Despite the tense air, everyone looked at Narberal with surprise in their eyes. In this world, Magic Casters who reached the third tier were considered as having reached the stage of a master.
Is this true? Everyone’s eyes were all over Ainz and his regal set of armour, doubting the truth behind his words.
An adventurer’s equipment and abilities were tied: the more capable an adventurer was, the better his equipment became. With his female companion and his regal set of armour, Ainz was very persuasive.
Noticing the change in the way they looked at him, Ainz cheered in his heart and decided to strike while the iron was still hot.
“As for me, I am a warrior that matches Nabel’s strength. I can affirm that this level of jobs is a walk in the park for us.”
Compared to just now, the surprise of the receptionist and the adventurers around him were smaller. Ainz felt the eyes watching him changing.
“We didn’t become adventurers just to perform simple tasks and earn some copper coins. I want to challenge higher grade missions. If you want to see our skills, we can show them to you. Could you let us take this job?”
The hostility from before gradually thinned out, replaced by an atmosphere of ‘he’s right’ and ‘I see’. Adventurers who place emphasis on strength understood Ainz’s words.
But the receptionist was different:
“… I am very sorry, I can’t let you take this job because of the regulations.”
The figure of the receptionist bowing in apology made Ainz strike a victory pose in his heart.
“It can’t be helped then… I was being too forceful, sorry.” Ainz lowered his head slight and apologized.
“Please help me find the most difficult copper medal job. Are there any others apart from those on the board?”
“Ah, I understand. There are other jobs available.”
The receptionist got up and just as Ainz was in tears over his complete victory, the voice of a man reached his ears:
“How about helping us with our job?”
“Huh?”
He couldn’t help growling menacingly. When Ainz turned around, trying to smooth things over, he saw a group of 4 adventurers with silver medals sparkling on their necks.
Ainz complained in his heart — Just when I finally got my way… — and turned around to face them:
“The job… Is it a worthwhile job…?”
“Yeah─── we think it is worthwhile.”
The man who looked like the leader answered. He wore a chainmail armor — numerous chains of rings forming a mesh, which was worn on top of leather armor or chainmail shirt — a man looking like a warrior.
Should he join this man’s team and work together with them? He should decide after hearing their offer, but there was no way for him to tell if the receptionist would still be willing to help him decide which job to accept.
On the other hand, taking on their job would allow him to build a relationship with them and get Ainz the information he was after.
Ainz nodded slowly:
“Since I am seeking worthwhile jobs, let’s work hard together. But I still have to ask what kind of job it is.”
After hearing his response, the man asked the receptionist to prepare a room for them.
It was similar to a conference room, a wooden table in the center with chairs placed around it. The men sat next to each other on the chairs inside.
“Well, please take a seat.”
Ainz sat as requested and Narberal quietly settled down beside him.
The men were young, they didn’t even look 20, but there was nothing childlike about them; they had a sense of maturity beyond their age.
They might’ve appeared to be sitting casually, but their positions allowed them to take up their weapons immediately.
It might’ve been an unconscious act, or a force of habit after countless experiences with death.
“Before talking about the job, let’s do a simple introduction.”
The man who looked like a warrior said on everyone’s behalf.
His appearance consisted of blond hair and blue eyes, both of which were common in the kingdom, while his unremarkable face had smooth features.
“Nice to meet you, I am the leader of ‘the Swords of Darkness’, Peter Mork. This is our team’s Ranger, Lukeluther Bolbu.”
The blond haired man with leather armor nodded in acknowledgement. His brown, squinted eyes were cheerful and his long, skinny limbs gave him the impression of a spider. But his thin body was the result of eliminating all fat.
“Next is our Magic Caster, the strategist of the team. Ninya — a ‘Mage’.
“Please take care of me.”
He was the youngest of the bunch. The man nodding was already of age, he had brown hair and blue eyes, but the smile on his face still looked childish.
Unlike the tanned skin of his other team members, his skin was pale and he had the best looking face of the group. Not the manly sort of handsome, but the metrosexual kind. Compared to the other men, his voice had a higher pitch.
But the smile on his face looked like a mask, no different from a fake smile.
As for his clothes, while his teammates were clad in armor, he was only wearing leather clothes. If one were to look under the table, a myriad of strange items could be seen hanging from his belt, including weirdly shaped bottles and strange wooden things.
Considering the title of ‘mage’, he should be similar to Ainz, a power type Magic Caster.
“… Peter, could you please not use my shameful nickname during the introductions?”
“Eh? But it’s cool.”
“You have a nickname?”
Ainz asked as he wasn’t sure what was happening and Lukeluther explained:
“He was born with an innate talent, the famous ‘genius Magic Caster’.”
“Oh—”
Ainz was impressed and sighed; ‘Innate Talent’ was an information he got after torturing 3 members of the Sunlight Scripture to death, and he was excited to have a real life example in front of him.
Narberal only made a ‘Hmmp’ noise in contempt, but luckily the other party didn’t hear that and Ainz relaxed. During a negotiation, an inept subordinate’s weird actions would affect the boss’ mood, and Ainz was a bit angered by it. But it would be bad to start a fight right now, so Ainz kept his composure.
“Nothing impressive. It’s just a coincidence that my innate talent belonged to that system.”
“Ohh.”
Now Ainz was even more interested. He leaned forward and listened carefully.
‘Innate talents’ were similar to martial arts, they were special skills unique to this world and didn’t exist in YGGDRASIL. About 1 in 200 possessed this special ability. An innate talent wasn’t rare, but the special skills differs widely. There were strong and weak types, with plenty of variations.
Like predicting tomorrow’s weather with 70 % accuracy, strengthening summoned creatures, the ability to harvest plants a few days earlier, using the magic of dragons which existed in the past and so on.
Since this power was determined from birth, there was no way to choose or change it. There were many cases of people unable to harness its full power. For example, the innate talent to increase the destructive power of magic, if the person was unable to use magic, then the innate talent would be wasted.