of Kajit and Clementine.
Kajit and Clementine instantly shifted their gaze, now focusing on Reiger, who had fallen from the sky and landed opposite them.
"...you are Reiger Brillhaut?"
With a dark expression and tone, Kajit posed this question.
"Oh?" Reiger responded indifferently, "You know me?"
"Not personally," Kajit scoffed, "but if you were to ask who’s been the most famous and strongest in E-Rantel lately, the first to come to mind would be you, right?"
The implication being that anyone who could approach them without detection had to be Reiger, the very person whose reputation had been stirring up the city recently.
"I see, so it’s you?" Clementine glanced at Reiger, her demeanor returning to calmness, and with a grin, she said, "We were just talking about you, and here you are, presenting yourself. Is this the oversight of the god I’ve abandoned?"
"Oversight?" Reiger glanced at Clementine, then suddenly smiled. "I hope you’ll still think that later."
With that, Reiger took a step forward.
It was this step that caused both Kajit and Clementine to react.
"Stop right there!" Kajit raised his black staff, aiming at Reiger, and spoke in a stern voice, "Reiger Brillhaut, what are you here for?"
Reiger ignored Kajit’s question and continued to walk step by step towards them.
"I said stop!"
Kajit’s face turned furious as he commanded the black staff to shoot several spears made of strong acid, aiming for Reiger’s head, chest, and abdomen, speeding through the air towards him.
Reiger simply continued walking, merely sidestepping with an air of leisure, dodging the incoming acid shots with composure in both his steps and posture.
Even the slow-to-react Kajit now understood that their visitor bore ill intent.
Although Kajit did not know why this recently famous adventurer had come here, or whether the adventurer was aware of something he shouldn’t be, Kajit decided not to let Reiger leave, just to be safe.
"Pitiful adventurer, don’t blame me. Blame yourself for coming to a place you shouldn’t be in the dead of night."
Without a shred of pity, Kajit spoke and then turned to lift an irregular stone-shaped object he held in his other hand.
"It’s a bit early to use this, but it’s not bad to eliminate a potential threat to my plans here."
"Let’s have you witness the power of this Treasure Bead."
The irregular stone-shaped object suddenly burst into light.
"Rumble rumble..."
Instantly, the entire cemetery began to shake.
The shadow behind Kajit let out a scream, and under the glow of light, it gradually took shape.