2 「Swords of Darkness」 (2/2)

”Well, The Swords of Darkness are our main goal,” she said as she looked up at Cipher, before averting her gaze from him the moment their eyes locked. ”One of the thirteen heroes was known as The Black Knight, he wielded four swords. They were dubbed the Swords of Darkness.”

Cipher listened to her as she stepped over her own words a few times, but he got the jist of what she was talking about. If anything, he knew of this being known as the Black Knight and about his weapons. He had a chance encounter with only one of the thirteen heroes, which he found was rather interesting. This meant there had once been more players here. It wasn't just Ainz and him, unless they were all dead...

Seeing the familiarity and hope with the name of the Black Knight, Dyne seemed to delve into his own thoughts. He wasn't understanding what he was reading off of this man.

”Would you like to come inside?” Cipher asked abruptly, mostly because he wanted to get something to drink. Even though he was undead, he was parched.

Blinking at this question, the three looked at one another. They were debating whether or not it would be safer to stay out here, or to go inside. Empathically they were quick to come to the conclusion it would be safer to follow his whim.

They didn't know the man. He might strike them down for not following through with his desires, or he just might lead them inside to be slaughtered. Or perhaps he would offer them something to drink?

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They all nodded to him awkwardly, which caused Cipher to raise a brow only to slowly turn away from them and walk towards the front doors of the foyer.

”My Lord!” The sudden shout from Sir Gallifrey caused the trio to jump moments before they could enter.

Slowly, the adventurers entered the foyer behind Cipher and let their mouths drop open seeing the soldiers-like fellas in various forms of full scale armor and military tunics.

”Sir Gallifrey, I see you gathered everyone. Prepare some tea for the guests,” he gestured towards the Adventurers just as the doors slammed closed behind them.

A satisfying click of a lock followed soon after. Before they could even take a step back, they were trapped in the citadel with abnormally charming and organized looking people.

Each person in the room seemed armed with powerful weapons, armor and enchanted equipment overall. It was clear that this was his intention, to truly make them hostages.

”What tea shall we prepare, My Lord?”

”Platinum++ Asgard Pekoe, I'm sure our guests will enjoy some energy.”

Gallifrey took a gander at the three lesser beings and nodded, he dare not judge those his Master considered a guest, nor those whom seem beneath him. ”Understood,” turning on his heel, he rushed off towards the kitchen down a neighboring corridor.

”You don't mind black tea, do you folks?” Cipher asked as he turned towards the group once more with an oddly charming smile across his lips.

Guests, the three were tasting that word on their lips and in their minds.

”Are we not hostages?” Dyne quickly spoke up, taking a step forward.

Though the step forward was hardly considered a threat, most of the room all shifted its attention to the druid the moment he did so.

Cipher raised a hand to calm everyone.

”No, you're not hostages. Even though you won't be able to open any doors in the citadel without breaking them down... But you're not high enough levels to even scratch them.” Cipher was confident of this which was why he invited them in. ”I invited you inside so we can sit and talk more about this place. I believe I came from the same place as your Idols.”

”Same place...?” Ninya raised a brow looking at him, hesitantly speaking. ”I was under the impression he was from the Karnassus City-State Alliance.”

”The what...?” Cipher blinked a few times, not recognizing the name of the State she had just given him. Before he knew it, she was taking a map out of her pouch and spreading it out in front of her. She kept her staff under her elbow.

Looking over the map, Cipher would dedicate all his faculties to memorizing it. 「Memory Mind」allowed him to instantly make a copy of the data in his mind and activated 「Mini-Map」.

Holding out his hand, a holographic third dimensional map derived from the map she had shown him appeared.

”How did you do that...?” Ninya asked, clearly interested in the magic used to replicate the map in such a fashion.

”It's a combination of Memory and Light based Magic. Photons and all that.”

Her head lulled to the side. ”Photons?”

”Fancy word for particles of light.” Cipher was quick to dismiss the fact that she wasn't scientifically inclined. She may be able to use magic, but that didn't mean she knew all scientific lingo.

”Huh... Interesting. I uh... Think you could teach me something like that, please?”

For a split second he was pretty quiet before slowly nodding. ”Tell me more about yourself and I may oblige your request.”

It had been a few minutes since Gallifrey had gone off to do as he was told. So as he came walking back with a green plastic tray, and a set of authentic Japanese looking tea cups, he held them out for the three strangers to take.

Ninya blinked a few times at Cipher as he wanted to know more as she put away the map and then took a cup as it was offered into both hands. She stared at the black liquid and took a whiff. It was bitter, but it was sweetened with honey and sugar, two very ”high” tier ingredients wasted on them.

Looking up from the liquid and to their host, she kept a faint smile on her lips. Her sky blue eyes weren't as fearful as before. If anything more of her femininity was showing through her boyish superficial exterior. She seemed squishy like a marshmellow.

”My name is Ninya, as you know. I came from a village... I have an older sister. She's the reason why I became an Adventurer.”

”Really? Was she an Adventurer?” Cipher asked the most simple of question, which may have been obvious until she shook her head at the question. So this wasn't because her sister was her mentor?

”My sister was taken by a despicable nobleman. So I became an adventurer to rescue her.” This wasn't necessarily a complete secret. Her entire group knew and so did most of her friends, or people she saw as friends.

Cipher slowly nodded in understanding, ”But isn't your main goal as a member of the Swords of Darkness is obtain a Sword of Darkness? Like you said before, it's your groups main goal.”

She froze for a moment before taking a slow sip of the tea. She immediately felt warm inside, calming, as a brief surge of energy shot through her almost immediately. ”You seem like a good person,” Ninya said, ”and I'm sure there are good and honorable nobles out there.”

Her eyes seemed to be floating on a surface of water, ”Do you have magic that you can use to find her?” She was quick to ask such a thing.

”What will you do when you find her? If you can save her?” Cipher answered her question with another set of questions. ”What if you can't save her?”

Ninya didn't understand why she was suddenly being barraged with all these questions. ”I don't...”

Dyne planted a supportive hand on Ninya's shoulder, giving Cipher the stink eye.

”Tell me more about Re-Estize, and I'll think about helping you learn more magic and get stronger. Tell me more about the surrounding countries and I'll consider helping you with finding your older sister. Think of information as your currency.”

He glanced over at the other members of the Swords of Darkness sipping the tea given to them.