Chapter 4 Daddy & Daughter Work Day

Chapter Text

Ainz spat out his coffee at the question he was given by his partner, "You want to do what?!"

The disguised overlord was currently squatting in an abandoned apartment with Eri. He simply didn't feel like forging documents to buy one properly, so he used [Control Amnesia] on the landlord. Was it petty? Yes. Was it a great location to place [Lesser Bifrost]? Also yes. 

Ainz's daily plan is to work as Arbiter during the day and head back to Mars during the night to overview any projects. The primary project for now is somehow creating a magnetosphere for Mars so that the sun doesn't destroy the damn atmosphere and any progress they've made so far in building it.

Back to the question Ainz was given, "I-I want to go to work w-with you and see what you d-do. I don't know much a-about you so I just wanted…t-to know you more."

She was fiddling with her hair and looking down while saying this. The attack was super effective. A warmth passed over Ainz's non-existent heart upon hearing this. If he had a job, he might've taken her with him. Key word: if. Ainz plays as a hitman to explore the world. That doesn't seem like the safest profession to teach any kid about. Ainz checked the date and saw that it was currently a Sunday. 

After finding a permanent home, Ainz wasn't…really sure what to do with Eri. He decided to keep her around as it was a nice breath of fresh air to have someone that doesn't worship you as God. He hasn't placed her in a school (which he probably should) in the likelihood that she won't integrate well.

This results in the two of them looking something up on the web, wanting to try it out, and then teleporting there. It seems today's activity is…finding out what he does for "work."

"Uhm, Eri…I'll just cut to the chase. Your partner Ainz here doesn't have a normal job. He does very, uh, messy and dirty work."

Eri pouted a bit and stamped her foot down. She was not letting this go, "I don't care if it's d-dirty! I want to help out!"

"...Alright I'll be even more forward. Eri, my job is to kill people," Ainz said with a stoic expression. "The job is called a 'Hitman.' Someone tells me who they want dead and if I deem them bad enough, I kill them and get paid for it. I didn't really want to tell you how I get the money for some of the things I do because…" He waved his hand in a circular motion showing the obviousness. "So let me ask you , are you sure you want to go to a job with me?"

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"SIR, WE HAVE MORE MOVEMENT FROM THE EXTRATERRESTRIALS!" Yelled an uninvited officer that just walked into a meeting room between the Russians and the Americans.

"Yes, we know about the mining on Mars ice caps," sighs an exacerbated general at the table.

The officer, Steven Cormack, shook his head at the reply, "No general, I'm talking about the mining colonies that were spotted on Saturn's moon, Titan. It seems more skeletons have appeared there."

Silence fell over the room.

Then after half a minute, everyone leapt from their seats and started screaming.

"HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY ON TITAN?!"

"I thought they were only on Mars! Now we have to worry about the rest of the damn solar system?!"

"Do we have to build another rocket there too?"

"That's it! Someone else can take the role of head chancellor…"

"Alexei, get your ass back here! Everyone, please calm down."

Those last two voices were the leader of the Russian Federation, Alexei Koslov, and the US president, Brad Armstrong, respectively. 

Everyone began to sit down again and awaited the orders of the leader of the Martian Project: Brad Armstrong, "Good. Now, Major Cormack, do you have any other information that we would need to know pertaining to the 'aliens?'"

Steven coughed into his hand, "Yes I do…the Webb telescope has caught more sightings from the asteroid and Kuiper belts as well as Mars' moon, Phobos."

*THANG*

Everyone was startled to find the head chancellor of Russia groaning with his head on the table. 

Armstrong used the distraction to quell the second inevitable scream-fest, "This further proves that we need to establish diplomatic relations with them. The rocket should be done around…" Brad checks his calendar, "April. Alexei will (hopefully) handle the recruitment process for astronauts. As for the language barrier issue, we'll just grab a copy of the Golden Record if they don't understand us. Now that we know they can go anywhere in this damn solar system, they might have already come here without us noticing."

Alexei raised his head at this thought. It makes perfect sense. Why head to a bunch of desolate rocks, when the perfect habitable planet is right here? Even if it's just movies, would skeletons that can breathe in space and require zero nourishment have any use for humans? If they haven't seen us yet, then we still have time. If they have…why haven't we found them yet?

To change the topic from the terrifying hypothetical, Alexei addresses the next point on the agenda, "Speaking of the rocket, have we found a speed emitter quirk user yet?" 

The majority of speed quirks make the user themselves go fast. What Alexei wants is an emitter type that can increase the speed of the area around them. Because of the looming unknown, the rocket would need to make the trip to Mars as fast as possible. This quirk would do the trick.

The general in charge of recruitment pinched his forehead, "We have found somebody, but we placed them as a last case scenario. Their cost for 'helping us' is full access to Russia's quirk research."

Alexei and Brad shared a glance as they knew who this individual was. The price was small and they knew that neither of their countries would be affected by the madman.

The general swallowed, "The person in question is the enigmatic supervillain currently residing in Japan. He has been alive since the Dawn of Quirks with only his quirk being the sole piece of information we have about him: All For One."

____________________

The man in question was having a particularly strange itch that lingered on the back of his mind. Over 6000 quirks were at his disposal and still he couldn't figure out what was bothering him. The nomu project was going all according to plan, the deal with the US and Russian Federation succeeded, and Tomura's training finally started showing promise. So why was he so anxious?!

The current appearance of All For One was…an anatomical wonder. He could count the organs that remained in his body with one hand, since he only had one hand. The brain and heart were all that remained of the first supervillain. Any other part of his body, including the head, was utterly crushed by the Symbol of Peace, All Might four years ago. All For One activated a few telepathy quirks to get in contact with his favorite nomu: Kurogiri.

{Kurogiri} 

Without a second of hesitation, the bartender/butler answered back, {Yes, master?}

{Can you come read to me what the latest news is around here? I have a feeling something is off.}

{Your command is mine to follow.}

A few seconds passed before black mist appeared in front of All For One. From the mist entered a well dressed man with a purple misty head and iron neck covering. Yellow eyes were the only semblance of a face from the man.

"Punctual as always. I have a feeling something is getting passed my agents, so I wish for you to relay me the information of the last month or so."

All For One passes a tablet to Kurogiri while they both sit down at a table. The reason All For One can't read himself is not because he is illiterate, but for the fact that his eyes were crushed. His quirks allowed him to see the majority of what was needed. Echolocation, Owl's Intuition, Sixth Sense, and several others are constantly activated to act as All For One's eyes. The two things he is incapable of properly seeing are electronic screens and writing. Both appear only as computers or pieces of paper for him respectively. He is attempting to read Braille, however it is far more efficient to have someone else like Kurogiri do it instead. (Although slightly embarrassing). 

Kurogiri bowed slightly, picked up the tablet, and began to recite anything that seemed of interest, "Of course. Hmm, it appears that the government still hasn't told the people about the skeleton situation on Mars…"

All For One scoffed at this and laid back, It's obvious, aliens would prove we are not alone. People can ignore the architecture, but until signs of life appear, they will go on with their lives happy and naive.

"The next piece of info is the upcoming All Might parade and memorial for the number 13 hero Shishido…

Perhaps I'll send a villain or two to One For All as a gift for his parade. On the topic of Lion though…I remember that he was found decapitated in his apartment. Nothing was moved, no door was broken into, and the blood splatters showed an impossibly clean cut. I'll have to look more into that. A shame I couldn't get his quirk. 

"And finally, a large-scale police operation has been conducted for the villain Arbiter."

All For One's itch flared up once he heard that name. Arbiter. That name was more fitting for All For One as he decided if one should keep their quirk or not. 

"Kurogiri…is there any more information we can obtain on Arbiter?"

The conversation came to a close, yet neither of them saw a shadow move ever so slightly from the corner of the room.

____________________

The last two months for Eri felt like she was in a dream. A dream that hadn't fully felt…real yet. A strange man saved her from the bad men, took her in, and both of them experienced new things together for the first time. Sometimes the things were big such as visiting Egypt, climbing up a big tower in France, or going super high up in a 'plain.' Or was it 'plane?'

Other times they did small stuff like eating apples, laying in grass, while listening to birds. Eri really liked apples. Ainz noticed this for her and bought lots! Ainz had done so much for Eri and she wanted to try and do something for him.

She knew he'd disappear sometimes in the day to work and that's when Mr. Pandora came over. Mr. Pandora was a funny man who can turn into anybody! She likes Mr. Pandora. 

But she felt unworthy of being saved by Ainz. Ainz was happy with who she was despite them barely knowing each other. Eri wanted to learn more! So, she asked to go to work with Ainz. This led to her finding out that his job requires him to kill people. 

Eri needs time to think, The bad men killed people. Ainz kills people. Does that make Ainz one of the bad men? No! A bad man would never help me the way he has. Ainz is a good friend! He's just doing this for money. He also said he only kills bad men. So Ainz isn't a bad man, he's a hero!

This all lead up to Ainz asking Eri if she really wants to go on one of his hits. Eri decided to give her answer, "Yes!" She said with as much confidence as she could muster.

Eri saw Ainz shrug at this and pull a variety of tools, including a cool blue mask, from his 'inventory' as he called it.

"Alright then Eri. We'll need to prepare a few things before we meet up with the broker," Ainz realized she might not know what a broker is. "Oh! A broker is someone who sells information and gives me jobs from clients."

Ainz thought for a moment before pulling out a white mask with two golden horns sticking out from the top of it, "Would you like the green or the white mask?"

____________________

Giran would never forget the day that he first met "the Arbiter." He was so ordinary when he first showed up. He wore a black blazer, white shirt, and a red tie as if he was coming in for an interview. Considering where they are now, it may have been an interview. The real strange thing about them was the red mask that obscured their face. The mask looked like a demon with a toothy grin and green eyes. Giran shifted awkwardly in his chair when he first saw that.

The man introduced himself so casually about who he was it was uncomfortable, "Good evening, Giran. I heard you were an excellent information broker and middle man for the underworld. My name is Arbiter. In the simplest of terms, I am a hitman. If you wish for a demonstration of my skills, just drop a name."

Giran rolled his eyes at this man. His confidence was appalling to say the least. As a joke, he decided to give him a hard target. Looking back, he wished he gave him a much harder one like All Might.

"Okay buddy, you want a target? Go kill uhhhhh," he thought for a second before snapping his fingers. "Shishido! He's the 13th ranked hero in Japan. Bring me his head then we can start discussing future plans."

Giran had no intention of fulfilling that promise. Shishido was incredibly adept at melee and speed. An ordinary man like "the Arbiter" has no chance.

Arbiter didn't even think about the hit before asking, "Payment?"

"I thought this was a show of skill? Yeah, sure. I'll give you a million yen if you complete the job."

"Two million."

Giran rubbed the scar on his head in irritation, "Two million, it is. Now get the fuck out of my office. I have other clients, you know?"

Giran, in fact, had zero other clients. He planned to use the massage chair he bought earlier in the day that he was dying to try. Arbiter nodded and disappeared in front of Giran's eyes. So he has a teleport quirk? Yeah he's totally going to get his shit kicked in. You'll need a lot more than movement to beat a lion.

Giran left his desk to sit in his beautiful reclining pullout massage chair. Other villains just wouldn't get the appeal. Giran sank into the chair, activated it, and fell soundly asleep. Perhaps he'll see news later of Arb-what's-his-name's death. That's a worry…for future… Giran…

He fell asleep.

*THUD*

Giran woke up with a jolt, saw the Arbiter in his office, and checked his watch to see that only half an hour had passed. A vein on Giran's forehead bulged, "WHAT THE FUCK! Don't you know anything about being polite?! You can't just teleport in and scare me! Jesus…Clearly you are here after failing that…impossible…"

Giran's eyes were directed to the owner of the sound earlier. It seems Shishido is going to be in the news instead. Giran's eyes slowly made their way to the unemotional mask, now taking this man much more seriously than before, "Any conditions or prices you want to enact?" 

"I want to choose the hit myself. The price will be the same that you are paying me regardless of the importance of the target. Also, the client can choose an execution method if they want," Arbiter exclaimed in a deep voice.

The prices were fine. What really interested Giran was that last part, "The execution method? What, you can make a man burst into flames? How about making his lungs explode?" This was more joking on Giran's part.

"The flame part yes, I'm not entirely sure if I am accurate enough to make only the lungs explode."

Giran decided it would be best to stop joking, "Okaaaaaay then. I'd usually take a 20% cut, but I have a feeling you're not going to die soon. I'll take 10%, just for you," Giran puts his hand out towards the new hitman, "I expect a fruitful and bloody business with you."

____________________

"Why did you change into a suit and mask?" Eri asked curiously.

"It's simply the outfit I wear when I go to work. Now, please hold my hand and we'll meet Giran."

Eri grabbed a hold of Ainz's hand, "Who's Giran?"

"He's the information broker I told you about earlier, remember?" 

Ainz activated [Greater Teleportation] because Giran's hideout was too far for regularly [Teleport].

The duo arrived at the door of a shady building in a poor part of town. Ainz was not worried at all for Eri's safety as she was wearing [The Mask of the Knight] which allowed the user to be incredibly more agile. Along with this was [Baldr's Blood] in the form of a ruby necklace with a gold chain. It was a joke item that could only allow the wearer to be harmed with Mistletoe. The shitty devs of YGGDRASIL released it on April Fool's day making people believe they could become immortal if they had this item. What the players didn't know was that an extra line of dialogue was added to every weapon of the game: "Now made with mistletoe." 

But in this world? The wearer would be untouchable. Perfect for Eri! Was it overkill? Absolutely not. 

Ainz looked at zero to make sure her mask was on, then touched the buzzer to the building.

The doorbell spoke, "What the hell do you want? I'm busy right now so scram!"

"Nothing personal, it's just good business," Ainz recited the password that Giran gave him.

"…at least you're learning to use the door now."

The door clicked then opened. Ainz, still holding Eri's hand, led her through the building to the second floor where Giran sat. Giran himself had mixed feelings about Arbiter. On one hand, the money was pouring in. On the other hand, a lot more work had to be done to accommodate the assassin.

Ainz entered Giran's room and noticed the shock on his face when Eri stepped in, "Right, my partner," he pointed down at Eri. "This is Ghost. Think of them as a new employee shadowing the veteran. The job will have no complications if that is your concern."

Giran took the cigarette out of his mouth, "Heh. I have no doubt about your abilities anymore. As long as we both get paid, I'm happy."

Giran took his feet off his desk and gave Ainz several folders. Ainz let go of Eri's hand and looked at the current targets.

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Target: Crowler

Real Name: Unknown

Affiliation: Villain

Appearance: Looks like a regular man, but with one arm missing being replaced with a skewer. His head also resembles a crow with beady red eyes.

Quirk: Murder — the ability to summon a swarm of crows to attack, defend, and support the user.

Last Known Location: Mustafu, 2nd street.

Reason for Hit: Unwarranted murder of countless charges.

Way of Execution: None listed.

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Target: All Might

Real Name: Unknown

Affiliation: Hero

Appearance: Huge build. Seven feet tall with blonde hair and squinted eyes. Big smile as well.

Quirk: Unknown, but has something to do with super strength

Last Known Location: Unknown, works all over Japan.

Reason for Hit: Kill that son of a bitch.

Way of Execution: None listed.

--------------------

Ainz rolled his eyes at this one. Every single week a hit for All Might gets posted. He doesn't do it because he cares for the #1 hero, but Eri likes him, so he leaves him alone. Also the death of All Might would destabilize Japan and he doesn't want to go through the hassle of finding a new place to stay.

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Target: Giran

Real Name: Kagero Okuta

Affiliation: C-Rank Villain

Appearance: Scruffy man with glasses and a scar on his face. Short gray hair parted to the right. Scar on his chin.

Quirk: Muddied—if he touches your head, he can make the next five minutes disappear from your consciousness.

Last Known Location: Kamino

Reason for Hit: Bastard said I had no standards when it came to "holding myself back."

Way of Execution: Cut the finger and toe tips, flay the skin, and place him in eagle position. Mail client the liver and heart.

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Ainz chuckled at that one, "Looks like you got yourself a friend, Giran," he said as he handed the target to the broker.

"Still pissed at the fact they gave me a C. Well, I suppose you could just kill me and get the two million right now," Giran sighed. "It'd be your fastest hit yet!"

Both of the men had a laugh at that before Ainz was forcibly calmed down through the emotional suppression system and got back to business, "That out of the way, I'll take the Crowler hit and see you within the hour."

"Nap time it is then, make sure the new guy doesn't shit their pants," Giran sat up when they got a real good look at 'the new guy' again. "Hey, did you hire a six year old? That's pretty fuc-..."

Ainz took Eri's hand and teleported out of there before she could get an extra dose of Giran's bad mouth.

____________________

The hitmen duo end up on a roof near Mustafu's 2nd street. It's still daytime, but Ainz doesn't even bother with stealth as the only person who has even seen his Arbiter persona is Giran. Eri and Ainz sit down and eat some packed up katsudon that stayed warm in Ainz's inventory. The lunch was nice. A neat fact that Ainz figured out about the emotional suppression feature for the overlord race is its definition of "intense emotion." If he manages to stay just below the threshold, he can enjoy the things he loves without feeling apathetic about everything.

Once he finished up lunch, Ainz picked [First Eye of Mimir] for the tracking mechanism of Crowler. It wasn't an actual eye. It had the shape and look of one, but it was solid crystal with a gold outline of the non-existent pupil. Maybe this would be a good teaching lesson for Eri…

Ainz looked at the girl that was still chowing down on katsudon, "You can finish your lunch don't worry, but I'm going to get started on finding our birdie friend," Ainz placed the crystal eye on the ground with the gold, stopping it from rolling away. "This little tool just needs a description of what it needs to look like and presto! We have our guy."

Eri looked at the thing with excitement and wonder, "Whoah!! That's so cool, Ainz! O-Okay. Uhm…Mr. Eye. We are looking for a man with a bird head and-and a stick for an arm."

Ainz stifled a laugh at Eri's description. It was extremely vague, but it should be able to do the work within a few minutes. Its working radius is about the size of a major city.

"Great job Eri! The eye needs some time to wait so let's just-..."

"What are you two doing here?"

The duo spun their heads to see a hero about twenty feet away from them. Ainz did sense the guy from earlier, but didn't bother to make a move because he thought the hero wouldn't bother them. He stands corrected. The hero in question is dressed like a firefighter sporting a gray faceplate with a yellow orb in the middle. His hands are also replaced with fire hoses.

Ainz can easily see Eri's body slightly shake at the sight of the hero, so he speaks first, "Hello there Mr…?"

"Backdraft."

"Mr. Backdraft. I am teaching my student here how to properly handle their quirk. As a fellow Pro Hero, I understand the trouble that can be caused if someone unfamiliar enters your patrol route. We will be leaving shortly."

Backdraft tilted his head with his arms folded, "A 'fellow Pro Hero?' Then you wouldn't mind showing me your license?"

Ainz blanked on the question, You need a license to become a hero?! That's stupid! I guess it's to weed out any potential villains, but…uuuughh. Ainz smiled under his mask, "Of course! Let me just…" a small ding rang from the crystal eye alerting it's done.

Ainz grabbed the eyeball with one hand, and Eri's hand with the other as he prepared to teleport to the target.

Backdraft started sprinting towards them while activating his water cannon. His heroic instincts were screaming different commands to either run or save the child. He was too late though. Both of them disappeared with only crumbs of the meal they had being the only evidence of their existence.

____________________

Garbage strewn across the desolate alleyway. A terrible smell rose from around the area. The squawking of crows signifies their leader's presence. The Crowler was less of a man and more of a rabid animal in his current form. It used his mace-like arm to prop himself up, while using his human hand to tear apart his latest victim. This agonizing and predatory way of living was a daily habit for him. He no longer cared for anything or anybody. If they could move, they were food. This was Crowler's life until it sensed two different presences appear from behind him.

Crowler spit out a chunk of his food to focus his full attention on the new people in front of him. One was tall and had a red face, while the other was small and had a white face. This confused Crowler immensely. He only hunts people that are alone. No one should've been able to find him.

"I apologize Eri for bringing you here. Your trauma with the 'bad men' completely slipped my mind. You can look away if you wish," said the red-faced.

The white face hid half of themself behind the tall one, "N-No. I-I want to s-see this. I n-need to see this."

The tall one nodded and raised his hand to the kneeling Crowler. This was when Crowler sensed his death was coming. He pushed himself up with his mace arm and charged straight for the duo.

"[Absolute Zero]."

Crowler Froze in place. He didn't feel cold, but everything refused to move. That was when he felt it. It started at his feet and gradually made its way up his body. His blood stopped supplying his cells. His heart stopped beating. His lungs stopped producing oxygen. His eyes couldn't take in any light. The capillaries in his brain stopped firing off sparks.

The final thought of the Crowler was disappointment in that he couldn't finish his meal.

____________________

Eri saw the Crowler crumple to the ground. Just like before, Ainz easily defeated the bad bird men. She was still terrified of them, but happy that he is there to protect her now. It's not like before and never will. Realization of what Ainz did overtook Eri's mind. What exactly happened to him?

She looked up to Ainz with curiosity who obliged her, "That was one of my spells called [Absolute Zero]. It is the strongest ice magic at being the tenth tier. However, instead of freezing your opponents cold, it stops every atom in their body from moving. This means they die almost instantly if they can't heat themselves up fast enough. This is the end for the Crowler."

Ainz mentioned his 'spells' when they first met. Instead of a curse like Eri, he has hundreds of abilities that are super cool. Eri looked at the man without a single wound on his body. It looks like he could just wake up and kill them both. Eri had more trust in Ainz. If he says the man is dead, then she'll trust him.

"...okay Eri. For this part, I really don't want you to look, okay?"

Eri looked away. 

*CLICK*

*SLICE*

*SHIK*

"Alright Eri. I'm done."

Eri turned around to see the Crowler was missing an arm. In addition to the sudden amputation, a hole appeared on his neck. She looked back at Ainz who placed a camera back into his inventory, "I needed to do that to show that we were the ones that got him. Don't want some chump to take our hard-earned work now, do we?"

Eri smiled at that. She may not have done much, but was happy to be a small part of Ainz's life, "C-Can we head home now? I-I want to s-see the new episode of Pony Tales."

"Of course, but first we need to go back to Giran and get our well deserved money!" Ainz answered before teleporting both of them out.

____________________

"A red and green mask? Like an oni from mythology? Are you absolutely sure that is what you saw?"

Backdraft, at the police station with the intent of filing a missing child report, was now being interrogated about the man instead.

"Yeah, I know everyone I've seen like the back of my hand. Photographic memory and shit."

The man interrogating Backdraft, Naomosa Tsukauchi, sweats just a bit after confirming the rescue hero's words, "A suit. Did he wear a nice suit that seemed like it was personally tailored?"

"That's…oddly specific, but, yeah, he had a suit on. I'm sorry if I'm stupid; am I missing something here? Shouldn't the child take priority?" Backdraft asked with a strong hint of confusion.

"The child would be a priority in almost any scenario if the man you found hasn't already killed over 30 people."

Backdraft froze,"Tsukauchi…who exactly did I have the extreme unluckiness to meet?"

The detective sat forward in his seat, making sure that he was staring directly at Backdraft's eye, "The man you met is so elusive we have a grand total of three seconds of camera footage of him combined . He is so dangerous that I have to congratulate you Backdraft," the man looked even more confused at Tsukauchi.

Tsukauchi stood up and raised his drink in a manner fitting of a toast, "Congratulations for being the sole person to have met the Arbiter and lived to tell the tale!"