Overlord, Vol. 8: The Two Leaders

“Yeah, but let’s rest for a little while first.”

“I agree! My tummy’s even poking out a little bit. By the way, Cixous, isn’t it your turn to serve Lord Ainz today?” Foäille asked, grinning. “You’re looking sharper than usual.”

Cixous couldn’t help but smile, too.

“How lucky. I wonder how many more days until my turn.” Lumièlle started counting on her fingers.

The chambers of the highest rulers of Nazarick were spacious, so cleaning a suite carefully on one’s own would easily take half a day.

Certainly, by the numbers, it was possible to clean them all every day, even including other rooms like the spare one Albedo was using, but several people would have had to work full-time with no rest.

Still, that wasn’t a problem for them. They were created by members of Ainz Ooal Gown, who ruled the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Working their hardest for them was only natural—to them, it was quite literally serving the gods.

But the godlike being Ainz Ooal Gown stopped them from working like religious fanatics.

He knew the pain of working for a tyrannical company, so he couldn’t force that kind of lifestyle on what were basically his friends’ daughters.

He instructed them to clean unused rooms less frequently and also broke them up into teams in order to give time off.

And so Nazarick’s maids were currently split into morning and evening teams. Thirty were in the former group and ten in the latter. The one remaining person would take the day off. In other words, they got a day off only once every forty-one days, and some of them complained about the arrangements.

Not that there were too few days off—they protested the opposite. The servants petitioned to get rid of vacation days.

Their whole reason for existing was serving the Supreme Beings. When they were told they didn’t have to do anything, they lost their sense of self-worth. All they felt was the negative emotion that they weren’t needed.

So they negotiated with Ainz directly:
Please don’t take our work away. We want to work all day.

Ainz immediately rejected their appeals. On one hand, the concept of exhaustion had existed in
Yggdrasil
, but it could be cured with magic. At the same time, that didn’t necessarily mean the same thing was possible in this world. Ainz was worried that even if he treated their fatigue with purely magic, their gears would slowly wear down and stop working.

Their stubborn ruler wouldn’t back off, so they had no choice but to accept his decision. Seeing them fight back their tears, he proposed a compromise.

A position that would answer to him directly.

He declared that the maids would take turns, one by one, waiting on him and helping him with all his work.

To these girls for whom serving the Supreme Beings was the greatest joy, this was like icing on their cake. They jumped at the opportunity with zero hesitation and accepted that on the day before they would serve him, they were to take a day off so they would be ready to serve him to the best of their ability.

“You need to eat all your nutrients and work hard! There’s a good chance you’ll have to work through a meal, you know.”

“Of course. The one serving Ainz needs to send a lot of nutrients to their brain.”

“It makes you crave sweets.”

All three of them nodded. Incidentally, maids carried supplemental meals high in sugar content on their person. When they were working for Ainz, they snacked on them whenever they found a spare moment, but if they were unlucky—or maybe, if they were lucky—they wouldn’t have time. That was why it was so important to eat a big breakfast.

“Oh, did you hear? Apparently, they’re going to start cooking with ingredients from the outside world, and I heard they’re having a tasting.”

Cixous’s friends gasped at this news.

That’s only natural
, she thought.

No maids had positive feelings for the world outside Nazarick. Some of them looked down on it, but the majority simply thought it was scary—many remembered the raiders from the outside who penetrated all the way to the eighth level, the one above them.

“Can all the maids participate? It must be only some, right?”

As Cixous was about to answer Foäille’s question, the atmosphere in the cafeteria suddenly changed. Something like a buzz of excitement went through the room.

They followed the gazes of the other maids just as the cheers went up.

“Shizuuu!”

“It’s Shizu!”

One of the combat maids, Shizu, had just entered the cafeteria.

The regular maids admired the combat maids as if they were pop idols, and Shizu was the most popular one. Competition for seats near her was fierce.

“Oh, and the penguin.”

She was carrying a penguin under her arm, and a perplexed-looking male servant followed them. The assistant butler was struggling, but he was a level-1 birdman—he couldn’t escape Shizu’s tough grasp. As they watched, his frantic resistance devolved into powerlessness.

Eventually he gave up completely and went limp. He was like a live stuffed animal.

“Shizu! Over here, over here! Let’s eat together!”

“No, please come over here, Shizuuu!”

“Leave the assistant butler somewhere over there! Just chuck him!”

“Take that useless bird to the chef! Then he’ll at least be able to contribute to Nazarick in
some
way!”

There was no helping the overt difference in reception between Shizu and the assistant butler. The birdman had a habit of spouting blasphemy about how he wanted to rule Nazarick, so no one much cared for him. Even if the Supreme Beings made him that way, it was too hard to put up with his behavior when he was always talking like that.

Hearing everyone shouting for her, Shizu glanced around the cafeteria. Many maids were touched by the childlike way she either searched for someone or was contemplating where to sit.

“When Shizu is holding him, he looks kinda cute somehow. It’s so weird.”

“Maybe I’ll make her a body pillow to hold instead. Mistress Albedo seems to know a lot about them. Maybe I can get her to teach me.”

“Mistress Albedo is nice, so I bet she would. Why not try asking her?”

Shifting her gaze in response to the sound of a book snapping shut at the next table, Cixous caught Inclement standing up to leave.

“It got noisy in here, so I’m going back. If you’re serving Lord Ainz today, I think you should hurry up and finish eating, too, so you can go. If you make a mistake, it’ll reflect poorly on all of us.”

Having said her piece, Inclement walked away without waiting for a reply. Watching her go, Cixous checked the time on her pocket watch. She still had some leeway, but once she had eaten more and touched up her appearance, time would probably be running short.

“Okay. Let’s go get seconds quickly while everyone is fighting over Shizu.”

Her friends agreed with her suggestion.

“Ooh, nice idea.”

The maids nearly jumped out of their skin at the voice that had come from immediately next to them.

“L-Lupusregina!” Cixous turned to the voice’s owner, pressing both hands over her pounding chest. Just a moment ago, there had been no one, but in the brief time she’d been distracted by Shizu and looked away, Lupusregina had appeared. She was sitting sideways on a chair with her legs crossed and even had her meal placed neatly on the table in front of her.

“Don’t surprise us like that, geez!” Foäille, with pathetic, pleading eyebrows, still clung to Lumièlle.

“I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest!” Lumièlle murmured in a daze; she didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to be indifferent about Foäille’s embrace.

The three of them reproved her, but their faces were smiling. Lupusregina was the only combat maid who interacted with all of them on the level of friends, but her patterns of activity were erratic. Since she changed groups each day, being approached by her could be considered a sign of good luck. Hence, the jealous looks Cixous and her friends were getting from other maids.

“Nyee-hee-hee. It was worth experimenting in the village. Nice reactions, guys.”

Lupusregina propped her head up on her hands and grinned like a cat from a storybook. It was a spiteful smile but also strangely charming, which made it mysterious, and Cixous admired it for a little while.

The other two seemed to feel much the same, but the first one to recover was Foäille. “The village?” When she cocked her head, her short bob tickled Lumièlle’s face.

With a look like she was holding back a sneeze, she shoved Foäille away. Then she straightened up and faced Lupusregina. “Miss Lupusregina, I did hear you’re working outside.”

“Yup, I’m workin’ in a human village.”

“A human village… Sounds difficult.” Lumièlle gave Lupusregina a sympathetic look.

“Nah. Plus, I was ordered to do it by Lord Ainz himself, so it’s worth it… To be honest, though, it’s pretty borin’. If they would get overrun in an attack, that would be more fun.”

Cixous didn’t think twice about the remark. What became of the human village wasn’t any of her concern; it could flourish or go to ruin, as long as it was useful to Nazarick.

“Lord Ainz says it has value, but I don’t really know what it is.”

“Knowing Lord Ainz, perhaps he took pity on the worthless humans.”

“No, no, Lord Ainz is a gale-force wind of death. He’s probably just waiting for the right time to trample them.”

“What are you saying? Lord Ainz is a crystallization of wisdom! It must be part of a bigger plan.”

“Hold up, can’t let that pass. Might is Lord Ainz’s true forte.”

The four girls glared at one another, practically growling.

“Lord Ainz is a kind, beautiful person!”

“Lord Ainz is death manifest in this world!”

“Lord Ainz is an unparalleled genius!”

“Whoa, looks like we all have different ideas of what Lord Ainz is like, huh? In that case, a challenge: Who can give him the most fittin’ nickname?”

For a moment, silence. Lupusregina was smiling as usual, but she didn’t seem to have any intention of being left in the dust when it came to divining Ainz’s true nature. Still, that went for Cixous and her friends as well.

Regular maids may have been weak level-1 beings, but they wouldn’t back down when it came to respect and adoration of their master.

“You three can go first.”

“Then…” Lumièlle was the first to speak. “As I said before, I think we need to exalt Lord Ainz’s beauty. So how about ‘the Ever-Radiant Lord of Most Merciful Love with the Aesthetically Glorious Porcelain-White Visage’?”

Next was Foäille. “If we’re going to exalt Lord Ainz, what needs to be emphasized is his great power! Given that he’s an overlord, it has to be ‘Memento Mori,’ right?”

Cixous went third. “Lord Ainz was once the leader of the Supreme Beings, so he must have superior skills for running and maintaining an organization, so I say ‘the Resourceful King.’”

All the nicknames fit their master, but they all still felt that their own choice fit him best. Cixous, then Foäille and Lumièlle all focused on the last person.

Her turn having come around, Lupusregina cleared her throat, “Ahem,” and said with a smug grin, “It’s gotta be ‘the Absolute Strongest in—’”

“…So that’s where you were,” a soft voice said. It was Shizu. Éclair the assistant butler must have gone somewhere, because he wasn’t under her arm anymore. “…Please don’t go completely invisible all the time.”

“Sorry! Guess it’s just a habit now.”

“…And you started eating without me.” Anger like a haze of heat showed through beneath Shizu’s barely changing expression.

Cixous realized it could be risky to stick around any longer. “Oh, I have to get going to Lord Ainz’s.”

“Then I’ll head out, too.”

“I’ll walk with you partway.”

Cixous and her friends quietly stood, pretending not to notice Lupusregina’s glances pleading for help.

In the end, Cixous missed out on seconds. She had many regrets about that, but she had to compose herself.

Clearing her mind of the precarious atmosphere behind her, she slapped her cheeks to steel herself. Her face was that of a brave warrior heading to battle, but she walked forward with light steps.

9:20
AM

Nazarick Time

The sixth level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick…

This zone, boasting the largest area of any in the great tomb, was protected by not the typical undead but monsters that wouldn’t usually spawn there, like Aura’s magical beasts. Most of it was covered in thickly growing forest, making “sea of trees” an apt description.

But the enthusiastic members of the once extant guild Ainz Ooal Gown weren’t satisfied with simply painting the place green.

There was an arena, a giant tree, ruins of a settlement that had been swallowed up by the forest, a lake, a poisonous den, gnarled trees, mangroves, a bottomless swamp, and more; it was designed with diversity. Recently they had even built a small village to welcome new residents.

In the center of this sea of trees with its many highlights was a big—although not as big as the underground lake zone on level four—body of water, and it was surrounded by grass, not trees. The meadow and the lake were only a tiny part of the sixth level, but it was big enough for the girls to do what they came for.

One of the girls was a guardian of the level, Aura. She looked impressive on the back of her giant jet-black wolf and seemed right at home.

But of course she did. Although she had extraordinary physical ability and could easily run to patrol the vast grounds, she preferred riding her magical beasts.

There were two other girls.

One was Captain of the Guardians Albedo. Instead of her usual white dress, she was wearing her black full plate armor, but she had no weapon or shield.

The other was Shalltear. Nothing about her was different from usual. There was a strange look in her eyes, like she was highly engaged or having fun.

“Okay, here I go. Come to me, mount!” Albedo used the skill Summon Mount.

A magical beast the same color as her armor wavered into sight where there had been nothing. The beast had a white mane and tail and resembled a horse. He wore equestrian full plate armor and was fitted with a saddle and reins.

His body was slightly smaller than a horse’s, but he had a much more powerful air about him. The most obvious difference was his head, which had two horns jutting out to the front.

The first one to react to the mount that appeared was Aura, who had the most detailed magical beast knowledge of anyone present. “Wow! He’s different from a normal bicorn! Those horns are magnificent, and his body’s really toned!”

Albedo emitted a proud laugh. “That’s right. His strength matches my level—he should probably be called a war bicorn lord. Though, actually, he’s a level–one hundred bicorn…”

“Can he fly?!”

“No, that’s impossible. His abilities aren’t so different from a normal bicorn’s. He doesn’t have extra skills, just boosted health, muscular strength, and agility.”

“I guess you can’t power up mounts without rider skills, huh? So if we participate in a level–one hundred battle, our mounts’ skills will be weak and we’ll just be in the way.”

“Yes, but I can protect him with my skills, so we can go the distance in battle.”

“But then do you not have to split your resources? I daresay that is a lot of wasted energy during combat. What about equipping different gear to strengthen him? I have heard that mount monsters can equip things similar to armor and horseshoes.”

“Yes, some summoned beasts can equip gear. For example, and this is related to Aura’s earlier question, if I equipped him with horseshoes that included a flying ability, then he would probably be able to fly. But I already have him equipped with an item to boost his speed, so…I can’t really.” Albedo gave the magical beast beside her a pat. Perhaps she’d hit him too hard—he staggered.

A mount she summoned shouldn’t have staggered from a little tap like that. Albedo furrowed her brow, wondering if he didn’t like her or something else was wrong, when Aura jumped in with a question.

“Huh. So what’s his name?”

“He’s a bicorn. Didn’t you just say that?”

“No, not his racial name, his own name.”

“Does he need one?” Albedo looked at the vampire for her opinion, but she just shrugged.

“Pretty sure he does! He’s like your pet!”

“He’s not really my pet… Is a summoned beast even the same one every time?”

Shalltear chimed in with what she thought was a great idea. “Why not ask the Prince of Fear? He excels at summoning his brethren, so he must be well versed in the details.”

“I’ll pass. I mean, he is a member of Nazarick, and it’s not like I hate him, but I just…”

“Ahh, yeah. I know he doesn’t mean any harm, but they kinda come in through the gaps in your clothes… I think Entoma goes sometimes, but…”

“Disgusting! Please spare me this talk of skin-crawling matters… That room is truly a fearful place. It may be on one of my levels, but I definitely have no interest in going.”

“Shalltear, did you know that Entoma calls it the snack room?”

“Eeek! Really? Are you serious?! Ugh, I can’t go anywhere near her now!”

Albedo agreed. Who would want to go near someone who declared those things snacks?

The atmosphere had gotten a little strange when Aura, perhaps to change the subject, raised her voice slightly. “So getting back to what we were talking about, you’re not going to give him a name?”

“Well, if you think I should, then maybe I will.” Albedo mumbled to herself as she became absorbed in thought. If she was going to go to the trouble of giving him a name, she wanted to make sure it wasn’t an embarrassing one. Among the words and letters that came to mind, a song echoed through her head in a flash of inspiration.

“What are you mumbling about?”

“Oh, sorry,” Albedo answered as if waking from a dream. “If Ainz will allow it, I’ll give him a name that is dear to me—Top of the World.”

“Hmm. That’s a nice name. Is that a reference to Lord Ainz?”

Albedo didn’t feel like answering, so she just smiled.

Shalltear’s eyebrows tilted to a dangerous angle.

They were always like this. The atmosphere turned volatile, and Aura intervened. “Well, that’s fine. You summoned the bicorn, so how about we move on to the next experiment?”

“Sure, okay.”

Shalltear scowled upon being ignored as Albedo turned back to face her bicorn and stepped into a stirrup. She mounted him with movements so nimble it was hard to believe she was wearing armor. The moment she let her weight rest in the saddle, she felt the bicorn tremble.

“What’s wrong?” Albedo shouted in a panic. She had no idea why her level-100 bicorn would be stumbling like that. She remembered how he had reacted when she had patted him moments ago. Had something been wrong since then? Then what caused it?

“Aura! Shalltear! Something’s wrong with my bicorn! Can you come take a look?”

By that time, the bicorn had started staggering as if he couldn’t stay upright any longer, so the other two could see clearly that something wasn’t right.

“F-for now, hurry up and get off him, Albedo!”

“O-okay.”

The thought finally occurred to Albedo when Aura suggested it, and she dismounted.

The unstable bicorn collapsed on the spot. He was breathing hard and covered in sweat.

“…Albedo, did you gain weight?” Shalltear wasn’t asking entirely out of malice. That is, there wasn’t really any other way to interpret what she had just seen.

“How rude! I’m within a suitable weight range, taking into account extra muscle!”

“Is he weak because you don’t ride him regularly? Mine I keep loose and have them patrol the sixth level pretty frequently.”

“Huh? He shouldn’t… I thought a mount was just like any summoned monsters. So why would he be weak?”

“Should I try to ride him?”

“Unfortunately, you can’t. This is my mount. No one else can ride him. If you try to force your way onto him, he’ll be sent back.”

“Then maybe we should ask him. Hey, bicorn, what happened?” Aura asked. She didn’t have a special ability to talk to horses—bicorns were fairly intelligent magical beasts, so she was probably banking on that. But the bicorn couldn’t talk; he only neighed.

“If he can’t talk, I bet he can’t write, either…”

The bicorn neighed as if confirming her hunch.

The three girls looked at one another.

“Aura, can’t you do some amazing thing with your power?”

“No. What’s ‘some amazing thing’ anyhow? You interviewed us all a while back, so you know the full extent of my powers. Did the head guardian forget something so simple?”

“Ah… How do you usually communicate with Fenrir?”

“Just like normal. ‘Do this, do that.’”

“With words, then? So if you made a concerted effort, perhaps you could do the same with this bicorn?”

“Just because I can communicate with the beasts I control doesn’t mean I can communicate with all of them. Actually, I’ve already tried. Like, the lizardmen have that Rororo, right? I tried with him, and yeah, it’s like I just can’t connect.”

The three girls looked at one another.

“Demiurge is good to call if you’re in a pinch…”

“Unfortunately, Demiurge is working outside Nazarick on orders from Lord Ainz. He’s so busy it’s rarer to find him here. I could contact him, but honestly, I don’t want to consult him about things that aren’t work related.”

Jealousy showed up in Shalltear’s and Aura’s eyes. Demiurge, running around being useful to their master, was the envy of all.

“Ahh, I’m so jealous. I know protecting Nazarick is an important duty, but unless there are raiders, I’ve got nothing to show for it, so I always wonder if I’m really being useful or not. I’d like to get out there and bang some heads together for Lord Ainz, too…”

“I’ve only failed…”

“It’s okay, Shalltear! There will probably be some way you can be useful to Lord Ainz—no, I’m sure of it! Although it might be a little tricky unless you get smarter first…”

“Isn’t that…a horrible thing to say?”

“Oh, but it’s true that you failed, isn’t it? Please get some results worthy of a guardian.”

Shalltear ground her teeth audibly, but suddenly her expression brightened up like a lamp had gone on in her head. “Hoo-hoo-hoo. Why is this conversation turning against me? Demiurge isn’t here, so you can’t ask him—I mean to help you ladies out, you know. I guess we have no choice, so I’ll do the research.”

Shalltear took out a book. The thick, heavy volume had to be more than a thousand pages. But even though Shalltear looked like a little girl, for her totally different inner nature, this weight was nothing.

“Whoooaaa! Is that—? Could that be—?”

“Grr, it’s the treasure Lord Ainz gave you, right?”

Aura wasn’t the only one to turn an envious gaze toward her—Albedo did, too.

“Yes! This is Lord Peroroncino’s Encyclopedia! Lord Ainz gave it to me as a reward for following his orders!”

It was an award for fighting bravely, a consolation prize, and recognition for her services all rolled into one, but for Shalltear, it was the best reward, and she grinned triumphantly. Of course she did. An item that belonged to one’s creator was more precious than any other reward.

An Encyclopedia was given to each and every player right after they started the game. It was a one-of-a-kind item that couldn’t be stolen or lost unless its owner destroyed it on purpose.

Yggdrasil
was a game about enjoying the unknown, and this item could be said to be the embodiment of the developer’s desire that players get to know the unknown.

The Encyclopedia recorded an image of each monster the player met. It didn’t, however, reveal the monster’s stats. Only the image and its name were included and the content of the myth, if the monster appeared in one.

Players who wanted to get the most out of this book item had to write their own notes in it, like what kind of moves the monsters had and what their weak points were.

The Encyclopedia Shalltear now held had belonged to Peroroncino and contained his notes. Ainz remembered Peroroncino had left it in the treasury when he quit the game, so he gave it to Shalltear.

But most of the things that should have been written there were gone, as if Peroroncino had erased them himself because he was scared for the information to be left behind.

For that reason, it wasn’t terribly useful, but that didn’t matter to Shalltear. To her, it was more important that it was an item that her creator had once used.

“B… Bi… Bic…,” she said as she flipped through the pages.

Aura and Albedo tried to peek, but she held the book close to her body and moved away.

“Hmph! That’s fine. I got a ring from Lord Ainz, so!” Aura gently stroked the silver band. Albedo stroked the ring on her left ring finger in the same way. Of course, they weren’t the only ones who had received those rings.

I want him to give me something special, only for me, a special item from Lord Ainz…
As Albedo caressed the lower part of her abdomen, Shalltear shouted. Apparently, she’d found the page she was looking for.

“Bicorn! Here it is! Let’s see…” She suddenly froze, looked up, and stared at Albedo in surprise.

“Wh-what? What is it?” she asked timidly, but Shalltear had already lowered her eyes to the book and was reading over the passage again.

“…A subspecies of unicorn. In contrast to unicorns, who preside over purity, bicorns are said to preside over impurity. Unicorns only let pure maidens ride them, while a bicorn would never let a pure maiden ride it… What?!”

Shalltear’s and Aura’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

“No way… Albedo, you’re…?”

“What do you mean, ‘No way’? What exactly do you guys think of me?”

“Huh? I mean, but…you’re a succubus!!”

“S… Su… Suc… Succubus.” Perhaps Shalltear was confused. She flipped through the book looking for the entry.

“Yeah! I’m a succubus! But I’ve never done it with a guy—
sorry!
What am I supposed to do about it? I’m the captain of the guardians! I’m cooped up in the Throne Room all day! When have I gotten the chance to meet someone? And Lord Ainz never calls me to his bed… I have zero interest in any man but Lord Ainz…” She’d been grumbling at her feet, but she suddenly whipped her head up. “But if you’re gonna talk…” Albedo glanced at Aura but shook her head. On the contrary, it’d be bad if she
wasn’t
pure. “…Then how about you, Shalltear?”

“…I have no experience with the opposite sex. But if it’s with the same sex, then…”

Aura cocked her head for a second as if she didn’t understand, then it seemed to click and she appeared weirded out. Her brow furrowed and she yelped, “Whoa!”

“C’mon! There’re no good guys! I like dead ones better but not if they’re rotting, so… Right? Right?”

“I get that you want me to agree with you, but it’s pretty hard to when you have fetishes like those, Shalltear.”

Their eyes met, and they all looked away as they silently agreed to end that conversation.

“…Well, now we know why I can’t ride the bicorn… How unbelievable. What the heck.” Albedo twisted her face up in displeasure.

The bicorn sensed he was being reprimanded and cowered.

“Hmm, it’s like part of your powers are sealed away.”

“But it’s not as if mounted combat is your specialty. You’re simply prevented from using a single ability. If you cannot ride the bicorn, you can borrow a magical beast from Aura, no? I think a unicorn would serve quite well.”

“Mmm, I don’t have a unicorn. I want one, but…”

“Isn’t there a better way? All I have to do is get Lord Ainz to help me out so I can ride the bicorn! That’s the best plan!” Albedo said with a huge grin.

“That’s not fair!”

“Ha!” Albedo snorted at Shalltear. “Could you not be so disrespectful, Shalltear? It’s necessary in order for the captain of the guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick to more fully utilize her powers!”

“Grrrr. Heh! So no one will sleep with you unless it’s for work? What a pathetic woman you are. You won’t be winning him on the strength of your charm, that much is certain.”

Aura had had enough of the two grunting and growling. “Would you guys stop talking over my head? Like, enough of the nonsense. It’s not like it’s an immediate issue anyhow, right? You can’t summon anything else?”

“I do have a magic item for that, so I can at least summon a mount.”

“Then that’s fine, isn’t it? What’s the problem?”

“Since summoning with a magic item means I need to change gear or take out the item, it has more steps than summoning with a skill. And this bicorn is much better in combat…”

“So can’t you have the bicorn stop your opponent’s attacks and take advantage of that opening to use the item? It’s one of a beast tamer’s most basic tactics.”

“I wonder if that’s the only way I can use him.”

“If so, you’ll be weak.”

“Don’t say it like you’re happy about my misfortune!”

“
You
seemed pretty happy about
my
misfortune!”

When she said, “That’s not true,” “Yes it is” was the reply.

“Agh, c’mon, you guys. If you’re only going to glare at each other, do it somewhere else. Lord Ainz was nice enough to give us the day off…”

Albedo realized she was right, and Shalltear, who’d been arguing, nodded. But…

“…We have this day off, but I wonder what we should do. We were made to guard the Great Tomb of Nazarick and work for the Supreme Beings in the first place. Our whole existence is work, so why…?”

“Even so, if Lord Ainz tells us to rest, then rest we must!”

The whole reason these three had gathered here was their master saying,
Thanks for working so hard every day. How about you girl guardians get together and hang out?

“We already met up and hung out, so want to split up? Er, can this even be called hanging out?”

“I wonder. I’m still not sure—or more like rather unsure—what ‘hanging out’ means. By the way, what are you ladies usually up to?”

“I’m patrolling the first, second, and third levels. Other than that, collecting the opinions of the domain guardians, checking on the overall security of my levels… If I have extra time, I take a bath, make sure I’m dressed well…”

“So you actually work sometimes.”

“What do you mean, ‘actually’?”

“Baths, huh? What about you, Aura?”

“Mmm, while Mare is in the arena, I patrol the forest. We have new guys now, too, you know. Other than that, I go home and sleep… Guess that’s about it.”

“That’s it!”

Aura and Shalltear looked confused.

“Yeah, that’s what we should do! By ‘new guys’ you mean the residents of the new village on this level, right? I’ve never been there. Let’s go!”

“Huh? You’ve never been? You’ve visited before, right, Shalltear?”

“I have.”

“Really?” Albedo looked a bit puzzled and Aura explained.

“The other guardians have, too. Cocytus came first ’cause he’s involved with the lizardmen. Then Demiurge came by to see how things were going. The others drop by sometimes. Hrm, then do you wanna go? It’s not that far from here.”

9:38
AM

Nazarick Time

The newly built village on the sixth level, consisting of only ten log cabins, was smaller than a hamlet. To the right of it were fields, and to the left of it were orchards that were several times larger than the fields.

Naturally, it was surrounded by densely growing forest. Looking from above, it might have seemed like a wide-open space—a green hole, perhaps. When felling trees and removing the stumps, it was usually hard to avoid making the ground uneven, but inside the village it was bizarrely neat and level. That was thanks to Mare’s magic.

Many figures were toiling away in the orchards.

The first ones they noticed were members of a race who looked like human women except their skin was the color and texture of bark. Next to them were creatures who looked exactly like trees that had started to move.

The former were dryads, and the latter were monsters called trents. The trents were assisting the dryads by using their tree trunk–like arms to lift them up to the tops of the fruit trees.

“There are also ten lizardmen living here. Sometimes they go up north to hang out at the lake near where we just were. It’s not like they live in the water, so it’s kinda weird.”

“The village is much larger than it was last time I came. It seems like there are many more residents, as well.”

“Yeah, after we conquered the Tove Woodlands, we discovered a few races who are okay with living in Nazarick.”

“The criteria for inviting a race here is that they have to be grotesques, fine without food, and of a mild temperament, right?”

“Yeah, that’s what Lord Ainz told us. Although, technically, ‘fine without food’ is ‘immediately self-sufficient…’ Both dryads and trents take nutrients from the soil, so they don’t need any food in particular, although I guess they’re in trouble if the nutrients in the soil run out or it doesn’t rain enough.”

“Hmm. Does Mare make it rain? Or is it a magic item?”

“That’s mainly Mare’s job. He’s also in charge of replenishing the nutrients in the soil. There’s a spell for making the earth more fertile, so when he casts that, it completely recovers. The dryads and trents said it was so yummy they’d get fat, but…well, obviously I don’t know how it tastes.”

As Shalltear and Aura were chatting, Albedo slowly looked out over the village with a levelheaded gaze, as if she were observing experimental subjects. Then the first hint of emotion appeared in her eyes.

“Oh? That’s the sous-chef over there in the field, isn’t it? I wonder what he’s doing.”

The others followed her line of sight and saw hidden behind tall stalks bearing red fruit, in one corner of a field surrounded by a simple fence, a monster that looked sort of like a mushroom moving around. If they squinted, they could see that he was wearing work clothes while picking fruit.

“It’s what it looks like. Sometimes he comes to get produce. He’s also growing a bunch of things. Should we go say hi?”

Albedo and Shalltear exchanged glances. Upon confirming that neither of them felt like rejecting the idea, they headed over to see their friend. They figured it was fine as long as they wouldn’t be in his way.

“Yoo-hoo! You’re working up a sweat as usual!”

At the sound of Aura’s cheerful voice, the sous-chef looked up and saw the three of them. “Not that my body actually sweats, but…”

He stood with an “oof” and stretched his back. It made sense, since he’d been sitting in the field working, but as he didn’t have anything that could be called a “back”—he didn’t have a waist, either—it was impossible to know if his back was actually stiff or if he was just doing it for a change of pace.

Then the sous-chef rotated his neck like a stiff-shouldered human would. His head was shaped like a mushroom cap, and it looked like it had reddish-purple droplets of some kind of liquid about ready to roll off it, but actually they had a bizarre elasticity like dried glue and wouldn’t dribble or spatter.

“Hey, is that a tomato?” When Albedo took an interest in the red fruit in the sous-chef’s hand, he held it up to the level of his eyes and marveled at it.

“Yes, indeed. A tomato of the variety you all know. It’s neither the type that gathers the sun’s energy and explodes, nor the type that attacks you, nor the type that glimmers golden when you cut it open—it’s a normal tomato.”

“In other words, it’s a not-very-rare regular tomato for eating, right?”

“Yes. I don’t have the skill to grow vegetables with special effects. Does your interest indicate that you would like to eat dishes made with tomatoes? Unfortunately, I can only make drinks…”

“No, I was just curious. Maybe Shalltear would like to eat tomatoes.”

“…Why does everyone think vampires drink tomato juice? Undead don’t get any buffs from eating food.”

“There are lots of people in Nazarick who don’t eat food.”

The majority of the NPCs made eating and drinking unnecessary with an item.

“Yeah, because if they did it would increase Nazarick’s maintenance costs. Big eaters like your magical beasts are a burden.”

“Ack, so are we in trouble if I don’t go out and make some money?”

“No, you don’t have to go that far. Lord Ainz and the other Supreme Beings calculated out a precise balance of expenditure and revenue when they built the tomb.”

“Ahh, so that’s why he gave the order to only accept races that are self-sufficient. They won’t disrupt the balance even if their numbers increase.”

“Yeah… You didn’t know that?” Albedo looked at each of the others in turn. “That’s no good. It’s pretty bad if you guys don’t even know about the place you’re guarding. Make some time in your schedules. I’ll explain everything.”

She sighed and looked out at the fields, since they happened to be there. Then she found the leaves of a plant she recognized. “Are those carrots—er, magic carrots?”

“No, those are something else. But, Captain, haven’t you heard?”

“About what?”

“Oh, uh, hmm, I guess we haven’t told you yet. Okay, Mistress Aura, what shall we do? Do you want to call them? I taught you how, right?”

“I did file a report…” Aura grinned. Then she took a deep breath and shouted, “Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!”

The row of the leaves reacted abruptly and began to move. They wiggled vigorously back and forth, pushing the soil aside, and the part that would have been the root underground, if they were carrots, popped out onto the surface.

They looked almost like ginseng, but there was definitely something different about them. They had distinct feet and were clearly moving according to will, not reflex. At the top of the root near the stalk were depressions that seemed to be their eyes and mouth.

Shalltear’s eyes widened, and she said the monster’s name. “Are those mandrakes? I thought we didn’t have any of those…”

“Ohh! That’s what those are! I knew about them from the report, but I had never seen one before.”

The mandrakes chanted, “Long live Ainz Ooal Gown! Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!” and were forming a line.

“These guys aren’t very smart. Supposedly their relatives galgenmännlein, alruna, and alraune are fairly intelligent, but…I did a general search in that forest and couldn’t find any. It’s pretty big, so maybe I just haven’t found them yet. There also seems to be a pretty sizable cave carved out in the direction of the mountains with a myconid colony in it. Haven’t bothered them yet, though.”

“But I’m impressed you managed to teach them how to say this much.” The sous-chef plucked one of the mandrakes out of the line and took a closer look.

Perhaps it hurt to be grabbed by its stalk. The mandrake started to struggle.

“Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!”

“Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!”

The other mandrakes broke their line and surrounded the sous-chef to protest the mistreatment of their comrade—although they shouted the same thing as before.

“Oh, pardon me. Mistress Aura, could you send them back?”

“Okeydoke! All right, return!”

Beginning with the mandrake that the sous-chef had gently placed back on the ground, they all hopped back into their holes and burrowed into the soil. In only a few seconds, they were completely concealed underground, like the way someone burrows into bed in the middle of winter.

“I see. So the way they talk is just like an animal call, huh?”

“Indeed. They only parrot the sounds; they aren’t using them as words with meaning. Apparently, there is a minimum threshold of intelligence that must be crossed for language comprehension to be possible. I heard it’s being studied right now.” The sous-chef mentioned he heard all this from Demiurge.

“Hmm! By the way, Albedo, may I ask you something? Isn’t it sort of bad for you to not know about newcomers to Nazarick, as captain of the guardians? What would you do if there was a spy?”

Someone else objected faster than Albedo could reply.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Good one, Shalltear. It’s definitely natural to think that because the sixth level is so vast it would be harder to capture and slaughter raiders. If they escaped the arena…if they scattered like baby spiders, it’d be a pain to catch them if there were a lot.” The laugh was empty, and Aura’s eyes were like ice. “But aren’t you underestimating me? This is my hunting ground. Even if they scattered, I would hunt them all down. And even if they wanted to hurt Lord Ainz and slipped out of the sixth level, they’d still have to break through Crimson’s world on the seventh level, and next is the impassable eighth level, you know. Even if they wanted to run away, they’d have to get through the frigid hell of the fifth level, the dark waters of the fourth level, and all the domains you guard… Do you really think that’s possible?”

Shalltear shook her head. “It’s not possible.”

“That’s what I’m saying. So even if the newcomers multiply on this level, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Aura said it all. Uh, so…so as a result the current plan is to gather all sorts of monsters here.”

“Huh? Not just plant monsters?”

Albedo smiled in response to Aura’s surprise. “That was the original idea. But thanks to you and Mare, we’ve seen that there shouldn’t be any issues, so a more ambitious plan was drawn up. That said, it’s still only a draft, so it’s unclear if we’ll actually implement it or not. That’s why I hadn’t told you guys yet, even though you’re the guardians of this level.” Albedo prefaced her explanation of the plan with, “Don’t tell anyone, but…

“The plan is called the Paradise Project. It starts with the hideout Aura built, but it’s a large-scale project to eventually gather monsters friendly with humans and have them live here.”

“Why do they have to be friendly specifically with humans?”

Albedo had expected that reaction, so she smiled. It was an incredibly sinister smile. “That’s the point of the Paradise Project.”

“Honestly, I find that difficult to understand. We work in this place, Nazarick, to make it a paradise for the Supreme Beings, so why that name?”

“It’s to appeal to the outside world, like, ‘Hey, we live in peace with outsiders.’”

“I see… So that’s the idea.”

“No way! I can’t believe you understood, Shalltear!”

She glared at Aura with a face that could obliterate a hundred-year romance. “Do you by any chance think I’m stupid?”

“…H-hold up a second, Shalltear. Reflect on your past deeds and ask that question again, will you? All you have to do is remember a few things.”

It took only a moment—she must have considered what she had done so far. Shalltear’s pupils dilated like a dead animal’s. Then her eyes flickered as if she had been tossed around on rough waves.

She looked so distressed that Albedo changed the topic back for her. “U-uh, the plan is another of Lord Ainz’s proposals. We were discussing the sixth level, and he suddenly said he wanted to collect a bunch of different monsters. That’s not the kind of idea I could come up with, thinking within the confines of my small world. I was talking with Demiurge a while back about how resourceful Lord Ainz is. Our conclusion was that he really is a genius.”

“We already knew he was a genius. I heard he is a man of few words, though.”

“From Demiurge, right? Geez… Certainly, Lord Ainz does not speak of his plans in a straightforward way. And sometimes he does strange things. But just as the cowardly are often heroes, so are fools often wise. I really believe that.” Albedo shook her head, her eyes moist. “I couldn’t make out his aim in creating the adventurer Momon. What a terrific being… It’s astounding that he has been controlling everything that has happened…”

“Momon is Lord Ainz as an adventurer, right? So why did he do that?”

“You’ll understand soon enough… It’s precisely because he has the persona of Momon that Lord Ainz’s rule will be rock-solid. He’s so awesome… Maybe Demiurge’s proposals are even due to his influe—”

“What are you mumbling about? It’s a trifle disturbing.”

Shalltear’s voice brought Albedo to her senses, and she cleared her throat before looking at the other three. “Uh, what were we talking about? Oh, right! Each word Lord Ainz says, each move he makes—they’re all full of meaning. So what I’m saying is that even if you can’t reach his level, you should endeavor to at least understand the meaning behind his words.”

“That’s hard. Lord Ainz is a little too smart. Oh, spearneedles!”

Two big white lumps well over six feet tall lumbered out of the woods toward Aura. They were magical beasts that looked sort of like Angora rabbits.

“How cute!” Shalltear stood next to Aura and petted the white fur balls. “They’re so soft. I want one of these.”

“Yeah, it feels good, right? But this fur gets sharp like needles when they encounter an enemy.”

Spearneedles were level-67 monsters.

When they engaged in combat, they became balls of extremely fine needles. If they were killed in that state, they wouldn’t go back to being soft, so people requested that they be taken by surprise and killed in one hit before they could go on guard. For that reason, the players hunting them were always a much higher level.

“Really? Wow. Frightening!” Shalltear exclaimed these and other things as she continued petting them.

“Well, they won’t engage in combat unless I order them to. I guess it would be different if there were enemies around, but how would hostile forces—raiders—get in here? And without any reports from other levels?”

“Yeah. Of course. There are minions with superior detection skills stationed on the upper three floors, so it would be really hard to make it this far without being discovered.”

Just then Aura froze, then turned her head toward the arena.

“What is it, Aura?”

“Seems like the portal to the seventh level activated.”

“From below? Demiurge is outside, I think, so…one of his subordinates? Do you need to go check on it?”

“No, Mare is there, so I think it’s okay. He should get in touch if something comes up.” She touched the earring hung around her neck. “And it’s not such a rare thing. If you want to get to the surface from below, the only way is to use the teleportation gates and go up one level at a time. Oh right, I remember
someone
didn’t want to run and used magic instead.”

“Ahem, the Great Tomb of Nazarick certainly is an impregnable fortress.”

“Yeah. You probably couldn’t blow up a level even with the super-tier spell Sword of Damocles and the World Item I have. That’s why we really have to avoid getting the free teleportation rings stolen.”

Everyone’s eyes gathered on Albedo’s left ring finger.

“I’m pretty sure Mare leaves his ring here when he ventures outside. Just goes to show how important they— Oh, Mare’s calling.”

Aura moved a short distance away from the others, grabbed her earring, and began talking to Mare, who was elsewhere. Her face grew gradually sterner as their conversation went on, and by the time she was finished, she looked disappointed.

“Sorry, it looks like something came up and Mare has to go out, so I have to head back.”

“Oh. In that case, shall we go back, too? What do you think, Shalltear?”

“No objections.”

“I’m going to putz around in this field a little longer. I want to talk to the dryads and trents.”

“Then I guess we’re splitting up. Thanks, guys. I feel like I figured out how to spend a day off. Let’s do something again… Oh yeah, we should all go to the baths sometime.”

2

9:28
AM

Nazarick Time

Mare looked up from his book and slowly shifted his gaze to the teleportation gate that led to the seventh level.

At the slight sensation of power waves, he marked his place and quietly put his book on the chair next to him. He picked up his god-tier staff—Shadow of Yggdrasil—and held it aloft.

He reached for the magic item hanging around his neck with his free hand but stopped.

He didn’t need to contact his sister. He hadn’t received any reports of intruders, so the person coming in had to be one of his colleagues.

He scampered away to the gate. His sister liked to jump from the arena seating, but Mare didn’t. In the first place, there were stairs, so wouldn’t using them to get down show the most loyalty to the Supreme Beings? They must have created the stairs for a reason.

But I can’t say that to Aura… She’d look at me with her scary eyes…

Mare had decided that he, at least, wouldn’t let the Supreme Beings’ intentions be in vain, so he took the stairs. Then he raced into the waiting room to find someone standing before the giant oval mirror sparkling in the colors of the rainbow.

“S-sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Oh, if it isn’t Floor Guardian Mare. I am ever so delighted that you’ve come to meet me.” The clown dressed all in white with a raven beak mask made a little bow, and Mare bowed back in the same way.

“Hello, Pulcinella. What can I do for you today?”

“Perhaps you’ve heard, but I am currently working for Master Demiurge. I’ve come today as his messenger. Please take this.” The clown held out a folder.

“If Demiurge is giving it to me, it must be a circular?”

“Indeed. Ah, I’m so lucky you came, Master Mare. If it was Mistress Aura, I would have had to have her call you.”

“Huh? R-really?”

The circular system was devised by the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown, himself. All it entailed was writing a nonurgent message on a piece of paper and passing it around to each guardian, but they hadn’t had anything like it before—which was why Mare, intrigued and moved, fixed his eyes on it so intently when he took it.

“So this is…? W-wait! Why c-can’t you give it to Aura?”

Both Aura and Mare were floor guardians, so there shouldn’t have been any reason not to. She could be surprisingly methodical, so it wasn’t as if she would have thrown the message away.

“That I don’t know, either. Master Demiurge ordered me to hand it directly to you and not to Mistress Aura.”

“I see… I—I wonder…”

He didn’t say enough to specify the question on his mind, but Pulcinella understood what he meant. “Hmm, no, I don’t know. Perhaps the answer or reason is contained within that folder.”

“I see… B-by the way, what is Demiurge doing now?”

“Crossbreeding experiments. Crossbreeding is possible between humanoid races but impossible between humanoid and subhuman races. How sad! Just because two lovers are of slightly different races, their love cannot bear fruit. Demiurge is endeavoring to rescue them from those unfortunate circumstances, to create the possibility between humanoids and subhumans!” He practically sang in a sonorous voice, spreading his arms wide and looking to the heavens.

Mare blinked in surprise at the sudden change in mood.

“Oh, do excuse me. Master Demiurge’s kindness as he tries to bring smiles to people’s faces excites me so. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“Su-sure. It’s all right. Yeah.”

“He told me they—the demons—are sacrificing themselves to avoid ill will between the races. What an impressive spirit of self-sacrifice! I can’t even see for the tears!” Pulcinella wiped his mask where his eyes were. Of course, he wasn’t crying, and not only that, he was talking in his normal cheerful voice and didn’t seem the least bit sad.

“…How could people be upset at them?”

“I don’t understand it, either. Why would they hate kind Master Demiurge? But he told me himself. Oh, oh, listen to this. Master Demiurge is so kind! The other day he said it was a pity the livestock were starving, so he had them swap their little ones, roasted them whole, and served them up. A cruel person would serve them without swapping them first, right?”

“I-is that so?”

“Yes, it is! Then, in order that the parents might bid their children farewell, he called them to the opposite table. I don’t believe there is anyone—outside of the Supreme Beings—kind enough to provide an opportunity to part with one’s family with a smile besides Master Demiurge.”

Mare responded to Pulcinella’s entranced remarks with a half-hearted sigh.

He didn’t really care what happened to anyone who wasn’t from Nazarick. Two or three seconds later, he felt nothing about the livestock Demiurge was keeping.

“And when you’re starving, even if your brain wants it, you can’t stomach food, so he thought ahead far enough to warn them and make them eat well. He is truly so kind—”

Mare had the feeling this story would never end, so he quickly interrupted. “Uh, wh-what happened to C-Crimson? I would have thought he’d be the one to make deliveries. Where is he? What is he doing?”

“…He? Or she? He probably doesn’t have a sex, but when I saw him the other day, he was lurking near the teleportation gate on the seventh level while Master Demiurge is gone.”

“I—I see.”

Mare pictured Crimson.

Crimson, the huge domain guardian who waited submersed in flowing lava and pulled in unsuspecting opponents to fight in an environment that gave him the advantage…
He was level 90, but since his specs were optimized for fighting, he was one of the strongest in Nazarick in terms of pure combat power, to the point where he could even match up against some of the floor guardians. For that reason, he was an appropriate choice to guard the seventh level while Demiurge was away.

“Oops, it seems I’ve stayed chatting too long. I’ve given you the circular, so I need to head off to bring smiles to many faces.”

“Th-thank you.”

Pulcinella responded gently to Mare’s bow. “No need to thank me, Master Mare. Seeing your smile is most satisfying of all.” The clown comically shrugged. “All right. Until we meet again,” he said with a wave and disappeared into the gate to the seventh level.

After seeing him off, Mare opened the folder. With mixed feelings about not being able to show his sister—superiority but also guilt and immorality—he scanned the document from top to bottom and blinked a few times when he reached the end.

This is…less like a notice and more like a message to the guardians from Lord Ainz.

It was addressed to all the male guardians and included gratitude and praise for their continued labor. The gist of the message was an invitation: “Why don’t we all go recharge in the baths?”

The participants’ names were listed from the top as Ainz, Demiurge, Mare, Cocytus, and out of the “going” and “not going” options, “going” was circled for the first two. Normally Sebas’s name would be here, too, but he was currently out in a human city gathering intelligence with Solution.

Let’s see, what day…?

The date wasn’t set yet, and the document said it would be decided based on what worked for all the participants, so there was no reason for him to hesitate circling “going.” The message said it was fine to decline, but Mare definitely couldn’t turn down an invitation from his kind, generous master. Who in Nazarick could?

He took the pencil from the folder and circled the “going” next to his name.

“Eh-heh-heh-heh.” He smiled at the “going” circle, but then his mood suddenly darkened. “Oh, but… How will I give this to Cocytus?”

Mare could detect their master’s wish that this remain a secret among the men from the way he mentioned multiple times that it wasn’t necessary to inform any of the women, so it was probably best to take it himself.

It would be bad to keep it a secret from Aura…yeah. I mean…I have to get her to guard the level by herself while I’m…what’s that called again? Receiving affection?

Regardless of what happened when they were leaving on orders, if they were going to visit another guardian, the dark elf siblings always told each other where they were headed. The Supreme Beings had ordered both of them to guard the floor, so it was only natural.

Mare grabbed the magic item hanging around his neck.

“S-sis? Can you hear me?”

The reply was immediate.

“I can hear you. What is it, Mare?”

“Oh, good. U-uh, I need to go see Cocytus about something, so I’m heading out.”

“To Cocytus’s place?”

“Yeah, I need to hurry.”

“What happened?”

Mare jumped. His voice threatened to crack, but he managed to squeeze out a normal tone. “N-nothing. It’s nothing, but I just have the feeling I gotta go.”

“Hmm…”

She sounded completely unconvinced, and Mare’s hands got drenched in sweat.

But yeah. I can’t help it. This is what Lord Ainz ordered me to do.

Apart from the words of their creator, Lady BubblingTeapot, those of Lord Ainz were the most important out of all the Supreme Beings’. Prioritizing them was only natural.

“Well, it’s fine. Go ahead. But the fifth level is cold, so don’t forget to take precaution against chi— Oh yeah, it’s not a problem for you, huh, Mare?”

“R-right. I’ll be fine with magic. So I’ll be back later.”

If he chatted any longer, he felt like he might say something weird, so he hurriedly let go of the magic item. It sounded like she was about to say something, but unfortunately—or perhaps luckily—he couldn’t hear what it was.

“O-okay! Gotta hurry!”

Mare activated the power of the ultra-fancy ring he’d received from his master.

Right after he teleported, clusters of pure white swarmed him, sticking to his face. They were snowflakes swirling through the sky.

The white breath he exhaled was swiftly blown behind him—due to the air, frigid from lapping at the snow, gusting by.

The ice and snow whirled around by the storm wind caused a raging whiteout. The accumulating snow covered up his tracks.

The weather was meant to waylay invaders, but during peaceful times, it often wasn’t this fierce. Usually a light dusting of snowflakes fell from the dark clouds; even if it was a gloomy world, one’s view wasn’t obstructed.

“Umm…” Mare darted his eyes around. He’d used his Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown to teleport, so he had to be in the vicinity of his destination.

Finding his way, Mare proceeded with nimble movements. He didn’t leave footsteps on the snow. He didn’t sink—it was almost as if he were walking on solid land.

The deserted white world was so quiet he could hear the sound of the scattering, falling snowflakes. Of course, with his continuously active supersensory magic, he knew he wasn’t alone. It was only because the ones lurking out of sight knew that he was the guardian of the sixth level that they didn’t show themselves.

Mare reached his destination in that silence.

Before him was an enormous white ball the shape of an upside-down hornet nest.

Surrounding it were six giant crystals with their sharp points thrusting toward the sky. Inside them, humanlike figures were visible.

When Mare stepped forward, his foot made a worrying, creaking noise he didn’t like. Looking down, he saw that instead of the ground covered in snow like up until now, there was slick ice. It seemed fairly thick, but it was awfully dark underneath, so he understood that the ice was covering a huge hole.

He stepped onto the ice. He strode forward unhesitatingly, as if he couldn’t even imagine it breaking.

With scary creaking and squeaking noises, he crossed the ice with no problems and arrived at the white sphere.

“U-uh, Cocytus… Are you here?” He wasn’t calling to the gigantic white ball but to the immense crystals.

In response, monsters that resembled human women came out. There were the same number of women as crystals, and they were dressed completely in white. Their skin was deathly pale, and their long hair was black.

These frost virgins—level-82 ice monsters—were basically Cocytus’s personal guards for his residence, Snowball Earth.

“Welcome, Master Mare.”

“U-umm, uh, is Cocytus here?”

“Master Cocytus is currently outside the Great Tomb of Nazarick at the new lizardman village.”

“I-is that so?”

The frost virgin nodded that it was. “If you have a message for him, we can take it.”

Mare wasn’t sure what to do.

He had come this far, so he figured if he put the clipboard in Cocytus’s room and left a message with the frost virgin, that should be no problem. But given the content, it seemed more likely that his master would want him to hand it over directly.

So how can I get to Cocytus if he’s outside?

Leaving Nazarick wasn’t forbidden, but there were conditions that had to be met, and their master strictly prohibited operating independently outside.

From the intelligence they had gathered and analyzed so far, the level-100 floor guardians were unimaginably powerful in this world, comparable to walking disasters. So it wouldn’t be dangerous for Mare, a guardian himself, to operate on his own. On the contrary, everyone in the outside world should tremble in fear. But that was reckless thinking considering one key event in recent memory.

There existed an unknown enemy who had brainwashed Shalltear, which meant they probably possessed a World Item. There were also signs of other players here and there.

Those forces were operating at an uncertain scale, so Ainz was being cautious.

“H-hmm. What should I do?”

To go outside required an escort of at least five level-75 or above minions. Mare had two dragons under him, but taking them would be a bit too conspicuous. Asking his sister would be fastest, but when he remembered the grilling he had gotten just to come here, he knew he couldn’t do that.

Then he got a flash of inspiration.

Their number and level were just right.

“Uh, umm… Would you come with me?”

“A-apologies, but we have orders from Master Cocytus to guard this place. We cannot disobey Master Cocytus unless word comes from Lord Ainz… Please forgive us!”

“Uh, er, no. That’s fine.”

There was nothing he could do about that, and when he stopped to think about it, it made sense. His next best idea was to borrow evil lords from the seventh level, but if he simply asked them, he would probably get turned down in the same way as just now. Still, it was true that Demiurge was his only hope.

In the first place, he wanted to avoid asking anyone who wasn’t listed on the clipboard for help. Secondly, most of the minions in the Great Tomb of Nazarick over level 80 worked directly under one of the floor guardians; there were very few free agents.

Under those two circumstances, if he wanted to borrow evil lords, the first thing he needed to do was get in touch with Demiurge.

But how can I contact him?

The only options for reaching Demiurge outside were dispatching minions or using magic.

Other than that…
Mare recalled the book he had been reading.
I wonder if he has subordinates level 75 or over… But he’s not a guardian…hrm. But he’s a guy, so maybe it’s okay. If I just have him keep quiet about it…

“Th-thank you. I guess I’ll take care of it myself.”

“Oh? Understood.”

Mare activated his ring. His destination was the huge library on the tenth level, Ashurbanipal.

9:54
AM

Nazarick Time

Mare’s field of vision changed instantaneously from the snowy expanse to a spacious room.

The sophisticated space, done mainly in ebony brown, was dimly illuminated by orange light. The ceiling curved gently into a dome, and across from where Mare stood was a pair of giant double doors.

On either side of those doors, which were as large as the ones that led to the Throne Room, towered ten-foot golems. They were outfitted as samurai and had been fashioned out of rare metals by one of the Supreme Beings, which made them far stronger than normal.

“Umm, please open the doors.”

In response, both golems put a hand on a door and slowly pushed. A heavy sound echoed, and Mare proceeded through the opening big enough for multiple people to walk abreast.

The scene before him was less like a library and more like something else—yes, it was more like an art museum. The floor and bookshelves were all heavily ornamented, and the books lining the shelves seemed to have been placed there as decorations.

Not a speck of dust sullied the polished floor, which featured a beautiful parquet design. The ceiling was double high, a balcony jutted out from the second floor, and numerous bookshelves surrounded the space as if peering in. The ceiling’s dome was crowded with gorgeous embellishments complementing a magnificent fresco.

Here and there were glass-covered display tables with several books lined up inside. There were any number of light sources, but none of them was very bright. It was dark enough that a human would have to squint.

One glance wasn’t enough to take in the whole room. Bookshelves obstructed the view.

In the silence befitting a library, the doors slowly closed behind Mare. With the light from the entrance gone, the room felt even darker. Combined with the quiet that could nearly be heard as a sound, that gave the room an ominous atmosphere.

Of course, with his eyes that could see in the dark of night, it looked no different from midday to Mare, so it didn’t seem ominous to him at all.

He walked toward the back at a somewhat quickened pace.

The room he was currently in was the Room of Reason. The library was split into the Room of Knowledge, the Room of Reason, and the Room of Evil, plus small rooms for other uses, such as the private quarters of the staff. Thinking of it that way made his destination seem a bit far off.

On either side of the hallway stood rows upon rows of bookshelves, packed with countless books.

The books of
Yggdrasil
could be split broadly into five categories.

First, there was the data on monsters used to summon them as mercenaries.

Nazarick had three types of monsters. First were the NPCs, created just like the players. Then there were monsters level 30 and below that spawned automatically. Finally, there were monsters that were summoned as mercenaries. These mercenary monsters could be summoned with a ritual using the book plus an appropriate amount of gold for the desired level. In other words, they needed the books in order to call upon those monsters.

The second type of book consisted of magic items.

Certain data crystals dwelled only within things that took on the form of books. Items shaped like books were generally single-cast items. They were different from scrolls in that while a scroll required the user to be a class capable of casting the spell it contained, anyone could use a book.

The third type of book was made up of event items. It was common for the items required for class changes to take the form of books. When Ainz changed from skeleton mage to elder lich, he needed a Book of the Dead. There were many others, such as the
Martial Arts Study Guide
and
Strange Rumors of the Four Great Elementals
. Besides class changes, some books allowed the user to learn new spells.

The fourth type was graphical data.

Those were books containing the graphical data of swords, shields, armor, and so on. If someone with the right blacksmith skills used one on the appropriate resources, the corresponding appearance could be created.

The fifth type was novels passed around in the form of books.

Most of them were old, out-of-copyright works from the outside world. The next largest number were background stories handed out by the admins. Finally, there were also original stories written by
Yggdrasil
players. There was also fan fiction set in
Yggdrasil
, as well as strategy guides based on journals.

Most of the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s innumerable books were of the first type, collected in order to summon mercenary monsters. Of course, there was no reason to have collected so many of them.

In reality, even if they invested all the guild’s assets, they wouldn’t be able to summon even a tenth of these monsters. Despite that, the reason they had so many was that since the books themselves were cheap, a guild member went a little overboard on a copying spree. The excess books were also used to hide more valuable items.

Mare gazed sidelong at the books as he walked past.

Then all of a sudden, a ghostlike figure appeared from between some bookcases to block his path.

It wore a hooded raven-black robe that melted into the library’s gloom. On the belt around its waist, which was threaded with multiple gems, was a jewel-tipped wand.

Beneath the hood was a whitish face that seemed to have already turned to grave wax. Its hands were all skin and bone. With every move it made, the darkness surrounding it wavered slightly.

It was one of the most famous undead casters, an elder lich.

In
Yggdrasil
, this type was known colloquially as the white faux millionaire. It was level 30, which made it the second-least-powerful elder lich. It had close palette-swapped relatives, the red faux millionaire and the black faux millionaire.

What made it different from an ordinary elder lich was the band around its left upper arm.

It said, “L
IBRARIAN
J.”

“Welcome, Master Mare.” The elder lich greeted him in a hoarse, difficult-to-understand voice and bowed slowly but deeply. It was a proper bow in which he placed one hand on his chest.

“U-umm, I came to see the head librarian. Uh, is he in the back?”

The elder lich pondered for a moment and then spoke. “The head librarian is currently creating scrolls, so he is in the Crafting Room.”

“Thank you.”

“Allow me to guide you. This way.”

“Oh, it’s okay! I don’t mean to interrupt your work.”

“Not to worry. Our role is to be of use to those who visit the library.”

Refusing at that point would have been rude.

“Understood. Then please take me there.”

A smile appeared on the elder lich’s horrifying face, and he set off walking out in front.

Mare followed, looking sidelong at the elder liches and other undead casters they passed on their way.

“By the way, shall I put that book back?”

“Oh yes, please.”

The elder lich looked at the title of the book as he took it. “
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
? Was it interesting?”

“Yeah, it was! I’m trying to think of what to read next.”

“Oh, I have a recommendation for you. This book is so funny you won’t be able to stop laughing. It’s about a murderer who— Oh, here we are.”

“Thank you.”

Mare opened the door he’d been led to.

The room had originally felt fairly spacious, but it was cramped now, with huge shelves along every wall.

Lined up tidily on the shelves were countless catalysts: ores, precious metals, stones with attributes, gems, all sorts of powders, organs of various animals, and so on. There was also a large amount of parchment—both rolled and not.

These were all resources for scroll creation.

Of course, this wasn’t all the Great Tomb of Nazarick had. There were many hundreds of times this amount in the treasury.

The resources in this room were just the ones prepared for immediate use.

A fairly large drafting table stood in the center of the space, and a piece of parchment was spread across it. Standing before the table was a skeleton that looked like a combination of a human and some animal.

It wasn’t very tall—a little less than five feet, perhaps.

Two horns like an ogre’s stuck out of its skull, and its hands each had four fingers. Its feet were hooves.

This strange figure was wrapped in a bright saffron himation. A hoodlike sheet was draped over its head in a way that its horns wouldn’t tear it, and another sheet was wrapped around its hips.

It also had a silver bracelet with jewels the colors of the rainbow, a golden ankh around its neck, multiple bizarre rings curled around its finger bones, and gems studding its himation. All of these were fairly powerful magic items.

And at its hip, hanging like swords, were several scrolls.

Although its appearance and gear were peculiar, it was a skeleton mage, one of the early races of undead. It was a being a step below the elder lich Mare had just met.

But this skeleton mage, Titus Annaeus Secundus, was head of this huge library.

A Supreme Being created him to be specialized in crafting, not combat. His total levels were actually higher than that elder lich’s.

“Hello, Guardian Mare. I welcome you.”

“Oh, hi, Titus. I came to ask you a favor.”

“I see. Then let’s hear it, shall we?”

“O-okay. Umm, so I’m hoping you can lend me some level-seventy-five or higher minions.”

“Understood. So you’re heading outside.”

“Hmm? Y-yes, I am. You knew right away, huh?”

“…I would never forget the words of our ruler Lord Ainz. So when I considered your position, I arrived at the answer immediately. Very well!” He thought for a moment. “I’ll lend you our overlords Cocceius, Ulpius, Aelius, Fulvius, and Aurelius.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes, really. Honestly, their fighting power is a bit excessive for the library. They would be happier to guard you than to do the dusting here.”

“U-umm, uh, thank you!”

“That said, I can’t let you take them for free. I’d like you to assist me with something. We’re going to make a scroll.”

“Oh! Yes, sir! What do I need to do?”

“You don’t have to worry about a thing. All you need to do is cast a tier-four spell at the scroll when I give you the word.”

“Wh-what spell should I use?”

“I’ll leave that up to you.”

Mare looked puzzled. Being left to choose for himself was the most difficult.
Is a common spell fine?

Titus reached a bony hand toward a small desk placed adjacent to the drafting table. His objective was at a mountain of golden glimmers—
Yggdrasil
gold.

Suddenly, some of the gold beneath his hand began to melt. Then, as if it had a mind of its own, it moved onto the parchment.

The snake of gold that had flowed onto the parchment writhed, and as if a place for it had been designated ahead of time, it began to spread.

In the space of a breath, a magic circle had been drawn in gold on the parchment. It was complex but in a delicate way.

“Okay.”

Mare, who had been waiting nervously for his turn, heeded the signal and cast his spell.

He felt his magic getting sucked into the magic circle.

Normally, that would mean the scroll was complete. In any case, that’s what Mare thought.

But then—

Crimson flames.

The unthinkable occurred on the drafting table.

Mare watched in horror as the drafting table blazed up the way the alcohol ignites when flambéing and vanished in the space of two blinks.

The flames left hardly any trace behind—it was as if they’d been an illusion. There wasn’t even a burning smell.

But the top of the drafting table proved the fire really happened.

On it were the remains of the scroll—
charred
remains.

As if he had been expecting just such an outcome, Titus snatched up the burned remnants and took a closer look. “So we can’t load it with a tier-four spell. It seems like it definitely doesn’t depend on the skill of the caster, either.” He mumbled about ten-year-olds being no good as he scribbled in his log.

“Uh, wh-what happened? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, don’t worry. In order to conserve parchment, we’re trying to create scrolls using materials we can gather in this world, but the quality is so awful…”

There were limits on what kind of parchments could be used depending on the tier of the spell.

For instance, regular parchment could be used for spells up to tier two but no higher. With the highest-quality parchment, dragon hide, however, it was possible to make tier-ten spell scrolls.

Naturally, dragon hide was a first-class material that could be acquired only by hunting a dragon.

And so all the members of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown had hunted them like crazy, but that was back in the
Yggdrasil
days. Until they could confirm the existence of dragons—and other creatures—in this world, Ainz had limited the use of dragon hide, understandably so.

He wouldn’t allow the folly of using up their stores without a way to secure more. There might come a time when they absolutely needed it.

“No! Not my dragons!”

“Of course not. We wouldn’t do that. Your dragons and all the other summoned beings exist by the will of the Supreme Beings. Naturally, it is strictly prohibited to harm them.”

With an amused look at Mare, who had relaxed, Titus tossed the ruined scroll into the garbage.

“Uh, so does that mean the regular parchment in this world is no good for making scrolls?” Mare eyed the charred remains.

“There’s a very good chance that’s what it means. Well, I don’t know. It’s possible that in this world the way I make scrolls is heretical. Apparently, the way the people here make potions, for example, is quite different.”

“B-but you can’t say from just one failure that it’s the parchment’s fault, can you?”

“Just one? We’ve done a number of tests on parchment from the outside, but when we try to imbue any with spells over tier three, it always ends in a fire. Bursting into flames must be what happens when the magic cannot be sealed inside the parchment…”

“…But the casters in this world use that parchment, don’t they?”

“No, it’s possible that the sheet we just threw away wasn’t the typical variety used in this world. Of course, considering all the various countries, it’s not impossible, but… When we tried with the parchment used in the countries in Nazarick’s vicinity…” He held up a sheet with a different texture from the one they had just used. “…The results were even worse—it could only contain up to tier one.”

“Does that mean humans are good at making the best use of inferior materials?”

“No. Probably it’s a difference of techniques. It’s painful to admit, but perhaps theirs are more polished in a way. Somehow, I want to gain new techniques and advance beyond them.”

“That’s great!” Mare respected the head librarian for his spirit of self-improvement.

“It’s all thanks to the great Supreme Being. Now then, Guardian Mare, I’ll lend you the overlords as I promised. Come with me.”

10:28
AM

Nazarick Time

After leaving his ring behind for safekeeping and passing through the ground level, Mare teleported with his party to the center of a room in a stone building.

Stone architecture was sturdy and heavy, but it required a solid base, so it wasn’t suited to the wetlands, and it required architectural technology that the lizardmen had no way of possessing. Obviously, this building had been made by a third party—workers dispatched by Nazarick.

The reason they had gone so far as to send personnel over to build the place was explained vividly by the object enshrined in the back of the room behind Mare.

He bowed to it deeply. The overlords accompanying him followed suit.

Elevated a few steps up was an exquisite statue of the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown, so lifelike it was as if the man himself had been turned to stone. The way he was thrusting his staff up at an angle gave him the air of a ruler and imparted a sense of his majesty to all who saw it.

A number of offerings had been placed on the altar before the statue. Of course, to Mare, none of them had any value. They were all fish and sad little flowers.

But Mare didn’t find it offensive.

The offerings had clearly been made out of respect and worship. For example, the flowers were not the ones blooming on the marsh but rather varieties picked at the risk of life and limb in the forest. And the size of the fish far surpassed the average of the ones the lizardmen ate—they were offering their best.

Mare nodded in satisfaction.

That the rabble should admire his great master made him very happy.

“You’ve done a good job,” he called to the lizardmen who were nervously watching him.

They were the ones in charge of cleaning this shrine. They had druid powers—rare among lizardmen—and around their necks they wore medals with the Ainz Ooal Gown guild crest etched into them.

Really, the difference between Mare and them was night and day; he was with the conqueror, and they were the conquered, so there should have been no need for him to thank them. But his deep satisfaction stemming from the same reason as before compelled him.

Leaving behind the lizardmen as they bobbed their heads to him, he and the five overlords left the shrine.

Before them lay the marsh and the lizardman settlement. The lizardmen were more prosperous than before.

Of course, their numbers had decreased in the war, but as a result of the five tribes coming together, their village was bigger and stronger.

The large area was enclosed by a fence, and several watchtowers had been built, although it was unclear how, given the uneven ground. Keeping watch up inside them were bony white beings—probably Nazarick Old Guarders—armed with bows. There were also Nazarick Old Guarders in the marsh itself. They seemed to be on patrol to keep out any foreign threats.

“U-uh, I wonder where Cocytus is.”

Cocytus stood out in more ways than one. If he was in the village, it should have been easy to pick him out immediately, and if he was inside a house, his attendants, fitting the same criteria as Mare’s, should have been standing outside the door. Mare scanned the area with those things in mind but couldn’t see any sign of him.

“Can you ask someone where Cocytus is?”

“Understood. One moment please.”

The overlord who replied, Aurelius, returned to the shrine.

Mare looked out over the marsh, the peaceful lizardman village. The lizardmen didn’t seem on guard against the Nazarick Old Guarders. That went for the lizardman young as well. They coexisted as if it were perfectly natural.

They don’t seem to hold any grudges after being attacked and conquered by undead, so it must mean Cocytus’s policy of friendly relations is working. Or are lizardmen just a docile species?

Mare absentmindedly wondered about those things until Aurelius returned a moment later.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Master Mare. The ones working at the shrine say they don’t know where he is but that the chief of the united tribe, Shasuryu Shasha, might.”

“Oh, okay. Then, uh, let’s go see him.”

Mare set off following Aurelius. They weren’t aiming for the village on the marsh, but rather they walked along the lakeshore to a place just outside the forest. They could see Nazarick Old Guarders in the trees from a distance.

The party’s destination was on the edge of another marsh, a place where a fairly large-scale construction project was under way.

The water had been dammed, and about ten stone golems were digging. They carried the dirt to land, after which lizardmen carted it away in wheelbarrows.

As Mare watched them to figure out what they were doing, a big lizardman ran over to him, all flustered.

It was a splendidly built lizardman covered in scars, and he was clearly different from the other lizardmen in more ways than one. The medal around his neck swung wildly in his panic.

The medals, worn for protection and as a sign of subordination, had no magic power themselves, but they were proof of being owned by Ainz. And that was the reason no one in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, under the influence of the Supreme Beings, could harm the lizardmen for no reason. Of course, if they deserved to die, that would have been a different story, but luckily, perhaps, lizardmen knew their place and respected the strong—no one among them was foolish enough to offend their keepers.

“Welcome, Master Mare. My name is—”

“You’re Shasuryu Shasha, right?”

“That I am. I’m honored you know me.”

“Oh, I—I heard about you from Cocytus… Uh, do you know where he is right now?”

Shasuryu began to think. “I’m fairly certain he took several of his subordinates to go conquer the toadmen. He also took a few dozen lizardmen so they could observe.”

“Toadmen?”

“A toad-like subhuman race that inhabits the northeastern part of the lake. We don’t get along very well. They have the ability to order around large monsters and magical beasts, so from our perspective they’re a difficult opponent. I heard that in the generation of my father’s father, there was a huge war, and the lizardmen lost so badly that one tribe collapsed.”

“F-figures they’re strong if they’re from the north.”

The large body of water was actually more like two lakes stuck together, shaped like an upside-down gourd. The southern, slightly smaller lake where the lizardmen lived was half-marshland, half–open water. Not many large monsters lived there because the water was shallow. In contrast, the northern lake was deeper and was home to many larger monsters; they tended to be more powerful than the ones from the southern lake. Of course, to Mare the difference was negligible.

“These toadmen, they aren’t actually tsveiks, are they?”

Tsveiks were the monsters that lived in the poisonous swamp that once surrounded Nazarick. Mare knew that his sister had a few.

“I’m afraid I don’t know about that. Perhaps you can ask Cocytus when he returns? I imagine he’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll do that. Then I wanted to ask about something else, u-uh… This seems like quite a big construction project. What are you making? It’s not very close to the village, and it doesn’t seem like a fence or something for defense…”

“We’re building our fourth fish preserve.”

When Mare heard Shasuryu’s detailed explanation, it made sense to him.

It was a good thing that the lizardman tribes had combined, but when they all gathered, food became a problem. Many of their members had died in the war, but in this location, they couldn’t catch enough to go around. Of course, if they went back to their old villages to go fishing, the problem would be solved, but their new ruler, Cocytus, wouldn’t allow it.

Regardless of how it would have gone if an entire tribe of adults traveled the marsh, sending a small number would increase their chances of getting attacked by monsters. The lizardman numbers were already down, so he didn’t want to lose any more.

Cocytus wanted the lizardmen to thrive, so he had started to work on the food issue.

First, he brought and distributed food from Nazarick—with Ainz’s permission, of course. Then he struggled to come up with a lasting source of food for them. It goes without saying that he found Zaryusu’s fish preserves. And with advice from Demiurge, he helped them build preserves that were even more efficient.

Construction proceeded rapidly, and they already had three large preserves. This was to be the fourth.

“But you haven’t raised any fries yet, right?”

“No, all we can do using our—no, my brother’s—knowledge is care for fish that are already grown to some extent. But using what we learned from Demiurge, we’ve built fry preserves and are nearly ready to use them. Within the next few years, we should be able to support double the number of lizardmen we currently have with farmed fish alone.”

“I—I see. So after a few years, we won’t have to bring any more fish from Nazarick, huh? Of course, I’m sure you’d be able to get some anytime if there was an emergency.”

“We’re all exceedingly grateful to Lord Ainz. He’s given us so many fish… But those fish, they don’t have any innards. How do they survive? Are they like those monsters that don’t need to eat? But they don’t have bones, either…”

“Those are food created by Lord Ainz and the other Supreme Beings.”

The fish Cocytus had brought them came from an item called Dagda’s Cauldron.

“What? They can simply ‘create’ enough fish for us to live on?” Shasuryu shook his head. “When Zaryusu and the others visited from the Supreme Beings’ castle, they told us fantastic tales. They said that the Great Tomb of Nazarick contains multiple separate worlds, that it was the realm of a true god. So Lord Ainz has the power of a god?”

“Well, yeah!”
That should have been obvious by now!
Mare cocked his head in genuine confusion.

Ainz Ooal Gown was the greatest god and their creator.

“I see. Everything is thanks to him. We are very grateful.”

“I’ll let him know.”

3

10:30
AM

Nazarick Time

“What a racket. Silence!” Ainz made a sweeping motion with his left arm. Then he froze and held the pose.

After a moment, he returned to his original stance.

“What a racket. Silence!” He swung his left arm and froze again. Watching himself in the full-length mirror before him, he made minute adjustments to the position of his hand.

“…Silence! Here…? No, maybe it’d be cooler to tilt my hand more to the left?”

He returned once more to his original stance.

“What a racket. Silence!”

Satisfied with his pose, he picked up a notepad sitting on the table next to him. “Another pose down. Next up, practicing lines for buying time.”

He circled with a pen the lines he’d been rehearsing and then turned the page.

Most of the lines written there were variations on “I’ll think about it.” Any that were too roundabout or trying so hard to be cool that they wrapped back around to lame were crossed out.

Ainz was only a normal guy, so it was hard for him to act like a ruler. That’s why he made sure he was prepared for anything by repeatedly rehearsing like this. It goes without saying that the notebook was a collection of lines he had come up with.

It had already been an hour since he had started practicing, but the word
rest
wasn’t in his dictionary.

Ainz was a supreme ruler, but to be frank, he barely worked at all. The one at the top had to decide policy, so unless they were dealing with an emergency or something of high importance, he was free. Albedo took care of minor affairs, so all he had to do was take a look at reports that came in.

But when he read the reports, he never found anything that worried him, so he really only had to glance through. It felt like a leader should have a heavier workload, but as long as he had Albedo and no emergencies cropped up, he figured it was fine.

That’s just how things work in a properly functioning organization. The one at the top doesn’t need to be laboring on the front lines.

Outside of raising morale, there was no reason for the general of an army to be swinging his sword out in front. It was foolish to take the risk.

Really, instead of doing the adventurer thing, I should be gaining knowledge—training my brain—so I’m prepared for an emergency. But how can I do that? Who can I get to teach me—without destroying everyone’s image of Ainz Ooal Gown?

All beings in Nazarick loved, respected, and bowed down to Ainz, their absolute ruler. Yes, the children—in a way—created by his former guildmates looked up to him. In the same way a father can’t betray the respect of his children, Ainz couldn’t betray the members of Nazarick. That was why he practiced so hard—he at least wanted to look the part.

Of course, what he was doing embarrassed him.

If it didn’t, he wouldn’t have locked the door and prohibited maids or his eight-edged assassin bodyguards in the shadows from entering. Neither would he periodically grow incapable of tolerating it and dive into his bed with a mortified cry.

“I need to act…like the highest ruler of Nazarick should…” Anguished, he flipped through his notebook. There were still many more lines he had come up with in his spare time. They were never-ending.

Ainz Ooal Gown was an undead, so large emotional fluctuations were automatically suppressed. Still…

“I want to relax…”

The vestiges of Satoru Suzuki’s mind were shrieking in exhaustion.
I’m sick of this!

But—
He clenched his teeth. “What am I doing? C’mon, Ainz!” He jeered at his pathetic wishing for escape and looked back at the mirror with renewed energy in his eyes.

Beep-beep-beep-beep!
Just then an electronic noise sounded.

It was music to his ears. He seized the band on his left wrist to stop the beeping and sighed in relief. “If time’s up, time’s up. Yeah. Time’s up, so that’s it for now.”

He didn’t forget to throw the notebook into a box. When he closed the lid, multiple locks clicked shut. If anyone tried to brute force their way in, they would trigger multiple attack spells, which would utterly destroy the vicinity. Its defenses were so tight only someone level 90 with a thief-type class or someone level 80 or higher who was specced specifically to be a thief type could open it.

Only after using this serious item did he put the notebook away in space. He put it into a place with many rare items. High-level thieves could even steal items that were put away. That said, even if they restrained their opponent, they couldn’t steal everything. The limit was an item or two from a single player. Still, the prospect of being robbed once or twice was enough to make Ainz shiver even though he wasn’t supposed to feel fear as an undead.

And in this world, some people were born with special talents, so who knew what might happen? That’s why he put the box in with other rare items—he figured any thief would steal something that looked more valuable.

After putting it away, he reconfirmed something.

Just like a housewife repeatedly making sure the door to the house is locked before going on vacation, Ainz made his checks and then finally sighed.

Only after all that was done did he leave his bedroom. He was headed for the room he used as his office. Greeting him with deeply bowed heads to show their loyalty were Albedo, a regular maid, and then Mare.

The appearance of the other two wasn’t rare, but the boy was unexpected in this place. Surprised, he crossed the room and sat in his ebony chair by performing a movement he had rehearsed more than thirty times—a way of sitting that didn’t involve treading on his robe or loudly adjusting the position of his chair.

Next, he focused on the way he leaned into it. Sitting back too fast, or with too much of his weight behind the motion, was lame. A king had a king’s way of settling into his chair—probably.

But I have no idea how a king leans back… I’d love to see a king do it sometime…

Business manners prescribed sitting on the middle of the seat and not leaning on the backrest, but Ainz Ooal Gown wasn’t a businessman.

And so Ainz practiced a way of sitting that he felt must be correct for a king.

“Raise your heads.”

The three of them finally looked up. He found it rather annoying and a waste of time that they would never raise their heads unless he said something, but he couldn’t disregard their desire to express their loyalty, so every time he bit his tongue and said the same thing.

“Okay, first I’ll ask Mare what he’s here for. How about it?”

“S-sir!” His voice cracked a bit out of nervousness.

Ainz smiled. Of course, his fleshless face didn’t change shape, but it took on a sense of warmth.

Perhaps Mare was sharp enough to pick that up. He took a breath and seemed a bit less stiff. “U-uh, I, umm, brought this for you.”

Ainz didn’t ask,
What is it?
like a nastier boss might. If Mare had something for him, he would simply take it. It was possible he was forgetting some order he himself had given.

“Oh? I mean—good.” The maid stationed in the room today moved to receive it on his behalf, but Ainz held out a hand to stop her. “Mare, bring it here directly.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Mare straightened his back and came forward to offer the folder.

Ainz took it unhurriedly and looked inside.

This is… Oh, it’s the invitation I sent around.

Three guardians had responded in the affirmative.

“Given the order of the names, I expected one of Cocytus’s underlings to bring it. Thanks for going out of your way, Mare.”

“N-no, it was nothing! Cocytus was busy, so I insisted on coming instead. Besides…” Mare stroked the ring on his left ring finger. It was a loving gesture.

His Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. Well, I am glad he values it, but it’s a little weird to put it on that finger… And why do his eyes glisten so much when he looks at me?

Feeling someone bristle, he glanced at Albedo out of the corner of his eye. She wore her usual smile.

His eyes moved to her left ring finger.

As he thought, she wore her ring there, like Mare did. It was as if putting it there was the correct thing to do.

What was the story? From ancient Greece or somewhere?
A long time ago Yamaiko had told him the meanings behind wearing rings on certain fingers.
Something about how a big artery that leads to your heart is in that finger on your left hand? And so if you touch something bad for you with it, it sends a signal to your heart? So in Japan we call it a “medicine finger” and mix medicine with it…? Does the sous-chef wear his there, too? Oh, this is no good… He’s still looking at me.

Ainz folded his hands on top of the desk. “What is it, Mare? What are you looking at? Is there something interesting on my face?” He took extra-special care to make sure he didn’t sound angry.

“N-no, I was just thinking how cool you are…”

“I’m…cool?” He unconsciously stroked his face. “Hoo-ha-ha! Quite the talented brownnoser, aren’t you, Mare?”

“It’s not flattery!” He shouted so loudly no one would have ever guessed it was him. “P-please excuse me, Lord Ainz. But I really do think you’re cool. Even just before, when you sat in your chair, it really seemed like the way the highest ruler of Nazarick should sit.”

Ainz sent a questioning glance to the maid. The homunculus, intuiting her master’s intentions, said nothing but nodded emphatically to say,
That’s right.
He hadn’t even looked at Albedo, but she was nodding vigorously to agree as well. Even her wings were fluttering.

“I see. I’m glad,” Ainz replied briefly, stood, and approached Mare. The boy thought he was going to be scolded, but instead Ainz petted his head.

It was a rough motion but full of love.

“L-Lord Ainz…”

“Thanks, Mare. You always say things that make me happy.” He didn’t show any of Satoru Suzuki’s feelings,
but it’s kind of embarrassing
. “I’m always thinking how grateful I should be to my guildmates.”

“To the other Supreme Beings?”

Ainz got down on one knee to meet Mare’s eyes. “Yeah. I’m so grateful to them for making the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and you, and everyone. That includes you, too, of course, Albedo and Cixous.”

Albedo’s wings stuck straight out as if she was feeling rapturous.

And the maid who had been called by her first name got incredibly flustered. She was usually so calm and composed that Ainz had to smile at her distress.

“You are all my treasures.” Ainz lifted Mare up. “I wouldn’t even want to give you back to BubblingTeapot!”

“Thank you, Lord Ainz!” Cixous thanked him instead of Mare, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. “All of us in Nazarick thank you for remaining when so many of the Supreme Beings have gone. We may be inexperienced and offend you often, and perhaps it’s rude to say this to one of our creators, but I will anyway: Please allow us to devote ourselves to you.”

“I’ll allow it. I believe I’ve said something similar to Albedo and Demiurge before, but I am the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, your master, Ainz Ooal Gown.” He was momentarily surprised that he pulled off these lines he hadn’t rehearsed. But when he thought about it, it made sense. He was only saying what he truly thought, so what was there to even pull off?

Mare hugged him, burying his face in his shoulder.

Good thing I’m not wearing my usual gear
, he heard the coolheaded part of his brain say.

He felt the robe around his shoulder getting wet, but he let Mare be. When the sniffling quieted, he petted his head and put him down.

He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped Mare’s face.

It might have been the careless mopping of someone who had never wiped someone’s face before, but Mare let it happen.

“Okay, Mare. Go wash your face.”

“Wh-what are you going to do, Lord Ainz?”

“I have to go to E-Rantel. There’s some kind of meeting with the guild leaders. I’ve been begging out of them up until now, but I’ve run out of excuses. Off I go…”

Ainz checked on Albedo, who was conspicuously quiet. Because her head was lowered, her hair hid her expression. But the slight trembling he could detect scared him. It made him think of an active volcano about to blow its top.

“What is it, Albedo?”

Just then—

“Guh! Hagh!”

—the scenery flew past his eyes as he was struck in the back.

Of course, it didn’t hurt. He wouldn’t take damage from anything that wasn’t magic. He did feel a slight impact from being hit, but there was nothing that could be termed pain. Even so, his human vestiges caused him to reflexively shut his eyes for a moment—despite the lack of lids.

It was so sudden he couldn’t quite think straight. His undead mental makeup shouldn’t have been able to be confused, so it had to be Satoru Suzuki again.

“Nngh, mrrf…”

When he opened his eyes, he saw his eight-edged assassins clinging to the ceiling.
In other words
, he realized,
I’m lying on the floor
, and he tried to get up, but there was some unknown softness crawling over his body, pinning him down.

What the hell? I have an item that should give me perfect resistance against travel obstruction—and that includes holds! I should be freed the moment I’m restrained… That must mean this is an extraordinarily powerful hold skill!

The supple creature on top of him was exactly who he thought it was: Albedo.

“Lord Ainnnnnz!” Straddling him, she sat up.

“Wh-what is it? What happened?”

“Oh, you! We don’t have to hold back anymore, do we?” Her eyes opened wide. Her golden, dilated pupils made his spine freeze.

“Wh-what are you talking about?!” he asked, disturbed.

Ignoring him, Albedo reached for the chest of her dress. With a little grunt, she tried to pull it down, but the garment didn’t budge. “Magic clothes are a pain. You either need to break them with a skill or take them off normally.”

“Calm down, Albedo! Get off me!”

He tried to shove her away, but she was a level-100 warrior. On top of that, when he pushed her, he felt something tender squish and he couldn’t follow through. Her hands moved and began to remove his robe.

“Don’t strip me! Don’t move your hips! What the—?!”

“Wh-whoa—whoa—whoa—whoa…”

“This is your fault, Lord Ainz! I controlled myself for so long, but then you went and said something that made it impossible! This is all your fault! A little while will be enough! Just a little! A tiny little bit! Take pity on me for a few moments! It’ll be over in the time it takes you to count the eight-edged assassins on the ceiling!”

If she had blamed him for rewriting her backstory, he probably would have lost the will to resist. But Albedo’s behavior—put one way, it was like she was about to devour him—elicited more fear than guilt, so he struggled.

Finally, everyone else, who had been overwhelmed with confusion, leaped into action.

“Mistress Albedo, you’ve gone insane!”

“Mistress Albedo, you’ve gone insane!”

The eight-edged assassins jumped down from the ceiling.

“Get her away from Lord Ainz! No! Don’t completely restrain her—the hold’ll get canceled! Drag her away!”

“It’s impossible! She’s too strong! It makes sense, since she’s the captain of the guardians! Master Mare, give us a hand!”

“Ahhh, okay!”

Ainz was eventually freed, and after slowly rearranging his robe, he pointed at Albedo, whose arms and legs were being held by the eight-edged assassins. “Albedo, three days of disciplinary confinement.”

The eight-edged assassins dragged her out of the room.

“U-uh, Lord Ainz…are you all right?”

“I’m fine, but…was Albedo always that much of a weirdo? Did she eat something funky…? I know demon races don’t have to eat, but she’s still able to…”

Mare averted his eyes.

“I see… Well, no, hmm. I’m sure there’s a lot going on. We can’t rule out work-related stress.”

Ainz rose and called to the maid. In an attempt to regain some of his obliterated dignity, he spoke in a forceful voice. “Call Narberal and Hamusuke. It’s almost time for us to head to E-Rantel.”

1:35
PM

Nazarick Time

Ainz, astride Hamusuke, pulled the reins and brought her to a stop. He looked silently at the towering gates of E-Rantel up ahead.

Though the massive gates could repel even a huge army, Ainz wasn’t averse to them. In the video game
Yggdrasil
, there were plenty more splendid gates, but these were made not with data but human hands (although the possibility of magical aid couldn’t be ignored).

Before those gigantic steely gates fairly oozing history and hardship, an emotion he couldn’t put a finger on welled up inside him.

Even in
Yggdrasil
there were guilds that conquered cities. I used to wonder why people would base their guild somewhere so difficult to protect, but…now I kinda get it. Maybe conquering a big city is just one of those male fantasies…

In the
Yggdrasil
days, fights between guilds over cities broke out all the time. Most of the members of Ainz Ooal Gown had looked on coldly, saying they were unable to comprehend it, but a few voices called for them to take part.

War crazy, huh…?

He didn’t really like the phrase, but when he looked back on those times, they were good memories.

“What is it, master, hmm?” Hamusuke asked, wondering why she’d been stopped if he wasn’t going to do anything.

“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Ainz’s flat tone was meant to put an end to the conversation. He did it to hide the fact that if it got out he had been reminiscing, it would have been embarrassing.

“Okay, we’re going to the guild, showing up at the meeting for a minute, and then immediately taking on a monster extermination job!”

They could have gotten a room in E-Rantel, but he didn’t have the cash to spare. Ainz neither ate nor slept, so the only reason for him to stay at a first-rate hotel was to show off his rank as a first-rate adventurer…and to make connections. But he was already acquainted with the movers and shakers in this city, to the point where they would welcome him if he visited, so there was no reason to spend money on an inn.

Plus, even if he took a room, he would only teleport to Nazarick and stay there doing odd jobs like creating undead until morning. In that case, it was much smarter to take an extermination job and leave the city right away.

Honestly, he didn’t feel there were many advantages to continuing to operate in E-Rantel.

“Is that so, hmm? You like to battle, that you do, master.”

“It’s not that I like it. And besides, I say we’ll go exterminating, but we’ll get it over with so fast we’ll be spending most of the time at Nazarick like usual anyhow.” He bopped Hamusuke lightly on her huge head. “We’ve got to train you so you can use weapons, armor—all kinds of gear!”

“I’m always working hard, that I am! Those lizardmen teach me many things, that they do. In no time, I’m sure that I’ll be able to learn a special move, that I will!”

“Oh? It would be perfect if you learned how to use martial arts. And how is your training partner doing? Does it seem like he’ll learn to use martial arts?”

“Him, you ask? He’s quiet, not much of a talker, that he isn’t, so I don’t know. But I don’t think he can yet, no I don’t.”

Yeah, probably not
, thought Ainz. He didn’t expect that one to be very talkative. And he expected it to be impossible for him to learn martial arts. It was only an experiment. But if, on the off chance, the death knight Ainz created could acquire warrior skills, they would need to make big changes to their plans. That is, if it was possible for him to get stronger via training, that might become their highest priority.

“Undead don’t sleep or get tired. They can train an infinite amount, so logically it would be strange if he didn’t learn martial arts faster than you. But if he hasn’t yet, then maybe it really is impossible.”

“Wait, that I ask! He’s doing his best, too, that he is! Even after I teleport to my residence, he stays, silently working… Don’t kill him, that I beg you!”

“…I’m not going to kill him. What kind of monster do you think I am, anyway?”

“Indeed. There is no one kinder than Lord Ainz in this world. He’s even showing mercy and allowing a sad creature like you to live.”

Narberal’s icy comment from behind them on her horse caused Hamusuke to shudder.

“Nabe, we’re almost to E-Rantel. Call me Momon from now on.”

“Understood.”

“And Hamusuke is an important figure in our plan to strengthen Nazarick… Treat those who work for the good of Nazarick accordingly. Know that this applies beyond Hamusuke as well!”

“Sir! My apologies!”

He wanted to say,
And stop calling humans ticks and lice
, but she didn’t listen when he reproved her, so he’d given up on that of late. If it was part of Narberal Gamma’s character to say those things without even realizing it, he didn’t want to trample on the wishes of the guildmate who created her.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Yes, that I say!”

Ainz proceeded atop Hamusuke.

Several people were in line at the gates. That the examination to enter the country was stricter than the examination to exit was only natural; the guards inspected cargo quite thoroughly. For that reason, if there were peddlers or traveling merchants in the queue, it could take quite a while to get into E-Rantel.

“I guess it won’t take too long…”

“Wouldn’t they let you go ahead?” Narberal quietly asked as they lined up behind a few other travelers, including some who looked like adventurers.

She was right. He had passed an extremely annoying inspection the first time he went through, but as his renown grew, the exams had grown simpler and simpler until now he essentially got a free pass. Not only that, but sometimes he was even allowed priority entrance.

Raven Black wasn’t special in this regard; many teams mythril or above were treated the same way. The consideration was given so as not to displease the city’s trump cards.

If they really wanted to do me a favor, they’d get rid of the entry taxes…

Considering how much adventurers earned, the fees were extremely cheap, but for Ainz, who was bringing in the lion’s share of foreign currency to Nazarick, it was a cost he didn’t appreciate. That said, he didn’t simply use a flying spell to go over the walls, either.

Momon was a hero. That meant—

“I shouldn’t cut in line—unless there is some extenuating circumstance and I need to get in quickly.”

Still sitting on Hamusuke, he noted Narberal’s bow of acknowledgment out of the corner of his eye and gazed absentmindedly at the line ahead. “We’re really not moving, though…”

Just like a giant traffic jam, the line of people wasn’t budging.

“What the…? It seems like they’re checking a wagon, but they’re doing an awfully thorough job. Wait, they’re just surrounding it, not inspecting it. Did they find something illegal? ’Scuse me.” He addressed the countryman ahead of him.

“Wh-what can I do for you?”

“No need to get so flustered. I’m just wondering if you know anything about why the line isn’t moving.”

“I don’t know the details, but they took a village girl to the guardhouse. Then all of a sudden…”

Ainz listened to the man’s story but didn’t end up learning much. He craned his neck to get a look at the guardhouse. Focusing his ears, he could hear irritated voices.

Suddenly, he was curious.

When he first came to this city, he had been asked several questions at the gate, but he had gotten through more easily than he expected—to the point where his impression was that in this world they were surprisingly kind to drifters like mercenaries, adventurers, and travelers. Now, however, it seemed like that wasn’t actually the case, so he wondered what kinds of questions they were asking the village girl.

Now Ainz had the rank of adamantite, which was valid in other countries as well, so apparently most places would admit him.

That was precisely why he wanted to know what kinds of questions she was being asked. There could be times in the future where he infiltrated the city not as Momon but under some other guise. His aim was to be prepared for that by getting information ahead of time.

“Wait here a minute. I’ll see what’s going on.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m just taking a quick look.”

He got off Hamusuke and walked toward the guardhouse.

All the soldiers yelped in surprise when they saw him. There wasn’t a soul in E-Rantel who didn’t know who Momon the adamantite-rank adventurer was.

Taking care to appear confident, he arrived in front of the guardhouse. Inside, he could see a village girl sitting in a chair as well as a caster and a soldier who appeared agitated.

“We’d like to enter the city already… What are you doing?”

“Ahhh!”

Both men emitted an identical yelp to the soldiers outside. The village girl looked his way, dazed.

“I-if it isn’t Sir Momon! Do excuse us!”

“What in the world are you—huh? That girl…”

I’ve seen that face somewhere before.
He searched his hippocampus—not that it existed—for information about her.

“Yes! There was a suspicious girl here, so it took some time to investigate her. We apologize for inconveniencing y—”

As he was thinking how annoying the man’s voice was, the girl’s name came to him in a flash. “Enri, that’s right. Enri Emmott, right?”

“Uhh, umm, who might you be? …Oh, wait. Y-you came that one time with Nfirea, right? I don’t remember speaking to you, but…perhaps you heard my name from Nfi?”

Suddenly, Ainz put a hand over his mouth in spite of himself. The one who had met Enri was the masked caster Ainz Ooal Gown. Now he was the adamantite-rank adventurer clad in raven-black armor, Momon.

Shit! I just talked in my normal voice! This is bad. I gotta get out of here. But why is she here? If she’s looking for me—or rather, for Ainz Ooal Gown—that’ll be trouble. I should get the details from her.

It didn’t seem like she had figured out his identity from their interaction just now, but he still had to consider the possibility. He didn’t really think she would be able to recognize a voice she had heard briefly several months ago now through armor, but one could never be too careful.

Ainz waved over the caster. He figured the caster knew more than the soldier.

He pulled him out of the guardhouse and took enough distance that their voices wouldn’t carry.

“So…that girl is a friend of an acquaintance. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

He wasn’t lying. Ainz and Momon were acquainted with Nfirea.

The caster’s eyes widened. It was an expression similar to surprise but different in some way. It was as if he had connected the dots, like he had solved some puzzle in his head.

“I see… So that’s it…”

What’s “it”?!
Ainz bit back the jab and waited.

“She kept saying she was just a village girl, but she was concealing an immensely powerful magic item shaped like a horn. We thought it was suspicious that she would be carrying such a thing, so we were trying to get the details.”

“What kind of horn? What does it do?”

“Well, its power is to…”

After hearing the man’s story, Ainz suddenly looked up at the sky—to escape the reality that it was the item he had given her.

When he had given it to her, he didn’t have any idea what kind of items were commonplace in this world; he just wanted her to protect herself. Who could have guessed it would cause trouble for her later? He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, but neither did he feel like he could abandon her.

I guess I should help her. This isn’t my fault, but I should take responsibility for giving her that item… It would be worse to ignore her and have it fall into someone else’s hands… Besides, if she gets taken prisoner…

Nfirea knew that Momon and Ainz Ooal Gown were one and the same. Under these circumstances, if he heard Enri’s story, he would think that Ainz abandoned her.

That would definitely make him resent me. I wouldn’t care if he was just any worthless human, but he’s extremely valuable to me. I can turn this issue to my advantage! If I save her, Nfirea will be grateful. I gotta tighten my chains on him little by little…

Ainz spoke in what he felt was a calm, dignified voice. “You don’t need to worry about her at all. I know her character well. She’s not the kind of person who will cause trouble, so please let her through. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course. We would even let a criminal in if they were someone you knew and you vouched for them.”

“Is that so? Well, thanks. And then, sorry to trouble, but do you think Raven Black could also go in ahead of the line?”

After getting permission to enter, Ainz returned to Narberal and Hamusuke.

“We’ve been cleared to enter ahead of the others. Let’s go through the gate.”

He rode Hamusuke past the people in line. The travelers waiting their turn noticed him, but when they saw his raven-black armor, Hamusuke, and Narberal, they looked away in resignation—they had seen the status gap between Ainz and themselves.

With deep, reverent bows from the soldiers guarding the gate, Ainz and his party passed through it and entered E-Rantel.

“Okay, Nabe. I have a favor to ask you.”

“Understood. Your wish is my command.”

He wondered how this loyal attitude looked in the city between fellow adventurers, but he knew saying anything would be pointless, so he continued with his order. “Talk to Enri, the girl on the next wagon that will come through the gate, and find out why she’s here.”

Next, he looked for a place to hide. He wanted to avoid any further conversation with Enri himself.

He glanced around the area, decided ducking behind a stack of wooden crates would suffice, and had Hamusuke dash over there. The two of them appeared so suddenly, the soldiers working there got flustered.

“Do you have a moment, sir? I’d like to ask you about these crates,” Ainz asked one of the soldiers after confirming that his position wasn’t visible from the gate. Of course, he had no interest in the crates. It was just an excuse so they wouldn’t shoo him off for being in their way.

“Y-yes. Thank you for taking an interest, Sir Momon. These are crates of a vegetable called kinshu from the Grandel domain. It’s…”

Ainz listened to the soldier’s earnest explanation, occasionally muttering a vague “I see” or “Really?” He was rather unengaged, but the soldier took no offense and continued explaining. About the time Ainz was learning a great deal about different ways to prepare kinshu, he sensed Narberal appear behind him.

“—Sorry to interrupt you in the middle of your explanation. I appreciate all the useful information you’ve given me, but my friend is back, so I need to go,” he declared unilaterally and had Hamusuke start walking.

“So what did you find out?”

“First, she wanted me to thank you. Then she said she has three aims: to sell herbs, to check at the shrine if there are any people who want to move to her village, and finally, to visit the Adventurers Guild.”

“The Adventurers Guild? What kind of request is she going to make?”

“I’m afraid I didn’t find out that much. Should I catch her and force her to tell me?”

“No, no need. We’re headed to the Adventurers Guild anyway. We can probably just ask someone there.”

He figured it wasn’t about wanting to thank Ainz Ooal Gown directly. If that was the case, she could have said it to Lupusregina when she visited…

“Oh, right. Nabe, have you gotten any special reports from Lupusregina lately?”

When he saw her shake her head, his brow—not that he had one, of course—furrowed.

Originally, he had stationed shadow demons in the village, but in order to deepen friendly relations, he sometimes sent Lupusregina instead. He had instructed her to report immediately if any problems occurred in the village, but he hadn’t heard anything yet.

So he was under the impression that Carne wasn’t having any issues.

Perhaps
it wasn’t necessary to report that Enri had gone to E-Rantel on her own, but worry appeared in Ainz’s mind like a dark cloud.

“I thought Lupusregina was the kind of person who took her job fairly seriously, but what do you think, Nabe?”

“It’s as you say. She comes off as frivolous due to the way she talks, but it’s only an act. She’s a crafty, brutal maid.”

Crafty
and
brutal
were not compliments. He furtively searched her face for any trace of negative emotions, but her imposing expression contained only respect for her teammate.

“So, master, is it all right to go to the Adventurers Guild as planned, hmm?”

“Yeah. You know where it is, right? Okay, Nabe, get on. No need to take your Animal Statue: Warhorse out again.”

After Ainz took Narberal’s hand and pulled her up behind him, Hamusuke sped up as if she’d been raring to go. Ainz was no longer mortified to swagger down the streets atop the giant hamster. On the contrary, he loved that she could understand him and that he could give her orders. Riding her was like taking a taxi.

Eventually, the Adventurers Guild came into view. At the same time, he saw the wagon from earlier, as well as Enri disappearing inside the building.

“Dang… Hamusuke. I’m going in the back entrance. Take me around the other side.”

“Understood, that it is, master!”

Adventurers weren’t usually allowed in the back door, but adamantite ranks could get away with anything. That said, it was still his first time. Taking excessive advantage of his privileges would have been bad for his reputation.

He went in the back and asked the first guild employee he saw to take him to the head of the guild’s office. Luckily, perhaps, he was in.

“Oh, Momon! Thanks for coming!”

The head of the guild, Ainzach, welcomed him with open arms, grabbing and enveloping him in a forceful…hug. Ainz was wearing armor and a helmet, so it didn’t bother him, but if he had been only lightly dressed, he would have rather avoided it. The embrace was warm in too many ways.

After giving him a friendly pat on the back, Ainzach slowly pulled away. “You haven’t been coming around lately, so I’ve been lonely! Now take a seat on the sofa. We can have a nice chat until the other members of the meeting arrive.” The head of the guild gestured at the sofa cheerfully, like he was welcoming a good friend he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Thank you.”

When Ainz sat down, Ainzach sat next to him.

The space between them was negligible. It made it hard to breathe; their knees were even touching.

“Momon, we’ve known each other so long. You can relax with me, you know.”

“No, manners are important even among friends. That’s a very important lesson I learned from my predecessors.”

Certainly, at work he would have sometimes gotten on friendlier terms with clients, and even spoken in a casual tone, but he didn’t want to open himself up like that with the head of the guild. He felt it was appropriate to keep things businesslike.

If you have too many connections inside an organization, it can start to pin you down. I don’t want to get stuck at one Adventurers Guild in one city. Maybe it’s time to move on? Or really…
Ainz stared at Ainzach next to him out of the slit in his helmet.
Why are you sitting next to me anyway? Normal etiquette would be to put Narberal there and sit across from us.

With that uncomfortable closeness, he couldn’t help but wonder if Ainzach was into him.

I heard from the head of the Wizards Guild that he’s married, but maybe that’s for show? I thought he was just really eager to be better friends, but…there’s definitely something else going on. Or does he think
I’m
gay?

The last thing he suddenly imagined made him shudder.

Ainz was straight. Well, he had been anyhow. Incidentally, not that it mattered, but Satoru Suzuki preferred women with breasts over flat-chested ones. All this seemed to hold true even now, judging by the way he felt a faint desire for Albedo over someone like Cocytus.

After taking some distance by repositioning his butt, he turned to look straight at Ainzach. “Do excuse me, but I came here to ask you something. Someone I know visited the guild just now, and I wonder if you can tell me what her request was about.”

“We have rules against that…”

“That’s why I’m asking you. I know I’m being unreasonable, and I understand how important it is to follow the rules, but please.”

Ainz bowed his head, and Ainzach crossed his arms and stared up at the ceiling with a stern face. But that lasted only a moment.

“All right.” He smiled at Ainz. “I just can’t say no when it’s you asking. Can you tell me this person’s name?”

“She’s from Carne. Enri, er, Enri Emmott.”

“Enri, okay. Give me a minute.”

Before long, he was back. Behind him followed a receptionist Ainz had seen before. She came in stiffly, nearly paralyzed with nerves.

“Sir Momon!”

Wow
, Ainz thought upon his first time seeing someone so nervous they were walking completely out of step. He would have liked to tell her she could relax, but he only nodded benevolently. Not coming off too free and easy was one of those things adamantite-rank adventurers worried about.

“This is the receptionist who talked to Enri Emmott. You’d probably like to talk to her directly, right? Anything you want to know, ask away!”

“Oh? In that case— Ah, but first, why don’t we have her sit down? This isn’t my office, so it would be weird for me to say it, but…”

“No! That won’t be necessary! I’m fine as is!”

Satoru Suzuki would have felt awfully strange sitting while the person he was talking to was standing, but during his time acting as Ainz Ooal Gown, ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, those kinds of feelings had faded. He had grown to simply accept the gap between those at the top and those below. It seemed like proof that his role-playing as a masterful being wasn’t for nothing, that he had actually gained experience points.

So how many more points till I level up? Oh, wait…

“Are you sure? Well, then let’s begin. I’d like to hear the details of her request. It’s very important, so can you make sure not to leave anything out?”

“Y-yes, sir!” Sticky, cold sweat beaded on her face.

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

“No, I…” Her eyes wandered side to side.

“Did I phrase the question poorly…? Hmm. Then let’s try this way. Was her request about searching for someone?”

“N-no, sir.”

“Oh, okay… Then what was it about? Did she not even make a request?”

“…It wasn’t an immediate request, more like a consultation about a request she might make in the future. And well, she said there were monsters in the woodlands—the Giant of the East and the Serpent of the West—that are as powerful as the Wise King of the Forest you tamed.”

Though Ainz found the barely coherent receptionist strange, he continued questioning her. “A future request?”

“I-it’s not what you think! I didn’t realize she was someone you knew, Sir Momon! If I would have known, I would have asked for more details! Honest!”

Faced with this tearfully shouting receptionist, Ainz was puzzled.
Is it really all right to have someone so emotionally unstable manning the desk?

“Guild Master…”

“…Sorry. I should have supervised her better.”

“What? It’s the rules of the guild!”

Listening to their conversation, Ainz realized what their twisted understanding was.

They were both under the impression that he and Enri knew each other, and out of respect for the guild, she would make a request for a job that he normally would have done for her free of charge.

Then the receptionist coldly turned her away due to assumptions about financial issues. So they were arguing over who should take responsibility for refusing an adamantite rank’s friend.

Uh, if it’s the rules of the organization, then the one who followed them is right…

Ainz lowered his opinion of the head of the guild, glaring at him.

Pretty sure it’s a boss’s job to cover for their subordinates. Or is he using the advanced technique of ripping into her while I’m standing here to inspire pity and get me to forgive her? He sure is reaming her.

Ainz felt the receptionist’s handling of the situation was correct. The head of the guild probably thought so, too. But just as when Ainz had come in through the back door or when he made the request to Ainzach in the first place, adamantite-rank adventurers were easily made exceptions to the rules—that was how badly they wanted to keep him around, and that was why they were fighting.

“I didn’t know!”

Ainz spoke gently to the sobbing receptionist. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

The receptionist’s eyes went round in surprise, and all the tears in them streamed down.

“It’s important to follow the rules of your organization. Of course, other times it’s necessary to ignore them. I’m not blaming you at all in this case.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“So I’m sorry to press you, but please ask her for the details. Don’t tell her I’ll take the job. I just want to be informed so I can move at any time.”

“Understood! Right away! I’ll go ask her right away! Excuse me!” The receptionist spun on her heel and raced into the hallway. She was like a receding typhoon.

“…I’d like you to not pretend to blame innocent people just to arouse my pity. That was unpleasant.”

“Ah… Can’t fool you, I guess.”

Ainz gathered from the guild master’s strained voice that his guess had been correct.

It seems Japanese business techniques are used everywhere. But the problem is…
Lupusregina came into his mind.
Did Lupusregina miss these monsters that even this village girl knows about? Did the intelligence net fail? I need to find out what happened.

With returning to Nazarick and getting the story on his mind, he waited for the receptionist’s report.

4:41
PM

Nazarick Time

Lupusregina nervously entered Ainz’s office. Confused by the sudden summons, she couldn’t hide her anxiety.

Once she arrived, those present included her, the regular maid Cixous, the combat maid Narberal, Aura (the one who understood the forest the best), the eight-edged assassins clinging to the ceiling, and Ainz himself. Incidentally, Albedo was in disciplinary confinement.

Lupusregina began to make her most polite bow, but Ainz stopped her. “Lupusregina, is there something you’re not telling me?”

When she looked confused, he wondered if she hadn’t known after all and explained about the Giant of the East and the Magical Serpent of the West.

But then she looked like she did know, and Ainz’s mood quickly soured.

He emitted a long, quiet sigh.

“You knew?”

“Yes, I—”

“You fool!” Overcome with rage, Ainz let his anger carry away his shout, and it echoed.

Everyone trembled like they had been struck by lightning, and Ainz felt his emotions being suppressed. Still, new stormy waves crashed over him one after another, so his anger wasn’t completely extinguished.

“Why didn’t you report it to me? Were you trying to hide it?”

“N-no, it wasn’t anything like that.”

“Then why haven’t I heard anything about it? What reason could there possibly be?”

“I didn’t think it was very important, so I didn’t report it…”

When she looked up at him, frightened, his emotions returned like a raging fire. “Lupusregina! I’m disappointed in you!”

Lupusregina wasn’t the only one who shuddered. Cixous, Narberal, and the eight-edged assassins on the ceiling all froze in shock.

“Yes, I’ve given you discretion in overseeing that village. But that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want based on your personal judgment! I told you to report in if something might change in a big way, so what is going on?!”

“Well, I…”

He grimaced as she trailed off.

A working adult would never be forgiven for this kind of mistake—no, no one would.
Reporting in to your superior and consulting with them on what to do next isn’t just business manners—it’s common sense for any adult! If she can’t even do that… That’s not acceptable in this org… But…

Lupusregina was terrified. Ainz wondered if perhaps it was his fault as well. Perhaps the mistake was due to his unreliable leadership—a lack of grip on the reins.

If my wishes aren’t making their way down the chain properly, it’s my fault as everyone’s boss. Have I not made myself clear…? Maybe it would be better if I retired and left things up to Demiurge or Albedo.

“…Lupusregina, do you understand how valuable that village is to us?”

“Huh? Er, I’ve heard from you that it’s valuable, my lord.”

“No, no. I’m asking you how valuable
you
think that village is.”

“W-well, it’s full of toys…”

“Oh, I see. Right… I’m sorry. This is my mistake. I didn’t realize that’s all you thought…” Ainz smiled an exhausted smile, realizing it was his fault after all. “I take back my disappointment. I said too much—forgive me.”

“What are you talking about? Blame me—I’m the idiot!”

“Then all you need to do is be more careful next time. So, let’s start over. You must understand that the village of Carne is very valuable. Nfirea and his grandmother Lizzy have particularly crucial roles inside Nazarick.”

“What?! R-really?”

“Yes. I’m having them develop new potions for us.”

“O-oh! I was going to give you this!” Lupusregina suddenly shouted, completely pale in the face, and pulled out a purple potion. Narberal took it from her and carried it to Ainz.

“What is this?” Ainz took the potion and held it up to the light.

“It’s the latest healing potion developed by Nfirea!”

Ainz’s anger flared anew, but he held it back. “With this, the Baleare family is even more important.”

Lupusregina gave him an uncomprehending look, and Ainz quietly smiled at her.

This potion had to have been made using the various materials he had given them from Nazarick.

Even though Nfirea and his grandmother couldn’t use the potion synthesizing techniques of
Yggdrasil
, they had used
Yggdrasil
materials to create something that was neither the blue potion of this world nor the red potion of
Yggdrasil
. That point deserved some attention.

“First of all, the healing potions in this world are blue. But the ones I know are red. So I wonder about this.” Ainz went on at length.

The knowledge and powers he had gained in
Yggdrasil
could be used in this world, that much was certain. His encounters with angels, the existence of things that seemed to be World Items—this and other evidence pointed to a very good chance of
Yggdrasil
players existing in this world in the past. So why were only the potions different from
Yggdrasil
’s red ones?

He could think of three possibilities.

One was the loss of technology and a break in knowledge due to countries falling to ruin. Because technologies, once known, were very likely to spread to neighboring states, this had to have taken place over a wide area. Without entire countries being destroyed, it was impossible, so the chance of it being this type of disaster was low.

His second idea was that either Nfirea personally didn’t know how to make them, or the knowledge hadn’t spread to countries in this region. Just as it was said that in the past the color of Japan’s noodle soup was different in the east and west, so was it possible that in far-off countries, the potions were red or something like that.

His final theory was the one that made the most sense: Synthesizing
Yggdrasil
potions required
Yggdrasil
materials. And they either couldn’t be gathered in this world, or they had run out, so the best that could be created here were blue potions.

“So excluding idea number two, this potion Nfirea made…” He shook the potion in his hand. “…This potion could be a technological revolution the likes of which hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years. Well, if number three is right, it could just be a retrogressive failure. Everything depends on how hard Nfirea works from now on. Understand?”

What he was asking Nfirea to do was to make
Yggdrasil
potions without relying on
Yggdrasil
potion technology or materials. Or to perfect some third type of potion.

“So are you going to have a lot of people study potions based on this one?”

Ainz frowned at Narberal’s question. “That’s a foolish question, Narberal. Certainly that route would get us to perfection faster, but it’s extremely dangerous. Knowledge is power. To senselessly hand it out is a fool’s errand.”

That’s exactly how the world of
Yggdrasil
had been, so Ainz could say it with confidence.

“For example, we can’t say for sure that an advanced form of this potion wouldn’t kill me in one hit, so it’s safer to monopolize this technology rather than spread it around, probably… If our servants are simpleminded, it’s fine to share it with them. We have to advance technology carefully, and that includes Nfirea’s potion. That’s why, really, I’d like to lock him up in Nazarick and have him focus on nothing but research.” It would be a good way to maintain secrecy on top of barring him from using the potions he’d made.

“So why don’t you do that, my lord?”

He could tell she would leap into action as soon as he said the word, so he answered in a hurry. “Building trust and binding him with chains of gratitude will lead to greater future profit than forcing him to work from a dungeon. I had Demiurge analyze this, and it appears that making someone feel indebted to you is effective—hmm? What is it, Lupusregina?”

“I’m too much of an idiot to understand, so please tell me one thing. If that’s the case, then why did you give a potion to Brita, that adventurer?”

Hearing the name Brita threw Ainz into confusion—because he couldn’t remember having ever heard it. Maintaining an expression—or perhaps an attitude, since his face didn’t shift—that said he had everything under control, he dug frantically through his memories.

Oh, that potion?

He finally remembered the incident at the inn the first night he had stayed in E-Rantel.

Recalling what he had said, he was glad he didn’t have the sort of body that broke out in a cold sweat.

What should I do? What should I do?!

He couldn’t stay silent forever.

Demiurge! Albedo! Why are neither of you here? Agh, Demiurge is working outside, and Albedo is in disciplinary confinement. It’s too late to call them back now!

“I see. You don’t understand why?”

“No, my apologies. Could you please explain?”

He wanted to scream at her not to ask so innocently. There was nothing he could do now besides a make-or-break gamble. Having decided that, he felt bravery welling up inside him.

“Hoo-hoo…ha-ha-ha-ha. Ce-certainly it was a dangerous move, as you suspected, Lupusregina. There was the possibility of runaway technological advancement. But I had an important purpose for daring to give her the potion anyway.”

“R-really?! It wasn’t just to replace the potion she lost?!”

At the outburst from Narberal, Ainz swallowed what he had been about to say. He spun up the gears in his brain and remembered that first day in E-Rantel in more detail.

Oh, right! Back then, I said it was to avoid doing something that would tarnish my reputation! Crap!

Ainz feigned calm. Lying to cover another lie inevitably led to being trapped in a corner like this. He frantically scraped together his rapidly fading courage.

“…Is that really all you thought it was, Narberal?”

“Please excuse my error!”

“…No, you don’t have to apologize. At the time, I wasn’t sure if it would work out, so I only mentioned the simpler of my aims.”

“So then, what was your true aim?”

In response to Narberal’s question, Ainz slowly opened his mouth, but even at that moment, he had no clue what to say. Just then, though, he was struck with a hunch and unhesitatingly seized on the idea.

“…Nfirea…” Having made his solemn declaration, he looked at each of his subordinates. But while Albedo or Demiurge would say something like,
Oh, I see. I would expect nothing less, my lord
, at this point, Narberal only furrowed her brow and said, “Nfirea…my lord?”

Ainz put a hand to his mouth. “Mrph…”

Narberal and the others looked ashamed of themselves. They must have taken his pose to mean,
I’ve explained this much and you still don’t understand?
But actually, he had unconsciously put his hand there while trying to think what to do next.

For a short while, he was overly nervous, riding the waves of emotion that were suppressed and renewed in turn, but after the fierce storm, he discovered an exit. He didn’t know what he would find on the other side, but he was ready to grasp at any straw he had, so he stepped into the dark unknown.

“…I-I’ve succeeded in capturing the apothecary Nfirea. Does that answer your question…? Oh, I know… If someone gave you a potion totally different from the normal blue ones everyone knows, what’s the first thing you would do?”

“…Ask someone?”

“Yes! You’re exactly right, Lupusregina. And just as I planned, she took it to the most knowledgeable potion merchant in town. That’s how I made contact with Nfirea.” He remembered Nfirea telling him that story back in Carne.

“Oh, I see! So that was your aim!”

“Seems like you get it now. It was bait used to acquire a capable apothecary. There was a risk of issues in the future depending on how things turned out, but I decided it had to be done regardless.”

Comprehension filled the air, and admiration shone on everyone’s faces.

Guess my story lines up…

Then a voice sounded, as if its owner had been waiting for Ainz to internally sigh in relief. “Um…I don’t mean to be rude, but may I ask something else?”

Agh, just stop. No more questions
, Ainz cried inwardly but didn’t let the slightest hint of those feelings show on his face.

“What is it, Lupusregina? If you’re sure it’s something I should be the one to answer, go ahead.”

“Yes, my lord.” She swallowed hard; her expression was earnest. “Do you always think two or three steps ahead like this when you do something?”

Of course not.

Ainz’s actions were mostly haphazard. Sometimes he did think things through, but most of the time, he was plunged into situations that betrayed his expectations. He couldn’t very well say that to a subordinate, though.

“Of course. I’m the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown!”

They oohed in admiration, and Lupusregina’s eyes went especially wide.

“What is it, Lupusregina?”

“The Resourceful King…”

She practically choked out the words, and Aura took a step forward with a frown on her face.

But Ainz stopped her. “Don’t worry about it. Was that your only question?”

“Well, I guess I have one more. Why don’t you have monsters attack the village and then save them? I think if you rescued Nfirea and his grandmother from the burning village, they’d feel even more indebted to you and make themselves useful…”

“That’s not a bad move at all. Perhaps it’s worth considering. But in that case, it’s possible that Nfirea would turn his hatred on monsters—he might not want to cooperate with us anymore… If they were being razed by a group of humans, it would be different. In that case, we should save Enri Emmott as well, to tighten our hold.”

Although the fact that Carne was useful as a village that the caster Ainz Ooal Gown had saved did made it a hard decision.

“By the way, the most important person in that village is Nfirea. And since he’s in love with Enri, she is number two. Lastly, there’s Nfirea’s grandmother Lizzy. I don’t care what happens to the others, but protect those three at all costs. In a worst-case scenario, guard Nfirea even if it costs you your life… So, Lupusregina, will that be all?”

“Yes! Thank you!”

“Okay. I forgive this mistake, but now that you know my intentions, I won’t forgive another. You understand, right?”

“Of course, my lord!”

“Good. Then go. Go and do a splendid job.”

Lupusregina left with a bow, and Narberal followed her like a prison guard.

After the two disappeared behind the door, Ainz turned to the guardian standing by next to him. “So, Aura. Have you heard of the Giant of the East or the Serpent of the We—”

They heard a voice behind the door say, “Lord Ainz is seriously not screwin’ around! Thinkin’ everything out that well before he makes his move—the word
monster
doesn’t even begin to cover it!” The thick door muffled it, but it was still loud enough to interrupt the pair’s conversation. And if they could hear it in the room, how loud was it out in the corridor?

“…Should I tell her the door is thinner than she thinks?”

“She’s pretty worked up, huh? I could punch—”

Just then from behind the door they heard a difficult-to-place slamming noise and then the sound of something heavy being dragged away.

“…Looks like you won’t need to intervene, Aura. Well, we’ve been disrupted, haven’t we? Okay, so have you heard of them?”

“Uhh, my apologies. I don’t have any information about the Giant of the East or the Serpent of the West. After the fight with the evil tree, I did a search of the forest—albeit a quick one—looking for any powerful monsters, and although I didn’t reach the subterranean cave…”

“Well, if they’re at Hamusuke’s level, I can understand why they wouldn’t catch your attention.”

A gardener wouldn’t be aware of every bee that flies by. The strong having that sort of oversight was a fairly difficult issue to solve.

“My apologies. Then, Lord Ainz, shall I mop them up?”

“That’s not a bad idea. Maybe we should kill the obnoxious maggots and bring the forest entirely under Nazarick’s control.”

“Understood! Then I’ll send in a few of my pets.”

“Hmm. That’s no fun. If this Giant of the East and Serpent of the West are as strong as Hamusuke, I’m curious to see what they’re like.”

“Then should I capture them and drag them back here?”

“No, going personally wouldn’t be so bad. Thanks to Hamusuke, I’ve learned the value of old knickknacks.”

Aura looked like she didn’t know what he was talking about, and he smiled at her.

“Of course, that won’t be all. Let’s see if we can’t devise a test for Lupusregina, too.”

7:16
PM

Nazarick Time

Fenrir walked leisurely through the dark forest without making a sound. Even if branches or tangled vines barred his path, neither his movements nor those of the two riding him were hindered. On the contrary, it was like the three of them were incorporeal ghosts—they didn’t so much as snap a twig.

It was the power of Fenrir’s special ability, Land Navigator.

“According to the report from my minions, the lair of what might be the Giant of the East is up ahead.”

The trees grew so thickly in this place that the starlight didn’t even shine through, but Aura didn’t sound a bit nervous. Unlike humans and other beings with ordinary vision, Ainz and the others could see everything as if it was the middle of the day.

“I see. The Giant of the East and the Serpent of the West, huh? If we’re lucky, they’ll be having a party together, but I guess that’s a lot to ask. If the snake isn’t here, I’ll leave it up to you, Aura.”

“Yes, sir! I’ll do my best! And how will you deal with these fools who dare show hostility to you, my lord?”

“I think I’ll try talking to them first.”

Aura turned around to look at Ainz with a questioning look on her face. “Huh? You’re not going to subordinate them to your will?”

“Well, the Giant of the East and the Serpent of the West are both unknowns. It’s probably better, from a variety of perspectives, to go into it with that attitude. I’d like to obtain them if they don’t exist in
Yggdrasil
, you know?”

“You’re so kind, Lord Ainz.”

She wasn’t being sarcastic.

“Y-you think so? I’m really only kind when it benefits me—or members of Nazarick… If these monsters are like Hamusuke, they might be valuable, that’s all. Might as well take the chance to see what they’re about.”

“You were mentioning that about Hamusuke earlier, too. Is she really so valuable?”

“She sure is. She’s great for experimenting on.”

Hamusuke was currently training as a warrior under the lizardman Zaryusu. Incidentally, there was another student as well—a death knight Ainz summoned.

The aim of the training was to test if it was possible for them to acquire the warrior class. Ainz was especially interested in the death knight’s results. If he could become a warrior, it would be possible to rapidly boost Nazarick’s military strength.

It was probably impossible, but they wouldn’t have the results unless they did the experiment.

“Is that why you’re having the blacksmith make her armor? Because she’s so important?”

“You sure have good ears. That’s one reason. But if I’m going to ride her on a battlefield in the future, I need to strengthen her defenses.”

If Hamusuke acquired the warrior class, she would probably be able to wear full plate armor. When he put the heavy armor on her now, her mobility and evasion capability markedly decreased, so it only made sense…

If she can’t operate well in armor unless she acquires the warrior class, it’s just like the game… Well, even I’m bound by the game rules to the point where I can’t even put on metal armor, so compared to that, she has fewer restrictions… If we had one more Hamusuke, we could investigate the differences between them…

These gamelike restrictions were another mystery of this world. If he had Demiurge investigate, he could probably get an accurate understanding of them, but for whatever reason, he didn’t really feel like it.

I might just have to force myself to acknowledge that this world has laws of magic that are totally different from the laws of physics and accept that anything could be possible…

“Lord Ainz, is something wrong?”

“Hmm? No, it’s nothing. What do you need?”

“Ah, you seemed to be pondering something, so I just wondered if there was something on your mind.”

“Oh. Well, I just got caught up thinking about a bunch of things. It didn’t mean anything else.”

“I see.”

Seeming relieved, Aura turned back around, and Ainz moved his eyes down lower from her hair like golden silk. His gaze passed her slim back to his own hands around her little waist.

Such a delicate waist. I guess this is what kids’ hips are like?

Ainz had never had children, so out of curiosity, he patted her waist as if testing the sturdiness of one of his belongings. Then he brought his hands higher and lightly struck her back. Since they were riding Fenrir, he obviously didn’t use too much force.

But Aura still jumped and whirled around. “Wah! What, Lord Ainz?” Her face was bright red—so red even someone without Night Vision would be able to tell.

“Ah, I just thought you had such a tiny waist. Are you eating enough? Even with an item that makes it so you don’t have to eat, you still can, right?”

“Y-yes. I don’t get any magic buffs or anything, but I can eat.”

In
Yggdrasil
, humanoids and subhumans developed in exchange for having a life span, but grotesques stopped growing after a certain point and aging ended. If those rules were valid in this world as well, Aura and Mare would grow up. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to them because they didn’t get proper nutrition when they were young.

Since his guildmates weren’t around, the growth of these children was Ainz’s responsibility.

“Make sure you’re eating!”

“Okay! I’ll eat a lot and annoy Shalltear!”

He wondered why Shalltear suddenly came up but decided to ignore it. “…Items that make eating and drinking unnecessary might be bad for your development, so it may be better to exchange them for a different magic item. Growing up… Someday, you two will have lovers, huh?”

Both Aura and Mare were adorable kids. Surely, they’d grow up to be beautiful young dark elves. Ainz imagined all sorts of people confessing their love for them—not that he had any experience with that personally, but he’d seen it in dramas on TV.

Perhaps because of the conversation they’d just been having, he imagined them surrounded by a ton of Hamusukes.

“Er, huh?”

Little Aura and Mare surrounded by a ton of Hamusukes. It wasn’t a bad scene, but it wasn’t at all what he had meant to be envisioning.

A hamster is a mouse relative, so Hamusuke can probably reproduce like crazy. I wonder if we’ll have problems if we don’t get her fixed. That said, I wouldn’t mind if she reproduced a little bit… I wonder if there are even males of her race around…

“What?! It’s a bit soon for that, Lord Ainz. I’m still only in my seventies.”

“Oh, ahh, I see. So you’re still a kid for a while, then. By the way, of the members of Nazarick, who do you like? What’s your type?”

Ainz had zero romantic experience, so he got jealous when he saw a random handsome fellow flirting with a pretty lady, but he was confident that he could be genuinely happy for the NPCs.

“I love
you
, Lord Ainz!”

“Ha-ha. That’s sweet of you.”

Ainz was glad for little Aura’s flattery. Since he loved the NPCs, hearing they loved him back made him smile.

“So, who do you love the most, Lord Ainz, Albedo or Shalltear?”

“Ha-ha. I love
you
, Aura.”

“Huh?”

Ainz petted her head from behind, letting her golden hair slip between his fingers.

“What?!”

I guess I need to think about the quality of their education as well. If there’s a dark elf school or something, would Aura and Mare turn out better if I sent them? I wonder what BubblingTeapot would think if she were here. School, though…? A rom-com set at a school? Peroroncino was shouting something about that. That he wanted to established a Nazarick Academy with Suratan. Wonder where that data went…?

“Whaaaat?!”

“What is it? You’re awfully loud, Aura.”

“Ah! S-sorry. I know we’re near the Giant of the East’s house, too…”

“It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize. More importantly, about your future…”

“M-my future?”

“Y-yes. Is something wrong? You seem panicky… Did something happen?”

“N-no. It’s nothing. Right. You want to talk about my future?”

“Yeah, I do. In the future, I think it’d be a good idea to visit a dark elf country, if there is one. I’ll have you come with me when the time comes.”

“Huh…? Oh, y-yes, sir!
That
future, right. Understood! I’d be honored to accompany you. And—oh, we’re almost there, Lord Ainz.”

Up ahead in the darkness, past where the forest cut off, was an unnatural light.

“I see. Could you station around us the magical beasts you brought? I’m going to get ready, too.”

Ainz used one of his skills, Summon Upper-Tier Undead.

What appeared was an ominous-looking knight atop a pale-blue horse. Their numbers increased each time he used the skill.

“Okay, four should be enough. All right, pale riders. You guys stand by in the air to capture anything that tries to flee.”

When the pale riders silently acknowledged their orders and pulled their reins, the blue horses galloped into the air. Once they turned incorporeal, they could proceed straight into the sky through any branches in the way.

“Okay, the perimeter is secure. All we have to do now is see if this is our monster.”

“Yes! Oh, you’re not going to test his stamina?”

“That’s the very last thing. I’m not actually looking for a fight. Let’s try to have a conversation that benefits both parties.”

He meant that. It wasn’t as if Ainz liked combat. He didn’t mind being cruel if there was something in it for him, but that didn’t mean he relished brutality. He wasn’t the type to go out of his way to step on ants on the road. Nothing would be better than settling this encounter with a discussion.

Fenrir arrived at the edge of the woods. The “edge of the woods” in this case was the edge of one of the clearings here and there within the forest where trees didn’t grow.

There were some areas where the trees died for special reasons, such as the way the area around an evil tree was a pile of withered trees. There were various different reasons, but this clearing was probably created by the monster.

The trees were scattered around where they had been felled. It was as if someone had undertaken a large construction project, failed, and abandoned everything in a huff.

“This is kinda funny. Aura, he must have been trying to copy the building you’re creating. The product of this fool’s efforts is appalling. This is what happens when cave-dwelling creatures try too hard…”

“You’re exactly right. Lord Ainz, there’s its camp.”

In the middle of the abused plot of land, so dead it seemed to have been burned, was a crevice.

“…No lookout? That’s pretty careless. Well, I guess we’re not knocking this time.”

Ainz followed Aura toward the cave opening in the ground. When he peered inside, a gentle slope seemed to lead to a somewhat more spacious area in the back. The ceiling was quite high, so a fairly large creature could live there with no trouble.

This reminds me of exploring labyrinths in
Yggdrasil
. Whenever we found a cave in the mountains, there was that excitement of wondering what we would find inside.

Back then, Tigris Euphrates or one of his other guildmates would have taken the lead and Ainz (Momonga) would have followed. Or they could summon monsters to send out front, undead in Ainz’s case, and have them set off all the traps, a method called warrior tripping or summons tripping.

Those were good times…

His steps were light as he reminisced, but his good mood lasted only a few seconds.

He furrowed his nonexistent brow at the smell coming from below. It wasn’t gas but stagnant air reeking of animal fat and putrefaction.

A trap of foul air? I wouldn’t expect such an elaborate trap from the kind of less intelligent creature that would live here… I suppose it could also be a coincidence.

Because Ainz was an undead, and thus didn’t need to breathe, he had perfect resistance against those sorts of air attacks. Aura had a magic item for protection, so if the awful stench was an attack, its effects would be cut. At that point, it was basically only a smell.

“This Giant of the East fellow doesn’t seem to be very tidy. I’ll settle for enough intelligence to have a conversation, though…”

“Seriously. But I don’t know how much we can expect. From the footprints, it seems like there are numerous inhabitants of this cave, but none of them is wearing anything on their feet. Calculating from the large foot size, I’d say they have to be at least eight feet tall.”

“I see… That must be one of them.”

As they proceeded steadily down the slope, they could make out a monster at the bottom.

“Lord Ainz, they’re…ogres.”

There were two of them ripping something apart and bringing it to their mouths. A new bloody smell filled the air.

Ainz slowly aimed a finger but then smiled bitterly. If they were raiding a dungeon, they would kill the ogres without a sound and quietly proceed to the back to clean the whole place out, but their objective this time was different.

“…Well, we didn’t come here to wipe them out. We have to start by striking up a friendly conversation. Hey, you ogres, there! Sorry to disturb you at mealtime.”

The pair of ogres looked up at Ainz in a synchronized motion. Then they roared.

The cave echoed a lot, so it was hard to tell for sure, but it seemed like there were similar roars coming from farther back as well.

“What a vile racket they’ve got for an intercom system. Aura, fall back.”

Ainz sighed a “sheesh” as he watched the ogres charge up the slope at them. They didn’t seem at all interested in talking.

“Skeleton! Skeleton! Enemy!” When the ogres arrived before Ainz, shouting in their raucous voices, they unhesitatingly raised their clubs.

“I’m sorry—”

With a snarl, the ogres attacked.

“—we entered your house—”

They whacked Ainz, but he wasn’t injured, of course, since the clubs weren’t magic.

“—without permission.”

The ogres raised their clubs again.

They bashed Ainz’s skull, and his vision wavered slightly. He didn’t feel any pain, but they were annoying him. That said, Ainz himself would be furious and ready to kill anyone who barged into the Great Tomb of Nazarick. In that sense, it was only natural that they attack him, so it could be said that he should reconcile himself to that and accept it.

If the messengers of peace drew their weapon, it was too much of an endgame scenario.

The ogre who arrived later thrust out not his club but his empty hand. Ainz figured he had come to capture him, seeing as how the others’ attacks weren’t working.

His brow twitched but not really, of course, since his entire face was made of bone.

He was fine with being captured, but his eyes could see through the darkness that the hand was covered in blood.

“Gross.”

He immediately took a wand out of space and waved it. It didn’t have any fancy magic, but one hit from the item specialized in dealing battering damage was enough to burst the head of the ogre reaching for him. A mixture of blood and brains spattered the ogre standing next to him, who dropped his club as he retreated a step. “Y-you…not…skeleton…”

“Yeah, don’t lump me in with skeletons. We came to see your boss, the Giant of the East. Could you call him for me? Well, I imagine he’ll show up if we wait, but…”

Ainz waved his hand at the ogre to be gone, and the creature turned his back to them and scurried into the depths of the cave.

“…Sheesh. This would have gone faster if they had realized the strength gap.” Ainz rubbed the spot where he had been hit with the club and descended the short remaining slope.

In the ogres’ original position lay the half-eaten corpses of something that seemed like goblins. How many was unclear, since it was just scattered remains, but it had to be more than one or two.

Ainz and Aura gave the area a wide berth to avoid the mess and arrived at the bottom of the cave.

“Damn. I got so annoyed that I accidentally drove them off. My plan was to hold off on massacring and proceed in an amiable manner unless negotiations failed…”

“You had no choice, my lord! Those vulgar ogres tried to lay their hands on you!”

“I’m glad you think so. Squishy Moe always said, ‘Punching someone to get them to listen to what you have to say isn’t a bad move,’ or was it the Warrior Takemikazuchi?”

“If one of the Supreme Beings said it, it must be true!”

Before he could remember which of his two extremely different guildmates had said it, a ton of monsters walked out from the back of the cave. They were all far larger than humans.

“A mob of trolls? Calling a troll a giant is sort of false advertising, but I guess it’s not a total lie.”

Trolls were giants with long noses and ears, incredibly ugly faces, and brawny bodies that were repulsive in the same way as a deformity. They wore clothes made from skins of an animal similar to a tiger, with the heads decorating their shoulders.

They were taller than the ogres, easily over eight feet, and possessed a shockingly powerful regeneration ability that, unless stopped via fire or acid, would regenerate them from even a lump of flesh. There were six of those, plus ten ogres.

The one Ainz paid special attention to was the troll at the head of the group.

Not only was he physically superior to the other trolls, but his hideous face projected self-confidence.

Compared to the other trolls, he was also better outfitted.

He wore leather armor that seemed to be made of a number of different animal skins, and in his huge hands, he held a great sword even more gigantic than the ones Ainz used as Momon. The sword seemed to be enchanted, and some kind of slimy liquid flowed continuously down the groove in the center to the edge of the blade.

“Does that one look as strong as Hamusuke?”

“That’s the sense I get, yeah.”

Then this troll must be the Giant of the East. So what kind of troll is it?
Ainz observed the Giant of the East closely.

Trolls were highly adaptable, so they were as diverse as the places they lived.

For example, volcano trolls were resistant to fire. Sea trolls were great swimmers and could breathe underwater. Mountain trolls were big and strong. The rare toll trolls that inhabited bridges were another of the many varieties.

So what was the specialty of the troll standing before Ainz?

The ones adapted to caves were called cave trolls, but this one looked different from those.

Seeing an unknown type of troll for the first time in this world activated the merch collector within him.

The Giant of the East was a troll with an extremely rare mutation.

With countless battles behind him, he had adapted to combat and was now specialized in it. To give his variety a name: war troll. Of all the troll-derived races, his was the most exceptional. Compared to any other troll the same age, his combat ability was superior.

Certainly, in terms of size, war trolls lost to mountain trolls, but when it came to muscles and ability level, their bodies were better. And they wielded not a primitive, easy-to-use battering weapon but possessed natural prowess with bladed weapons, which were inferior to clubs without proper technique. They were trolls awakened as warriors.

“So you’re the Giant of the East?” After confirming there was no objection, Ainz pointed a little to the right of the giant. “Then if you’re the Serpent of the West, I’d be thrilled, so how about it?”

Someone with only ordinary vision would think he was pointing at empty space. But Ainz, who could see as if it were broad daylight, plainly noticed a grotesque.

“You might think you’ve disappeared with Invisibility, but my eyes can see through that. Why don’t you give up the futile tricks and answer me?”

It must have canceled its Invisibility. Where there had been nothing a moment before, a monster appeared.

It was indeed a serpent. Well, it would be more accurate to say it had the body of a serpent. It was a grotesque with the thin, withered body of an elderly human from the chest up and the lower body of a snake.

This type of monster was in
Yggdrasil
, too; the name came to Ainz’s tongue immediately. “A naga, huh? I guess
serpent
isn’t wrong, but it seems like there would be a better way to describe it. Well, given what the Wise King of the Forest turned out to be, maybe I should have guessed…”

“I can’t believe you saw through my Concealment; you’re nothing but a—”

“Why are you here, Skeleton?”

The naga’s voice was drowned out by the scream that echoed through the entire cavern. The Giant of the East took a step forward.

Ainz faced him head-on in order to negotiate. “First, allow me to say this one thing: I’m not a skeleton. I’ll take the liberty of having you correct your mistaken impression.”

“What are you if not a skeleton?! I permit you to call me Gu, ruler of the eastern lands!”

For a moment, Ainz wasn’t sure what the troll was saying. First, he thought it was a word like
king
or
chief
, but then he realized the monster had introduced himself.

“I see, Gu… Apologies for the belated introduction. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown.”

Laughter filled the cave.

“Hwa-hwa-hwa-hwa! That’s the name of a coward! It’s a pathetic name, not a powerful one like mine!”

In response to those remarks, the other trolls began emitting grating laughter in imitation.

“How dare y—”

Aura stepped forward, but Ainz stopped her.

“It’s fine. I’m not even offended. Keep your head. We’re here as friendly messengers to talk, but just for my edification, I’d like to ask why you think my name is cowardly.”

“Oh, these fellows believe long names indicate a lack of courage, Mystery Undead.”

It was the naga who replied. The old-man face wore a sarcastic grin.

“So he’s not an old knickknack but just a piece of junk, huh? And do you also think I have the name of a coward?”

“No, I don’t think that way—because my name is long, too. I am Ryuraryusu Spenia Ai Indaloon, whom you call the Serpent of the West, invader Ainz Ooal Gown. I constantly wish his brains were on par with his magnificent body. But if that were the case, he surely would have conquered this forest, so it’s tricky.”

“…Well, that just saved your life.”

When Ainz let slip his feelings, Ryuraryusu gave him a questioning look and was about to ask what he meant, but the timing didn’t work out. Gu and the other trolls’ laughter died down.

“So, weakling, why did you come? Do you want to be eaten? Crunchy bones are so tasty! I’ll start with your head!”

“I’m the one building a fortress in the center of the forest using golems and undead. Maybe you’ve heard of me?”

The atmosphere changed. Gu and his men grew intensely hostile, while Ryuraryusu grew intensely cautious.

“I have, interloper! If this snake hadn’t been so whiny, we would have gone to kill you already! Well, you saved us the trouble, puny black coward!”

“Well that makes this quick. The reason I came is to negotiate with the two of you.”

Ainz gestured at them to bow down. “If you value your lives, submit to me.”

“You idiot! Why would we obey a coward like you? We’re going to eat you! Then we’ll eat the runt behind you!”

“Gu, he’s the master of that horrible building. It’s a big risk to take him lightly! And that’s a dark elf behind him. They were the rulers of this forest until they fled from the evil tree. They’re strong—listen to me!”

Ainz couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into refreshing laughter. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You bark better than a dog, you meathead! Then how about this? The guy you call so weak challenges you, with the tough name, to a duel. You’re not gonna get scared and run away, are you? If you’re frightened, bow your head down to the dirt. I’ll keep you as a slave!”

“Interesting! I didn’t think I needed help to fight you anyway! I’m going to tear you apart and devour you!”

“Okay. That’s your choice, then. As of this moment, negotiations have fallen through. Aura, back up a bit. I’m going to play with this one by myself.”

The moment he finished speaking, a sword came swinging down at him from overhead—a blow from Gu’s nearly ten-foot-long blade.

Ainz didn’t move. He stood facing the sword and took it head-on.

“Uh?”

“What is it? You seem puzzled.”

Ainz didn’t so much as flinch. Gu, his ugly face warped in surprise, swung his sword from the side this time, but Ainz let it hit his body, the same as before.

“Ngh?!”

Gu retreated a few steps and looked between Ainz and his sword. Then he confidently turned his back and stood before one of his subordinates.

All of a sudden, the sword sliced through the air into the troll that should have been on his side. The blade entered at the shoulder and cut smoothly through the flesh, sending fresh blood spraying everywhere.

The troll emitted a dim-witted shriek.

Gu nodded in satisfaction at the body that tumbled to the ground. He must have been happy to know nothing was wrong with his weapon.

“Ah, right, trolls can regenerate. Seeing it firsthand like this really is impressive.”

The cut rapidly healed. Rather than the damage rewinding, it was as if the healing process were fast-forwarded.

Although he had probably tested it due to the regeneration ability, Gu looked down at his subordinate with a sinister expression that made it seem like he would have done it regardless.

“Deciding the fate of the weak is the privilege of the strong. But you’ve made me extremely…uncomfortable.”

Ainz stepped forward. He felt less and less like playing around any longer.

“Gu! This Ainz Ooal Gown is no normal adversary! We should work togeth—”

“Shut up! Stay where you are and watch in silence, you coward. Grraaoohh!”

What came at Ainz was like an explosion of blows. The chain of attacks unleashed by this body far surpassing human physiques delivered destructive power on par with those of the highest-class beings he had faced in this world.

But how much pain would a hit that couldn’t knock down a tough castle wall or put a huge crack in the ground cause for Ainz?

He let the sword slicing through the air hit him.

“Sheesh. Could you stop making wrinkles?” He looked away as though he had lost interest and tugged his robe, disheveled by the impact, to straighten it out. Then he suddenly looked up at Gu as though he had just remembered he was there. “Oh, are you satisfied now?”

“Grraaoohh!”

Having realized his sword wasn’t very effective, the troll cast it away and charged with the intent to punch Ainz. The attack was a swing of a giant hammer. If it had hit a human, they would have no doubt gone flying in a splattered mess.

The blow would have been lethal for some, but Ainz took it head-on. Afterward, he brushed off the place where he had been hit as if something unclean had touched him.

Gu’s attacks stopped. His hideous face warped to be even uglier, and he stared at Ainz, who remained unflinching.

“You with the heroic name, is that the end of your confident attacks?”

“Your defense is pretty—gyaaaaah!”

Ainz rushed the troll and waved his wand, blowing away half of one of Gu’s legs. Unable to stay upright, his huge body crumpled to the ground.

“So have you got it through your pea brain that just because someone is a coward doesn’t mean they’re weak?”

The trolls and ogres watching the battle gasped in shock at the shameful state of their ruler.

Ainz emitted an annoyed sigh. If this monster only just managed to understand his situation, he was worth nothing. One with the intelligence to make a run for it with good timing, however, was a different story.

“Aura. Don’t let that one get away. Capture it.”

Aura instantly understood what Ainz meant despite his vague instructions. The naga was attempting to sneak away under cover of Invisibility, but she arrived at its side instantaneously.

“Lord Ainz, I caught it. Now what?”

Ainz ignored Gu and looked over to where Aura had a one-handed vise grip on the naga’s neck. His attitude spoke volumes to Gu and everyone else in the room: He didn’t consider Gu anywhere near a worthy opponent.

When Gu bared his teeth and growled in response to the scalding condescension, Ainz didn’t care.

“Hey, kid!” The naga wrapped its body around Aura until she was completely covered. “I’m going to constrict until you pop!”

From inside the ball of snake body came a composed voice. “Uh, I can’t see Lord Ainz’s majestic figure like this. If you make a fuss, I’ll crush half your throat—I have to be careful you don’t die.”

Sensing the power gap from that tiny fist, the naga shrieked and unwound its body.

“Aura, time is money, and only fools spend unwisely. Please move somewhere a bit out of the way so it doesn’t get killed in the cross fire.”

“Understood!”

Aura had no trouble dragging away the naga, though it was several times her weight, and Ainz shifted his gaze from that scene to Gu, who was finally able to stand up after the flesh around his stump bulged and his muscles healed thanks to his regeneration ability.

“You’re patched up? Then shall we continue?” Ainz tapped his wand on his shoulder and readied himself in an unconcerned way. His attitude made it clear he wasn’t going to bother defending himself.

“Wh-what d-did you do? What are you doing? Magic?”

When Gu, with his sword up, withdrew a few steps, Ainz stepped forward after him. Ainz’s gait was short compared to Gu’s, so there was more space between them now than before they had started the fight.

“Hmph,” Ainz snorted. “What’s this? How strange. I’m the one with the cowardly name, but I stepped forward, while you with the brave name are backing away. Why is that, Gu?”

The answer came in a monotone. “It’s because Lord Ainz’s name is brave, and Gu is a weird, cowardly name, right, snake?”

“Y-yez! An’ you, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, are the proof of thad!”

Ainz nodded a few times at the one cute girlish voice and the other sobbing voice.

“I see, I see. That makes sense, then. So short names are cowardly, and Ainz Ooal Gown is a name for great, courageous people, right?”

“Why you!”

“Shush, coward.”

Gu overcame his fear with fury and lashed out, but Ainz neither defended nor dodged but swung back with his wand. He didn’t allow it to be blocked with the sword or evaded.

The wand obliterated one part of Gu’s body.

“Khaaaaa!”

Amid the echoing scream, Gu’s subordinates looked on in fear.

“I’d expect nothing less from a troll. You can be turned into hamburger meat and still come back to life. But it does seem to hurt. That last blow was your weakest yet—the swing of a coward with defense in mind, trying to protect himself from my attacks.”

Ainz was looking at Gu’s head, which was now half its original thickness. Any normal creature would be dead, but Gu returned to his former shape before Ainz’s eyes.

Though the troll had gone back to normal, his face was bizarrely contorted. There was terror in his eyes—the fear of someone helpless, twice as intense as before.

“Wh-what are you? Why don’t my attacks work?”

Ainz cocked his head. Then he slowly spread his arms. “…I am death. And I have come to deliver it unto thee.”

“K-kill him, you guys!”

“Oh-ho, just what I’d expect from a guy with such a cowardly name. Breaking your word to duel me one-on-one? How fitting. So I’ll forgive you,” Ainz said in extremely good humor.

Captive to the fear of an unfathomable monster, Gu’s subordinates moved sluggishly. No matter how stupid they were, they could sense Ainz’s might, and they had just gotten such an eyeful of it they felt sick. Within them, two fears were in conflict; they all hesitated, looking between Ainz and Gu.

“Now!”

They still didn’t move. How could they?

That went for Ainz as well. Everyone was frozen in a delicate balance. If anyone moved, the balance would collapse and everyone would go scattering.

It would be a pain if they ran away. Chasing them all down individually to kill them would be a bother.

“Then, yeah, playtime is over.”

Ainz activated a skill that he didn’t consider very effective but was actually overpowered in this world. Aura of Despair V.

The aura radiated from his core and spread throughout the area.

The ogres, the trolls, and Gu crumpled to the ground exactly like marionettes whose strings had been cut.

Sprawled on the ground, the monster didn’t so much as twitch. It was clear that though the bodies were still warm, the flames of their lives had gone out.

In the now silent cave, a fearful elderly voice echoed out. “Wh-what did you do?”

Ainz turned to look at the naga, who was shrinking back in order to move even a short distance away, and answered. “I just used a skill. Trolls may be able to regenerate, but that doesn’t mean they have perfect resistance to instadeaths… You’re all worthless in the first place. I thought rather than meaninglessly killing you, I would use you for something, but I figured if you refused to bow to my rule, I would off you and be done with it.”

“I will be your servant! Yielding to the strong is only natural for the weak. Going forward, I would like to exert myself to the fullest for you, my lord.”

Ainz looked quietly at the naga pressing its head into the ground and then shrugged lackadaisically. “…Well, whatever. I don’t care. I mean, I did come here to negotiate, after all.”

“T-terrible. You truly think nothing of me at all. Though I have ruled the western forest all this time, you feel about the same for me as if I were a rock on the ground that just happened to look like an animal.”

“No, I have a little more interest in you than that. You mentioned something about dark elves, didn’t you? I’d like to hear more.”

“Of course…of course, my lord. I will tell you everything I know! So…” Ainz gestured for it to continue, so the naga spoke again. “If I talk, please don’t kill me.”

“I can promise that. If you work earnestly and loyally for me, I’ll provide adequate compensation. Before that, do you have any underlings? Were you ruling the western region on your own in the same way that Hamusuke—er, the Wise King of the Forest—ruled the south?”

“No, I have subordinates. But I didn’t bring them to this talk with Gu. They don’t have the power to turn invisible and flee in the event the discussion broke down.”

“I see. Next question: Do you have any trolls?”

“Just one.”

“Wonderful. So can we have him play the role of the Giant of the East? Er, well, no, that’s tricky… Okay, in a few days I’ll bring some of my— No…you should come to the building this one’s constructing. Aura, let it go.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s fine. It swore its allegiance. If it betrays us, I’ll just come up with a different way to use it.”

Aura’s slender hand let go of the naga’s neck. Beneath it was a blue bruise in the shape of her grip.

No longer paying attention to the nervous yet somewhat relieved naga, Ainz walked over to Gu’s corpse.

“I can’t remember what the stats for troll zombies are like.”

Ainz could create undead from corpses using a skill. They were only zombies and skeletons, but depending on the corpse he started with, the zombies could be fairly strong. For a well-known example, dragon zombies.

Ainz picked up the fallen great sword. It was far longer than Ainz was tall, so he took advantage of the basic ability contained in magic items to convert it to an appropriate size. If he tried to swing a sword too big for him to equip, the action would be immediately canceled, but just holding it was no problem.

“I guess I should up the fighting power of the individuals in that village. Maybe giving them this magic weapon is a good way to do that. After all, there’s no point in bringing it back to Nazarick.”

“Lord Ainz Ooal Gown!”

You still have more to say?
Ainz turned apathetically back to the naga.

“Th-there’s no way I could possibly betray you, my lord. Who could, who has seen your chilling eyes and the way they gaze at us like an ant at the side of the road?”

“I don’t think my eyes are that expressive, but is that a special ability you have? Demiurge is observant, but not even he can understand how I truly feel.”

“It’s not a special ability, but I can at least tell whether someone takes an interest in me or not.”

Ainz thought maybe nagas had a racial skill or something. “I see… Got it. Now get out of here and bring us your underlings. That’s your first order.”

“Yes, sir!”

4

9:07
PM

Nazarick Time

Demiurge arrived at Ainz’s office with his usual elegance. First, he bowed deeply to Ainz, seated before him, then shallowly to Mare and Cocytus, who were also present. To the maid in the room, he nodded.

Ainz replied with a nod and continued his Message with Entoma. “All right, Entoma. Give Lupusregina permission. Just make sure she protects those three with her life.”

“Understood. I’ll give her the orders.”

Demiurge strode to the center of the room. Ainz had to wonder jealously how he managed to look so cool when he walked.
Every movement is bursting with confidence. Is it because he stands so straight?

Demiurge stopped sharply, and Ainz came back to himself. “Thanks for coming, Demiurge.”

“My lord! Thank you very much for the invitation. Have you finished your Message with Entoma?”

“There weren’t any issues. I got the report, and she had some questions. The test went fine.”

“Wonderful. And thank you for working around my schedule.”

“No worries, Demiurge. It’s only natural to schedule around the man who works the hardest for Nazarick. And you’re not late at all, so really, don’t worry about it… Now, I’d like to ask for your impressions…” Ainz handed him a piece of paper. When he had seen that Demiurge’s eyes had gone over it, he asked a question. “As you can see, it’s a menu, but what do you think? It’s for a human couple and possibly a child.”

“…I think humans should eat anything you serve them without complaints, my lord, but that isn’t the answer you’re looking for, so…not all children can appreciate foie gras. Also, don’t you think it might be good to have something a bit lighter?”

“I see. Thanks for the input.”

“Oh, you needn’t thank me… Lord Ainz, are you inviting someone to the Supreme Beings’ sacred tomb?”

“Yeah. I’d like to give them a nice welcome.”

Well, less making them welcome than winning them over. Essentially, he was using his assets to pressure them and presenting them with benefits in order to maintain good relations going forward.

“Are you sure?”

“Why not? Is there a problem with it?”

“No, my lord, nothing like that. Your word is correct.”

Back in the days of the game, they almost never invited non–guild members to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. They invited member Yamaiko’s little sister, whose screen name was “Akemi-chan,” a few times, but that was about it. Still, there was never any rule that said they couldn’t have anyone over. It just happened that they hadn’t really.

So I don’t think any of my guildmates would be upset if I invited Nfirea and Enri. There’s a clear difference between raiders and guests.

Demiurge seemed to have something on his mind, but Ainz addressed him and the two waiting guardians. “Guardians, you’re ready for the baths?”

“Apologies, but Mare and I will pick up what we need on the way.”

“I see. Cocytus, you brought your own supplies? Then let’s meet in front of the baths. Inclement, if anyone comes to see me, have them wait.”

“Understood.”

Upon getting the maid’s response, Ainz stood up and left his room. After stopping the servants who were going to follow him, he led the way to the bathhouse, which was also on the ninth level.

Personally, Ainz wanted to walk side by side and chat on their way, but Cocytus was too reserved for that. He probably hadn’t noticed Ainz feeling a bit lonely, but he did close the distance between them a little and ask, “LORD AINZ. THERE SEEMED TO BE FEWER EIGHT-EDGED ASSASSINS IN YOUR ROOM. DID YOU SEND SOME SOMEWHERE?”

Though disappointed he brought up work, Ainz consoled himself,
That’s how small talk goes sometimes.
He concealed the fact that his voice had been about to come out so happily. “They’re at the inn in E-Rantel. Narberal is in my room in case of any unexpected visitors; they should be keeping an eye on her from a distance.”

“ISN’T IT DANGEROUS TO LEAVE ONLY NARBERAL?”

“It probably is. Now would be the time to attack.”

“I SEE. SO SHE’S LIVE BAIT, THEN?”

“Yeah. If the enemy who brainwashed Shalltear is watching us, Narberal would be a drool-worthy target. No one has attempted to approach Momon, who defeated the immensely powerful vampire Shalltear (well, under a different name), so if Momon isn’t around, and it’s just one caster, then…”

“THEY’LL BITE?”

“Who knows? If they did, we’d catch them for sure.” Ainz gestured pulling up a fishing rod.

“THEN WILL WE MOBILIZE THE ENTIRE ARMY?”

“Ha, no. First, we’ll investigate our opponent. If they’re equal or stronger than us, we’ll have to adjust our attitude accordingly.”

Cocytus emitted a little groan like he understood but couldn’t endure such a thing. “LOGICALLY, I UNDERSTAND THAT WE NEED TO BE PATIENT, BUT MY EMOTIONS REMAIN AGITATED.”

“We only have to wait until we’ve made a careful investigation of our opponent and grasped their weakness. Once that’s done, we’ll rip their intestines apart with our teeth and make them faint from the pain. To brainwash Shalltear and force me to kill her is a serious crime.”

Even if their opponent was a player, Ainz didn’t feel any particular affinity with them. The ones Ainz was close to were his guildmates and their NPCs. If players came out swinging, he would use pain to teach them what fools they were.

“One good turn deserves another, but that goes for bad turns, too. It’s only natural.” Ainz smiled with an air of indifference. The thought that they would be able to do even better experiments if they had players to work with excited him. They would start with the horrible ones he could never perform himself—terminal ones.

“AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH?”

“Yes. But did you know that those words are also meant to prevent excessive retaliation? I want to retaliate excessively, so I don’t use that saying.” Ainz continued in his head,
…Is what Squishy Moe used to say.

“OH! JUST WHAT I’D EXPECT FROM LORD AINZ! NOT ONLY IS YOUR COMBAT PROWESS WORTHY OF ADMIRATION BUT SO IS YOUR WISDOM.”

Ainz didn’t have to turn around to feel the wave of respect aimed at him.

“SO WILL YOU SPEND THE REST OF THE DAY AT NAZARICK, MY LORD?”

“No, after we have our bath, I’ll work here for a bit before going back in the middle of the night. I have a lot to do over there, too. What are you up to?”

“MY PLAN IS TO RETURN TO MY GUARD DUTIES AT NAZARICK FOR A WHILE. I’VE TAKEN CARE OF ALL THE THINGS I FELT I SHOULD BE PRESENT FOR IN PERSON, SUCH AS EXPLORING THE VICINITY OF THE LAKE.”

“So once you’ve returned, the ones working outside Nazarick will be Demiurge with his various responsibilities, Sebas and Solution collecting intelligence in the royal capital, Aura building our base in the forest, and Narberal and me?”

“THAT ONE OF THE SUPREME BEINGS IS DOING THE WORK WE SHOULD BE DOING DOESN’T SIT VERY WELL WITH ME…”

“Ha-ha. Forgive me, Cocytus.”

“ME FORGIVE YOU? HOW ABSURD. YOU ARE THE RULER OF THIS LAND, LORD AINZ. YOUR WORD IS LAW. WHAT I SAID EARLIER WAS SIMPLY SOME FOOLISH NONSENSE. MOREOVER—”

The atmosphere shifted and Ainz thought,
Hmm?
He looked over his shoulder at Cocytus’s dark—though he couldn’t read his emotions—expression.

“IF WE WERE ALL AS OUTSTANDING AS DEMIURGE, YOU WOULDN’T NEED TO GO OUT YOURSELF, MY LORD. ULTIMATELY, IT’S OUR LACK THAT—”

“No, that’s not right. You were each made for specific purposes, so it’s important that you all do the jobs you were made for. To be frank, you don’t need to be able to do anything else. Demiurge is versatile due to his knowledge and wisdom. That’s all.”

Cocytus didn’t seem quite convinced, so Ainz continued.

“If you want, you can increase your repertoire little by little. Yeah, you should be learning by reigning over the lizardman village, right? Your experiences in governance there will surely benefit you. And if you continue on like that step by step, someday you’ll be as versatile as Demiurge.”

“DO YOU REALLY THINK IT’S POSSIBLE?”

“I don’t think it’s impossible.” Ainz spoke euphemistically. “No one can match Demiurge when it comes to strategy. Aspiring to be a man like that is a long, hard road, but your efforts will not be in vain. That’s how I see it.”

The two of them walked in silence down the corridor. Then Cocytus said quietly as if squeezing out the words, “THANK YOU, LORD AINZ.”

“I haven’t said anything that deserves thanks, you know. All right, Cocytus, we’re almost to the baths. Stow that gloom away somewhere before Demiurge and Mare get here.”

“YES, SIR!”

Spa Resort Nazarick on Nazarick’s ninth level was a wonderful facility containing a total of seventeen baths, including men’s and women’s, of nine different types. The most unusual was probably the Cherenkov bath. The blue light so bright it seared one’s eyes made for a luxurious atmosphere.

When Ainz and Cocytus arrived, they ran into someone they didn’t expect to see.

“Lord Ainz!” The exclamation point might as well have been dotted with a heart. It was Albedo. No, not just Albedo. Behind her came Shalltear and an exhausted-looking Aura.

Meanwhile, Demiurge and Mare were nowhere to be found.
Are they waiting in the changing room?

“A-Albedo. What are you doing here?”

“Huh? We thought we’d all come take a bath… Is that why you’re here, too?”

“Oh, right… Yes. Exactly. What a coincidence, Albedo.”

“It really is…! I’ve heard it’s good to get some exercise and work up a bit of a sweat before taking a bath. Maybe I should sweat with you, my lord.”

A chill went up Ainz’s spine.

“Ping-Pong or something like that wouldn’t be bad…”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, you meanie.”

With the swift motion of a level-100 warrior—impossible for a caster to evade—she approached Ainz, who was dressed in only a single robe, and reached out a finger to doodle on his chest. But it slipped—
fwoop
—right between his ribs.

“Ah.”

“Oh.”

Their voices were loud in the quiet corridor.

Of all the stupid things that could happen.
Ainz winced and was about to say something to Albedo when her next comment made his face twitch.

“My finger went into your special spot…”

Albedo’s cheeks were red, and her eyes glistened. A fragrant perfume was in the air—like the scent he sometimes detected in his bed.

“Hey, I know I’ve asked this before, but has she always been this weird?” Ainz asked Aura in earnest, with zero affectation, as she flailed around, trying to restrain Shalltear.

“…Sorry, Lord Ainz. A lot has happened. Uh, you know how things are in Nazarick—please just consider this overtiredness.”

“W-well, I guess it can’t be helped, then. H-hmm. Albedo, I appreciate your hard work every day.”

As Ainz was about to swiftly move away, a hand clutched his robe. He didn’t even have to look down to know who it was. “Seriously, Albedo, what’s wrong with you? What has you so worked up?”

“When you say those things to me…a flame lights in my breast. I can feel it all the way in my stomach, a twinge. So, Lord Ainz—!”

“No, hol— Wai— Calm down, Albedo! C-Cocytus!”

“I’LL HANDLE THIS.”

A wave of chill blew down the corridor. The sudden change in temperature seemed to bring Albedo to her senses, and the light of reason appeared in her eyes once more.

“I CAN’T STAND BY AND WATCH THIS DISRESPECTFUL BEHAVIOR TOWARD LORD AINZ, EVEN IF YOU ARE THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARDIANS.”

Cocytus stepped between Ainz and Albedo with a silver spear in his hands, and it was clear that depending on her reaction, he wouldn’t hesitate to gut her.

“Please excuse me, Lord Ainz. It seems I forgot myself.”

“I accept your apology, Albedo.”

Following that act by his master, Cocytus withdrew, but he didn’t put away his spear yet.

“I know how much pressure your job puts on you. I’m sure there are times you lose yourself and just want to vent. For now, have a nice soak and relieve some of that stress. Cocytus, thanks for your assistance.”

When he had said what he had to say, he headed into the men’s bath and was just about to duck under the curtain at the entrance when he heard footsteps behind him.

“…Why are you following me, Albedo? Just in case, I’ll remind you: This is the men’s bath, and you go in the women’s bath.”

“I thought I would wash your back…”

“…No. Besides, I’m not going alone; I’ll be with the other male guardians. Do you mean to say you have no problem showing them your body?”

He thought she might say it was fine, since she was a succubus, but she answered immediately. “There’s a family bath in another area…”

“That’s not what family baths are for!”

“But, Lord Ainz, it’s not fair for you to give your affection only to them.”

“That’s right! Quite right!” said Shalltear, stopping Aura from breathing from her mouth. The dark elf was just being dragged along. Her eyes were open but contained no light. Cocytus stood behind them, miffed.

What kind of affection is taking a bath together…? Albedo has been seriously weird lately, ever since… Could that be why she’s so off the rails?

“Albedo. First, let me say one thing. I like women better than men. I’m purely heterosexual.” Albedo was about to say something, but he raised a hand to stop her. “In the future, who knows what kind of relationships we’ll have, but right now, when our place in this world is uncertain, I can’t have relationships of that sort with any of you, as leader of the organization.”

Albedo’s brow furiously furrowed.

“In the first place, you’re like the daughters of my best friends to me… It’s a bit too complicated.”

“I was wondering what you were doing standing around outside the entrance, and it appears you’re bothering Lord Ainz.”

“S-sis is…d-dead…”

“I am not!” came the retort from the lifeless girl.

“We’ve been waiting for you guys.”

“Terribly sorry to be late… Perhaps our captain needs to learn to control her emotions?”

Demiurge’s slit eyes were just slightly open. His gaze was clearly hostile. The atmosphere was filled with the serious vibes that show how frightening it was when someone who was usually so mild got angry. Cocytus followed suit and went on guard against Albedo.

Albedo, as always, remained smiling. Well, perhaps her smile intensified.

“You fools!” Ainz roared in spite of himself. “How dare you squabble among yourselves in front of me! You idiots!”

All the guardians shivered and dropped to one knee.

“Apologies, Lord Ainz!”

“…It’s fine. Stand up, everyone.” Upon confirming they were all on their feet, he spoke in a mild tone one would use to reprove children. “Stop bickering about stupid, pointless stuff. That sort of thing is what disappoints me the most. Got it?”

Hearing everyone’s acknowledgment, Ainz felt his anger completely disappear.

“Okay, let’s take a bath and refresh. Men, come with me. Aura, I appoint you the observer of the women. Make sure those two don’t try to pull anything stupid.”

“Understood!”

A fire leaped into Aura’s eyes. Perhaps she thought this was her chance to counterattack—Shalltear and Albedo couldn’t conceal their alarm at the blazing heat wave.

Ainz went through the curtain that said M
EN
, choosing to ignore the clamorous voices he could hear behind him.

He took off his clothes in the locker room. If he had come with his usual gear set, there would have been a lot to remove, but since he had prepared ahead of time, he could disrobe quickly.

He threw off his clothes and walked forward.

Whenever I’m naked I wonder how I manage to move…

He was a skeleton with neither flesh nor muscle. According to Satoru Suzuki’s common sense, he was impossible. Of course, in this world it was natural, so he just had to accept it, but questions like these still popped into his head from time to time.

“I’m going in.”

“P-please wait!”

Mare ran over to him buck naked.

He may have been an exceedingly effeminate boy, but seeing him like this made it clear he was male.

His build was that of a child, with basically no muscle. The fact that a body that would probably squish when poked could unleash so much power struck Ainz as another one of this world’s unfathomable laws.

As he examined Mare’s nakedness thinking those things, he gave the boy a warning. “Don’t run in here. It’s dangerous with the wet floor.”

A guardian couldn’t die from slipping and cracking their head open, but Mare looked so much like a child Ainz couldn’t help but worry.

“Y-yes, sir. My apologies.”

You don’t have to apologize
, thought Ainz.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Demiurge and Cocytus appeared.

Demiurge’s body was toned and muscular, sleek. Even though the parts beneath his clothes couldn’t be fully designed, with those muscles he definitely looked like the work of Ulbert.

“Nothing different about you, huh, Cocytus?”

“Well, he’s always naked.”

“COULD YOU PLEASE STOP MAKING ME SOUND LIKE A PERVERT?”

“Sorry. You’ve got outer skin armor, so it’s no wonder you always look the same.”

Outer skin armor was a type of bodily armament. As with Shalltear’s nails and fangs, the hardness and resistance, as well as the amount of data crystals it could be augmented with, increased as the character leveled up.

There were many pros to this sort of armor, including less gear swapping, simple repairs after being damaged by a weapon-breaking attack using any healing spell that recovered HP, and the assurance that it couldn’t be dropped upon death.

On the other hand, there were some cons as well. Its stats would never match up to the main gear of a player of the same level. Even a bodily armament at level 100 almost never reached God tier. Maybe someone with a class that could acquire skills to boost bodily armaments could push it to God tier, but Ainz wasn’t sure if it was really possible or not.

For a player, that seemed like an awful lot of cons, but for an NPC it was a great option. With bodily armaments, they didn’t require a ton of different gear, which meant less work for the player who created them.

“THANK YOU.” Cocytus bowed.

It wasn’t as if he had said it to defend him, but…

Is he being tormented—or messed with—over this so much that it warrants a thank-you? Maybe I should say something to the others…

Is this what a teacher feels like when there’s bullying going on in the class?
Ainz wondered how Yamaiko felt as he called to members of the men’s bath group. “Okay, let’s go.”

Ainz led the way into the baths.

The large facility was divided into twelve areas.

First were the baths. The largest was the jungle bath, then there was the atmospheric ancient Roman bath, the yuzu bath, the carbonated bath, the jet bath, the electric bath featuring a low-level current that caused a full-body tingling sensation, a cold bath with charcoal floating in it, the Cherenkov bath with its mysterious light caused by who knew what, and the mixed-sex outdoor (though the scenery was artificial) bath.

Besides that, there was also a sauna, a hot-stone spa area, and finally the recreation room.

“So where should we go? I’d like to hear your suggestions.”

“I FIND THE COLD BATH A TEMPTING CHOICE. I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE DELIGHTS OF A COLD BATH, LORD AINZ.”

Ainz had resistance to chill, so getting into a freezing cold bath wouldn’t bother him, but going to the cold bath first seemed wrong.

“Cocytus…we came here for a relaxing soak…”

Cocytus realized what the issue was once Mare voiced an objection. Another comment followed.

“We came to soak, so we should probably choose a warm bath that will improve our circulation… Oh, wait. I should probably ask: Can you go in hot water? You won’t cook like a lobster or something, will you?”

“NO PROBLEM. MY EXOSKELETON PROVIDES FIRE RESISTANCE, DESPITE YOU ALL CALLING ME NAKED.” He chuckled proudly.

“Uh, so, in that case I think a normal bath would be fine.”

“THE COLD BATH IS THE BEST… IT FEELS GREAT IF YOU GO IN HUGGING A BLOCK OF ICE…”

“I won’t say it’s only you, but it has to be a very tiny minority who enjoy that…”

“W-well, this won’t be any fun if we all go separate ways. Let’s just head around to each bath in turn. We can start with the normal jungle one. My friend worked really hard on creating it.”

Everyone said they were looking forward to it, although Cocytus sounded a bit forlorn, and Ainz led them to the jungle bath.

The jungle was thick with artificial flora. Though he knew it was fake, it seemed so real that it felt like a monster would come crawling out at any moment.

“This is a bath based on a place that used to really exist, the Amazon River. Belliver helped Blue Planet build it.”

The guardians were impressed. Ainz took a pail and bath stool into the washing area ahead of them.

Why are all the pails in this spa yellow? I heard it’s traditional, but… Maybe it’s just the standard color?

“This goes without saying, but you need to wash before you get in the bath. The way I wash myself gets stuff everywhere, though, so you guys should keep your distance.”

With that, he dumped the pail of hot water over his head. The liquid dropped surprisingly quickly through his body and splashed hard on the floor. Since he was full of gaps, it was really hard to get his body wet with just one pailful. After a few more, he was finally wet all over, so he took out the brush he had brought along.

He squirted a generous amount of liquid soap on it and began scrubbing. Once again, due to the gaps in his body, he might as well have been scrubbing a colander; bubbles went flying everywhere.