41 The path to hell

The group continued to walk as people rumored the heroic figures before them, even the workers, with their tension and prejudice against adventurers, couldn't help but admire the group before them.

Legends and heroes are met with praise and applause everywhere they go after all.

The rest of the journey remained fairly uneventful, though Aarche kept herself and her group as far away as possible from Thoth and that entire group, since, in her mind, no human was powerful enough to hold so much mana in themselves.

Not even Fluder Paradyne held that much power, she knew this firsthand since he personally tried to recruit her. Aarche didn't know how they could be so powerful, but one thing was certain-

One doesn't obtain that kind of power through righteous means, and even if they did, such powerful people are magnets for problems and catastrophes no matter what.

It's for the best to keep at a distance, even though the group didn't understand why Aarche was so insistent on keeping them away from Darkness, they knew Aarche would not make them do this without a reason, so they kept their distance as she wished.

As the forest parted ways, they witnessed the luxurious mansion of their employer before them, large fountains and impressive statues decorated the surrounding area as a few guards patrolled around.

Count Femel, a blonde man with long hair and blue eyes, could be seen standing before his mansion, next to him, a muscular butler with black hair and brown eyes stood.

Count Femel stood with a big toothy smile as he watched the workers and their adventurer escorts arrive one by one, of course, he immediately greeted Momon by shaking his hand. The butler behind him bowed, albeit quite a bit deeper than good manners mandated.

"I am incredibly happy you accepted my request Sir Momon. I wish to let you know that anything you need, I am willing to provide."

Momon nodded, "I see, thank you Count, but there is no need."

The count nodded, knowing that pushing things any more would be rude. He then turned to the adventurers and workers who were awaiting his next orders.

The count motioned to his butler, who approached the large contingent of armed individuals with absolute confidence.

"First of all, thank you for accepting my lord's request. First off, all of your personal belongings shall be kept here until you return to retrieve them. As you are no doubt aware, my lord has recruited a sizable number of gold-ranked adventurers to ensure they are not stolen or tampered with."

"What if they decide to steal them?" Erya, the human with the two elf slaves, asked.

Immediately the air grew cold as the gold-ranked adventurers felt anger at being called thieves by people who dabbled in illegal matters, what right did this man have to accuse them of anything? They were the ones who would illegally cross the border and steal from a tomb!

The workers immediately gave Erya a disapproving look, the man was poking the hornets' nest for no good reason, still, it was a valid question many of them wanted to also ask, albeit in a less hostile manner.

The butler, sensing the sudden shift in the mood, quickly answered the question, "Please do not worry, Darkness will be personally protecting all of your items as well, does anyone have any problems with this?"

'Who would say they have a problem?' Saying something now would be the equivalent of disrespecting an adamantite-ranked group, the height of stupidity in other words.

Erya clicked his tongue as he glanced at Aura, the man did not want a filthy elf anywhere near his items, but saying that would get him killed no doubt, so he swallowed his words for now.

Everyone kept silent as the butler waited for a few seconds, with a polite smile, he continued to speak, "Very good then, you shall set out in three hours after your luggage has been stored away-" 

"If I may have a word." Momon suddenly stepped up next to the butler as he was wrapping up, the butler bowed politely as he took a step back, though the look in his eyes spoke of the respect he felt for Momon.

Thoth narrowed his eyes as he stared at the butler for a second.

Momon nodded and turned to the workers and adventurers before him, who all eagerly awaited the hero's next words.

"I have a question for you all, this mission is no doubt extremely dangerous." Momon's eyes glowed red, "So why do you risk your lives and go into these dangerous places anyways?"

A silence hung in the air for a few seconds, until one worker, a dwarf man with full plate armor, known as the leader of the worker group "Heavy Masher," spoke up.

"For the money of course."

"..."

Momon waited for a second to hear any other opinions, only for everyone to agree with the dwarf, citing their desire to earn more gold.

As Momon was about to speak once more, Thoth suddenly hopped up next to him after muttering "[Zone of Honesty and Trust]" and looked over everyone.

"And what will you do with this money?" He said in a typical childish voice with well-practiced childish mannerisms.

Everyone paused, this was clearly none of his business, and as they were about to voice this thought, they felt the air in their throats get stuck as They suddenly felt compelled to be completely honest with Thoth, like they were looking at a trusted friend, so they proceeded to speak with complete honesty.

"I want to free my sisters..." said Aarche.

"I want to buy more toys..." said Erya.

"I want to help my family..." said another worker.

More and more of them voiced their true wishes as Thoth noted the ones who were good, while also keenly remembering those who were greedy assholes of course.

The happy farm won't fill itself after all!

Momon looked over all of these people, now understanding why they were so greedy, and nodded.

"I understand, I wish you good luck on this excursion."

After this, the adventurers began carrying the worker's gear to the mansion, of course, things like potions and other combat equipment would be taken to the tomb itself where they would set up a temporary camp.

Momon approached one of the carts and began taking some of the heaviest boxes into his hands, causing a nearby gold plate adventurer to almost trip in surprise.

"Sir Momon!" He shouted, "There is no need for you to do such inconvenient menial work, we can do that just fine."

"I don't find this troublesome at all," Momon said as he picked up a third box, "And if I can help you with your work, shouldn't I?"

The nearby gold-ranked adventurers were awed by his humble and kind personality, to think a man who wields so much power would also be so kind and humble...

Truly, the man is worthy of being called a legend.

After this, the adventurers removed all the gear needed from the carts, and the workers moved on with the excursion. The adventurers remained behind to guard the items left behind while Momon and Thoth walked to a nearby hill from which they could see the workers walking away.

As Momon and Thoth stood looking at the group marching away, Momon turned to Thoth.

"You did well casting that spell, had you not, I would have never been aware of the circumstances they were under."

Thoth smiled, "It's nothing worth mentioning Lord Ainz, I suspected you were unaware, so I decided to show you the truth, nothing worth praising."

Momon removed his helmet and Thoth quickly cast an illusion around him using his world item, ensuring no one noticed the hero without his helmet on.

Ainz spoke as he looked over the horizon where the sun could be seen setting, "It is worthy of praise. Though I am curious," Ainz turned to Thoth, "Are you not surprised I was unaware of something?"

Thoth shook his head, "Not at all, it's only natural there are things even the Supreme Beings do not know."

Ainz's mouth opened slightly in surprise, "Truly? Most of Nazarick would want to kill you for saying that."

Thoth laughed slightly, "No doubt! Their faith completely blinds them, and while I do agree the 41 Supreme Beings are worthy of respect... I can't help but feel it's incredibly lonely up there, on that high pedestal you are all placed upon. Especially for you now that the other Supreme Beings are gone."

Ainz fell into silence as he thought to himself that maybe, just maybe, he might be capable of convincing the NPCs to be more equal to him after all... He then shook his head, no, such a thing is impossible, Thoth is just a special case, the others would never agree to any of this.

"...Let us return to Nazarick for now, Nabe and Aura will remain here to cover for us. I'll have Albedo send a few doppelgangers to take our positions quickly."

"Oh! By the way Lord Ainz. Are you aware of the fact that the butler is a doppelganger too? I only noticed after observing him more closely."

"Truly? To be honest, I had no idea."

'How refreshing it is, to be honest for once. When was the last time I admitted to someone else I didn't know something?' Ainz thought as he cast "[Gate]".

"Indeed, Demiurge and Albedo most likely wanted to have full control over every aspect of the plan," Thoth said as he stepped through the Gate.

"I see-" Ainz's voice cut off as he entered the gate. Their conversation ended a few seconds after this, as Albedo immediately hogged the skeleton for herself, causing Thoth to take the hint and swiftly leave, much to Ainz's despair.

As those two returned to Nazarick, the workers continued their march towards the tomb.

The workers managed to cross the border between the Kingdom and the Empire in secret, after a couple more days, they managed to reach Nazarick without any complications since the workers are very experienced with these sorts of missions that are... More dubious of their legality. Not to mention the plenty of bribes and deals made with the local nobles or their patrols, ensuring completely safe passage.

The workers began setting up their camp outside Nazarick inside the Great Forest of Tob out of sight. Little did they know... They were about to enter what might as well be hell itself.

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