"Oh…" Ainz stopped his movements, looking at Helanke and Old grandpa Roba who were blocking his way.
"Then, gentlemen, are you planning to hinder my reunion with my younger sister?" Ainz asked with a hint of displeasure in his tone.
"Huh?" Helanke and Old grandpa Roba were dumbfounded. From Iri's and Fei Fei's interaction just now, Helanke and the others had thought Fei Fei and Iri merely knew each other or that Fei Fei had accepted a quest to find Iri or something. They hadn't expected…
"That… Iri-meimei? Is Feifei-daren really your older brother?" Helanke awkwardly turned his head to look at Iri.
"…" Iri didn't answer, but instead put on a troubled expression and nodded to confirm.
"This…" Helanke and Old grandpa Roba were completely speechless. They hadn't expected this strange little sister Iri to be the younger sister of the Steel Rank Adventurer, Fei Fei. No wonder she had been so secretive about her own affairs before.
Moreover, if she was Fei Fei's younger sister, it was understandable that she possessed power capable of frightening Arshe.
"Then, may I ask the two of you to step aside?" Ainz said, his tone deepening.
"That… that won't do. Iri-meimei is an important companion of ours now," Helanke replied.
Although he said that, Helanke was already trembling a little, after all, from the moment they met… Helanke had felt an indescribable aura from Fei Fei.
Earlier, Helanke had jokingly chatted with Old grandpa Palpadora of the Green Leaf Team, questioning Fei Fei's strength, but after seeing the true person, that thought was immediately dismissed.
However, even so, Helanke still intended to take a gamble. After all, if Feifei-daren were to take Iri away now, his team would lose combat power for the upcoming quest. It should be known that Iri's combat power alone might already be equivalent to his entire team. Helanke did not want to lose such important combat power, at least not until this quest was completed.
"Companion, huh…" Ainz seemed to be touched by this word. Iri understood that Ainz had traveled to this world alone, 'tormenting' himself for Nazarick.
Moreover, when he first arrived, all his decisions were centered around finding companions who didn't even exist. As a result, Xiao Di misunderstood and over-imagined it as world conquest. Thinking about it, Ainz must have been very lonely!
"May this old man 'interject' a word?" Just as Ainz was struggling with how to continue cooperating with Iri's previously mentioned act of a brother catching his runaway sister and bringing her home, the old man who had previously looked down on Ainz came over to 'interject'.
"Please speak, Old Sir," Ainz replied politely.
"I apologize for interrupting your family reunion, but this old man merely wishes to confirm if the rumors are true. I heard you are very powerful. Could you 'show' a little something to prove your strength?" the green-clad old man asked.
"Is that so… How should I prove it?" Ainz asked in return. At this, Iri started to get annoyed again. She had already forgiven him when Ainz wasn't here, and now he dared to come and cause trouble again!
"The simplest way is naturally for someone to have a match with you," the old man said.
"Indeed! That is truly the quickest and simplest method, then…" Before Ainz could even say who his opponent would be, the green-clad old man 'interjected'.
"Since this old man proposed it, naturally this old man will do it," the green-clad old man said, full of fighting spirit.
Good! The chance has come! Before entering Nazarick, I'll beat you half to death first! Iri thought, extremely annoyed.
"Old Sir, you? I apologize! I am not good at holding back, and I am not confident that I can guarantee not to injure you, Old Sir," Ainz said, seeing the old man's appearance, and also considering that he would need to use them later to test Nazarick's defense system, so he didn't intend to injure anyone here.
"Hahaha… As expected of a Steel Rank Adventurer, so confident, are we?" The old man let out a hearty laugh, though to Iri, it sounded very grating.
"Yes, because I am very strong, stronger than everyone present. I do have that much confidence," Ainz chuckled and replied.
Then, Ainz's seemingly arrogant and lofty words were automatically translated by Iri as:
"I, Fei Fei, am not targeting anyone, but rather, everyone here is trash!"
Ainz is too cool!!!
Normally, such words would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the Black Workers, but perhaps due to Ainz's inherent powerful aura, no one present had any objection to what Ainz had said.
"Hahaha, then…" Just as the old man who looked down on Ainz was about to say something more… this time, it was Iri's turn.
"Then let me do it, okay? Since Big Brother Fei Fei is afraid of accidentally injuring Old grandpa, then let me, his younger sister, take his place in the fight. Although I'm not as formidable as Steel Rank Big Brother Fei Fei, but! Before I retired from the Adventurer's Guild, I was at least a Mithril-level Adventurer. I wonder if that's enough to be your opponent, Old grandpa?" Iri said, walking in front of Ainz and directly facing the rude old man.
"Mithril…" Someone below muttered this word, which then caused a burst of laughter. Perhaps the Mithril-level was indeed a bit low, and Iri was self-aware of this.
Iri was seen taking out a hammer, which had been wrapped in white cloth, from behind her. Then, quite domineeringly (in her own opinion), she thrust the end of the hammer's handle into the ground, and at the same time, a burst of frost spread outwards from the point where the hammer's handle touched the ground.
By the time those people finished laughing, they noticed that all the ground around them, except for where Ainz and Nabe stood behind Iri, was frozen. Even the several eight-legged horses in the distance were startled by the sudden Ice Aura and began to 'stir'. The Black Workers' shoes were all, without exception, frozen to the ground by Iri's Ice Aura.
"Hey, hey! What is this?!"
"Look! The distant flowerbeds and grass… are all frozen solid!"
"All… the surroundings, all frozen solid!!"
The Black Workers, startled by the sudden anomaly, quickly pulled their feet from the ice. At this point, no one dared to mock Iri's former Mithril-level status.
Of course, Iri here had only used Level 1 Ice Aura, and its effect was merely to freeze the ground. If Iri wished, she could freeze all these people into ice sculptures at any time.
"I never expected such a young lady to be so capable. It seems even dragon scales can't defend against it?" The green-clad old man narrowed his eyes, looking at Iri, and also pulled his foot, which Iri had frozen to the ground, from the ice.
Upon hearing the old man's muttering, Iri suddenly remembered that the green armor he was wearing was said to be made from dragon scales, and dragon scales had an exceptionally high resistance to magic.
However, the Ice Aura she just used wasn't magic. This wouldn't 'expose' her, would it? Iri felt a little nervous at this thought.
"Iri, step back… This is not a place for you to be mischievous," Ainz said with full authority. Now, it was up to Ainz to improvise, as she had only told him that little bit and hadn't mentioned this play within a play.
"I'm not being mischievous, Big Brother Fei Fei always treats me like a child. I just want to prove that I already have the strength to take care of myself," Iri replied.
"Fei Fei-da… Sir, Iri-san… Young Miss is no longer a child. Could you allow her to be 'willful' this once?" Nabe offered an assist at this moment. It was clear that Nabe had understood Iri's intention in stepping forward now.
"Alright! This Old Sir, though it's abrupt, would you be willing to indulge my younger sister's 'willfulness' this once?" Ainz said to the green-clad old man.
"Heh heh! No matter, guiding juniors is an undeniable duty for seniors. There's no reason to refuse!" the green-clad old man replied. Iri became even more annoyed upon receiving this answer.
Guiding, huh? Heh heh heh heh heh…
-----------------------
To read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can follow and support me on Patreon.
I'll be posting early chapters there so you can always stay ahead and never miss any new content.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT