Peter said as he looked towards Ainz:
"Momon-san, could you act as the rear guard?"
"No problem, leave it to me… I will take care of the rest."
The members of the ‘Sword of Darkness’ offered words of encouragement as they retreated out of the forest with Nfirea in toll.
"Momon-san, please don't push yourself too hard."
Nfirea's voice had absolute confidence in Ainz, his eyes covered under his bangs were full of adoration. Ainz felt uneasy and urged them to leave faster.
After seeing the group disappear at the other side of the forest, Ainz momentarily feared that he couldn't navigate out of the forest by himself. But he immediately remembered that he could let Aura guide him.
The task at hand───
"Oh no… It might not be recognized as the Virtuous King of the Forest… Even if I want to take the Virtuous King of the Forest back to Nazarick, I have to obtain proof that I defeated it… How about slashing off one of its legs?"
"───Ainz-sama."
In the direction Narberal was looking, there was a large shadow some distance behind the forest. Ainz couldn't see it because it was hidden behind the forest. The sunlight didn't reach it, so he couldn't confirm if its body was silvery white.
"Is the guest here?"
Maybe I am the guest- Ainz thought about random things as he stood in front of Narberal. He couldn't convert its power to levels, so Ainz wasn't sure of the Virtuous King of the Forest's power. So Ainz naturally stood before the Magic Caster Narberal, who wasn't proficient in melee combat, to protect her.
Standing before Narberal, Ainz felt a flow in the air and used his giant sword to shield himself.
The sound of metal clashing reverberated and Ainz felt a heavy pressure in his arms. Something heavy hit Ainz's giant sword at a very high speed.
He could see a long tail with scales like a snake sliding back behind the trees.
The tail attacked like a whip. Judging from the sound and sensation of the impact, that tail is as tough as steel… It's range of more than 20m is troubling, but how does it live its normal life with such a tail?
Ainz lacked the special skills of a vanguard and couldn't think of any way to deal with it. The best he could do was melee combat.
Ainz sighed. He didn't have lungs, so he was just going through the motion. He lowered his shoulders and adopted a stance. Seeing that Ainz was prepared to fight, a deep and calm voice came from the forest:
"To completely block the first attack of this king, impressive… To meet such an opponent… This is the first for this king."
"This king…"
Ainz's illusionary face stiffens, then he remembered that these words were translated. According to the judgement of Ainz's mind, these were the words closest to what it said.
"Well then, intruder to the territory of this king. If thou is thinking of fleeing, I will let the matter rest since you displayed such excellent defense… How about it?"
"… What a foolish question. Of course I will defeat you and reap the rewards… Anyway, are you hiding because you lack confidence in your appearance or are you shy by nature?"
"… What imposturous words, intruder! Behold this king's majestic figure and tremble in fear!"
The Virtuous King of the Forest emerged from the forest slowly, showing itself to Ainz.
After seeing it, Ainz's illusionary face stared with eyes wide open.
"Hahaha, this king could feel the terror and shock from beneath thy helmet."
The monster's face wrinkled in a smile and its long tail coiled up. Strange markings that resemble words appeared on its silvery white body. It was about the size of a horse but was very short, a stout body that developed horizontally.
The Virtuous King of the Forest closed the distance slowly.
"What is this feeling…"
Emotions that were hard to describe washed over Ainz. After becoming an undead, every strong emotion would be suppressed. Considering this, this wasn’t a strong emotion. Even so, including the time when YGGDRASIL was a game, he had never felt this way after seeing a monster.
"…I want to ask one thing, what is your race known as?"
"This king is the Virtuous King of the Forest thou speak of. There are no other names."
"Could your race’s name be… Djungarian hamsters?"
Virtuous King of the Forest.
From what Ainz knew, its appearance was similar to an animal known as Djungarian hamster. It had silvery or white fur, black round eyes and a body shaped like a Mochi.
Of course, hamsters didn’t have such a long tail and they wouldn't grow larger than a man. Other than that, Ainz couldn't think of any other creature to describe it. If you asked a hundred people, the answer you would get a hundred times would be hamster. A gigantic Djungarian hamster, or a mutant Djungarian hamster.
It tilted it's cute head───it didn't look like it had a neck───and kept sniffing the air while it spoke:
"Hmm… This king has always lived a solitary life. I don't know about others of my race, so I can't answer you… Might thou know what race this king belongs to?"
"Eh… Yeah… You could say that… A past comrade of mine raised an animal similar to you…"
Ainz recalled how said companion didn’t log into YGGDRASIL for an entire week after his pet Djungarian hamster died of old age.
Behind his back, Narberal muttered a silent “Oh…”, probably because she learned something new about the 41 supreme masters.
"What! To keep a being similar to this king as a pet!"
The Virtuous King of the Forest puffed its cheeks.
Ainz wasn't sure if that was an unhappy or threatening expression, or maybe it was displaying some other emotions. Ainz was only sure it wasn't eating anything.
"Hmmm… Pray explain the details. This king has the obligation to continue the lineage of my race. If others from my race exist, I have the duty to raise the next generation, or this king wouldn't be fit to be called a living being."
According to the Virtuous King of the Forest's theory, Ainz who couldn't produce offspring wasn't fit to be a living being. Ainz thought about the excuse of an undead not being a living being and answered tiredly:
"… Eh, that creature wasn't as big as you."
"Is that so… could it be a child?"
"… No, even fully matured, it was small enough to place in my hand."
The Virtuous King of the Forest seemed to be dejected as its whiskers drooped down.
"That's a bit hard… Is this king fated to live alone till death…"
"… A cooler race would be more like it… but a hamster. I empathize with your situation, but if you find another one of your race, your numbers would increase exponentially and the world might be destroyed…"
The Virtuous King of the Forest's whiskers perked up while its beady eyes remained the same. It sounded a bit angry: "How preposterous! Continuing to raise next generation is of grave importance! And this king has always been alone! It is natural to want to meet others of my kind!"
"Eh… Yeah… It's obvious to think about it this way… Pleases forgive my slip of the tongue…"
Ainz thought about his comrades in Ainz Ooal Gown and apologised. The words of this hamster reminded him of his comrades and he actually apologised to a hamster, which gave him some complicated feelings.