Strangers in Arwintar

8th day after coming to the New World

Arwintar, the imperial capital of the Baharuth Empire, due to many years of reform by the Emperor himself, the Empire is currently experiencing the largest influx of development ever recorded in history.

New things are constantly being introduced and brought out to society, giving rise to the opportunity for merchants to explore many new markets. 

A constant influx of goods and talents is seen in the Empire's capital. For the citizens living in the capital, it is truly a time of hope and opportunity

Although the population may be less than the one of the Re-Estize Kindom, all this leads to a huge superiority in the welfare and the well-being of the Citizens.

The current Emperor, Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix, earned his title as the bloody Emperor through his ruthless purges of useless nobles who opposed or stood in the way of his reforms, for the betterment of the citizens' lives.

Different from the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Empire had a standing Army, consisting of 8 Legions each having 10,000 soldiers.

The Empire was seen as one of the truly strong in the center of the continent, as not only did it have an organized military force, but also the Four Imperial Knights's chosen as the strongest Knight in the Emperor's service.

As well as the legendary Hero of the Empire, the Imperial Court Wizard Fluder Paradyne. A Magic Caster who was able to cast spells up to tier 6, something that was seen as the limits of Human beings.

All this made the Empire one of the most prominent Nations.

And today two new people came here to experience the atmosphere of this "magnificent" place.

"Lord Dōji, why did we come here again?" a tall young woman, wearing a black Kimono asked.

Two swords hung on the white sashi around her waist, one with a black hilt in a blue sheath with golden ornaments, while the other had a white hilt in a red sheath with black ornaments.

The young woman was a beauty in her own right, especially with her pitch-black eyes like the night itself and her athletic body, which still maintained the necessary curves.

Beside her was a man who stood out wherever he would go, his height alone made him unique. He had short and wild black hair combined with poison-green eyes.

The man wore also a black Yukata, but there was another white one worn beneath the black one. On his waist hung an Oodachi with a purple sheath, held on the Crimson red sashi around his waist.

Draped over his Shoulders hung a White Haori, with crimson red Lotus flowers covering the inside.

"We are here for two main missions given to us by Lord Ainz. You should have understood them already Kiyomi shouldn't you?"

The girl nodded, but then shook her head, "Yeah I understand, but my question was meant another way... why did you take me with you and not Lady Shiro or Lady Yoru..."

Kiyomi had a depressed and defeated look on her face.

Doji shook his head in disbelief, "It's not my decision, I can't just take the two out right now. Lord Ainz ordered me to leave the two in Nazarick for now, to not have Nazarick unmanned."

He paused for a moment and then continued, "Demiurge went out to search for scroll materials, Sebas and Shallear will be sent out as well, Lord Ainz will also leave the Tomb soon and I am gone as well."

"If I take the two with me, then there is only Albedo, Victim, Gargantua and Cocytus left. We still need to be more cautious so there shouldn't be too many people gone."

Kiyomi nodded her head, "But why me?" she was almost crying as she asked this.

Her head hung low and Doji imagined that if her ears and tail weren't concealed with the help of a magic item, then they would droop similarly.

"What's the problem with me taking my sword with me?"

Samurai often saw themselves as the swords of their Masters and so was Kiyomi, her nature as an Inugami only made her loyalty towards Dōji even greater.

But her appearance right now didn't fit with that at all.

The moment Kiyomi heard Doji call her his sword, her mood jumped high for a second before going low again.

"But Lord Dōji... I have to endure the questioning of your fiance's..." Kiyomi made an expression like a child being scolded, tears had already formed in her eyes.

Seeing this and hearing her words, Dōji suddenly turned away and seemed to not know her anymore.

This made Kiyomi stunned for a moment, before she realized, "You sold me out my Lord didn't you?!?"

Dōji started humming a melody as if he couldn't hear Kiyomi at all.

"I'm so pitiful... even my Lord has forsaken me..." Crying while walking, Kiyomi felt like the world was hell.

A hand suddenly landed on Kiyomi's head and Dōji's voice followed, "All you need to do is tell them what we are doing when they contact you. Anyway, our first stop should be the adventurers guild, though I don't think we will become adventurers..."

The two of course drew attention from the moment they entered Arwintar, not only because of their rather unique clothing but also because of the extreme height of Dōji, they simply couldn't notice him.

This though was something that was planned anyway, since they couldn't stay unnoticed, then simply don't hide.

So now they were openly searching for the Adventurers Guild, to find some information about adventurers in general first and then decide whether to join or not.

But Dōji was already pretty sure that they wouldn't join, simply because there wasn't much adventurers work in the Empire in the first place.

'Most of the Monsters are hunted by the Knights of the Emperor...Do they use these monsters for training or something?'

This was one of the things they learned while traveling towards Arwintar from merchants they had met on the way.

Though they didn't know why, the Emperor seemed to often send out his Knight to kill difficult monsters, instead of relying on the adventurers guild.

"Lord Dōji don't you want to relax? Isn't this the reason why you came out?" Kiyomi thought that the reason why Dōji came out personally, was so that he could experience something.

A thick tick mark appeared on Dōji's now hornless forehead and his face turned as black as ink.

The next moment the hand that was just patting Kiyomi's head with kindness disappeared and then a heavy fist hit Kiyomi's head.

"Ahhh!" a cry of pain rang across the streets of Arwintar, as Kiyomi crouched on the ground holding her head with a face that had tears flowing down endlessly.

"Why my Lord?" she asked while still crying in pain.

"Tsk, you deserve it. Firstly it's Ibaraki. I am Ibaraki right now, you know the Lord asked us not to reveal the connection with him yet. And secondly, who allowed you to comment on my laziness?"

The thick tick mark was still there on Dōji's face and the people were already taking a detour, holding distance from these two people.

"I understand! I am sorry! Lord Ibaraki, Kiyomi will be good!" Kiyomi was completely frightened when she looked at her Lord's dark face and immediately apologized.

Just at this moment, the two simultaneously turned in one direction, their eyes had lost the casualness from just a second ago.

"Hmmm... anyway..." Taking his gaze back, Dōji looked down at Kiyomi and spoke.

"...come, we need to go have a look at the Guild."

Walking away, Doji ignored whether Kiyomi had already calmed down or not.

Kiyomi seeing her Lord leaving her behind, immediately jumped up and ran after him.

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Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix also called the Bloody Emperor, was probably one of the busiest people in the central continent.

Not only did everything need his approval, but all information that seemed to be even remotely important needed to be reviewed by the Emperor himself.

The reason for this lay in the simple fact that there simply weren't enough people to fulfill all of his new reforms and ideas.

And so this man worked tirelessly most of the time.

Like right now, new information came his way about a magic caster, though it wasn't verified yet, this magic caster is said to have won against one of the special units of the Slane Theocracy.

Jircniv was a young man in his early twenties with blonde hair that reflected magical illumination just like the shine of the stars, and clear purple eyes that looked like amethysts.

In terms of looks alone, most women would fawn over this young man endlessly, when counting on his wealth and might as the Emperor, then probably all women of the Empire desired him as a man.

This young Emperor was currently sitting in a luxurious room behind a similar luxurious table while going through a bunch of documents.

Not far from him were a couple more tables with scribes sitting behind them, also going through documents.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door, which brought Jircniv out of his reading.

"My Emperor, Baziwood Peshmel here."

Looking at the door, Jircniv invited the person inside.

"Come in."

The door opened and inside came a man wearing black armor with red and gold outlines, he had blonde hair, wore it bound in a long ponytail, as well as a matching chin beard and a lack of eyebrows.

This man was one of the Four Imperial Knights, Baziwood Peshmel, also known as Lightning Bolt.

"My Emperor!" Baziwood greeted the Emperor with a simple salute.

Jircniv accepted the Salut and then asked, "Wasn't today your one free day to play around? Why come to me then?"

Jircniv felt a bit dumbfounded, Baziwood had asked for a free day for some time and now he came to him ok his free day.

"Well actually, I met two strange people in the streets before..." There was tension on Baziwood's face.

Jircniv's eyes narrowed, "What kind of strangers could get you to come to me for a report immediately after meeting them?"

"They wore strange clothes and caused a small commotion on the streets, so I got a bit interested and when I took a closer look I felt both, the man who was at least two and a half meters tall and the woman beside him was very strong..."

He paused and shivered for a second before composing himself, this mad Jircniv narrowed his eyes even more because he never saw Baziwood in such a state.

"I tried their senses and threw a bit of killing intent their way... but the moment I did, their gazes turned to me and I felt my blood run cold immediately... as if death would stand in front of me..."

Jircniv's face grew gloomy when hearing this and his mind started to spin rapidly, 'Who are they? Who sent them? Why are they here?' countless such questions flew through his mind, but he had no idea at all.

"Tell me more about them, it is better we keep an eye on these people while they are in Arwintar and the Knights shouldn't confront them at all. If even you have such a reaction then these two are probably stronger than Gazef Stronoff..."

Jircniv decided on the most cautious approach possible as long as he knew nothing about these people.

Baziwood nodded, then shook his head, "It didn't feel like they had any malicious intention before, but I provoked them myself..."

He still felt a bit thankful for immediately running away when he felt that feeling of death being close at hand.

"Also... I don't think Stronoff is as strong as these two..."

Baziwood's words made Jircniv stand up with wide eyes as he glared at one of his most trusted knights.

"Are you kidding me?" He didn't believe the words his trusted knight said.

"I have fought with Gazef Stronoff and although he is strong, much of his strength comes also from his gear... but those two... it felt like they were just on a different level..."

Jircniv fell back in his seat as he understood that his Knight had provoked someone, who simply shouldn't be provoked at all.

"Let's try to investigate them for now and wait for what they want to do here in Arwintar... just keep an eye from the distance, that would be the best option right now."

"Also double the number of guards around the Imperial Palace, as long as these people walk around in the capital, I don't want any lack of vigilance at all."

As he had nothing on these people besides their strength right now, that meant all he could do for now was watch and wait, but he wouldn't leave any openings while such people walked through his capital.

"As you wish, my Emperor." Baziwood took his orders and his free day was over, but it was his fault, who told him to play around...

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Standing in front of a wooden board, which should be filled with papers showing different quests, Dōji and Kiyomi are a bit stunned.

"Lord Ibaraki... isn't this the adventurer Guild?"

Dōji simply nodded, with a still dumbfounded expression.

"Then why are there only 10 papers on such a huge wall?"

Kiyomi's question was what Dōji wanted to know as well.

'It's even less than I thought... as I guessed, becoming an adventurer here isn't worth it at all...'

"Yeah... seems I was right, anyway let's get out of here and search around for another way to get money..."

Kiyomo nodded, though they couldn't read the writing on the papers, this was simply unnecessary to even try.

"My Lord, where do we go next?"

"Hmmm... there was the building in the distance that looked like the Amphitheater on the 6th Floor, let's try that place for now."

Kiyomi nodded and the two left the Guild shortly after entering.

It didn't take long for them to reach the Grand Arena of Arwintar, the problem there was where to enter and where could they learn about the function of this place.

It took them some time, to finally learn about this place.

A place for fighting, be it against monsters or humans, you just needed to register yourself and choose what you wanted to fight.

You would then be remunerated in accordance to the difficulty and audience whom your fights draw into the Grand Arena.

"So we can decide what or who to fight?" Dōji asked with curiosity shining in his eyes.

"Yes, you can choose to fight a single strong monster, or hordes of monsters, or against other gladiators. Some even crazy people sign up to fight against the martial Lord." the man working for the arena management explained.

"Sounds rather interesting, but I guess you need to start on the lower end don't you?"

The man nodded, "Yes, we don't want to simply watch people being slaughtered so we require people to start with weaker monsters to not have boring and unnecessary slaughters of people."

"This sounds fine, but how about the remuneration?" Dōji asked the important thing.

"It depends on how many people come to watch, how many desire to sponsor you after the fights, and who or what you fight." the man explained simply that it all depends.

Nodding his head, Doji then decided, "Okay we both want to sign up, for individual fights against monsters."

The man's eyes went wide, "You! I understand you look like a strong man, but you let your girl fight alone as well?"

Kiyomi immediately got annoyed by the man's words, "Hey shut up! Don't call me *his girl*! I'm..."

A fist landed on Kiyomi's head before she could finish her sentence, "I think you misunderstand, she is my servant, nothing more and nothing less. Now where do we sign up I want for both of us to fight against the strongest monsters newcomers can fight against."

The man nodded with a dumbfounded look, he didn't understand how this man could be so brutal on such a beauty.

Kiyomi was crouching on the side holding her head, as she cried and complained, "Bad Lord! Evil Lord! Violent Lord!"

Though the insults consisted simply of different titles for Dōji, she had seriously been in pain twice already on this day and didn't know what she did wrong at all.

"Then please tell me your Names so that I can register the two of you, also do you need any equipment?"

"I am Ibaraki and the crybaby over there is Kiyomi, we don't need any of the sort."

"Okay, then your fight will be tomorrow at 10 in the morning. Your enemy will be an ogre."

Dōji nearly jumped the guy and asked since when was an ogre a monster that was word a fight against him, but remembering that this was to get money for Nazarick, he held back.

Instead, he took his Guardbottle hanging on his sashi and took a few gulps to calm himself down.

'Dignified 9th Floor Guardian of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, strongest Guardian and probably around equal with the strongest being in Nazarick needs to duel a fucking Ogre below lv20...'

He suddenly felt like someone was snickering at him in the dark...

Turning around he saw Kiyomi holding a hand over her mouth and his face grew as black as the night.

But the next second it brightened because the man continued to announce Kiyomi's opponent.

"For the girl, it will be three Goblins..."

A thick sly smirk grew on Dōji's face, while Kiyomi's face took on the color of ash.

After registering, the two went on to search for an inn to stay the night, it was good that on their way here they had met a couple of bandits who generously donated their money to them.

So paying for the inn wasn't a problem.

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Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix lay on a luxurious green couch in one of the rooms inside his quarters.

Since Baziwood's report, it didn't leave his mind even for a single second.

He just hoped that he would get some news about these people soon so he might be able to sleep a little.

Just at this moment, someone knocked on the door.

"My Emperor, I bring some information about the two people." Baziwood's voice sounded from outside and Jircniv finally got what he wanted it seemed.

"Come in!"

He called Baziwood in and the man did as he was told and entered, he walked up and saluted the Emperor.

"We haven't found anything about their origins, but at least some indications of what they are here for."

Jircniv's which were bright at the thought of getting information dimmed a little at first, but this was at least better than nothing.

"Okay, tell me the information you could collect."

Baziwood nodded and then began to explain, "The man is called Ibaraki, while the woman is called Kiyomi."

"Those names sound like names given far in the south..." Jircniv interrupted.

"I thought the same, but we have nearly no information about the south at all."

Jircniv nodded, "Continue."

"The two went to the Adventurers Guild, but left immediately after having a look at the Request board."

'Hmm, maybe they weren't satisfied with the amount of quests there?' Jircniv though while listening.

"The two then went on to the Grand Arena and seemed to have asked around about the arena. In the end, both registered for a fight against monsters."

'Fighting against monsters? Are they simply after money? No that couldn't be...'

Jircniv was sure that such people wouldn't simply come for money.

"But I have to say those fights are insults to their strength, but I guess because they are newcomers they couldn't get stronger opponents..."

"Against which monsters are they fighting?"

"The man against an Ogre, while the girl will fight against three Goblins..." Baziwood wanted to scold the people of the arena, 'Can't they recognize strong people at all?'

Jircniv also had a dumbfounded look on his face, but it soon returned to a thoughtful look, "Hmm... book the VIP room for tomorrow, when are they fighting?"

"The man will fight at 10 in the morning and the woman half an hour later..."

"Okay, we are going to have a look at those two people tomorrow. I hope they are not here to cause trouble for us..."