Ainz looked around.
After three days, the town didn’t seem to have changed. No, after arriving in Re-Lantier, he straight away left for Carne Village the next day, so there was insufficient knowledge and attachment to compare. However, he could still feel that the scene of the calm streets remained unchanged.
After reaching a turn on the main road, Ainz suddenly stopped walking.
Normally, stopping in the middle of the road would definitely obstruct the path of other pedestrians, but nobody even complained. That was because nobody even got close to Ainz.
Ainz hunched his back in resignation and observed the people around him.
Nearly everyone looked toward Ainz — No, they stared at Ainz, and whispered lowly to the person next to them.
Hearing the sound of talking, Ainz felt as if they were laughing at him, but that was his own misunderstanding. If he had actually listened, he would know that their tones were filled with surprise, appreciation and fear.
Even so, there was still a place that made it hard to release the tension.
Ainz silently looked down — under him was pearly white fur. That was because Ainz was currently mounted on the Virtuous King of the Forest.
All around the people looked towards the awe-inspiring brave appearance of the Virtuous King of the Forest — Ainz was somewhat critical of this point — in amazement, they were talking about the warrior who was able to ride upon such a fearful, yet dignified magical beast.
I should be able to hold my head high…. right…
Completely understanding the situation. The people here showed approval of the majestic appearance of the Virtuous King of the Forest, but for Ainz, this was already approaching something like a punishment game. To put it in other words, it was like not having any family or girlfriend as a partner, sitting on a carousel with a deadpan look, looking towards an uncle in loneliness.
His riding posture was also quite unsightly. Because the Virtuous King of the Forest was completely different from a horse, Ainz’s butt would point outwards while riding and he had to spread his legs wide. If he didn’t assume this posture similar to jumping over a box, it would be difficult for him to maintain his balance.
Therefore, this idea of riding the Virtuous King of the Forest, was definitely not an idea that Ainz thought of himself. In addition to the persuasion from the Sword of Darkness members and the Virtuous King of the Forest himself, Narberal also politely said “It would be too much for a ruler to walk.” which made him think that riding it wouldn't be such a bad idea, thus ending up with this result.
If I had known, I would have rejected the idea. Shouldn't be that someone wanted to set me up, thus setting this trap…
It looked like a hamster, as if coming out of a fairy tale, but it would only be suitable for boys and girls to ride upon. Even as a slight compromise, a woman riding it would also be alright. But it definitely wasn't right for a warrior to ride upon it.
But the surrounding people thought the only one with a strange reaction was Ainz.
Is it a problem with my own aesthetic views, their aesthetic views, or with this world’s aesthetic views?
Of course, the answer went without saying. As long as the majority thought it was beautiful, then the one with the wrong aesthetic view must be Ainz.
Because of this, he did not strongly oppose to riding the Virtuous King of the Forest. Also, if he could let the name of Momon the adventurer become even more impressive, and gain a more solid position, then it would be even harder to reject the idea. But still—
This is simply a shame play…
TL Note: Like a cosplay but instead shame play… Think Masochist or pranking
Ainz’s emotions would immediately be repressed once they reached a certain point, but up till now, there was no such feeling, which meant there wasn’t too much embarrassment. This result only told Ainz one thing.
Does this means that I have developed some immunity to shame play… I couldn’t be an M, right…? I always felt I was more of an S…
“Now that we have returned to town, our job has come to an end.”
Replaying the scenes and still images of his past, Ainz compared them to his current mental state and agonized over his own fetishes. While doing that, Nfirea chatted with Peter.
“Yes, you are right, with this your job is over. Then… Although I am ready to pay the agreed reward, but… to also pay the additional reward that we spoke of in the forest, would it be alright if you come over to the shop at my home?”
The rear of Nfirea’s carriage was filled to the brim with many herbs. Not only that, but also some timber, some fruits that grew to look like branches, a huge mushroom large enough to cover a person and a variety of very tall grass. If seen by a layman, they would feel that these were just many simple plants, however for an expert, this was a shining jeweled mountain.
These were all from the time when Ainz tamed the Virtuous King of the Forest, this allowed them to safely explore his domain. In there they found a variety of precious herbs and many other herbs that could be used to make potions, Nfirea who harvested non-stop agreed to give them an additional amount of money for it.
“Momon-san should first go visit the Adventurer’s Guild!”
“Eh, that’s right. Because I brought a magical beast into the city, I need to register the Virtuous King of the Forest in the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“Although it is troublesome, but there is no choice.”
“We also mopped up the ogres and other monsters together, how about it? Why don’t we head to the Adventurer’s Guild together?”
“Well — no, this time we mostly relied on Momon-san, we will head to Nfirea-san’s home first, at least we will help with some chores or move some of the herbs. Otherwise to receive the same reward as Momon-san would be unjustified.”
The Sword of Darkness members all nodded in response to Peter’s remarks, but Nfirea politely interrupted:
“There’s no need to trouble yourselves…”
“Because there is an additional reward, let us give you this free service.”
Hearing Peter’s joking words, Nfirea also respectfully said:
“Then, the next time you come to my store to buy potions, I will give you a discount.”
“That would be really great. Momon-san, you should go to the Adventurer’s Guild first and then head over to Nfirea’s home. We will go there first, and after doing some chores we will head back to the Adventurer’s Guild to settle the formalities. Because we have to wait until tomorrow before going to the Adventurer’s Guild to receive our reward for the ogre extermination, I’m sorry that we will have to trouble you to make another trip to there tomorrow… The time we meet should be the same as the time when we first met.”
“Understood.”
Faced with this proposal, Ainz nodded in relief. Registering just requires one to just calmly go up to the counter and asking, he did not want to go with them to the Adventurer’s Guild, faced with the dilemma of “Please write this” and “Please look at this”. That had the chance of causing all his previous effort to go to waste.