Roaring Heroes Battle the Overlord (Ainz) - Part 1 (Chapters 1 to 200)

Chapter 85: Behind the Shadows

The tavern's interior was partitioned with red-lacquered pine boards to create a small private room, cramped and dimly lit. In the middle sat an oak square table, with a few wooden chairs pushed against the four walls. On the table, an oil lamp's yellow flame flickered like a will-o'-the-wisp, casting a weak light—clearly a shady spot.

The faint glow illuminated the outlines of a few other items on the table: two bottles of malt beer, one bottle of wine, and two wide-mouthed glass mugs with white foam clinging to their sides.

There was also a small conical crystal ornament, within which floated a blue radiance even fainter than the oil lamp's light.

Stella glanced at it and immediately recognized it as a soundproofing magic item. When activated, it could create a sound barrier, preventing any noise inside from escaping into the air outside.

By twisting the brass knob on the conical crystal, you could freely adjust the range of the sound barrier—undoubtedly a great tool for home, travel, or secret plotting.

The shady private room wasn't empty. In the corner against the wall, a burly big man sat slumped in a wooden chair, his head bowed low under a brown flat cap that hid his forehead and features.

When the big man saw Yaso enter with four strangers, he buried his head even lower.

"They're all friends," Yaso said to the big man, while gesturing to Barrett and the others. "He and I were just having a drink—come join us."

The four adventurers sat down cautiously. At that moment, the burly man in the corner lifted his head, revealing a gentle smile. Only then did the adventurers get a clear look at his face—it was "Iron Blood Hand" Deus Lefia!

Just that afternoon, the two of them had been fighting bloody battles in the arena, going at each other for the kill, and now they were sitting together drinking?

The four adventurers were all stunned, especially Barrett, who felt like he'd swallowed ten pounds of dung beetles—utterly revolted. After a moment's thought, he pieced together what had happened and asked helplessly, "Was this all arranged by Old Tony?"

"That's right, exactly!" Yaso grinned. "You've probably heard about the high-tier adventurer meeting in the capital. The Adventurer's Guild passed me a message, I gave it a shot, and accidentally snagged Fridrensa's promotion slot, so here I am in the capital.

"Then he snagged Welsh's promotion slot. According to the tournament setup, he and I were pitted against each other, so we hashed it out—anyway, one of us had to lose, and the gamblers all figured I had the edge, so I just threw the fight.

"I bet on myself to lose, Deus bet on himself to win, and we both walked away with 120 gold coins." Yaso grinned smugly, slapping a bulging cloth pouch onto the table with a satisfying clink of metal on metal—clearly stuffed full of gold.

Sure, the casino had rules against players betting on their own matches, but an experienced adventurer always has tricks like disguises or fake names to skirt the regs with ease.

Barrett let out a deep sigh, burying his face in his hands again. EeDechi was always spouting off her weird, mystical nonsense, but she was dead right about one thing: gambling ruins lives—the waters run way too deep!

"Don't look so down, old buddy. Let me make it up to you." Yaso counted out about twenty gold coins from the pouch, stacked them in a neat pile, and slid them across the table to Barrett.

"Forget it." Barrett pushed the coins back. "That's money you conned fair and square—I can't take it."

Yaso shrugged and pocketed the gold, then pointed to the burly man sitting off to the side. "Let me introduce you: this iron-tower of a guy is my teammate, Deus Lefia, mithril-level adventurer, all-around warrior, nicknamed Iron Blood Hand."

He glanced at the three people beside Barrett and chuckled. "You captaining again? Good thing there's no Mistwood around—you won't get a chance to 'feed' them to it."

Barrett was about to explain when EeDechi straightened up, her face dead serious and unsmiling. "I'm the captain. EeDechi, orichalcum-level adventurer."

"Oh." Yaso's eyes darted around, flicking a glance at Barrett before extending his hand to shake EeDechi's.

"Sean Tachya, platinum-level, archer and ranger."

"Stella Famillion, silver-level, cleric by trade."

Sean and Stella both introduced themselves. This was an unwritten rule among adventurers: declaring your level and specialties to others helped in quickly divvying up combat roles during high-stakes explorations and fights, making teamwork smoother.

The pair stopped hiding their Baharuth accents, breathing a sigh of relief inside. Judging by the shameless attitude Yaso and Deus were showing, they were clearly the real deal—seasoned adventurers through and through. In the adventuring business, as long as you hadn't crossed any major taboos or broken the law, folks generally didn't give a damn about where you hailed from.

Yaso shot Stella a subtle glance. "Looks like your team's lineup isn't exactly optimized."

"Famillion—that's a noble surname from Baharuth, isn't it?" The quiet Deus finally spoke, his voice carrying a slight curl, totally different from the Re-Estize drawl.

"Just a bankrupt, washed-up noble house." Stella replied in surprise. "Are you from Baharuth's Kotel Province? I remember your arena profile listed you as a warrior from Re-Estize's Welsh."

Deus nodded, switching back to a neutral tone. "Yeah, but I haven't been home in 10 years. Picking up accents from different regions is just one of those skills you need to become an elite adventurer."

Who would've guessed he was actually from Baharuth? Thinking back to the arena, with those spectators who'd traveled all the way from Welsh, rooting for their "hometown" hero and cheering wildly for Deus's win—Barrett couldn't help feeling a mix of irony and anger. Were ordinary folks' loyalties to home and country really that easy to fool?

Deus continued, "Tomorrow I'll be up against Brain. I'll definitely hold back to half strength, throw the fight on purpose, and hand him the promotion slot. You can bet on me to lose if you want." He let out a hearty laugh. "But most people will probably bet on me losing anyway, so you won't rake in much cash."

"Shady dealings all around," EeDechi said with clear disdain. "Old Tony's got the matches fixed crystal clear—Brain becoming the Warrior Captain is a done deal, nailed to the board."

Yaso picked up on EeDechi's dissatisfaction with the Adventurer's Guild's underhanded operations and waved it off. "It's not like that. Actually, the nobles use tricks pretty much like ours. They've got money and power, so they send their thugs and mercenary groups to join the tournament selections, hog the spots, and easily push forward a high-ranking warrior.

"After the chaos, they've already propelled the Waverly family's Schroeve Dahlsen—he's ranked right below Brain, a major threat! We can't stop him at all. Three orichalcum-level adventurers who fought him got beaten to a pulp, and one was killed outright. I suspect his strength is already at adamantite-level, maybe even beyond!"

"Schroeve?" Barrett asked, puzzled. "Where'd this guy come from? Never heard of him before."

"He's actually the alias of Baharuth's warrior 'Lord of Death'—Slam Daguerre," Yaso said, his expression turning grave. "When you were in Baharuth, you must've seen his brother on the wanted posters—'Lord of Despair' Clovis Daguerre."

Barrett and EeDechi exchanged a knowing glance. They hadn't just seen his portrait on wanted posters; they'd met the man in the flesh.

On that dark, windy night, 'Lord of Despair' Clovis Daguerre had led a band of assassins to ambush them, but after that... EeDechi had slapped away half of Clovis's life, and Barrett had taken the other half.

Now, on Barrett's wrist, he still wore Clovis's Bracers of the Expedition Master. After several days of getting used to them, he'd grown accustomed to the bracers' weight and the power they brought.

He'd thought the fallout from the assassination attempt had vanished into thin air with Clovis's death, but when Yaso mentioned Clovis's name, Barrett once again felt the heaviness of the silver bracers on his arm, and a twinge of unease stirred in his heart.