"The Great Tomb of Nazarick?" Barrett paused for a second, "You mean that incident?"
"What incident?" EeDechi asked, her face full of curiosity.
Sean, Stella, and Barrett all gave EeDechi weird looks, totally baffled that their orichalcum-level elite adventurer captain had no clue about this.
With EeDechi's unfazed expression staring back at him, Barrett started spilling the beans about the event that had rocked the entire adventurer community.
It happened years ago, when a juicy rumor started floating around among adventurers:
Somewhere between the borders of Baharuth, Re-Estize, and the Slane Theocracy, there was an ancient, unexplored tomb. Just from the bits and pieces visible on the outside, this tomb was freaking massive. People figured it might be stuffed with gold, silver, and priceless treasures buried alongside the dead. If you could get in and poke around, the haul would be insane.
Of course, a tomb that huge was bound to have undead guards juiced up with necromancy, and probably a bunch of freaky defense spells too. Charging in blind was a surefire way to run into some nasty, unknown shit.
But none of that could stop the adventurers and nobles from drooling over the promise of cash and magic loot. Before long, some rich noble types pulled strings and put together a few adventurer squads—some of them pretty damn well-known teams, too. They all marched into the Great Tomb at the same time, ready to strike it big.
The end result? Not a single one of those adventurers who stepped into the Great Tomb ever walked out.
Dozens of battle-hardened, well-geared veteran adventurers vanished overnight, just like that. After that mess, a new nation called the Sorcerer Kingdom popped up near the Great Tomb, crawling with all kinds of badass undead critters. Nobody dared to sniff around there anymore.
Barrett sighed as he told the tale. Back then, someone had asked him to tag along for the Great Tomb expedition, but lucky for him, it was too far, so he said no. Otherwise, he wouldn't be standing here now, shooting the breeze about it like some campfire story.
"Great Tomb, Great Tomb of Nazarick… Sorcerer Kingdom… Ainz Ooal Gown…" EeDechi furrowed her brow, mulling it over. Those fragmented names bounced around in her head, slowly linking up like pearls on a necklace.
Then it hit her. "I get it! I know where her sister went!" she exclaimed.
"You know where Arche Eeb Rile Furt is?" Barrett, Sean, and Stella all stared at EeDechi, shocked.
"Hmph, Arche. That girl's definitely been nabbed by Ainz Ooal Gown to join his harem!" EeDechi declared with total confidence.
"'Join his harem'? What's that supposed to mean?" Sean, Stella, and Barrett exchanged confused looks.
So EeDechi broke it down for them, explaining in detail what "joining a harem" meant—basically, the process of rounding up one chick after another to keep under your thumb.
To her, Arche's little sister—those adorable blonde twin girls—were so cute that Arche herself had to be a total knockout too. Ainz must've taken one look at her and gotten all hot and bothered, adding her to his harem. Which meant the twins' big sis was still alive. All EeDechi had to do was bust her out.
"But…" Barrett, the seasoned guy who'd seen it all, chimed in with a counterpoint. "Word is, the Sorcerer Kingdom's king is an undead—a walking skeleton with nothing but bones. Pretty sure he's got no action downstairs… Captain, you sure you're not off on this one?"
EeDeChi snorted coldly, "I've seen it all in my time. I've consumed more salt than you've eaten rice, crossed more bridges than you've traveled roads, and read more pages of books than you've used toilet paper. As for an isekai protagonist like Ainz Ooal Gown, I could guess his personality with my eyes closed. I'll go talk to him and demand he hand over Arche. If he says no, I'll smash his bony skull in!"
"Isekai? Protagonist?" The three listening to EeDechi's loud-ass rant just stared at each other again, totally lost on whatever the hell their captain was yammering about.
Night had fallen deep. After Stella calmed down the twitchy twin girls and got them to sleep, EeDechi shelved her half-baked plan to go "teach Emperor Jircniv some life lessons." The four members of the Last Defender of the Way adventurer squad dragged themselves back to their rooms and crashed hard.
The thick darkness of night faded as the moonlight dimmed, giving way to dawn. The sun peeked over the horizon, spilling soft rays across the world. Morning broke.
The four of them packed up their gear, ready to hit the Adventurer's Guild and see what jobs were up for grabs. Barrett stopped EeDechi from storming out of the inn, telling Sean to head into the capital and sniff around for info while the rest of them hung back in the inn room.
About half an hour later, Sean came pounding up the stairs—"thud, thud, thud"—and shoved the inn room door open. He was holding two rolled-up parchments, panting like crazy. "Old man, you nailed it! You and the captain are wanted!"
"WHAT!" EeDechi slammed the table and shot to her feet. "Who's got the balls to put a bounty on me?"
Barrett ignored EeDechi's roaring. He quickly shut the door and unrolled the parchments to check out the wanted posters. One side of the parchment was smudged with some chalky white wall dust—looked like Sean had just ripped it off a post.
Just as he'd figured, one of the parchments had EeDechi's face and outfit painted in sharp oil dyes. The portrait was damn near identical—black clothes, black hair, gripping a giant sword. Only difference was the eyes looked a bit meaner.
Barrett wasn't shocked. The empire had Magic Casters who could dig into living people's memories. They'd pull the eyewitnesses' recollections, and then artists would sketch out the criminal's face in crazy realistic detail.
Under the portrait, EeDechi's crimes were listed:
Attacked Julina's Forbidden Paradise, killed 5, injured 31;
Set fire to Julina's Forbidden Paradise;
Murdered a Marquis.
Bounty: 700 gold coins.
Barrett sucked in a sharp breath. Holy shit, she killed an empire Marquis! This was bad—real bad. By imperial law, even three EeDechis swinging from the gallows wouldn't cool off the nobles and royals now.
At the bottom of the parchment, there was a special note: This female thug is crazy strong, wielding 3rd Tier Arcane Magic. Regular folks spotting her should steer clear and report to the Imperial Knights, no heroics needed.
The other parchment only had a detailed sketch of Barrett's gear and outfit—his face was kinda blurry. Chalk that up to Barrett's street smarts; he'd wrapped his mug in black cloth while looting the guards. According to the parchment, Barrett was EeDechi's sidekick. Bounty: 100 gold coins.
Just 100 gold coins. Barrett shook his head inside. Damn, it's really unfair! Wait, what am I thinking? This is a bounty on my head, not an adventurer's pay!
"So, what now?" Barrett shot a sideways glance at his captain, his look screaming, "Told you so. Should've listened to me, and now we're screwed, huh?"
EeDechi snatched the parchment from him, all impatient, and scrunched up her brow. Sean and Stella crowded in to peek.
"Not a bad likeness," EeDechi said, stroking a nonexistent beard on her chin, giving it some serious thought. "Just missing a bit of my spark, though."
Sean stared at the wanted poster, then at EeDechi, and gulped hard.
EeDechi glared at him. "What, you hungry or something?"
Sean scratched his head and grinned awkwardly. "Nah, just never laid eyes on 700 gold coins before."
EeDechi: "…"
"Well, it's not all the captain's fault," Stella said, glancing back at the twin girls curled up asleep on the bed. Her eyes softened as she spoke quietly. "If I had the captain's skills, I'd have done the same damn thing."
Sean, still swallowing hard from earlier, jumped in. "I'm with the captain too! Her heart's in the right place. Those nobles are just a bunch of useless fatasses—hardly any of 'em are worth a damn!"
Barrett shrugged. Back in his younger days, he'd been just as reckless as EeDechi. This wasn't his first time on a wanted list either. Slipping out of the empire's capital? He could do that in his sleep. But with the city locked down tight now, they'd need a plan first.
EeDechi, the root of all this chaos, set the parchment down. She stared out the window, lost in thought.
They were on the second floor of the inn. Outside, the sky was a killer blue, sunlight blazing bright, with wispy clouds drifting on a light breeze. In the distance, you could clearly make out the towering white spire, all sharp angles and pristine.
Thanks to some protective magic aura, that top building in the capital's palace had stayed spotless and radiant since the day it was built.
Their adventurer captain, worth a cool 700 gold coins, seemed to figure something out. She tightened the giant sword strapped to her back and turned to the other three. "Looks like besides taking down the big bad Ainz Ooal Gown, I've got some other shit to handle. You guys get out of here—I can't help you now. I'm already a wanted woman, so I'll go give Emperor Jircniv a little lesson first, teach him some wisdom from his elders, then ditch this country."
With that, she hopped onto the table by the window, planted her left foot on the sill, and launched herself out. She soared like a black bird in flight, bursting through the window.
"Captain!" Sean and Stella yelled, shoving each other to get to the window. Barrett, stunned, leaned out to look too. There she was—black clothes, black hair, giant sword on her back—EeDechi, leaping across the brick rooftops of the houses. Her moves were slicker than a cat's, and after a few bounds, she'd crossed several streets, vanishing behind the jumble of rooftops.
"No need to sweat it. With the captain's skills, probably only Baharuth's Four Imperial Knights could slow her down."