The Paladin of the Sacred Kingdom Part I

The ceremony to become a squire involved an audience where one’s sword was dedicated to the holy king. And when someone else ascended to the throne, the same ceremony was held again, and the paladins swore allegiance to their new king. So all the paladins in the order had dedicated their swords to the Holy Lady.

“Or what?” The tone of her voice abruptly changed—to an icy one devoid of all warmth. “Do you think her wish to bring joy to the weak and make this a country where no one cries was wrong?”

“She wasn’t wrong! But given the circumstances…it needs to be changed!”

“By who? Who’s going to change it?! Tell me that. What greater justice is there than striving to not let a single person die?!”

Gustav fell silent.

Neia realized her earlier idea was mistaken.

Remedios wasn’t ruled by her devotion to the Holy Lady’s ideas.

She thought she should serve justice. That meant no matter how hard the road was, no matter how impossible it seemed, she had to stay the path and forge ahead.

Which was more just: saving the many at the expense of the few or wanting to save both the many
and
the few?

It went without saying.

The latter, of course. But it was too idealistic, and any normal person would give up on it right away. Remedios must have been aware of that, but still argued that they should save everyone.

She held up an ideal that normal people would abandon.

That was why she was such an elite paladin, as well as the commander of the Sacred Kingdom’s order.

Being unable to comprehend that Remedios was after that lofty justice made Neia feel like the pitiful one.

Perhaps some of the paladins felt the same way; a few hung their heads in shame.

The King of Darkness’s justice of abandoning one to rescue a thousand was a king’s justice, while Remedios’s justice of wanting to save both was the shining ideal.

They were both just. Neither was wrong. Still—

Unless you have power, your actions won’t achieve justice.

If there were some being Neia couldn’t even imagine, like a god, far more powerful than Remedios, who would help them, they would probably be able to save the child and the city’s people. Then there wouldn’t be a single issue.

But that wasn’t reality. They were stuck here precisely because no one could come up with a way to avoid losing lives.

You need power in order to serve justice. Ahhh, I wish I were strong… Then Jaldabaoth never could have sullied this land…

“…Sorry to interrupt while you’re duking it out with your opinions, but at this rate, you’re not going to reach a conclusion.”

The extremely levelheaded comment made all the heat in the atmosphere dissipate.

“Your Majesty…”

“Lady Custodio. At this rate, word will spread, just like last time, that hostages are effective. I don’t think there’s a way to take this city without anyone dying.”

“I disagree. There must be a better way—a way where no one dies or has to grieve!”

Remedios’s voice was pained, but the King of Darkness answered in an even tone. “I really doubt there is… This is taking too long, though. It’s just going to be a repeat of last time.”

Remedios bit her lip hard. It seemed like she drew blood.

“…So…Commander. That child will have to be a sacrifice.”

“But—!!”

“Right. I’ll handle the rest. With all the time that’s passed, even if you all attacked with the resolve to die if necessary, this won’t end with a mere few casualties.”

“Are you sure?!” Neia blurted instinctively. “Your Majesty’s mana is for fighting Jaldabaoth. Won’t you be at a disadvantage if you use some now?!”

“That’s true, Miss Baraja. But I have no choice if we’re trying to save as many people as we can… I can’t do it with no sacrifices, but there will be fewer than if you guys did it. So how about it? Shall I make the move?”

“There will be…sacrifices…?”

“Unfortunately, yes, Lady Custodio.”

Remedios hung her head and walked away—toward the city and where the anxious subjects looked on.

“Excuse us, Your Majesty. Allow me to ask for your help in her place,” said Gustav.

“Sure… This is a petty question, but…will you be grateful?”

The king’s question puzzled them for a moment, but they agreed immediately. Neia didn’t overlook her momentary worry about why he was asking something so obvious, though.

“Okay. Then I’ll take this city on my own. If you see anyone fleeing, kill or imprison them as you see fit. Personally, I’d like to get some information out of them, so I’d appreciate it if you could take prisoners. And I’m going to use undead—don’t let that get you too worked up.”

Without waiting for their reply, he set off walking toward the gate.

“Greater Magic Seal. Mass Hold Species.”

Without pausing on his way, he began to cast some spells.

After two or so, he waved his hand, and figures wavered into being.

There were ten of them.

Their presence was particular to undead and difficult for the living to abide. The transparent beings bore expressions of anguish.

They were wraiths. Neia had learned in her monster lectures that they appeared as the same race as the viewer. But the way three shadowy figures were mixed together in one was something she hadn’t heard of.

“High wraiths.”

The grotesque forms followed behind the King of Darkness. The grass withered beneath their feet. Since it was winter, it was already brown, but the blades rapidly shriveled as their moisture left them.

“Go and wait for my instructions.”

With motions that seemed unbound by gravity, the undead floated into the air in perfect formation. In just a few seconds, they faded into the blue of the sky, and even Neia with her keen eyes couldn’t pick them out.

She wondered if he didn’t need to explain to them what was going on but figured that if he could come up with such a perfect plan, he wouldn’t forget something like that.

“Wh-what are…?”

“High wraiths. Since they’re incorporeal, they can go through walls and whatnot… Not that they can pass through
any
thing, but… I suppose that’s not what you’re asking, though. They’re one move toward taking the city. Now then, Miss Baraja, I’ll have you stay he—”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Hmm… Then wear this item around your neck.”

“Wh-what is it?”

The King of Darkness took a necklace featuring a large carnelian set in a pentagram.

“It’ll give you perfect resistance to fear. High wraiths scatter it everywhere they go… I’ll give you one warning, and that is not to go rushing into the confusion. Sometimes those ruled by fear become capable of terribly powerful attacks. I may not be able to protect you completely, but if you still—”

“I’m going with you.”

“R-right. O-okay, then. Got it.”

Neia put on the necklace.

“Still, though… They’re fighting a war. There’s no way to do battle without
anyone
dying.”

Neia winced at his joking tone.

Of course that wasn’t what Remedios meant. It couldn’t be that the King of Darkness didn’t understand her intention, so it must have just been his idea of a joke, but that said…

His sense of humor is a bit…

As she was thinking that perhaps it was his single weak point, they arrived at the gate.

“Fall back, paladins. I’m going to attack the city now. You can all head to the rear. Yes, that’s right. All the way back there.”

The King of Darkness instructed the knights farthest from the front line to move away and then strode toward the gate as if he were walking through an empty field.

“Hey, get back or this brat is—”

Eventually he was face-to-face with the bufolk holding the child hostage.

It was extremely difficult to read the expressions of subhumans, but he seemed surprised. The others nearby had the same look on their faces. Well, Neia would be just as surprised if the King of Darkness suddenly showed up.

“…A-an undead?”

The single voice triggered a wave of that word—
undead—
through the subhumans.

“That’s right. And you’re ‘the living’, I think? I seem to remember learning the word for that in another language a long time ago, but I’m not confident I can get the pronunciation right.”

“Wh-what? Why are you—? Seriously…wh… Wait, a human?” His eyes flicked to Neia. “You! Are you controlling this undead? You creeps!”

She thought of all sorts of things she could say, like,
I’m not a necromancer
, or
Show the King of Darkness some respect
, but she stayed silent.

“Sorry to interrupt while you’re confused, but—”

“Get back, undead! I’ll kill this brat!”

The bufolk clenched his hand around the boy’s neck.

The boy was alive, but there was no life in his face. The King of Darkness seemed to be reflecting in his leaden eyes, yet he didn’t react at all. But Neia still heard a little gasp when the bufolk squeezed his throat.

“Ha-ha-ha! You’d use a human as a hostage against me, an undead? That’s rich.”

The bufolk’s eyes widened.
What a creepy expression.
That Neia had the wherewithal to calmly observe must have been because she was standing behind the immensely powerful King of Darkness.

“Human! Make this undead leave!”

But I’m not controlling him…

“Hmm. Shall we begin, then?”

“Eh? Get back! Back, I say!”

Perhaps the bufolk sensed something? Still clutching the hostage, he retreated a step.

Neia could see other children who must have also been brought along as hostages. But the bufolk didn’t move to kill them as a warning. They must have begun to question whether live humans would work as hostages with an undead, an enemy of the living.

Neia sensed something like a dark wind blow by. That moment, the bufolk froze. Ever since the King of Darkness had appeared, their eyes had followed his every movement so as not to miss anything, but this was an extreme change. Their eyes and mouths gaped, their faces twisting. And it wasn’t only the bufolk. Even the children who seemed hardly conscious of being alive reacted dramatically.

Neia didn’t understand the subhuman expressions, but she did the human’s. The emotion the children exhibited was fear—an unimaginably overpowering fear.

“Hegh-heeaaaagh!” The bufolk let out strange cries.

“Hmph. Release Mass Hold Species.”

There was a magic circle, and a spell went flying from the King of Darkness. All at once, a large number of bufolk, plus the hostage children, all froze with their faces still twisted up, like horrifying statues. But they didn’t seem dead. She could hear faint—and rather labored—breathing noises.

From above—up on the wall—came a number of shrieks. And behind her, she heard the thuds of flesh being pounded.

“Okay, let’s go.”

She was distracted by the sounds for a moment, but when she looked ahead, there was the grate—

“Greater Break Item.”

—and a clamorous noise echoed. It was what used to be the grate, now scraps of broken wood and metal, falling to the ground like rain.

“…Yeah, when you use this to break down a building, it takes a lot of mana… And it didn’t even reach over there… I guess I just have to accept that the lesser can’t take the place of the greater.” Grumbling to himself, the King of Darkness climbed over the little mountain of grate fragments and stepped through the gate with no one to stop him.

Neia was so frazzled by the rapidly changing situation she couldn’t move. Once she regained her composure, she found herself smiling.

The paladins had worked so hard to dent that grate, and the King of Darkness took mere seconds to demolish it.

Being strong is like cheating.

She jogged after the king. When he reached the frozen bufolk, he turned to look at her.

“Okay, these guys”—he indicted the stiff subhumans and imprisoned children—“are only frozen temporarily. Do me a favor and tie them all up.”

“Why don’t I call the paladins, then?”

“That would be a great help, but I’m currently giving off an aura of fear. Anyone who comes within range will fall victim to its control, so they’ll need some sort of resistance. Priests should be able to use Lion’s Heart, but I think paladins have…Banner of the Divine?”

“Wow, your depth of knowledge is…”

The King of Darkness chuckled and wove his way between the bufolk. Just then—

“Rrrrrrooooaargh!”

With a roar, that strong bufolk with the spear landed in front of them. He must have jumped off the wall.

His eyes had gone red, and he was foaming at the mouth. He wasn’t in his right mind. It was almost as if he had gone insane.

“Aha. So he’s gone berserk…? Or mad? That could be a side effect of fear— Oops.”

The King of Darkness dodged a spear thrust with a superb motion. It had that lack of excess movement only those with training were capable of. And as a result of him dodging, a frozen bufolk was impaled on the friendly spear. He dropped to the floor as his red blood sprayed.

It seemed the mad bufolk had lost even a sense of who was on his side.

“
Sheesh
…”

The bufolk raised his spear. Was he going to sweep? In that case, the children the King of Darkness had saved could be caught up in the attack.

Neia hurried to ready her bow. But she couldn’t shoot.

The King of Darkness had advanced toward the bufolk right in her line of fire.

Certainly considering the length of the spear, the King of Darkness’s decision to close the distance was correct. But the next thing he did made no sense.

He quickly sandwiched the bufolk’s head between his hands.

The King of Darkness must have been awfully strong, because no matter how the bufolk struggled, he couldn’t escape. Giving up on that, he gripped his spear farther up the shaft to stab the king. Well, it looked to Neia like it pierced him.

But the King of Darkness didn’t so much as flinch. Had he blocked the attack with defensive magic?

“You’re different from that troll.”

With a nasty spurting noise, the bufolk’s eyes popped out.

One look was enough to tell it was a lethal wound. No, it would be worse if that hadn’t killed him.

When the king let go, the bufolk fell to the ground. His arms and legs were flailing, but Neia had trouble sensing any will behind the movements.

“Wh-what did you do to him?” she asked timidly from behind, and he answered nonchalantly as he shook his hands out.

“Crushed his skull. When someone’s in a frenzy like that, you could deal a lethal blow and they still might not go down. But if you completely destroy their brain, it appears to be a different story… But wow, he was so fragile. Only a little thicker than an eggshell—I’m joking, you know!”

Neia face twitched as she laughed.

Yeah, he really has no sense for humor…

“Now then, Miss Baraja. Call the paladins. We’ll have them secure this area, and then I—we can go on ahead.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Neia raced back to where the paladins were to find several bufolk collapsed at their feet. They couldn’t have come through the gate, so they must have been trying to escape the source of their fear—the King of Darkness—and jumped.

When she reached the knights, she quickly relayed the king’s instructions. Then she raced back to him.

And when she arrived, he said, “Okay, let’s go, then,” and set off down the street.

Neia’s question of why no more bufolk had rushed over after they broke down the gate was immediately resolved.

She could hear multiple screams. It was almost as if the city itself, inorganic though it was, was shrieking.

“Wh-what’s…?”

“The result of having the undead I sent in spreading fear. It’s possible that hostages will get trampled in the panic, but…we’ll just have to let that go as a tragic accident.”

She saw several frantic—probably, judging by the expression—bufolk running toward them. They looked like a collection of little animals being chased, and she almost felt sorry for them.

They must have been awfully frightened to come running toward a being even more powerful than those undead without realizing it.

“Hmm… No humans around? In that case, Max Widen Magic: Fireball.”

The shot of fire that flew from the king’s hand landed right in the middle of all the bufolk, creating a huge, fiery explosion for just an instant. When it disappeared, bufolk corpses littered the ground.

“It might be best to wait here, but…it seems the enemy ringleader is nearby. Apparently, he’s holed up in the central square of this city resisting the high wraiths’ fear, so I’d like to go on ahead… What do you think?”

“I think it’s best to do whatever you think, Your Majesty.”

“You do, huh? Then let’s go.”

As they walked, she could hear screams coming from all around as if people were being tortured. And it seemed like the subhumans weren’t concerned with sanitation—there was rotting garbage and excrement everywhere. Neia frowned instinctively.

“…By the way, Miss Baraja. What do you want to do about that?”

When she looked in the direction he was pointing, she saw naked humans.

Their hands, men and women alike, had been nailed to trees. They seemed to have frantically tried to escape the fear, which left their arms covered in blood.

The subhumans must have tried to make a barricade out of humans.

They were slumped and exhausted, as well as emaciated, but there didn’t seem to be any immediate threat to their lives.

The point of this raid was to save people. Even if Neia followed the king, she couldn’t
do
anything. So staying back to help these people and get them to a safe place seemed like the right course of action. But one thing worried her.

What would she do if they were attacked by subhumans during the evacuation?

Ha. Why am I hesitating? Our commander would just save them. If I can’t do that… It really all comes down to…power, doesn’t it?

“You’re unsure. Then let’s just leave them for now. There don’t seem to be any subhumans around here. They’ll probably be safer here. Let’s go!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Though slightly reluctant, Neia followed the king to the square. She didn’t understand how he knew the way, but she figured he must have been using some magic or something.

Soon they came upon the square, which was like a marketplace at the heart of intersecting roads.

“Mm. So we weren’t able to get through this without any sacrifices.”

When she turned toward where he was looking, she saw that there were human corpses mixed in with the subhuman dead. They must have been trampled in the panic caused by the fear.

“…It couldn’t have been helped.” Neia figured he was joking, but if they had brute forced their way into the city, there would have been far more losses. All things considered, the taking of the city with the king’s overwhelming power had probably kept sacrifices to a minimum.

He shrugged slightly without saying anything and then gestured with his chin toward the center of the square.

The subhuman there was larger than all the others.

He had the curled horns of a goat and silver body hair. His impressive physique made him look like someone it would be wise not to mess with.

The ends of his horns were encased in ornate golden caps set with jewels, and he wore a green breastplate with a turtle-shell-esque pattern. Wrapped in a rust-red cape that seemed to be made out of processed animal fur, he carried a large shield set with two large yellow jewels in the center with his left hand and a bastard sword with a faintly yellow blade with his right. He was the embodiment of an imposing warrior’s brave spirit.

He was one of those most fearsome subhumans—one with training. And he was probably a king or had some other sort of comparable standing.

If Neia had been alone, she would have definitely run away.

“Hmm, hmm, I’m exceedingly curious which item is suppressing his fear.”

The King of Darkness’s amused remark must have referred to not only the subhuman’s armor and weapons but also the rings on his fingers, the necklace that covered everything from his neck down to his chest, and maybe the accessories hanging from each hip that were made from what seemed to be three human baby skulls each.

The subhuman, watching the King of Darkness with his green eyes, glared at Neia once they approached.

“A new undead challenger and behind him…a necromancer?” Partially concealed behind his large shield, he was most likely on guard against eye-based attacks that monsters like medusas had. “You’re no slouch, coming into this city and driving my tribe this far into a corner… Wielder of horrifying magic and manipulator of the enemies of all living things, let’s hear your name.” The bufolk pointed his sword at Neia.

“N-no, hold on. You’re wrong. It’s not me!”

“…What?”

When she looked to the King of Darkness for help, he put a hand to his chest and looked back at her.

“I’m impressed you could tell. Yes, this is my master.”

“N-no! P-please wait a second! Your Majesty!”

What is he talking about? He really has no sense for jokes.

As Neia flailed around in a panic, he smiled at her.

“Hmm. Feeling better?”

“Huh?”

“Okay, that was a stupid joke.” With a motion befitting a king, he flapped his cape and faced the subhuman. “I’m the one who sent the undead after you. I’m an undead ruler, Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness, from the country northeast of here, the Nation of Darkness. What’s your name?”

“I’m Buser, Mighty King Buser… Tell me, King of Darkness, what is that girl for?”

“She’s my servant. So what’s your deal? Do you want to be killed? Or do you want to throw yourself at my feet? I’ll let you choose whichever you like better.”

“On my honor as a king, I say bending the knee one time is plenty.”

Buser held his sword across the front of his shield. He slowly curled his body into a stance that pointed his horns forward like a goat’s.

“Hmm… Then I’ll play with you a bit. Miss Baraja, you can just watch. By the way, you goat. You seem to have a lot of enchanted items equipped, but I don’t sense any magic from those accessories at your hips. Are they special in some way?”

“Hoh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! It’s called fashion, you bag of bones.”

“Hmm… You remind me of a subordinate of mine.”

Listening to their conversation from behind him, Neia was shocked to think he had a subordinate like that.

“They’re nicely shaped, don’t you think? I selected these exquisite pieces with utmost care from my pickings in this city.”

“…Ah. I see. I understand how you feel. Fashion is apparently quite important. My maids drove that point home for me… Now then, let’s begin. Create Greater Item.”

When the King of Darkness cast the spell, a black sword appeared in his hands.

Why is His Majesty using a weapon?

He was an arcane caster—and a supremely adept one at that.

That meant normally he would only use a weapon if he was stuck in a fight without enough mana. Some arcane casters didn’t even carry a weapon simply because they were heavy.

Why had the King of Darkness chosen to fight with a sword?

Is it because he used up so much mana on his way here? That’s really bad… The whole point of him coming was to fight Jaldabaoth…

He had cast Fireball several times, plus frozen a lot of enemies in their tracks using magic, not to mention summoned a ton of undead; that all took mana, so it was possible he was running low.

It must cost a lot to summon those undead…

She had no idea how strong high wraiths were, but they had to be much stronger than regular wraiths. Summoning a bunch of them had to require an awful lot of mana.

For example, when a priest summoned an angel, one spell summoned a single being. Or several weaker ones. With that in mind, he must have been using quite the high-tier spell—maybe a six.

A tier-six spell…

Neia swallowed hard.

Tier six was an unprecedented realm. The Holy Lady could use up to only tier four. This was two levels up from that.

It was simply unthinkable, but for the King of Darkness, perhaps it was possible.

If he used a tier-six spell to summon high wraiths, I get why it would use up so much mana. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t I be helping him?

Neia looked at the king from behind as he confronted the subhuman. His opponent, whom she could see over his shoulder, looked strong; Neia didn’t feel like she or any number of people like her could help at all. But the King of Darkness exuded a proud sovereign attitude; it was clear he had no intention of starting a fight he couldn’t win.

Maybe he’s a magic swordsman–type arcane caster?

There were pros and cons to raising one’s skills in both sword fighting and casting. The main pro was the diversity of tactics that became available, while the main con was the risk of failing to be truly proficient at either skill set.

So what was the King of Darkness’s case?

The two combatants watched each other closely as they slowly began to move.

The distance between them closed until their weapons were within clashing distance. Buser was the first to attack.

“Shield Rush.” Holding his shield out in front of him, he charged.

The King of Darkness blocked it head-on with his sword.

It appeared that absorbing the entire impact of someone so large charging at full speed was impossible—the king was knocked quite a ways back. Well, it was hard to tell since he landed so neatly on both feet, but it seemed like he had been sent flying.

It was surprising to see the King of Darkness, who had crushed a bufolk’s skull with his bare hands, get knocked back, but being made of bones must have rendered a full block impossible. Neia had heard of the advanced martial art called Fortress, which could completely neutralize all impacts, but only especially strong warriors could acquire it.

Both of them charged at once, and their swords clashed.

The pace of their exchange was so furious, even Neia couldn’t follow it. Her vision could only register the slight pause as the blades collided.

If she joined the fight, she had no doubt she would be cut down with a single blow.

The rapid clashing of steel on steel created a metallic racket.

Their skills were well matched, and with each collision of blades, they were performing both offense and defense.

Should she be astounded at Buser swinging his mighty sword with a single hand? Or should she be in awe of the King of Darkness swinging a huge sword with two hands despite being a caster?

She had never seen a fight at this high of a level, and she was sure there was no opening for her to get involved.

She slowly moved behind some cover, so as not to be in the way. She had to at least avoid being taken hostage.

They’re swinging like crazy, but neither of them are injured… And like, the King of Darkness is just…too amazing…

The idea that a caster could be this skilled with a sword blew her mind.

Is he using some kind of awesome spell?

All she could think was that he was using some incredible spell she had never heard of.

But still—

At this rate, His Majesty will definitely win. Or is that his plan? To prolong the fight?

Undead didn’t get tired. And being in combat probably didn’t stress them out. Everything worked to Buser’s disadvantage.

Buser seemed to realize that, too, and his expression gradually twisted.

If he has an ace move, he’d better—

Neia was stunned. The King of Darkness had suddenly hurled his giant sword at Buser.

Then a dome of light encircled Buser as a countermeasure.

The barrier of light subsided immediately, but the flying sword only grazed Buser’s body as a result.

Oh no!

Neia was about to leap out from behind her cover. The king was unarmed, and—

“Huh?”

Before she knew it, he was gripping a black halberd.

Buser must have felt the same way as Neia. His eyes were huge.

“You didn’t even cast a spell, so how…? And where did the sword you threw go…?”

“It was merely a silent cast. Don’t worry about it… Now then, my subordinate taught me how to use this thing, but I’m not very confident. Sorry in advance for sucking.”

The king shifted nimbly into a fighting stance with the halberd, creating indescribable tension.

Warriors usually specialized in a single type of weapon, such as swords, axes, or hammers.

The king employed centrifugal force to swing the halberd. He slipped his hand down the shaft to aim for Buser’s feet, which would be hard to defend. It was an attack he could have only pulled off with a long-handled weapon.

Just as Buser lowered his sword to block it, the halberd jerked up.

It was a feint.

He had put quite a lot of strength behind it, but Buser managed to raise his sword instantaneously to defend.

It seemed the King of Darkness really was better with a sword than a halberd. That is, his attacks flowed with the beauty of martial art, but the motions were slightly awkward, and even Neia could follow them with her eyes.

After blocking the centrifugal force of the halberd’s arc, Buser jumped back.

“Sandstorm!”

The sand spurting from his sword spread into a wall and attacked the King of Darkness. The king must not have been able to see a thing.

She had her doubts whether he had eyeballs but regardless, having his vision obstructed was an overwhelming disadvantage.

“Kind Affection, Bundled Seal! Sturdy Arm, Strong Blow!”

Using a martial art Neia didn’t know, plus a high-level one for increasing the damage of a mighty blow, Buser came charging at double the speed he displayed before.

His horn caps started to glow in a strange way; they looked almost like shooting stars.

“Khaaaaa!”

“Hnf!”

The King of Darkness received the blow that came down with his halberd and—

“Ha-ha!”

—Buser’s jeering laugh echoed out.

Then came the sound of breaking steel.

Neia’s eyes grew large.

“No way! Weapon breaking?!”

Weapon breaking caused damage directly to weapons, but its effects varied considerably depending on the material the target was made with and how much damage it could withstand. Buser must have used the earlier martial arts to fortify the attack.

Neia was anxious to help, but when she saw notice Buser’s eyes go large in the next moment, she froze.

“It’s not even chipped!” Buser shrieked in shock. “What is that thing?!”

Buser retreated in a reversal of his previous confidence, rather than attack again, while the King of Darkness brandished his halberd, tracing beautiful arcs through the air.

“…I created this with my magic. You really think it would break so easily?”

“Weapons made with magic should be fragile!”

“Oh? You seem to have some experience, but stereotyping is dangerous. Sometimes you’ll fight people whose magic weapons you can’t break.”

The king let go of the halberd, and it vanished. It must have been the same move he had used earlier with the sword.

Then after he made grasping motions in the air, he was suddenly holding a black longsword in each hand.

“…Okay, what are you going to do next? That couldn’t have been your fail-safe plan, right?” The King of Darkness took a step forward. “…If you have something up your sleeve, now’s the time for it. I’m not a nice enough guy to let useless enemies live.”

“Hoh-hoh-hoh! What are you talking about, undead? Bravo for blocking all my attacks, yes. You were truly magnificent. But weren’t you only able to do that because you were focused on defense…? I know you never get tired. So you think that if you just keep fighting, you’ll eventually win.”

He saw through the king’s plan!

Neia was worried. Even she had realized. There was no way Buser, a superior warrior, wouldn’t notice.

“Ah, I see. That’s one idea. A good one actually. But unfortunately, mine is different.” The King of Darkness spread his arms and approached unguarded. The swords in his hands disappeared like smoke.

“Watch ou—!”

But faster than Neia could shout, Buser brought his sword down.

And then…

“What?!”

Buser frantically swung his sword again and again.

“What the—?! What?! What’s going on?!”

He screamed with each blow—because the king, despite taking each and every hit, was perfectly fine.

“In that case—!” Buser held up his shield and used a martial art. The king took the full brunt of his shield charge but didn’t stagger backward a single step.

On the contrary, Buser ended up retreating slightly.

“Wh…why…?”

It was hard for humans to understand subhuman facial expressions. But this one was clear.

It was fear and despair.

“…Martial arts are foreign to me. I don’t know if skills became arts or if arts are warriors’ magic spells, but it made me think that if I encountered someone at my level, the experience and knowledge of martial arts could be what decides the fight, you know? That’s why I took your attacks head-on, but…it seems like you’ve already shown me everything you’ve got.”

The king gave a jocular shrug and then took off one of his nine rings.

He didn’t do anything else. The only action was removing the ring. Nevertheless, an extraordinarily terrible, cold atmosphere enveloped them.

Neia gasped and looked up. She thought the sun might have frozen and shattered, but it was in its proper place, shining as always.

Then were this chill and this dark presence being emitted by the king? Could this atmosphere even
be
created by a single being?

S-so this is the King of Darkness…the caster who killed an army of over ten thousand…

“Then I don’t need to fight you anymore.”

He took a step toward Buser.

Meanwhile Buser, trembling, took a step back—as if pushed back by the invisible pressure the king exerted.

Buser must have been sensing the abnormal presence more strongly than Neia. It seemed to have hit him that he couldn’t hope to challenge the King of Darkness. The way all his hairs stood on end was proof of that.

“W-wait. Please wait. Just wait a minute.” Buser raised his right hand and dropped the sword he had been holding. “I—I surrender.”

“Hmm.”

“I have information about Jaldabaoth’s army. See? I’m extremely useful. I’ll definitely be a boon to you.”

“I see.”

“…A-and besides that, you’re planning on fighting Jaldabaoth, right? I’m way more powerful than humans. If you allow me to command my tribe, I vow to be your vanguard in the fight against Jaldabaoth—that piece of shit, Jaldabaoth.”

“Oh?”

“……P-please wait. That’s not all! If you want, I’ll give—er, present you with all the treasure I’ve collected. It should be enough to pay for my life.”

“Is that it? Are you done with the sales pitch?”

“I—I, uh…” Buser looked around restlessly and then turned back to the King of Darkness. “O-oh, yeah. I mean no. Th-there’s still a whole lot more. If there’s anything you want, I could go get it for you—no, I
will
! I’m sure I will! Really. Trust me!”

“Hmph. What I really want isn’t something you’ll be able to go fetch for me.”

Neia sensed irritation in the King of Darkness’s voice. And Buser, confronting him, must have felt it more strongly.

“W-wait—wait. Honestly, just wait. Please? Heh-heh-heh-heh.”

It was a servile laugh. The attitude he’d had when they challenged him and he’d called himself a king was nowhere to be found anymore.

“I’m sorry for misspeaking. No, I mean, I apologize. Truly, I do. I was wrong. Really.”

“Hmm…”

“S-so what do you say? I—I—I think I can be useful to you. Heh-heh. What a fool I was to make an enemy out of an undead king. So I was hoping I could get a chance to make up for that mistake… Heh-heh. You won’t regret it!” Buser got down on his knees, clasped his hands together, and begged for mercy.

Neia didn’t feel sorry for him at all. No, it made perfect sense to her; that was the posture an enemy should take before the King of Darkness’s true form. And she also had a vivid recollection of what the naga she met in the Nation of Darkness said:
A wise man throws himself at his feet and begs for mercy.

What would happen to someone who didn’t immediately throw himself at his feet?

“I see… I like people who recognize their mistakes and try to fix them.”

“S-so then?!” Buser beamed. But his joy was taken away a moment later.

“But I think Pestonia and Nigredo would object to making you my subordinate. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything as wasteful as only taking your skull. I’ll do my best to find a use for every part.

“Now die,” he said, lifting a bony finger.

“Ngh! N-n-noooo! I don’t wanna die yet! Wait! Please! I beg you! Don’t kill me! I-I’m pretty valuable! I’m valuable enough to make you happy! Really! Believe me!”

“All living things die. The only difference is whether it happens sooner or later.”

“No! Don’t look at me with those eyes! D-don’t kill me!”

Buser stood, turned tail, and began to run.

So a living thing can run this fast when death is near?
Neia thought in an unconcerned way with wide eyes.

But the King of Darkness’s magic was faster.

“How stupid. Death.”

Nothing happened. There was no huge explosion, no fantastical lightning.

But Buser dropped to the ground with a thud. That was all.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t get any useful intel, but oh well… I guess we’re finished here. Any objections, Miss Baraja?”

“N-n-no, Your Majesty, you’re not mistaken.”

“No? Then…let’s call the paladins and tell them we killed this subhuman leader. But, hmm…this is actually kind of bad…”

4

Taking the city and freeing the people was accomplished easily with the King of Darkness’s powers.

The attacking paladins and subjects hardly took any damage, and although some of the prisoners sadly lost their lives in the confusion, that number was surprisingly small.

Surely the King of Darkness was the only one who could have achieved these results. To the point that it even occurred to them that if they would have entrusted the job to him from the start, not a single person would have died.

People were thrilled to be liberated; some shed tears at receiving a bowl of soup. The streets were filled with smiles as Neia and the king walked along.

Though they had heard their liberator was the King of Darkness, it probably couldn’t be helped that when they actually saw him, there was surprise, confusion, and an urge to avoid looking at him.

That said, it wasn’t about whether Neia could accept it or not. If the king was offended, she probably would have done something, but he didn’t seem to care. On the contrary, Neia felt that doing something might be disrespectful.

She called after him as he walked ahead of her.

“Your Majesty, where are you going?”

The king was looking was down at his hands, so he answered without turning around. “To that large building at the center of town. If that’s the enemy HQ, we need to investigate right away. The paladins are busy liberating the captured people, distributing food, healing wounds, imprisoning subhumans, and so on.”

Neia cocked her head. “It’s such a huge building. You don’t think they’ve searched it already?”

The one who took the city was definitely the King of Darkness, but the detail work after the fact was being done by knights and militia members. She figured they would have already checked the building he was headed for.

The king stopped in his tracks and stared at Neia. Then he shrugged and set off walking again. “Oh, right. I actually have a subordinate standing by warning them not to approach. So I don’t think they’ve examined it.”

“Huh? But that’s not what you said—”

“Miss Baraja. I’ve told you a lot of things so far, but once in a while, you need to try thinking on your own. For instance, what do
you
suppose is the reason I should investigate as our representative?”

“Ah—yes, Your Majesty!”

He looked back down at his hands. He was carrying the items that Buser had been equipped with. As they walked, he was appraising them to see how enchanted they were.

From what he had gathered, the sword was Sand Shooter; the armor, Turtle Shell; the shield, Lanza’s Merits; the horn caps, Unhesitating Charge; the rings, Ring of Second Eye and Ring of Sprinting; and the cape, Cape of Protection.

His necklace, among other items, also appeared to be enchanted, and though the king said their powers weren’t much, he seemed happy.

Lowering her eyes from his back to the ground, Neia did as told and tried thinking about why he would insist on searching the building himself. But no compelling reasons jumped out at her.

But she figured if she bothered him now for the answer, he would get annoyed. She respected the king and was scared of getting cast aside for being useless.

As she was racking her brain, the building in question came into view.

Two undead—high wraiths—stood before the entrance.

When the King of Darkness approached, the pair opened the way to let him and Neia through.

“This…appears to be the residence of this city’s ruler.”

Neia didn’t know which noble was in charge, but she could guess it was someone who was at least a baron but not higher than count.

“Yes. I haven’t let any undead inside, either. We are the first. There might be subhumans who haven’t been incapacitated yet, so be careful.”

“What?! But Your Majesty, that’s—!”

She wasn’t sure if she should tell him to stop or not. Because another side of her whispered in her head,
Well, it’s the King of Darkness; he’ll be fine
.

“I have to go. This could be the enemy’s base, the lair of the subhuman boss. I mean, it’s just so big—someone as strong as Buser might be in there. I want to get this liberation over with neatly.”

“Oh!” Hearing the answer to her earlier question, it made perfect sense, and she smacked her forehead. She was simultaneously grateful for the King of Darkness’s deep compassion.

So he didn’t want the paladins to go near the place because a powerful being might be hiding out there? Was he saying weird stuff before because he felt bashful about it being known that he was fighting to protect other people and didn’t want to admit it outright?

Though she knew it was irreverent to have such a feeling, she thought the King of Darkness was awfully precious.

“…So, uh, does that make sense?” he asked, peering over at her. When she nodded, he cheerfully replied, “Oh, good.”

He’s that happy because I understood something…? What a kind person…

“I understand that you don’t want to be the center of attention!”

“…Hmm? Ah…yes. You…you get it? That I don’t want to stand out?”

“I do, Your Majesty!”

The king seemed to be mulling something over. That was somehow adorable, too.

“………Okay, then, shall we go?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

As a squire, she felt it was entirely inappropriate that the king be the vanguard, but when she tried to move ahead of him, he wouldn’t allow it. She gazed admiringly at the back of this courageous being. From the point of view of someone ranking lower, there was definitely something thrilling about a king who led the way.

Upon passing through the broad entryway, Neia asked, “Where should we start? I don’t sense anyone around, but…”

“Hmm… Miss Baraja, you seem to have excellent vision and hearing, but how about smell?”

“To be honest, I’m not as confident about my sense of smell. Even so, I think it’s better than the average human’s. And taste is about the same level, although I’ve never tasted poison, so I couldn’t serve as a taste tester…”

“I see. So can you smell the death and loathing in this room?” He said the words
death and loathing
with the supreme spirit of a king.

“Death and loathing?”

“Over here.”

The King of Darkness strode off. There was no hesitation in his gait. He was walking as if he knew this place and knew what was coming.

Death and loathing….? Those things don’t smell… Or is it something His Majesty can detect because he’s undead? That would mean we’re heading for something giving off those…!

Neia gripped her borrowed bow tightly. It was possible that she would need to shield the king and step ahead of him to shoot. She hadn’t been able to do a thing during the fight with Buser. If she didn’t make herself at least a little useful, there would be no point to her being there.

They advanced without seeing any subhumans and eventually reached a door that seemed different somehow from all the others. It was made of iron, and it looked terribly thick.

This door that looked like it belonged on a prison cell appeared in an otherwise typical noble residence. It felt so out of place that it made Neia extremely uneasy. The feeling was so strong that it was almost like she had been hurled into some other mysterious location.

“What…?”

“In here… You don’t have to come with me, you know.”

To Neia, that wasn’t an option. Seeing her shake her head, the King of Darkness shrugged and pushed the door open.

Perhaps because the king was so strong, the door swung easily open. It really was thick, though; it had to have been special order.

The King of Darkness entered the room.

Crap! I shouldn’t have let him go first into unknown territory! I’m such an idiot!

Neia hurried in after him.

She had expected something out of the ordinary, given the thick door, and the atmosphere was unusual. She wondered if this was what a torture chamber was like; she’d never seen one, only heard rumors.

For starters, there were no windows.

Bars embedded in the walls glowed red, but this was magic light, not natural.

There was one wooden desk and two wooden chairs. The one other door was also made of iron like the one they had entered through.

The King of Darkness stood in the center of the room and looked around. Then Neia realized something was on the desk.

“…Your Majesty, there’s a paper here, but what’s this?”

Written on the paper were characters Neia had never seen before. She could guarantee that it wasn’t Sacred Kingdom language.

“Hmm… Does it look like demon language?” The King of Darkness produced a monocle. Perhaps noticing Neia’s confused look, he explained. “It’s a magic item that will allow me to read this. I only have one. And it also takes up a lot of mana. Miss Baraja, do you know anyone with a similar power to read unfamiliar writing?”

“A power to read unfamiliar writing?”

“Yeah. Or if you know someone who might know how to read this, that’s fine, too. For example, someone with talent that allows them to read other languages…”

“Sorry, I don’t really…”

Neia was a mere squire. She had no occasion to come into contact with information about people like that.

True, she had heard stories from other squires, things like,
I have a friend who has a talent; he can tell you what temperature your bath is
, or,
One of my relatives is a sailor with a talent that lets him walk on water for five seconds. Any longer and he sinks, though…
They were always these minor abilities that left her scratching her head, nothing of the sort the king was looking for.

“I see. That’s too bad. Do you think Lady Custodio would know someone?”

As the commander of the knight order, it seemed like she would have opportunities to hear all sorts of news. But Remedios’s reputation gave Neia pause.
Would she really use her brain for remembering things like that?

“…I’m not sure. It would be better to ask her directly.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Or maybe the other fellow…” The vague reply must have meant he felt the same way as Neia.

“But if there isn’t anyone, what will you do?”

“Hmm? Oh, I don’t need to do anything about it. If we could read information left behind by Jaldabaoth’s side, it might affect how we plan, right?”

When he explained something that anyone could have realized with a little thought, Neia felt embarrassed for asking such a foolish question.

“If there’s no one who can translate, then I guess we have no choice but for me to use my magic, but then we’ll have to really be on the lookout for Jaldabaoth—because if we encountered him while I was low on mana, we’d have to run away… But this does make me curious. It’s only one page; maybe we should read it.”

“It’s really all right?”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure I save enough mana.”

The king put on the monocle and looked over the document. It wasn’t as if there were any visible indications, but the magic must have been working. He seemed like he was able to read it. That said, he didn’t have any eyeballs, so all she could think was that he was probably reading.

After a short time, he took off the monocle.

“It really does use a ton of mana.”

To Neia, who had seen a priest grow unsteady on their feet after using too much mana, the king didn’t seem to have overexerted himself, but it was probably discourteous to compare him to normal casters.
He must have a huge amount of mana.

As Neia was thinking those things, the king approached the other door, opened it slightly, and peered inside through the crack.

Neia picked up multiple faint breathing sounds and the smell of blood.

Clenching her bow, she tried to get between him and the door, but before she could, he thrust out a hand.

It meant
Stay back.

“Hm…mm… Miss Baraja, this place was being used by the demons, not the subhumans. That document was about some experiments they were performing.”

“…Experiments the demons were performing?” Even before she asked, she knew it couldn’t be anything good.

“Yes. Things like cutting off one creature’s arm and attaching it to another or cutting them open and trading their organs. Starting from the precedent of these exchanges between blood relatives, they were observing what happened between humans and other creatures—not only subhumans, animals, too—if they did those things and then cast healing magic.”

“That’s horrifying! Sticking parts of a relative to someone sounds especially insane!”

“……So when they do those experiments, they need to keep the victims alive, at least long enough to discern the cause of death.” With that, he turned around and jerked a thumb at the door behind him. It was enough that Neia could guess what he was going to say next. “The victims are in there, alive but still sliced open.”

Even though she had anticipated it, the reality made Neia’s mind go black for a moment. Next came rage at the demons who had performed such inhumane experiments.

“Miss Baraja! Have the priests come on the double! And Commander Custodio and the other knights! Hurry!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

In a corner of her mind, a voice asked if it was really okay to leave him alone, but it was an order from someone trustworthy, wise, and powerful. Surely, she didn’t have to worry. The voice died down instantaneously.

•

The priests opened the door and went inside. The way their shoulders jumped at that moment said more than words about how appalling and ghastly the scene was.

Neia was watching as the King of Darkness turned over the paper they had found to Remedios and Gustav.

“I want you to look at this. It tells the names of the people in there and what was done to them. There are these other documents as well, but it’s unclear if they are more of the same or something else, like part of Jaldabaoth’s plans. Can you read them?”

Remedios took one glance, frowned, and handed the paper to Gustav.

Gustav shook his head. “I can’t make head or tail of it. But you were able to read this one page, right, Your Majesty?”

“Yes, using a magic item. The issue is that the item requires a lot of mana—critical mana I need to conserve for the fight with Jaldabaoth. So I wonder if either of you know anyone who can read this. It could be someone with a literacy ability or even someone you think
might
be able to do it.”

“No, I can’t think of anyone. The southern nobles could be hiding someone who can, but I highly doubt it.”

“Oh… Then what should we do? I’d like for you guys to figure out how to read the rest of these.”

“Would it be possible to borrow your item, Your Majesty?”

“No. It’s one of my nation’s treasures, so it’s the same as how you can’t lend the sword at your hip so easily. To a caster like me, this sort of item is more precious than a sword.”

Remedios and Gustav looked at each other.

“Understood. Then we’ll do our best. Also, we have another issue. Apparently these orcs were imprisoned here. What should we do with them?”

The orcs didn’t come to attack the Sacred Kingdom; they were brought here by Jaldabaoth as captives. Questioning them wasn’t yielding any useful intelligence, so they weren’t sure how to handle them.

“Hmm…got it. Can you tell me where they are? You’re fine letting me take care of them?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Gustav gave simple directions. The city wasn’t that big to begin with, so it didn’t seem like they would get lost.

By the time Neia had memorized the general route, an exhausted-looking priest opened the door.

“Ohhh! How’d it go?! How are the people doing?!”

“We’ve at least cast healing magic on those who were alive. It was our first time treating people who had been so horribly abused, so we’ll stay a little longer and keep an eye on them. Then, if nothing is wrong, we’d like to bring them out of here.”

“Got it. Then we’ll send over some paladins and militia members to help.”

“Understood, Lady Custodio. Then if you’ll excuse me, Your Majesty.” The priest opened the door and went back inside.

Watching the priest go, the other four realized they had nothing else to do here, and moved on to their next destination.

For Neia and the King of Darkness, that meant to the orcs.

“If there are demons around, it’d be handy to have someone who can see through transformations,” the king mentioned to Neia as they were walking.

No demons had been spotted in the city, but given the presence of demon writing, he must have surmised that demons were or could be around.

“Demons transform?”

“Yes, some of them—into men, woman, or sometimes animals.”

“Oh… So you’re hoping for someone with a talent for seeing through transformations? My apologies. I’ve never heard of one like that. Oh no, I have heard a
legend
like that. I remember reading it in some book, but I have no idea if anyone currently can…”

“…I guess I should ask Lady Custodio about that, too.”

“Are transformations like illusions? I tend to think of illusions as tricky magic spells, but…”

“First of all, there’s a big difference between a transformation and an illusion, but it’ll take too long to explain, so allow me to omit the finer details. In any case, you shouldn’t underestimate illusions! How terrifying the magic gets depends on how quick the illusionist’s wits are. And particularly if they’ve truly specialized instead of just putzing around.”

“Specialized?”

“That’s right. For example, Perfect Illusion can deceive all five senses. And someone who has reached the ultimate powers of illusion can acquire a move that can only be used once every few days but allows them to deceive the world.”

Deceiving the world was an act on a level Neia couldn’t even imagine.

“How amazing a feat is that, deceiving the world?”

“From what I’ve heard, it can do anything any other tree of magic can do. To put it simply, you could even use it to resurrect the dead.”

“What?! But it would be an illusion, right?”

“Yes, causing the world to be under an illusion is the illusionist’s ultimate power—because if you can deceive the world, then your deception becomes the truth.”

“Whoa” was the only way she could react. Hearing that if someone mastered illusion, they could do something so powerful, it was so awesome that she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it.

“So does anyone in this country keep track of talents?”

“No, I’ve never heard of anything like that. Does the Nation of Darkness track talents?”

“We don’t yet. I’d like to in the future, but it seems like it will take quite a bit of work… It might still be a decade or so off.”

Apparently, the King of Darkness was thinking about things even ten years in the future. Maybe that was the difference—a big one—between kings and commoners.

•

The orcs were in a building that had its windows boarded up from the outside. It was fairly large, probably the second or third largest in the city.

A number of paladins clustered at the gate and seemed to be wary of what was inside.

When they saw the King of Darkness approaching, they all dropped to one knee in a show of respect.

“I heard from Lady Custodio that there were orcs in this building. Can I go inside?”

“Yes, of course, Your Majesty!”

“Then you can all leave and do whatever other work you have to do.”

The paladins looked up. “But the commander ordered us to guard this location. We can’t leave.”

“…I see. Then I take back what I said.”

With that, the King of Darkness passed between the knights and pushed the door open. Neia followed him, of course.

A potent acidic smell wafted out and into Neia’s nose. It wasn’t poison; it reminded her of the smell of a prison cell she had visited a long time ago with one of the paladins. There were other stomach-turning odors mixed in.

“What in the world…?”

She had wondered when the commander had brought it up:
Why were the orcs brought here?

Though she knew she would find out soon, the wings of her imagination spread.
If this isn’t a problem that only affects the orcs, if it could be a rallying point in the fight against Jaldabaoth, maybe some subhumans will resist, too.

While she was thinking, the king continued opening doors. It already felt normal to have him leading the way.

They left a room and entered a hallway.

Walking in it for a moment was enough to tell that this building was dirtier than a prison.

It was filthy with blood, vomit, and excrement. She couldn’t begin to imagine what had happened here, but it was a terrible environment.

Orcs were subhumans about as tall as humans with piglike faces; they were said to be a tidy race. There was no way they would stay somewhere like this by choice.

Neia looked at the long hem of the King of Darkness’s robe and worried that his splendid clothing would get dirty, but there was no way she could ask him to wait outside. There was no one with the wisdom to stand in for him.

Eventually, Neia’s sharp ears began to hear things that indicated the presence of a large number of living things, including a child crying and a voice that sounded like the mother trying to calm it.

They’re orcs…? Not humans…?

Neia was at a loss. She had never considered that they would have families and raise children. The orcs that came to Roebel were invaders, enemies to be hated; she had never thought anything about them past that.

Neia was still confused when the king opened the door.

The awful smell grew worse, and shrieks went up.

“An undead!”

“It’s a skeleton! What’s he doing here?!”

“Those humans! They sold us to undead! Shit!”

“Controlling undead? Those grimy humans.”

“Mama! Help!”

“My boy!”

The king stopped in the doorway. He must have been confused, too.

“Ju— Ahem. Shut up!”

His order caused the room to fall silent. But it only lasted a moment.

In the next, the shouting echoed twice as loud as before. What they were saying was hardly any different. No, it seemed like voices lamenting their fate and saying they didn’t care what happened to them as long as their children were spared had increased.

“………Sighhh.”
The king let out a tired sigh. Then he punched the door with all his might. He was incredibly strong despite being all bones; the hinge busted and the door went flying. When it hit the wall, it made a startlingly loud noise. The subhumans quieted all at once.

“Shut up. The next one of you to talk had better brace yourself.”

In that silent, frozen atmosphere—where some mothers frantically covered their children’s mouths—the king took a step into the room, and the subhumans all edged away.

“It’s not as if I came here to kill you. Quite the opposite—I’m here to set you free.”

It was hard for a human like Neia to grasp the emotions of the orcs’ piglike faces. But this one time, she was extremely confident.

The look was
That’s a lie!

“It’s a pain if you all talk at once. Have a representative come forward.”

After a moment, an orc went to step forward, but the one next to him held him back. Then he came to the fore instead.

It was a thin orc, but he looked like he must have been quite built at one point.

“…So you’re the representative?”

The orc nodded without saying anything.

“…What? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Um, could it be because you told them to shut up, Your Majesty?”

“…I thought I allowed him to, but I guess it didn’t get through? I permit the orc who stepped forward to speak. First, let’s hear your name.”

“I’m Diell of the Gan Zuu tribe—Diell Gan Zuu.”

“Diell, okay. First question: Is there anyone here you don’t know or whose personality has changed as if they were someone else?”

“N-no, there’s no one like that here.”

“Then next, tell me why you’re all imprisoned here.”

“…Do you know about the demon Jaldabaoth?”

“Of course. He’s my enemy. Or rather, I came here—to the Sacred Kingdom—to kill him.”

Their faces said,
Definitely a lie.
Certainly before Neia knew him, she might have thought the same thing. But not anymore.

She showed herself beside him and spoke. “His Majesty is telling the truth. I’m a citizen of this country, so please listen. Jaldabaoth brought you along with the allied subhuman army to invade this land.”

Diell’s expression changed slightly.

“Wait, a human… I think a female?”

You
think
?
Neia wondered what that was supposed to mean, but she couldn’t tell the orcs’ sexes by face; it must have been the same for them.

“We aren’t attacking this country. There shouldn’t be a single orc tribe that cooperated with Jaldabaoth. Which is to say, we resisted, so we were brought here as punishment.”

“Hmm… What did he do to you once you were here?”

The question seemed to shock all the orcs, not only Diell. The ones who seemed to be mothers held children close. Neia could also hear retching and other vomiting noises.

“…Honestly, what is he doing?” the king mumbled to himself. “Um, I seem to have asked a bad question. Should I bring some water? Or is there something else you want?”

His attitude changed completely. He seemed extremely flustered. Perhaps he felt guilty for causing the orcs to relive painful memories. It was probably less than respectful for her to think such things, but he seemed almost like a parent trying to comfort a kid that one of his children made cry.

This must be how a king thinks when he views both humans and orcs as subjects of his country…

To the inhabitants of the Sacred Kingdom, subhumans were enemies. If they were in the same position, they probably wouldn’t have anything kind to say to them.

“We don’t want anything special. Just please don’t make us talk about what happened. It wouldn’t be fun to hear, and for us, it was hell. If you ordered us to talk, we would have no choice, but please at least let us do it where no one else can hear.”

Hearing a female orc softly crying, Neia was terrified.
What in the world was done to them?

“…This is a problem,” the King of Darkness mumbled, but there was so much going on that Neia didn’t know what he was referring to. “Also, um, yeah. If you’re against Jaldabaoth, then we’re also here to ask if you’d like to cooperate with us, since we have a common enemy.”

Diell lowered his eyes. “Once, we wanted to fight, but not anymore. After everything the demons put us through, our spirits are broken. We have no courage left.”

“Then what will you do if I liberate you?”

“If possible, we’d like to go back to our village, and if there are any of us remaining there in safety, we’d like to take them and move far away to somewhere Jaldabaoth can never reach us.”

The king nodded.

“Then how about the domain I ru—?”

“We refuse! We know how dangerous it is to displease you. It would be smarter to agree now and then flee with all our might at a point where it seems like we can escape. But nothing is worse than betrayal. So if we refuse now, at least we can hopefully die less painful deaths.”

“What…?”

Their refusal was so firm, the King of Darkness seemed confused. But Neia understood Diell’s feelings so well it hurt. Until she met the king, she thought undead were the enemy of all living things, too.

“…Uh, my domain isn’t a horrible place or anything. We even have a diverse population of subhumans!”

“Lies! You must be lying! You can’t fool me or any of the rest of us! They must be undead subhumans!”

Half-crazed Diell was Neia’s former self. That’s why it was her duty as someone with more experience to explain what she had learned about the true nature of this king.

“His Majesty is telling the truth. He may be an undead, but he manages to show kindness to the living as well. He loves children and governs subhumans equally, and his subordinates respect him. As proof of that, they built huge statu—”

“Miss Baraja! That’s really enough, so if you could just…”

“But Your Majesty!”

“Please… Really, just please…”

If he was saying please, she really did have to stop.

“Human, are you being mind controlled?!”

“No. I’ve seen his nation with my own eyes. The first subhuman I ever met was a naga.”

A murmur went through the subhumans as they exchanged glances with one another. Some voices asked, “What’s a naga?” but she ignored them.

“There was also a subhuman with a face like a rabbit’s. I’m not a resident of the Nation of Darkness, and it’s true that the time I spent there was short, but I still know that the people who live there aren’t wearing the expressions of pain and fear you were a minute ago. And of course, they weren’t wounded like you are now.”

The subhumans looked down at their emaciated bodies. They had lost so much weight they were like sticks.

“It’s as she—Miss Baraja—says. Still, I’m sure you can’t believe us. But I promise on my honor as Ainz Ooal Gown that you would never be treated so unreasonably if I were ruling over you. That’s because everything I rule belongs to me. If one of my subjects gets hurt, that means one of my belongings is damaged. And don’t worry; if you say you don’t want to live under my rule, I won’t force you to. You should live how you like. For now, I’ll arrange things so you can return to your village.”

“…Why are you being so kind?”

It seemed to Neia that Diell had set aside his preconceptions and faced the true King of Darkness for the first time.

“Hoh-hoh… I want to defeat Jaldabaoth. That means the subhumans he brought here are in my way. So sending you back to your village is one way to chip away at his power.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you spread word that I’m kind, unlike Jaldabaoth, it might cause unrest within his army, or even some defections.”

“Ah, I see.”

It was hard to believe someone when the deal only seemed to benefit one’s own side, but it seemed that subhumans, like humans, were more likely to trust someone if a deal showed benefits for both sides.

“But I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Most of Jaldabaoth’s subordinates are thirsty for blood. Even if we go back to our village and spread word, I doubt it will have much effect.”

“That’s fine. I just want to make every sort of move I can. And if Jaldabaoth is ruling through fear, there might be subhumans who are willing to rebel against him. So I’m repeating myself, but you’re sure you don’t want to cooperate with me in the fight against him?”

“…We can’t. I told you: We just don’t have the will right now.”

“I see. That’s too bad. And you don’t feel like coming to the Nation of Darkness, either?”

“It’s not a bad idea to enter under the protection of someone as immensely powerful as you. But we can’t decide that on our own. Maybe we’ll take you up on the offer after discussing with the others.”

“Diell!”

“Dombas, I know what you want to say. But we won’t be able to defend our village on our own with this demon around. This would have been our fate either way.”

The orc called Dombas must have understood that. He bit his lip and lowered his eyes.

“I see. If you intend to come to the Nation of Darkness, you will have my full support as its king. There are many kinds of people living in my lands. I’d like for you to work together with them and live as subjects of my country.” The king’s tone had softened.

In the Sacred Kingdom, subhumans were enemies, but in the Nation of Darkness, subhumans were fellow citizens.
Where does that huge difference come from?
Neia realized the answer right away.

From His Majesty, huh…? Because of his immense power… It really does all come down to power…I guess…?

“All right, I’ll provide enough food to see you home. And soldiers as escorts. I imagine it’ll take a lot of time and effort to get home in your condition.”

“You’re willing to do that much for us?”

“Certainly. Sob at the generosity of the Nation of Darkness’s king and tell everyone you meet. So, Miss Baraja, could you leave the room? I’m going to perform a secret ritual that people from outside the nation shouldn’t see.”

“Understood,” said Neia, but as she was leaving, she couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely. What he said made perfect sense, but even though she understood, she found herself struggling to accept it.

From the other side of the broken door they’d propped up, the number of orc breathing noises she could hear rapidly decreased. It was as if they were leaving the room, and maybe they were.

The king had been saying that he could teleport once he knew a place, so he was probably using that power on them.

Eventually she could hardly hear anything, and when, after a little while, she heard the clacking of a single pair of footsteps, it was the King of Darkness alone who appeared before the door.

“Sorry I kept you waiting.”

“Not at all.”

The room was an empty shell. He must have used a spell that Neia couldn’t even imagine in order to teleport them all. Or maybe he had some other way, like a magic item.

“Now then, let’s meet up with Lady Custodio and find out what the plan is.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

•

After leaving the orc camp, the two asked a paladin they encountered where Remedios was. At the entrance of the building they were directed to, they found not her but Gustav.

“Oh, Your Majesty! I was just about to call you.”

Gustav was different from when they had met him last. There was life in his voice, and he was so cheerful it was as if the light of hope was overflowing from inside him. Maybe he’d come across a way to break through some part of their difficult situation? Perhaps wondering the same thing, the King of Darkness inquired.

“Did something happen? It seems like you have some good news.”

“Yes! There’s someone we’d love you to meet. Come this way, please.”

Maybe it was an influential noble or a member of the royal family?

Gustav led the King of Darkness—and Neia, for some reason—into a room.

Sitting on two of the simple wooden chairs inside were Remedios and an emaciated man.

They both rose to greet the king.

Gustav introduced the man. “This is Master Caspond, elder brother of the Holy Lady.”

Certainly, once it was pointed out, the man did resemble the profile of the second holy king engraved on the kingdom’s gold pieces. Neia’s eyes widened to learn that he had actually been imprisoned here.

“Master Caspond, this is the king of the Nation of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown, His Majesty Ainz Ooal Gown. He’s assisting us.”

“Ohhh, I don’t know how to thank you, Your Majesty. Very pleased to meet you. Just as he said, I’m the brother whose clever little sister got ahead of me.”

Remedios frowned at what she perceived to be nasty remark. But it seemed she couldn’t behave normally before someone in line to succeed the Holy Lady, so all she did was lower her eyes.

“Ahhh, I see. Pleased to meet you, Master Caspond.”

The two of them looked at each other for a time.

Neia wondered what they were doing, but eventually the King of Darkness held out a hand, and Caspond took it.

Usually the superior person was the one to offer a handshake.

Common sense would say that compared to someone who was in line to be a king, an actual king, albeit of a small country, would be superior. And it would be natural to be humble before someone providing one with assistance. Neia figured the king had waited to offer his hand for a moment out of respect.

He’s so modest and broad-minded.

Neia was impressed. She saw Gustav nodding in admiration out of the corner of her eye.

“Your Majesty, apologies for meeting you in such a sorry state. I would have much rather appeared in dress appropriate to our stations…”

“You have nothing to be ashamed about. A noble’s elegance isn’t a matter of clothing. You must be exhausted after being imprisoned for so long; let’s continue the conversation sitting down.”

“That’s very considerate of you. I’ll take you up on that.”

When they released their hands, the king sat first, followed by Caspond.

“I’m just so glad you’re all right. Why did they have you locked up in this area?”

“Because I had managed to run this far! Baron Bagunen was a great help. How is he doing, Commander Custodio? After we talked last, you took him away.”

“Yes. Baron Bagunen’s wounds weren’t terribly serious, and they weren’t life-threatening. But the poor environment left him physically drained, so he’s in a deep sleep.”

“The priests can’t do anything with their magic? I’d love to have him lend us his wisdom.”

“The priests used up what mana they had healing the wounded, so they’re resting now. My apologies, but unless it’s urgent, we should conserve mana.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t argue with that, Commander. But he did everything he could to get me here safely, so if at all possible… You see what I mean to say, I’m sure…”

It wasn’t Remedios but Gustav who understood and bowed low.

“Now then, there’s one pressing matter I’d like to get confirmation on. Is there anyone in this region who can see through transformations or illusions?”

“Why do you ask that, Your Majesty?”

“To be on guard in case a demon is lurking among the prisoners in disguise.”

Caspond looked at Remedios. “Commander, can you answer His Majesty’s question?”

“Ah, apologies, but I’ll go ahead and answer as second-in-command. I’ve never heard of anyone with abilities like that.”

As the king was thinking with a “Hmm,” Caspond pressed Remedios.

“If His Majesty is this worried about it, it must be important. You swear to the gods you don’t know?”

The two paladins nodded, and Caspond turned to Neia.
There’s no way a squire like me would know someone like that
, she thought but hurried to nod as well.

“Squire Baraja, you don’t know, either, huh…? What? Don’t look so surprised—the commander told me your name. I appreciate your work attending to His Majesty.”

“Thank you!” Neia bowed, flustered.

“That’s right. She’s an excellent assistant—I wish I had a squire like this.”

“Y-you must be joking…” Her voice trembled.

Seeing that, Caspond and the king chuckled, but their faces reassumed their solemn expressions immediately after (though the king was expressionless).

“I hate to reveal my ignorance like this, but demons have the ability to transform into other people?”

“Demons are able to transform in order to corrupt people, but it’s not as if they turn into someone specific. They just change into a human. They don’t use someone’s face as a model. So if…mixed in with the prisoners…there’s someone nobody recognizes, we need to keep an eye on them.”

“So then we need the prisoners themselves to check on one another…”

“An illusion would make it a bit more complicated. With an illusion, they could change into someone specific. Right, like…” The king cast a spell, and his skull head turned into Caspond’s. “This is an illusion. But it’s a low-level one. As you can see, neither my clothes nor my voice has changed. And it’s not as if it copies your memories or thoughts. So if we have people talk to someone who knows them well, it’ll be clear right away.” The king’s white skull face returned. “There are several ways to handle clothing and voice, so the best is to have conversations and see.”

Neia realized with a start that the question he had asked the orcs earlier was a precaution against this issue.

He’s always so brilliant. It’s amazing how he manages to consider all these different things…

“I see… Well, you heard him. Get to work.”

“Please wait. We can also anticipate the appearance of a demon showing its true nature. I think you should stay near someone strong like Commander Custodio.”

“Ah, understood. I’ll make sure to operate with her around.”

Gustav bowed his head.

“Master Caspond, that was everything I wanted to confirm. If you have anything else…”

“Very well. Your Majesty, my plan is to head back south. I feel like I need to meet up with the army and bring it up here to the north to attack. I was held captive with several other nobles, so I want to hear from them and create a plan that takes into account which of them might be able to help.”

“Hmm. I don’t know the nobles of this country, so if you think that’s what we should do, then that’s probably fine… You’re not going to raid other camps to liberate more prisoners?”

“Not now. Moving through territory under Jaldabaoth’s control, we’ll stick out with too many people. Plus, it’ll slow us down. I want to avoid losing more lives as a result of trying to save people.”

“…Then what about letting the people escape to the south, and we raid the camps on our own?”

“Commander Custodio, you’re the one allowing me to sit in, but we haven’t heard your opinion.” Caspond’s voice was completely different from when he was speaking to the king.

Remedios bit back her annoyance and said, “I agree with you, brother of Her Majesty—mm, Sir Caspond. But we’ve already taken out two, including this one. There might be reprisals. What do we do about that?”

“Nothing.” Caspond shrugged. “I don’t think we can retake this territory without any deaths. There could be tens, hundreds, or even thousands dead. But we have other priorities.”

Neia saw that both Remedios and Gustav were shocked at the way he was talking about abandoning the people. Neia could only coldly feel that this was about what she expected from royalty.

“Master Caspond, you’ve changed, huh? You used to be so kindhearted when it came to the people.”

“What’s that about, Commander Custodio? Are you disappointed? Feh!” Caspond’s expression warped. His lips twisted to bare his teeth. His gaze had sharpened and filled with ridicule. “If you had experienced that hell, your personality would have changed, too. You wouldn’t be able to say such pretty things anymore. I feel sick… It seems you…haven’t heard what they did to us. You should ask someone. You’ll understand what unholy evil the demons are.”

He seemed like another person. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that something dark and murky was seeping through the expression he had forced himself to wear.

“If possible, I’d like to kill all the subhumans…” He glanced at the King of Darkness, and the king shrugged.

“After we interrogate them, you can do what you like. Although I already freed the orcs.”

“Well, that can’t be helped, though it is terribly unfortunate. Then again, the orcs went through the same horrors we did… Would you have turned them over to me in exchange for a Holy Sword?”

“I’m a caster, so a sword doesn’t really do much for me…”

Caspond laughed weakly in response to the king’s joke.

Remedios’s emotionless face was in stark contrast to his pale countenance.

It had sounded so much like a joke, but Caspond must have been serious.

Neia shivered. What could possibly have been done to him that he would hate even imprisoned subhumans enough to give away a royal treasure?

“So are you going to abandon this city?”

“If possible. Still, we need to heal the liberated prisoners and send a messenger to the south first. If you could stay here for at least a week, that would be much appreciated. Once we retake this land, I’ll add what reward I can to whatever Commander Custodio promised you.”

“Wonderful. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

•

One minute after the King of Darkness left the room accompanied by Neia…

“Okay,” said Caspond. “Now that he’s gone we can move on to the main topic.”

“Yes. It will be quite a challenge to protect so many people while we travel. It would be great if we could get some sort of reinforcements from the south or some wagons or something to use.”

Caspond smiled faintly at Gustav’s suggestion. “Don’t be ridiculous. Who said we were going to talk about that?”

“The main topic isn’t how to travel south?”

“I’ll be frank. I have no intention of escaping south right away. We’re going to clash with Jaldabaoth’s army here.”

“That’s too reckless!”

Remedios continued after Gustav’s exclamation. “We may have the city walls, but if we were surrounded and ran out of food, that would be the end. Only a fool would fight a siege battle without reinforcements.”

Remedios didn’t use her head much, but she could be trusted when it came to combat. Gustav nodded in agreement with her confident assertion.

“Still, we need to fight here.”

The pair’s puzzled looks made Caspond smile even more coldly as he explained.

“I heard that the King of Darkness is conserving his mana for the fight with Jaldabaoth…” Seeing Gustav nod, Caspond continued. “But that will cause problems. He’ll defeat Jaldabaoth, take the maids, and go back to his nation. But we need him to get rid of the subhumans that have flowed into our kingdom. We need to put him in a situation that forces him to help us.”

“But that would break our promise with him…”

“If he uses his magic to kill a few subhumans, fewer Sacred Kingdom subjects will have to be sacrificed. So which are you choosing, a promise to an undead or the lives of innocent subjects?”

An agonized look appeared on Gustav’s face, while Remedios replied without changing her expression at all. “The innocent subjects of the Sacred Kingdom, of course.”

“Then there you go, Commander. So we have to get him to fight. But since we made a promise, we’ll need a good reason to break it.”

“That’s why you’re going to clash with Jaldabaoth’s army?”

“Yes. More specifically, we’ll start preparing to head south, but it’ll take too long, so the army will surround us. We’ll have no choice but to ask the King of Darkness for help. What do you think?”

Remedios and Gustav exchanged a glance that said,
It’s not bad
, but…

“There’s one problem. Won’t having him use his magic put us at a disadvantage when it comes time for him to fight against Jaldabaoth?”

“I’ve heard it doesn’t take that long to recover mana.”

“My sister said the same thing.” Remedios’s sister had been a priest. If it was something she said, no one could really object.

“We’ll purposely let a few subhumans escape. Then we’ll lure Jaldabaoth’s army here—before our food runs out.”

“…How many troops will show up, I wonder.”

The three of them had already exchanged information; they estimated Jaldabaoth’s troops after the earlier battle to number slightly less than a hundred thousand.

There were armies of twelve races and then another six races that weren’t as numerous for a total of eighteen.

The twelve races were…

Snakemen. A type of subhuman that had the head of a snake. Said to be a relative of lizardmen.

Armats. A race reminiscent of bipedal rats with fur like steel. Said to be a relative of kuagoa.

Caven. Like apes slightly larger than humans. Eyeless due to atrophy.

Zerun. A slimy race with upper bodies like eels that sprouted arms and lower bodies like indigo maggots. Though they seemed like grotesques, the fact that spells targeting subhumans were effective against them indicated they were actually subhumans.

Bladers. An insect-like race with swordlike blades jutting out of the backs of their hands and covered in exoskeletons like armor. Similar to the zerun, they were classified as subhumans because they were susceptible to magic targeting subhumans.

Horrunners. Subhumans with horse legs who excelled at sprinting. They had astonishing endurance and hardly required any breaks while running.

Spidan. Subhumans reminiscent of spiders with four long, thin arms and slender legs. They could make clothing out of the thread they spat up. The garments made with those threads were hard as steel.

Stone eaters. Possessed primitive weapons. Terrifyingly, they had the ability to spit rocks they ate. Those rocks could easily fly a hundred yards and had no trouble denting iron armor. But since they couldn’t launch them indefinitely, they were less formidable if one could ride out the initial attacks.

Orthrouses. Like kentauroses, only half carnivorous beast instead of half horse. Stronger in combat than kentauroses but can’t run as fast.

Magiroses. Innate magic ability allowed them to use up to tier-four spells. The magic type they could wield apparently manifested visibly on their bodies as tattoos. The stronger ones were covered in them head to toe. Some of them were also casters, and in those cases it was rumored they could use up to tier five. Perhaps those were lord-tier individuals.

Pteroposes. A race of cliff dwellers that excelled at gliding. They could also fly, but it took quite a bit of energy, so they could only do it for a certain amount of time per day. And after that, they wouldn’t even be able to glide. As long as they didn’t fly, they could whip out cutting gusts of wind that were difficult to protect against even in armor, so they were stronger when they weren’t flying.

Then there were the bufolk.

The other six consisted of races that either had members who were very strong individually or didn’t have a tendency to live in close proximity or cooperate.

Ogres.

Pri-um, a race similar to ogres that possess control over the earth and were considered by some to be a powerful species. Their special powers were deeply associated with dirt and soil.

Va-um, similar to pri-um but with water powers instead of earth.

Nagarajas. A race of people with scaly snake bodies equipped with arms. Though their name was similar to naga, the two were actually completely different races and didn’t get along. Born with the ability to cast several spells, they sometimes also used weapons and armor.

Spriggans. A race with the ability to change size at will. Essentially good; evil spriggans were exceedingly rare. But whether good or bad, if they got out of control, they were impossible to handle.

Zooostias. With upper bodies of beastmen and lower bodies of carnivorous beasts, this was a race similar to kentauroses and orthrouses. They wore lamellar armor and carried oval shields. They didn’t have any special abilities, but they served well as heavy cavalry possessing the power and ferocity of wild animals. Since zooostias were individually quite strong, orthrouses often relied on them; it could be said that their relationship resembled that between goblins and hobgoblins. But given the zooostias lack special abilities, they weren’t terribly difficult foes for adventurers who could use Fly or the like; still, in a head-on clash, an orichalcum team would have a tough fight ahead of them.

“According to the King of Darkness, the enemy could be staking out your base, right? In that case, they probably know about the troops here, so it’s best to assume the enemy knows what kind of numbers we have, too. That means he won’t send too many, which will work in our favor. But there’s one problem.”

“Food.”

“Yeah. The priests should be able to make some with their magic, but even if we had them use up all their mana, it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough. And we can’t just eat subhumans like they eat us.”

Remedios and Gustav looked disgusted, but all three of them were aware that some subhumans ate humans.

And it was why they knew that if they made it a battle to see whose supplies would hold out the longest, they would lose. Every prison camp doubled as a storehouse packed with food for subhumans.

“How long will our food last? We should f—”

“The orders to calculate it have already been given. And I’m also checking if we have a blacksmith who could adapt some of the subhumans’ equipment so we could use it.”

“Nice going, Commander.”

The trio’s meeting in preparation for a siege battle scenario continued for a while. After a little over an hour, they must have reached a conclusion they all agreed on; they exchanged smiles.

“Okay. Get us prepped for a siege.”

A week later, when they had less food and they really needed to start heading south, the subhuman army appeared far off on the horizon.

But it was a far greater force than any of them had expected.

5

Watching the city begin to panic as the enormous host of subhuman soldiers drew closer, Ainz slowly crumpled to the ground.

This was not a metaphor.

The extreme strain that had built up in his mind mentally exhausted him despite being undead, and his knees hit the ground. He covered his face with his hands.

What do I do…? What am I supposed to do now…?

Ainz had been basically following the script that Demiurge prepared.

Naturally, it wasn’t as if he had written out every word and gesture—there was a lot of ad-libbing—but even so, Ainz felt he had adhered to Demiurge’s plan.

Or rather, the problem was that there had been too much ad-libbing.

Frankly, most of what Demiurge’s manual said was
Go with the flow
.

This is extremely unhelpful.
That’s what Ainz thought the first time he laid eyes on it.

If Ainz were a brilliant person, perhaps he could have perfectly played the role of the King of Darkness. But unfortunately, Ainz only had average, or possibly even slightly below-average, abilities.

And so a fierce fight broke out between the two of them.

To summarize, Ainz pleaded,
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this. Write a more detailed plan
, and Demiurge humbly answered,
I couldn’t possibly insult your intelligence in such a way, my lord.
Ainz was disadvantaged from the start, but then Albedo joined in, cementing his defeat.

Which is how the operation manual that left everything up to him remained in use.

If Demiurge was picking on him, he might have been able to find another way to fight back, but the present situation was the result of the trust and respect his subordinates had for him.

Especially when he could tell they were thinking,
You’re sure to get better results than us, Lord Ainz, so it wouldn’t do for us to limit you
, there was simply nothing he could do.

Using a little common sense, would a king really go off to another country on his own…?! This is so forced… But I’ve made it this far. I bent over backward a few times and nearly failed, but I’ve made it this far.

He didn’t believe in any gods, but he sure wanted to pray to one now.

I wish Demiurge and Albedo would at least take into account my strengths when they tell me what to do…

When they gave him impossible tasks, it sucked all the motivation right out of him.

……Okay, c’mon. Hang in there, me. If you can get past this, the rest’ll be comparatively easy.

Ainz tensed his legs and stood up.

The plan was reaching the middle stage, the climax, and it was The Worst.

Demiurge had told him that if they were to build a defensive line at this city, he would attack until 85 percent casualties were reached.

Ainz didn’t feel anything about that.

If that was what Demiurge thought, it was surely better than whatever he would have come up with. If that many dying was good for Nazarick, then that was what should happen. Actually, it made him wonder if killing more would be even better.

The problem was that Demiurge wanted a list of the people he shouldn’t kill.

If that were all, Ainz could have listed some random names and been done, but there was a condition: It had to be people who either worshipped Ainz or seemed likely to join his side.

When Demiurge got in touch to say,
Knowing you, Lord Ainz, I’m sure you’ve already mesmerized a number of humans like you did that dwarf, so please tell me their names. I’ll take care not to kill them
, Ainz wondered if he was being sarcastic.

“…There’s no one…” Ainz moaned in spite of himself.

There wasn’t anyone who worshipped him.

On the contrary, he could feel—tangibly—the intense hatred for undead the Sacred Kingdom had.

How was he supposed to overcome that adversity to get someone to adore him?

But there was no way he could tell Demiurge there wasn’t a single person.

Demiurge was utterly convinced that Ainz was capable of captivating people. So what would he think if he told him that getting even one was impossible?

My stomach hurts…

The dwarf Demiurge mentioned was probably Gondo Firebeard, but that had been pure luck. He just happened to land a critical hit on a weak point; there was no way such good fortune would repeat itself.

And it was thanks to having Gondo as a source of information that he had been able to strike so effectively at the rune crafters. But he didn’t have someone that close to him in the Sacred Kingdom.

He had succeeded in getting on friendly terms with the squire Neia Baraja, but that was as far as their relationship went.

And he had lent her a magic item to deepen their friendship—not that that was the only reason—but he wasn’t sure how effective it had been. She was always looking at him with the eyes of a murderer, so he didn’t think he should expect much.

If I told him there was only one, what would he say?
Ainz asked himself.

Would Demiurge’s image of him shatter into a zillion pieces if he did that?

And then what would happen?

I told him back in the dwarf country that I wasn’t as smart as he thought, but he doesn’t seem to have believed me… This is bad. How high has he built me up in his mind? Or, like, is the feeling that he keeps building me up bigger and bigger just in my head? Doesn’t this usually happen in the opposite way?

The expectations were painful. Not burdensome—painful.

The old him never knew what a heavy, stifling thing loyalty was. What hurt the most was how great his subordinates thought he was.

Maybe this is just the right time to let him know that I’m not as awesome as he thinks. But if the plan he’s been working on for so long fails because of me, then what? If I worked for several years on a deal and then one dumb remark from my boss ruined the whole thing…

Ahhh
, he thought, and would have been pulling his hair out except he didn’t have any.

What should I do?

What’s the optimal answer?

No matter how many times he simulated the outcome in his head, Demiurge looked at him with disappointment in his eyes. He couldn’t reach a satisfying conclusion.

It’s because they expect too much—it’s because I’ve climbed too high that I’ll take so much damage when I fall. That’s the whole reason I keep telling them I’m not so great…

Ainz’s own plans failed pretty often.

Ainz reached into space and took out a sword.

It was a normal sword with runes carved in it.

But it contained as much power as the bow he had lent to Neia.

Of course, this wasn’t a rune weapon crafted by the dwarves. The runes had no power at all; this had been made with
Yggdrasil
technology.

Sigh…
Ainz had a number of these weapons prepared. His original plan was to lend them to people on the Sacred Kingdom side. The point was to talk up the rune gear made in the Nation of Darkness by telling the people of the Sacred Kingdom wowed by the items’ power that they were finished products.

That was the other reason he had lent Neia the bow.

He thought the people who saw it would all want to borrow gear from him.

Alas…

Ainz cradled his head.
Why doesn’t anyone ask me to borrow gear…? That bow is so flashy. I was sure it would catch people’s attention… Should I have forced her to go fight on the front lines with it…?

Just then, Ainz jumped. There had been a knock on his door that caught him off guard.

He swiftly checked for wrinkles in his clothes. After putting the sword away in extra-dimensional space, he clasped his hands behind his back in a ruler-like pose and called loudly toward the door. “Who is it?”

“Your Majesty, may I come in?”

From the other side of the door, it was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman. Normally, he would ask for a name, but Demiurge had let him know ahead of time to expect someone, so he allowed the person to come in. “Sure, come on in.”

Once the person entered the room, they shape-shifted.

They had a head like an egg, and their eyes and mouth were like cutout holes. Three slender, inchworm-like fingers extended from each hand.

It was a doppelgänger.

Demiurge had asked to borrow one.

As monsters go, doppelgängers weren’t very strong.

Even when transforming, they could only copy powers up to around level 40, so they ended up weaker than they were in their natural forms. Their most impressive power was probably their ability to use weapons with lots of conditions, such as those that required karma points. Still, they couldn’t use legacy-tier or higher gear.

The creature looked at Ainz with wide eyes and then bowed.

“I’m terribly sorry for the disrespect, Lord Ainz. I hope you’ll have mercy on me.”

“Don’t worry about it. You only did your job. I have no complaints about that.”

“I’m not worthy of your grace.”

Ainz glanced toward the door. “Aren’t you extremely busy right now? Being in charge of a lot of different things must be tough. And is there someone outside the door? If so, we need to lower our voices.”

“It’s all right. When I told everyone I was going alone because I was going to see you, no one objected.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” said the doppelgänger. But they probably still needed to exercise some caution. “So, Lord Ainz, what should I do?”

“About what?” he said, but actually, he knew why the doppelgänger had come.

In fact, he was supposed to tell the doppelgänger—yes, about the people who worshipped him.

“Do excuse me. I’ve come regarding the matter of who should be spared, of who is loyal to you.”

“Hmm…” Ainz nodded benevolently and began walking.

Naturally, he didn’t leave the room. He merely paced around it. He was sure that the eyes of the doppelgänger were following him, though it was impossible to tell by looking at what they were focused on. That said, it would be frightening if they weren’t looking at him.

There wasn’t much time. Thinking frantically, Ainz froze.

He wasn’t sure if he had arrived at the right answer. But he had no clue about how he could fudge this.

If he were human, his heart probably would have been obnoxiously loud, but in this body, he didn’t have any pounding organs.

As intense emotions welled up and were automatically suppressed, leaving only smaller waves to press in on him, Ainz finally answered the doppelgänger.

“Right. I’ll be honest. There’s no one we need to save. Thin them out as needed.”