107

[ Part 3 ]

After handing the intruders over to his subordinates to handle, Ainz activated the monitor within the Throne Room and scrolled through Nazarick's data. The figure which most concerned him — their remaining funds — had only shifted very slightly. That was because they had hardly activated any cash-item traps. Thus, it could be counted as a very successful training exercise.

Ainz turned to Albedo — who was nervously awaiting Ainz's opinion — and smiled broadly — although a skeletal face could not show any expressions — before praising her:

"Very well done. While the intruders were all weak, they were fairly skilled among the humans of this world. In addition, you eliminated them with barely any expenditures. It would seem I can entrust the task of defense to you in future."

"Thank you for your praise."

Albedo looked visibly relieved as she bowed her head in gratitude.

"Then, Ainz-sama, are there any problems with the time?"

"It's fine. I've asked Pandora's Actor; while the people on top think the Workers are taking their time, they've decided to wait one day, or until there's some change in the ruins."

After seeing that none of the Workers had returned by dawn, the adventurers had flown into a panic, but Momon — Pandora's Actor — suggested that they wait another day and see. While they had already arranged that to leave the campsite and observe from further away in case of emergency, the word of an adamantite-ranked adventurer carried more weight than their previous plans.

"Then, may I occupy a bit of your precious time? In truth, I have a question to ask, Ainz-sama."

"What is it, Albedo? A moment please... alright, it's fine."

Ainz turned around after making a final check on Hamsuke and the Lizardmen through the monitor.

"What is this question?"

"—Yes." She looked around before speaking. "This concerns what those fools said just now; how high is searching for the Supreme Beings on your list of priorities, Ainz-sama?"

"At the top. So long as it does not place the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick in danger, it will be our topmost priority, " Ainz answered without delay.

"I see. I understand. Then, I have a proposal, that you will allow me to put together a unit under me that will search for the Supreme Beings."

"What do you mean?"

Ainz's tone had unconsciously grown stiff, because he realised the dark side lurking within his heart.

Until this date, he had several opportunities to actively search for his friends. However, he had kept pushing those plans back because he "lacked manpower" or "had insufficient information".

This was because he was afraid of scouring every corner of the world and finding nothing, so he could not make that decision. Rather than work hard just to confirm that he was alone, becoming a famous monster held more hope.

"Yes. The lies those fools told just now were of a very low grade and were instantly seen through. However, we might encounter information in future whose veracity cannot be easily determined. Therefore, I would like to form a team to verify the reliability of this information, and at the same time investigate the whereabouts of the Supreme Beings. After I investigate in detail, I can report the results to you, Ainz-sama."

Ainz caressed his chin with a bony hand.

"Is that so..." he murmured to himself. He thought about his conversation with the Workers, and what he felt was not anger, but emptiness. Wavering between hope and despair was truly a heart-wrenching thing. His own sentimentality aside, it would seem that as the group's leader, it was time for him to decide to advance, even if it was only by a small step.

"You do not need to do everything on your own, Albedo. I hope you will be able to continue administering Nazarick well. If you intend to gather information by heading outside... would Mare or Aura not be better choices? I hear there are Dark Elves in the outside world."

"It is as you say. However, there is one factor which makes me uneasy; 'loss of control'. For instance, if she caught wind of Peroroncino-sama, Shalltear would surely abandon everything and do as she pleased. Similarly, if Aura and Mare learned of Bukubukuchagama, there is no telling what Aura and Mare will do."

"I see..." Ainz smiled bitterly as he thought of Shalltear. "Indeed, I feel that is a possibility."

"In order to avoid that, I feel a team which is directly loyal to me would be more appropriate."

"...So you will not go berserk when you learn about Tabula-san?"

"Please be at ease. As the Guardian Overseer of Nazarick, I will not do so under any circumstances. I promise."

"I see..."

When it came to Albedo, a wise person who was the most skilled at the internal administration of Nazarick, the chances of her going out of control due to her emotions ought to be very low. While she was a little off-kilter from time to time, there had never been any problems with the running of Nazarick while Ainz had been gone, and she was worthy of trust.

"Personally, I feel Demiurge would also be acceptable, but he has many other duties to cover. Having him bear the weighty task of gathering information about the other Supreme Beings in addition to those tasks would be somewhat burdensome."

"What you said also makes sense. Then how about dispatching Pandora's Actor?"

"I was about to mention that. If possible, I would like to ask you to assign me Pandora's Actor as my adjutant, Ainz-sama."

"I see. Having two of Nazarick's most intelligent people working together will reduce the chances of mistakes compared to just one person, but... he still has his duties in the Treasury. I will lend him to you when the need arises."

"Thank you, Ainz-sama. May I make several other requests?"

Ainz raised his chin, indicating that she should continue.

"I would like my subordinates for the Supreme Being search team to be powerful."

"Of course, I will assign you a group of the highest-levelled vassals."

"Thank you, Ainz-sama. In addition, I feel it would be very helpful if you could bestow upon an undead lieutenant hand-crafted by yourself."

"That, I cannot approve. Indeed, the lieutenants I can make are level 90, but—"

Rather than mercenary NPCs, one of Ainz's skills allowed him to use experience points to create undead beings — an Overlord Wiseman or a Grim Reaper Thanatos. Since he could only have one at a time, they were very powerful. However, this world was not like YGGDRASIL where large amounts of experience points were easy to come by, and so he wanted to avoid skills which consumed experience points.

"Yes, I'll pass on that. Albedo, you will be in charge of the team, your adjutant will be Pandora's Actor, and the other team members will be monsters."

"Understood. There is also one more thing; I would like to keep this group secret and not let the other Guardians know about it."

"Why is that? Won't it be better to have the Guardians' help?"

"No. If news is carelessly leaked, the Guardians or the other creations of the Supreme Beings might ask us to bring them along in order to visually confirm the sightings. In that case, they might end up falling into a trap if that news was bait. My abilities are oriented towards defense, so I might be able to escape on my own, but it would be more difficult if I had to protect others as well."

"That makes sense. Very well, Albedo. We will proceed as you see fit."

"Thank you, Ainz-sama!"

Albedo bowed deeply in thanks, and her long hair hung down, covering her face.

"That's fine. Then, I'll leave this to you."

"Please be at ease, Ainz-sama! The secret unit executing your most important order will not disappoint you."

Ainz was puzzled. The phrasing of her reply seemed a little strange.

Forget it, it's fine.

"Then let us select your subordinates. I won't touch the vassals already assigned to the various floors, but make new ones instead. How many level 80-odd monsters do you need?"

"Let's start with 15."

"15? That's a bit too..."

Halfway through, Ainz shook his head. Searching for his past friends was an important task; he should not be considering the expense at all.

"No, that's fine. I understand."

"There is another thing I would like to ask; may I have command authority over Rubedo?"

"Denied."

Ainz replied instantly.

Rubedo was the single most powerful individual in Nazarick. Purely in terms of melee combat, she was stronger than Sebas, Cocytus and Albedo. In all likelihood, even a fully-equipped Ainz could not beat her, and even Shalltear would be considered weak in comparison to her.

The only people who can beat her are the ones from the 8th Floor, and they'd have to use World-Class Items. No matter how strong she is, she probably wouldn't be able to fight one of them to a draw, but...

"While the activation experiment was a success, I do not intend to mobilize it for the moment. I wish to ask you; why do you need so much fighting power?"

"It embarrasses me to say it, but would you be willing to listen, Ainz-sama?"

"Go ahead."

"Since this is a rare chance to do so, I wanted to put together the strongest possible team."

"Hahahaha—!"

Albedo's wish might have sounded like that of a child, but Ainz keenly understood it, and he could not help laughing. The emotion was promptly suppressed, but ripples of mirth remained in its wake.

"Ainz-sama!"

Upon seeing the distressed look on Albedo's face, Ainz smiled congenially to her — although his face did not move — and replied:

"Sorry, sorry. No, hm, that is quite interesting. So that's it. In that case, since she's your sister, I shall turn command authority over to you."

"Will you really permit that?"

"Of course; go assemble your dream team. For all we know, we might need to use that team's power in the future."

"Thank you very much, Ainz-sama!"

Albedo bowed deeply, and so he could not see her face, but Ainz imagined she would be smiling benignly as always, and so he turned his attention to the monitors once more. Just then, someone entered the Throne Room; it was Entoma. She walked up to the Throne, then genuflected before him and bowed her head.

"My apologies."

"What is it, Entoma?"

Albedo's voice sounded very stiff. Entoma replied with a "Yes" and continued answering from her kneeling position.

"Aura-sama and Mare-sama are due to set out, and so I have come to report it to you,"

"Is that so... raise your head."

Entoma replied with a clipped "Yes" once more and then looked up.

"There's still time, so I will go send them off. Communicating with magic is far too boring. Entoma, pardon me, but go inform the two of them."

"Understood.

Entoma rose and made to leave. Albedo watched her back as she went, then leaned over to Ainz and asked:

"...Ainz-sama, are you not displeased? They should have sent a maid other than Entoma. I will scold them later."

"...Why do you say that?"

"No, I simply felt that they should not have let you hear that rude girl's voice, Ainz-sama—"

"Oh, I don't mind. In fact, it was my suggestion that Entoma take her — wait! Entoma!"

"Yes! Is something the matter?"

Entoma was just about to rush back when Ainz held out his hand to stop her, indicating that she should answer him from her current location.

"What happened to the other parts? Were they well-utilized?"

"Yes. The head went to a Silk Hat. The arms were shared between the Deadman Struggles. Demiurge-sama took the skin. The other parts were fodder for Grant's children. I believe there was no wastage."

"Really now? Very good. A hunter's duty is to make good use of every bit of his kill. If all hunters did that, it would be called provision."

"You really are... too kind. As expected of the Supreme One, you show kindness even to such filthy little thieves. Surely everyone in Nazarick would shed a tear if they heard what you just said, Ainz-sama."

Albedo's voice trembled with emotion as she spoke. Entoma's eyes were filled with a respect that transcended the norm.

"...Umu. Ah, it's fine... that's just my personal opinion, it's not meant to force you to be like me. Although, I still... feel that making full use of it is just common courtesy."

"Understood, I'm certain the others will make good use of theirs too!"

As he saw the two of them bowing deeply before him, Ainz had a feeling like he had missed something somewhere, and all he could reply with was "Umu."

-x-X-x-

[ Part 4 ]

The Ministry of Magic had several meeting rooms and guest rooms. Fluder was headed to the most lavishly-furnished guest room of them all. It was a room which was only used for visits from the Emperor or other highly-placed people.

Fluder stood by the door of the room and checked his grooming.

His robe was exquisite and fit to be worn to the evening galas organized by the Emperor, while the splash of cologne on his collar and sleeves radiated a heartening fragrance.

Fluder had no interest in politics or social interactions. Rather, he hoped to be able to focus all his efforts on magical research, so he found all other matters annoying. However, he knew that he could not completely ignore such problems.

He did not want to wound the Empire's dignity by appearing unkempt.

Very good, all's well.

After assuring himself that his clothes were in an immaculate state, he knocked on the door, and then entered.

There were two adventurers in the luxurious room. One was a warrior, dressed in jet black plate armor like the Death Knight from just now. And then, the other one was a beautiful woman who was so fair that she even managed to mesmerize Fluder for a moment.

So they are Momon of Darkness and the Beautiful Princess Nabe, then?

"Forgive me for keeping the two of you waiting."

As Fluder quietly closed the door, he suddenly had a strange feeling.

"...Odd..."

He remained at the door, staring at the jaw-dropping beauty.

...I can't see it?

Fluder's eyes should have been able to see an image superimposed over her. However, he could not see it now, which left him speechless from shock and puzzlement.

Fluder's natural Talent was the ability to see the auras around arcane magic casters, and thus the tier of spells they could use.

However, Fluder's talent could not sense the auras from around them, despite hearing that the Beautiful Princess Nabe of Darkness was an arcane magic caster.

Protection from divinations?

That was the only possibility, but that in turn raised new questions of its own. Why had she warded herself against divinations? Normal adventurers would not erect such defenses. That was because using their strength on such matters was too troublesome and few situations arose where one needed to be constantly aware of such things. Besides, not taking off one's protection for divinations when meeting them was quite rude.

Well, I used a detection ability myself, which was somewhat impolite too... but why does she have to hide her power?

Fluder's Talent was well known, and perhaps she had done so to protect herself, but he still did not know the reason for it.

Upon seeing Fluder frozen in place, his somewhat surprised guests asked:

"Is something the matter?"

"Ohh, please forgive my rudeness."

Fluder sat before Momon, but he could not help sneaking peeks at Nabe.

"Ah, I see. Let's begin, then."

Begin what? Before Fluder could ask, Momon took the initiative and said:

"...Nabe, it's time for you to take your ring off."

"Understood."

Nabe removed her ring. In that moment—

***

It felt like an explosion had gone off in his face.

A cry of "What—!" escaped his throat.

Nabe's body radiated a world-shaking wave of power.

His body was not truly being assaulted by a wave of overpressure. This was a surge of might which only someone with Fluder's talents could see.

Fluder curled up into a ball and trembled, like a man lashed by icy winds.

"Im... possible..."

It was not possible, it could not be possible. There was no way — no way that there was someone more powerful than himself.

But he could not reject it out of hand, because the scene before him was reality. His ability had never betrayed him before — her power was far in excess of his. That was the pure and undeniable truth.

"The 7th... no, don't tell me, this flow of power is... the proof of the 8th...?"

If that were so, then it would be the stuff of legends.

Fluder could no longer speak, because magic of the 5th tier was the domain of heroes. And the 6th tier which Fluder had reached was terra incognita. And now, someone who had easily gone a tier beyond had suddenly appeared before his eyes.

And she was such a young and beautiful woman too.

Could it be that her appearance doesn't correspond to her age?

As Fluder trembled in shock, he noticed Momon removing one of his black gauntlets, and then he removed one of the rings he wore.

"—!"

In that instant, the world was subsumed into light, and Fluder felt his consciousness flee him.

He could not understand what had just taken place before his eyes. Even Fluder, who had lived over 200 years, even this man who could use the highest tiers of magic humanity could reach, could not comprehend this reality.

"This... this... this is... this is too unbelievable."

Hot fluid coursed down Fluder's cheeks. However, he did not have the presence of mind or the composure to wipe it away. The immense shock had overwhelmed his mind.

Who could have imagined this? That the Dark Warrior of song and story was actually an arcane magic caster, and one who occupied a height so great that Fluder could not hope to reach the soles of his feet?.

"If that is the 8th tier... then this is the 9th... no... this really is... oh, gods..."

The overwhelming might emanating from the Dark Warrior Momon far exceeded that of Nabe, who sat by his side. Since he had surpassed Nabe, a magic caster estimated to be of the 8th tier, then exactly what heights of magic could this Momon reach?

Fluder's soul answered the question that had appeared in the corner of his mind.

***

—The 10th tier. It was an absolute zenith whose existence was known, but which had never been verified. And now, a man who came from that exalted domain had appeared before his eyes.

***

Fluder rose to his feet, then knelt before Momon, tears streaming from his eyes

"...In the past, I believed in a lesser deity who governed magic. However, if you are not that god, then I shall promptly renounce my faith. That is because the true god has deigned to appear before me."

Fluder kowtowed with all his might, plastering his head to the ground. There was pain, but the uncontrollable joy in his heart meant that the pain lost all meaning to him.

"I know this is extremely rude, but I beg a favor of you, upon my hands and knees! Please, bestow your teachings upon me! I wish to glimpse the abyss of magic! I beg you! I beg you!"

"—And what sort of price are you willing to pay for that?"

That voice was as cold as an iceberg. Fully a hundred out of a hundred would describe it that way; yet to Fluder's ears, it was a sweet and pleasant voice that set his heart aflutter. Of course, he knew of the venom concealed within those words. Still — what of it?

Fluder did not hesitate for even a moment. He was willing to pay the price. He was willing to hand over his soul.

"Everything! Yes, I will pledge everything I have to you! O Lord of the Abyss! O unfathomable one!"

"...Very well. If you are willing to give me everything, then my knowledge shall be yours. I shall grant your wish."

"Ohhh! Ohhhhh!"

Fluder ground his forehead into the floor as he shed tears of joy. His heart, frozen and stiff from jealousy, had melted. After waiting over 200 years, he had finally obtained a chance to fulfil the wish he had held for so long.

The utterly excited Fluder kept his forehead touched to the floor as he crawled over to Momon's feet and kissed his boots. He had originally planned to lick them clean. However, the calm portion of his mind worried that his master and god would be revolted by him, and so he settled for politeness instead.

"That's enough, I understand your loyalty."

"Ohhh! Thank you!... My Master!"

"Now then, your first order. Deliver live sacrifices to my fortress—"

***

"Gramps! Gramps! What's wrong, Gramps?"

Lost in thought, Fluder came round when he heard someone calling out to him.

Fluder blinked a few times, then he remembered where he was, and nodded to the person who had called out to him.

"Forgive me, your Majesty. I was thinking about something."

Before Fluder was the only person who could call him "Gramps". That person was the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix.

Normally, there would only be a few people in this room, but right now, there were many people gathered here. There was Emperor Jircniv and four bodyguards. There was Fluder Paradyne, the highest-ranking magic caster in the Empire. Then there were 10 loyal and capable ministers, whose abilities could effectively support their outstandingly intelligent Emperor. In addition, one of the people hailed as the strongest in the Empire — "Lightning Bolt" Baziwood Peshmel of the Empire's Four Knights — was present.

All of them sat where they pleased, and they had been discussing the direction that the Empire would take since just now. The sheets of paper scattered all around bore witness to the intensity of their debate. One of them had even shouted himself hoarse.

The young Empeoror with the title of Bloody spoke something to Fluder that he would never have said to anyone else.

"No, don't worry about it. After all, I've made you worry about a lot of things. You're getting on in years, so I'd like to let you enjoy them. Unfortunately, there are many things which I must bother you about, so please forgive me."

"I thank your Majesty for his concern. However, I am a faithful servant of your Majesty. Please, order me around as you see fit."

After being thanked for his service, Fluder nodded his head slightly.

I've raised a good boy.

Those thoughts went through Fluder's mind as he looked upon the handsome young man.

Fluder had begun working for the Empire about six generations ago.

His relationship with the Emperor at that time — the sixth Emperor before Jircniv — had been quite bad. However, Fluder was a skilled magic caster who could cast spells of a high tier, so after entering public service, he soon reached the middle to upper ranks of the Court Wizards.

For this reason, Fluder had become closer to the fifth Emperor before Jircniv. After becoming the Head Court Wizard, he began teaching the fourth Emperor before Jricniv about magic.

Ever since the third Emperor before Jircniv ascended to the throne, he had taken on the role of teaching the Emperor about all sorts of knowledge, and he had considerable influence in implementing policy.

And now, there was the present Emperor — his beloved boy.

None of the Emperors he had served through the generations were incompetent. The heavens seemed to have smiled upon every one of them; they were all talented and intelligent boys — thought the sixth Emperor before Jircniv had been old at the time. And among all of them, the current Emperor possessed intelligence to surpass all of them. He might have been begun laying the foundations for it since two generations ago, but the fact that he could successfully institute himself as an autocrat was thanks to his excellent competence.

Fluder deeply doted on Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix.

Fluder had taught him like he was his own son. He was certain that the Emperor too loved and respected him like a second father.

Even so—

***

Fluder could discard a man he loved like his own son.

I want to see the abyss of magic, Jir. I will cast aside anything for it without hesitation. Even a darling lad like you.

***

"Then, your Majesty, we've decided to completely halt the offensive against the Kingdom, is it?"

"Indeed. That's because investigating the demon Jaldabaoth is more important. Gramps, did you learn anything?"

"I regret to say that despite my investigations, I have not found any information yet, your Majesty."

Indeed, it had all been arranged beforehand.

"Paradyne-sama. Can you not use magic to investigate?"

Fluder turned to the man who had addressed him, carefully faked an expression, and then looked coldly at him.

"Indeed, magic is potentially capable of performing the impossible. That is—"

"—Forgive me, gramps. Once you start talking about this sort of thing, you tend to ramble on all day. Please dispense with that for now."

"I understand, your Majesty," Fluder replied with a somewhat unhappy look on his face. Then, he started speaking again in a pedagogical tone: "There are ways to resist magical investigation. For instance, this room is soundproofed; you all should know this. Similarly, impeding divination magic is also simple enough to accomplish."

"...I see. In other words, there are ways to resist it, so it's very difficult."

"Precisely. However, you would be lucky to get away with a simple spell failure. High-end magic casters can even prepare counterattacks against this sort of magic; if things go badly, those can directly kill the diviner who is casting spells on them."

What use would my pitiful grasp of magic be to the Supreme One... nobody is more fitting of being called the Supreme One. I need to demonstrate my usefulness as soon as possible—

Several people had disgusted looks on their faces when they learned that their adversary could instantly kill people in the process of striking back, but Fluder was utterly uninterested.

"So according to your words," one of the ministers said as he picked up a sheet of paper. "Does the fact that you could detect the base of this Ainz Ooal Gown magic caster with a spell not imply that his abilities are beneath yours, Paradyne-sama?"

"Naive!"

Fluder struggled to keep himself from smiling bitterly as he continued in a harsh tone, the better to impress the depths of his annoyance on the other party.

"You are too naive. It was only after I witnessed him saving Carne Village... no, I noticed he had only saved Carne Village and then conducted magical surveillance of the area, which was how I noticed the ruins. Since I had no recollection of the ruins being there, I continued my observation, which was how I noticed a magic caster who looked like like Ainz Ooal Gown entering those ruins. You must remember that I discovered him entirely by chance, else you will be inviting disaster upon your own head!"

Part of that was the truth. Only a fool would take such a great being lightly. No, he too had been such a fool; ignorance was a truly tragic thing.

Fluder quietly laughed at his foolish self from the past. At that time, he had truly been clueless.

"Forgive me."

Fluder waved his hand to accept the man's apology.

"Oh, that's right, Gramps. What about the Workers you sent into his home?"

"One of the spies following them sent back a report via [Message]. It seems they are all dead."

Jircniv counted the days on his fingers, and then his eyes widened slightly. He had heard that the people who had been sent out were quite capable Workers. The fact that such fighting power had been annihilated in a day or less was quite surprising.

Needless to say, Fluder was not surprised. He felt that such an outcome was inevitable. However, the look on his face was one of disbelief.

"...Is that so? That said, magical information alone is not completely reliable. How long until the adventurers return?"

"They decided to fall back immediately since nobody came back alive, but it seems it will take them four days to come back."

"Waiting for the returning adventurers to provide us with their information... That'll be at least five days. Until then, our hands are tied."

[Message] was a very unreliable way of transmitting information. That was because it became less clear the longer the distance between them. In addition, there was another reason why the Empire did not place its trust in methods like [Message].

The most famous example was the tragedy of Gartenberg.

Roughly 300 years ago, that country had set up a [Message] network between their cities to increase the speed of information transfer. It was a humanoid nation ruled by magic casters. Due to their over-reliance on [Message], it fell into chaos after receiving just three false reports. The cities warred against each other and on top of that they were attacked by monsters and demihumans, and thus the country perished.

Apart from that, the bards also sang songs about husbands who murdered their wives after being informed of the latter's betrayal, only to find out that it had been fake news all along.

As a result, very few people trusted [Message] for passing on information. Rather, those who placed too much faith in [Message] were treated as idiots. Jircniv was one of them. He made use of [Message]. However, he corroborated it with intelligence from other sources; he would never solely rely on magic.

"Still, that man was a moron. If he had hired Workers from E-Rantel, things would have fitted our plan better. Of course, it's precisely because he's incompetent that he was dancing in the palm of my hand, but being too useless is problematic too. He ought to be better bait, at least."

"It is as your Majesty says."

***

Jircniv furrowed his brows as he heard Fluder agree with him.

Fluder had proposed a plan several days ago, which he had accepted. Said plan had two aims.

The first was to grasp Ainz Ooal Gown's personality.

According to Fluder's investigations, Ainz Ooal Gown's reaction was to not leave the tomb for several days, so they determined that said tomb was his home base. Thus, they dispatched the Workers there, to observe how Ainz Ooal Gown would react.

Would he treat the people who barged into his domicile kindly, or mount stiff resistance?

In the end, the Workers had been slaughtered to the last, and from there, they had learned about part of his character.

The other aim was to ruin the Kingdom's relationship with Ainz Ooal Gown. It would have been better to hire Workers in E-Rantel, but unfortunately things had not gone that smoothly.

It seems he was not that stupid after all.

All the Count had been told was that those were unknown ruins. It had been enough of a risk for a noble of the Empire to barge into ruins within Kingdom territory, and hiring workers from the Kingdom would have required even more courage. It was hard to fault him for using Empire Workers.

However that would mean they could not spoil the relationship between E-Rantel — or perhaps the Re-Estize Kingdom — and Ainz Ooal Gown. Therefore, in order to achieve their second aim, they had to send information on this unknown tomb to the Kingdom's Adventurer's Guild.

"Momon's arrival at the Empire played right into our hands."

"Indeed. Now, he will tell the Guild over there about the unknown ruins and how the Workers were all wiped out. This way, the Kingdom will know the Empire wants to search those ruins, and they'll mount an official investigation on their own."

It was in order to achieve that objective that they had forced the involvement of the Adventurer's Guild in this. Of course, they had not done so in the Emperor's name. They had simply spread some rumors through their spies to encourage such an occurrence.

This incident had to be treated as a foolish noble running wild. In this way, even if the Empire's involvement were revealed, Ainz Ooal Gown's hostility would be directed to the manipulated Count, and Jircniv could instead build a friendly relationship with him.

"Naturally, the Kingdom's adventurers will invade the lair of Ainz Ooal Gown, who responds to intrusions with deadly force. What sort of response will a powerful magic caster make against the Kingdom? And what will the Kingdom do when it is attacked? I do look forward to it," Jircniv laughed. Then, just in case, he asked:

"I already know the power of Ainz Ooal Gown. He can easily eliminate Worker teams. This matter ought to be neatly handled and taken care of by offering up the head of a single foolish noble."

"But of course. We have taken great pains to handle this, and only the people here know the truth."

"Good. But just in case — what was that?"

A tremor interrupted Jircniv's words. The windows in the room and furniture rattled. However, it did not seem to be an earthquake. It was more like a single great shaking caused by some massive entity crashing into the ground.

"What happened? Hurry up and check — what's this ruckus about?! What's going on!"

The wails Jircniv heard were not just from inside the room, but outside as well. The walls of this room were thick and sturdy. In that case, just how loudly were the people outside screaming? What had brought about this screaming — the least suitable sound for this place?

One of his vassals looked at the courtyard from whence the screaming came and after examining the situation, his face turned pale as he answered Jircniv's question.

"Your Majesty! A Dragon! A Dragon has landed in the courtyard!"

For a brief moment, a wave of stupefaction passed through the room. Nobody could immediately parse the meaning of that sentence. No, they could not understand it. Everyone knew that he could not be lying, yet they all ran to the window to witness it with their own eyes.

They practically tore open the heavy curtains. After seeing what lay beyond them, the scene outside the translucent glass window — that of a Dragon in the middle of the courtyard — every single one of them was speechless and gawping with their mouths open.

"Why... why is there a Dragon there? Where did that Dragon come from?"

"Foreign Affairs! Which Dragon-riding boor was scheduled to barge into the courtyard today?!"

"I don't know anything about this!"

"Have you seen the Council Alliance's Dragons before? Could that be a Dragon from the Council Alliance?"

"...That Dragon doesn't match the description I was given. A diplomat told me, so it ought to be reliable."

"All that isn't important; surely the biggest problem is letting the opposition force their way into the Imperial Palace, right!? His Majesty is here; what are the Royal Air Guards doing!"

Dragons possessed powerful bodies sheathed in thick scales, their lifespans vastly exceeded those of mankind, they had all manner of special abilities and magic, and they were the mightiest beings in the world. Of course, Dragons' strength varied between individuals, and there were occasional stories of an adventurer defeating a Dragon. But throughout the course of history, there were also cities devastated by a wrathful Dragon, and sometimes even entire countries. A city in a country from the south had been destroyed by a Dragon some twenty-odd years ago, and it was still fresh in people's memory.

The fact that such a being had appeared in the middle of the Imperial Palace was a grave situation.

Even Jircniv held his breath as he surveyed the situation. Just then, he saw two people hop down from the Dragon's back.

He squinted, and saw that they were two children whose skin had been tanned by the sun.

"Those ought to be Dark Elves."

Fluder calmly stated the species of those two.

"Paradyne-sama! Where did that Dragon come from! And who are those two people?"

"Well, I don't recognize that Dragon..."

The Dragon in the courtyard was surrounded by knights, to say nothing of the two people who had just alighted from it. Those knights were the pride of Empire, yet he could not bring himself to put his faith in them when they stood before a Dragon. That was the strongest living being for you.

A man strode forth from among the knights, a man who carried a shield in each hand.

"Oi, oi, is he going out there? While it can't be helped... losing him like this would be a shame."

The person who had stepped forth was one of the Empire's Four Knights, "The Immovable" Nazami Enec.

He was one of the topmost warriors in the Kingdom, the most adept of the Four Knights at defensive battles. This warrior might be able to resist many energy attacks, but he seemed awfully insignificant when compared to a Dragon. Everyone could only nod in agreement at "Lightning Bolt" Baziwood Peshmel's prediction of his colleague's fate.

"Your Majesty, please take shelter!"

"Where can we run? Tell me where can we find safety?"

Jircniv snorted at the suggestion from the minister who had come to his senses.

"But!"

"—I understand what you want to say. But if we abandon the Imperial Palace and run, we will become the butt of jokes. The same applies even if our adversary is a Dragon. While it does not look like a Dragon of the Council Alliance, if our foe did this while knowing I would not flee... they say Dragons are very intelligent; it seems it knows the Empire's political situation very well."

Jircniv could apply pressure to the nobles because he had the military power of the knights as backing. If the Emperor and his knights quit the Imperial Palace and fled because a Dragon appeared there, they would certainly make light of the Emperor's military power and revolt. He did not think he would lose to whatever ragtag bunch of misfits they could scrape together, but it would severely weaken the Empire.

Whether we fight or flee, we still lose. What a troublesome move. Where did that Dragon come from?

Soon, more and more people gathered in the courtyard. There were 40 Imperial Guardsmen surrounding the Dragon and the two people, as well as 60 knights. In addition to that, there were arcane and divine magic casters scattered throughout their number.

"120 people will not be enough to deal with them. I think I should go over too, your Majesty."

Jircniv furrowed his brow slightly. Fluder was the trump card of the Empire. He was not sure whether playing that card against a mighty being like the Dragon would do any good. However, he was confident that Fluder could escape even after being pressed into dire straits, and that trust cut through his hesitation.

Jircniv did not know the truth.

He did not know that Fluder's offer to go forth was to avoid Jircniv asking him to retreat with teleportation magic.

"I'll leave it to you, gramps. Also, could you ask The Immovable to stand down?"

"Understood. However, those people are unfathomable. I feel they are incredibly strong; please prepare yourself to flee, your Majesty."

With that, Fluder opened the window. He jumped straight out and flew into the sky with a flight spell.

***

"Er, can everyone hear me? I'm a subordinate of Ainz Ooal Gown-sama, and my name's Aura Bella Fiora!"

***

Just then, an incredibly loud voice echoed through the surroundings.

***

"The Emperor of this nation sent a bunch of rude chaps to the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, where Ainz-sama stays! Ainz-sama is very unhappy. So if you don't apologize, we'll wipe this country out!"

***

Jircniv's face twisted. Who had learned this answer, and how? How had he followed the clues back to the truth?

He looked around the room. Everyone was staring in shock at the Emperor. The people who understood the doubts in Jircniv's heart all shook their heads.

***

"For starters, we're going to kill all the people here! Mare!"

***

The other Dark Elf plunged his staff into the surface of the courtyard. In that moment, it was as though a localized earthquake had occurred in the courtyard. It was "as though" because Jircniv did not feel the earth move at all. However, the ground still split open around the Dragon and the Dark Elves, crevasses yawning open in patterns more complex than a spider's web.

The knights, the Imperial Guardsmen, the magic casters — apart from the airborne Fluder, everyone was swallowed up by the earth.

The Dark Elf seemed to have skilfully excluded herself and her allies from the effective radius of the attack. She stood there nonchalantly, and once she pulled out her staff, the ground hurriedly put itself back together, just like when the earthquake had occurred. However, since it had come together too quickly, the ground swelled up, following the previous spiderweb pattern, and it became a small hillock.

The knights who had been gathered in the courtyard just now had all vanished without a trace. The end had come too suddenly.

***

"Alright~ we killed them all. Now then, for all the humans in this city... er, I don't know who's the Emperor, so never mind! If the Emperor doesn't show himself right now, we'll destroy this city! Emperor-san, please come out now!"

***

"Your... your Majesty."

The Chief Minister was trembling, his face deathly pale as he ushered Jircniv forward.

"...So they rode a Dragon here because we trod on the Dragon's tail, then?"

Jircniv fought to quash the trembling in his voice. The supreme being in the Empire, the Emperor who held all power in his hand, could not show fear before his subjects.

"Ainz Ooal Gown... what manner of man... no, now's not the time to think about that sort of thing."

Jircniv shouted from the window:

"I am the Emperor, Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix! I wish to speak with you! May I trouble you fine envoys to enter the palace!"

He turned to the Chief Minister:

"Prepare the finest reception for them! Right now!"

The ministers scrambled out of the room, and Jircniv's eyes went from their backs to the Dark Elves, who were looking at him.

"...I underestimated them. If those are just subordinates... don't tell me I can't handle these people... that said, I won't back down here. If they wish to parley... then we shall fight a war of words. Ainz Ooal Gown, watch as I break your ambitions!"

-x-X-x-

"Then, here's the 100 gold coins as promised, and here's the receipt."

He looked at the contents of the purse, then nodded in satisfaction. Arche's father signed the parchment handed to him without a moment's hesitation. Finally, he put his family's seal on it. The practiced nature of these movements proved that he had done them several times before.

"Will this be alright?"

The man looked at the parchment, and then nodded. If Hekkeran and Imina were here, they would have looks of absolute disgust on their faces. This man was the one who had gone to the inn where Foresight had stayed.

He looked over the parchment that had been handed to him several more times, made sure everything was in order and that the ink had dried, then rolled it up and slotted it into the parchment case.

"I've confirmed that there's no problems."

Then, the man indicated the purse before Arche's father.

"Aren't you going to make sure?"

"Ahhh, a coin more or less isn't a big deal."

"Really now?" the man replied to Arche's father as he nodded grandly.

Of course, he had checked it earlier, and the full amount was there. However, a family whose fortunes had declined enough to borrow money to survive could not take even a single gold coin for granted. No, perhaps this family had been doomed once someone like him had become its heir.

To the man, however, none of that was important as long as the father was a good client.

"Then, the interest and repayment schedule will be the same as before, no?"

The head of the house responded to his question with the same magnanimous — certain of his superior status — nod of his head.

The man nodded in acknowledgement.

"...Ah, yes, is your daughter doing well?"

"Hm?"

The man remembered that this family had three daughters, and so he added:

"I refer to Arche-san."

"Oh, Arche. She's off earning money."

"...Is that so."

And what are you doing while your daughter's making money?

The man adeptly hid the look of disdain in his eyes as the thought crossed his mind.

He could not help but pity the girl for having such a father.

After all, the man was not a monster.

It was simply that the most important thing was that the principal and interest had to be paid, and that they had to keep borrowing money from him. He had no intention of interfering with other people's families.

"She brings a few coins back and she gets all carried away."

As he heard the father's unhappy reply, the man furrowed his brows. It would be troublesome if any sticky business happened which hampered their ability to pay up. Besides, the interest from this family had made him a fortune, so he would like very much to keep doing business with them. Therefore, he decided to try asking about something which he would normally not have bothered with.

"Did something happen?"

"No, nothing of the sort. Just a daugher forgetting how much care she received ever since she was a child and going against her father."

"That's good..."

"Honestly! I need to give her a good scolding! She needs to know the attitude a noble ought to have!"

The man would never speak what was in his heart. However, he had this one thing to say.

"It must be tough."

"Exactly. Really, that stupid daughter..."

The man had not specified who he was referring to, and so the father had assumed that the man was talking about his own hardship and muttered to himself.

A hundred gold trading coins was a huge sum. However, given the usual circumstances, the father would probably spend it all right away, whereupon he would look the man up again. However, the man decided that it would be better not to lend him any more until this sum was paid up.

As he thought of that, the man surveyed the interior of the room.

To the man's eyes, the room was dripping with exquisite furniture. At the very least, he would be able to recover the principal amount. And if selling the furniture was not enough to raise the required money—-

The man looked down to hide the emotion rising in his eyes.

"When you get down to it, a daughter of the Furt family shouldn't be doing dirty work like that. She works with plebeians, who are doubtlessly of base character."

"...Really?"

The man recalled the two faces he had seen in the bar as he answered. There was no telling how he had interpreted the inflection of that response, but the father continued explaining, as though to make an excuse for himself.

"Oh, I'm not saying all plebs are like that. I mean the adventuring sort."

"Perhaps."

"Don't you think so? They were probably the ones who made my daughter turn on me. I need to find a chance to give her a good talking-to. Honestly, a daughter ought to be listening to her father. Actually daring to talk back to me, who does she think she is?"

The man glanced at the furious father, then rose from his chair.

"...Then, I have other places to go, so I'll take my leave. Do remember to pay on time."

***

"When's onee-sama coming back?"

"She'll be back real soon!"

There were two young girls in the room. They sat on the bed like it was a chair, and the two girls who sat side by side looked the same.

The pale faces were flushed slightly pink, calling to mind the image of angels. Given that they looked very similar to their elder sister, it was very easy to imagine how they would look once they grew up.

Both of them were dressed in the same way, in immaculate, pure white one-piece dresses, and a pair of pale, slender legs kicked beneath their skirts.

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Is that so?"

"Just so."

"When onee-sama comes back, we'll be moving house, right?"

"Of course!"

The two of them were very happy. They had not seriously thought about what moving house entailed, only that the big sister they loved the most would no longer leave them. That made them very happy.

Their big sister — Arche — often went out. They did not know what their big sister did, but they both knew that their big sister was doing something very important. Therefore, they decided not to be naughty, but they could not help wanting to play with their gentle sister.

Indeed. The two of them liked Arche more than anything else.

They liked their gentle, yet knowledgeable sister who treated them nicely.

"Why isn't onee-sama back yet~?"

"Why isn't she back yet~?"

"I'm looking forward to it, Kuuderika."

"Mmm, very much, Uleirika."

"I want onee-chan to read me a story~"

"I want onee-chan to sleep with me~"

"Kuuderika, you're so cunning~"

"Uleirika, you're cunning too~"

After that, the two of them looked at each other, and then smiled in the same happy way, before laughing in an adorable fashion, like the tinkling of silver bells.

"Then, Kuuderika can come sleep with onee-sama too."

"Mm, Uleirika can sleep with onee-chan too."

Then, the two of them laughed. They imagined the happy times that would soon be upon them—

-x-X-x-