Overlord, Vol. 11: The Dwarven Crafter

Chapter 5 | The Frost Dragonlord

1

The next morning by the great door… As Ainz was about to set out to recapture the dwarven capital, Fehu Berkana, he ran into a face that was becoming quite familiar.

It was Gondo.

Ainz cocked his head—because he couldn’t think of a reason why the dwarf would be here.

“You came to see me off?”

“No, I’m your guide.”

Ainz blinked. True, he did request for a dwarf to guide him to the capital. He figured the reason they had immediately agreed was that they wanted to send someone to observe him, so he had expected a dwarf he didn’t know at all.

“Yesterday after I left you, I talked to the other rune crafters. I’m pretty sure I know the way to the kingdom better than anyone else.”

“Including how to take a detour if it turns out the underground road is collapsed? I need someone who can think on their feet. Can you handle it?”

“I’ll do my best. I hope you’ll allow me to continue guiding you.”

Hmm
, Ainz thought.

Frankly, the downside to taking Gondo with him was considerable. But if the regency council already approved it, he figured there was little chance they would swap guides just because he had a complaint.

“…Are you strong like a warrior, or do you have any ways of participating in combat?”

“N-no. I’m not confident in those areas at all. I understand it’s dangerous, and no one will blame you if I die. And I have this cloak my father left me. That’s probably another reason I was chosen.”

Having a cloak of concealment
was
persuasive.

Ainz had planned on protecting whoever accompanied him in the first place, but a dwarf who had nothing in the way of self-defense made him nervous. If the guide was high-enough level, a resurrection spell could solve the problem, but Ainz feared that if Gondo died, that would be the end of it.

“You’ll be checking if I’ve really cleared all the kuagoa out of the capital, too, right? It’ll be a problem for me if you die in the middle of that, and plus, there’s the matter of the rune crafters. I’d rather have you stay here.”

Gondo sidled up to Ainz and lowered his voice. “There’s a huge treasury in the capital. If it hasn’t been pried open, there are all sorts of dwarven treasures inside. There should also be weapons my father made. A manual of technology passed down in the royal family should be there as well. There could even be a book of secrets from an older rune crafter.”

“Ooh.” Ainz showed he was listening and urged Gondo to continue.

“I want to sneak that out for myself…though it may be rude to Your Majesty. Will you overlook what I get up to after you retake the capital?”

“…First, do you have a way to open the treasury?”

“No. But I figured Your Majesty would have a way to do something about that.”

How omnipotent does he think I am?

“You’re telling me to be an accessory to your pilfering?”

“Your Majesty’s role would be to merely open the treasury door to check whether the place has been looted or not. After that, all you would need to do is look the other way. I’ll be the sneaky thief, and you won’t have anything to do with it.”

“…Dwarven royalty has been wiped out, correct? Could there be a catalog somewhere of their riches?”

“I doubt it.”

“You need to find out. If there is, this plan is too dangerous. I wouldn’t be able to allow it… And in the first place, it’s a national treasury of your own country. Wouldn’t you be ashamed to steal from it?”

Gondo smiled sarcastically. “A country that doesn’t care if it loses rune technology doesn’t need a book about its secrets, does it?”

Man, he’s really sulking
, thought Ainz, but it was no skin off his back—not that he had any. On the contrary, if such a useful book remained forgotten in the dwarf country, it would be quite a loss for him.

And more importantly, Gondo’s thievery would probably sever him completely from the dwarf country. There was no way the dwarf kingdom would accept a criminal who stole a national treasure. Ainz would also be able to use that as a threat—as a chain—to make sure the dwarf didn’t betray the Nation of Darkness.

But he ran the risk of it becoming a chain for his side, too.

“…What you say is true. Owning something you don’t need doesn’t do you any good. I have the feeing I might suddenly go blind at what happens to be the most opportune moment. But like I was saying before, make sure you check for a catalog. I want to avoid future issues.”

“Understood. I’ll do as you say.”

“Then, let’s be done with that.” Though they were in a slightly removed location, it didn’t automatically mean there wasn’t anyone listening in. “Now, to change subjects… Give me a rough idea of where we’re likely to run into danger on the way to the capital.”

“I’m glad you asked. There are Three Impasses along the way.”

“Impasses? How interesting. For now, you can give me just a basic overview, but tell me about them.”

“Right. The first Impasse is the Great Chasm. Beyond our gate is a slope that leads down to the entrance of a fort. After passing through the fort, you come out and there’s a rift in the ground. Right now, it’s not much of an impasse because there’s a bridge over the gap, but if you’re going to cross, you should be prepared for a concentrated enemy attack.”

“Do the kuagoa use projectiles much?”

“Mm, not that I’ve heard of. But it’s probably risky to assume they don’t, though.”

Gondo was right. There was also the possibility that the magic item at the fort would be used against them.

“The second Impasse is a place where magma flows. It’s a river where the heat alone can be lethal, and the only way through is a narrow path carved into the cavern wall. A huge monster shows up sometimes, too.”

“A monster?”

Crimson, a domain guardian on the seventh level, came to mind.

Things could get hairy if this monster was a similar type.

…That reminds me, slimes have a close relationship with human society, but I wonder if it’s the same here. If they’re using a rare sort of slime, I’d like to take some back with me.

As Ainz was recalling the slimes in the sewers that basically acted like a filtration system, Gondo moved on to the third of the Impasses.

“The last is the Maze of Death. It’s a cave with countless branching paths where extremely poisonous gas is emitted on a regular cycle. If you breathe it, you become paralyzed starting from your arms and legs, and eventually it stops your heart.”

Gondo looked toward Shalltear and Aura.

He seemed to want to say that Ainz would be fine but that the other two would have trouble.

They’ll also be fine, but… Well, I can tell him when we get there.

“So you know the correct route through the cave?”

“Unfortunately, no. I used all my contacts, but even the elderly dwarves don’t know the way. Not even the regency council members have any idea. It might be written in some ancient document, but…”

“You couldn’t find it. Well, it can’t be too easy to find a document pertaining to national security. Let’s just gather info once we get there and play it by ear.” Taking care to remember the Three Impasses, Ainz signaled to the rest of the party. “Okay, let’s go.”

Ainz, Shalltear, and Aura took the lead, and behind them came Gondo plus ten dwarven soldiers and a commander who would accompany them as far as the fort. The doors opened wide. A particular smell had been seeping through the crack, so he could imagine what was waiting for them—it was a gruesome scene.

The gently sloping tunnel was fairly wide and well kept, so it would have been easy to walk if it weren’t for the blood, entrails, and sticky chunks of flesh that covered every surface. Kuagoa corpses littered the floor.

“Urk!”

The space filled with the thick, sour stench of gore seemed a bit much for Gondo, who had never fought as a warrior, and he looked like he was about to throw up. Even the soldiers looked pale, and it wasn’t due to the lighting.

Ainz’s body had no relationship with nausea, so that wasn’t a problem, but that didn’t mean he liked the smell.

His footsteps made a squelching noise. When he looked down, he seemed to be standing on an organ that had spilled out of a kuagoa sliced in half.

Ainz sighed and cast Mass Fly so that everyone could avoid the mess.

The death knights must have enjoyed the slaughter. If he slipped and fell in this tunnel of fresh blood, he was sure the muck and the smell would sap his energy. And he definitely wanted to avoid walking next to someone covered in blood, hence the considerate mass spell.

The party flew down the slope, bypassing the filth.

There were stones that emitted a hazy glow embedded in the walls, so the tunnel wasn’t completely dark, but shadows reigned in the spaces between the stones. Of course, Ainz could see anyhow, so there was no issue.

At the bottom of the slope—a little over a hundred yards from the gate—the entrance to the fort came into view. To be more precise, it was the back door.

Through the fort, there was supposed to be a bridge. A few days’ walk west from there would bring them to the former capital.

The entrance to the fort was cluttered with kuagoa bodies as well. Some of the bodies had been bitten to death, which was a method the death knights wouldn’t have used; those were the victims of zombies.

The reason Ainz couldn’t detect any undead was probably because the death knights had turned back into regular corpses once destroyed.

Ainz looked around. At the moment, he couldn’t spot any undead, but considering how undead worked in this world, it was dangerous to leave this carnage here.

“In the human world, it’s common sense that if we leave things as they are, undead will spawn, so what are you going to do?” he asked the soldiers.

“We’ve been tasked with cleaning up,” the commander answered. “Well, I say ‘cleaning up,’ but we’re just going to dump all the remains into the Great Chasm a short distance away, where it won’t matter if the remains attract whatever monsters might be down there.”

“And after that, you’re going to repair the fort and investigate the route the kuagoa took to invade? That’s quite a job.”

This was where they parted with the soldiers. It was only Ainz, Aura, Shalltear, and Gondo who were continuing on to retake the capital. Well, the Hanzos were also going, but the soldiers didn’t know that.

The dwarves winced. While they had their own dangerous investigation to undertake—an adventure with a high chance of encountering kuagoa for sure—to get that sort of comment from Ainz, who was invading the kuagoa’s home base, was probably a bit…

“Okay, let’s enter the fort. We’ll go in first and make sure it’s safe. Until then, please wait here. Just in case, will you protect Gondo?”

Upon receiving the soldiers’ affirmative reply, Ainz went through the open door.

Standing at the scene of this disaster, he asked Aura behind him, “Aura, can you sense anyone hiding using stealth abilities?”

“No. There isn’t anything alive in this fort,” she answered while holding her hands to her long ears, apparently listening for any sounds. If Aura, a ranger, said there weren’t any living things here, then it had to be true.

Still, he couldn’t be careless.

Someone powerful enough to kill Ainz’s two death knights had been here. If that person specialized in stealth classes, it was possible they could deceive even Aura’s investigation abilities.

Well, but in that case, they would have lower combat capability, so they wouldn’t be hard to handle even if they managed a sneak attack.

There were lots of bodies inside the fort. Unlike on the slope, however, there were dwarf corpses here and there, as well.

Ainz cut across to the large opposite set of doors, which had been left ajar. Outside was a massive fissure in the ground, the bottom of which not even Ainz could see.

And there were no kuagoa on the other side. Apparently, they had withdrawn instead of building a position.

“This must be the Great Chasm, but…” Ainz looked to either side. “There’s no bridge. No, there are the abutments. That makes this the wreckage of a bridge…?”

“It would seem the enemy took the bridge down as they withdrew,” said Shalltear, standing next to him.

“Hmm…”

Would an opponent strong enough to slay death knights take the bridge down? Taking measures to prevent this side’s attack shows a lack of confidence in their strength— No.
Ainz shook his head.

In this world, death knights were rare. Seeing two would probably make most imagine something even more powerful waiting in the wings. And losing this bridge probably wasn’t a huge problem for the attackers.

“Well, that’s smart… Go tell the dwarves we’ve confirmed that everything is secure up to this point.”

“Yes, my lord!”

As he watched Shalltear head back to where the dwarves were, he saw Aura sitting on the ground looking at the dirt. He wondered what she was doing, but noticing her intent expression, he decided not to distract her.

Turning back to the Great Chasm, he picked up a small rock and tossed it in. He had just done it for kicks, not for any real reason, but he never heard it hit the bottom.

“We don’t know how deep it goes, Your Majesty.” The dwarf must have seen him throw the rock. Shalltear had brought over the commander. “Twice we sent in exploratory expeditions, but no one ever returned.”

“I see. There must be monsters down there… They never come up?”

“So far they haven’t. In the end, we decided to stop sending people down. Nothing good could come of disturbing them.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”

Ainz could create an incorporeal undead, such as a ghost, and use a spell to share its vision to investigate, but that wasn’t what he needed to be doing right now.

Surveying the surrounding area was low priority. Not that it didn’t need to be surveyed at all. In
Yggdrasil
, a place like this would have been hiding something—like a valuable item or a dungeon.

Knowing those damn devs, they would have programmed some tiny offshoot where you could mine super-rare ore or something. They definitely would—or more like, that’s literally what they’ve done before.

“Now then, let’s get to the other side and chase those kuagoa back to the capital.”

They were still flying, so crossing the gap itself wasn’t an issue. But Ainz imagined something horrible looming up out of that darkness.

He was getting flashbacks to a time in
Yggdrasil
when they had been crossing a lake and a giant snake monster suddenly swam beneath them. Horrible experiences like that had been handy when designing level five of the tomb, but still.

Ainz bid farewell to the commander and had Aura and Shalltear look out below as the four of them crossed. As expected, his worries were for nothing, and they reached the other side without anything appearing from the hole.

Still, when he landed, he emitted a small sigh of relief—a fact he kept from the other members of the party, naturally.

He glanced around.

There were only four enemy corpses on this side. That meant the death knights must have been defeated around here.

“Shalltear, I have a few warnings for you.”

After calling her over, he noticed Aura was still looking at the ground.

Maybe I should have Aura listen, too
, he thought, but Shalltear was the main fighter this time. He could fill in Aura later.

“Please wait one moment, Lord Ainz.” Shalltear took out a notebook and opened it. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

“Uh, okay. You’re taking notes…? That’s a good attitude. Ahem! So we’re about to enter an extremely dangerous area. The reason it’s dangerous is that there is definitely an enemy out here who was able to defeat two of my death knights. It might be insulting to compare you to a death knight, bu—”

“Not at all, Lord Ainz. I’ll do everything in my power to defeat the formidable enemy who destroyed the death knights you created.”

“No, absolutely do not do everything in your power.”

“Wh-why not? Wouldn’t it make sense to attack a powerful enemy with every bit of strength available? Ah, please excuse me. That was no way to respond to you, my lord.”

“No, that’s fine. Your question is only natural.” Ainz folded his hands behind his back and explained how to confront the unknown enemy. “But we need to think about what the enemy’s likely course of action would be. What the enemy wants most of all is information—about how strong we are. They’ll probably send in a disposable strike team to measure our capabilities. If, after determining what abilities we each have, they decide they can win, they’ll close in on us with a deadly attack that leaves us no openings for escape.”

“Wow, that’s so…”

“Well, I don’t know for sure if they’ll think that far ahead, but…”

“Ummm, Lord Ainz?”

Aura called him in what was an unusually timid tone for her. Normally he would have paused his explanation to Shalltear and listened to her.

But he really enjoyed explaining areas of his expertise.

That’s why he replied by putting a pointer finger to his lips.

“Oh, okay!”

The gleam of understanding lit up her face. She must have gathered that he wanted her to be quiet while he was giving a serious explanation.

“As I was saying, Shalltear… That’s what I would do if I encountered a strong enemy. Well, my friends would have, too.”

“You mean the Supreme Beings? But I can’t imagine our enemy could be as powerful as any of the Supreme Beings…”

“Really? You should assume that anything I can do, our enemy can as well. Only a fool gets conceited and assumes they’re special. Don’t let your guard down. I also want to make sure that the enemy can’t grasp our full potential.”

The reason he had hidden the Hanzos, too, was to throw off the enemy’s calculations.

“So, Shalltear, until we charge into the dwarf capital—the enemy’s headquarters—I want to place a few restrictions on you.”

“Yes, my lord! What sort of restrictions might they be?”

“As for magic, you can use tier-ten spells, but not a lot of them. Stick to one or two.”

“…I see. If we do that, the enemy will get the wrong idea, which will make them careless, and then we can defeat them in a counterattack. But if that’s the idea, then wouldn’t it make more sense to limit me to a lower tier? Say, five or so?”

“No, I doubt that would make them careless. The moment the enemy thinks they know everything we’re capable of and comes to crush us is our chance to deal a fatal blow. If a small party of enemies attacked us and were only using up to tier-five magic, I would infer that they were withholding information.”

“And what would you do in that case, Lord Ainz?”

“I would think of a way to acquire more information. If I was in a position that I could afford to lose, I would cede them ground temporarily. Then I would take my time gathering intelligence. Once you acquire a strategic point, you don’t want to lose it, which limits the moves you can make. I’m sure they would leak some info at that point.”

“It’s impressive that you’re so aware of all those things.”

In the game, it was possible to come back from a few losses. But there was a chance that in this world, it wasn’t. Especially for Ainz, who hadn’t tested anything about player deaths yet.

“That’s just how important context is. Shalltear, always think ahead.” Having said that much, Ainz turned to Aura. “So, Aura, what did you need?”

“Oh, it was nothing!” Her eyes sparkled.

For a moment, he had no idea what had gotten into her, but then he realized that maybe she was impressed by the strategy he had been explaining to Shalltear.

Hmm, but that was the most basic of the basics. Maybe I should make sure she gets educated in all these things, too? Should I lend her the guidebook about PKing? But that’s the only knowledge I have that I can use to show off to the NPCs… What should I do? I was always told not to spread knowledge around…

Ainz was lost in thought when Gondo asked, “Hey, sorry to bother you while you’re busy coming up with a plan, but should we get going? If the road is collapsed, we’ll need to find another way.”

“Yeah… Shall we use the magical beasts?”

“No, I think we should hold back on that. There are some narrow caves to get through along the way, so we’d have to leave them behind.”

Ainz thought he could just create soul eaters or some other undead they could mount as necessary, but he figured it would be wiser to heed his guide’s advice in this case. “Got it. Then, let’s head out.”

•

“His Majesty has departed!”

Six of the members of the regency council—the chief of the great earth shrine, the chief of the food industry, the chief of administration, the chief of alcohol, the chief of caves and mines, and the chief of the merchant council—trembled with glee.

True, the King of Darkness hadn’t done anything wrong. But there was no way they could relax with an undead—a being who hated living things—radiating that much power in the city.

Those present had gathered for the city’s safety and for the people. Having imagined the worst-case scenario, they had to act. They had spent the whole day in fear wondering if the King of Darkness might go on a rampage and murder their children. They considered all sorts of countermeasures and tried to find a plan that would work.

And now, the object of the deliberations—which had lasted so long, their voices had gone hoarse—was finally gone. What was so wrong about basking in that sense of relief?

“Drinks, we need drinks!”

Just as parched land required rain, exhausted minds required the consolation of alcohol.

Obviously, no one was going to object.

“But…isn’t he coming back?”

The uplifting atmosphere deflated in an instant and turned dark.

The triumphant fists in the air withered.

“Should we run away?”

“And go where? If we ran after making that agreement… Besides, we asked him to retake the capital! Wouldn’t you be furious if it were the other way around?”

“I would be mad, but I wouldn’t be able to be assertive against someone so powerful.”

“Ahhh, yeah. I know how you feel.”

“…So you’re fine with it? Has the dwarf in charge of the merchant council lost all pride?”

“I mean, there’s no way to do proper deals with that thing. Normal deals are possible because the parties are equal to some extent. You can’t do business with someone so overwhelmingly powerful.”

They all sighed at once.

None of them still had any reason to doubt that the king would retake the capital. One glance at the magical beasts he had left behind was enough to convince them. He was heading out to a dragon lair but didn’t even feel he needed to bring those monsters along to help.

“Getting back to what we were saying, does anyone have any idea when he’ll return?”

“How would we know? It’s not like we could ask. If he grinned and said, ‘In no time,’ I’m pretty sure I’d piss myself.”

It was a pathetic thing to say, but none of the other dwarves made fun of him.

“…How could you not? I’m sure I’d do the same.”

“Me too. I’d probably even do a number two.”

Despite the indecent conversation, they all exchanged glances.

“Have we learned anything new? Did anyone find out anything about that Gondo guy?”

“Nothing. I know he called a meeting of all the rune crafters, though.”

“The rune crafters? About going to the Nation of Darkness?”

“Who knows? Should we summon someone and see what they have to say?”

“That might be good, but won’t it get back to His Majesty if we do that? It’s probably dangerous to stick our noses into that business. Just like how only an idiot would stick his nose in a hot furnace.”

“In that case, we need to tell the rune crafters they’ll be going to the Nation of Darkness. What if we nonchalantly brought it up?”

“…I’m not sure I can be that nonchalant.”

The other dwarves all nodded and agreed.

“Okay, then let’s forget about asking. I’m not interested in digging a hole we don’t need only to fall in and die.”

Everyone agreed. They wouldn’t be able to face the people if their meddling angered the king and caused a slew of casualties.

“Then, let’s inform the other two who aren’t here about the plans for tomorrow and that there’s no need to get involved with the rune crafters. I heard the supreme commander will be back later, but what about the chief of the smith shops?”

“I’ll go,” said the chief of administration. “I’m interested to see what sort of fancy armor he’s making. Or rather, I’m curious what kind of metal the King of Darkness provided.”

“He said it was rare, but I’m sure it couldn’t be as rare as adamantite.”

“Then, maybe something like orichalcum?”

Even if they weren’t blacksmiths, dwarves were naturally fascinated by the idea of a metal they had never seen before due to their nature as a race of the earth.

“We should have grabbed him and gotten a glimpse. I realize we were busy and didn’t get a chance, but…”

The chief of the smith shops had accepted the ore and hurried back to his workshop. The others understood why he was in a rush and refrained from stopping him.

“Well, knowing him, he’s probably made some progress. If he’s forging mail, there will probably be some extra links. Can you grab a couple and bring them back for us?”

The chief of administration agreed, and the meeting came to a close.

After that, they had decided to rest their weary bodies. But the dwarves were a race of people who would declare they needed a break right before promptly starting a drinking party.

Drinking booze at work always makes it taste better
, they would say as they began enjoying their special high-proof dwarven drinks. The chief of administration, however, left the conference-room-turned-party venue as if someone was yanking him by his beard.

His aim was, of course, the chief of the smith shops.

As might be expected of the workshop belonging to the head of the country’s smith shops, it was huge. It had to be either the first or second biggest in Fehu Jura. Many dwarves were employed there; the furnace, hot enough to melt even adamantite, was always lit, and the symphony of hammers never stopped ringing out. That day, however, it was eerily quiet.

Of course, the furnace was burning.

The chief of administration could tell because as he approached, the temperature was rising.

What was the cause of this silence?

Spurred on by his growing anxiety, he sped up.

He had visited several times, so he unhesitatingly proceeded to the furnace where he figured the smiths were working.

All the faces he knew were there.

He breathed a sigh of relief in spite of himself. But the puzzled looks on their faces and the object of their gazes brought his anxiety right back.

“What’s wrong?”

When he spoke, their eyes pleaded to him as if he was a savior.

“He’s holed up and won’t come out.”

Separate from the workshop that housed the massive furnace was an atelier for the chief of the smith shops. The chief would hole up in there for days at a time when he had a particularly important project to do.

That was normal, so there was no reason for his apprentices and the other blacksmiths to look so concerned.

“…That’s not out of the ordinary, is it?”

“True, he shuts himself in there fairly often, but…we can’t hear his hammer. And it’s already been half a day—almost a whole day, actually.”

“…Could he be thinking about what shape he wants the final product to be?”

“He’s never done that before.”

The chief of administration stroked his beard.

To him, it didn’t seem so strange, but if all the blacksmiths who regularly worked with the chief of the smith shops thought so, maybe this truly was an emergency.

“Then, why don’t you open the door? Is it locked?”

“No, it’s not locked. He just hates having the door opened on him while he’s holed up.”

“Ah. So you want me to open it, is that it?”

It was difficult for the disciples, but they must have thought that someone of the same status wouldn’t be as objectionable.

It was rotten luck, but he had no choice.

“Fine. I’ll go. You guys can scram. You probably won’t get in trouble if it’s just me busting in on my own.”

After the blacksmiths showered him in thanks, the chief of administration approached the door and knocked.

But there was no reply. He knocked a few more times.

Urged on by his imagination, he threw open the door.

As expected, it was the same old room. For being only one door away from a huge furnace, there was a surprising lack of heat. That was thanks to a magic ventilation system. When he looked to the back, he saw a bright-red flame burning in the furnace.

A single figure was facing it.

So he’s here after all.
He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he stopped—because there was something strange he could sense even from behind the chief of the smith shops. For one thing, why didn’t he react despite the chief of administration walking in uninvited? From what the blacksmiths had said, merely opening the door should have annoyed him.

“Hey.” His first greeting stuck in his throat, coming out only as a hoarse murmur. It still should have been audible, though, but the chief of the smith shops didn’t react.

“Hey!” Worried, he shouted, but the chief of the smith shops still didn’t respond at all.

Breathing heavily, he strode over to where the other dwarf was sitting. “Hey!!”

“What?”

Finally he got a reply, and he nearly crumpled to the ground from the tension draining from his body. “What? Sheesh, don’t make me wor—”

At that point, he lost his words.

Why hasn’t he turned around?

He nervously went over to get a good look at his friend.

His face looked different—like that of a cornered beast or more like the terrifying look of a dwarf who would kill members of his own kind.

“What’s wrong?”

Upon hearing the question that slipped out, the chief’s face shifted for the first time. He rolled just his eyeballs to glare at the chief of administration. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong…you ask? Hmph!” He moved his hand, grabbed the tongs, and then reached into the furnace for a scorching-hot metal ingot and hurled it at the chief of administration.

“Whoa!” The chief of administration frantically dodged. The ingot fell to the floor with a thud.

“A-are you trying to kill me?!”

That was unforgivable even between friends.

But the chief of the smith shops wore a cold smile. “Trying to kill you? I guess that’s what you would think.”

Then he reached out his hand to pick up the ingot. It was standard for blacksmiths to wear gloves resistant to heat. But surprisingly, he wasn’t. And it wasn’t as if he had a magic item that would have given him that effect.

He truly grabbed the heated metal with his bare hand.

As the chief of administration goggled at this feat that made him hallucinate the sounds and smells of burning flesh, the chief of the smith shops practically spat, “It’s not even hot!”

“H-huh?”

“This thing hasn’t gotten even the slightest bit hot!”

This time he caught the tossed ingot without thinking. The momentary flash of intense heat he thought he felt must have been his mind’s misunderstanding, because it wasn’t even warm. Shockingly, it felt cool to the touch.

“Wh-what…?”

Really, he didn’t need to ask. Metal that could be heated and not get hot? There was only one thing it could be. That was why his question slipped out as a fragment.

The next words the chief of the smith shops spoke confirmed what he suspected.

“It’s the ingot that undead gave us! I’ve been heating it all day, but it won’t warm up even a little! I strike it, and it doesn’t change shape! I can’t even scratch it! How am I supposed to make armor out of this?!”

“M-maybe he gave you some metal that he couldn’t handle himself?”

“That’s what I wanted to think. But he has a dagger made of the same metal! When you strike it with that, you
can
make a scratch! How can I call myself the most experienced craftsman?! I’m a fool who loses his mind in the face of an unknown metal!”

The chief of administration desperately tried to think of a way to calm the agitated chief of the smith shops.

“Wh-why don’t you ask that undead how to—?”

“‘The one who asks when he doesn’t know is wiser than the one who doesn’t?’ Well, I suppose you’re right. The ancient dwarves knew a thing or two. But then…what has all my experience been for? Look at my fists.”

He thrust out his hands. They were the toughened hands of an artisan, covered in burn scars. Any craftsman would be proud to have those hands.

“I’ve been working metal ever since my days as a foolish apprentice. I’ve been working it longer than anyone else. I thought it was only natural that I would be called the greatest—I’ve put in more effort than anyone else!” The smith shops chief’s face crumpled. “I’ve spent my whole life blacksmithing, to the point that I thought nothing was impossible. I was sure I could make whatever shape I wanted from any metal. What a clown I am! Ha-ha! How vain. In my little world, I thought I was a genius. But I’m the biggest fool.”

“B-but you could learn…”

“You’re right. Yes, you’re exactly right. So right, my ears burn.”

The chief of the smith shops took the ingot and clenched his hand around it.

The lack of expression on his face worried the chief of administration.

“I’ll be fine. I can learn again. So what did you come here for?”

“What did I…? You… Well, whatever. That undead has left the city. The regency council is going to meet again tomorrow to discuss what to do. I just came to tell you that. And also to say that you don’t need to worry about the rune crafters.”

“Ah… Got it. Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The chief of administration was still anxious, but he couldn’t quite put his feeling into words.

When the body is exhausted, the spirit also tires.
Figuring that the chief of the smith shops would be back to his usual self after a good night’s rest, the chief of administration headed straight home.

The next day, he learned that the chief of the smith shops had taken the ingot and skipped town.

2

There were Three Impasses on the way to the former dwarf capital.

The first Impasse was the Great Chasm.

It went without saying that the massive gorge was impossible to cross by foot. Naturally, the only thing to do was look for a huge detour, but of course that meant a much higher rate of monster encounters. The predatory monsters who lurked in these rock formations posed an alarming threat to both dwarves and humans.

It was difficult to evade that first strike when the creatures burst out of the earth after sensing movement nearby. The unlucky were often swallowed in one bite and ended up being helplessly digested. There were other monsters that unleashed a psychic attack first and dealt the fatal blow while their prey floundered.

In this place, humans, dwarves, and elves—all humanoids—were frail beings fit only to be snacked on.

The safest way past this obstacle was to go aboveground and cross the mountains, but for races who lived with their feet on the ground, that was an unparalleled challenge—because they had to be wary of the huge flying animals and monsters such as perytons, harpyias, itsumade, and giant eagles that would attack from the sky. Humans and similar races don’t have a very good vertical range of vision. For that reason, it wasn’t hard to catch them unawares from above. And there was no guarantee that one swoop wouldn’t kill them straightaway.

Thus, the Great Chasm was a major obstacle even when people tried to go around it.

That was why the dwarves built a city nearby and put a bridge over it: so that if the bridge was dropped, their home would be protected by that naturally impassable barrier.

Since the kuagoa had in fact destroyed the bridge, the Great Chasm became a true impasse.

However…

Ainz’s party wasn’t bothered at all. They simply used Fly to cross it.

The second Impasse was the magma zone.

It was a red-hot sea that glittered with a dazzling light. The area was so incredibly dangerous that inhaling too deeply would cause lung damage.

The reason there was magma flowing only a few miles underground was because this world was ruled by magical laws rather than common sense. A naturally occurring portal with properties similar to the spell Gate connected this magma flow to one quite far away.

There was another reason that intensely hot sea was considered an impasse.

Swimming inside was a magical beast that made this body of magma its territory.

It was a huge monster with a fishlike body well over 150 feet long. If asked to compare it to something, the most likely reply would probably be an Atlantic footballfish. This creature was most well-known for its ability to use the lure attached to its head as an appendage to capture prey from a distance and hurl them into its powerful jaws.

Its outer skin was thick and tough. It was covered in scales far harder than orichalcum.

Some magical beasts that lived a long time acquired immense power. Those beasts were bestowed with a more prestigious name and often categorized separately from their original race. This monster, however, had achieved such a particular evolution, there wasn’t another like it in the world.

Mt. Lapaslair, where the natural gate went, was ruled by three monsters:

The ruler of the sky, the phoinixlord.

The ruler of the ground, the ancient flame dragon.

And the ruler of the subterranean magma sea, the l’angler lavalord.

If the adventurer difficulty rating system was applied to this magma ruler, the value would be about 140—so combat meant that first and foremost, anyone who challenged it wasn’t coming back alive.

Luckily the l’angler lavalord wasn’t very good at maneuvering on land, so attacks could be avoided by staying away from the magma. But the way to the dwarf capital was a narrow path carved into the cliff only a short distance above the flow. It made anyone who took it quite uneasy, but this was the only route.

If unable to withstand the rising hot air, it was inevitable that travelers would lose their footing, slip, then fall straight into the magma.

When the kuagoa had mounted their invasion, a number of them had slipped and fallen in along the way to the dwarf city.

However…

With complete resistance to fire and a Fly spell, Ainz’s party had no problems. They flew so high over the magma, they didn’t even see the l’angler lavalord, and it never noticed their passing.

So far, it had been possible to get past all the Impasses with flying magic. For that reason, it was difficult to really consider them incredible obstacles. But the final one was a true impasse.

It was a long, winding cave with various branching pathways.

A network of interconnecting tunnels confusing enough to be called a maze.

Certainly, that alone was a bit too simple to be called an impasse. There were no monsters in this area, so with time and effort spent mapping, it could be conquered. It was only an impasse for people who had limited time and no food or water.

Yes—the reason it was considered an impasse was something else.

There were holes that spewed volcanic gasses at fixed intervals. And there were pockets of gas here and there, too. In other words, this area was filled with invisible but nonetheless deadly poison.

There were multiple routes to the exit, but only one route could be taken without encountering any of the gas, and even that one had pockets of it depending on the timing.

Even if Ainz’s party used Fly, the way they had for the other Impasses, and flew along the ceiling, there were times when the airborne gas reached that high. The only way they could manage with Fly was hope they didn’t run into any pockets of toxic gas.

However…

Ainz’s people all had protections against noxious air. In other words, the only one who could be affected by the gas was Gondo. Undead had natural resistance, so unless it was a gas that dealt acid or fire damage, they were fine. Aura had a magic item that enveloped her in a bubble of fresh air for her to breathe, meaning she was immune as well.

All Ainz had to do was cast a spell to protect Gondo, allowing the whole party to pass through the poisonous air unhindered.

Thus, Ainz’s party managed to get past the Three Impasses, which were thought to be impregnable, without any preparation or intelligence gathering.

Ainz’s spell Titania’s Blessing, which had found the best route through the maze for them, faded. Its departure was probably less about a time limit and more the fact that it had performed its function.

“…Hmm. There were fresh-looking kuagoa corpses in that cave, but we still haven’t caught up to their army. I guess a day’s head start is significant.”

“But it looks like we’ve closed the gap quite a bit. We don’t seem too far behind now,” Aura declared after examining the kuagoa tracks left on the ground.

“…I see. Well, let’s discuss our next steps… Gondo, we’re almost to the capital, right?”

“Right. I’ve only ever heard tell of it, but if that cave was the Maze of Death they talk about, then the capital is only a little farther.” There Gondo’s expression turned sober. “Was it really the Maze of Death, though? Supposedly, anyone who loses their way inside dies, but…”

Ainz didn’t have a reply. It had been incredibly simple to get through. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that it was a dummy created to make people think they had escaped while ensnaring them in the real trap.

“…Well, if it’s a trap, we can just break out of it. That said, it’s stupid to get caught in a trap you’ve anticipated. Let’s slow our pace a bit and keep a sharp watch as we proceed.”

Thus far, they had been trying to catch up to the enemy, so they had been moving at a fair clip. But if they hadn’t caught up by this point, it was better to assume the enemy had already reached their home base and to rethink their strategy.

“Time to decide what to do when we reach the enemy.” Seeing everyone nod, Ainz looked to the dwarf. “Gondo and I will capture the palace. I’ll take care of the dragons.”

Neither the two guardians nor Gondo objected.

The elite dragons were the most powerful opponents in
Yggdrasil
, too, so it was dangerous to operate separately from the guardians without knowing their strength. But Ainz had a World Item. It had a few different functions, but one of them worked particularly well against dragons. That meant that even in the worst case, he would at least be able to escape. If, however, he brought the guardians, and the dragons turned out to be more powerful than expected, he would have to buy time for them to get away.

He was fine with abandoning Gondo if it came to that, but he couldn’t leave his friends’ children behind. Consequently, he chose not to take them with him at all.

Dragons, huh…? This should be fun.

In
Yggdrasil
, dragons were not only the most powerful enemy but also meant a mountain of treasure.

They dropped good data crystals, and their artifact drop rate was higher than that of other monsters. On top of that, there were a variety of uses for the skin, meat, blood, teeth, claws, eyes, and scales harvested from the body.

They could be called a delectable enemy.

Ainz couldn’t help but feel a mix of ambition, anticipation, and nerves as he prepared to encounter his first dragon of this world.

According to the dwarves, the dragon who destroyed their western city might be there. That meant he could be plunging into a fight almost as unpredictable as his battle with Shalltear.

Someone powerful enough to kill death knights plus dragons? It’d be simple if they were one and the same, but it’s a bit trickier if they’re separate entities. Should I have brought more than just my stealth Hanzos? No, I think I made the right choice.

“Lord Ainz?”

“Hmm? Oh, Shalltear. Sorry, I guess I got caught up in my own thoughts. Okay, here are your orders, Aura and Shalltear. Take on the kuagoa. If they want to submit to our rule, that’s fine. If they refuse, show them the might of Nazarick.”

The two guardians replied with spirited acknowledgments.

Ainz glanced at Gondo, but he didn’t look like he had anything to say. He seemed ready to go along with what Ainz had decided.

The promise to the dwarves was to clear out the kuagoa, but Ainz wasn’t of a mind to kill them all.

He simply felt it was a waste to exterminate a race that didn’t exist in
Yggdrasil
. If he wiped out these guys, it was possible that the entire race would go extinct. Even if that didn’t happen, as long as he kept them alive, they could be of some benefit to Nazarick.

Of course, it was equally possible that they would harm Nazarick, but Ainz thought it would be a shame to eradicate them without figuring out which it was.

Killing is easy, but resurrecting is hard. That means there’s only one thing to do. Besides…

“If they’re too stupid to swear loyalty, cull their numbers to ten thousand. Gather mostly strong ones. But keep the future in mind—don’t select only based on power. Make sure the number of females is equal to the males. Don’t let any get away, especially not the king.”

“But…Lord Ainz.”

Aura spoke with a gloomy expression, and Ainz prompted her to continue.

“We don’t even know how big the dwarf capital is. It could be huge. It’ll be awfully hard to keep the kuagoa from escaping such a vast place with just the two of us. What should we do?”

“Yes, that’s a natural question to have. That’s why—Aura—this is your time to shine. Use the World Item I gave you.”

“I—I can use it?”

“Yep. Times like these are precisely what it’s for.”

“U-understood!”

The guardians both essentially had the word
nervous
hanging over their heads.

“While that World Item can be used unlimited times, you can lose it if someone meets certain conditions and escapes. If nothing else, avoid that worst-case scenario.”

He recalled the time Ainz Ooal Gown stole it.

The other guild had asked for it back so many times.

Ainz snorted.

No one was as foolish as the guild that couldn’t be reasonable and accept the obvious answer of,
If you don’t want it stolen, then don’t use it
. The key to preventing theft is to lock up possessions in a treasure chest and not walk around carrying them. Ainz figured they were fine, but it was still important to exercise caution.

“Be wary of anyone not affected—because it means they’re carrying a World Item.”

“Does it mean you won’t be able to come in, either, Lord Ainz?”

“Once you activate it, I won’t be able to enter. But it’s possible to choose to enter later instead. Just pay attention to the timing… Okay, shall we?”

The party advanced with Aura in the lead.

Perhaps because of the proximity of the dwarf capital, the cave was easy to walk through despite being naturally occurring. The stalagmites must have been cleared away to make the terrain open. They walked along, appreciating the work of dwarves from long ago.

Aura paused. Cupping her hands below her long ears, she seemed to be listening for the enemy.

Ainz stood very still so as not to make any sound and waited for Aura to speak.

“Lord Ainz…I hear multiple creatures up ahead. They probably number in the hundreds. I don’t have a good estimate of how far away they are, but I imagine we can make contact in a few minutes.”

“Ohhh…? Did we catch up?”

“No, it wasn’t walking sounds. I think they set up a camp.”

“I see. Did they realize we were following them? Is it a unit sent to intercept us?”

If that was the case, their opponents must have been using some intelligence magic to track their location.

Ainz smiled faintly.

They hadn’t shown their hand yet, so the enemy probably wanted to hit them with this unit to see what they were capable of.

Sensing a bit of desperation in their willingness to make sacrifices, Ainz felt like he had won this contest of wits.

“Lord Ainz, shall we capture them?”

“Hmm. We shouldn’t have revealed any info about us yet, so before we swoop in on their camp to trample them, let’s do something intelligence gathering.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Even if they managed to collect info, it wouldn’t be easy to formulate a plan.

Yggdrasil
characters came in two main types: those narrowly specialized in one thing and well-rounded builds.

If their opponents were the former, unless the intelligence they acquired pertained to that specific thing, it would be hard to know how to counter. If they were the latter, there were plenty of options available, but it would be less effective than a hard counter.

There were also characters like Ainz, who could deal with a diverse array of opponents thanks to the variety of spells he knew and the items his friends had left him, as well as unusually strong all-rounder characters like Touch Me, but those were outliers. For that reason, there was something he needed to be wary of.

Specifically—it’s important to be aware of the number of powerful enemies. It scares me a bit that we still don’t have any idea. We should keep the option of falling back in mind and— Hrm. Well, either way, we have to attack to see what kind of cards they have in their hand. Ooh, the spirit of Yamaiko has come to me.

“…Shalltear, no rampages this time.”

“Of course not, my lord!”

She took out her Pipette Lance.

“Good. Really, I’d rather avoid revealing that we have god-tier items, but we’d need some awfully powerful investigation magic if we wanted to find out much. All right. Begin.”

“My lord!”

•

Built during the golden age of dwarf culture, the one-time dwarf capital, Fehu Berkana, was both magnificent and gorgeous. Its largest building besides the palace was the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Its size was due to the multiple conference rooms and vaults that had been used for temporary storage.

Many dwarves had made use of the place, and it was more spacious than any building in any of the other cities. Currently, it was the palace of the king of all the kuagoa clans, Pe Riyuro.

When Yoozu returned, Riyuro was seated deep in a huge, soft cushion. Even though word of Yoozu’s defeat had already arrived, the commander seemed his usual self, neither irritated nor harried.

Yoozu bowed his head and explained what had happened.

He knew the messengers had brought the important news, so he filled in the details. He wanted to emphasize the dwarves’ new black-armored last resorts, having seen them with his own eyes.

As Riyuro listened in silence, his hand slowly moved, reaching into a basket his attendant carried. It pulled out a squealing lizard—a plump one, fit for the chief clan king to eat.

Riyuro gestured to Yoozu with the hand holding the lizard. “Want some?”

“No thank you.”

“Ah, okay,” the king murmured and bit the lizard’s head off. The faint odor of blood and guts reached Yoozu’s nose.

All eight inches were in Riyuro’s mouth within three bites.

He used a nearby towel to wipe the blood off his hands and mouth.

“…So that’s why you withdrew. Did they follow you?”

“I don’t know. That is to say—”

With the bridge down, he didn’t think such a thing was possible. Moreover, they had gotten awfully close to dealing the dwarves a fatal loss. He expected them to fortify their defenses, seal off any routes around the Great Chasm, and only then mount a counterattack.

Unless they were the sort of fools who had no issue with committing troops in a piecemeal fashion, the reason the dwarves had sent out two of those black suits of armor when the fort fell was because that was all they had.

Yoozu explained those thoughts of his to Riyuro.

After a period of silence, Riyuro quietly responded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they had another one or two of those things.”

A questioning look appeared on Yoozu’s face without him meaning it to. Perhaps the king noticed? He offered a lazy explanation while poking around in the basket of lizards with his claws.

The dwarves had been confident in their defenses. If those defenses were badly pressed, that meant their fear that the entire city might fall was heightened. They would probably send most of the black armors out to intercept.

But they most likely didn’t realize exactly how the fort had fallen. In that case, it was too great a risk to commit all their strongest troops to one front—because if there had been more than one invasion route, that would be a grave error.

It wasn’t the sort of situation the dwarves could resolve with a trivial amount of force, but neither did they have enough information to fully commit to a counterattack there.

That’s what led Riyuro to conclude that there was probably one more, maybe two more suits of black armor.

Wow, he’s exactly right
, thought Yoozu, impressed by his king’s intellect.

“Tell me, who do you think can win against these golems?”

“I’m sure you could!”

Riyuro reigned at the top of all eight clans. And he did have outstanding combat ability—great enough that he might have even been able to make enemies of all the other kuagoa and still win. He was the strongest in all of kuagoa history.

What came to Yoozu’s mind was a time Riyuro had fought off monsters in a difficult battle. The strength he had exhibited there was enough to beat the golems. Yoozu was sure of that.

“…That’s what you really think? No flattery?”

“Yes, I have no doubt!”

Riyuro’s voice had a tinge of wryness to it, but Yoozu answered honestly. What other answer could he give?

“…What clan are you from?”

That was a strange question. When Yoozu told him, Riyuro thought some more.

“I see… Then, you really must believe that I could win.”

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

“I just wondered if maybe you thought this was a good opportunity to kill me. I’m stronger than all the kuagoa, but you could report to me the golems were weaker than they actually are and convince me to fight them. Then the golems could kill me for you. Well, in that case there would be no one left to defeat the golems, but I imagine I’d at least be able to wound them, so maybe numbers would be enough to beat them after that point.”

Though his ruler had just doubted his loyalty, Yoozu felt only respect.

If it was him, he never would have thought that far ahead.

Convinced that Riyuro was fit to rule the kuagoa, Yoozu’s devotion to him only grew.

Then Riyuro asked him suspiciously, “Why aren’t you immediately saying, ‘I wasn’t thinking that at all’?”

“Oh! M-my apologies! I was just so fascinated listening to your thought process! As you say, I wasn’t thinking that at all!”

Riyuro burst out laughing. “You’re a funny one… I have to punish you for losing so many of the troops I gave you without putting up much of a fight, but I’ll make sure it’s not the kind of penalty that will affect you in the future. You did discover the golems and make it back here with important information, after all. And it was also quick of you to have part of the army guard the city in case anyone was in pursuit.”

“Thank you!” Yoozu bowed deeply.

“I have a question for you, since you’re such an excellent commander. What should we do if we want to collect more details about those golems?”

“Attack the runts’ country.”

“That’s definitely one way. We could learn about whether they still have golems or not at the same time.”

“Yes! And if there don’t seem to be any, we’ll need to take the city as fast as possible, no matter how many losses we suffer!”

“Indeed.” Riyuro nodded.

Living creatures took time to grow up, but golems were simply created. Time was the kuagoa’s enemy and their opponent’s ally.

“What else?”

“My apologies. I can’t think of anything else at the moment.”

Riyuro reached for the basket of lizards and pulled another out.

“…You sure you don’t want any?”

Do I look that envious?

Certainly, since he had hurried back, Yoozu hadn’t had proper food or rest yet. But he wasn’t so hungry that he would covet his king’s food.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Suit yourself,” said Riyuro, biting the head off the squealing lizard just like he had the last one.

He was finishing it off in the same manner when Yoozu asked, “My king, is there another way you thought of?”

“Yeah, there is. We could ask someone who knows far more than we do… Of course, it’s annoying that the price they’ll ask in return is so high.”

“Price…? You don’t mean—!” Yoozu understood from the phrasing.

“Yes, the d—”

Just as Riyuro was answering, there was a commotion outside. After a clamorous knock, the door was thrown open. “My king!”

It was one of the guards.

“Seems like an emergency. What happened?”

“Something is coming toward the city.”

“From what direction?”

The guards said it was the side where Yoozu had stationed his unit. In other words, the direction of the dwarf country.

“They sent a unit after us…? I guess we underestimated those runts.” Having said that, Riyuro stood.

Yoozu asked with his eyes where his king was going, and Riyuro seemed to pick up on it.

“They saved us a lot of brooding. I’m going to visit the dragons right now.”

“To learn about the golems?”

“No. To convince them to clash with the approaching forces. If they’ve come this far, they must have golems with them. If we have the dragons fight them, we can weaken both our enemies at once… Hmph. We’ll need them to do a proper job.”

The king’s ill will toward the dragons who occupied the city’s prime location, the royal palace, was intense. Only a few of his closest aides knew that—along with the fact that he skillfully hid those emotions and bowed his head whenever he interacted with the dragons.

There was a huge power gap between dragons and kuagoa.

Until they could whittle away the dragons’ power, the kuagoa had to be humble. But there were few in these mountains who could fight the dragons—maybe the frost giants, if anyone.

Riyuro was saying that now was their chance.

“Yoozu. I can’t imagine it’s necessary, but just in case, start moving into the abandoned district. I don’t want anyone getting caught up in a fight with the dragons.”

There was one district in the city that had been completely destroyed before the kuagoa took control. They hadn’t done anything to rebuild it but instead made preparations that would allow a large army to take up position there.

Apparently, this was the time to use it.

“Understood.”

“And…since I’m going to meet the dragons, I’m counting on you to ready the gifts. Find some jewels they’ll like. I think you know this, but they’re greedy. They probably won’t agree to the first price we set. They always try to get more, so with that in mind, choose less valuable items to start.”

Yoozu bowed to acknowledge the directions and got to work.

•

In this world, the most powerful race was the dragons. Even in harsh lands humans could never hope to reach, there was almost always a type of dragon that was fully adapted for that environment. The Azerlisia Mountains were no exception. The ruling class was dragons—the type known as frost dragons.

Dragons normally had slim trunks. They were less lizard-shaped and more catlike. And frost dragons were even slimmer, bearing a striking resemblance to snakes.

Their scales were a pale blue at birth, but as these particular dragons aged, they gradually turned white as if frost were settling over them. Appropriate for their environment, they had perfect resistance to the chill, but that came with a weakness to fire attacks.

Their version of a dragon’s ace move, their fearsome breath, was imbued with chill.

The king of those frost dragons, Olasird’arc Haylilyal, coiled around his throne, looking coldly down at the kuagoa who had come for an audience.

“Welcome. What can I do for you?”

“Oh, Great White Dragonlord Olasird’arc—”

“Skip the brownnosing. Get to the point.” That’s what he said, but he smiled faintly.

Dragonlords occupied a special place among the various dragons. Generally speaking, they were the most ancient, or very powerful, or could use unique spells—in other words, it was a prestigious title given to those who were superior to other dragons in some way.

Who wouldn’t enjoy being addressed by an honorable title?

“As you wish! First, please allow me to humbly thank you for this audience.”

The kuagoa behind the clan king stepped forward bearing large shabby sacks. When they opened them, sure enough, the glimmer of gold spilled out.

It wasn’t enough to satisfy Olasird’arc, but he decided to accept it, since it was probably all they could muster.

“Very well. What is it you want?”

“Thank you! Some rabble has come to attack our home, so we were wondering if it would be possible to request your assistance, Great White Dragonlord.”

“Hmm…”

To Olasird’arc, the kuagoa were an inferior race, creatures that served the immensely powerful dragons—in other words, they were mere property. It would be a bit irritating if someone else up and killed them. That said, the idea of lifting a finger for the sake of an inferior race was infuriating.

Olasird’arc peered down at his gleaming throne, a mountain of gold and jewels.

Dragons as a race had a penchant for amassing wealth such as precious metals, gems, magic items, and so on. Olasird’arc was no different.

But although they could dig holes and acquire metals and gemstones, they had no way to process them. That wasn’t a job for the powerful anyhow. Dragons felt it was work fit for their slaves—in this case, the kuagoa—to do.

This was a request from those slaves. The benevolent feeling that he would like to help them out a bit welled up inside him.

“So who is it?”

“We don’t know. We haven’t figured out who or what it is yet, although we suspect it’s the dwarves.”

“The dwarves…? Hmm…”

Olasird’arc glanced at the huge door behind him.

That door led to what was the treasury when this city belonged to the dwarves.

No matter how hard he attacked it, the door wouldn’t open or break. The protective spell the rune crafters had given it defended the treasures against numerous attacks.

At this point, his insistence on claiming the riches had faded, and he used the door only to sharpen his claws occasionally, but when he heard the word
dwarves
, the smoldering embers flared up.

If there were dwarves coming all the way over here, perhaps they had a way to open the door.

Is it time to abandon the kuagoa? The dwarves would be more useful in many ways.

As Olasird’arc was making those calculations, coolly looking down at the kuagoa, the kuagoa king was wrapping up his plea.

“I’m sure that you, White Dragonlord, could easily defeat the dwarves! I beg you, please lend us your strength! Of course, if you do, we’ll give you double—no, even more—in thanks.”

The last bit piqued Olasird’arc’s desire, and he raised his head. “All right. I’ll think about it.”

“Please wait, White Dragonlord! The enemy is already quite close! And if it’s the dwarves, I’m sure they’ll try to recapture the city!”

“What? Are you saying you think the dwarves are capable of driving me from my lair?”

“No, certainly not! But there’s no telling what they’ll do. They might know how to destroy the whole city!”

“If so, wouldn’t they have done it sooner?”

“It could be that the trigger is somewhere inside the city!”

Hmm
, thought Olasird’arc. That sounded awfully far-fetched, but neither could he completely deny the possibility.

This location was crucial for building the dragon empire.

He had seized the ruins of the dwarf palace and ordered his wives to lay their eggs and raise their young here.

If they kept doing things as they had been—laying eggs in a random location and leaving them there or kicking their offspring out of the nest after about a year—the power of the dragons would never grow. Olasird’arc wanted to have more children, subjugate the frost giants, and take full control of the mountain range.

The frost dragons and frost giants were both top-tier predators in these mountains, so they had been locked in a long power struggle to see who would come out on top.

Frost giants had perfect resistance to chill, so the frost dragons’ ace move, Chill Breath, couldn’t hurt them. Meanwhile, the damage that frost giants could deliver when they swung their massive weapons was so great that even the dragons couldn’t take it lightly. If the giants showed up in large numbers, losing was a distinct possibility. There were even some frost dragons who had lost to the frost giants in the past and had been relegated to serving as watchdogs.

The frost giants were aware of these facts, too. If Olasird’arc was in their position, he wouldn’t let an opportunity slip by and wait for his enemy to increase in number—he would attack. If he lost this land, there was no way the giant tribes wouldn’t band together to attack before he found a new stronghold.

Olasird’arc looked around at the queens lounging nearby.

There were three female dragons.

Minataron Fuvienes was the youngest and had a single pale-blue horn.

Munwinia Ilisusulim had battled with Olasird’arc for territory several times.

Chiristoran Denshushwa was the sole dragon in these lands who could use faith magic, albeit only tier one.

“What do you all think?”

“…Why not lend them your power? Defeating the dwarves will be almost nothing for you.”

“I agree. I couldn’t care less what that thing said earlier, but if the dwarves know we’re here but are still coming to attack, they’re underestimating us. We need to burn some fear into those impudent little creatures’ hearts.” Munwinia gave the floor a scrape with her claws.

Olasird’arc shifted his gaze to Chiristoran. “And what do you think?”

“I’m against but also for it. Against because we don’t know if it’s really the dwarves or not. And if someone is attacking despite the knowledge that we’re here, we should really consider how strong they may be. The idea of destroying the city sounds preposterous, but given the dwarves’ technology, building in a mechanism like that probably wouldn’t be impossible. It would be foolish to not address the matter one way or another.”

Olasird’arc gave a wry smile. She was so contrarian. He loved it. “Seems like more are in favor of action. Very well, I’ll entertain the wishes of the inferior kuagoa.”

“Thank you, master!”

Coldly looking down on the prostrate kuagoa, Olasird’arc announced, “You owe me ten times what you just presented.”

“T-ten times?”

Olasird’arc scoffed when the kuagoa raised his face. “You haven’t even explained who the attackers are, so what can you expect? And…? What’s your plan? If you’re not going to pay, then you can deal with this on your own.”

“P-please wait! We’ll give it to you! Please allow us to make the offering!”

Olasird’arc suddenly had a thought.

Did the kuagoa even have enough gold to match his request? Or were the dwarves so incredibly strong that they would accept even if they struggled to pay?

Well, either way was fine. If they failed to meet his demands as promised, he could do like Munwinia said and burn some indelible fear into the weaklings’ hearts.

“Very well, be gone.”

“Yes, master! And when can we humbly expect your presence?”

“I’ll be there right away. Just wait until then.”

“Understood!”

As Olasird’arc watched the kuagoa go, Minataron asked, “You’re going?”

“Ha, no.”

Olasird’arc was the strongest dragon in the land. Even if he was going to be compensated, it would be ridiculous for him to personally fight on behalf of his slaves. Which was why…

“I’ll send someone else. Which child would be good for this?”

By that, he meant which one of his children should go. Apart from the queens, all the dragons here were of his blood.

“If possible, one of mine.”

“Yours? Who?”

Chiristoran had four children with Olasird’arc. They had all lived for over a hundred years and were far more powerful than the kuagoa.

“The eldest.”

“Hejinmaar?” Olasird’arc’s expression was sober.

“He does use his head, you know. He’ll figure out the identity of these intruders, and I’m sure if it’s the dwarves, he’ll be able to negotiate with them to your benefit. You’re sick of having kuagoa servants, aren’t you?”

“Can he really manage such a thing? Wouldn’t someone else be better?”

Olasird’arc agreed with Minataron’s comment.

“He’s better than Tranjelitt.”

“…Chiristoran. The most important thing for a dragon is physical strength. It’s impossible to force someone strong and quick to their knees with intellect. Olasird’arc was able to defeat me because he was more powerful. Get that through your head. Tranjelitt has a splendid body and is far superior to Hejinmaar.”

Tranjelitt was one of Olasird’arc’s children, borne by Munwinia, and was the strongest of all the offspring.

“But someone who can’t think for themselves is a risk. If you send a child who kills kuagoa for no reason, there’s no telling what’ll happen.”

“That’s enough.” Olasird’arc interrupted before Munwinia could retort. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Minataron looked disappointed a fight hadn’t broken out.

“I’ll take Chiristoran’s suggestion. Call Hejinmaar.”

“Impossible. Hejinmaar won’t come out.”

Olasird’arc sensed that his plans had been making no progress from the get-go.

Munwinia chuckled with a faint nastiness. He didn’t want another fight to start. Olasird’arc raised his voice slightly.

“We can just break down the door and drag him out.”

“Oh? You’re the one who said not to destroy your castle. That’s why I haven’t done anything like that yet. I take it I have permission now? The door might not be the end of it, though.”

Certainly, he did remember making that rule before. Dragons may have been dexterous, but they weren’t able to build doors. And they didn’t have the magic necessary to do it, either. Once something was broken, it was broken.

The White Dragonlord found the idea of living in a castle full of holes shameful, so he had given strict orders to his queens and children to be careful.

If he ordered one of them, they would probably go, but…

“Fine. I’ll go.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

Olasird’arc cast a disappointed look at Chiristoran.

He wasn’t satisfied with going himself, as the king.
Maybe I should have some kuagoa servants living in the castle for times like this.

But like every other time he had considered that idea, he rejected it.

He couldn’t stand the thought of lower life-forms like kuagoa prancing around in his home. Someday he would defeat the giants and take on some of them as servants. Until then, he would simply have to be patient.

•

Considering the height of dwarves, the palace they built was surprisingly large. That was why dragons were able to live in it, but it also meant that going from one end to another involved crossing quite a distance.

Olasird’arc climbed higher and higher until he reached a large door on what was nearly the top floor.

He called through it. “It’s me. Open the door.”

He waited a little while, but there was no sign of movement on the other side.

There was no way he was out. The son in this room was a shut-in. Olasird’arc had almost no memories of ever seeing him leave. Apparently, his little brothers and sisters even brought him his meals.

His attitude—pretending to be gone to ignore his father, the king—was quite irritating.

“I’ll say it again. It’s me. Open up.”

Dragons had sharp senses. A shout this loud, the son inside would hear, and even if he was sleeping, it would wake him up.

But the door didn’t open.

The anger that welled up was channeled directly into action.

Olasird’arc struck the door with his tail.

Taking that blow from an object thick as a great tree trunk and covered in scales harder than iron, the door emitted a crushing sound. It seemed the dwarves who built it hadn’t taken into account that it might one day be struck by a dragon tail.

Olasird’arc sensed movement inside, but it wasn’t enough to quell his rage.

He struck the door again, and this time it was considerably damaged and crumbled rocks flew into the room like scattershot.

From inside came a pathetic “Eeeek!”

“Get out here. Now!”

The roar had the dragon up and out instantaneously.

Frost dragons had slender trunks. But this one looked different. Frankly, he was fat.

A dragon with little spectacles on the end of his snout looked timidly up at Olasird’arc.

The child was so pathetic, he had to sigh.

Of course, there was nothing to be done about the fact that he was nervous before the ruler of the land. But this was his child, so he would have liked if he had a bit more vigor in his eyes.

And that sad physique. He’s less like a dragon and more like a lardon.

Honestly, maybe it’s humiliating to have a kid like this go out in my place.

As Olasird’arc was thinking those things, his son, frightened to have his dad staring at him like that, asked, “F-Father, wh-what in the world is it?”

Still, he
was
a dragon. And dragons gained power as they grew up. So even with that obese body, he could probably fight to some extent.

“I have a job for you, Hejinmaar.”

“A-a job?”

“Yes. Apparently, dwarves or some such are attacking the kuagoa. Repel them.”

“Eep.”

“Eep?”

“N-no, I didn’t say anything, Father. M-more importantly, I, uh, hmm, I don’t have much confidence in my physical abilities, I guess you could say…?”

“Then, what are you confident in? Do you think you can slay them with magic?”

As dragons developed, they acquired arcane magic skills. But it wasn’t much—certainly not enough to be called a caster. But some dragons did learn moves that used magic.

One of Olasird’arc’s queens, Chiristoran Denshushwa, was a perfect example. Or there was the Blue Sky Dragonlord, Svelia Myronsilk, one of the councilors of the council state who had druid powers and used faith magic. Reportedly, another dragon far to the east trained to be a holy knight and was able to use spells from various trees.

“…Well, uh, since I don’t have a master, I’m just studying on my own…”

“Then, what are you doing locked up in here all the time?”

An intense light filled Hejinmaar’s eyes. “Studying. I’m accumulating knowledge.”

“What? Knowledge? You mean groping for the ability to wield arcane magic?”

“N-no. Father, studying isn’t just for learning magic. I’m deepening my cultural knowledge, learning how this city was built, what sorts of races live in this world, and so on.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. Does learning all that toughen you up? If you don’t get stronger, it’s meaningless, isn’t it?”

There was nothing more important in this world than acquiring strength. It was a world where living without growing more powerful was impossible. Life meant getting stronger. Not doing that was tantamount to refuting life itself.

Just then, even though his son did his best to hide it, he noticed Hejinmaar had reacted with a seemingly exasperated expression.

“What? If there’s something you want to say, say it.”

His son said nothing. The pitiful attitude was aggravating.

Right as he was about to yell at him, he remembered why he had come.

He wasn’t worried about what happened to the kuagoa, but he needed the reward.

“Staying cooped up inside poring over books till you lose your speed isn’t going to help you. If you want to amass knowledge, you should get out and see the world, don’t you think?”

Olasird’arc had been swiftly losing interest in Hejinmaar.
Did you really let your flesh grow so saggy for this utter nonsense?
Running out of patience, he no longer cared about what happened to this particular child of his.

“I—I was getting ready to do that. If I don’t know what kind of beings are out there, I might die before I get to see them.”

“How about you just die, then? You’re a fool. Why didn’t you pursue strength from the start? If you have strength, there is nothing to fear going out into the world. Just look at me.”

“But, Father, it’s important to know what powerful beings live where. Frost giants are a difficult opponent even for you, right? If you got on their bad side without knowing that—”

“—I’m not scared of frost giants.”

“Th-then, do excuse me, Father.”

Olasird’arc’s shoulders slumped when he saw his son rubbing his face into the ground before him.

“That’s enough. I have orders for you. Follow them. Then you have a month before I’m kicking you out. That way you can live however you please.”

3

“Haaagh…”

In the tunnel leading to the capital, Hejinmaar emitted a sigh identical to his father’s.

“I’m just not so good at fighting.”

It was worse than
not so good
. He was so weak, he had a feeling he would lose to his younger brother in a fight. When he was anxious, he tended to talk to himself more.

“I hope…the sight of me is enough to scare them away.”

Hejinmaar sucked in his stomach with a grunt. Then he put up his claws and opened his mouth wide. He figured he looked a bit more dragon-like that way.

“Oh, I almost forgot.”

He carefully took the spectacles off the tip of his snout and hid them nearby. They weren’t rare magic items or anything, but if they broke, there was no way to get a replacement pair. He had to take good care of them.

“Haaagh… I heard you can make tough armor out of dragon scales. I guess I just have to pray the dwarves aren’t that barbaric of a race.”

If they are, then what?

No, they must be—I got the info about using dragon scales out of a dwarven book.

Hejinmaar steeled himself to keep from trembling.

He knew the kuagoa from the city were watching him. Really, he would have liked to move farther down the tunnel to fight where there weren’t so many onlookers, but his father had prohibited it, saying that would prevent the kuagoa from seeing him fight.

His father had told him to figure out who was attacking and, if possible, bring them under his rule, but the dragonlord had no intentions of allowing a friendly approach. It was an order to put on a display of power to subjugate the weak.

In other words, defeat here was synonymous with death. If Hejinmaar fought and lost, he would probably die, and even if he managed to survive losing the battle, the kuagoa would respect the dragons less and his father would kill him out of displeasure.

Why not just run away, then? Either way, I’ll be kicked out in a month anyhow.

The idea itself wasn’t horrible, but he felt he could use the month of prep time.

In the end, his best bet was to defeat and subjugate the dwarves.

Hejinmaar blew using his breath power.

The bitter cold frosted the wall.

“Good! I can blow chill normally. That’s fine for my age.”

That was one of the dragons’ most powerful moves, Dragon Breath. In a frost dragon’s case, it was Chill Breath, but either way, it became more powerful as the dragon grew. Hejinmaar’s was normal for his age, so he could rely on it more than his general physical abilities.

“…But still.”

Everyone with even a little knowledge knew how terrible Dragon Breath was. After all, it was a power every type of dragon had.

It was even written about in the dwarves’ books. Surely the ones headed this way had come up with some kind of countermeasure to deal with it.

Hejinmaar’s despair mounted.

His father had said it, too, but maybe if he could really use magic, things would be different…

“I’m nothing but a sacrificial pawn…”

His elder brothers obeyed their father and had proper dragon-like personalities. If his father was sending him out instead of entrusting this duty to them, it had to mean he didn’t care whether his shut-in son died or not.

All he could do was lament his fate.

If he hadn’t encountered books and known the pleasure of slaking his thirst for knowledge, it never would’ve come to this, but there was no point in regretting it now.

His nose twitched.

When he listened intently, he could hear multiple sets of footsteps approaching through the cave.

It was clear from the sounds of shoes that they weren’t kuagoa.

Dwarves? If there are so few…do they think they can win with numbers that small? Or is it a scouting party? If I defeat them, can I assume my work is finished and go home?

If he really forced it, he could interpret his father’s orders as a request to simply drive off this scouting party. The question was whether that excuse would fly or not.

In the hazy glow of the fluorescent ore, there appeared to be four figures, although they were too far away to make out what sort.

Are the three little ones dwarves? Then, what’s the big one? None of the races related to dwarves is that big. Does that mean that just like how the kuagoa asked Father for help, the dwarves turned to this guy?

Whether it was someone the dwarves asked for help or not, the big figure was probably the one Hejinmaar needed to be wary of.

But whatever the size, his opponent was still no match for a dragon.

Would it be better to take the initiative and use my breath?
Hejinmaar rejected that idea immediately.
No. I should ask what their goal is and find a way to settle this through negotiation.

A normal dragon would have immediately launched themselves into a fight. But Hejinmaar lacked confidence and wasn’t interested in getting beaten, so he was looking for the safest way to resolve things.

Before long, his sharp dragon eyes—though slightly less keen than a typical dragon’s—made out that the figure leading the way was not a dwarf.

I’ve seen one of those in a book before! That’s one of those dark elves said to live deep in the forest.

It made no sense for one to be here.

But compared to the average height listed in the book, this one is awfully small. Maybe it’s a dark elf–dwarf mix? Or is that just a dark elf child?

Having thought those various possibilities, Hejinmaar shifted his gaze to the larger figure behind the dark elf, and the moment he did, his eyes popped wide open.

Huh?! An elder lich?! What is that doing here?! This’ll be a pain. He has perfect resistance to Chill Breath
and
he can use Fireball!

Fire was a frost dragon’s weakness. In other words, Hejinmaar’s greatest attack wouldn’t have any effect, while his opponent could deal massive damage.

And what…the…? What’s with the expensive robe?

Dragons had something of a nose for treasure, a vague perception of how much things were worth. And at the moment, Hejinmaar’s nose was telling him that the elder lich’s robe was incredibly valuable.

…But now that I look at it, the dark elf leading their band has similarly fancy clothes. I get the feeling I’ve never laid eyes on anything so valuable.

It was possible that his instinctive sense for treasure was off due to him holing up in his room for so long and staring at prices in books the dwarves had left behind. Even instincts could get rusty if they weren’t given the occasional workout. But he couldn’t believe that was the case here.

The next one seems like a female from the shape, but…is she an elf? Or a human? I don’t know. And she’s wearing awfully expensive clothes, too… Hmm, maybe my nose really is off. But if it’s not…

When he saw the dwarf bringing up the rear, he was relieved.

A normal dwarf. And his clothes don’t seem to be worth much.

At that point, he shook his head.

But I can’t underestimate him! The other three aren’t anywhere near normal. There could be something different about him, too. It’d be dangerous to drop my guard.

As he watched, the dark elf pointed at him and seemed to be alerting the others to his presence.

He wondered what he would do if they suddenly attacked—perhaps with Fireball—but they only stopped walking and discussed among themselves for a moment before continuing to walk toward him.

…Should I assume the worst?

If they had attacked right away, he could have assumed they were wary of him. What did it mean that they hadn’t?

Ugh. My stomach hurts. Please let this be a kind-hearted undead who only came to negotiate!

He could be killed. The time until the party came to a halt was too suspenseful for Hejinmaar, who had lived all his life until this very instant in safety.

They eventually came close.

Hejinmaar took a breath and spoke, taking care not to appear too threatening.

This group walked right up to him even though he was a dragon, so he figured doing anything that could be perceived as a threat would be dangerous.

“Up ahead is the lair of the kuagoa and we dragons. What are you d—ahem—? Why have you come?”

The dark elf in the lead traded places with the elder lich. That was the moment Hejinmaar learned who the leader of the group was.

“Hmm? We’re invading and yet there’s only one dragon here to meet us? As far as I know, dragons grow larger and more powerful with age. Given your size, I doubt you’re terribly strong… What’s the big idea?”

What did he mean by,
What’s the big idea?
Hejinmaar didn’t know. But as he suspected, this elder lich wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him.

Ah, this is actually awful. I don’t have the words for it—aside from that it’s awful.

“Even if you’re trying to collect information about us, one dragon is a joke. Is this part of the enemy’s greater plan? Or am I just being overly cautious? Given what we learned from the kuagoa we captured earlier, I’d say the latter…”

Hejinmaar still had no idea what the elder lich was talking about. And the lich didn’t seem to care whether this lone dragon understood or not. In other words, it was sort of like the undead creature was talking to himself. But then, why was he so frightening?

“…I’m sick of thinking about it. Let’s see how much of a dragon you are.”

A shudder went through Hejinmaar’s entire body.

He spoke so casually, as if he was going to pick up a pebble that happened to be lying on the ground. He sounded confident that he was capable of it.

When Hejinmaar saw the lich raise his hand—

“Gr—”

“Wait!” he roared and laid his head on the ground.

This was a dragon’s most reverential, submissive gesture.

“—asp, what?”

Hejinmaar pleaded frantically before the elder lich, whose hand had stopped half-raised. “Wait! My name is Hejinmaar. May I ask yours?”

He could see the dwarf gaping at the edge of his field of vision. But he didn’t get a similar reaction from either the dark elf or the elf-like person. In other words, they seemed to think it was a matter of course.

Hejinmaar was confident his choice was the right one.

“…My name is Ainz Ooal Gown… What’s that pose about?”

“Sir! If I remember correctly, other races are often addressed by their last name—Sir Gown! This is the most reverential gesture we dragons can offer!”

“Hmm… Then, why are you making it?”

“Because I realized immediately what an exceptional being you are, of course! How else could I greet such a great personage? Anything less would be unthinkable!”

This was a gamble. Hejinmaar was betting everything.

The dwarves called the heat of taking a risk being “in the forge,” but Hejinmaar felt chilled to his core.

After a few moments frozen like that, the elder lich finally
hmm
ed. “…You’re submitting to me?”

“If, indeed, you’ll allow me to, Sir Gown!”

When he glanced at the dark elf and the elf, they still seemed to think this was nothing unexpected.

“…There are lots of uses for dragon meat, skin, teeth, scales, and whatnot, but… Wait, what’s this? Get up for a minute.”

He seemed accustomed to giving orders and unfazed by Hejinmaar’s surrender. This elder lich was clearly not the least bit concerned about facing a dragon.

True, dragons were the strongest race, but they weren’t invincible. There were innumerable beings that could kill dragons. The frost giants were a good example.

Still, when comparing the two races, the dragons came out on top overall.

The reason was their growth. Dragons developed as time went on and only then became the strongest. With long lives and continuous growth, they became strong automatically.

From that perspective, it was possible to say that undead were actually stronger than dragons. Elite undead didn’t have bodies that grew and developed, but they could amass knowledge and gain experience.

Hejinmaar had read about legendary undead in a book before.

There were soul eaters who ate the souls of the living just as their name implied; wriggling pestilences that spread infectious diseases; legions of wizarding undead led by an elder lich; the undead dragon Kuphantera Argoros, who lurked in a mountain of corpses and could use psychic magic; astral reapers, shadow undead that wandered shadowy valleys; and more.

Was this elder lich another one like them who might have his name in a book somewhere? Maybe he just happened to not appear in the dwarves’ books.

Hejinmaar slowly raised his head.

Sensing the lich’s staring eyes on his body, he felt ashamed of his un-dragon-like physique.

“I see. So dragons who live in such cold temperatures store lots of fat under their skin. I thought frost dragons had racial resistance to chill, but… Or is it because you’re worried about being able to get enough food that you end up with that body type?”

“N-no. I’m the only one like this…”

“Ooh. You mean you’re rare…?”

I doubt I have any special value, but given I’m the only dragon like me in my family, he’s not wrong, right?
“Perhaps, Sir Gown.”

“I see,” said the lich. And then, with his sharp dragon ears, Hejinmaar heard him murmur, “Then, I guess it would be a waste to kill him.”

Hejinmaar did his utmost to steady his breathing. Apparently, he had made another choice that would connect to his continued survival.

“Are there other dragons here?”

“Yes, there are: four larger than me, six around the same size as me, and nine smaller than me.”

“Wow!”

Hejinmaar was sure the lich sounded so happy because he was making sinister calculations in his head.

“So how many of those are stronger than you?”

“All of the ones larger are also more powerful than I am. The ones the same size as me are also probably stronger.”

He couldn’t say,
I might also lose to my little brothers and sisters
. If his worth fell, he could very well be killed instantly.

“I see. And up to what tier of magic can the large dragons use? Is it only arcane magic?”

“The most powerful one can use up to tier three. And as you say, it’s arcane magic.”

It was a racial quality of dragons that as they grew, without having to specifically learn it, they would acquire arcane magic. The number of spells, however, was limited. Even Hejinmaar’s father knew only three tier-three spells.

“What? You can only use up to tier three…?” It was apparent that he lost interest in that angle, but he seemed to think of something, and then his voice grew energetic again. “Well, let me ask you this. Is it possible it’s a bluff? They say a skilled hawk hides its talons. Could it be that the immensely powerful dragons are hiding the fact that they can use up to tier eight?”

“No. That is to say—” Was it appropriate to tell this lich the truth—that an eighth tier didn’t exist?

He couldn’t. Sometimes the truth hurt more than a lie. Nothing good would come to Hejinmaar if he shamed this elder lich here.

“No, he can’t use such high-tier magic. I recall hearing that he had acquired tier-three spells to defend against fire.”

He figured that was something he needed to convey; his father was not to be taken lightly.

“Hmm, I see. Well, it’s only natural to come up with a plan to cover for your weaknesses.”

It worried Hejinmaar that the lich didn’t seem to be taking this very seriously.

“Aura.”

“Yes, Lord Ainz?”

Apparently, the dark elf’s name was Aura. From the scent, she seemed to be female.

The other elf-like being didn’t smell like anything. She seemed to have no body odor, just like the elder lich.

“I’ll give this dragon to you. You wanted one, right?”

“Thank you. But I wonder, can he fly?”

Her doubtful look and his more satisfied look both turned toward Hejinmaar.

“I—I believe I can.”

I may have been cooped up, but I must still be able to fly.
To a dragon, flying was as natural as walking. As he spoke, he regretted not flying on his way to this place.

“All right, Lord Ainz. I’ll take him. Uh, so I have to make sure he understands that I’m his superior.”

Before he could even wonder what was going to happen to him, thousands of icy blades pierced his body.

I died. I definitely died.
The fear that assailed Hejinmaar was so intense that his primal instincts told him he had been killed, the terror piercing his body as though it was an invisible blade.

For a moment, his consciousness faded. Through the haze, he distinctly felt his heart stop beating.

“Wagh!”

The dark chills enveloping his body dispersed with a flutter.

His heart muscles hesitantly resumed their motions. His limbs shuddered, and his lungs frantically worked to take in oxygen.

He had read about this in a book. It had to be what some called “bloodlust.” In other words, this dark elf, Aura, who was going to be his mistress, had a murderous presence so overwhelming, it nearly frightened a frost dragon to death.

So then, if she calls this elder lich her master, what in the world is he capable of?

The answer was clear. He didn’t even want to think about how powerful that undead had to be.

He was an absolute being—an overlord.

All of Hejinmaar’s choices had been correct.

Once he came to his senses, he realized everyone was standing a bit farther away with surprise on their faces.

It was as he was wondering what that was about that he noticed the gross feeling in his nether regions. When he peered down, the sight he was greeted with gave him a shock.

Apparently, his muscles down there had relaxed and he’d had an accident. He was standing in a puddle of his own making.

“Oh…”

What should I say?
If they were disgusted, he could even be killed.

“I was just so happy that I peed myself!” That was a desperate play. He didn’t think they would actually buy that, but it seemed better than saying it had happened because he was scared. “From now on, I will obey Mistress Aura—she has my absolute loyalty.”

“Uhhh…”

She seemed less than thrilled.

This is bad. If she thinks I’m worthless, she might throw me out like a piece of garbage. That’s what the powerful do. My dad is the same way!
But a helping hand appeared from the most unexpected place.

“I see… Well, I guess it’s not too much of an issue, then.”

“Huh? Really, Lord Ainz?”

“Yep. I heard once from my old friend Ankoro Mocchi Mochi how her dog’s piddle parties always caused her trouble. I suppose it just happens sometimes, when emotions are running high.”

“Oh, Lady Ankoro Mocchi Mochi said that? I see! Maybe it’s kind of like how Fen and some of my other magical beasts mark their territory?”

“Maybe so. I’m no expert on the habits of dragons, but if that’s what he says, then it must be true.”

The one who was maybe also an elf, who had been quiet until now, cocked her head and asked the elder lich, “Lord Ainz, should we do that as well?”

“Shalltear. Did you really just open your mouth to say
that
…?”

“Mm. Aura’s right. If you guys did that, I’d collapse in shock. This sort of thing is only cute because little toylike animals do it… Well, I guess part of the reason Ankoro Mocchi Mochi was annoyed was the age of her dog. Remembering how she would always try to calm it down before it got too excited is so nostalgic now.”

The three of them had a totally different attitude from before; none of the murderous mood remained. For the moment, Hejinmaar moved out of the puddle and wiped himself on the wall to clean up.

“So what are we going to do now?” The dwarf who had been watching in total silence spoke up. He didn’t seem very strong compared to the other three.

Had the dwarves hired these three as mercenaries and sent this one along to supervise them? Did Hejinmaar need to show him respect as well?
What exactly is my position under these people?
Those sorts of questions crisscrossed through his mind amid the vague anxiety over what sort of orders he would be given.

“Right. We’ll leave the kuagoa up to Aura and Shalltear. I’ll take this dragon and kill any hostile dragons.”

A cold wave traveled down Hejinmaar’s spine.

The lich’s tone was so easygoing. It was clear he hardly thought anything of dragons. It was a fitting attitude for someone so powerful.

Hejinmaar wondered what to do. He couldn’t decide if it would be wise to beg for the lives of the other dragons at this juncture or not.

Weighing his interests carefully, he opened his mouth. “…Lord Gown, Mistress Aura. May I have permission to speak?!”

“Sure. What is it?”

“My lord! I was thinking. No one here knows of your greatness. What if you showed these fools mercy? In other words, I think the other dragons should know of your greatness, Lord Ainz!”

“Hmm. What do you think?”

“You should do as you wish, Lord Ainz.”

“Indeed. How could anyone object to something you decided?”

“As long as they leave the capital, isn’t that fine? Dragon, can I ask you a bit more about this?” It was the dwarf who inquired.

Hejinmaar glanced at his masters. Frankly, he didn’t know how to address this dwarf. That said, being arrogant was probably risky. But if he bowed and scraped like a minion, he feared it would inadvertently lower the status of his masters. “Yes.” After mulling it over, he simply answered in a concise manner that could be taken either way.

“Mm… I’m still amazed that she tamed this dragon completely… Well, I guess it’s only natural given how much of her strength she revealed… Oops, sorry. Are there dragons somewhere else besides here?”

“There might be.”

“There might be? If there are, can you give them orders?”

“No. They’d be from a different tribe.”

“Hmm. Then, the first thing we should do is report in that we’ve succeeded in driving everyone out of this land as requested. If we inform everyone there may be other dragon tribes, they’re sure to ask Your Majesty to assist with defending the newly retaken capital. No one will want to lose it again. I imagine that’s the most profitable plan.”

That was a word Hejinmaar couldn’t ignore.

Apparently, this elder lich was a king. And he had elves and dark elves as his subjects?

“It doesn’t bother you to pull one over on your own people?”

The dwarf gave a jocular shrug that meant,
What are you saying?
“If someone asked which is more important, I’d answer Your Majesty, since you chose us. That devotion goes both ways.”

“I appreciate that, Gondo.”

“Oh, don’t say that, Your Majesty. I don’t know how to thank you enough. All the anguish that had been tormenting me has been cleared up within a few days of meeting you. You saved me.”

“I’m glad we were able to build a relationship that benefits both of us.”

“I hardly think I’ve repaid you yet. I promise I’ll make it all worth your while!”

Hejinmaar could understand their relationship even as an outsider.

The dwarf felt tremendously indebted to the elder lich. It was a debt so huge that he had betrayed his entire race to repay it.

“…As long as that works for you, I’m fine.” The elder lich shrugged and then turned to Hejinmaar. “Okay, take me to the dragons who are stronger than you. Also, I heard there’s a treasury somewhere in this old dwarven capital. Do you know where that is?”

Hejinmaar was familiar with its location. He nodded, full of confidence. “If that’s what you’re here for, you’re in luck—both of those things are in the same place.”

•

Hejinmaar gave the dwarf and his mistress’s master a ride to his father on his back. Even if he was out of shape, he was a dragon. Carrying two people was nothing.

While they were walking, he learned why the elder lich was called His Majesty, which convinced him that knowledge and intuition were the two most important things in the world.

If he had appeared initially with the properly haughty attitude of a dragon, he would have been killed, without question. No, if he hadn’t loudly sworn allegiance, if he hadn’t caught their attention, his life would have ended before he realized what was happening.

It’s seriously a miracle that I survived.

Hejinmaar strained to keep his bladder from relaxing.

If he had a second accident, his evaluation wouldn’t simply hit rock bottom; it would go underground.

Luckily, they didn’t run into any other dragons along the way and soon found themselves near his father’s room, which was something between a throne room and a treasury.

Hejinmaar took a breath.

“Your Great Majesty. In addition to my father, there are three more dragons, his queens, inside. Are you going to bring the dwarf along?”

He was worried that if the frigid breaths of four frost dragons came whooshing toward them at once, the dwarf would die.

“Is there a problem with him coming?”

“N-no. If Your Great Majesty has no issues, then I certainly do not.”

“I gave him perfect resistance to chill, so he’s fine. That said, it would be a pain if they cast multiple area-of-effect spells of varying attributes.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about that, Your Great Majesty. Dragons take pride in their breath. Attacking first with that is standard, rather than coming out with weak arcane spells.”

“Then, I think we’re fine.”

“Hey, Your Majesty, can I say something? You can probably take four dragons like nothing, but this one’s mother must be among them. Wouldn’t it be nice of you to spare her at least?”

“Hmm…”

Hejinmaar twisted his long neck around and waited to see what kind of judgment his master would reach.

He didn’t feel like making a bigger request than what he had already asked for. He was fine with there being a chance that his mother could be saved like him, but he wasn’t going to risk his own life to beg for it. It wasn’t as though he held anything against his mom. Dragons simply didn’t have very strong bonds between relatives.

It was normal, once adults left the nest, for even parents and children to compete for territory. And dragons loved treasure, so they sometimes went to battle over each other’s riches, family or not.

It was extremely rare for a large number of dragons—who were old enough to leave the nest—to live in one place; that rarely occurred unless an overwhelmingly powerful dragon took charge and gathered them together.

In that sense, Olasird’arc, who kept his family close to unite against external enemies, could be said to go against the grain. Or perhaps it was better to say he was clever.

“Very well. I’ll do what I can to spare your mom.”

“Thank you, Your Great Majesty.”

He expressed his gratitude immediately. He didn’t want to make the lich feel awkward for showing him kindness. And he also figured that if his mother was saved, his share of the upcoming struggles would decrease. Although, with more numbers, he would be less rare, so to avoid becoming someone expendable, he would have to strive to earn favor with his masters.

“…That ‘Your Great Majesty’ thing is a bit much. From now on, you can call me the King of Darkness or just Ainz.”

Is it a trap? Am I being tested?
Without a moment’s hesitation, Hejinmaar said what he felt was correct. “Yes, Your Majesty, King of Darkness!”

There was no way he could drop the
Your Majesty
.

“Right. Now go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

He breathed a sigh of relief, taking care that it wasn’t noticeable.

Yes, it must have been a test. If he had lowered his guard and left off the honorific, he probably would have been horribly punished—or even killed and dismembered.

Hejinmaar chiseled it into his heart:
If there’s one thing I won’t become, it’s cocky
.

Before long, they arrived at their destination.

The door was big enough that a dragon’s strength was necessary to open it. The dwarves had used a smaller door next to it for regular comings and goings; the larger door was apparently used only for ceremonies.

Hejinmaar put his shoulder against the door and pushed, taking care not to drop his master.

Coiled around the golden throne was his father, Olasird’arc. His mother, Chiristoran, and the other two queens, Minataron and Munwinia, were present, too.

Three gazes turned to him in suspicion when he entered. The gaze of his master above fell down on him. His mother’s was the last.

Before anyone else could open their mouths, Hejinmaar barked, “Seated atop me is His Majesty, Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness! He is the king who will henceforth govern this land and have the dragons do his bidding!”

Technically, they would serve the dark elf Aura, but this was easier to explain, so he had gotten permission to declare it that way.

When he finished, silence enveloped the room for a moment. It was the short time necessary for everyone to digest what they had just been told.

“Have you lost your mind, boy?” His father was immediately furious.

Of course he was.
He
was the king who ruled this land—no, he used to be. It was a natural reaction.

He rose from his reclined position and got into a combat stance so he could come flying at his son at any moment.

Eep!

Hejinmaar was genuinely frightened.

Between his father and him, his father was unmistakably stronger. The disparity was insurmountable not only in terms of pure strength but also combat experience. His father’s body was even slim like an average dragon’s, unlike Hejinmaar’s.

He had less than no chance of winning in a fight.

But he had no choice but to make that announcement. He had read in a book once that no subordinate would ever make their leader introduce themselves.

That’s why he was trying to signal to his father with his eyes that he was saying it against his will, but Olasird’arc didn’t seem to notice at all. His raging glare was piercing only Hejinmaar. His father believed dragons were the strongest race, so Hejinmaar’s master and the dwarf probably weren’t worth his attention.

“Dragon king. I’ll let you live if you submit to me, so how about it?”

“Who are you, filth?! A skeleton?!”

He’s obviously not a skeleton!
shrieked Hejinmaar in his head.

He nearly scoffed,
Aren’t your dragon senses alerting you to the fortune he’s wearing?
but then realized maybe his father was just too angry to notice.

Maybe he wouldn’t have acted this way if I hadn’t made him mad…

No, that wasn’t the issue here. He might have acted even more problematic instead.

As Hejinmaar was fretting, his father suddenly narrowed his eyes.

“…Wait, what’s that outfit he’s wearing?”

Apparently, once he had calmed down a bit, his dragon nose kicked in.

Hejinmaar had a bad feeling about this. He looked around for help, but the queens were all equally interested in his new master. They all had the eyes of beasts starved for wealth. His mother was the only one trying to slowly back out of this situation, but she didn’t seem to care about saving her son.

“I’ve never seen such riches. If you want to be forgiven for your rudeness, give me that clothing, skeleton!”

“Hmm… It’s torture to talk with someone this stupid.” A cold voice rang out.

Why don’t you realize your instincts as a living thing are telling you death is near?!
It must have been his miserly ambitions as a dragon getting in the way.

“You ignorant fool! You’ve just abandoned your only chance for staying alive! No, I’m going to kill you and—”

“Grasp Heart.”

Hejinmaar’s father crumpled to the ground.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on this land’s most powerful dragon.

He didn’t move a muscle and appeared to be sleeping, but that couldn’t be the case.

As a chill settled over the room, the absolute ruler spoke. “I have no interest in listening to what you lot have to say. So, Hejinmaar. Which one is your mother? She’ll be the only one I spare. The rest I’ll take apart and put to good use.”

“Me!”

“Me!”

“Me!”

Three voices shouted at once. It almost had Hejinmaar shouting
Me!
too.

“…What? You mean one birthed him, one raised him, and one…incubated him?”

Hejinmaar eyed the two dragons who weren’t related to him—two dragons consumed by fear.

Their eyes were clouded over with terror. Of course they were. The most powerful dragon they knew had just been killed instantaneously. Reaching for the lifeline dangled from above without thinking about fighting or fleeing was the correct choice, much like how it had been for Hejinmaar.

Their frightened eyes turned to him ingratiatingly. What would happen if he said,
No, only one of these is my mother
? His absolute master would surely kill two of them with no hesitation.

At this moment, he held the power of life and death over those two. But he took no joy in it. All he felt was sympathy for these fellow dragons in the same boat as him—and the calculating urge to have these “mothers” in his debt for the future.

“That’s correct, Your Majesty. All three of them are my mothers.”

“I see. That’s too bad, but a promise is a promise. Very well, I won’t kill these three. I guess we still scored one dragon body? We have so many uses for dragons that one definitely isn’t enough, but…well, it really is a shame.”

When he glanced at the three dragons, they all lowered their heads in submission.

“Leave this place and bring back all the other dragons. Then I’ll announce that I’m your leader now… If anyone has an issue with that, I’ll deal with them personally.”

The queens raced away. It was impressive—astounding, even—how fast they moved.

Hejinmaar didn’t think they would try to escape. They knew that running away when up against a caster of this caliber was a gamble only one in a billion would win. Well, Hejinmaar didn’t care if they ran—because then he would get to learn how the King of Darkness would track them down and punish them.

Hejinmaar felt a light bonk on his head. When he turned around, his master was looking at him.

“I have a different order for you. It’s very important. Bring me any dwarven books you haven’t read yet, as well as all the other books that are here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty! Understood! I’ll bring them just as fast as I can!”

Hejinmaar let the pair down in a hurry and rushed off at full speed.

•

“Okay, he’s gone.”

Ainz watched Hejinmaar’s figure fade into the distance. He already knew how many dragons there were in this land, so if enough didn’t show up, that was perfectly fine.

He had a single dragon corpse, but he could think of so many ways to use it that he wanted more. Acquiring corpses by punishing subordinates who had done nothing wrong, however, went against Ainz’s self-imposed rules for reward and punishment.

“Heh-heh,” he sneered.

If they tried to flee, he would pursue and kill them, then harvest their bodies. As he did the math regarding how to use their parts, he shifted his gaze to the huge pile of gold the dragon had been lounging on.

“…That’s a dragon for you. This really is a mountain of treasure.”

It wasn’t much compared to Nazarick’s treasury, but this was more wealth than he’d seen in the possession of any other individual in this world.

There were gold coins, but there were even more minerals that seemed to contain gold. Besides that, there were what looked to be raw gemstones.

Among the items were a golden chain over five yards long, the skin of some sort of exotic animal, golden gauntlets inlaid with jewels, and a rough-hewn staff that seemed to have magical properties. Wherever had they found these things?

The answer may have been something only the dead dragon knew.

“Hmm… There doesn’t seem to be any pyrite or chalcopyrite mixed in. Is it mostly naturally occurring gold? This is what a dragon’s sense of smell can accomplish, eh…?”

That was the sort of thing Gondo was saying as he examined the minerals giving off a golden gleam.
Is that gold or something else?
wondered Ainz, thinking he would have to get it appraised once they returned.

“It’s no issue if I take ownership of these dragon treasures, right?”

“That’s your natural right. But how about you open that up now while everyone’s gone?”

“Hoo-hoo. You’re a rotten one, too, huh?”

“It’s for research. In any case, if there’s something Your Majesty would like, let me know. According to that dragon, there’s no catalog, but it’s probably not a good idea to take any of the famous dwarven treasures.”

“Why not say the dragons took them?”

“In that situation, I would have to assume they’d ask you for them, since you’re seizing the dragon’s loot. I doubt the regency council can really confront you about it, but wouldn’t it be better to avoid anything that could cause trouble in the future?”

“That’s exactly right. Okay, I’m going to go close the entrance. The fewer people who know what’s about to happen, the better.”

“Thanks, Your Majesty.”

Ainz and the dwarf split up and went about their respective tasks.

First, Ainz cast Gate and summoned eight-edged assassins.

“I have orders for you guys. Search this entire castle, including hidden rooms, and bring back any books you find. If you meet any dragons, tell them you work for me. If they attack, feel free to kill them, but do not under any circumstances strike first. And…I doubt this will be an issue, but considering the possibility of powerful enemies lurking around, operate in teams. If you encounter anyone strong, prioritize bringing back intelligence.”

Books written in the dwarven tongue he would have Gondo read for him.

After watching his underlings scatter, he tossed the dragon body through the Gate.

Hmm. If the body would accept a resurrection spell after we process it for parts, we could theoretically get a whole other set, but I suppose that’s impossible…

When the combat maid Yuri Alpha peeked out of the Gate, he ordered her to freeze the dragon corpse on the fifth level so it wouldn’t rot.

“Your Majesty! As expected, there’s nothing open. The treasures must be exactly how they were originally left.”

“I see. Then, I’ll open it.”

He said bye to Yuri, and after closing the front door, he stood before the entrance to the treasury.

His breast buzzed as he remembered his
Yggdrasil
days. There was just something incredibly fun about drops in the form of treasure chests. It could have been a single data crystal, but there was no telling until it was open. He felt that same thrill now.

But that feeling was neutralized.

The discomfort of having a nice emotion suppressed weighed on him, but he still felt a trace of excitement.

Ainz took out a magic item shaped like a board.

It was the artifact Epigonoi.

The item could be used only seven times, but it had lock-picking abilities on par with a level-90 thief.

It was incredibly rare, so he didn’t really want to use it, but he hadn’t summoned any minions with high-level lock-picking skills. The eight-edged assassins were specialized in stealth combat and had next to no lock-picking ability.

“I guess I have no choice.”

Ainz usually had a hard time using rare items he had managed to acquire. The reason he could do it this time with only a little hesitation was probably the promise of treasure.

He pointed the artifact at the treasury door and unleashed its power.

Peeking through the narrow opening, Ainz exchanged a firm handshake with Gondo.

Neither of them had any words. But their faces said it all.

A golden glimmer was a reflection of light—if there wasn’t any light, there wasn’t any glimmer. But in spite of that common sense, this enormous treasure seemed to glow from within. Unfortunately, the place apparently had no concept of organization, but still.

“…It’s fantastic.”

Like the dragons’ hoard, the dwarves’ was no match for Nazarick’s wealth, but as an individual, Ainz had to hand it to them.

He picked up a gold piece. It was a coin he had never seen before. It wasn’t like the gold trade currency, either. But he had the feeling it was different from the things dwarves made, as well—because of the human profile engraved on it.

“Apparently, at one time we had a trading relationship with the vast human country that ruled the area around these mountains, so it must be their king’s face. That was back during the golden age, when crafters were more influential.”

“Hmm.”

Ainz flicked the coin back into the mountain of treasure. The sound of the
clink
when it hit the other coins was loud and clear.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’m going to take the liberty of hunting for any technical manuals or rune items that might be useful for my research.”

“Go ahead. I’ll check things out, too.”

Pandora’s Actor would probably be overjoyed.

Recalling that guy’s bizarre demeanor, Ainz made sure to lock the door from the inside before floating into the air.

He could see some weapons and armor partially buried in the coins. Why didn’t they care if any of them got damaged?

I see. If everything was neat and tidy, any thief who got in would be able to see at a glance what was most valuable, so they did it this way on purpose? Hmm? In that case, this place might also follow the common pattern of…

“Gondo. There’s something I want to ask you. Is there any chance they hid a door beneath this mountain of gold pieces?”

Gondo turned around in surprise. “Oh! I can’t say for sure that there isn’t one. But if there is, it’ll be hard to find. We’d have to move all this treasure out of the way first.”

They would at least have to move the coins.

“What if we measured up from the floor below to see if we could detect any suspicious thickness?”

“Nah, even if there was a hidden door under here, I imagine it would just be a sliding door for a treasure compartment only big enough for a few items. It would be difficult to judge based on thickness. And besides, it’s normal for a vault to have thick walls, floor, and ceiling.”

Gondo asked with his eyes what they should do, and Ainz shook his head. Poaching items from this place was more of a bonus than anything else. It didn’t make sense to prioritize putting all his energy into that.

“That’s not why I’m here. It would be foolish to spend time searching for something that we’re not even sure exists. I think I’d rather be here when the dwarves recapture the place and offer to purchase things at a fair price so they feel like they should be considerate of me, too.”

“Understood. Then, let’s find what we’re looking for.”

As Gondo resumed his search, Ainz selected a few items with a lot of magical energy.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

Among them was a sword.

It was quite possibly the most enchanted item out of the entire collection.

“Hmm… In terms of level, I guess it’s fifty?”

It had the length of a longsword and was gorgeously ornate.

He wasn’t sure if it was from
Yggdrasil
, but it had an awful lot of mana for something from this world.

Ainz ran a finger along the naked blade but didn’t feel any bumps.

“It’s a splendid, beautiful sword. No runes on it? Then, why?”

He clenched a hand around the grip. That instant, the sword trembled. It was as if mana had coursed through it.

“You mean…I can use this?”

The classes Ainz had acquired didn’t allow him to wield longswords. But perhaps this sword was made of magic? The limitation didn’t seem to apply.

“Interesting.”

He swung it a few times and then stabbed it casually into his hand.

As expected, he felt no pain. His power to neutralize all attacks from level 60 and below was functioning normally. This sword didn’t seem to have any magic as special as the enchantment that graced what Gazef had wielded.

Losing interest slightly, he cast a spell. “Appraise Any M—”

“Your Majesty, King of Darkness! How about it? Did you find anything that strikes your fancy?”

“A few things, so I’m in the process of deciding what to take.”

“I see! Well, I’m counting on you.”

Gondo had interrupted his spell, but Ainz tossed the sword back into the mountain of riches.

A sword he could use was intriguing, but at this point, that’s all it was. If he was going to take an item with him out of this place, he wanted something different, something that would really benefit him.

I guess it’s just magic items like this? It’s too bad, but, well, maybe it’s my fault for fantasizing about finding a World Item or something.

Ainz continued searching until he found something that pleased him.

“Gondo. I’ve made my selection. I don’t recall hearing about any national treasures like this, but will you check for me?”

4

“Okay, here I go.”

With that announcement to Shalltear, who stood at her side, Aura unfurled the World Item she had brought—a scroll—and activated its power.

Scenes of Nature and Civilization…

In a nutshell, it allowed the user to trap their target in an isolated space. More precisely, the world depicted on the World Item and the real world intersected, altering the real world to match the painting.

The target would be an area, just like how the super-tier spell the Creation worked, which included all things animate or not—if something was in that location, it had no way to resist.

In this case, everything inside the gigantic cave, including the capital city, was trapped in the alternate world created by Scenes of Nature and Civilization.

Naturally, since Ainz and Shalltear were protected by the World Items they carried, they weren’t imprisoned by the effects, instead merely appearing in the painting world that had been created to replace the reality that had been swallowed up. Since Aura had used the item, she was forcibly pulled into the alternate world.

The world of the painting seemed identical to the real world—except it was an illusion created by the World Item; that meant once the power of Scenes of Nature and Civilization was cut off, or people inside the area of effect stepped beyond the boundaries, any changes that occurred in the temporary painting world would all disappear like smoke. In other words, even if they acquired treasure in the painting world, that would go up in smoke, too.

Of course, Ainz and Shalltear entered the altered real world voluntarily. Normally, World Items didn’t affect people carrying World Items, but if they accepted the effects, that was a different story. Or more accurately, this function came about mainly thanks to a patch from the admins, who hated becoming stuck somewhere.

The user of Scenes of Nature and Civilization could choose one of a hundred different overlays for the alternate world.

For example, it could be a lava zone that dealt continuous fire damage, a freezing zone that dealt continuous chill damage, a shock zone where a lightning storm struck at fixed intervals, or a world with horrible visibility due to rainstorms or fog.

One strange option was an encircled battlefield. At set intervals, a sizable amount of reinforcements would show up to fight the enemies. But the reinforcements would be only about 60 percent as strong as their opponents’ average strength, so they wouldn’t be useful for much more than chipping away at the enemy and wearing them out.

The single combat battlefield overlay allowed the summoning of powerful fighters who had 80 percent of the user’s strength and in enough numbers to evenly match their opponents. If defeating the enemy was the goal, this was the best option.

The most fearsome property of this item wasn’t that it sucked people into an alternate world but that the user was able to select who the effects would apply to. In other words, even if the user created a lava zone, they could selectively grant some people immunity to the fire damage.

But there was a weakness.

With certain exceptions, each time the item was used, one of forty possible escape routes would be randomly implemented. If any of the targets managed to escape, they would gain possession of the item. Of course, none of the escape methods were simple, but compared to the other World Items, which required defeating the owner to steal, this one was easier.

Aura chose an alternate dimension; it was a simple closed area.

Other than offering nowhere to run or hide, there were no adverse effects on those who were trapped. There was still a single way to escape, though.

“Okay, Hanzos. I want you to camp at the exit. It would be a pain if anyone got away. C’mere.”

A Hanzo emerged from the shadows, and she whispered into his ear how the escape method worked.

She didn’t think anyone was hiding within her field of perception, but it was better to be on guard.

“So, Aura, how many people infiltrated this world after the beginning?”

“Hmm? Just two.”

That answer meant the enemy didn’t have any World Items. It was only natural that they both sighed in relief.

Shalltear scanned the rows of buildings lining the old capital’s streets. It was quite a large city, but everything seemed so still that it was as if all its inhabitants had fled.

She had to hurry up and catch the kuagoa clan king and give him the Supreme Being’s message, but her view was obstructed, and she couldn’t tell which building he was in.

“We can’t get rid of these vexatious buildings?”

“Huh? No. But we could manifest an area that deals continuous damage. Like, if they were wooden buildings, we could burn them in a lava zone.”

“Meaning, you refrained because it would wipe everyone out?”

“Yeah. We could have it run for a limited time and then round up all the survivors… But if the ore and whatnot melted, that would be a waste.”

Kuagoa fed their children various metals, so there had to be huge stockpiles of metals, gemstones, and ore in the city. Shalltear could understand how destroying those would be a shame.

“And Lord Ainz’s orders were to first see if they would accept his rule.”

“He also said to crush them if they rejected that proposition, didn’t he?”

“…Shalltear.”

When Shalltear saw Aura’s sharp look, she realized what she meant to say. “Never you fear. I definitely, definitely, definitely—Def. In. Ite. Ly.—won’t mess up.”

“If you say so.”

“I appreciate your understanding. I’m thinking ahead. Shall we get started?”

“Yeah, let’s. I can leave the culling to you, right?”

“I imagine I’m more suited to the task than you, but are you sure you’re all right with that?”

Aura’s strength depended on her magical beasts, so she wasn’t the best person for this job.

“Yeah… If Mare were here, he could cause an earthquake and decrease their numbers all at once, but…”

“He really does have the best area-of-effect attacks in all of Nazarick. I’m pretty proud of mine, too, but a location like this limits their effectiveness.”

In reality, if they used an earthquake to take out most of their targets, they wouldn’t be able to follow Ainz’s order about being selective. If they were allowed to disregard that, Shalltear could have simply used her kin to exterminate the kuagoa indiscriminately.

“That’s why he gave you the order, right? I’m pretty sure the point of this whole job was to give you the opportunity to learn.”

Aura reiterated what their master had already ordered her to do numerous times.

“Yes, that’s right…,” Shalltear replied and then casually asked something that had been bothering her. “Given the strength of the enemies we’ve been encountering, it’s hard to imagine anyone powerful enough to defeat death knights is here. Was it just a fluke? It seems more likely that they used some kind of item to send a summoned monster back… It’s rare for Lord Ainz’s hunch to miss the mark.”

She realized Aura was staring at her with narrowed eyes. Shalltear didn’t think her question merited such a reaction.

“What is it? Did I overlook something?”

“No, it’s not that. Mm… Ugh, you’re just so stupid.”

Shalltear looked back at her in dissatisfaction in spite of herself.

If she had missed something, Aura could have simply told her so. After some hesitation, she finally got an explanation.

“All right, the thing is, Lord Ainz would never make that kind of mistake.”

“Do you mean to say that the defeat of the death knights was part of his plan? The death knights created by Lord Ainz are high-level performers. Defeating them really wouldn’t have been possible for any of the enemies we’ve met thus far today…”

“Oh, that could be it, too.” Aura struck her palm with a fist. “I see. So Lord Ainz could have let them kill the death knights on purpose. I hadn’t thought that far, though; I’m just saying that his hunch didn’t miss the mark. Those death knights either fell into the Great Chasm when the bridge went down or were pushed in. There were death knight tracks past the fort but none on the other side of the crack. That means they were defeated while crossing. The cause of death could only really be one thing.”

“If that’s the case, doesn’t it mean Lord Ainz’s guess was wrong?”

“No! If he was being serious, then you would be right, but he wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Shalltear furrowed her brow in a lack of comprehension, which prompted Aura to stomp her feet in frustration.

“Agh! What do I mean? Exactly what I said! Look, Lord Ainz knows that the death knights died by falling into the Great Chasm.”

“What?!”

“Agh. Remember back when, you know, he was explaining it all to you. I was going to ask if the death knights had gotten pushed off the edge and if that was how they died, but Lord Ainz looked over and signaled me not to. Did you not see that? When he signaled me?”

Shalltear fluttered her eyelids in spite of herself. She in fact did remember him making some sort of gesture like that. She had thought it was merely to keep Aura quiet because she was about to say something, but given that this was one of the Supreme Beings and a genius strategist they were talking about, Aura’s idea made more sense than assuming Lord Ainz was wrong.

But then why was he explaining it to me like that?

“You’re making a
why?
face, but if you think about it for a second, you’ll understand.”

As if Aura’s impatient words were the cue, the whirlpool within Shalltear coalesced on a single point. “It wasn’t for my sake, was it? Are you saying he said all that as part of my training?”

“…What other reason could there be? On the way here, you were asking him all sorts of things about the possibility of encountering powerful enemies, right? If you had known the death knights had fallen into the Great Chasm, would you have asked that much? Oh, and don’t tell Lord Ainz that it was me who told you. I only did it because you were doubting his abilities…”

“Doubting his abilities?! I would never!”

She wished Aura wouldn’t say something so horrifying so calmly.

“Well, just keep it a secret. Because his gesture to me meant I shouldn’t tell you.”

“I will, of course.”

When she took a moment to think about it, Aura was committing an awful crime. She was ignoring an order from a Supreme Being. But she was doing it only because Shalltear had said something insolent.

Does that mean Aura is being disrespectful? Am I? Or maybe neither of us is? Hmm…

She was starting to get a headache, so she tried to wrap up the issue by deciding to keep it a secret and not mull it over anymore.

…But is that in itself disrespectful? Hrmm…

“…Hmm. By the way, Lord Ainz said to cut their number down to ten thousand if they weren’t going to submit, right? He said to make sure there were females, but what about children?”

“I’m planning on leaving some.”

“But those guys have that thing where their strength depends on what metal they eat as children, right? If we took control of them, the kids would be the easiest to brainwash, don’t you think, Shalltear?” Aura grinned teasingly. “The fact that Lord Ainz didn’t give you more detailed orders probably means…that this is a test. You could have just sent the Hanzos out and awaited instructions, but he told you to take care of it, right? I think that means he wanted to see how you would deal with the situation…like, ‘Can my guardian handle this?’”

Shalltear answered with a faint smile. She had already been thinking of her answer since then. “Four thousand each of males and females, plus two thousand young should be fine.”

“Hmm. Well, I guess. Seems like you coul— Huh?” Aura stopped mid-sentence and held her hands behind her long ears. Shalltear knew what she was doing, so she tried not to make any noise. Before long, Aura smiled. “Ah, I heard something that sounded like a ton of kuagoa on the move.”

“Are they evacuating? Or deploying troops?”

“Since I can only base this on sounds, I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think it’s evacuation. They seem to be spreading out beyond the city limits.”

There were supposedly sixty thousand kuagoa here. Subhumans grew stronger as they aged. In essence, they were all soldiers. If they mobilized even ten thousand and sent them into the city, their numerical superiority would be reduced by half.

Though the attacking forces were too small to be called an army, their incredible might should have been apparent to the kuagoa from the earlier incident with the dragons. Anyone with half a brain would commit forces to hold the rear while everyone else evacuated and then construct a position before luring in the enemy for a fight. If those enemies were holed up in the city, the appropriate strategy would be to encircle the place and conduct sporadic harassment attacks to tire them out before sending a crack team to storm in and end it.

Either way, they would need a large area for gathering the troops.

And that lined up perfectly with Shalltear’s objectives.

“So they’re over there. Okay, let’s start with negotiations.”

“Of course. We mustn’t keep Lord Ainz waiting.”

•

The total of over sixty thousand kuagoa who were capable of fighting awaited their enemy. The mobilization was so large because females who hadn’t gotten pregnant or given birth could fight alongside the males. But even directing the largest kuagoa army ever assembled, the clan king, Pe Riyuro, was unhappy.

This was just so out of the ordinary. The entire huge cave had suddenly been enveloped in a hazy fog.
What could it possibly mean?

The battle-ready army tidied up their ranks facing the capital. If the enemy got scared off by their numbers and didn’t even leave the city, that would be terrific. They had taken only the bare minimum of food with them when they left their homes, so the dwarves’ treasures were all still inside. The enemy would have to be stupid to find any merit in fighting.

But someone did come out of the city.

It was a figure in red armor and another figure with dark skin, clearly not dwarves.

Going by reports from the people who had witnessed the meeting between the strangers and the dragons out in front of the city, there should have been two others, but they were nowhere to be seen. Were they gathering up the treasure, and these two were simply buying time for them?

“Just to be sure, that’s not a golem, right?”

“No, the golems weren’t like that.”

According to Yoozu, the golems were huge and wore black armor.
This one in red armor is something different. Ah, but…

We should probably assume that it might be another type of golem. But why has it marched out here against an army tens of thousands strong? It can’t be that it’s meeting us head-on because it’s confident it can wipe us out…right? No, no, that’s impossible no matter how powerful it is.

Riyuro shook his head to clear away the horrific image from his mind.

True, he was shocked that they created this strange atmosphere, and they seemed unimaginably strong. The dragons had even submitted without a fight, so their power had to be immense.

But the kuagoa had assembled over sixty thousand warriors. This wasn’t a force on the scale of hundreds or thousands. There was no way they could put up a proper fight against numbers like these.

But if this was a golem, maybe it made more sense.

Golems didn’t fatigue like living things. Since golems could fight on forever, if this one was powerful enough to kill Riyuro, then theoretically, it would be able to kill them all.

Theoretically, of course.

If one in every few kuagoa was lucky enough to scrape it, thousands of minor injuries would eventually add up to cause enough damage to defeat it.

There was strength in numbers. These sixty thousand kuagoa could have even taken down the dragon king in a straight land battle.

“I’m going to talk to them. You guys stand by here. If I get killed…well, then you can do whatever you want.”

“It’s too dangerous!” An aide stated the obvious.

“…It’s impossible to discuss things with a golem, so I guess I’ll be addressing the dark one. I just need to find out what they’re after.”

Riyuro was committed to attempting a dialogue no matter what anyone else said.

He had no doubt their opponents were powerful. If he could hear them out and negotiate, he was fine paying them. If they were going to drive away the dragon royalty, he had no problem paying respects to them instead of the dragons. Or if they would side with the kuagoa, he was happy to offer compensation better than whatever the dwarves had promised.

“No one come with me. If we go in a group, it could start a battle.” With that last comment to his aides, Riyuro set off.

Since the ranks parted, the other side seemed to realize he was approaching. They stopped moving and observed him.

“Sorry for the wait.”

The first thing he said caused the other two to exchange glances.

Riyuro looked around. No, they weren’t there. The other two who had confronted the dragons—the dwarf and the one wearing a skull helmet—were nowhere to be found.

“Hmm? Who are you?”

It was the little one with dark skin who spoke.

Was that a sign the red one really was a golem? It seemed like a humanoid made larger and with whiter skin, so maybe it was one? But observing it with sidelong glances, he somehow had the feeling it was a crafted object, so he had no idea what its true identity was.

“I’m Pe Riyuro, the clan king of the kuagoa of this region. Who the h—who are you?”

“We’re here with a great king who ordered us to come conquer you.”

It can talk!

The one in the red armor answered. He had heard that golems couldn’t talk, so it must not have been a golem after all.

Riyuro suppressed his surprise and answered, “Conquer?”

“Yes. Our king came here to take over. Now, get on your knees and bow your head.”

All right, what should I do?
Riyuro thought as fast as he could.

He didn’t really object to bowing his head and welcoming their new ruler. He was fine growing his influence beneath the conqueror and rising up later.

The issue was whether it would be okay to agree to enter under someone’s rule without knowing their strength. Apparently, a dragon had bowed to him, but that dragon hadn’t been the dragonlord. What if after agreeing to be ruled, he was ordered to fight the dragonlord?

“…I believe there were two others with you. Where are they now?”

“There’s no need for you to know. The only words you’re allowed to speak right now are ‘We accept your rule’ or ‘We decline.’”

It seemed like they weren’t about to disclose any information. In which case he needed to investigate whether they really intended to fight. Perhaps their confident attitude was mere bravado. And he had no idea how strong they were.

“You say you are conquering us, but can you try to understand how it would be extremely difficult to accept your rule without knowing how powerful you are?”

The implication was that if they would reveal the extent of their power, the kuagoa would submit. But the pair looked at each other and shrugged.

“I see. If you don’t accept, our orders are to cull your numbers and subjugate you by force. We’ll fight a deadly battle until there are four thousand males, four thousand females, and two thousand children remaining. You probably know best which of your people are most valuable, right?”

“Once there are only ten thousand left, you’ll all be taken to the Nation of Darkness.”

For a moment, the clan king was overcome by fear.

Not at the cruelty of their words but because it had been declared in such a matter-of-fact tone with no trace of arrogance.

These two had no doubts it was possible.

Yes.

These two thought it was perfectly natural that they should be able to take on all sixty thousand of the kuagoa soldiers on their own.

Are they mad? Or overly confident? Or…

Riyuro had no idea how to respond to their unprecedented attitude.

There was no way the kuagoa could accept whatever outrageous orders these people would have without a single fight.

Perhaps sensing his hostility, the pair turned to each other, and their expressions warped.

Dwarves were covered in hair, at least, so they were easier to identify with. These two had hair only on the tops of their heads, so he couldn’t quite comprehend their expressions. The racial barrier was thick.

“P-please wa—” He couldn’t get out the rest of his
Please wait
.

“Okay, so we’ll go ahead and start decreasing your population now. Don’t even think about handing your outfit off to someone else.”

Kuagoa didn’t have a habit of wearing clothes. They already had hair covering their whole body.

But the king had a king’s authority, and there needed to be some easy way to make that understood. For that reason, Riyuro wore clothes as well as a crown he had the dwarves make as the symbol of the clan king. He also figured that if he gave the outfit to someone else to act as his double, someone from a different race wouldn’t notice.

It was clear they had seen through that ploy and were warning him against trying.

Certainly, killing the king was the simplest victory condition. But then, why hadn’t they done that yet?

No, that’s not it. There must be another reason… Could it be…? Agh, that’s it. It’s not so they can kill me. It’s so they
don’t accidentally
kill me!

The racial barrier was thick. They must have been saying, in a patronizing manner, that as long as he was wearing the clothes, they would be able to tell it was him, so they would spare him.

“Will you go back over there now? If they move toward us, we’ll start, so before that happens, we’d appreciate it if you’d select who you want to survive.”

“Yes, go on back.”

They waved at him to go away. They didn’t even seem like they were interested in negotiating anymore.

This was so far beyond anything he had expected.

I’m saying we’re willing to yield, but they won’t compromise at all? If they’re not willing to do that much, then…do they really find our lives to be of so little value?

Their reply made Riyuro feel so helpless that he found himself desperate to suppress his fear.

There’s no way… They can’t possibly bring these sixty thousand soldiers down to ten thousand… Oh. That must be it. They saw our army, and it drove them insane!

Common sense said that had to be the answer. Even a dragon wouldn’t be able to decrease these numbers so—

At that moment, it dawned on him.

Maybe they’ll fly, attack from the air, then pull away!

If they fought like dragons, things would get difficult.

Gathering his army in such a large, open area would backfire on him.

Would it be better to send everyone back to the residential zone?

That would be dangerous. If the enemy had the power to destroy buildings, a great deal of chaos would befall their homes. Yes, this was the only battlefield Riyuro could fathom.

His aides gathered around him when he returned to his army.

“Was it a golem…? Is something wrong? You seem unwell.”

It was likely the fear that pair had brought out was bleeding into his expression. He rubbed his face and issued orders.

“Yeah… For now, assemble the blue and red kuagoa.”

“A team of bodyguards?”

“Not just them—all the heroes from each tribe.”

•

Riyuro let out a brave howl. It was a war cry with a special power he had acquired when he became the chief clan king who ruled over all. Seeing more than ten thousand warriors charging toward the enemy was truly a sight to behold. But the result was too horrific to watch. They crashed against an invisible wall like a wave.

What went spraying, however, wasn’t water droplets but kuagoa—or what used to be kuagoa. A dragon or a frost giant might have been able to do that. But their opponent this time was smaller than they were.

“They went flying…,” one of the aides murmured in shock.

It wasn’t a metaphor. The attacking kuagoa really did go flying. And not one by one. Dozens were blown away at a time.

The fleshy remains of their bodies rained down over their comrades. The soldiers doused in sticky bits of gore paid no mind and charged ahead, only to be splattered as scraps of flesh on the ones behind them. It was a truly nightmarish scene.

The fact that for some reason it seemed like there were no airborne droplets of blood only made it more surreal.

“Wh-wh-what is that thing?!”

Riyuro didn’t have the energy to answer his aide’s scream. But his thoughts overflowed and became words on their own. “I didn’t think it would be so…”

“My king! What in the world is that thing?! The golem I saw doesn’t even compare!”

With each attack, the charging kuagoa all hurtled away. It wasn’t even a fight anymore. It wasn’t even a massacre. This was processing. The fellow kuagoa he had gathered for maximum power were being disposed of as unnecessary chaff.

“I—I think our only choice is to run!”

“To where?” Riyuro snapped at his panicking aide. “Where are we supposed to escape to inside this strange space? They said they’re going to kill us until there are only ten thousand left!”

The aides were speechless.

Having witnessed that overwhelming—that monstrous power, they knew it was neither an empty threat nor a joke. It was hard to believe, but they had no choice: Only ten thousand of their sixty thousand people would be allowed to live.

He wondered if it would be possible to beg for a pardon even now, but there wasn’t any warmth in that pair’s eyes. Compared to them, the dragonlord’s eyes had been overflowing with kindness.

I’m sure they won’t change their minds.

“This can’t be happening! My king! What is that thing?! What have the dwarves enlisted?”

“Why is that little runt so powerful…?”

The aide’s murmur made Riyuro realize something. “Maybe the thing in red is another dwarven weapon? When they realized their golems were defeated, they sent in something more powerful.”

“…Does that mean if we defeat this, something even more powerful will show up?”

In the air filled with the shrieks of the soldiers, only Riyuro’s immediate area fell abruptly silent.

“We should have the soldiers withd—”

“No! Have them fight! We have no other option! No matter how powerful that thing is, it must get tired at some point. We’ll wait until it can’t swing its weapon any longer and then go negotiate again. We just need a bit more of a compromise.”

“I—I see. But…will that thing really get tired?”

Riyuro had been thinking the same thing in a corner of his mind. But…

“All living beings do. It certainly has greater physical capabilities than we do, but it will get exhausted at some point. We have to make that thing keep swinging its weapon until then…! It might even get sick of killing before it gets tired and decide to talk to us again.” The clan king was forced to say the thing he didn’t want to say. “Besides, we can’t fight against that thing and win! Not a monster like that!”

There was no chance that the soldiers would suffer a mental break and flee. Riyuro’s battle cry turned his subordinates into fearless warriors. Similar to a Berserker’s Berserk skill, it boosted attack power in exchange for lowering defense. And most importantly, it granted perfect resistance to all types of fear. The fact that those affected would follow the clan king’s orders no matter how risky could be considered both a pro and a con.

As the soldiers continued their charge without so much as looking back, it took almost no time for the large force’s numbers to dwindle.

By then, no one had the wherewithal to open their mouths.

There was no one who wasn’t completely discouraged by this massive disaster, even more so because it was being committed by a single person.

No, there was one exception.

That one—Riyuro—mustered the last of his courage.

“Chosen heroes!”

There was no roar.

He was looking at the red and blue kuagoa with special powers who had been gathered, the team made up of the strongest members of each clan.

The reason no one responded was that they were all watching the figure in red armor with despair in their eyes.

They probably felt like winning was impossible. When they had first come together, there had been more of a twinkle in their eyes. But now all the light was gone, and their gazes seemed dead.

To avoid lowering their defenses, he hadn’t made them into berserkers, but maybe he should have.

The king raised his voice to see if he could rouse them even a little bit. “You all are our most powerful weapons! Our opponent has killed many of us, so it must be incredibly exhausted! If anyone can show this thing some pain, it’s you lot!”

He said it was incredibly exhausted, but there was no sign of that. The figure in red armor was still sending dismembered kuagoa attackers flying as if it didn’t feel even the slightest fatigue, swinging its strange spear-like weapon unhindered.

“Yes! As long as that thing is a living being, it must be getting tired! You can defeat it! Go, heroes!” He roared at them, practically begging, and sent them off.

Then he instructed the other soldiers to let them through to charge the enemy in red armor. Then the heroes attacked it and…

Riyuro slowly closed his eyes.

“Oh, my king. My great king…”

When his aide spoke, he opened his eyes.

“You…you don’t have to say anything. I know. I…I saw it, too.”

Nothing—not a single thing—had changed.

Just like the rank-and-file soldiers, the chosen heroes were sent flying as chunks of meat. And it had taken only an instant. The heroes met the same end as all the others.

“…What in the world…? What could this be…?”

There was nothing else Riyuro could say. He had no idea what the figure in red armor was, but he knew for sure that it was stronger than a dragon.

Riyuro no longer had the will to do anything. If he just waited silently, eventually their opponents’ wishes would come to pass.

“…They said two thousand children. Make the selection.”

“My king…”

“…There’s nothing else we can do. If ten thousand survive, then…we should…we should have a chance to rebuild in the future.”

No one said anything in reply—because they all understood.

This was the only option they had.

Riyuro helplessly hung his head. He felt like he had been walking down a safe path only to find himself ambushed by a monster. “What’s the Nation of Darkness anyway? What does it have to do with the dwarves? Someone please explain…,” he murmured from the bottom of his heart.

But though it made him feel sick, he knew the horror in front of him was only a taste of the tragedy to come.

Suddenly, he noticed the basket his attendant was carrying. The basket of lizards he had been eating. He knew this was no time for a snack, but the stress made him reach out. He had an energetically wriggling lizard clenched in his hand and was about to bite its head off when a sharp pain in his stomach doubled him over.

There was no way they would win against the absolute power that would conquer them. The idea of rebuilding was such an obvious lie, he disgusted himself. No matter how many generations passed, they would never be able to successfully revolt. The kuagoa of the Azerlisia Mountains would forevermore be bound to serve this horrible master, chains around their necks.

The wildly struggling lizard slipped out of Riyuro’s hand and disappeared into the mass of soldier legs. “Ahhh,” he lamented pathetically and felt so pitiful that he began to softly weep. “If you’re that strong, just say so! Why…why didn’t you tell us?”

The sobs of the most celebrated king, both in all kuagoa history and certainly their future, melted into the cries of the children being disposed of by friendly soldiers.

5

Ainz exited the treasury with Gondo. The dragons were waiting prostrate outside. Including Hejinmaar, there were fourteen total. That meant all the dragons he had mentioned were present, so there was no need to go running around catching anyone.

…It’s fine if they all out obey me, but it’s also a shame that we can’t acquire any additional dragon corpses… Should I just kill a few for some random reason? No, that would be brutish. If I’m going to do that, I should have them reproduce and harvest the… Hmm? I guess that’s just as bad.

“Your Majesty, Great King of Darkness. I’ve gathered those who swear allegiance to you.”

Ainz was lost in thought when Hejinmaar spoke to him. He decided to give up on those thoughts for the moment and answer. “Raise your heads.”

The dragons all looked up at once.

Given the dragons’ size, once they raised their heads, they were far taller than Ainz, but he didn’t feel like he was being looked down upon in the slightest.

There were a few puzzled gazes, though.

They had heard what happened, but it was probably hard to believe that Ainz had killed their father with one blow. Ainz would probably feel the same way if their positions were reversed.
There are plenty of things you can’t believe till you’ve seen them.

Just as he thought that, one of the dragons shouted.

“I can’t accept it! Who is the one who slew our father?”

Ainz walked over to the dragon. Then he smiled and said
Come at me
with a hand gesture.

The dragon’s claws came toward him immediately.

They were fast but still slower than the troll Ainz had fought recently.

He made no effort to dodge, instead taking the attack head-on. Waiting to confirm that the dragon, thinking it had landed an attack too fast to dodge, lost its beaming smile after realizing Ainz simply had no need to dodge. Then Ainz cast a spell.

“Grasp Heart.”

The dragon crumpled just like his father had, and Ainz shifted his gaze to the others.

“Anyone else?” he asked quietly, and the dragons all lowered themselves even farther than before, scraping the ground. No one doubted his power anymore.

After Ainz tossed the dragon corpse through a Gate, he and Gondo got up on Hejinmaar.

The mother dragons were much larger, so they might have been a more appropriate mount for the conqueror than Hejinmaar, but Ainz figured he had ridden the dragon this far, so he might as well finish things this way.

“Go outside. Some of my subordinates should be waiting there.”

They and the group of dragons all left the capital and were led by a Hanzo to an area where a ton of kuagoa were prostrating themselves.

The sight of more kuagoa than he could count all bent over on the ground was so strange that Gondo emitted a hoarse little yelp.

Ainz felt like reacting the same way, but he couldn’t very well act like that in front of his two guardians, who were smiling as if to say,
Look at what a good job we did
.

“Lord Ainz! They’ve been selected as you ordered: four thousand males, four thousand females, and two thousand children. The rest are all corpses now. We also had them recover the corpses that were in decent condition, so they’re gathered up elsewhere.”

“I see. So we offered them mercy, and they rejected both our offer and the idea of having gratitude for it. The fools.”

He noticed the kuagoa kneeling at the front of the group shudder.

“And where’s the one they call king?”

“Over there.” When he looked in the direction Shalltear pointed, sure enough, it was the kuagoa from earlier.

Before calling out to him, Ainz activated his black halo. According to his research, this made him seem more ruler-like.

With the sound of the dragons shivering in his ears, he spoke to the king.

“King of the kuagoa! Raise your head.”

“Yes, sir!”

Trembling, the kuagoa king looked up. Then he opened his eyes wide and stopped in place as if frozen.

The
hoo
of an exhalation sounded extra loud.

“…I’m known as a compassionate king. I consider the crime of failing to accept my offer immediately to have been paid for with the blood of your race. If you’ll all work hard for me, I’ll guarantee your prosperity.”

“Yes, sir! Even our children and grandchildren will humbly serve you with all their might.”

“That’s a fine answer. I like that very much.”

“Thank you, sir!”

When Ainz waved his hand to signal that the conversation was over, the king lowered his head once more.

Nice! I guess all my practice has paid off.

He did a mental fist pump to celebrate that all the trial and error in the mirror testing out different lines had been worthwhile. Then he turned to the two guardians who had performed so well.

“You both did magnificently. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you!”

“My heart is bursting with the thought that those words have washed away my previous shame!”

“Uh, okay…”

Seeing how happy Shalltear was, Ainz was sure he had said the right thing.

“And are the numbers all right? If there are still too many, I can cull them as much as you wish.”

“N-no… I think this is a fine amount. By the way, was there anyone around there very strong? Not compared to us, but someone who would be considered strong in this world.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see anyone like that…”

“N-no. The kuagoa you were just talking to is apparently comparatively strong. Although we didn’t see him do anything.”

“I see…”

How the death knights were killed was still a mystery. Perhaps it was a fluke. Or maybe…

I suppose it’s possible they fell into the Great Chasm…

Ainz was mortified it had taken him so long to come up with that idea. He had been discussing their defeat in such a heated way with Shalltear that the thought his guess was wrong was…no longer enough to make his face blush with shame. But the smoldering remnants of embarrassment made him want to writhe on the ground. Especially when he recalled that Shalltear seemed to have been taking notes, he…was returned to a stable emotional state.

I should probably just gloss over this in the most convenient way possible.

But if he blundered here, he might end up with someone pointing out that he had said one thing when reality was different.

This is bad! This is really bad! I shouldn’t have gotten so full of myself and said all that stuff. Man, I wanna cry.

Ainz heaved a sigh.

Well, when I think about it, maybe this is a good time to show the guardians that I do make mistakes sometimes. If I could gradually get the guardians to see me not as some kind of amazing ruler but as a decent, normal ruler, maybe I’d be freed from some of this stress. And then maybe the guardians would keep an eye out for my errors and give me advice.

He had heard dragons possessed sharp senses, so he made up an order as an excuse to send them away and then shifted to a location slightly removed from the kuagoa. Gondo seemed sad that he had been left behind, but this time he would just have to bear it.

Once it was only the three of them, Ainz swallowed hard.

What he was about to do could ruin everything he’d worked so hard to accomplish so far. He was nervous about changing the status quo, as well as what might happen next. Despite his inability to feel fear, he was slightly scared. Even so, he mustered his courage.

“I have a question for the two of you… Do you remember how I said there might be a being here strong enough to defeat the death knights?”

The two of them exchanged glances with some recognition.

“Yes, that’s right. Apparently, it was my mistake. The dragon I killed might have been able to defeat the death knights, but aside from that, there doesn’t seem to be anyone.”

“We know, Lord Ainz. You were teaching us a lesson. That you would take the blame for my inadequacy… I’m so grateful for your compassionate consideration, Lord Ainz!”

“…Huh?”

Strangely, the two of them were looking at him with reverent eyes. Shalltear’s were especially over-the-top. Her cheeks flushed red, and her eyes were moist. She was so emotional, it seemed like she would burst into tears if she didn’t strain, keeping her lips tight.

What did I say that was so worthy of respect?
Ainz was confused. What was it that had tugged at their heartstrings?

But what Shalltear said… Would the right thing to do be to deny it? N-nah, she did get some training on this trip. So I’ll go along with it this time, Shalltear!

“It would appear you saw through my plan, eh, Shalltear?”

“My lord!”

The light in both guardians’ eyes grew even brighter.

Huh?
He did wonder, but he felt it was best to say what he meant to say.

“But I do sometimes make mistakes and misread things. I want you to remember that in some corner of your minds.”

“My lord! I hardly think you, our great ruler, could ever do such a thing, but I understand!”

Shalltear had apparently reached her limit and began to sob, still keeping herself low to the ground. As she wept, enduring her pain, teary-eyed Aura placed a hand on her shoulder. It was a touching scene that displayed the friendship between them, but Ainz had no idea what was going on, so he escaped reality by wondering how Shalltear could secrete bodily fluids like tears and drool when she was an undead.

He was completely confused as to how things had reached this point. But he decided it was fine.
Yep, the world is full of things we have to accept without understanding in order to avoid trouble—like explanations during addresses given by the company president.

He got the sense he was shoving this particular issue off onto his future self, but he decided to be satisfied with the thought that in the future, he would be smarter. Ainz did the only thing his current self knew to do.

He crouched down in front of Shalltear and wiped her tears away like a parent would do for a child.

At that instant, her eyes flooded anew.

“Lode Aind.”

“There, there. Don’t cry, Shalltear. I’ve said it before, but all your beauty will go to waste, you know?”

“Wuhd I usevul to you?”

“Yes, you did a magnificent job. I’d expect nothing less from my guardians.”

“Lode Aiiiind!”

She clutched at his robe.

“Er, mm-hmm. It’s about time to stop crying now, don’t you think?”

“Y-yes…” Shalltear looked up at him with her crinkled face. “Thank you so much for being so merciful.”

“Sure. Mm. Now, let’s move on to the next order of business. We have lots to do.”

•

The regency council had been clamorous since the morning, but when the latest news came in, it fell silent.

The dwarves couldn’t decide whether to hang their heads or pull their hair out. Not a single one of them managed to maintain his composure.

Someone finally murmured, “…He’s back.”

“…How…? That was so fast. Did he really…take back the capital?”

“…Are you complaining?”

“How could you say such a thing about the monster—err, great one who has returned after conquering the dragons that made our palace their lair? How brave you are. You’re every bit as courageous as this legendary hero of a king… Please tell His Majesty the King of Darkness that we believe him wholeheartedly.”

The messenger reported that the king came back riding a dragon.

Dragons were said to be proud due to their immense power. Thus, dominating a dragon was an astonishing feat, and the question of how he had managed it was deeply intriguing.

Common sense might say that he coerced the creature to obey using magic, but anyone who knew the King of Darkness could imagine the possibility that he had frightened the dragon into submission with brute force.

No, that was probably the more likely option. Surely he didn’t need to use magic to subjugate the dragon. They could even imagine it bowing down after receiving a single glance from the king.

The chief of the food industry heaved a sigh and looked around at everyone with a stony expression. “So what are we going to do? We’re out of time. His Majesty is already back. We need to go see him right away, which means we have to decide this now—about the chief of the smith shops!”

The chief of the smith shops had taken the ingot from the King of Darkness and fled the country.

It went without saying that it was unforgivable to leave the country with an item from another nation’s king who had requested an item be made from it. This incident would surely hound them into the future when they opened trade with other countries.

This was a lethal wound to a country that was planning on doing major trade in the blacksmithing industry.

Who would commission work from a country that was responsible for such a scandal? And it wasn’t just any smith who had run off with the ingot. It was one of the leaders of the nation! In the worst case, it wouldn’t be strange for people to think the country itself had masterminded the crime.

Having envisioned what the future might bring, they launched a search and had also been discussing how to cope if they didn’t find him.

But no one had been able to come up with something that seemed like it would work—something that would earn the King of Darkness’s forgiveness.

“…I still just can’t believe it. He wouldn’t take the ore and run off like that…,” the chief of administration murmured, but it was a meaningless utterance in this room. The time that those words could have made an impression on someone was long past.

The supreme commander looked coldly at him. “Then, what are you saying happened? There’s no question that the chief of the smith shops had it with him and now he’s gone. We even have eyewitness testimony from people who saw him exit the city!”

“…You don’t think the King of Darkness was controlling them?”

The room fell silent.

No one agreed. On the contrary, the supreme commander looked displeased.

“To say something like that about the person who retook our capital—a feat that was impossible for us—just because you don’t want to admit that a friend and fellow dwarf committed a crime… Honestly, it makes you trash.”

“Stop it, Commander! You know he’s put the most effort into the search out of all of us—he’s tired!”

“I don’t think this is an issue of shooting your mouth off out of exhaustion.”

“Now, now, Commander, let’s save unconstructive conversations like that for later. We have more important things to decide. Should we inform the King of Darkness right away? I don’t think it would be a horrible idea to not tell him and buy time while we search some more…”

The chief of the merchant council shook his head. “That’s a bad move. It would look like we withheld information. Better to come clean and beg for forgiveness. In the first place, are we really going to find him? If he’s unlucky, he could be in some monster’s belly right about now. If we could at least get the ingot back, it would be fine… That idiot.”

It wasn’t the sort of thing to say about a friend, but no one stopped him from disparaging the chief who had caused this huge issue. On the contrary, the supreme commander was even nodding in agreement.

“That he didn’t take the dagger is the only silver lining. But still. If we apologize…will His Majesty forgive us? Not that we have any other choice…”

“Giving an honest explanation of what happened is more important than the apology itself. And then we just need to be prepared to accept whatever demands he might have.”

Everyone agreed.

“What do you think his demands are likely to be?”

The stolen ingot was a type of metal the dwarves had never seen before, so it was difficult to properly appraise its value. That meant they couldn’t suggest an amount to pay in compensation. If they proposed an amount that was too low, it wouldn’t be strange for the king to be angry.

Their only choice was to have the King of Darkness set the price. But they imagined that he would rather have something else besides money. They just didn’t know what.

“I have no idea. Maybe the question should be how much we are willing to accept? Or rather…what would we turn down?”

“Can we even? Seems impossible. This city may have historical value, but we don’t have any national treasures with magical or physical powers.”

Back when an evil spirit trampled the capital, only one dwarf from the royal family survived. That last king, known as the Rune Crafter King, took their most powerful magic item and left the country, so they had no national treasures to speak of.

“…Mph! That’s it! What about the treasury in the capital?”

“Like I said before, it’s pretty lame to offer that to someone who reclaimed the city… Though it’s true we have nothing else.”

Looking around, he saw that everyone was nodding in agreement.

“…We just have to hope the dragons didn’t break in.”

“Don’t even talk like that… Okay, so I guess this time we should have His Majesty come alone?”

Hmm? One’s missing. Did something happen?

When Ainz entered the room, the dwarves were all wearing calm expressions.

The one who spoke as representative was… Well, Ainz wasn’t sure because they all had the same face. He at least knew that it wasn’t the supreme commander.

The various comments expressing gratitude beginning with “Thank you for taking back the capital” wore Ainz out because they went on for so long. And just as he was starting to forget what had even been said during the earlier part of the speech, the commander’s mood suddenly changed.

“Now, we also have a profound apology to make, Your Majesty, King of Darkness. Your Majesty gave our colleague, the chief of the smith shops, an ingot, and he has run away with it. We’re currently searching but haven’t been able to find him or the ingot thus far… You trusted us with the ingot, and this incident has resulted in a total breach of that trust. I don’t know how we can apologize…”

All the dwarves bowed their heads.

To be honest, Ainz had no idea what was going on. So first he asked, “Why would he do that?”

They said he made off with the ingot, but was his idea to sell it to someone? Was it valuable enough to abandon a national leadership position in the regency council?

For a moment, he wondered if a player was behind this. Maybe someone had infiltrated the dwarf kingdom. But a player probably wouldn’t want an ingot like that so badly. Ainz hardly thought it was worth enough to even a low-level player that they would want to throw away their status. There was far greater merit in staying undercover as a leader in this country.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know. None of us has any idea why he would do something so outrageous.”

“…Then, here’s the next question. What about the armor I ordered?”

The dwarves exchanged glances.

“…No matter how much we apologize, it could never be enough. Though he left the dagger, he ran off with the ingot, so at present, we’re unable to return it to you. We sent out a search party, so if we obtain it in the future, please allow us to return it then. And if it pleases you, we would like to give you a different suit of armor… Compared to the ingot you provided, it’s inferior, but we did our absolute best.”

“It’s adamantite armor. We’d like to present you with three suits. And we’ll enchant them as much as our powers allow.”

“If you’d like shields as well, they’ll be orichalcum, but we can make them.”

“Hmm.” If he was the type to lodge complaints, he’d be having a fit right about now, but he didn’t want to be like that. Certainly, losing the ingot was—

—a pain, but is it really? It wasn’t that rare, and I still have plenty of ore of that quality… And it could be that it can be mined in other areas and simply doesn’t appear around here. In that case, having them make me a bunch of armor is a better deal. They even said they would enchant them… And if they find the ingot, they’ll return it? Normally, you wouldn’t ask for it back at that point, so this is a pretty sweet deal.

“…There’s not much that can be done if you don’t have it. What you proposed in return is fine. Consult with Zenbel later and craft it to his specifications.”

The dwarves were visibly relieved.

He wondered if he should have made things a bit more difficult for them. But if he got too stingy, his caliber as a king could come into question. More importantly, if he accepted everything they offered, perhaps word would spread that he was a broad-minded leader.

Still, maybe I can ask for one more thing.

“…There is one other thing I’d like to request.”

“…What might that be, Your Majesty, King of Darkness?”

The hardness in his voice must have been wariness.

“You don’t have to be so on guard. It’s not such a big deal. I’d just like your country’s backing when I invite the rune crafters to my land.”

“What would that entail?”

“Would you, as a country, hold a ceremony to inform everyone that they’ll be going to work in my country? I’m sure the rune crafters would appreciate it, too.”

The dwarves looked at one another and then nodded without quibbling.

“Great. Then, my country will handle the food to be served and whatnot to some extent. Since we’ll be preparing for that, may I stay here for a little while? That’s no problem, right?”

None of the dwarves objected.

Ainz couldn’t help but smile internally. This meant he wouldn’t have to go back to E-Rantel for some time.

He had expected it to take longer, but the negotiations and retaking of the capital had both happened so quickly that it was problematic.

First, when Albedo returned, he wanted to tell her via Message about the empire’s wish to be a vassal state and have her come up with a plan along with Demiurge when he went back for his regular check-in. If Ainz was there, too, that would be extremely bad, so he had been wanting a reason to not return.

The other perfectly natural reason was that he wanted to deepen his friendship with the dwarves.

There were three types of information he hoped to gather in this city.

One: whether there were players around or not. At present, it seemed like not, but whether there had been a long time ago was unknown.

Two: about runes and their history. He still didn’t know enough. He had heard a lot from the rune crafters, but although runes had existed for quite some time, it was unclear who had introduced and spread them. One of the reasons for that was the chaos following the evil spirit attack, but Hejinmaar’s book didn’t mention anything about it. Neither did any of the books in the treasury.

Three: about their knowledge of blacksmithing and ore. He had already gained the rune crafters, so he could learn bit by bit from them. But there didn’t seem to be any prismatic ore after all.

In regards to number two, he was hoping to have investigated more thoroughly when they went to the capital. That was why he wanted to build a stronger friendship with the dwarves.

•

A long table was covered in a number of plates heaped with food.

The warm dishes were giving off good smells that wafted over to Ainz.

The undead Ainz Ooal Gown had no appetite, but the vestiges of Satoru Suzuki did. He felt both that he wanted to eat it and also curious about what the flavor would be like.

This body really is a mixed bag.

He could suppress the hunger, but the curiosity was harder to control—because it functioned normally despite him having an undead body and mind.

If the food in front of him had been from E-Rantel or Nazarick, he might not have been as intrigued, but this was dwarven fare.

The rune crafters would bring their families with them to the Nation of Darkness, and this food had been prepared by wives and mothers. Of course, the huge amount of ingredients, probably about two thousand people’s worth, was procured by Ainz—that was to say, Nazarick.

Of course, he couldn’t go using items willy-nilly, so he mainly limited himself to what he could obtain in E-Rantel. The meat was sourced from the dragons of these mountains, and the drinks he had the merchants remaining in E-Rantel gather from the kingdom and the empire.

There was already so much food, but even now, the women were bringing out more freshly made dishes.

Dwarven men and women didn’t look very different from each other. The biggest difference was the beards. The men’s were long and sometimes braided, while the women hardly grew any. That said, they grew about as much as a human man, although they seemed to prefer shaving the upper lip.

I have no idea what they see in a look like that…but I guess that’s how culture works. The Nation of Darkness will gather people from diverse races. I won’t be successful if I get hung up on something so minor.

Ainz turned away from the group of women, who were still bringing out food. He looked past the group of dwarves, over their heads, to the dais behind them.

Some of the rune crafters were lined up there with the regency council.

Then one of the regency council members began to announce how the rune crafters would be going to the Nation of Darkness.

“And we’re off.”

“Yep.” The one who responded was Gondo, next to Ainz.

“…You’re okay not being one of the representatives up there?”

“Give me a break, Your Majesty. I’m practically useless as a rune crafter. It would be embarrassing to be a representative like that… But what about you?”

“I’d like a break, too… And the rune crafters are the focus right now. I’m not that great as a spokesperson.”

Ainz and Gondo turned to each other and quietly chuckled.

Of course, Ainz’s true feeling was that he had absolutely no interest in standing up onstage and giving an address. His comments just then were made up, with no small effort, on the spot.

“Still…” Gondo’s face grew serious. “We can’t possibly thank you enough.”

“For what?”

“For this farewell party. Look at all the people in charge.”

Ainz looked back to the group on the dais. They were still talking. Apart from that, he didn’t notice anything in particular. But if Gondo made a comment like that, there had to be something Ainz was supposed to recognize or otherwise risk looking like he couldn’t read the atmosphere.

“Hmm… I see…” He decided to go with a vague reply to throw him off.

“It’s just as you thought, Your Majesty. Everyone’s eyes look different now.”

“It does seem that way,” he replied, but he didn’t really get it. “But how come?”

Gondo looked amused. “We’re happy to get envious looks like we used to. Thanks to this ceremony—with all the tasty food made with ingredients we’ve never seen before and the large varieties of drink on hand—everyone understands that the rune crafters didn’t sell out to the Nation of Darkness but were invited.”

“I really do expect a lot out of you guys.”

“I know. I said this before, but I’ll definitely make up for all the kindness you’ve shown me, Your Majesty. And the others feel the same. We’re all truly grateful. Oh, seems like it’s about time, Your Majesty.”

Ainz took a full mug from Gondo. After raising it in time with the toast from those up on the dais, he handed it back to Gondo, since he couldn’t drink.

The dwarves immediately grew rowdy, as if they had been holding back. Many of them dashed for the buffet to pile their plates high with food. Then they scarfed down one item after another.

“What
is
this? It’s insanely good! Did your wife really make it?”

“Yep, with ingredients from His Majesty the King of Darkness. It took some trial and error.”

“Hmm, it’s tasty, but at my age, I think milder flavors agree with me better.”

“That goes best with a drink, you know.”

“Oh? Let’s see… Whoo! This is fantastic! It’s got the perfect amount of spice to it.”

“It’s because the drinks are good, too. I wonder if my wife could make something like this.”

“I heard that soon we’ll be getting food from the Nation of Darkness. Once that starts, you’ll be able to eat this whenever you like.”

“I’d rather have the alcohol. This is from the Nation of Darkness, too, right? I’d better save up some money.”

Everyone was shouting excitedly as they ate. There was also a conversation like this:

“I envy the rune crafters. They’ll probably get to eat like this all the time.”

“Nah, these ingredients are probably pretty expensive, don’t you think?”

“Supposedly not. It’s like how vegetables and whatnot are cheaper in the human countries. I heard it’s the same in the Nation of Darkness.”

“Mrrrf. Then, that does make me envious. And I’ve only had a bit so far, but the Nation of Darkness has excellent drinks, too.”

“Right. That one we only got a single sip of, that was tasty. But the stuff made with grapes was pretty good, too—though it’s a bit strong for me.”

“I wonder if we have any excuse to go to the Nation of Darkness.”

“I heard there’re plans in the works to allow citizens to come and go between the two countries.”

“Sheesh. I realize it’s only fairly high-ranking people who have come over, but shouldn’t they be a bit more careful about leaking info like that?”

“Nah, they’ll make a big announcement. It sounds like there are a lot of different things happening with this country… For example, I heard they recaptured the capital.”

“…Yeah, apparently, they subjugated the dragons roosting there. The Nation of Darkness is quite a country.”

Ainz listened to everyone chatting.

Rather than brownnosing because Ainz was present, it seemed they genuinely had good impressions of the Nation of Darkness. The two countries would probably be able to get along.

Ainz turned to Gondo with a satisfied smile. “Gondo, you should go talk to everyone. You probably won’t be back for a while.”

“Ah, right… Maybe I’ll go talk to people from the mines.” He was eyeing a cranky-looking dwarf. “What will you do, Your Majesty?”

“…A messenger has come from my country, so I’m going to talk with them for a little while. I’ll see you later.” Ainz raised a hand casually and then walked away.

He had been standing in the corner of the large hall, but now he left and went to the sitting/meeting/waiting room. In the rather luxurious space furnished with a table, chairs, and a closet, among other things, was Demiurge.

“Sorry to have you come all this way.”

“Not at all. Wherever you are, Lord Ainz, is where we should go.”

Ainz crossed the room and took a seat in one of the chairs. Then he instructed Demiurge to sit as well.

“…I took a look at the document. Sorry I troubled you to write it all down because I was out working here.”

The document was something Demiurge had written describing his preparations in the Sacred Kingdom and what would happen next. Ainz was worried that if he had received a verbal explanation, he would have screwed up somehow and revealed what a poser he was, hence this desperate tactic.

“…Still, I’m impressed, Demiurge. All I can say is that you’ve done a magnificent job.”

“Thank you, Lord Ainz.” Demiurge bowed deeply. “But I’m still nowhere near your skill… You split the dwarves with a giant wedge.”

The only things Ainz could think of that might be a
giant wedge
would be retaking the capital or extending his invitation to the rune crafters. But was that really what happened?

“…Mm-hmm. So you’ve already figured it out, huh, Demiurge? Do you think the dwarves will notice?”

“They’ll probably notice, but I think it’s already out of their hands.”

Why isn’t a third party present? Then I could use my usual trick
, he thought, and when he looked over, Demiurge was wearing a faint smile.

…What’s so funny?!

Ainz was utterly out of his depth, so Demiurge’s quiet grin pained him. Albedo’s similar smile was equally frightening. When he thought that the royal act he’d kept up all this time might become transparent, the heart he didn’t even have seemed to pound hard.

“If…they do notice, what do you think we should do?”

“I doubt you need to worry about it. All you did was offer food for the rune crafters’ farewell party, so if anyone says something, you can just laugh it off.”

…I wonder what he’s talking about.

“Then, I guess that’s fine.”

Having failed to lead the conversation where he was aiming, Ainz put a stop to that topic. It was too dangerous to pursue things too far with someone so intelligent.

“And what about the empire becoming a vassal state?”

“Yes, I met with Albedo and we drafted an idea. All that’s left is for you to read it and give us your thoughts.”

If Albedo and Demiurge came up with it, there’s no need for me to do anything
, was what he thought, but he said, “…Are you giving them carrots? Will they be a test case nearby countries can reference to see how well people are living in a Nation of Darkness vassal state?”

“I believe so.”

Good
, said Ainz in his head. Then, he didn’t even have to look at it to give the okay.

“Still, I’m just so impressed, Lord Ainz, by both this matter with the dwarves and the empire as well. The extent of what you can achieve is difficult to fathom.”

“No, that’s not true. You could easily do as much, Demiurge.”

Demiurge showed a rare expression for him—a wince—and shook his head.

“Now,
that
is not true, my lord. How far ahead—how many years—have you planned out the future of the Nation of Darkness?”

There was no way Ainz could say he didn’t even know what would happen tomorrow.

Ainz tried to think what would make him sound most like a ruler. Just then, the name of a guild from
Yggdrasil
popped into his head.

The Thousand-Year Kingdom.

They probably called it that out of the wish that their nation would go on for a thousand years. From there, some memories came back to him.

For some reason, their guild crest was a crane. When he asked Yamaiko why, she said it was probably from the saying about how cranes live a thousand years. And tortoises live…

“…Ten thousand years.” Having let it slip out without thinking, he furrowed his nonexistent brow. The scale there was a bit too enormous.

He quickly turned to Demiurge to correct himself but saw that it was already too late.

“R-really? That grand a scale?” Demiurge goggled, revealing his gemlike eyes.

Oh shit.

“I was jo—”

“—So then is the reason you’re trying to spread the use of undead not to plant latent forces that could instantly become a military force loyal to you at a snap of your fingers but to make the whole world dependent on you? If you’re taking such a long view, that must be it. Truly formidable, my lord…”

Ainz had no idea what Demiurge had just said, but there was only one way for him to respond:
I’d expect no less from you, Demiurge. You’ve seen through all my aims.
But wasn’t that attitude what had been causing him issues? So instead…

“Hoh-hoh-hoh. I hadn’t thought that far, Demiurge.”

“…Oh, is
that
it? I see. I’ll lock that away where it’ll be safe.”

Demiurge’s quiet grin made Ainz break out in a mental cold sweat.
Huh? What? Is
what
it…? I have a bad feeling that I just plunged into an even riskier situation…

But he didn’t know how to deal with it, so all he could do was force a smile. “Hoh-hoh-hoh. I’m counting on you, Demiurge.”

“Hoh-hoh-hoh… Understood, Lord Ainz.” And Demiurge responded with a nice smile Ainz had never seen before.

He felt like he wanted to cry, but he put some energy into his voice, which was threatening to tremble, and asked, “…So, Demiurge, regarding the documents you gave me…what times are you considering?”

“I’ll start in the fall and ask for you sometime around winter. There’s no issue with the start time, but depending on when they move, your part could shift slightly earlier or later, even if I guide them.”

“Well, you’ll be in charge. I’ll operate with full faith in your plan.”

“Thank you, Lord Ainz. Now, about the empire—”

“—Let’s talk about that when I get back. First, can you send over the draft?”

“Understood.”

“Then, I’ll be looking forward to the event you’re ringleading…”