Chapter 3 | The Baharuth Empire

 

1

The day Albedo left for the Re-Estize Kingdom was sunny. Ainz was in the yard of his residence to see her off.

There was a line of five luxurious carriages. The one Albedo was riding in had her luggage in it. Of the others, one was filled with presents for the king. They were gifts meant to show the power disparity between the kingdom and the Nation of Darkness. Twenty-six Death Cavaliers created by Ainz surrounded the procession.

It would have been simpler to use Teleport to travel, but that wasn’t the method they chose.

Part of Albedo’s mission was to show off the might of the Nation of Darkness. That was why she used monsters instead of horses to pull the carriages—it was a demonstration.

“Well then, Lord Ainz. I’ll be away for a little while.”

“Right, be careful. We haven’t found the guys who brainwashed Shalltear. We can’t rule out the possibility that they might be plotting to mind control you and deal massive damage to Nazarick.”

“Of course, my lord. I’ll make sure not to let this leave my person.”

She cradled a World Item.

“With that, you should be safe from World Item brainwashing, but we don’t know for sure that what our opponent has is a World Item. And in the first place, don’t forget that although it’s the strongest anti-material World Item, it isn’t terribly useful against personnel.”

“Is that true? My main weapon is a portable version of this that looks different…”

“It’s not as powerful as a specialized god-tier weapon. Well, considering that it can’t be broken and won’t degrade, it is quite strong, but you know. My point is: Don’t let your guard down because you’re strong. Not that I think you would make that sort of mistake, Albedo.”

Come to think of it, Ainz had never sent Albedo outside before.

He had always stationed her in Nazarick to protect the rear. So Ainz was worried in much the same way he would be sending a child on their first errand.

“Stay wary. Don’t let your guard down. If anything seems even the slightest bit dangerous, withdraw at once. Do you have a teleportation item? Some of them take time to activate. Do you have one that allows you to move instantaneously? Some enemies have attacks that prevent teleportation. Have you decided how you’ll deal with those? Some enemies will distract you with a decoy and sneak up on you. Don’t get tricked by your enemies’ strengths. I heard you’ve been doing some combat training so you’ll be able to handle more, but you still have a lot to learn. And besides that…”

Wishing he had given the same advice to Shalltear before he sent her out, he considered how he would fight her if he was the PKer, all the while speaking rapid-fire.

How many different attacks had he explained? He realized that Albedo was looking at him awfully happily. Then he came back to his senses with a start.

What a terribly embarrassing way to act.

Ainz cleared his throat.

“Let’s leave it at that. This is you we’re talking about, Albedo, so I’m sure you’ve prepared countermeasures for each of these. I’m sorry to have kept you. You can go. Come back safe.”

“Understood, Lord Ainz.”

“I don’t mean to ask as you’re leaving, but has Demiurge—? Ah, never mind.”

“Are you sure?”

Ainz nodded.

He really wanted to ask if any word had come from Demiurge. Albedo wasn’t against his plan with the Adventurers Guild, so he wanted to ask Demiurge, but he could do that in person when he returned. Albedo seemed curious, but perhaps sensing that he wasn’t going to reply, she returned to her usual calm expression.

“All right, Lord Ainz. I shall do a job worthy of the captain of the guardians.”

“You always uphold the dignity of your title, Albedo.” As soon as he said it, he thought of the times he had been tackled, but this wasn’t the time to bring it up. “One last thing: I know you have immunity to sickness, but in this world, there might be illnesses that can infect you. Take care of yourself. I heard it’s easy to catch colds when the seasons are changing.”

In the world where Satoru Suzuki lived, there had been four clearly defined seasons.

He suddenly wondered how Blue Planet would have reacted if he was here. He probably would have had the same sparkle in his eyes that Albedo did…setting aside the question of whether he could even make such an expression.

With that smile like a flower in full bloom, Albedo made a proposal. “Lord Ainz! I know a wonderful way to ward off sickness!”

“Oh?”

He was surprised that she knew a preventive measure specific to this world.

Albedo shouldn’t have had any contact with Nfirea the apothecary. Was it knowledge from Yggdrasil or Tabula Smaragdina? His curiosity piqued, Ainz waited for her to continue.

“A kiss!”

“…………A kiss?”

“Yes, kissing relieves stress and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. If the parasympathetic is more active, your immunity increases. A kiss will keep you from getting sick!”

“Now that you mention it, I seem to remember hearing something like that before.”

He remembered someone saying something about the parasympathetic nervous system back when he was playing Yggdrasil. That must have been what he was thinking of. But he couldn’t imagine it was valid in this world as well.

“So a kiss!”

Albedo closed her eyes and puckered up.

A fish face.

He thought it would be a waste of her beauty, but actually, it didn’t detract as much as he expected. I guess beautiful women are beautiful no matter what kind of face they’re making, thought Ainz, though it was a bit beside the point at the moment.

Ainz decided that was enough escapism and began to think.

He wanted to tell her no way, but it was clear from a glance that she wanted a kiss. Since she was about to go on a business trip, he wanted to fulfill her wishes to some extent. And ignoring the request of the daughter of Tabula Smaragdina would pain his heart.

Ainz held Albedo’s chin and kissed her forehead. That said, he didn’t have any skin. So he didn’t have any lips. So his kiss consisted of pressing against her with his front teeth. And since he didn’t have any spit, either, it should have felt just like a dry, hard object touching her.

It was just so…so-so that he could only hope she would endure it.

I haven’t eaten anything, but I still wish I would have brushed my teeth.

When he took his hand away from Albedo’s chin, his eyes met hers, which were popped wide open.

“Wh-what’s the matter? I thought on the lips would be a bit much, so I kissed your forehead, but should I not have?!”

“…I never thought you would choose me.”

Before Ainz could ask what she meant by that, round droplets formed at the corners of Albedo’s eyes.

“Fwaaaaah!”

She burst into tears. And she wasn’t faking it—she was actually crying.

Ainz was so flustered that his mood was forcibly calmed for the first time in a while, and he flailed a bit—because how would he know what to do?

When he made Albedo cry in the Treasury, he came up with something comforting to say right away. But he had no idea how to console someone crying from a kiss. What would that stud the emperor do? he thought, but he hadn’t witnessed any scenes like this during his spying.

“Albedo, please don’t cry.”

He wanted to glance at today’s Ainz duty maid behind him for help, but this was already a pitiful scene, so he didn’t want to make himself any more pathetic.

“Albedo, don’t cry.”

He embraced her and patted her back.

After a little while, she sniffed. It seemed like she had stopped crying.

Relieved, Ainz released the hands around her back.

“Are you all right, Albedo?”

“Yes, Lord Ainz. My humble apologies for that shameful display.”

Though her face was stained with tears, she was wearing a great smile.

There could have been only one reason she cried.

Realizing what a horrible thing he had done, he felt little stabbing pains in his nonexistent stomach. If he hadn’t thought, Well, the game is almost over…, he never would have made her cry like this.

“Okay… Well, it must be about that time. If there isn’t anything else, you should get going.”

“Understood, Lord Momonga!”

The curtains in the window of the carriage opened, and he could see Albedo waving. Ainz waved back.

It was like a scene he’d seen on TV of people parting as a train pulled away.

The carriage slowly began to move and the escorts followed.

After watching the carriage until he couldn’t see it anymore, he spoke solemnly.

“Forget all that just happened.”

“Understood.”

Ainz walked past the maid as she bowed. He couldn’t see what the look on her face was.

2

The Fresh Blood Emperor, Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix, was at his wits’ end.

Not for the past couple days but all the time lately.

This was the man who had never gotten confused or panicked no matter what nobles he purged, what empire-destabilizing plot of rebellion he heard of, or how bad relations with neighboring countries got, but faced with this unsolvable problem, he could only hold his head in his hands.

“You! You bastard! Drop dead! Die and rot!”

It was possible to kill an opponent with a curse, but Jircniv didn’t have that power. For that reason, his shouts were merely insults, but if he could kill the hateful man who had been giving him so much mental and gastric trouble the past few months, he almost wanted to train up and learn the technique.

“…No, wait. Maybe ‘live’ is actually correct. Should I say, ‘Get wrecked!’ instead? I heard that priests can destroy undead with holy power.”

He was even thinking such nonsense as that.

The reason Jircniv’s stomach hurt so much, the reason that when he woke up in the morning, so much of his hair stayed on his pillow—it all stemmed from the King of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown.

He didn’t have a fail-safe way to address the problems the King of Darkness had caused.

The first issue was the imperial knights who had died in the fight on the Katze Plain.

There were 143 of them. If they had fought the enemy head-on, that level of attrition would be par for the course. But the dead from the Katze Plain self-destructed.

Not only that, but upon returning to the empire, the number who wanted to quit the knighthood was 3,788. Six percent of the sixty thousand knights who participated in the battle on the Katze Plain lost their courage.

On top of that, there were already several thousand who complained of anxiety or sleepless, frightened nights. According to the reports he’d seen, at least two hundred were mentally unstable.

Knights were professional warriors, and there were costs to cultivating them.

And it wasn’t just money. It took time to train them. It wasn’t just a matter of grabbing a random guy off the street and telling him, Starting tomorrow, you’re a knight.

Where could he pull funding to cover the expenses the empire would need to fill this hole?

Under these circumstances, it would be a big risk to purge nobles and use the seized assets as funding.

But then the second issue was the knights’ petition.

Jircniv allowed the knights to express their opinion directly to him. Nominally, the reasoning was that there were certain things only those who shed blood in battle could understand, but he also hoped to lessen the clash between the civil servants and the military officers, and his other objective was to make his military backing—the knights—feel like they were getting special treatment.

Of course, the nominal reason wasn’t completely devoid of substance, but this petition was awful.

It was a joint letter from the upper echelons asking him to avoid war with the Nation of Darkness.

Jircniv knew that without being told.

Warring head-on with that country would go past stupid to crazy. He wouldn’t go picking fights with an opponent who could mow down two hundred thousand soldiers with a single spell.

The reason the knights sent that petition anyway was that they had lost confidence in him.

The higher-ranking knights knew that Jircniv had requested that the king use the most powerful spell he had, so they counted him as one of the largest factors in causing that gruesome hellscape.

In other words, he was being treated as the perpetrator.

When he realized that, it really pissed him off—he was furious.

If he had known such a spell existed, he never would have said such a thing.

And in the first place, the only reason he asked him to use his strongest spell was to see what the extent of his power was.

Shouldn’t they be grateful? Thank you for drawing out a glimpse of the King of Darkness’s power. Now we know he’s not someone to be trifled with. If their luck had been worse, the king might have set that spell off in a city.

But the knights wouldn’t see it that way.

Since they felt he was such an outstanding emperor, they suspected him of knowingly requesting that spell.

It was the first time Jircniv found his reputation unpleasant.

But moaning about it wouldn’t get him anywhere. If someone would do something in his place, he would wail and rest until his stomach quit aching, but there was no one who could function at his level. He had to do something himself.

“Damn you, King of Darkness! This is all your fault!”

Holding his sore belly, he thought, No.

Perhaps it wasn’t his fault but his conspiracy.

It was possible that the empire’s circumstances were all what he had calculated. Actually, thinking with a clear head, it seemed highly probable.

Jircniv took out a key, opened a desk drawer, and retrieved a bottle from the row of them inside.

Then he moved the silver ring on his left hand near it.

When the Unicorn Ring—which could detect poison, boosted the user’s defense against sickness and poison, and could heal a wound once a day—didn’t react, he drank the bottle’s contents in one go.

He quietly set the bottle on the desk, furiously wrinkling his nose.

To get rid of the now-familiar bitter taste spreading throughout his mouth, he gulped down the glass of water sitting on his desk, then went back to holding his stomach.

Whether it was a placebo or he had actually been healed, he didn’t know, but the pain subsided.

“Ahhh…”

Emitting an extremely heavy sigh that had become a daily occurrence, he got back to work. First was the paperwork that had piled up.

Just as he reached out, there came a reserved knock on the door as if someone had been waiting for that moment.

It was one of his secretaries who entered. All the secretaries Jircniv had selected were outstanding, but this one was on par with Reaunet.

Incidentally, he didn’t have a single female secretary. Unfortunately, there was only one woman he would trust that work to.

“Your Imperial Majesty—”

Jircniv waved off the greeting that seemed like it was going to drag on. “No need for all that. Leave off the greeting. It’s a waste of time. Just tell me what you’re here for.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. A merchant from that nation bearing goods of quite high quality has contacted us. He’s coming to the capital.”

“Oh!”

“That nation” meant the Slane Theocracy, and the “merchant”—it goes without saying—was actually a messenger.

This room was protected against espionage, but after witnessing how powerful the King of Darkness was, their defenses felt flimsy as paper. And actually, Jircniv felt like he was being watched sometimes.

He had had several people investigate, but as no surveillance agents were discovered, it ended with the suggestion that perhaps he was paranoid. And certainly once they mentioned it, he noticed how frayed his nerves were, so he began to think it could just be in his head. But he still couldn’t get rid of the feeling that someone’s eyes were on him.

Previously, Fluder had taken on one part of the espionage-proofing, but Jircniv couldn’t use that traitor any longer. All he could do was operate under the assumption that his palace had been infiltrated.

So for certain sensitive topics, they employed code words. Of course, it caused some issues, but it was much better than having the plot to join forces against Ainz Ooal Gown leaked.

“So when will he arrive?”

“Within the next few days, he said.”

He would have liked to invite him to the palace, but that would be too conspicuous.

It would be best to pretend we were meeting by coincidence, but where would be the least suspicious seeming?

Even if he felt like there was nothing he could do, he couldn’t give up as though it was merely a game. He couldn’t ignore a being who could cast such an atrocious spell, someone who told Nimble it was only natural for him to take lives because he was an undead.

Increasing their chances of victory even a tiny bit was the job of the emperor of Baharuth.

And one method of doing that was a behind-the-scenes alliance with the Slane Theocracy. The Theocracy had a longer history than the empire, and faith magic was one of its pillars. It was the ideal country to request cooperation from for confronting undead.

But it would be extremely bad if the Nation of Darkness found out that the empire was in contact with the Theocracy.

The empire was supporting the establishment of the Nation of Darkness as an allied country. The reason it put itself in that position was to learn as much as possible about the country’s power, organization, and so on. It was obvious that if word got out that Jircniv was working against the Nation of Darkness, the first country that power would be turned on was the empire.

“May I say something, Your Majesty?”

Jircniv said nothing but gestured with his chin for the man to continue.

“Isn’t it a bad idea to fight against the Nation of Darkness at this point?”

Jircniv shot a sharp look at the secretary—to say, Are you on about that, too? Then he glanced at the parchment in his private wastebasket and asked a question.

“So then what should we do?” My spirit is already nearly snapped in half—are you trying to shatter it completely…? Still…

“Well…”

Jircniv smiled wryly, seeing his secretary gulp like that.

“Relax. I won’t fault you no matter what you say. Speak your mind.”

“All right. Then I beg your pardon, but…” The secretary cleared his throat and explained his thoughts. “As we strengthen our alliance with the Nation of Darkness, if it comes to us with a request…I think our only option is to take a knee and comply.”

Though Jircniv had made a promise, the secretary’s face was deathly pale.

He must have been battling the fear that his life could be in danger for that potentially treasonous remark.

Jircniv smiled wryly once more. “You’re right.”

“What?”

Knowing what an excellent secretary he was made the man’s gaping mouth amusing. Jircniv continued with a different sort of smile on his face.

“I said you’re right. If I was in your position, I’m sure I would make the same suggestion. No, it’d be more of a problem if I had a secretary who didn’t say that.”

Frankly, the Nation of Darkness was too powerful.

They were only aware of its military power, but even just that was so extraordinary that doing anything about it was impossible.

The King of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown, was more than enough of a threat on his own, and then the undead army he brought with him to the battlefield was supposedly made up of monsters who could each single-handedly destroy a country.

He was basically from another dimension, so it started to feel absurd to even think about it in a serious way.

“I agree that that’s the best plan of action, but we should probably have a plan B as well. If the King of Darkness was trying to destroy the empire, I’m not sure he’d forgive us simply because we got on our knees.”

Currently, he hadn’t heard anything about a massacre in E-Rantel.

When he wondered if there weren’t any undead there and had the data collected, the place was crawling with them. Monsters were stationed all over the place, and the city had transformed into a dark capital.

Perhaps they didn’t intend to kill the people living in the occupied territory, but it was too soon to assume that. Assuming the empire would be on the receiving end of the king’s mercy was risky, given the rumor that the king had even gotten the adamantite-plate adventurer Momon under his thumb.

“As you say, Your Majesty. It seems I was so scared of the King of Darkness’s overwhelming power that something obvious like that didn’t come to mind. I’m terribly sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. I thought the same thing… But let’s get back to our discussion. Where will the merchant from that nation be staying?”

“He’ll be staying at the largest two of four place.”

“Two of four” was a fire shrine. The largest place wasn’t a code word, but he could guess it meant the largest shrine in the empire—the central shrine.

Then they began chatting nonchalantly, mixing in lies.

Every now and then, they would say something random that sounded significant so that if anyone was listening, they would have a hard time ascertaining whether it was true or not.

Seems like this brain-taxing work will continue, thought Jircniv, and after a few minutes, he steered the conversation toward its main purpose.

“So what about your family? Are they still well?”

“Huh? Er, yes. Thanks to you, we’re doing great.”

“I see. That’s good. Health is so important. Actually, I haven’t been feeling so well lately. Medicines are only helping me endure temporarily. What do you think about calling a priest?”

“The shrines don’t seem very pleased with you of late. If you get high-handed with them, it could invite a rebellion. What if you went to one instead?”

“That’s a good idea.”

For the shrines, who fought against undead, the appearance of a country ruled by an immensely powerful undead right next door was cause for serious concern. As such, they had sent many letters to Jircniv asking to hear his thoughts on the matter, but he had been refusing.

One of the reasons he didn’t jump at that chance even though he wanted all the help he could get was that he couldn’t trust their espionage prevention skills. But the other was that he couldn’t predict what they would do once they heard everything he had to say.

If, after he cooperated with them, the priests decided to go to war with that king just because he was undead, the outcome would go without saying. It would be like getting caught up in a suicide.

Ultimately, the issue was that he didn’t want the King of Darkness to interpret contact with the shrines as hostility. In other words, he was scared.

Jircniv sighed again.

He had wanted them to wait for a good opportunity, but the Theocracy hadn’t read that far. Still, if the party of diplomats snuck into the empire and met with the shrines, maybe they could aim for a reversal of fortunes.

“Then I suppose I should go get checked within the next few days.”

“I think that’s a good idea. I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Yes, please do. And what about the arena? I was planning to go watch, so can that still happen? Don’t stop me just because we’re talking about getting my health checked. I’ll let whoever of you wants to come with sit in the noble guest seats.”

The secretary’s eyes contained a sharp glint that indicated he was trying to reach the truth.

Yes. You’re right. It’s only natural to question. See through it.

Jircniv was thinking he wanted to avoid meeting with the Theocracy diplomats at the shrine.

In addition to providing healing services, shrines archived all sorts of information. If the central shrine was chosen as the first target, they would lose too much. There were some times when amassed knowledge was more important than anything else.

“Understood regarding the arena. But I thought that day you were going to visit the people injured in the war.”

That news hadn’t reached Jircniv. It must have been a bluff.

In other words, he was probably suggesting the hospital instead of the arena as the meeting place. The reason Jircniv proposed the arena was because he had heard that priests had been summoned there to heal the injured before. That meant they could show up under that guise.

“Let’s put the hospital visit off. Arrange my schedule according to the plan I just mentioned.”

The topic of the merchant disappeared halfway through the conversation. What would a spy think of that? What would they be able to glean from the numbers “two of four”?

No matter how demonic the King of Darkness’s ingenuity, he couldn’t make a move without gathering information. And his subordinates couldn’t all be as intelligent as he was. Plus, the more spies he had, the more likely they would be found out. Since they hadn’t found any yet, there were surely only a few. At least, Jircniv wanted that to be the case.

The King of Darkness’s absolute magic powers had tricked his brain; some corner of his mind was whispering, All the King of Darkness’s henchmen are elites. The ones Jircniv had seen in the Throne Room had been overwhelmingly powerful, so maybe his spies were like that, too.

If that’s the case, we’re just out of luck… I guess being a vassal country would be the most we could hope for?

Even though he had just drunk a potion, the griping pain in his stomach started up again.

Two weeks later, Jircniv was in a carriage on the way to the arena.

The nominal reason was to be a spectator, but the real objective was the meeting that had been arranged with the messenger from the Theocracy and high-ranking priests from within the empire.

His guard was not mobilized, because he wanted to avoid sticking out, but two of the Four were in the carriage with him as escorts: Lightning and Storm Wind.

He would have liked to have all four of the exceptionally strong knights with him, but he couldn’t trust Heavy Bomber, so he left her behind—his excuse was that she was to guard the palace. No, “couldn’t trust” wasn’t accurate. The more correct reason was that she had expressed interest in visiting the Nation of Darkness, so he wanted to keep her away from any information that would make a good souvenir.

She once said, If my curse was broken, I would even turn my sword on the emperor, but there were reasons that he had her working for him despite that. Even if she betrayed the empire, he couldn’t blame her. But that didn’t mean he could let her make off with important intelligence.

If she did steal state secrets, he would have to send someone after her, but if he wanted to kill her—one of the strongest people in the empire—he would have to send someone on her level. In an even fight with the sword, that meant only Lightning or Storm Wind were options; the wrong choice would end only with the pursuer getting killed instead. And if he sent a whole group, the defenses of the capital and he himself would be weakened.

In that case, he would need someone with skills besides hand-to-hand combat—one of Fluder’s leading disciples, or workers, or maybe assassins like Ijaniya, but no matter which one he chose, he would have to be prepared to pay for them.

Leading disciples were paid annually—although Fluder himself had been given a domain and trapped as a noble—so it was easy to assume there wouldn’t be many additional costs, but there were invisible losses such as delays in their usual work. And the loss that would occur if there was retaliation was incomparable to the latter two options.

So the best option was to not let Heavy Bomber near any critical intelligence so she couldn’t take anything with her to the Nation of Darkness. That was probably the way to make everyone happy.

He had already discussed that with her in a roundabout way.

But Heavy Bomber was still at the palace. Her response had been, I will remain until my debt to you is repaid.

He would have liked to take it at face value, but he couldn’t.

It was true that Heavy Bomber was one of the empire’s Four, but that didn’t mean the Nation of Darkness would be impressed by her abilities. The undead in the big unit reporting directly to the King of Darkness were surely more powerful than her, so she was just biding her time until she could sell herself for a higher price.

Thinking about the presence of over a thousand undead stronger than the empire’s strongest knight—not even counting the King of Darkness—made Jircniv’s stomach hurt.

What am I supposed to do?!

It wasn’t that they couldn’t change the tides of battle with one strong addition.

Gazef Stronoff of the Re-Estize Kingdom was a man who could make that happen. And the empire’s principal wizard, Fluder Paradyne, was even more powerful—he could tip the balance of the entire country.

An individual was sometimes equivalent to an entire army or state.

In other words, even without its fearsome undead king, the Nation of Darkness still had an army a thousand strong.

…Isn’t this just impossible? Assuming there are a thousand soldiers in his army, there’s no way to stop them… Would it be better to give up?

He couldn’t say so in front of his subordinates, but it was the answer that had occurred to him more than once. It was the first thing he thought when he heard about the fight on the Katze Plain.

“All right, Your Majesty, so you’re going to meet with Argenti at the arena and then move on?”

Jircniv moved only his eyes to look at the man sitting before him.

It was one of the Four, Lightning Baswood Peshmel.

Jircniv nodded in silence.

For escorts this time, he had hired an adamantite adventurer team. Nominally, they were guards, but their main purpose was countering espionage. Unfortunately, he had been unable to get in touch with one of the candidates, Ijaniya, and so learned that it would be extremely difficult to get them onto the empire’s side.

“Your Majesty, it’s true that adamantite-plate adventurers are the peak of humanity’s fighting power. But ultimately, they can’t go beyond the human realm. Please don’t let your guard down.”

Jircniv understood to a painful degree what Storm Wind Nimble Arc Dale Anoch was trying to say. Or rather, he had seen a massive slaughter, so he knew. He had seen the monsters lined up in the Throne Room.

“Of course not. Still, though, we might be able to fend them off somehow. There’s the adamantite-plate adventurer from the kingdom, Momon. I’ve heard he faced the King of Darkness with his sword drawn and protected the people. So these are adamantite, too. I would sure hope they can fend them off.” As he said it, he smiled sadly. “And if…they can’t?”

The pair of knights’ faces grew grave at Jircniv’s question. Their expressions spoke louder than words—to the point that before he knew it, Jircniv was making the same face.

“Your Majesty, please don’t look at us that way. We may be powerless, but we’ll do all we can.”

“You can bet on that, Your Majesty. Please get rid of that gloomy expression and put your usual bold, confident one back on.”

The pair’s kind words were like stakes in his heart. Unable to bring himself to say, You had the same looks on your faces, too! he took the advice sincerely—because it had undeniably permeated his turbulent mind, just like water falling on a desert.

“…Sorry. I appreciate your feelings. And…since it’s just you guys here, I wonder if it would be okay for me to vent a bit…”

The two knights silently nodded.

“What should I do? Why did a monster like that have to show up next to the empire? Why? What did I do wrong? How can we defeat him—or even just seal him away? Is there really even a way to come back from the worst-case scenario of the empire’s trump card defecting to the enemy’s side?”

He hadn’t intended to say so much.

If Jircniv didn’t walk out front, no one would be able to make it. The person at the top needed person-at-the-top attitude—especially when that person was the Fresh Blood Emperor, who had purged so many nobles.

His father, whom he respected, had taught him that the emperor could never show weakness.

But as long as one was human, there were limits to what was possible to endure.

The human, Jircniv, screamed in a way he could only in front of his closest aides. “I did ask him to use a spell. But I had to! We needed to know some of what he could do in order to figure out how to combat him! Yet I’m the one in the wrong?! It’s all my fault?! That’s what everyone and his brother are saying!” Jircniv bit his lip and tore at his hair with both hands.

Actually, that was just the beginning. He wanted to scream all the deepest emotions welling up inside him and thrash around. He only just managed to maintain imperial appearances.

But he was aware that he had pushed the limits.

This seems to be turning into a habit, he thought as he regained composure. “Sorry. I got a bit agitated. The stress lately is so bad, you know.”

When he glanced down at his hands, there were a couple of his hairs there.

Judging from the portraits, none of his ancestors had thin hair. He ended up at the pointless thought that he might be the first emperor to go bald.

He brushed off his hands in a way that might not alert his two guards. Sometimes sympathy hurt more than insults. Hair issues were precisely that sort of thing.

“Now that you’ve seen me like this, I’m sure saying this will only cause you trouble, but don’t worry about me. There must be a way to handle this. I won’t let him have his way with the empire.”

He put on what he felt was a fearless grin. His two subordinates smiled slightly.

But they didn’t seem relieved.

They must have realized that Jircniv’s remark was little more than consolation. Even Jircniv himself thought that unless a weapon that could definitively slay undead or a person with amazing powers appeared, it would be impossible.

Hence the Slane Theocracy. It has a longer history than we do. Maybe they have a weapon that can kill undead in a single blow. No, I can keep fighting even if all they bring us is knowledge!

Wishing for that was the only option he had left.

The carriage drove on—with Jircniv’s last hope aboard.

The arena was circular. One section had an entrance, which the carriage drove through. It was the entrance and exit for the handful of people with access to the noble guest box. Aside from that, there was the general admission entrance and the shipping entrance, for a total of three ways in and out.

Naturally, the first to disembark were the two knight bodyguards. After they made sure the area was safe, Jircniv got out.

Five men were there.

They didn’t appear the type to be anywhere near the VIP entrance.

Jircniv could usually guess the price of a piece of art from looking at it, but he couldn’t tell the value of the men’s equipment. That was because it wasn’t the work-of-art armor the guards of nobles wore but combat gear of people who had been through battles.

Etiquette required that the lower-status person introduce themselves first, but some adventurers didn’t pay attention to status. These men were that type.

But was it really all right for the ruler of the empire to humble himself before an adventurer?

Perhaps sensing Jircniv’s conundrum, one of the five men spoke. “Your Imperial Majesty, Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix. It’s an honor to meet you. We’re Argenti, the adamantite team who will be handling your request. I’m the leader of the team, Freiwaltz. Thank you for hiring us.” His commanding voice boomed.

On his back, he had a lute and on his hip, a rapier. The mail shirt he was wearing had a strange shimmer about it.

All of his gear was giving off a glow that wasn’t merely light reflecting but magic. Apparently, they were all first-rate magic items—especially the lute, which was supposedly called Star Symphony.

Seeing him so filled with confidence, Jircniv recalled his self of several months ago and felt a bit envious.

“You’re the greatest adventurer team in the country, so I’ve heard much about you. The story of how you defeated Radiant Crawler was simply thrilling. So, of course, I feel as though I know each of you very well. But in any case, can I get the heroes of the nation to introduce themselves from their own mouths?”

“Then since I’m a bard, I’ll make the—”

“Would you cut that out? Hearing that from you gives me gooseflesh. The sparkling blade and whatnot…please don’t. Oh, my apologies, Your Imperial Majesty. I’m not from anywhere very respectable, so I don’t have much way with words, but please forgive me.”

The man to the right of Freiwaltz took a step forward and bobbed his head.

He was small statured and had his hair cut very short. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes, which were too small for his head, weren’t as friendly. He was Keila no Södersten, a fixer, which was a thief-type class.

Not much was known about the fixer class, so many points were unclear, but they were most likely further underground than thieves, lurking in the darkness more like assassins.

When Jircniv told the slightly bowing man that he didn’t need to worry about it, Baswood barked a short laugh.

“Ha-ha. The emperor has been trained on me, so he’ll be fine.”

“Oh, who’s this? Lightning, of the Four? Are you by any chance from the same thereabouts?”

“Hmm? No, probably somewhere else. I come from a dirty back alley, but I bet you’re from somewhere rougher.”

“So it seems. I do get different vibes from you… Well, that was rude. Sorry to jump to conclusions.”

“No worries, Dark Cloud.”

“I don’t remember introducing myself as Dark Cloud… Agh, this is all your fault.”

When he glared over at Freiwaltz, the leader made his lips pouty. “If you’re going to be getting weird nicknames, maybe you should lead. Excuse me, Your Majesty. This is the eyes and ears of our time, Söder. Next, I’ll introduce our warrior. You may be surprised by his appearance, but of his abilities, I can assure you.”

“No, the emperor has no doubt. He looks stronger than me!”

“I’m glad to hear such a strong guy say that. The name’s Fahn Longuu.”

The one who was introduced was a monkey with bright-red hair who stood about five and a half feet tall. He wore armor that seemed to be made out of white animal skins and had a well-used battle-ax on each hip.

He was a subhuman race called a monkey, and in the report, it had noted that of the warrior-type-class beastlords, who harbored spirits of forest animals, he was one who possessed ape powers. Still, the shock of actually meeting him was quite intense.

And though he looked like this, he was stronger than Baswood, the strongest person in Jircniv’s party?

Fahn Longuu raised his right hand in greeting.

“Uh, okay. Next is our healer.”

A bit flustered, Freiwaltz introduced the next member. Perhaps he thought Jircniv would be displeased.

This time the man on Freiwaltz’s left took a step forward.

“Pardon me.” The strange staff in his hand made a jangling sound. Apparently, it was called a Priest of Buddhijin’s Staff. “My priest name is Unkei. I believe in Buddhijin. I hope everything will go smoothly.”

He was clad in strange clothes, but they were more civilized than the beastlord’s outfit.

On his head was a big hat—yet again strange—made of woven bamboo grass. He had no hair underneath. If Jircniv didn’t know he had shaved it, he would have turned a compassionate eye on him. And so young…

This man, wearing combat gear seen only very rarely in the empire, a kasaya, was a type of faith caster who, while perhaps a bit forced as a healer, was adept at fighting undead—a priest of Buddhijin.

This Buddhijin was a relatively minor deity with believers rather a ways to the south and said to be subordinate to the Four Gods. Jircniv was slightly embarrassed that he didn’t realize there was a shrine to Buddhijin in the empire, but apparently it was causing trouble.

Generally, healing magic was managed by the shrines, and the prices were set. So how to deal with someone who didn’t fit into that system at all and had their own healing magic? Especially if that person was an adamantite-plate adventurer?

There were no close ties between politics and religion in the empire. Jircniv felt lucky it had nothing to do with him.

He didn’t want to get embroiled in any more trouble than he already was.

Still, it was true that when he had investigated the feats they could perform, he was captivated by the mention of their outstanding ability to combat undead. Maybe it was necessary to put some pressure on the shrines. Of course, first he would have to see whether the man’s powers were truly useful or not.

“I see. Then the last one is Powapon?”

“That’s right, Your Majesty.”

When Freiwaltz introduced him, someone even weirder—perhaps the most unusual-looking one of them all—bowed.

Maybe because he had acquired the eccentric class of totem shaman, his tanned upper body was bare with a mysterious white pattern scrolled across it.

“…You’re not cold?”

“I have a magic item equipped that protects me from temperature fluctuations, so it’s no problem at all.”

Jircniv was inwardly surprised to get such a normal answer. The document had mentioned his strange appearance and also that he was a decent person. Still, the gap caught him off guard. When he took a closer look, he noticed the man had a fairly nice face and didn’t seem terribly old.

Half of Jircniv wanted to know why he had chosen to throw himself into this class, and the other half didn’t.

He took in Argenti.

It was a weird team made up of weird members. The only thing they had in common were the feathers decorating various parts of their gear—for the totem shaman, only around his loins—from the Argenti bird the team used to keep.

The feathers sparkled such a brilliant silver that it seemed like they had been plucked mere moments ago.

“Understood, gentlemen. Thanks for your help today.”

“Leave everything to us, Your Majesty. You’re in good hands.”

Hearing that from Freiwaltz, Jircniv had to stop himself from wincing and then strode on ahead. But…

“Could you wait a moment, Your Majesty?” Söder stopped him in a flat voice. “We were hired to protect you, so we’d like you to not walk out front, if that’s all right with you.”

“It’s not about what’s all right with me. I did hire you for that purpose, so if you think that’s what I should do, then I’ll comply, and that’s that. Also, if you ever think these men’s abilities would be useful, feel free to use them as you would—although I would appreciate it if you didn’t take them too far away from me.”

“Hooey, we’ve come up in the world if we get to give orders to members of the Four. But you two don’t need to leave the emperor’s side. As long as you follow our instructions and escape or run on ahead if something comes up, then you’re fine. All right, leader, a song if you please.”

“Got it. Your Majesty, I apologize that Söder’s mouth is so rough around the edges. I don’t mean to repeat myself, but…”

“It’s nothing to worry about. Although in public it could be a problem.”

Perhaps his feelings got through? Freiwaltz bobbed his head. It seemed to mean that he would have the man consider the time and place before speaking.

Then he sang a song. No, it was less like a song than a collection of mysterious sounds. That is, despite being able to hear it, Jircniv couldn’t understand it. The song was only a few seconds long, but its impact remained awfully strong. When it was over, Freiwaltz began to move.

The description would probably be something like sway or slither, but either way, it was a movement that would have been impossible for Jircniv.

“Okay, please follow ten yards behind.”

The party set off after following Söder’s instructions. Jircniv asked Freiwaltz next to him about the song.

“What in the world was that?”

“You aren’t familiar, Your Majesty?”

“It’s a bard skill called an intonation. Some perform them with instruments, but I can get the effects by singing.”

“So that’s what it was…,” Jircniv murmured, and Freiwaltz smiled. Then Jircniv remembered something he’d been meaning to investigate but never had the time to, and it seemed like a good chance, so he decided to ask. “…There’s something I want to ask you. Can intonations manipulate people?”

“There’s one called Suggestion that I think would do it. It has the same effects as the magic spell. Some others like Charm Person can to some extent as well.”

Jircniv exchanged glances with Baswood. “I see… Is that right…?”

“Yes, it must be that.”

So was it a monster that could use bard abilities? Or…?

“So do you know anything about frog-like monsters?”

He couldn’t say for sure that some monsters weren’t born with that sort of ability. It was important to clarify that first.

“Frog-like? You mean like giant toads?”

“No, not like that. More intelligent. A monster that walks on two legs and can activate something like an intonation instantaneously.”

“…Maybe a toadman? A toadman bard would fit those parameters…but I didn’t get the feeling toadmen were very accomplished subhumans. Apparently, when a chief-level toadman gets older, he gains the ability to confuse enemies with a special call.”

Confusion was a bit different from what Jircniv was thinking.

He had read about toadmen in a book before, and he had the feeling Demiurge looked quite a bit different from them. He couldn’t rule out that he was a variety of a lord, but it seemed more likely that he was something else.

“It seems like you must be thinking of something else. My apologies, Your Majesty. I don’t have enough information. If you can give me any more details, I might be able to come up with the answer.”

That was just what he was hoping for.

“Oh? Then I’ll give you a detailed description of his appearance, so can you lend me your knowledge? Or could you tell me more about intonations?”

There couldn’t be anyone in the empire more knowledgeable about them than this adamantite adventurer.

“Your Majesty, isn’t that asking a bit much? That’s how a bard makes their living.”

But he chuckled at Baswood’s concern. “No, no, I can’t talk about my ace move, but it’s no problem to teach you the ordinary things. But…wouldn’t it be better for you to ask the great caster? I’m sure he knows more than I do…”

At the mention of Fluder, Jircniv endeavored to keep his expression steady.

Jircniv had a gag order out about Fluder’s betrayal, so not a word had spread outside. For the time being, he was keeping him on as principal wizard, gradually robbing him of his powers when he wasn’t looking and groping for a way to compensate.

The size of the hole to fill showed him just how much the empire benefitted from Fluder, but it was too late.

“I can’t rely on that old fellow for everything. It’s like doing your homework as a student. Just because you have a great teacher doesn’t mean you should wait to ask them the answers—you’ll get an earful.”

A few people laughed at his remark.

“You’re exactly right, Your Majesty. Understood. I was just thinking the payment for this job was too high for what it is. I’ll tell you a little about intonations later on.”

“Oh? That would be great.”

There were multiple box seats at the arena—for wealthy people who donated to the management of the arena, for high-ranking nobles, and for the emperor. They went straight toward the emperor’s box. Perhaps they had checked the place out ahead of time? Söder proceeded without needing to ask for directions.

Soon they came to a point where the door was just around the corner, but Söder held out a palm to stop Jircniv.

“There don’t seem to be any people around, but I’ll go on ahead just in case, so can you all wait here by this corner?”

He spoke low and didn’t wait for an answer before moving quickly down a corridor. Curious, Jircniv poked his head out and took a look.

Having reached the door without making a sound, Söder did something, and the door cracked open. It scarcely seemed open at all, but apparently it was enough for the fixer to slip through, and he disappeared inside.

In less than a minute, the door opened wide to reveal Söder’s face.

“All clear. This room is safe.”

Everyone moved into the room that had passed the safety check.

Jircniv looked around.

It was a bit small, but the elegant furnishings were all pieces of the highest quality, and everything was immaculate despite the fact that he almost never came here.

There was a large opening in the wall of the arena, so they had a full view of the scene below. When he took a glance, he saw that everyone in the packed seats was going wild.

The reason so many people had come out was that a martial king match had been scheduled at short notice.

The king of the arena—the martial king—was so strong that a proper match couldn’t be found for him. For that reason, it had been quite a while since he had fought.

The stands were overflowing with people eager to see how he would perform.

Certainly, many people admire the power on display. And since we have professional soldiers, the battlefield is another world to civilians. That must be why they’re able to enjoy death matches as spectacle.

No, I’ve heard that even some knights enjoy going to the arena.

So is it about expressing and liberating your savage nature?

While Jircniv was absentmindedly pondering those things, Argenti had finished their search of the room.

“Any sign of any intelligence spells or the like being activated?”

“We found nothing, Your Majesty. Right?”

“You got it. First, it’s hard for me to tell if something has been cast or not, so I had them check to see if there were any magic items around. And there weren’t any! But there’s one thing I want you to remember, and that’s that I don’t have as good of examination skills as a thief. Please don’t assume we’re perfectly fine… Although, I did have our leader boost my detection abilities with an intonation, so we’re probably okay, but you know.”

“As far as magic, I used a detection spell, and there was no sign of anything being cast. I put up detection obstruction, so it doesn’t seem like we’ll have any issues.” Unkei struck his staff against the floor and it jangled refreshingly.

“Then can I request something else? Is there a spell we can use to detect anyone approaching? Something you know is there even if it’s invisible would be great.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any spells like that. I’m fairly certain our leader does, though.”

When the ball landed in his court, Freiwaltz made an okay sign and left the room.

“What else? If someone tries to listen in, what kind of countermeasures come to mind?”

Jircniv thought frantically about what Ainz Ooal Gown might be capable of. Frankly, he couldn’t imagine the unimaginable. As a result, it was practically impossible to underestimate him.

“…Honestly, I think with all we’ve done, we’ll be fine. We’ve already got multiple spells protecting you.”

“He’s right, Your Majesty. I’ve also cast Obstruct Detection, so I’ll be notified immediately if anyone tries to investigate us using magic. Please don’t worry.”

Söder and Unkei soothed him in turn.

They probably thought he was a touch paranoid. Or maybe they thought he was nervous because he sensed an assassin.

But he was very curious how the pair would react when he told them they were up against the King of Darkness. Would they understand that no matter how cautious they were, it could never be enough? Or would they say they couldn’t do a job like this for so little money?

The best for him would be if they knew nothing about the King of Darkness and just did their best to handle the job.

But though he had restrictions on King of Darkness–related matters in place, it was impossible to keep sixty thousand mouths shut.

It had to have leaked already. In that case, he heard that the higher the rank of the adventurers, the more regularly they collected information, so there was a good chance these guys already knew how powerful the King of Darkness was.

Plus, I don’t like the idea of anyone figuring me out.

Having thought all that, Jircniv smiled vaguely to gloss over it.

The pair seemed to think they had convinced him, and it looked unlikely that they would say any more.

An even larger roar went up from the stands.

When he took a look, it seemed the fight between two swordsmen had been decided.

In the old days, the loser would be put to death, but now, though people sometimes died during matches, they were never killed after the outcome was decided.

The rule was said to have been abolished after a swordsman, who just happened to be saved during a losing streak because he was fun to watch, ended up awakening his abilities and becoming champion. Apparently, it was thought that there could be more like him.

What number martial king was he? He wasn’t as strong as the current king, but he was still something. I need to think of a way to bring powerful people who have no intention of belonging to a nation into my corner…

“Anyhow, we’re done, Your Majesty.”

He turned around at the sound of Freiwaltz’s voice. “Thanks.”

Since he was dealing with adamantite-plate adventurers, he felt he should probably express a bit more gratitude, but his usual terse appreciation had already slipped out.

“It was nothing. Then regarding our escort duties, do you mind if we stand by in this room?”

He had hired them as bodyguards. With that in mind, it was an utterly obvious suggestion.

But could he have private talks with them around?

There were plenty of pros to getting them involved, but once they learned his aim, there was a risk he would end up making enemies of people he should definitely not make enemies of.

Still, they’re nothing compared to hi— What am I thinking? Being fine with that monster as an enemy is proof I’ve gone insane… Only a fool would make any more enemies at this point.

Jircniv shook his head.

“Unfortunately, this is a very important meeting. I can’t have you in the room.”

“It will be awfully difficult to protect you if we’re not in the room, Your Majesty…”

“I trust these two, and they’ll be here with me. I’m sure they would be able to buy time until you arrive.”

“Well, that’s true.” It was the gibbon, who had been silent until now, who spoke. “But if your opponent was an assassin on par with Söder, you might be in trouble.”

“Someone on par with me? Like the little lady from Ijaniya. She uses ninjutsu, so she pounces at you from the shadows.”

“Your two warriors will be unbeatable against an opponent who relies on a sword. But what about magic? I can’t help but be anxious about that scenario. Besides, I think we would be so absorbed by the match that we wouldn’t have any interest in your meeting.”

They all tried to persuade him, but after having gone this far to avoid any leaks, he couldn’t accept their proposal.

“Your worries are valid. But as the emperor, I mustn’t yield on this point.”

The eyes of Argenti gathered on their leader. He heaved a sigh.

“Then I suppose we have no choice. As the emperor, you must have conversations we can’t be privy to. Very well—we’ll be on watch outside. Could you tell us what sort of people will be coming?”

“That’s a natural question. But you fellows didn’t see anything. Got it?”

“Of course. No matter who comes, that information will never spill from our lips. And if it does leak, we’ll take responsibility and handle it.”

“Then I’ll trust you. It’s the high priest of the fire shrine and the high priest of the wind shrine, plus four priests who will probably accompany them.”

“I see. Then if anyone else arrives, we’ll be on our guard.”

“Yes, that’s what I would like from you. This guest box is somewhat removed from the others. No one should end up here ‘lost.’”

“Understood… And, Your Majesty, do you mind if we break the lock on the door?”

“If you think it’s necessary, go ahead and do it.”

Fahn strode forward. The handles of his battle-axes were creaking with a sound that a human grip would never produce. Jircniv felt that kind of force might be a bit overkill for just breaking the lock, but he was no warrior, so he couldn’t say anything.

But his two knights were whispering to each other enough that it bothered him.

Fahn slowly lifted the battle-axes over his head.

“Oh, don’t break the door!”

At Freiwaltz’s shout, Fahn paused.

Jircniv couldn’t help but shift his eyebrows.

“…Why not? We aren’t going with the ‘Sorry, I was going to break the lock, but I accidentally broke the door, too, so we’ll just stay in here with you’ plan?”

“No, not this time. I don’t want to get involved in messy politics.”

“Me neither. I have no interest in being any more suspect in the eyes of the shrines.”

“Got it. Then this should be enough.”

A battle-ax glided down to strike the lock, easily breaking it.

Was he supposed to be disgusted? Or offended? There were surely many reactions to choose from, but Jircniv was impressed. Just what I’d expect from adamantite adventurers, he thought.

Not that the battle-ax had broken the lock like nothing but that they had the guts to talk like that in front of the nation’s highest authority. And the arrogance it took to ignore the client’s wishes, even if the client was the emperor, in order to do their best job possible.

Those were things Jircniv had lost.

“…Maybe I should drag these guys deep into a political mess. So deep and sticky they can’t escape.”

The moment he murmured that, the members of Argenti ran out the door as fast as fleeing rabbits. Their movements seemed to have been prearranged.

The three left in the room looked at one another.

“That was amazing. Being able to move as one like that without saying a word is just… Well, it’s as expected, isn’t it? They’re adamantite precisely because they can move like that.”

“…I’m not sure what to say, but I think we admire them for slightly different reasons… Your Majesty, shall I prepare beverages?”

“Yeah. Thanks. Will you do that?”

“Understood. You too, Sir Baswood.”

At the suggestion that he help prep, Baswood made a sour face. “Huh? Me too? Your Majestyyy. See, shouldn’t you have brought along at least one maid? The drinks will taste better if a girl pours them instead of us grimy old men. At least, they definitely would for me.”

“Yes, yes, that’s enough whining. Get twice as busy with actual drink prep now, Sir Baswood.”

“I’m counting on you, Baswood. There’s no sense in worrying about what we lack. We have to make do with what we’ve got. It’s the same as the empire’s current situation.”

“That comparison is no good, Your Majesty,” Baswood said as he got to work.

They could hear the cheers from the arena below, and a war cry that was a bit different from a beast’s went up.

It seemed as though the next match had begun.

Jircniv searched his memories.

The match before the one with the martial king would be adventurers versus a monster. When adventurers were in the arena, the fights were often flashier due to bursts of magic, so they were popular with the crowd.

Looking down at his enthusiastic subjects, Jircniv remarked, “This is what peace looks like.”

“You think so, Your Majesty?”

He was talking to himself, so he hadn’t expected a reply. When he turned to look, it was Baswood standing there. Nimble was behind him with a disapproving face, doing enough work for the both of them.

“It doesn’t seem very peaceful to me—look.”

One of the adventurers took a beast claw, and blood sprayed into the air. The crowd’s shrieks and cheers grew louder.

“It’s not about the match but the audience.” Jircniv gazed at the roaring spectators. “Isn’t this quite peaceful compared to what’s going on in the empire right now? I just think, if they knew that a monster was lurking just beneath the surface, would they be able to enjoy this as much?”

“Isn’t it fine that it’s peaceful? Giving all the people stomach pains wouldn’t get us anywhere, would it?”

Baswood was right.

Jircniv regretted being so petty.

“It’s just as you say, Baswood. Now then, our guests will be here soon. Are we about ready?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Someone didn’t help me at all, so I wasn’t sure I would make it in time, but the drinks and papers are all ready. We also have plenty of ink.”

They had prepared such a surprising amount of documentation as a precaution against anyone listening in. The cheers were loud and there were no adjacent rooms, so there was only a handful of ways to spy on them, but extra caution never hurt.

He knew it was a pain. He had done it in the palace, and it was exhausting.

All of these complications stemmed from the fact that the Nation of Darkness’s power was an unknown.

Once he knew what it could and couldn’t do, he could change their countermeasures accordingly.

The scheme to investigate it during the war had borne painful results and caused a tragedy. But that didn’t mean he could give up. If he didn’t come up with a new plan and look into things in a safer way than the previous time, he would be jumping at his enemy’s shadow forever. And not only that, he would be driven into a situation where he jumped at shadows and abandoned even a good plan.

But he still couldn’t forget that awful feeling.

“If we could just figure out Ainz Ooal Gown’s—the King of Darkness’s—limits. Then maybe we wouldn’t need to do so much prep work.”

Back then, he had been able to make requests as a supporter, but now that they were both rulers, it was practically impossible to ask anything of him. Or rather, he could, but when he thought that there was no telling what would be demanded in return, his head hurt.

“It’s not only the King of Darkness, Your Majesty. Don’t we need to figure out what his retainers are capable of, too?”

“Right.”

“…There’s no way his subordinates would be more powerful than him, right?”

“Ha, I think not,” was Jircniv’s answer, but as he said it, he broke out in a cold sweat.

Considering the fact that he had the Four, who were much stronger than him, as subordinates, there was no way he could say he thought not. What the one on top needed wasn’t simple brawn but something else.

So what if that went for Ainz Ooal Gown as well?

“No, it couldn’t be. Listen, Nimble. Your thinking is flawed. Got it?”

“Yes, Your Majesty! Do excuse me.”

If that was the truth, they would be done for. He wanted them to at least be equal, but he would pray to the gods if the subordinates could be lesser.

He really didn’t have enough information.

Maybe we should move ahead with the plan to get intelligence out of that dark elf girl despite the danger. I’ll talk to the Theocracy about importing a ton of elves and use those, too, somehow… And what about that boy Aura? Nah, he’s still such a child, I doubt he’s interested in women. Besides, he seems pretty aggressive.

Just as Jircniv was settling into some lengthy contemplation, there was a knock on the door.

As expected, it was Freiwaltz.

“Your guests have arrived, Your Majesty. Six in all. I’ve met the high priests before, so I’m sure it’s them.”

“Then let them in—”

As he said that, he heard Söder’s challenging voice from the open door.

“Oops, not so fast. You fellows in the rear. The numbers are as expected, but a couple of you smell like me. I’ve heard of disciplinary squads belonging to shrines—for rubbing out priests who break the precepts—but I thought they were a rumor.”

“I’m surprised, too.”

“Who do you guys work for?”

“Oh, brother, what’s all this? You could have just let us through… For starters, you seem to have misunderstood something, but I—we were invited here by His Imperial Majesty with proper reason. If you show us hostility, you’ll only be displeasing him.”

“Hmm. Then how about you wait right there a minute. I’ll ask him if what you’re saying is true or not.”

When Jircniv poked his head out, he saw the high priests of the fire and water shrines, plus four others he didn’t know. They wore deep hoods that hid their faces; nothing could have been shadier.

Since it was his first time meeting them, there was no way to know if they were really from the Theocracy or not. But the high priests were there, and if he didn’t trust them, the conversation wouldn’t even get off the ground. If they argued and everything fell through, the only one who would be happy was the King of Darkness.

“These are the people I was waiting for. Sorry, but could you let them in?”

The members of Argenti looked suspicious, but they let everyone through right away.

Even once the door was shut, his guests didn’t remove their hoods.

Jircniv couldn’t comment on that breach of etiquette. They were probably on guard just as he was—against the King of Darkness, of course.

“I’m terribly sorry my guards caused you trouble.”

“You needn’t worry. And actually, those two are just as the adamantite adventurers said.”

Two messengers from the Theocracy took seats, while the two in back remained standing.

Jircniv wrote “scripture” on a piece of paper with the pen in his hand. The slight smile in reply said more loudly than words that he was correct. The Theocracy was said to have special ops units called “scriptures.” It had to be members of one of those six groups.

“Now then, more importantly, let’s enjoy the match. The main fight should be starting soon, right?”

Jircniv nodded.

The main event meant the audience would be at peak excitement, totally worked up. That would make it extremely difficult to listen in on their conversation, hence the choice of this time and place for their meeting.

The messenger seated next to Jircniv reached into his breast pocket, took out a letter, and handed it to him.

Jircniv unfolded the letter slightly, taking care that no one could peek from the side or behind him. There were questions written on it.

The gist of it was: Why did you ask the King of Darkness to use a spell like that?

Next was about the empire’s position going forward.

How much intelligence do you have on the Nation of Darkness?

It was written politely, but in essence, they were grilling him.

Was the reason they had brought it here instead of sending it ahead of time that the Theocracy was also wary of how far the King of Darkness’s reach might extend? Or that they didn’t trust the empire?

Jircniv was mildly offended, but considering the empire’s relationship with the Nation of Darkness so far, it was only natural that the Theocracy would have trouble trusting it.

As Jircniv was about to write his reply, a cheer louder than the rest sounded. It seemed like the match had begun.

“His Imperial Majesty Emperor El Nix will be watching the main event today. Everyone, please turn your attention to the box seat up above.”

The announcer’s voice boomed via magic item amplification.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Jircniv stood to show his face to the crowd below.

All his subjects cheered for him at once. A gentle smile graced his regular features as he raised a hand in reply. Women sent up shrill cries. Jircniv was satisfied that his popularity hadn’t waned.

“Thank you! Now then, everyone, the first martial king match in quite some time is about to begin. It seems to be taking a little while to get ready, so please be patient a bit longer!”

“The martial king…,” Jircniv murmured.

Once he asked Baswood what would happen if all of the Four challenged the martial king. Baswood laughed and said they didn’t have a chance. The answer disturbed him, so he had Fluder collect information about the fighter. What he learned was that the martial king was so strong, it was unfair.

“Your Majesty, who is even facing him?”

The messenger asked a natural question. And actually, Jircniv didn’t have the answer to it.

“I don’t know, either. Apparently, this match got set up quite suddenly. They seem to have kept it secret to make an even bigger splash, and it’s not even on the program.”

“I see,” said the messenger.

“Well, I’m sure that to go up against the martial king one-on-one, it would have to be an adamantite-plate adventurer. But the members of Argenti are here. Is it someone from the Eight Ripples? Honestly, I’m hard-pressed to approve of precious adamantite adventurers participating in a death match spectacle.”

“I can’t deny that, but power is alluring. This is the prime place to put power gone wild on display and inspire people to dream of being so strong one day themselves.”

The one who interjected was the high priest in service of the fire god—the supreme authority in the empire for fire god believers.

“That’s true, but considering the empire’s current situation, I’m not sure if doing something that could result in weakened fighting power is the smartest move… The martial king is the strongest person in the empire. Couldn’t we get him involved somehow?”

“…I didn’t expect that coming from you gentlemen.”

The Slane Theocracy was a nation that valued humans. No, it was probably more accurate to say they didn’t accept any other races.

In this world with its diversity of races, that they could maintain their country despite other countries knowing that factor was impressive. Or was a single race a condition for building a powerful nation?

“I was just suggesting an idea personally. The country has nothing to do with it. That’s enough chitchat, then. May we have your answers, Your Majesty?”

“Yeah. An—”

“All right, sorry to keep you waiting, everyone. The challenger is about to enter the arena!”

Jircniv had taken up a pen to write an answer to the first question, but his hand stopped—because he was curious about who was brave enough to challenge the martial king. If he was accepted as a challenger, it meant they could at least expect a good fight. Was there even anyone left in the empire like that?

If it was someone valuable who felt like serving the empire, he would be fine hiring them even if they lost. He might be fine giving them the slot in the Four that opened up with the loss of Unshakable.

“…I’m sure many of you have heard whispers of our challenger’s name. And now he’s here! The king of the Nation of Darkness, His Majesty Ainz Ooal Gown!”

“Huh?” Jircniv yelped idiotically without thinking.

It was like the meaning of the MC’s words had passed straight through his head.

As the arena descended into confusion, the noble box was silent.

Jircniv looked around to confirm that everyone had heard the same thing that he did.

“Ainz Ooal Gown?”

It can’t be.

Of course it couldn’t. A king would never appear in combat at another country’s arena. Anyone with common sense knew that as the obvious truth. Ainz Ooal Gown wasn’t some savage.

In the first place, he’d been keeping a close eye on the Nation of Darkness’s movements. If the King of Darkness entered the empire, alerting Jircniv had been designated as a top-priority matter. Whether he was in the inner palace or whatever state he was in, arrangements had been made to get word to him.

So then why hadn’t he heard anything?

Did he enter the country in secret? Would he do that? And show up at the arena? What is he thinki— Huh? It couldn’t be. Could it? Of all the…ridiculous…

Jircniv shuddered.

Then, moving just his eyes, he looked at the messenger from the Theocracy.

Their eyes were sharp beneath their hood. There was only one thing that gaze could mean. Well, if their positions were reversed, he would have arrived at the same conclusion.

They thought Jircniv was the one who called the King of Darkness here.

“Wait! This is a trap.”

Yes.

This was a conspiracy orchestrated by Ainz Ooal Gown. He had to get them to understand—no, come to terms with—that fact, or he was in trouble.

“The Nation of Darkness’s? Or? You’re the one who chose the location, Your Majesty. And we only learned it a few hours ago.”

That was true. He had waited to the last minute to avoid leaks.

Jircniv frantically tried to think who knew. There were extremely few. All people he could trust—or could he?

Agh…

“It’s possible someone was manipulated for information using magic. This definitely isn’t my scheme. As proof, why would I be so panicked if this was something I planned?!”

“You expect us to believe that? You didn’t mean to get us caught in the cross fire? Or have you sold us out?”

He couldn’t get them to trust him at all.

Well, of course he couldn’t. If their positions were reversed, he would be just as accusing.

But how did the info leak? Or wait, did it? Maybe this is all according to his plan? He put out the bait and waited for me to bite…?

Chills ran down his spine.

How far ahead had the King of Darkness read his moves?

There was a good chance that everything from the beginning until now was part of his calculations.

That’s the sort of opponent the King of Darkness is, was the answer Jircniv’s intelligent mind gave.

How far does this plan of his go? No, this is no time to be terrified of his plot. I’ve got to hurry!

“This is bad. We need to get ou—”

But it was too late.

The intruder’s voice sounded. It was a voice like a hunter glad to see his prey caught in the trap he set.

“Sir Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix. Long time no see.”

When he turned around, desperately trying to get his breathing under control, the King of Darkness had risen from the center of the arena to the level of the guest box.

The reason he had revealed his horrifying face had to be to prove it was really him.

“Yhez, id—phew. Yes, it has, Sir Gown. I never imagined we would meet in a place like this…”

He didn’t know what to say. The feeling that anything he said would be taken as a commitment made his lips as impossible to open as if they had been glued shut.

“I thought the same thing. Coincidences sure are astounding.” He snickered with a sinister smile. It was clear that he didn’t believe it to be a coincidence in any way.

There’s no doubt about it.

Jircniv was sure. This was all part of Ainz Ooal Gown’s plot.

He was putting pressure on Jircniv by occupying the site of the secret meeting with the Theocracy while at the same time preventing the two countries from joining forces and putting pressure on the Theocracy as well.

He was a monster of a genius.

Jircniv wiped the sweat from his hands on his clothes.

There has to be a fairly extensive leak of empire intelligence. So how much does he know?

Jircniv frantically spun the wheels of his brain, and the horrifying light in the King of Darkness’s orbits shifted to the messenger from the Theocracy.

“Are those acquaintances of yours, Your Majesty?”

Ainz’s question rendered Jircniv speechless.

This was no simple question.

It was a test.

Should I lie and protect the Theocracy? Or should I take the King of Darkness’s side and sell them out?

It was so crafty, it made him feel sick.

He had the feeling the expressionless skull face was warped in a wicked way. Jircniv being unable to open his mouth probably amused him.

“What is it, Sir El Nix—er, Sir Jircniv? You’ve gone a bit pale. Are you not feeling well?”

It was creepy—and terrifying—because it sounded like he actually cared. It was only natural as a human being to be frightened of that sense of someone gleefully cuddling a small animal writhing in their grip.

“N-no. I’m fine. Just a bit of a head rush.”

“I see. Your body is your capital asset. Take care of it.”

He must have gone along with it even though Jircniv’s excruciating excuse failed because he was waiting for the right moment to nail his prey. Or did he have a torture fetish? Or…

“Could you introduce them? I’m Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness.”

So he wanted to say that?

Once a country’s king had introduced himself, it was impossible to leave the room without another word. If he gave fake names, how would the king react if he knew their real identities?

Stop toying with me!

It was like his expression didn’t move at all. Or rather, since he had neither skin nor flesh, his face was all bone. On top of that, he didn’t have any eyes, just red flames flickering deep in his skull. There was no way to grasp his emotions. But Jircniv just knew that his sinister smile had grown even harder.

“Thank you. Normally, I would introduce myself, but a matter of some urgency requires me to leave just now. I’m sure His Imperial Majesty will be kind enough to tell you who we are.” The messenger from the Theocracy rose.

“I see. That’s an awful shame. I hope to meet you again sometime, then. Take care until then… Well, I have a match, so I should get going, too.”

With those no doubt sarcastic parting remarks, the King of Darkness floated down.

When the king could no longer be seen, the Theocracy’s messenger turned a sharp gaze on Jircniv.

“You set us up, didn’t you?”

“N-no, I didn’t!”

“What didn’t you do? No matter how you look at it, he seems to have known who we are. He was obviously mocking us for operating as expected… How much did you tell him? How much did you sell in order to protect your own country? Is it true that you requested that violently destructive spell?”

Jircniv looked to the high priests for assistance.

The emotions in their eyes weren’t confusion and doubt but hostility and disappointment.

This was the King of Darkness’s most effective attack, perfectly timed. It gave the empire a thorough beating—brought it to its knees. It showed Jircniv and his nation that they had no choice but to betray humanity.

“Please believe me. I honestly didn’t tell him anything.”

“…Even if we believe you, it doesn’t change the fact that there was obviously a huge leak. It’s a shame, Your Imperial Majesty. I suppose we shan’t meet again.”

With that, the messenger from the Theocracy took their leave. And the high priests followed.

“Wait! I forbid you from leaving this room until I’ve heard your thoughts!”

Nimble and Baswood leaped into action with their hands on their weapons.

Jircniv roused his crushed heart and stared down the two high priests.

The Slane Theocracy messenger left without even turning around.

“You two, tell me what the shrines think. What do they think about the King of Darkness?”

“…The King of Darkness is an evil undead, and we can’t allow him to be acknowledged as a king.” Before Jircniv could get a word in edgewise, the high priest of the fire god continued. “But we can’t fight that thing and win. So we’re trying to find a way to destroy him.”

“If you’re going to sell us out, then sell us out, Your Majesty. If you’ve been so charmed by his darkness…” The high priest of wind’s comment showed that they were completely against Jircniv.

This was extremely bad.

The shrines didn’t stick their necks into politics. But they might try to banish an emperor who joined forces with one of their archenemies, the undead.

He couldn’t purge them. The shrines were the people’s mental salvation and also administered medical treatment.

If he purged them, the empire would collapsed from the inside out.

The blow Ainz Ooal Gown had struck might as well have been the god of death striking with his scythe for how frightened Jircniv was. Even if that guy did nothing else, the empire was on its way to collapse. Then he would fabricate some reason and show up after the fact.

If it were Jircniv, he probably would use an excuse like, Our friend and neighbor is in trouble, so we’ll move in our army to keep the peace.

Judging from the messenger’s reaction before, the Slane Theocracy probably wouldn’t even condemn the Nation of Darkness if it did something like that. The Re-Estize Kingdom certainly didn’t have the extra energy. And the city-state alliance would need time in order to come out against it.

What could I offer them to assuage their suspicions—no, more like swallow their doubt and promise to cooperate?

Jircniv had this on his mind no matter whom he was talking to. The easiest way to shift someone’s feelings was to stimulate their desire. He knew quite well from his life so far that that was true. He had seen enough people with pretty faces smeared with greed underneath.

But at this moment, he couldn’t think of an answer.

There was no benefit he could offer to break through this situation of them thinking he betrayed humanity to team up with an undead.

So the only thing he could do was speak sincerely from his heart.

“Please let me say just one thing. His plot goes beyond me. All of this is happening according to his plan… If I were in your position, I probably wouldn’t be able to believe me, either, but…I really didn’t sell any intelligence. And you may not believe this, but I’d like to warn you: The King of Darkness’s rule is merciful. The people of E-Rantel are living in peace.”

“But we don’t know how long that will continue.”

“Perhaps not. But they’re safe right now. If we try to fight with no chance of winning, our country will go straight down the path to ruin. So I’d ask that you avoid doing anything too hastily.”

The two high priests looked at each other.

And when they turned back to Jircniv, the hostility in their eyes had lessened.

“…It seems we got a little emotional. Certainly from the rumors we heard, it’s impossible to rule out that everything was part of that undead’s conspiracy. Let’s meet again sometime.”

“Thank you. And before that, I have one favor to ask of you. I want you to watch his fight in the arena. And if you can think of a way to defeat him, tell me.”

Jircniv bowed.

He couldn’t win against Ainz with conspiracies and other strategizing. If they were going to fight on an equal footing at all, the human spirit was probably their trump card.

A cheer went up from below and Jircniv looked over.

“…Do your utmost, martial king. Oh gods!” He prayed in all seriousness for the martial king’s victory.

3

It had been a while since he had visited the imperial capital.

The scene Ainz could see through the sliver of open window was enough to make him feel defeated.

It was full of life.

The people’s faces were cheerful, and it was noisy—completely different from his own country, where the flame seemed to have gone out.

But the defeat assailing his heart vanished almost immediately. It was only recently that he had taken control of that city. It was only natural that while accepting a new leader, the changes and anxieties would cause a temporary lack of vigor.

Squishy Moe once taught him about strategy games. Apparently, when occupying territory won in a war, the emotional states of the people in the cities dropped precipitously. And then…

You end up with partisans. I think that’s what he said? Why would a bunch of weapons be brought out because of that?

The first part and the second part didn’t seem to have any connection. He had the feeling he was misunderstanding something.

Since the game they were discussing didn’t have much to do with Yggdrasil, he had only been half listening—that must have been the problem. But there had to be some connection.

Maybe “end up with” means they sell? Is it some kind of gamer lingo…? Partisan… I know that’s a type of polearm. Does lots of weapons selling mean they have a reason to fight, then? The citizens? Hmm? Does it mean they’ll fight against this new ruler? Like a civil war? Then why not just say there would be a revolt? Why “partisans”? Well, whatever…

The reason there wasn’t a revolt in E-Rantel must have been that his public safety efforts with the death knight patrols were working. And probably using Momon in the beginning had a major deterrent effect. Or perhaps it was because Ainz was doing good politics.

The best is if I can rule peacefully. Strangling a chicken that can lay eggs is the height of stupidity. “Sometimes when PKing, you need to return drops so that people don’t hold a grudge against you.” Right?

Remembering what was written in No Fuss PKing, Ainz realized he was on a tangent and did some course correction.

Oops, I was thinking about liveliness, right? Well, I’m ruling a single city. And this is the capital of an empire with multiple cities. I can’t help it if there’s a liveliness disparity. The population is different, too… If the population increased, maybe the Nation of Darkness would be more energetic, too. Maybe I should casually suggest to Albedo the strategy of giving birth, multiplying, and increasing our population.

Ainz consoled himself and, in a ruler-like way, came up with a new plan.

“U-uh, Your Majesty.”

The voice of the man looking out the carriage window like him interrupted Ainz’s contemplation.

“E-excuse me, Your Majesty. I believe this is the imperial capital, Arwinthal…” The voice of the man he had practically forced to come with him shook as he spoke.

“Yes, that’s right. Just what I’d expect from the Adventurers Guild master. I’m impressed that you knew it on sight.”

“Thank you very— Wait! I don’t recall going through a checkpoint. Are we entering illegally?”

That was true. He had used Gate to come directly to the capital. They hadn’t passed through any checkpoints.

“A trivial matter.”

“It is not a trivial matter! It will most certainly be an international issue if a king illegally enters another country!”

He couldn’t mention that Jircniv did the same thing when he came to Nazarick. Common sense was on the guild master’s side. Ainz was undoubtedly in the wrong.

No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with any way to convince Ainzach. Or rather, he was impressed with how serious he was. He expected him to be the type to say, As long as we don’t get caught, so he adjusted his appraisal of the man.

“…Guild Master, Sir El Nix and I are on good terms. I was even kind enough to do a favor for him once.” Ainz recalled the war. “Not that that’s why, but I’m sure he would be kind enough to allow this. It would be an ex post facto approval, but…as long as he allows it, what more do we need?”

“Th-that’s true, but…”

“And in the first place, it’s not as if you’re some sort of illegal import. That means it’s no big deal, right?”

“Mmrf.” Ainzach couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Seeing that he had coaxed him into it, Ainz smiled inwardly.

In truth, he had entered the country in secret on purpose, and there were two reasons for that.

If Jircniv knew I was coming, he would undoubtedly want to entertain me. No matter how wary of Nazarick he is, outwardly he would have to welcome me as the king of an allied country. But I can’t have that.

Ainz knew nothing of noble society, so he definitely wanted to avoid any kind of ceremony where the emperor welcomed the king of an allied nation.

If he became a laughingstock there, how could he show his face to the guardians working so hard in the Nation of Darkness?

Then there was one other reason.

I need to think of a way to get Ainzach involved. Would the best be to do like I did at the guild? Talk about dreams and request his cooperation?

His intention was to force the Adventurers Guild master to get involved.

Ainz was here to recruit adventurers.

He wanted to absorb the guild as an organ of the state. But even if he got the box made, it would take time for it to fill up. That is, the Nation of Darkness had only one city, so the adventurer population was low. With an eye on incorporating lizardmen and other races in the future, he first needed to increase the number of human adventurers.

Hence the scouting. If he didn’t have enough adventurers, all he had to do was bring them in from neighboring countries.

But, as everyone knows, recruiting is no easy feat. Especially the type Ainz needed to do: Cold-calling was no different from the toughest types of sales job.

As Ainzach had said, though adventurers were free, in reality they did figure into the national anti-monster defense strategy. Removing them by force would invite an intense backlash from all corners.

Of course, even if the adventurer guilds of all the countries joined forces to resist the Nation of Darkness, Ainz didn’t plan on losing. But if that happened, the morale of the adventurers he did have would surely plummet. It was very likely that they would lose motivation seeing the new organization fighting with their old buddies.

So he wanted to get Ainzach, who knew Ainz’s goals and concept, involved and use him as a go-between to smooth things over. If he had told him that in the kingdom, he figured he would have refused to come, so he dragged him along.

He also thought that Ainzach would be able to suggest some good conversation topics.

That was a major business skill. Having something in common with people made it surprisingly simple to get them to pay attention. Ainz—no, Satoru Suzuki had seen his coworkers get a customer on board by being from the same area or rooting for the same sports team.

As Momon, Ainz had gotten to know a fair amount about how adventurers worked. But since he had climbed the ranks in a single bound, he had no knowledge of the struggles they faced—hence putting the guild master, who had been watching adventurers in addition to once climbing the ranks himself, in the middle to foster a sense of familiarity.

In other words, it could be said that the success of his activities in the empire during this trip depended on Ainzach.

The question is how to get his motivation up…

If it depended on compensation, he would pay a decent sum, but he didn’t think that would work on Ainzach.

“Go.”

When Ainz called to the box seat, the carriage silently began to move. The driver was a Hanzo, a monster over level 80 Ainz had summoned with what little money he had.

Hanzo, one of the most ninja-like humanoid monsters, excelled at discovering clandestine operations. The same level range included monsters such as Kashinkoji, who excelled at illusion; Fuma, who excelled at unarmed combat and special skills; and Tobikato, who excelled at armed combat.

The carriage continued on, and the passenger compartment bumped along—because rather than using an enchanted carriage that might stick out, he had chosen a regular one.

“…So, Your Majesty, King of Darkness. You haven’t told me yet, so may I ask? What are you planning to do now that we’ve arrived in the imperial capital?”

“We talked about my objective in coming here, so you must know.”

“Huh?” Ainzach furrowed his brow.

“To invite adventurers to my country.”

Ainzach’s expression was subdued. He clearly didn’t approve. “…You’re going to recruit adventurers from the empire?”

“That’s right. I’m going to poach adventurers from this country.”

Though it was war, he had just killed an awful lot of Re-Estize soldiers, so it would be difficult to pull adventurers from there. Plus, Albedo was visiting the kingdom; he didn’t want to cause her trouble. If that was the case, then his best option was his ally the empire.

Places that were a bit farther away, such as the city-state alliance, he was gathering information about via Fluder, but he was scared to mess with them without consulting Albedo or Demiurge first.

“How are you thinking to do that? I…” Ainzach took a deep breath. “…Your Majesty, when I encountered your ideas about adventurers, I was deeply impressed. So I would like to cooperate as much as I can. But that might be because I’m really more on the system side of things. Will active adventurers really give up all they’ve been doing until now? Honestly, I think it’s a lot to ask. Especially when it comes to imperial adventurers.”

A refreshing happiness welled up in Ainz’s breast.

Yes, this is the sort of opinion I wanted to hear.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the guardians, but since they operated as if everything Ainz said was absolute, he often wondered if he was really giving them the right orders. For that reason, Ainz had been wishing someone would give him negative feedback. Then he would know what he was doing wrong.

Ainz found himself feeling more favorable toward Ainzach.

But he couldn’t just be impressed and accept his ideas.

It was a true mystery, but Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness, was considered wise by his subordinates. He couldn’t do anything that would ruin that reputation. He didn’t want anyone to be disappointed in him.

“…It’s strange. When you compare the pros and cons, there seem to be more pros, but it’s tricky. I guess I still don’t know enough about adventurers.”

He was so lucky to have his expressionless face—because no one could tell when he lied. It was the ultimate poker face.

Ainz punctuated their conversation there and looked straight at Ainzach. He wanted to avoid making it seem like he was waiting for his response.

“What would you do? What kind of offer is tempting enough to get an adventurer who has chosen their home base to switch sides?”

“…Your Majesty. Do you need to poach them right away?”

“What?”

“Are you in a hurry to pull adventurers from the imperial capital?”

Ainz put a hand to his chin and thought about it.

If possible, he wanted them right away. But if that wasn’t possible, he could be patient. His main goal was to spread the name of the Nation of Darkness far and wide.

“It’s true that I’m not in a huge hurry.”

“Then perhaps the first thing you should do is build your scaffolding. First, build the organization you spoke of and all the other facilities. Couldn’t you make the skin now and worry about the insides later?”

“That’s a very good idea. I thought of it, too, but there’s one problem. If you don’t make it with an estimate of how much will go in, you could end up with a skin that is too big or too small… Can you give me an estimate?”

“Th-that’s definitely impossible for me. I don’t know the scale of the adventurer training organization you envision or what proportion of the Nation of Darkness you intend it to be.”

“Yeah. Actually, I’m just feeling my way along. Especially when it comes to— Well, you’ve shown an interest in my plans, but I have no idea how many other adventurers will be moved. That’s why I want to do a test recruitment in the empire—to see what kind of results I get.”

“I see… It’s very impressive, Your Majesty, that you’ve already thought through these things. I’m ashamed of my shallow analysis.”

“No, no. I’m a different type of being from you guys. That’s why I might be mistaken when it comes to human reactions. I might say something that offends someone. If I do, please advise me. I need someone to cooperate with me in that way… Ainzach.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“I hope we can continue working together.”

For a moment, he seemed to be thinking, but then he bowed deeply.

It was a bow just like the ones the guardians of Nazarick made.

Ainz nodded benevolently and reflected on their conversation.

So does this mean I can leave the enticement of imperial adventurers entirely up to him?

This was a very important point.

He could give a decent presentation, but he didn’t like them. If there was someone who could do a better job, delegating was the right thing to do. No…

I shouldn’t toss it all in his lap. At the very least, I should take care of any issues that arise, as his boss…

As Ainz was resolving not to be a horrible boss, he noticed that Ainzach seemed to be pondering something.

“What is it?”

“…You want to have adventurers explore the unknown, and that’s not only existing adventurers but new ones, too, right, Your Majesty?”

“That’s my intention.”

“As I said before, it might be difficult to poach currently active adventurers. But you might be able to get people who hope to become adventurers interested in going to the Nation of Darkness. You can gather up and raise fledglings.”

Ainz had thought that adventurers didn’t have borders, while people who weren’t adventurers yet still did, but if a man with more knowledge of this world than him said that wasn’t the case, then he supposed it wouldn’t be a problem.

“I see. And how would I do that?”

“People admire the strong. So how about putting your power on display as promotion?”

How would I do that, though? thought Ainz.

But promotion was critical. The whole reason he was creating an adventurer guild was to promote the Nation of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown.

“…To show that I’m strong, maybe I could mimic the things adventurers do?”

Ainz was thinking maybe he could create an empire version of Momon, but Ainzach shook his head.

“Your Majesty, this is the imperial capital. How about showing off your power at the arena?”

“Ooh… Now that seems interesting. Tell me more.”

The carriage came to a stop before a huge house.

Ainz had come to the imperial capital once as Momon with Nabe in tow, but he didn’t recall ever seeing a private residence this large. In any case, there weren’t any of that size in E-Rantel.

“This is the arena manager’s house? Seems pretty big.”

“That’s not exactly right,” Ainzach replied. “The arena itself belongs to the country. People borrow it to put on shows—more like promoters. This man is one of the most powerful among them.”

“I see… Do you know him?”

If he did, that would make things easy, but unfortunately, Ainzach shook his head.

“There are a wide variety of arena shows, so sometimes he has adventurers fight monsters. I’ve only met him a few times when capturing and delivering monsters.”

“I see. But that’s useful; I have nothing but gratitude for your connections. Still, what kind of monsters was he after in the E-Rantel area?”

Ainzach frowned. “Apparently, he wanted to capture undead from the Katze Plain. Undead don’t require food, so once they’re captured, there are no additional costs.”

“Oh? I like his way of thinking. He seems to know what’s what.”

“You think so? I’m not so fond of him… And Your Majesty, I beg your pardon, but we were just talking about members of your kind being captured. That doesn’t bother you?”

Ainz looked straight at Ainzach.

What is this guy talking about?

“Being undead and all…”

“Ohhh, I see. Well, there are all different kinds of undead. It’s not as if I feel like all of them are my brothers.”

“Do excuse me, then… What race are you, Your Majesty? If it’s not rude to ask, I hope you’ll tell me.”

“I’m an overlord. Have you heard of them?”

“No, my humble apologies, but in my ignorance, I haven’t.”

Well, it makes sense, thought Ainz.

In Yggdrasil, there were all sorts of monster overlords, including overlord wise men, who excelled at magic; overlord chronomasters, who employed special abilities related to time; and overlord generals, who excelled at leading undead armies. Even the weakest of them was level 80.

Ainz had gotten a fair grasp on the average strength here and what people considered powerful were capable of, and with those things in mind, he was sure that the appearance of an overlord would cause quite a panic. Especially since undead didn’t age. Unless someone killed it, it would continue to reign over the land, immortal.

And since he hadn’t heard any stories like that, he had guessed that there weren’t any overlords around.

“I see. I’d like to have adventurers leap into the unknown and gather that sort of information. If there are other overlords out there and they harbor a hatred of the living, they would be pretty problematic. You realize that, right?”

Ainzach’s eyes widened and he nodded. “Yes, it’s just as you say, Your Majesty. I’m now convinced that I understand the true form adventurers should take.”

“Yeah. You should consider me an exception to undead. I understand the value of humans, so I won’t kill them without reason, but other overlords may not act the same way.”

“They won’t?”

“There’s no guarantee. Am I the exception, or is my whole race the exception? We should probably assume the worst.”

“…You’re right, Your Majesty. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ainz nodded.

If they found traces of one and it had been defeated, it could lead them to the people who brainwashed Shalltear. Or there could even be an overlord out there being mind controlled in the same way Shalltear was.

“All right, I’ll go make an appointment.”

“Thanks.”

Ainzach got out of the carriage. After watching him go, Ainz took out a mask and put it on. He walked around E-Rantel without it now, but he figured that in the imperial capital—especially having snuck in—it would be better to do at least the minimum to conceal his identity.

He also changed from his usual robe to one that was more subdued.

Its magic tier was one lower, but that couldn’t be helped. Ainz had only one god-tier robe. There were also all the things his guildmates had left, but their armor was even more customized to the individual than their weapons were. They had allotted lots of data to buff specific skills they possessed. So while he could use those items, he couldn’t take full advantage of their abilities.

If that was the case, then Ainz preferred something he built for himself, even if it was a little weaker.

As he was adjusting all of his gear, there came a knock at the carriage door, and Ainzach spoke to him.

“I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty.”

“What is it?”

“Unfortunately, he can’t meet you today and would like to do it tomorrow. If you wish, I’ll tell him you’re here and try to convince him. What do you think?”

“That’s not necessary.” There was no way he would make a good impression on someone by forcing himself on them when they were busy. On the contrary, from a sales point of view, he had made a cold call and actually gotten an appointment instead of being turned away at the door, so that was a fantastic success. “Let’s just do it tomorrow. We should be thankful he’s available so—sooo— What is it?” Ainz asked, noticing Ainzach’s eyes had gone round.

“O-oh, I was just thinking how tolerant you are, Your Majesty. Some nobles even look down on merchants, so…”

“You thought I would order you to force him to meet me?”

The fact that he didn’t reply immediately spoke louder than the words Yes, that’s what I thought would have.

Ainz wondered if that would have been the more correct way for a ruler to act. It was too late now, but Ainz Ooal Gown was a king. He needed to act like one, even when it felt weird to Satoru Suzuki.

“This is the first time I’ve ruled over humans. If you think that’s correct in human society, then I’ll do it.”

Ainzach frowned. “I don’t know, Your Majesty. I don’t know any kings, so I’m not sure if it’s proper or not. Personally, I prefer the way you were thinking just now, but perhaps high-ranking nobles should exercise their power.”

“Human society sure is complicated.”

When Ainz grumbled that in the end, he still didn’t know what to do, Ainzach gave him a friendly smile. “You may be right about that, Your Majesty. There really is a lot to deal with.”

The two of them chuckled inside the carriage.

Ainz pumped his right fist where it couldn’t be seen, secure in the knowledge that he had loosened Ainzach up quite a bit.

“Did you tell him that I would be accompanying you tomorrow?”

“No, I didn’t. I wanted to hear your thoughts first. Is it an issue if I give your name?”

“…If he won’t make a fuss, then it’s fine. You know him better than I do, so you should decide.”

“Understood. Then I think I’ll keep it secret for now.”

After deciding the specific time, Ainzach left the carriage again.

Ainz felt a little bad treating him like a gofer. He knew this wasn’t a seniority-based society, but Satoru Suzuki didn’t like ordering his elders around.

I get why so many people dislike having subordinates older than them…

If it was someone from an entirely different society, it probably wouldn’t have bothered him. For example, if Ainzach were from the empire, he wouldn’t have any problem jerking his chin at him. The reason he did now must have been that he saw Ainzach as one of his subjects.

He should be given fair compensation. If I don’t remember that people who don’t seek rewards like the members of Nazarick are an exception, I’ll be the worst ruler ever. I don’t want to be a king like a black company!

Ainz made a vow to the voice of HeroHero he could hear skimming across the back of his mind.

When it comes to Ainzach’s reward… As a king, how much should I actually pay him? Is market rate for a mythril-plate adventurer enough? No, he should get a managerial allowance, so 10 percent—no, that’s too much—5 percent more…? Could someone just give me advice about compensation?

He could consult with Demiurge and Albedo, but he was skeptical about whether they actually understood what proper compensation rates consisted of. He had the feeling they would just say, Anyone should feel happy to even have a chance to work for you, Lord Ainz.

Which means…I need a smart human. I can rely on Fluder for magic, but he even said himself that his knowledge on other realms is patchy.

Nazarick was practically invincible, but in the realm of knowledge about human society, Ainz felt a bit anxious.

…Start with what you have? I’m glad I went with Demiurge’s plan. Of course, by the time Demiurge is suggesting something, I don’t have any intention of rejecting it.

As Ainz was letting his mind wander, there came a knock at the door.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Your Majesty.”

He hadn’t been waiting in particular, but he received Ainzach in the generous way a ruler should and urged him to go on.

“I made an appointment as you wished, tomorrow at ten o’clock.”

“Good. Then just until tomorrow…I’m going to send you back to E-Rantel. Now then, relax and accept the spell: Greater Teleportation.”

Ainzach disappeared instantaneously.

With Greater Teleportation, it should have been no trouble to get him outside the outermost of E-Rantel’s three walls. If there was anything in the way of his landing position, he would zip to a nearby safe place, so there was no need to check up on him with another spell.

“Now, I guess I’ll get in touch with that one using Message,” Ainz murmured to himself. It wasn’t something he enjoyed doing, so he said it partially to get himself going.

He was contacting the one who said he would give everything to Ainz: Fluder. The reason he was dragging things out with him even though he knew what the old man wanted was that he wasn’t confident he could pay him.

The compensation Fluder wanted was Ainz’s magic knowledge.

But Ainz’s magic ability wasn’t learned by accumulated study. So even if Fluder threw himself on the ground and begged to be taught, Ainz didn’t really know what he could do.

If it were Yggdrasil, he could share what he knew about magic, but unfortunately this world seemed to have a different system.

He did wonder why the same spells existed if they learned them in a different way, in addition to some other things, but he hadn’t figured out the answers yet. There was a mountain of things he didn’t understand. He even had to consider the worst-case scenario that he might suddenly lose the ability to use his Yggdrasil abilities.

Maybe he could get the answers to his questions if he took a multilevel hit when casting the spell whose effect had changed in this world, Wish Upon a Star—to lose several levels at once in exchange for a powerful way to get a wish granted.

But that was an extremely dangerous gamble.

He could use it, but whether he would get his answers or not was a mystery. There was a plenty good chance it would end as a total waste. More than anything, he didn’t have the courage to use this spell that could be considered his ace move. Things would be different if he had a way to gain massive amounts of experience points, but he hadn’t found one yet.

Ainz sighed—not that he had lungs—and, feeling like a salesman who had to apologize to a customer that the product he promised would come in hadn’t arrived yet, cast Message.

“Fluder Paradyne. It’s me, Ainz Ooal Gown.” After saying that much, he said what he always said next. “You’re from the village of Vermut. And your first experience with magic was…if I remember correctly, a mystic there.”

“Oh! Master! I’ve been waiting to hear from you!”

Fluder’s gratitude was palpable.

What he had said were the passwords. Fluder said the person on the other end of a Message could be someone impersonating someone he knew, so Ainz had promised to say the name of his village, which had already changed, and that memory.

But even all that couldn’t assuage Fluder’s fears about Message.

Ainz felt it was an unhealthy paranoia, but if that was the case, there was nothing he could do about it.

Mildly weirded out by Fluder’s blazing passion, he answered back, “Sorry it’s been a little while. I thought I would finally teach you some magic soon like I promised. Do you have a little time now?”

“Of course! No matter what’s on my schedule, I can always make time for you, master!”

No, you really don’t have to do that, thought Ainz, but this passion for magic was Fluder in a nutshell. That kind of magic maniac wanted lessons, and this ordinary guy had to bullshit his way through somehow.

The job—as much work as dealing with the complaints of an unbearable complainer—made Ainz’s stomach hurt.

…I have no doubt that I’m the one with the worst stomachache in the entire imperial capital.

But he couldn’t turn back now.

In order to teleport into Fluder’s room, he readied an intelligence spell to confirm his positioning.

“All right. I’m going to go to your room using Greater Teleportation.”

“Ooh! Not Teleportation but Greater Teleportation? What tier is that?!”

“…Let’s discuss that later. This Message won’t last forever—because I don’t have a commander class, you know? …But there’s something I need to confirm with you first. What kind of measures do you have in place to counter intelligence magic? Do you have anything to obstruct teleportation?”

“N-no. I’m not using anything like that.”

Hearing that, Ainz’s nonexistent eyebrows twinged. “Isn’t that a bit careless? To have nothing at all?”

It was possible that any conversations had in Fluder’s room were overheard by a third party.

“My apologies, but those sorts of spells are a weak area for me…”

“Then wouldn’t using a magic item instead be elementary? I’ve seen all sorts of things in the imperial capital. I heard you were making them.”

Ainz recalled the market he’d gone to the first time he visited the imperial capital. He had been surprised to see things similar to refrigerators.

“It’s as you say, master, but I’m sure you know that in creating magic items, it’s important that you be able to use a similar sort of spell. For instance, for a fire-enchanted weapon, Fireball or another fire spell. But the spells for defense against intelligence magic aren’t very popular…”

I see, thought Ainz.

In Yggdrasil, players could acquire only three spells per level through the usual means. So at level 20, they would have sixty spells. Expecting someone to choose Obstruct Detection as one of those was pretty harsh.

For the uninformed, sixty might sound like a lot, but if someone asked Ainz to pick sixty spells from up through tier three, he would spend all day mulling it over.

First, he would want to know what they would be used for, then if a class change was possible—there were a lot of factors to juggle.

In that sense, he did feel a bit bad for getting annoyed with Fluder.

“You’re right. This time was my bad. It’s just as you said. Certainly, when you’re getting attack and defensive spells, detection and intelligence spells end up low priority.”

In the game, it was easy to say, I’ll take this one, so you take that, but for these people, selecting spells practically meant deciding the course of their lives. It probably took quite a bit of bravery to choose unpopular spells.

And detection magic had some depth to it. It involved anticipating what spell one’s opponent would use to collect intelligence.

Frankly, being a caster specialized in detection magic was like gambling with the chips of one’s life.

“…Okay. I’ll give you an Obstruct Detection item. Stay on your guard with that from now on.”

“Yes, master!”

He couldn’t see him, but he knew that Fluder was bowing low. He might have even thrown himself on the floor.

“Your compassionate words have been received!”

Relax, it’s just an item, thought Ainz, and it pained his heart. “R-right… Now then, I’m going to peek into your room.”

Ainz cast the spell and looked into Fluder’s room.

From above, he could see Fluder on his knees.

When he searched for magical auras—perhaps it was to be expected from Fluder—there were several different colors in the room. But none of them indicated the danger of teleportation obstruction. Upon confirming that much, Ainz used Greater Teleportation.

His field of vision changed; his teleportation into Fluder’s private quarters was a success. Though he knew from the lack of delay or feeling of being observed that he wasn’t in enemy territory, he still swept his eyes around.

He didn’t need to be that cautious. But enemies were most likely to time their attacks for the unguarded moments following a teleportation. In order to avoid that, Satoru Suzuki had gotten totally used to anti-PKing moves.

“So good of you to come, master.”

“…Raise your head,” Ainz ordered.

Fluder had bowed deeply upon seeing him. Honestly, you really don’t have to do that, was what Ainz felt.

This guy’s loyalty—more accurately, submission stemming from greed—was abnormal.

It could be termed similar to that of Nazarick members. He had finally gotten used to the people in Nazarick being so loyal, but when he got that sort of devotion from someone he barely knew, it put him on guard.

“Yes, master!”

“Now then, I don’t want to stand the whole time I’m talking, so I’ll take a seat.”

“Yes, master! What’s mine is yours. Use it all as you would!”

Feeling like he would like to get accustomed to this attitude but also like he wouldn’t, Ainz sat down on a sofa, but Fluder didn’t move to sit across from him. He remained kneeling on the floor with only his head lifted.

“That’s enough. Sit down.”

“A-are you sure? I can sit in the same way as you, master?”

“…I’m pretty sure you used to have disciples. Is this how you did it?”

The way of thinking that seemed liable to be found at a freakishly hard-core company creeped Ainz out, but Fluder shook his head. “No, I never did anything like that. But between you and me, master, is a gap that makes us incomparable. I could hardly consider us the sam—”

“—I don’t mind. I permit you to be seated. Now sit.”

“Yes, master!”

Ainz made sure Fluder sat down and then—thinking, Agh, my stomach hurts—asked a question.

“First, what happened with that thing I a…”—he nearly said asked but caught himself—“ordered you to do? Did you copy down all the inside facts of other countries as far as the empire knows?”

“Yes, master! I finished recording the data for nearby countries. The only thing is…”

“What? Is there some kind of problem?”

“Master! I suppose it’s no less than I would expect from the emperor.” His face looked proud. It was the face a teacher would turn toward his outstanding pupil. “It appears he’s discovered my betrayal.”

It was only natural when switching jobs to make a vow not to leak secrets from one’s previous employer all over the place. From that perspective, forcing Fluder to spy and give up insider information made Ainz a brute.

But Ainz already knew quite well that he was ruling a country not a company. Anything he did so that his nation would flourish—so that people who belonged to the Great Tomb of Nazarick were happy—was correct.

He didn’t have anything against Jircniv. But that didn’t matter when it came to profit for his country. If Jircniv’s unhappiness would make the Nation of Darkness wealthy, then Ainz would make him miserable.

That said, rather than a full-on brawl, he was aiming for coexistence and mutual prosperity.

Squishy Moe had once told him a random story about what would happen if Mr. Nash got imprisoned or something, and apparently the point was that if chance was limitless, then cooperating would lead to great profit.

Ainz knew that the two countries would use each other, but on a personal basis, he wanted to get along with Jircniv.

In exchange for poaching Fluder, I made sure no one from the empire got hurt on the Katze Plain, so we’re even. And since I’m spying on him so much, I feel closer to him…

“…What is it, master?”

“Ah, mm, nothing. I was just thinking.”

“You were? I’m terribly sorry for interrupting, master!”

“You weren’t being rude or anything. I came here to see you, after all.”

“Ohhh! Thank you, master!”

He seems to be awfully moved. What’s that about? thought Ainz as he got back to the point of their conversation. “Uhhh, oh, we were talking about poaching, right? I don’t care if word gets out, but there’s a problem: your safety.”

“Ohhh! Master! That you would concern yourself with my safety is simply…!”

Why is this old man getting so emotional about every little thing? If you’re not planning on cutting someone off from the beginning, isn’t it the job of the person at the top to guarantee at least minimal safety to the people below them? Or is that not how it works in the empire?

If the latter, that’s scary… If someone gets in my way, I might kill them, but I don’t really like the idea of killing someone I’ve had working under me…

“Fluder, don’t get so excited. If there’s someone nearby, it’ll look suspicious.”

“Don’t worry, master. This floor belongs to me and only me. There’s no one else here.”

Ainz had visited once, and the tower was fairly big. He was certainly the empire’s most powerful caster if he could have an entire floor of that to himself.

“Now then, getting back to the topic of your safety. Has anyone come to kill you as a result of your betrayal?”

“There’s no sign of that, but my work for the government has been cut. And the emperor used to consult me often, but ever since we returned from the great lands you rule, he hasn’t summoned me a single time.”

“I see… Then, Fluder. Would you like to come be with me?”

“Ohhh! Gladly!”

That was fast…

“Then once I figure out what your role will be… Oh, there’s something we need to discuss before that. Your reward. Now then…” Ainz reached into space. He had rehearsed the rest of this conversation repeatedly, calling himself out and correcting himself as he went.

He had no idea if Fluder would really do what he imagined he would, but he had practiced enough.

“As promised, I’ll bestow a piece of my wisdom on thee, Fluder. Take it. And decipher it.”

Ainz handed him a Book of the Dead.

It was a musty old volume, but the pages themselves were in mysteriously good condition, no bookworm holes or the like.

Fluder accepted the book with trembling hands. Ainz was thankful he was undead. If he were human, the book may have been trembling, too, from his nerves.

What Fluder desired was to peer into the abyss of magic. But Ainz didn’t know anything about any abyss of magic. He could teach him what he had learned in the game Yggdrasil, but the abyss of magic was beyond him.

But not providing it would be a betrayal of Fluder’s loyalty. One good turn deserves another, and Fluder deserved a reward for his faithful service. So Ainz gave him the book that appeared to contain the most magic knowledge. Although as far as Ainz could tell, it was just arcane gibberish.

“I beg your pardon.”

After flipping through a few pages, Fluder’s giddy expression changed to disappointment.

“What is it? Is it not what you wanted?” Ainz asked coolly, suppressing his anxiety. If it wasn’t what he was hoping for, that was no problem. He had already rehearsed a response for that.

“N-no, it’s not that. I can’t read it.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ainz took the book from Fluder’s hands and flipped open to a random page.

“This chapter is about the…heterogeneity…that occurs in a soul when transforming into a lich.”

It made sense that Fluder couldn’t read it, since it was in Japanese, but…

It’s less like a fantasy novel than a collection of lore for a fantasy world. What the heck is “heterogeneity”? It’s something about what happens to souls, but this is such a wall of hard words that I can’t process it. It’s like I’m just looking at the surface… Maybe it’s purposely written so that even if you can read it, you can’t understand it?

Basically, it was something occult. Yes, it was definitely related to the occult. To Satoru Suzuki, who didn’t have any knowledge of such things, it seemed to be random bullshit, but maybe it was borrowed from some place’s mythology? If Tabula Smaragdina were around, he would have filled him in on all the details.

“Ohhh!”

When Fluder looked at him with so much joy in his eyes, he felt guilty.

“Oh right… I only have one of these, so I can’t just give it to you, but go ahead and use it.”

Ainz placed a monocle on top of the book and handed it back. When Fluder put it on, he flipped through the pages in a tizzy.

“Th-this is! This means that souls are like the spray from the flow of the vast world, and all souls are the same regardless of size, which means that…!!!!!”

Yikes, he’s gone insane.

The change in Fluder was so abrupt, Ainz nearly recoiled in surprise.

His eyes were wide and bloodshot. He was snorting like an animal and seemed like he might pounce at someone any second.

“H-how is it?”

Fluder’s eyes rolled to look straight at Ainz. “I-it’s wonderful, master! This is exactly the knowledge I’ve been hoping forrr! Hya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Perhaps Ainz’s shock from the old man’s mad racket surpassed a certain level? His psyche abruptly calmed.

“Oh. Then I’ll start by taking the glass back.”

“What?! But I…”

“Translating the book is part of your training. It’s by deciphering and understanding that text that you’ll be able to ascend to the next realm. Using the glass would be meaningless.”

“This is quite unexpected… Would you allow me to read through it once first?”

“If you want to read one page, that’s fine, but if you read any more, it won’t contribute to your growth.”

Fluder snapped the book shut and closed his eyes.

After nearly a minute, he finally opened his eyes and spoke. His voice was utterly tranquil. “Understood. I shall adhere to your teachings. But, master, if there’s something I don’t understand, will you lend me your wisdom?”

“Su-sure. If I understand it, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you, master!”

Fluder removed the monocle and returned it.

Yes! Now I won’t hear anything from Fluder for a while. Oh, but I do have to give him one stern warning. Uh…what am I supposed to say again?

Ainz struggled through his memories. Then he called Fluder’s name in a heavy voice that he felt was fitting for a ruler.

“Fluder.”

“Yes, master!”

“I trust you, so I gave you this book of hidden knowledge. Make sure it doesn’t end up in a third party’s hands. That goes for any notes you take while deciphering it, too. Don’t tell anyone a thing about this book.”

“I won’t, master!”

“I’m sure the reason why goes without saying, but this book contains knowledge beyond what humans should know. If others learn of it, there will be trouble… Well, there might still be some hope if the person who got it had your kind of ability, but… In any case, I don’t want to still be cleaning up after you ten years from now.”

“Of course not, master. I won’t leak any of the information I learn from these pages to anyone. I promise!”

“I’ll trust you, Fluder. Don’t disappoint me.”

“I won’t, master!”

Fluder had gotten out of his chair and now prostrated himself on the floor.

You don’t have to go that far, Ainz thought, but he supposed it must have been an impressive threat and was satisfied that his ten hours of acting practice and voice exercises had paid off.

“That’s fine, then. If you understand, then I have nothing else to say on the subject. Now, back in your seat. I get that it’s awfully difficult to decipher an unknown language without any assistance. Do you have any ideas what to do about that?”

“Yes, master! It’s terribly inefficient, but there is a reading comprehension spell. I think I’ll use that and go bit by bit.”

“Oh, I see! That’s wonderful.”

That was the best answer Ainz could have hoped for. It would be a decent challenge and buy him time, but it wasn’t so difficult that Fluder would give up.

“Then I’ll give this to you… Wait, right. I’ll lend you a box to keep it in. I don’t imagine you’ll be reckless with it, but this is just in case someone tries to steal it from you.”

Ainz took a box out of space. It was the same sort of box he used to keep his notebook.

“If you keep it in here, it will take a while to open even if it gets stolen. If someone steals the password along with it, there would be no point, but…just be careful.”

“Of course, master. I would never give away the password.”

“Good.”

Ainz turned his gaze from Fluder, who was happily caressing the book, to the ceiling. He needed to remember what else he had to talk to him about.

“Oh right. We didn’t finish discussing your coming to be with me, since your defection is out of the bag. First of all, when can you come?”

“Whenever you wish, master. I have nothing tying me to this country.”

Ainz moved his mental eyebrows.

Was this personality—someone who would readily cast aside the responsibilities of his position—acceptable? Ainz was worried he might do the same thing under him.

He subtracted points on Fluder’s résumé with red pen.

“…Then, Fluder, I intend to have you involved in the development of magic in the Nation of Darkness. But we’re not releasing any of the spells you develop to the outside world. They’ll be for you, me, and those close to me. Can you tolerate that condition? Can you give up your desire for fame?”

“I have no problem with that. I’m happy if I can peer into the depths of magic. I have no other desires.”

As Fluder made that declaration, Ainz kept a close watch on his face.

Ainz didn’t have any gift for seeing through to the true nature of people. In terms of humanity, Fluder, who was a genius caster who had lived far longer than people do and been involved in running a huge empire, was certainly ahead of him. If Fluder was to try to trick Ainz, there was no way Ainz would be able to see through it.

But can’t is different from won’t. Ainz observed Fluder with that in mind and eventually said, “That’s fine, then. I’ll give you full privileges when you arrive in the Nation of Darkness. I’ll support you in developing magic as much as I can. Now, then…”

This meant he had an additional human supporter of Nazarick in addition to the Baleare family. Once he could get the woman Demiurge and Albedo recommended, the strengthening of Nazarick would proceed nicely.

He had to get as strong as he could before his invisible enemy revealed itself.

His opponent had a World Item. He needed to acquire powers that didn’t exist in Yggdrasil as soon as possible. He had to assume that anything he could do, his opponent could do as well.

But there was one problem—how to protect the empire.

Demiurge was of the opinion that the empire was a latent enemy, but Ainz didn’t agree with him.

He wasn’t sure what the future would bring, but he didn’t think conquering the world with might alone was the smart way to go about it. If the Nation of Darkness gained a reputation for destroying all its enemies, it would end up antagonizing countries that it could have been allies with.

So then how about deepening the friendship between the rulers, Ainz and Jircniv, and conveying that to their retainers?

Then Demiurge and the others will keep their conquer-by-power plans to a minimum. That’s a great idea. A friendship across national borders. In other words, a friendship across guilds… Friends, huh…?

Ainz’s grotesque friends came to mind.

Still, though, how do you make friends? Giving someone what they want probably isn’t the right way… The best in this case is probably to protect what’s important to Jircniv—the empire… There’s a good chance my enemy will target it.

Ainz had an idea of what he would do if he were the invisible enemy who had brainwashed Shalltear. It entailed…

The worst-case scenario would be if Iä Shub-Niggurath was used on the capital of the empire, my ally. No matter who did it, it would definitely be blamed on me… And then they would work to spread word of it all over the world. And that would slow the expansion of the Nation of Darkness’s influence.

Ainz remembered his days in Yggdrasil.

Once, since it was foolish to challenge a huge guild head-on, they had incited a bunch of smaller guilds to start a war. It should be possible to use the same tactic in this case. And if Ainz was in the opposite position, he would surely do so, which meant there was a good chance that his opponent would.

In order to thwart that plan, Ainz had been thinking to casually spread the rumor via Fluder that he would never use that spell again—though it was a lie. But he couldn’t use Fluder anymore. He had to come up with another way.

This is like trying to devise a way to prevent people from smuggling in a palm-size hazard… Maybe I should order Demiurge to come up with a plan. But would he think that’s weird? Agh, I don’t know what to do.

The best would be if he could just have those two do everything for him, but all that would do was put his image as an absolute being into question. He would be in trouble if he couldn’t come up with a solution that also protected his reputation.

“Master, is something wrong?”

“…Fluder. I want to protect the empire for a while. Do you have any ideas how to do that?”

“…Why do you want to do that?”

“Conquering it would be easy, but I’m not interested in being king of a mountain of rubble. I want to annex the empire in pristine condition. To that end, I want to prevent any harm being done to the empire as a result of the loss of power it will experience with you gone.”

The amount of wrinkles on Fluder’s face increased.

“That’s a tough question out of the blue. Even with me gone, I don’t think there is any immediate danger to the empire. That said, it’s true they don’t have anyone to fill the gap I would leave… If there’s no issue, then I’ll stay here for now.”

“Will you? I’ll debate it on this end and get back to you at a later date.”

“Yes, master!”

“…Oh. Lastly, there are two things I’d like you to do for me. One is that I want detailed information about the martial king. And then there’s the death knight thing.”

Just before the appointed hour, Ainz used detection magic. Usually, he would use several counter spells first, but he didn’t want to waste a ton of scrolls. Unlike that time in the graveyard, where there was clearly an enemy, he cast it on its own.

Still, he did take care to do it in a place where he wouldn’t involve anyone else if he did get hit with a counterintelligence spell.

He could see a place different from his current location. It was the interior of a carriage. He manipulated his field of vision to look outside.

Then he used Greater Teleportation to go there.

Having succeeded without any hitches, he opened the door to the carriage. Ainzach, sitting inside, looked surprised. Without paying any attention to that, Ainz climbed into the carriage, shut the door, and canceled the invisibility spell he had been using.

“So it was you, Your Majesty. I somehow had the feeling it was, but do you mind not coming in invisible anymore?”

“If I wasn’t invisible, someone would see me.”

“You’re wearing that mask, so I think you’re all right…”

“Maybe, but I used teleportation magic. I want to avoid as much trouble as I can.”

“That’s true…”

“If you understand, then let’s get going.”

“Yes, let’s.”

The carriage went through the open gate and stopped where indicated by the guard. It was a place where multiple carriages could be parked.

“All right, let’s go.”

Ainz followed Ainzach out of the carriage.

Waiting there was a maid and an old man dressed like a butler.

He may have been a butler, but he didn’t have Sebas’s depth of character. The vibes he gave off were those of any sophisticated elderly man. And the butler seemed to be human, but the maid was not.

From the top of her head came ears that weren’t human but animal. Ainz couldn’t tell for sure because of her hair, but there didn’t seem to be anything where human ears would have been. Her face was cute, but it was different from human cuteness—more primal.

“We’ve been waiting for you. Sir Ainzach and…Your Majesty, the King of Darkness, I believe? My master is expecting you. I’ll lead you to him, so would you kindly follow me?”

“Wha—?!” Ainzach yelped slightly at the butler’s question.

He hadn’t spoken of Ainz’s identity the previous day, so he must have been shocked that the man had managed to guess it. But Ainz didn’t find it so surprising. He may have been wearing his mask, but he hadn’t changed anything about his clothes. Anyone with connections had probably heard of him. More importantly, it was rude to leave the man hanging.

“I appreciate it. We’ll follow you.”

“Your Majesty.” The butler bowed and the maid followed a beat later.

As they set off after the pair, Ainzach spoke to him in a low voice. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Ainz figured it was for replying to the butler before.

He considered saying, No worries, but he simply accepted it in silence.

From Satoru Suzuki’s point of view, he was a boss covering for a subordinate’s mistake. Ainzach’s gratitude was natural, so as a boss thinking of his subordinate’s future growth, it wouldn’t do for him to shove it aside.

Being a boss is no cakewalk. He felt the struggle keenly.

Suddenly he realized that since he was role-playing a ruler, he hadn’t said a heartfelt thank-you in quite a while.

At some point, I should really gather the guardians—well, all the NPCs—and express my gratitude and acknowledge their work.

With those things on his mind as the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, aiming to be a white company, he kept walking after their guide without pause.

“What a surprise to see a rabbitman, huh, Your Majesty?”

Shouldn’t you say that after she’s gone? thought Ainz, but he was curious, so he continued the conversation. “Not rabbitwoman?”

“No…well…it’s because the race is rabbitmen.”

“Ainzach, what am I supposed to do if you take a little joke so seriously?”

“……She must have come from even farther east than the city-state alliance. They’re quite rare.”

“Mm…”

Ainz didn’t know how far away east of the city-state alliance was. He hadn’t acquired that much information yet.

But he had never seen a rabbitman in the kingdom, and neither had he seen one besides her yet in the empire. Even if other races didn’t reject her, it couldn’t be easy to live in an environment where there were no other members of her own race.

He was curious to hear what she had to say, but he couldn’t. It would be troublesome if it triggered her.

Before long, they had been led before a room.

“Please go in and wait here.”

Inside, a number of weapons and pieces of armor had been oiled and were on beautiful display with not a speck of dust to be found.

When Ainz took a closer look, he noticed that most of the armor was scraped and dented. The pieces had definitely been used in combat.

Rather than a weapon merchant’s display, this was more like a collection of gear that represented the master of the house’s glorious memories.

After taking a cursory look at everything, Ainz returned to the first sword.

It was the nicest sword in the room.

It didn’t have any scratches, but given that it was placed in such a way that it naturally caught one’s eye immediately upon entering the room, it had to be its owner’s favorite.

“Does it please you?”

“Yeah, this is quite a good collection.”

The owner of the room—the master of the house—stood before two sofas facing each other in the center of the room, and Ainz answered his question. The man had a substantial physique and hair cropped so short, the skin was visible from underneath.

They continued their discussion of the arms without introductions.

“Which is your favori— Oh, that one, right? That’s what everyone who enters this room says.”

Ainz crossed the room and stood before the sword.

“Can I try holding it?”

“Of course. I don’t mind.”

Ainz thanked him and picked up the sword. If he tried to equip it, he would drop it, but just holding it was no problem.

As he admired the blade, he noticed there were letters carved into it. He had seen the strange characters somewhere before. He frantically sifted through his memories, and before long, he arrived at the answer.

“Runes?”

“Ohhh, I’d expect nothing less from the King of Darkness. You know them?”

What? They actually are? …Does this world just have runes, too?

As far as he knew, runes were old characters from Satoru Suzuki’s world. If they existed here, there was a good chance that someone from the other world had brought them. Ainz answered carefully, “…Well, I only know of them. I don’t have the ability to create items inscribed with them. Which of the master craftspeople made it?”

“Ohhh, what an astute question. This sword was made by a rune artisan from the dwarf country in the Azerlisia Mountains—probably over a hundred and fifty years ago. The blade can harbor lightning. Do you see the symbols carved into the handle?”

The master of the house came next to Ainz.

When he stood there, the strong scent of cologne hit Ainz’s nose.

“It’s from one of the most famous dwarven rune workshops, Stone Nail.”

Dwarven rune workshops? …I should collect more details on that.

“Oh-ho. That sounds like a very famous workshop. Are there any other pieces from there?”

Ainz scanned the room, and the man laughed good-naturedly.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha. Not here there aren’t. I have them stored elsewhere. But the only one this enchanted is this sword.”

“Oh-ho.” Ainz hid his disappointment with an exclamation of awe.

Still, he had picked up the name of the workshop, Stone Nail. He needed to investigate and see if there were players there.

“I’ve heard that weapons made by dwarven crafters don’t come to market very often, and yet you have pieces besides this one?”

Ainz mentally gave Ainzach a thumbs-up for his question.

“That’s right, Ainzach.” The man grinned. “Whenever one goes up for auction, I make sure to attend. Last time, I dueled a stubborn adventurer and ended up paying three times what I planned.”

Ainzach shook his head slightly in amazement, while Ainz nodded, thoroughly impressed. That’s what collectors are like. Understood by no one—and sometimes they can’t even understand their past selves.

Ainz wanted to examine the sword much more, but he put it back.

“I was captivated by this fantastic piece before we even really introduced ourselves. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

The man’s face was all smiles. “You’ve got a way with words, Your Majesty. Allow me to properly introduce myself: I’m Osk, a humble merchant.”

“Won’t the other merchants in the empire get upset if you call yourself ‘humble’? I’m Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness.”

“There isn’t a day I don’t hear your name, Your Majesty. Please have a seat. I’ll have some drinks made.”

“…I appreciate the offer, but I’m all right.”

Osk’s beady eyes were small compared to the rest of his face, and he squinted with them at Ainz. “Your Majesty, I’ve heard the rumors. How about if you took off your mask?”

“…If it’s the master of the house asking, then I suppose I have no choice.”

Ainz removed the mask, revealing his actual face.

Osk didn’t appear to be surprised. His eyes were so tiny that when he smiled, it was impossible to look into them.

“Ohhh…I see; I see.” Osk spoke again after nodding a few times. “Actually, given the rumors, I was worried if I would be able to rustle up some tea to your liking, but I guess I didn’t need to worry about that,” he said cheerfully, shaking his stout belly with laughter.

“So, Osk, why did you think His Majesty was the one with me?”

“I mean, it’s not that hard to guess, right? If you, the head of the Adventurers Guild in the conquered city of E-Rantel, are coming with someone superior to you, there’s only one person who comes to mind.” He continued, “There was a chance it was his right hand, but I just had a hunch.”

“Can I ask the next question? Are the weapons lined up over there all ones you have used?”

Osk smiled, clearly amused by Ainz’s question. “Ha! Your Majesty, take a look at my physique! I may have held tools for making calculations but never a sword. These are my hobby… I’ve admired the strong ever since I was a child, and I’ve always liked swords and other weapons.”

“I see…”

“You seem to understand. Then I would also like to ask a question, if I may. I’ve heard that Your Majesty possesses incredible power. Have you been alive very long—well, you must have been, right?”

“Compared to the life spans of you humans, yes.” After he said it, he wondered what sort of being Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness, would become.

He couldn’t very well have said, No, you guys are older, and even if he could have, they wouldn’t have believed him. So he was creating the character of the King of Darkness as he went; pretty soon he had to make some decisions or he would run into trouble.

So far we know that he’s lived a long time, since he’s an undead. If anyone asks why I don’t know something even though I’ve been alive so long, it’s because I was shut in doing magic research. That’ll be the basis of my King of Darkness character.

“Then do you have any old weapons?” Osk didn’t even try to conceal his curiosity.

“Of course I do. But I can’t give them to you.”

“I would pay the appropriate price—or I could even swing three times the going rate.”

Ainz couldn’t immediately refuse. He remembered how very unreliable the inside of his wallet was. But as a king he couldn’t say, Okay, here ya go.

“…Money doesn’t do much for me.”

“Certainly, toward a king such as yourself it was a rather impolite thing to say—my sincerest apologies… So what would you be willing to trade for?”

Could I have him praise the actions of my country or something like that? Hmm? In which case…

Ainz took out a dagger. It oozed a shimmering haze effect. The slightly transparent blade was made of blue crystal. The magic inside it was only so-so, but overall it was still an upper-grade magic item and immensely powerful compared to the average items circulating in this world.

““Wh-what in the—!””

There were two voices.

Ainzach was staring wide-eyed at the dagger, too. “Hmm,” Ainz murmured and set the dagger in front of Ainzach. “It’s yours.”

““What?!””

Once again there were two voices.

“Ainzach, it’s a reward for your services. But I’m not conferring it on you, and it’s not a guarantee of your status. I gave it to you because it’s the type of reward I’d like to be able to give in the kind of country I’m hoping to have. If you’d rather have money, I don’t mind if you sell it.”

Given the size of the data, it wasn’t a weapon that could kill Ainz, and it wasn’t a sentimental weapon that one of his guildmates had created for him, either.

“I—I don’t think I can accept such a powerful…”

Ainzach was shaking.

“It’s not really that great. Well, if you won’t accept it, I’ll give you something else later. Like a potion for healing wounds or something. What do you think?”

After taking plenty of time and hesitating, Ainzach took the dagger.

“I accept. Thank you, Your Majesty! I’ll do my best to serve you and live up to this blade!”

“Congrats, Ainzach. If you ever need anything, I hope you’ll remember your friend here,” Osk said, glancing at the dagger.

But Ainzach made a face like a mother dog protecting her pup. “Never. I definitely will not.”

Ainz changed the tone of his voice just a tad. “All right. Shall we get down to business?”

Osk reluctantly ripped his eyes away from Ainzach wrapping the blade up in a handkerchief and agreed. “………Understood. What is it you came to talk to me about today?”

“Hmm… I’m not very good at making things flowery, so I’ll get straight to the point… I want you to set up a fight in the arena with the martial king for me.”

Osk’s eyes widened slightly but then immediately returned to their previous expression.

“I heard that the martial king doesn’t belong to the arena but is your pet swordsman. Ainzach told me that if you gave me permission to fight the martial king, the card could be drawn up right away.”

“Hoo-ha-ha-ha-ha. Are you serious, Your Majesty? The martial king is the strongest man in the arena—the body of a monster and the skills of a warrior. He’s probably the strongest ever. I’m sure you have strong subordinates but against this guy…” Osk boastfully shook his head.

“…Is he stronger than Fluder?”

“No, they have to be in the warrior division. Casters are no good. I absolutely refuse anyone flying through the sky firing off spell after spell.”

Ainz hesitated when Osk began to grumble, but Ainzach explained, “Once there was an adventurer team that won by flying and using bows and other long-distance attacks, and it really killed the mood. Since then, Fly, Teleport, and other spells like that have been prohibited.” By that time, Osk had returned to himself and looked at Ainz.

“Ahem! Do excuse me, Your Majesty. I recalled a bitter memory… Okay, so who do you want the martial king to fight? A human?”

Ainz and Ainzach exchanged a glance. Then Ainz answered.

“Me.”

“………Huh?!”

“I, Ainz Ooal Gown, will be his opponent.”

A period of time passed in total silence. Osk was utterly flustered and said, “B-but, Your Majesty, you’re a king—of a country!”

“Yes?”

“Huh? I mean, yeah, but… I just…”

“Yes, I understand your concern. You’re thinking about what happens if I get injured, right?”

He pretended he couldn’t hear Osk murmur, “If injured is all, that’d be fine…,” under his breath.

“Relax. I won’t make an issue out of it no matter what happens to me. And I’ll draw up paperwork to that point.”

“But if something like that happened, I’d be out of business. Word on the street is, the empire and the Nation of Darkness are allies. If the king of our allied nation got severely injured, the country would hate me.”

“I promise I won’t cause you any trouble like that.”

“You can say that, but…” Osk seemed to think a bit before continuing. “This isn’t the right way to put it, but could you offer something as collateral?”

“Collateral? Such as?”

“…Please lend me something like you gave Ainzach earlier. If, should anything happen, I can have it, then I’m fine with it.”

“If that works for you, then I’ll make that promise. But I can’t give it to you right this instant. I promise to deliver it tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty… I have a question for you, if that’s all right?”

Ainz waved a hand to gesture that he should continue.

“As a bit of an entertainment manager, I collect a lot of information—especially about the powerful people and monsters I’m going to have appear at the arena. Among those rumors has been one about you, Your Majesty. Is it true that you killed tens of thousands of kingdom subjects with a single spell?”

“Ahem!” Ainzach coughed, seemingly on purpose. He was shooting an accusatory glare at Osk, but it wasn’t as if Ainz was trying to hide, and neither was it something he was ashamed to talk about.

“That’s right. I killed them with my magic. Are you going to condemn me?”

“No, I just wanted to hear how much magic power you have. It would be extremely bad if you used a spell like the one in the rumors. The arena is in the capital, you know.”

“No, no, of course I wouldn’t use that sort of spell.”

Not even Ainz would use that spell in the middle of an allied country’s capital. What kind of terrorist would that make him?

“Naturally, that’s what I thought. Your Majesty is so intelligent, you’d hardly think you’re an undead. You don’t seem like the type to hate life and perpetrate huge massacres. Just sometimes I screw up by neglecting to check something that seems obvious.”

Ainz felt the same way. That was always the danger when someone new came in. Actually, Satoru Suzuki had made mistakes like that, too.

“It’s only natural to think along those lines. I’ll say it once more: I wouldn’t use that sort of spell.”

“Why not? Does it have something to do with the positions of the stars?”

“It’s nothing to do with anything like that…” A little light bulb went on in Ainz’s head. “Uh, it’s actually my most powerful ace move. It was Sir El Nix’s earnest wish, so I had no choice but to use a major spell I can only cast once every ten years. So now I have to save up energy for ten years.”

“Oh-ho!” A strange light twinkled in Osk’s eyes. “Are you sure it was okay to tell me that? In a way, you just revealed a weak point, Your Majesty…”

“It’s fine. Even if I can’t use that destructive of a spell, it’s simple for me to kill any fools who antagonize me. It’s not as though all my magic is incapacitated, you know.”

“I’d expect nothing less from the King of Darkness. So you’re saying it would be a simple matter for you to defeat the martial king, is that right?”

When Ainz nodded boastfully, Osk plastered on a smile. But Ainz couldn’t tell by looking if it was genuine or not.

“I see. There’s one more thing I’d like to ask, please. Why do you want to fight the martial king?”

“I heard he was someone strong… I want to know if he is stronger than Gazef Stronoff. In the kingdom, there was Gazef. So how about in the empire? I was curious—that’s the biggest factor.”

Of course, that wasn’t actually the reason he was fighting. It was the result of his meeting with Ainzach.

Ainz wouldn’t mind telling the truth, but he just didn’t feel like he could trust this guy. He seemed like the type to prioritize his own interests. He judged that opening up to a person like that wouldn’t yield very good results.

“I understand. Thank you… Let’s set you up for a match with the martial king, then, Your Majesty. But…” Ainz was going to thank him, but Osk held up a hand to stop him. “I want you to follow the rules of the arena. And even if for you and the martial king, it’s a serious fight, for us, it’s entertainment. A one-sided fight is no fun, so I want you to fight him with a sword—weapons, no magic. I humbly propose that that will make it a good match.”

“What?!”

It was Ainzach who leaped to his feet. His face was flushed with anger.

“Who could do that?! His Majesty the King of Darkness is a caster! How do you expect him to win like that?”

“Oh-ho. Right. Even the King of Darkness won’t be able to win if his magic is sealed away. Ugh, what an uninspired suggestion. But I didn’t expect you to say something like that. I didn’t think you cared whether His Majesty won or not. It seems I need to adjust my perspective on that.”

“Why, you!”

“Ainzach, don’t get all excited. I’m fine with it.”

“…Your Majesty, what did you say?”

It was so funny the way Ainzach and Osk both looked at him that Ainz let a chuckle slip out. But then he was worried it sounded like a scoff, so he rushed to gloss it over by adding a few more audible nose breaths.

But it was impossible with just holes in his skull.

He quit trying and decided to gloss it over with words instead.

“Apparently, you didn’t hear me. This is what I said: It’s fine by me.”

Osk’s expression didn’t change, but it was clear that his head was hard at work.

“…Is that a promise on your honor?”

“You want me to swear on my honor? …All right. I, Ainz Ooal Gown, swear not to use any magic during the fight with the martial king.”

“Wait a—! Your Majesty! You can’t make a promise like that without even seeing what the martial king can do!”

Ainzach’s comment was certainly true. But if the information he had on the martial king was reliable, then he didn’t seem like such a challenge.

“Well, I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.”

“Surely ‘somehow’ isn’t good enough!”

Ainz was a little moved by Ainzach’s comeback. Since he became the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, no one had given him their opinion in that way. As Momon, he had gotten a bit of it at first, but once his rank jumped, it stopped completely.

“And you’ll be in awfully hot water if the king of another country dies in the empire’s arena!”

That’s true. Ainz and Osk looked at each other.

“Well, it’s only natural that you would say that. What do you think, Your Majesty? I don’t mind if you take your loyal retainer’s advice and back out.”

In response, Ainz shrugged. He could understand Ainzach’s concern, but he was the one who came up with this idea in the first place. He may have planned it with him casting in mind, but did he really think Ainz was so weak without magic?

“It’s no problem. Or rather, Ainzach, you’re embarrassing me, so quit shouting. And Osk. There’s something I’m not clear on: How would my death benefit you?”

Osk blinked. It wasn’t endearing at all for a man of his age to react that way. “There seems to be a misunderstanding, Your Majesty. There’s not a single benefit-like outcome for me. As the guild master said, the cons are far greater.”

He must just really have been thinking as a promoter and not scheming to have Ainz fight at a disadvantage.

“I see. Then that’s fine.”

“…Do you have a way to win against the martial king without magic? He’s stronger than Gazef Stronoff.”

“…Stronoff? I was jealous of how strong he was.” Ainz noticed Ainzach next to him looking shocked, but he continued his reminiscence. “If the martial king is stronger than him, I’ll need to be on my guard. But I’m saying he’s strong in terms of his heart not his combat ability. If you’re saying the martial king is stronger than Stronoff in terms of brawn, then it will be a simple matter for me to kill him instantly.”

“I see. By the way, I have an additional answer to your question from before.” Osk lifted his arms up—his meaty arms with no hanging flab. “I love pitting sword against sword and fist against fist. But I don’t have a crumb of aptitude for hand-to-hand combat, so I can’t win even if I work hard. So I had an idea: I could just create a warrior to represent me and have him win.”

Osk sneered in satisfaction. His face was no longer that of a merchant. It was him as a human being.

Ainz had never met a human this strange before, but he knew everyone had their kinks. In other words, this guy has a weird fetish, thought Ainz, creating a folder for deviants and throwing Osk in it.

“Which is why…if you lose to the martial king who I trained, it will feel amazing for me.”

“Oh?”

Osk and Ainzach both looked at him in surprise.

You guys have been acting weird for a while now, thought Ainz.

“Don’t make that strange face at me. If there’s something you want to say, go ahead.”

“N-no, just, is that all…?”

“I have no idea what you want from me, Osk. I really do struggle to comprehend humans. So? Does ‘is that all?’ mean you wanted me to say something else…? Then how about this? Will you be happy to win against me if I don’t use any magic?”

Ainz didn’t really get it, but Osk seemed a bit confused.

“Er, uh, that is… I don’t really care for magic that much…”

“I see. So that’s where this conversation ends, then.”

Osk and Ainzach exchanged glances. If there’s something you want to say, spit it out, he thought, but this was how society worked. If someone without much right to speak revealed their honest feelings, they would be tucked away somewhere they wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

“We’ve spoken so far without concealing anything, so let’s continue to be open and to the point. When can I fight the martial king? If possible, I’d like it to be a major event.”

“Then I’ll announce at today’s match that a challenger has appeared, and we can set it up right away. But I’d like to keep your identity a secret until right before the fight.”

“I can’t fathom why. Isn’t that kind of a waste as a promoter?”

“The king of an allied country appearing at the arena flies in the face of common sense, so… Hmm? I didn’t hear anything about a welcoming ceremony. Are you doing it later on?”

Ainz looked down in spite of himself.

Crap.

Thankful for his lack of a heart, Ainz spun up the gears of the undead brain he had to have somewhere in his empty skull. Then he shrugged cavalierly.

“I snuck in, so Sir El Nix probably doesn’t know I’m here.”

Osk’s face was devoid of expression. He must have sniffed out something fishy. As a merchant, he surely had a nose for profit. He wouldn’t go along with this if there were only losses in it for him.

“Understood.”

Huh?

“If I publicize the fact that Your Majesty is the challenger, there will surely be people poking their noses in, so I’ll keep it a secret. Any issues that come up after that I’m putting squarely on you.”

“Of course. You can leave all of that up to me.”

“Okay. Then can I have a bit of your time? Let’s decide the date of your fight.”

“Has he gone?”

“Yes, sir.” It was the butler, who had returned after seeing off the King of Darkness, who answered Osk’s question.

“I see,” he said, his eyes shifting to the maid behind the butler.

“Decapitation Bunny.”

What? He cocked his head.

Yes, “he.” It was a man who looked very good in a maid uniform.

According to him, the benefit of wearing women’s clothing was twofold: Opponents would underestimate him, and they wouldn’t attack his crotch. Apparently, it was only that and not his preference. But since he often made such adorable gestures like the one just now, was it so groundless to wonder if he actually did like it?

Osk wasn’t particularly put off by it, so he didn’t care either way, but still.

Now then, his nickname: Decapitation Bunny.

It didn’t go with his cute appearance at all, but he was a mercenary warrior-assassin known by that name who hailed from a country east of the city-state alliance.

Osk had paid a fortune to summon and contract him. He had personal escort deals with other worker teams and swordsmen, but this man was paid more than anyone.

That’s how strong he was—at least orichalcum level. And since hiring him, Osk hadn’t gotten mixed up in any trouble.

“Tell me what you think, having seen the King of Darkness.”

He possessed other abilities besides the ones he had as a first-rate warrior-assassin.

He could see through people. He had the power to appraise people, which came from all the bloodbaths he had fought through as a warrior-assassin—he could tell who was strong.

“He’s transcendently yikes.”

The only other one to ever get that rating was the martial king. In other words, this was the second person ever this man couldn’t defeat. Incidentally, the next level down were the empire’s Four at “yikes.”

“Is he a powerful warrior, as well?”

“I don’t know. From his footsteps, he didn’t seem strong. They weren’t the footfalls of someone who has been trained as a warrior or assassin. The older fellow next to him was more of a warrior. But—yikes. I felt sick when he was standing behind me. To the point that I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.”

He quietly showed off his arms.

Osk’s eyes were drawn to his fists.

Round fists.

Perhaps he had punched tens, hundreds of thousands of times into blunt objects; his fists had transformed into perfect spheres. They were the hands of a fighting creature.

Osk shuddered, unable to hold back his arousal.

“What are you lookin’ at, pervert?”

“I was just thinking you had nice hands.”

He was really into hands, but unfortunately Decapitation Bunny wasn’t his type.

Sex wasn’t a big issue, but Osk’s ideal was the warrior from the Blue Roses. Decapitation Bunny wasn’t bad, but he was simply too slight compared to Gagaran. The martial king, on the other hand, was a bit too thick.

“…I won’t renew my contract for next year.”

“I can’t have that! There’s practically no one on your level… The woman heading up Ijaniya is about the only one. Oops, we’re off topic. So—” Osk averted his eyes from those round fists and looked up. Decapitation Bunny had goose bumps.

“I still don’t feel better. I’m really sick to my stomach.”

“So he’s not much of a warrior but still a dangerous opponent…?”

“He’s honestly another martial king.”

Osk realized what Decapitation Bunny meant. He really was another martial king.

In this world, there were strong races and weak races.

The weak races, of which humanity was representative, were meat bags who had neither special powers nor hard armor protecting their bodies nor the ability to see in the dark.

Meanwhile, a strong race was one like the dragons. Protected by hard scales, agile but still immensely powerful physically. Their claws and fangs could easily cut through steel; they possessed special abilities like fire and chill breath; they had wings for soaring across the sky.

They, as a species, didn’t need to train as warriors to be strong.

Decapitation Bunny was saying that the King of Darkness might be from a race like that.

Osk’s knowledge said that undead were physically weak, but apparently the King of Darkness was different.

“Sir Osk, why did you take on this fight? The King of Darkness probably knows about the martial king, but we don’t know anything about what he can do. It seems to me the odds are against you?”

“Wha—? You don’t know why?!” Decapitation Bunny said in exasperation. “If it were me, I wouldn’t be thinking about that nonsense.”

The butler’s questioning eyes turned to Osk. So he smiled and answered.

“Are you saying the champion should run from a challenger?”

“Is that all?”

“That’s all. But it’s important. If it were just to have a fight to the death, I wouldn’t do it. But having a challenge declared as a match means I can’t run away. I’m sure the martial king would agree.”

“You’re so stupid.”

“Maybe. That’s what it is to be a man. But we’ve seen that His Majesty is the type to put more of his powers on display outside a match setting. So would you rather fight him in a match setting or in a secret fight where anything goes?”

“Neither, thanks. I’ll curl my tail between my legs and run away.”

Osk smiled. That was the smartest move.

“All righty. Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the king?”

It wasn’t the tone to use with one’s superior, but the butler standing behind him didn’t change his expression.

He used to give off a silent disapproval—You shouldn’t talk that way to your employer—but at some point, that had dropped off. Perhaps since the time Decapitation Bunny picked off an assassin.

“He does have charisma.”

“Hrrrm.” Decapitation Bunny made a strange sound.

Osk had been watching Ainzach, but there was no sign of him being forced to do anything. In other words, the King of Darkness had something that made the people of a city he had occupied want to cooperate with him only a few months after being conquered.

“Did you see how confident he was? He definitely knows he’s strong. You can see it in the way he didn’t bring anyone besides Ainzach, the way he was able to promise not to use magic against the martial king. And he’s got a head on his shoulders, too. He seems to excel at these sorts of negotiations.”

He felt it was strange even as he said it.

The King of Darkness had treated him, a merchant, as an equal.

Usually, even nobles made more of a show of the hierarchy.

So he had a hard time understanding that.

If the king had at one time been a merchant, it might have made sense, but that couldn’t be. So maybe he really was just good at negotiating.

“Overall, I’d say he’s on the same level as our emperor.” Of course, he hadn’t seen the true extent of the king’s abilities, but he was frightening enough to make Osk feel that. “No, we should probably say he’s at least on par with the Fresh Blood Emperor.”

If, at the very least, he was equivalent to the empire’s most powerful emperor ever, this was a nightmare.

Osk shook his head. Thinking about it any more would paralyze him, and it wasn’t as if he wanted to peer into the abyss that was the King of Darkness anyhow. There was only one thing he needed to do now.

“…I’ve got to tell the martial king and make sure he’s in top condition for the fight.”

“Won’t he be annoyed?”

“He’s a warrior. If he learns we’ve accepted a challenge, he won’t run.”

“Hrrrm, well, I hope he can win.”

4

On the day of the match with the King of Darkness, Osk asked the same question he always asked.

“How are you feeling?”

“No issues. I’m in perfect condition.”

The one answering was a giant monster.

He was a troll, but there was something definitively different about him—that presence that only warriors who have battled through numerous fierce fights have.

But of course he would have that. He was a troll adapted for and specialized in combat. Of all the troll-derived races, his was the most exceptional—he was a war troll.

This was the martial king, the strongest warrior at the arena.

Osk gazed intently at his flesh.

Certainly in terms of caliber, there were many who outstripped him. At the head of that group came teams of silver or greater adventurers. But the martial king had beaten even them. The reason he could do that was extremely simple.

Basic war troll specs far surpassed those of humans.

Not only in brawn and endurance but also the wide-ranged attacks due to their enormous size.

They also had all sorts of special abilities that humans did not.

First, their skin. If the martial king wore armor on top of his thick, hard skin, he could repel nearly any blow; however, since his joints, where he needed mobility, were soft, many opponents aimed for those. But the wall that had thwarted all of those challengers was his regeneration ability.

Even if they took a hit that would definitely kill a human, a troll wouldn’t die. Their astonishingly powerful regeneration ability would heal the wound. It was impossible to stop it without fire or acid.

Because of these creature strengths, the current martial king was the strongest in all of history.

The warrior whom Osk was so proud of suited up before his eyes.

It was enchanted armor made with materials Osk had hired an adamantite-plate adventurer team to collect. He had put 20 percent of his assets at the time into it. The magic metal club he held in his hand was the same.

The troll put on all his gear, including a magic ring and a magic amulet.

“I’m equipped now.”

He spoke much more intelligently than he used to.

This always happened, but Osk felt warm in his chest when he looked at the martial king’s brawny figure—thinking, I’m the one who trained him to this level.

“Then shall we get going, King?”

He walked with him—it was just the two of them—up to the entrance of the arena. That was their ritual.

The martial king kept silent after they left the room.

The reason he didn’t speak was once anticipation of his opponent and excitement. Somewhere along the line, that shifted strongly toward disappointment in them. But what about this time?

The martial king suddenly stopped in his tracks.

As far as Osk could remember, this had never happened before.

Unprepared for this new behavior, when Osk anxiously looked up at him to ask what was wrong, the king slowly lifted the visor of his armet, revealing his face.

“I’m grateful to you…”

His voice was strained.

Osk blinked.

He had heard those words only three other times: when he gave him his weapon, when he gave him his armor, and after the fight with his strongest opponent yet—the previous martial king, Rotten Wolf Kullervo Parantainen. This was the fourth thank-you.

“F-for what, King?”

His eyes were fixed on the end of the hallway.

“Phoo, phoo.” His body shook slightly with the faint laughter.

He must be trembling with excitement.

That’s what Osk thought, but he was wrong.

“What a… What a challenger. No, am I the challenger?”

“Wh-what?”

“Phoo, phoo… I’m scared. Osk. I’m shaking in fear.”

Osk couldn’t believe his ears.

“This must be my instincts as a living being. My feet won’t move right… They’re telling me that if I go in there, I’ll die… Phoo, phoo…”

He wasn’t laughing. He was forcing exhalations of his agitated breath.

“You told me my opponent this time is the King of Darkness, but how strong is he…? Has my arrogance come back around to bite me?”

“What are you saying, King? You haven’t been arrogant.”

“I’m strong,” he declared, and Osk was about to agree with him. But the martial king continued before he had the chance. “No, that’s a lie. My strength all stems from the characteristics of my race. It’s not true strength. Even so, there aren’t many I can count as threats—especially after gaining skill as a warrior. That’s why you never told me about the challengers’ abilities or gear. You had to do that to create a disadvantage for me. And now, finally, you’ve brought me an opponent from whom my instincts say to flee. Thank you. You’ve kept all the promises you made to me when we met.”

“King… Go Gin…”

Osk had met him nearly ten years ago.

There was a highway running through the imperial frontier where a powerful monster was said to appear. The stories went that this monster was extremely intellectual and wouldn’t kill a person who cast away their weapons. That piqued Osk’s curiosity, so he left the capital in a great hurry to meet it. He had heard that the mightiest person in the empire, Fluder Paradyne, would be dispatched to exterminate it soon.

At first, he was terrified. Of course he was. Maybe the people who had encountered it so far had been saved only by chance.

But when he finally saw him, he—the now martial king—didn’t show any interest in him. He glanced at him once, snorted, and turned to go.

That was why he forgot his terror and asked: “Why are you doing this?”

The reply he got wasn’t spoken as fluently as he could speak now: “Training to get stronger.”

Suddenly, Osk had felt like he could see.

Osk had one dream. He wanted to train a powerful warrior. His dream was to cultivate the strongest warrior to stand in for himself, since he had no aptitude. But what he realized was, It doesn’t have to be a human. No, on the contrary, since races other than humans had higher specs, if he wanted a warrior who was strong—the strongest—then wasn’t this the way?

There was already no sense in Osk’s mind that he was taking a monster home. He had scouted the strongest warrior, the champion of the arena, the future martial king.

Ten years later, the martial king was shaking in fear for the first time.

“King…”

Osk thought of several things he could say. The first was, Do you want to abandon this fight? Combatants died in these battles. Osk couldn’t bear to lose the one he had trained to this level.

But he couldn’t say it.

For someone strong, being worried about was a slight. So saying those words had the potential to destroy the bonds of their friendship.

There was only one thing he should say.

“Don’t lose, King.”

“Hmph. What are you talking about? I have no intention of losing. The challengers I’ve faced so far were the same. They all stood before me thinking they would win. Now it’s my turn.”

“Exactly!” Osk gave the martial king a pat. “The King of Darkness is a caster. But that would make the fight boring, so the match has been set with a rule prohibiting the use of magic on either side. You can’t lose against a caster who can’t cast.”

“…Magic? He agreed to fight me even under that condition?”

“Yep. He seemed like he couldn’t even fathom losing.”

“Ohhh…?” The martial king clenched his fists. They were like giant hammers. “The strong are so full of themselves. I’ll teach him how foolish he was.”

“That’s the spirit! But don’t let your guard down. He casually gave away the sort of fabulous weapon that would make your eyes pop out. He probably has a ton of surprisingly powerful magic items.”

Limiting the use of magic items would probably increase the martial king’s odds of winning. But that would be too big a handicap.

“That’s no problem. Right now I’m mentally prepared as a challenger. My guard is impenetrable. There will be no defeat for me besides one based on ability.”

The martial king strode forward with solid steps, and Osk hurried to catch up and walk beside him.

“Hey, by the way, did you consider that thing we talked about before?”

The martial king stopped short and made an extremely displeased face. “A thing we talked about before? You mean…that thing?”

“Yeah, a wife for you.”

“Why are you bringing this up now…? Hoo-haaa.”

The martial king laughed, and Osk blushed as he frowned. If you understand, then don’t act all weird.

“Sheesh, aren’t there better ways for you to root for me? Don’t make me say it so many times… If I want a wife, I’ll go back to my hometown. The candidate you’re talking about is human, right? I’m grateful, but please spare me with the humans. I’m not into any perverted stuff. Or rather, how gross is it that a human would want to sleep with me? What kind of fetish would that even be? Plus, you want my kid, right? There’s no way for me to have one with a human.”

Children could be born with humanoids, but children with subhumans were heard of only in stories.

“Well, yeah… Then bring a wife back with you. If there’s anything you need to make your triumphant return, tell me and I’ll arrange it.”

“…Just so you know, humans are food to us trolls. My wife might not hesitate to eat you guys.”

Osk felt like he didn’t mind if useless humans were used as food, but he didn’t say that.

“I see. Then bring me your child before they acquire a taste for humans. If I give them a special education, they’re sure to surpass even you.”

The martial king twisted up his face in an amused way. “That’s very interesting. Yeah. I’ll give it some serious thought.”

“Your Majesty. Can you really win?”

In response to Ainzach’s question, Ainz gave the same response he had already given over and over. “It won’t be a problem.”

To take on a fight with no hope of winning made someone either a true hero or a mere fool. This wasn’t an encounter battle. It could be said that everything would be decided at the preparation stage.

Ainz recalled all the information they had gathered.

If the martial king was equivalent to the Giant of the East, he could win, no problem. If he was as mighty a warrior as Gazef, though, his race and class levels would combine to make him quite a handful.

But…

This is such an unfair fight to begin with. That’s why I asked Fluder for a favor.

Ainz had abilities that made him completely immune to lower-tier attacks. His opponent may have been the martial king, but he didn’t think he could breach that protection.

That was why he had canceled it.

A fight he could win for sure was no good.

In the war, Ainz had killed over a hundred thousand people with his spell. In Yggdrasil, experience points were adjusted for level disparity. The lowest number possible was one. In other words, he should have gotten over a hundred thousand experience points for that. Given the number of experience points he had saved up before being transported, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had leveled up. But Ainz didn’t feel that anything special like leveling up had happened.

In other words, Ainz really couldn’t get any stronger than he already was.

But that didn’t mean he could be satisfied.

If his level cap was 100, he couldn’t do anything about that. He needed to polish his technique until he could make full use of the abilities from those 100 levels perfectly. If he just assumed that he would always be the strongest and rested on his laurels, he would be ousted someday.

Ainz had judged himself capable with a magic class, because the abilities he had trained up in Yggdrasil were valid here as well. But he hadn’t worked very hard back then on abilities and skills that were useful in the vanguard.

I learned a lot in that fight with that one woman.

He still felt nothing but gratitude for the woman who taught him that he was lacking in frontline skills.

It was that fight that inspired him to boost his close-quarters combat ability. And now he felt that not only with ability points but in technique and strategy as well, he was confident he was equivalent to a specialized level-33 warrior. He was looking forward to this fight with the martial king as a test of that.

Ainz looked at his neck.

I probably didn’t have the leisure to wear that collar thing. And frankly, that time against the workers, I didn’t feel like I got a ton of experience points or learned any new skills. Honestly, it was probably pointless.

As Ainz was thinking those things, he recalled a more important issue.

Oh, Jircniv is going to be watching, right? Why is he coming? All the times I was spying on him, he didn’t come once, so I thought it would be okay. He must know I snuck in… Well, I’ll just apologize and beg for forgiveness. If he protests, asking if he requested permission from the Re-Estize Kingdom the time he came to Nazarick should get rid of any problems… Should I go say hi? If I don’t greet him, I’ll make an even worse impression…

“Y-your Majesty, it’s almost time for you to enter the arena.” Someone from the arena came into the room with the announcement.

They had seen each other several times now, but every time the man saw Ainz’s face, he stiffened up.

He did wonder if it would be better to fight with his face covered, but he had been given permission to hold a presentation for the audience after he won against the martial king. Maybe some of the people in the arena today would come knocking on the Nation of Darkness’s door to become adventurers. In that sense, he figured it was better not to hide anything.

All he could do was trust his choices.

Ainz walked slowly forward.

Usually, the person of higher status would enter later, but in the arena, Ainz was the challenger—the lower rank—so he entered first. Naturally, he took it in stride and said nothing.

Ainzach looked worried, and Ainz smiled at him.

It struck him as strange that Ainzach was more worried than he was even though he was the one fighting.

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Ainzach. I’m not going to lose.”

After greeting Jircniv, Ainz returned to the arena.

He had promised not to use any magic, but the fight hadn’t begun yet. Surely they would be lenient about that much.

…He didn’t seem very mad even though I entered the country illegally. Will I get an earful later? Or does he think I went through the proper channels? In that case, maybe I was a bit too self-conscious, thinking he might want to hold a welcoming ceremony for me and whatnot… I left off the rest of his name and called him Jircniv—did that bother him?

Ainz scoffed at his own thoughts and shifted his gaze to the opposite entrance.

The martial king hadn’t appeared yet.

Now, then…

Ainz scanned the crowd.

A shocked silence reigned—to the point that the slightest stir made a racket.

Well, I can’t help it… No, guy, this isn’t a mask.

Ainz stroked his smooth face. Now he knew. The only humans who could see his face and remain unfazed had balls.

That’s why I can become a superstar all at once by getting everyone here excited.

His goal wasn’t to get popular, but it was better to be popular than unpopular. And if people’s opinions of undead improved, couldn’t that improve their opinion of the Nation of Darkness, where he ruled over undead, too?

Ainz tightened his grip on his staff.

The weapons he, as a pure caster-class build, could equip were rather limited. They were mainly staves and daggers. This time he chose a staff for physical attacks; he had crafted it during his Yggdrasil days but never really used it. And it was from so long ago that it wasn’t very strong. Ainz as he was now could surely have created a much more optimized weapon.

But he didn’t.

Considering the disparity in power between the martial king and him, he had opted to go with weapons he already possessed.

For the Yggdrasil player Satoru Suzuki, that decision was the height of folly and an unforgivable mistake. If his friends were here, they would have chided him—You can’t do that; c’mon now.

But Ainz had heard from Fluder about the powers of the martial king’s magic items, so he figured that, as training, he should push himself this much.

He didn’t want to give the audience a one-sided trampling. He was aiming for a moderately crushing victory.

“Ladies and gentlemen! From the north entrance, here comes the martial king!”

An earsplitting cheer went up, one completely different from when he had entered. Among the screams, Ainz heard Jircniv hollering at the top of his lungs from his box seat.

…Well he seems awfully excited. Is he really so into the martial king? I suppose the king of the arena is like an idol, so maybe it’s the natural reaction? At PvP matches in Yggdrasil, the strong guys were always popular, too…

Recalling fond memories from his Yggdrasil days, Ainz felt sorry for Jircniv.

It’ll probably be a shock if I win… There were times I had clients who were out of sorts when their favorite teams lost, too…

He felt discouraged, but he couldn’t very well throw the match.

A large shadow appeared in the opposite entrance.

He didn’t think the cheer could possibly get any louder, but it did. It was truly like an explosion.

Honestly, he would have liked them to give him a bit of that applause, but he would simply steal it by force.

In his Yggdrasil days, when the challenger put up a good fight, the balance of the cheers slowly began to shift. That meant that if Ainz put up a good fight against the martial king, the number of voices cheering for him was sure to grow.

And a reversal coming from practically no cheers will be pretty good in terms of promotion, too, I imagine.

The martial king came slowly into view.

Full-body armor and a huge club.

At the sight of his figure like an impregnable fortress, Ainz’s eyes—the red flames in his vacant orbits—narrowed and sharpened.

Hmm… He looks as I heard. So— No, that’s too hasty. I’ll be cautious.

He had analyzed the intelligence he received from Fluder Paradyne, but none of his opponent’s gear would be fatal.

But in Yggdrasil, some people would prepare a set of gear that looked the same but was loaded with entirely different data. In one-on-one combat such as PvP, those kinds of subtle bluffs could affect one’s rate of wins. Spare gear tended to be slightly weaker than main pieces, but catching one’s opponent by surprise had a bigger effect than stat strength.

There was nothing to guarantee that the martial king wasn’t pulling that sort of trick.

With that in mind, Ainz continued to observe him.

He had heard about him, but now that he was right there before his eyes, he thought, I see. It was a case of a picture being worth a thousand words. According to what he’d heard from Fluder about what was beneath the armor, the martial king was similar to the war troll he’d killed and made into a zombie, but the atmosphere about him was entirely different.

It was like the difference between a wild boar and a pig.

“This is…interesting… Interesting?”

Ainz frowned at himself getting all excited. He felt the same thing back then, too, but he had grown warlike, or combat crazy, or, in any case, he seemed to look forward to fighting now.

It wasn’t a very good trend.

The distance between them shortened, and his opponent called out to him.

“I am the war troll known as the martial king, Go Gin.”

“I”—Ainz puffed out his chest—“am Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness. I’m an overlord, which is the most powerful undead race.”

“I see. Then I’ll fight with all my might.”

“…Oh?” Ainz found that strange.

He had two questions, but he asked the bigger one.

“You’re not going to make fun of my name?”

“Why would I?”

“Why…?”

Having it asked back at him made Ainz cock his head. Back then, he was sure he had been made fun of for his name…

“Isn’t there something about long names or whatnot?”

“Oh. You seem to know quite a bit about my race, Your Majesty. It’s true that my race views short names as stronger. But I’ve been living in this country for years now. During that time, I learned that powerful humans have long names. So I don’t make fun of people’s names. And I sensed that you take pride in your name, Your Majesty. Insulting a fighter’s name should be shameful for a warrior.”

“I see… Apparently, I need to adjust my thinking when it comes to the war troll race.”

“Hoo-ha-ha-ha-ha. That’s not necessary. I’m an outlier. Besides, regardless of race, there is always a diversity of thought. That’s all it is.”

“…Ha-ha-ha-ha! Right you are. I like you, King… If I win, join me.”

Ainz slowly extended his right hand.

Previously, he had been rejected, but these circumstances were completely different. The martial king hesitated only briefly and then gave his answer.

“…Sure. If I lose, I’ll serve you. So what if I win?”

“That’s a difficult question. What do you want? Tell me your wish.”

“…To eat you.”

“………Huh?”

“Until now, I’ve never met anyone worth killing and eating. But you’re stronger than I am, so if I eat you, I can absorb your power.”

Ainz was slightly relieved. Once, a guildmate of his had explained vore culture to him, and while it could all be called “people eating,” there were various different motivations for it, from absorbing spiritual energy like the martial king wanted to do to sexual predilections.

I’m glad he’s not about getting off on it. Not that I’m going to lose, but it would feel nasty to fight while being ogled like that.

“That’s fine. Either way, the victor holds the other’s life in their hands. So don’t refuse Resurrection if I kill you!”

When Ainz took a step forward, the martial king braced himself for an instant, but then relaxed his posture.

Ainz stood before him and held out his right hand, and the martial king responded with his own giant right hand.

It was less like a handshake than being wrapped up in the martial king’s hand. The crowd sent up a huge cheer.

“So let me ask one more thing. Why are you using my title when you talk to me?”

The martial king’s attitude wasn’t the one a champion should use toward a challenger.

“It’s only natural to show respect to someone with power.”

“I see… That makes sense. Those were my only questions. Shall we begin? What do you want to do about our starting distance? How about like we were before—about ten yards? If the arena has a specific rule, I’ll follow it.”

“There’s no rule about starting distance. But are you sure that’s enough? Just a little closer and you’re in my attack range.”

“It’s a handicap, a handicap.”

The martial king didn’t reply but nodded as if to say he understood.

Ainz couldn’t see his face, but his movements and breathing were the very picture of composure.

Did he see through the provocation? Or was it not even enough to offend him?

Ainz mentally clicked his tongue.

This guy was tricky. If his opponent was emotional, he could take advantage of that, but if he showed no signs of carelessness, Ainz couldn’t underestimate him even if he was of lesser strength. The martial king turned his back to Ainz and took some distance.

With about ten yards between them, he turned back around.

“Shall we begin at the sound of the bell, Your Majesty?”

“Yeah… Hey, King. I’ve fought a member of the same race as you before, but have you ever fought one of mine?”

“An overlord, right? No, I haven’t. That’s an undead…race I haven’t heard of before.”

“Oh… Right. If you had ever met someone the same race as me, you probably wouldn’t be standing here now. Overlords are the most elite undead… So have you faced any other types of undead?”

“I’ve never fought an undead—because the undead who get brought to this arena aren’t worth my time.”

“Ah… That means I can’t tell you not to consider me the same as the undead you’ve fought before. I’m several times more powerful than an elder lich… Oh well.”

It seemed like the martial king smiled slightly.

Ainz shrugged and held up the staff like a big sword. Ainzach was probably watching from behind him, but he had never seen how Momon fought, so it wasn’t a problem.

The martial king held up his club.

The bell rang.

And at that moment, a large shadow fell over Ainz.

Tch! He’s fast!

It was the shadow of the club being swung down at him.

Take it with the staff—was an idea he rejected immediately. Until he knew a bit more about his opponent, it was best to dodge any heavy attacks that seemed liable to cause major damage.

So he decided he didn’t mind losing his balance and threw himself out of harm’s way.

He just barely succeeded in dodging, and the club slammed into the ground. A sound like the rumbling of the earth echoed out. Dirt and dust went flying as if there had been an explosion.

Fearing a follow-up attack, Ainz took a few more steps back.

The cloud of dust cleared, and he could see the figure of the martial king with his club clearly once more.

A huge cheer echoed throughout the arena.

Was that some sort of martial art? But wow…everyone sure is excited.

The roar was loud enough that it hurt his ears, but he could hear Jircniv’s voice clearly. “Kill him! Now’s your chance!” He was shouting like a child.

Ainz chuckled at the uncharacteristic behavior. He couldn’t have guessed he would act like this from what he had seen of him inside the imperial palace.

…Maybe he’s more fun than I thought.

Jircniv’s likability points shot up in Ainz’s head. He thought he was more of an emperor-like perfection of a man, but seeing him like this at the match, he felt as though they might be able to get along even better than expected—he sensed an affinity.

Ainz refocused himself on the martial king.

He was pointing the club at Ainz and seemed like he would intercept if Ainz approached or pursue if he withdrew. It was a stance that made for the best check on one’s opponent’s movements.

It used the length of his weapon for defense, like a shield.

Frankly, Ainz couldn’t think of a way to break that stance.

I…don’t really know what to do… When you’re evenly matched, I guess it is pretty tough to go without magic. I mean, I am a caster after all…

Then his only option was…

“What is it? Not going to attack? You’re huddled up like a turtle in its shell!”

“Your Majesty, I won’t be careless. Even with the no-magic rule, I can’t underestimate you if you can dodge an attack like that.”

“So you’re telling me to attack, then? Then how about you move that club a bit? It’s in my way, so I can’t really do much.”

The martial king didn’t answer, but Ainz could feel his sharp eyes peering through the slit in his visor, trying to take in his entire form.

“I see… Then I suppose I’ll go.”

Ainz took his staff and hit the tip of the club with all his might. The club whacked into the ground, and at the same time, the martial king groaned, “Guh!”

The shock should have left his hands numb, whereas Ainz’s body didn’t have that issue.

That instant, Ainz charged head-on into attacking distance.

He sent a mental order to his staff to shoot flames—although in this case, “shoot flames” merely meant enveloping itself in them; it wasn’t as if he was attacking with the fire. But Ainz felt the martial king’s eyes shift from him to his weapon.

Yep. You have a troll’s regenerative ability, so it’s only natural that you would be distracted by a weapon that can inflict wounds—via fire or acid—it won’t work on. But that will prove fatal.

Ainz lightly touched the martial king’s armor with his free left hand. The martial king abruptly spasmed as if he’d been struck by lightning, and the club swung around.

“Guh!”

Ainz failed to dodge, and his body was thrown with a cracking sound. Since he didn’t have Greater Physical Damage Immunity on, the damage dealt to his body, affected by Battering Weapon Vulnerability, was major. Ainz spun through the air like a ball for a few—no, over ten yards.

Then he crashed into the ground and rolled.

A thunderous cheer rose.

Ainz could hear Jircniv loudly celebrating the fact that Ainz was tumbling across the ground, and he felt the likability points he had had until a moment ago drop away.

Our countries are allies, you know. If the king of an allied country falls down, you should at least worry a little! C’mon!

He had taken damage, but Ainz no longer felt any pain; he remained lying on the ground and watched the martial king.

There was no follow-up attack.

The cheers slowly died down, and a suspicion began to grow in their place. Why wasn’t the martial king attacking? No, more pressingly, why was the martial king bent over like that? Why was he moving so slowly?

Ainz stood up nimbly and brushed the dust off his body to boldly show that being thrown like that had caused him no pain.

Meanwhile, the martial king was moving through molasses.

Ainz chuckled to himself.

This was a good show.

Amid the growing murmur, Ainz returned to his previous position. The suspicious voice of the martial king reached him there.

“Wh-what…? This isn’t…poison, I don’t think? So what in the world…?”

“I wouldn’t break the rules like that. This fight is fair and square. That said, although poison isn’t correct, it’s not so far off, either. I can pour negative energy into someone via touch. But you should be able to heal it with your regeneration power as a troll.”

Ainz gave the fingers on the hand he used to touch him a threatening wiggle.

“But there’s one other power I can use via touch, and that is to harm a person’s physical ability. I injured your strength and agility. You probably can’t heal that, can you?”

As far as Ainz knew, a troll’s regeneration ability was only good for healing damage. It couldn’t fix debuffs.

“In other words, King, the more I touch you, the weaker you’ll get. And eventually you’ll be crawling around like a caterpillar.”

Of course, that was a lie.

It was true that he could subtract points from an opponent’s stats, but there was a limit. They would never hit zero. But there was no way for the martial king to know that.

That said, other undead had similar abilities, so Ainz wasn’t sure if he was really so uninformed or not. The martial king may have been bluffing when he said he had never fought any other undead, or he could have the knowledge without the experience.

That’s why Ainz was honest about his race.

By burning it into the martial king’s memory that overlords were an immensely powerful race he’d never heard of, he had made him think that Ainz’s abilities were completely different than any he knew of. Mentioning that they were “elite” was another way to punch up his anxiety.

And the reason he had explained his power to the martial king just now, though he certainly didn’t have to, was to confound him with false information.

In a broad sense, fighting is trading in deceptions.

Ainz calmly observed as the martial king didn’t attempt to heal the stat hit.

He was watching to see if he was bluffing.

It was possible he had a way to heal but was refraining from using it to try to lure Ainz into opening up a critical hole in his defenses. Or maybe he had one of those inborn talents Ainz knew nothing about.

The only time it was possible to stomp someone head-on was if the power gap was overwhelming.

“…The penalties my ability gives don’t fade with time. I’ll chip away at your physical ability and then finish you off with my staff. Do you understand? Then let’s get back to it.”

Ainz took a step forward, and the martial king slowly braced himself.

Since he was wearing a helmet, Ainz couldn’t see his face. Was he smirking or agitated?

Hopefully the latter…

When he stretched out his left hand, the martial king moved. He was plenty on guard.

He was probably wondering, though, if all he needed to be wary of was that left hand.

And that was the correct way to think. Ainz’s experiments had yielded the result that touching with any body part activated the attack. He could even do it with a head-butt if he wanted.

When Ainz continued going forward, the martial king gradually put more distance between them.

Ainz smiled faintly.

The way they were moving now, did the audience even understand who was leading?

Do you know anything about the gap between you and me, King? You may be the better warrior, but there’s one definitive disparity.

The biggest gap was between their hit points.

Ainz was level 100 and had the health to go with it. If they both abandoned defense and decided to slug it out, Ainz would emerge victorious.

The issue was martial arts and other attacks outside the realm of Ainz’s knowledge.

“…In this fight with you, I added another rule besides prohibiting magic spells. It’s about magic items. There wasn’t any limit on what sort of magic items we could equip. But that would have given me way too big an advantage.”

Ainz had acquired a plethora of magic items in Yggdrasil. All were pieces of gear without parallel in this world. Which was why if he had used them, he probably would have easily claimed victory over the martial king. He just didn’t feel that was the correct way to fight.

So he had clad himself only in lesser magic items.

“So I put a limit in place. I decided I wouldn’t use anything on a level higher than what you might have. But I thought of it as a chance to use newly acquired weapons.”

Ainz stuck his staff into the ground, gripped two of the four stilettos at his hips, and drew them.

“I’ll go ahead and use the weapons I borrowed from Momon.”

The martial king probably didn’t understand Ainz’s joke. And Ainz didn’t intend him to. He was basically just talking to himself.

“So here I come!”

Ainz couldn’t do that odd stance—that crouching start—but with training, he had managed to acquire a similar running style. Like a loosed arrow, he whipped toward the martial king as fast as he could.

It was a short distance. But even though he covered that space in the blink of an eye, the martial king’s club came swinging after him. Due to the strength penalty, it was moving a bit slower than before, but it was still on a direct collision course.

Ainz couldn’t evade with the magnificent skill of that one woman. But there was something he could do that she couldn’t.

When he released the ability, the martial king froze for just a moment.

In that opening, Ainz closed the distance between them and thrust a stiletto into his right shoulder. He moved fast and used all the energy in his body, so it was like an arrow attack.

The attack back then had been able to dent the armor harder than adamantite that Ainz had crafted with magic. An equivalent attack now pierced the martial king’s armor, went through his skin, and stabbed a stiletto into his body.

But at that moment—

“Reinforce Outer Skin, Super Reinforce Outer Skin!”

It seemed like the martial king’s arts activated.

As if something were being emitted from inside, the tip of the stiletto was pushed back.

The full force Ainz could currently generate was, surprisingly, only enough to give the martial king a tiny scratch. It was a superficial wound that the troll’s regeneration ability would heal in seconds.

There was no doubt the martial king was relieved. Ainz could sense it in the club that came to bat him away. The fact that Ainz’s strongest attack could deal him only a scratch guaranteed his victory.

But that was a foolish way to think.

“—Activate.”

“Goh! Gwahhhhhhh!”

The magic was released, and the Fireball Ainz had had Fluder load into the stiletto burned the martial king’s body where it was stabbed. Then he drove another stiletto into the opposite shoulder, but the blow wasn’t forceful enough, and it was repelled by the martial king’s armor.

Changing his strategy to aim for the gaps in the armor, Ainz sensed the martial king’s movements and ran up alongside him without looking.

The gust of wind behind him had probably been the club.

After running about ten yards as if he was fleeing, Ainz turned around.

The martial king was holding his shoulder with his club hand, and his other hand hung down limply, seemingly immobile. Was Fluder’s magic too strong? I should have gotten a weaker caster to load the spells for me.

When the crowd realized the martial king was at an overwhelming disadvantage, a cheer like a shriek rose.

Ainz scanned the arena.

No matter where he looked in the stands, no one seemed to be supporting him.

That’s strange… In Yggdrasil, it wouldn’t be weird for some people to start rooting for me about now… I guess it’s rough being the away team.

“Whatever. I give up on grabbing their hearts. Now then…King. Next up, I’m killing you.”

Ainz put away the spent stilettos and took out the other two. These contained tier-three acid attack spells. They were a precaution for the case that the martial king had prepared himself with perfect immunity to fire.

The martial king seemed to have taken damage from the fire, but Ainz didn’t know for sure that he wasn’t acting. Monsters with regeneration abilities weren’t able to fully protect themselves from every type of attack that would prevent them from being used—but that was how it worked in Yggdrasil.

Maybe in this world, it was possible.

Of course, if that happened, he planned to activate a skill that would make it clear in the crowd’s eyes—in anyone’s eyes—who would win and kill him, but still.

“If you admit defeat…we can leave it at this.”

“No…Your Majesty. I’m not finished yet. I’m still the martial king, the king of this arena. I will fight to the death.”

“Then take off that helmet and show me your face.”

It was probably a strange request, but the martial king removed his helmet to reveal his face.

His forehead was flooded with sweat, and his face was twisted into a grimace, perhaps because he was enduring an excruciating amount of pain. Still, his eyes were energetic.

“Those are good eyes. They remind me of Gazef Stronoff.”

“Thanks. I’m glad to be praised by one as strong as you.”

“…I’ll ask you: Do you have any moves that will allow you to beat me? Can you make a comeback?”

“No. But I’m still going to fight.”

Ainz felt a little pathetic for his various bluffs. Of course, to make this a good fight, he had sealed off a lot of his powers.

Wasn’t fighting his hardest the correct thing to do if his opponent was taking this seriously?

He found the martial king and his head-on, all-in combat style extremely admirable.

“I wonder what the guardians would make of the sparkle in your eyes…”

They would probably still look down on anyone from outside Nazarick. In that case… Ainz felt mild anxiety and loneliness welling up inside him.

He shook it off and slowly held up his stilettos.

The martial king wiped the sweat from his forehead with his forearm and replaced his helmet.

“Come at me, King!”

“Graaahhhhhhhhhh!”

With a roar, his hulking form closed in on Ainz.

His increased speed compared to before was probably due to a martial art.

He was surprisingly fast and huge. The overwhelming power of that synergistic pairing would surely paralyze some. No, any normal person wouldn’t be able to move. But those kinds of psychic effects didn’t work on undead.

Ainz glared calmly at the martial king.

He was fast—but that was all.

Perhaps because the shoulder Ainz had stabbed wasn’t moving, he was off-balance.

He’s definitely inferior to that guy…

But more importantly—

Have you figured out the true nature of my detainment ability? If not, this is it for you.

Ainz activated the same ability as before.

Aura of Despair I (fear).

There were five levels to this ability:

I caused fear.

II caused panic.

III caused confusion.

IV caused madness.

V caused instadeath.

Fear was a status ailment that debuffed all sorts of functions.

Panic was a strong version of fear that demanded full-speed flight—which meant that the target couldn’t take any combat actions.

Confusion was literal. Unless it was cured, the confusion would continue for a set time period.

And madness was a particularly troublesome negative status effect that lasted. With magic or other treatment administered by a third party, it would never go away.

It goes without saying that instadeath meant death.

The effect changed in that way as the level increased.

Of these, the one Ainz used was fear. He activated it just for a moment and then canceled it. By doing that, Ainz created a gap between what his opponent’s brain thought it was doing and what the opponent’s body was actually doing. That induced a feeling of being frozen.

But the martial king must have known that would happen if he went at him swinging. He brandished his club despite the collapse of balance between his brain and body.

There were debuffs from Ainz’s touch and the debuffs from fear. All things considered, it should have been easy to dodge his attack, but—

“Strong Blow! Godly Flash!”

Ainz saw a light.

The same moment, a horrible pain—which was instantly suppressed to a bearable level—and the feeling that his body was floating assailed him.

“Flow Acceleration!”

Then from above, a dull pain and another in the next instant.

For a moment, Ainz had trouble grasping his situation and was nearly confused, but then he returned to himself.

It had probably been a chain attack. He had been thrown up with the first blow and slammed into the ground with the second.

Satoru Suzuki probably would have descended into confusion, unable to figure it out, but Ainz Ooal Gown wasn’t affected by such negative status effects.

He knew he was on the ground and that the club was swinging again.

“Tch!”

Ainz rolled out of the way just as the club crashed down. Perhaps it was a martial art? The shock traveled through the ground to hit Ainz.

But it didn’t do him any damage.

Just as Ainz jumped to his feet, the club jerked out of the ground where it had burrowed slightly. The scoop-like blow contained enough impact to indicate that the martial king intended to end the fight with it.

Ainz made the split-second decision to take it with the dagger in his hand. He went flying again. The crowd roared even louder than before, but the martial king emitted a disappointed curse, “Shit!” He had probably wanted to keep the pressure on and finish him off.

After flying a few yards, Ainz rolled, nimbly regained his stance, and murmured bitterly, “No way to come back, ’ey? You tricked me. Squishy Moe would give me a talking-to.”

Like Ainz, the martial king was keeping his ace moves under wraps until the last moment. It meant he was also a first-rate warrior.

Ainz put away one stiletto to free up a hand.

In his arrogance, thinking he would end the fight quickly, he had taken not one but two hits. He was done being so naive. He would decide this fight by precisely shaving down his opponent’s energy.

Geez, they’re loud…

The yells from the crowd were annoying. The shriek had turned into a huge cheer. Especially—

Jircniv, what the heck! What do you mean, “Kill him”?! Sheesh.

Ainz slowly began to move. The damage wasn’t much, but he had learned the pain of carelessness. He wouldn’t make that mistake twice.

Still, I really don’t understand martial arts. Those moves didn’t exist in Yggdrasil… Could they have been created as a way to counter Yggdrasil players, or am I overthinking it…? Whoops, so should I assume that that earlier art was for putting some speed on that strike? He may come at me with the same move again, so…if he draws blood, I’ll…be sure to pick a bone?

Ainz entered the martial king’s attack range, and the martial king swung his club down. Ainz didn’t dodge.

He barreled straight ahead, taking the blow.

Along with the heaviness, some pain coursed through him, but with their gap in HP, he could pull this off. Everything was fine. Plus, Ainz’s body instantly suppressed pain. A living being might not have been able to endure it, but for him, it was no problem.

In the same motion, he touched the martial king. Right after attacking—and with the effects of fear from Ainz’s aura—sure enough, it was too hard for him to evade.

Hugging in close, he moved around the martial king’s back to touch him more. Of course, while he was debuffing his stats, he was also pumping negative energy into him through his armor.

“Uohhhgh!”

This time the one to roll and take some distance was the martial king.

Ainz wondered if he should follow up or not, but he stayed still, unsure if the martial king had a secret up his sleeve.

The king sluggishly held up his weapon. His breath was rough, and he had none of the vigor he had when Ainz first met him.

Ainz clenched his hand around the stiletto.

He had made his preparations. All that was left was to finish him off.

Perhaps the martial king noticed the change in his energy. He took off his helmet and hurled it away.

As Ainz watched, perplexed, the martial king removed the rest of his armor. Despite the debuffs, the armor shouldn’t have been so heavy that he couldn’t move freely.

But when he saw the king’s expression of resolve, he understood what his plan was.

Aha! The armor might block the stiletto, but it won’t do anything against the debuffs. And I sure threatened him enough. So he’s gotten even just a little lighter and will throw himself into attacking, betting on my HP being low.

That was his last—bad—bet.

“Tell me… Am I weak?”

“What?”

“Your Majesty hasn’t been fighting seriously at all this whole time. Though your wings of magic are clipped, I can see that you’re still at ease. Am I really…that weak?”

Ainz closed his eyes, thought for a few seconds, and then opened them. “Yes, you’re weak.”

“…………Oh.”

The arena had fallen silent.

Their voices couldn’t have reached the crowd. But maybe it was obvious to their eyes, too, that the fight had been decided.

“In this duel, I’ve made all sorts of magic items off-limits and prohibited myself from using all sorts of abilities.”

“Because if you didn’t, it would have been over instantaneously?”

Ainz nodded, affirmative. “Yes. But I know all about you. Which is why…” Ainz shook his head. This couldn’t be consolatory. “Well, it’s just too bad you had to face me. If you’re the strongest in the empire, then…I’m probably one of the strongest in the world.”

“I see… But…this has been fun. Knowing there are heights above the heights makes for good training motivation.”

“I sort of get what you mean.”

Some of his old friends, like Touch Me, he had never been able to beat in PvP, but coming up with the strategies and equipment to try was a fond memory.

Ainz smiled at the martial king, and the martial king smiled back.

“…Now then, shall we?”

“Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness. In the end, I would like Your Majesty to show me your true power, even just a small part of it. I want to experience the peak!”

The martial king raised his weapon with determination.

“Ah… All right, then… Know the heights!”

Ainz unleashed a skill as he walked forward.

He entered the martial king’s attack range. The martial king swung his club.

The speed of it coming down was on another level from the windup. Maybe it was being supported by an art. But it was still awfully slow compared to before the debuffs.

The club smashed into Ainz’s body, but he didn’t pay it any attention.

The martial king could no longer deal any damage to Ainz.

He continued walking forward as if the blow had been a spring breeze.

A storm of hits rained down on him, but he continued walking, looking the martial king in the eye.

Just as the martial king smiled in defeat, Ainz stabbed him—he didn’t even try to back away—through the chest with the stiletto. Then he unleashed the spell inside it.

Ainz looked down at the fallen corpse of the martial king.

Then he activated the magic item he had borrowed. It was just a megaphone.

“Listen, people of the empire! I am Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness!”

The way his voice echoed forever in the silence gave him nerves. He decided to get this over quickly.

“I’m currently forming a state-run adventurer training organization in my country—because I think it will benefit my nation to cultivate adventurers, protect them, and have them travel the world for me. Many adventurers are tasked with surviving on their abilities alone. But how many of those meet a tragic end before their gifts blossom?”

Ainz thought of the adventurer team he had traveled with briefly.

“…That’s why I’m making the Adventurers Guild an organ of the state to back them up! I’m sure some people worry that they’ll be robbed of their freedom and chained down in a state-run organization. And I can’t say that isn’t one factor. But as I proved just now, we have plenty of martial power. I don’t intend to make adventurers pawns of war. What the Nation of Darkness seeks is people who want to go on true adventures! If there is anyone out there who wants to seek the unknown and learn about the world and dreams of becoming an adventurer, come and see me! You probably can’t even imagine the power that will be assisting you until you’re full-fledged. I’ll give you a peek right now!”

Ainz walked over to the martial king.

“The martial king is dead! Does anyone care to confirm this?”

There was no response.

“Death is the end. But…if there is anyone here with the knowledge, then they know—that it’s possible to overcome it!”

Ainz took out a rod and touched it to the martial king’s chest.

If he didn’t resurrect, it would be a huge embarrassment. The heart Ainz didn’t have was pounding.

“Behold!”

As he activated the rod, a breath escaped the martial king’s mouth. And a beat later, his chest moved.

“Normally, only a high-ranking priest can use resurrection magic! But it’s not difficult for me! That said, it does take a fair bit of money! I have overcome death, and I will back you up and support your training! Come to my country if you aim to be a true adventurer!”

Amid the commotion, Ainz cast Fly.

He was headed for the box where Jircniv was seated.

When he peeked inside, only Jircniv and two guards were there. It seemed like everyone else had left. Ainz was glad to have fewer nuisances, but he didn’t say so.

“Apologies about before, Sir Jircniv. Oh, it looks like you’ve got some color back in your face. That’s a relief.”

Apparently, it really was just a head rush. Yeah, he was cheering so energetically, so it must have only lasted a second.

“Sorry to worry you, Sir Gown.”

“No, no, never you mind. It’s only natural to be worried if a friend seems ill.”

“I’m grateful for your concern. And what a magnificent match that was. I’d expect nothing less from you, Sir Gown. You utterly crushed the empire’s strongest warrior; the only word for it really is magnificent.”

“No, it was a good fight. Either one of us could have won, but it seems luck was on my side.”

Jircniv was rooting so hard for the martial king, he must have been quite a fan. So it shouldn’t hurt to praise him.

Or more like—

Dude, you didn’t cheer for me at all. I was paying attention, you know.

Of course he didn’t say any of those things. If he thought it over calmly, it was obvious which a person would pick if offered a choice between their own country’s warrior and someone from a different country.

If he had rooted for Ainz, his likability gauge—Peroroncino used to use that word—would have filled up some, but oh well.

“It didn’t look like that to me, but if you say so, then it must be true. Now then, er—I beg your pardon. What are we doing chatting like this?”

“Really, ha.”

Ainz agreed. Or rather, he didn’t want to talk to Jircniv for so long in a place like this.

He wanted to avoid anyone noticing that Ainz Ooal Gown was just an ordinary guy.

He had been curious if Jircniv would say anything about the Nation of Darkness’s proclamation or the fact that he had entered the country in secret, but it didn’t seem like he was being reproached. In that case, all he had to do was get out of there.

“Well, this time…” He was about to say was unofficial, but he held it back, realizing that would be tightening the noose around his own neck. “…was nice, but I’ll be going now. Let’s meet again another day, Sir Jircniv.”

Personally, he wanted to teleport away, but he had to go retrieve Ainzach. As he was thinking that he would land, grab him, and then teleport, he noticed that Jircniv was watching him with a sober expression.

He’s definitely going to say something weird.

Ainz looked back at Jircniv with a feeling that was familiar to him from being a company employee.

“Your Majesty. I have a suggestion, if I may.”

What a wonderful world it would have been if he could have said, You may not.

Ainz cut the escapism and smiled—though his face didn’t move—as he said, “Sure.”

“Then I—no, the Baharuth Empire wishes to be a subject state to the Nation of Darkness.”

“…………Huh?” Ainz murmured in spite of himself. It was so unexpected.

The words took a moment to sink in.

“S-subject state?”

The guards—Ainz remembered seeing them before—were also shocked, their eyes huge.

Ainz suddenly had the urge to put a hand on Jircniv’s forehead.

Why was he suddenly asking to be a vassal? What kind of relationship would a subject state have to the kingdom anyhow? Though he understood the words, he wasn’t sure what the definition would be. How autonomous would it be, and so on?

In any case, Ainz couldn’t decide something this important on his own. He needed to consult with Demiurge and Albedo before replying.

“…Sir Jircniv. When it comes to your country being a subject state or whatnot…”

What happened to building a friendship and being king buddies? Er…

What was he supposed to say after “a subject state or whatnot”? Was it fine to say he had never even considered the possibility?

And it was possible that Demiurge wanted to have the empire as a vassal in the future, so he didn’t want to screw himself over here by saying something that could be taken the wrong way.

What he needed to do was fudge it.

Having decided on a plan of action, he considered what words to use.

“It’s dangerous to proceed with such an important conversation on a verbal basis. I’m afraid I can’t respond immediately, so if I could at least get it in writing…”

“So you’ll accept the proposal if I present it in writing?”

What? You have it on you? Ainz wanted to ask, but he managed to hold back. Perhaps because his psyche stabilized. The agitation he had felt up until a moment ago was also gone. He couldn’t be thankful enough for this body.

But the problem hadn’t been solved.

That’s not what he had meant. He was merely trying to buy time. But it wasn’t as if he could say that, so he had no choice but to come up with some way to make him understand.

“…That’s fine. Then please draw up a document explaining the empire’s proposed relationship to my kingdom as a subject state and send it to me. Then I’ll think it over.”

“All right, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll have the proposal sent over in the next few days. For now, I’ll continue addressing you as a fellow ruler, but I’m looking forward to your response.”

Still unsure why this had happened, though his mental unrest had faded, Ainz nodded in reply.

Then, taking care not to appear hurried, he used Fly to land back on the arena ground.

“What the heck is going on? Or more like, what am I supposed to say to Demiurge and Albedo…?”

Ainz’s shoulders slumped like those of a child who knew his parents would scold him when he got home.

After the King of Darkness left, the vacant atmosphere in the guest box smoldered. As if to break through that atmosphere, Nimble shouted, “Your Majesty!”

Jircniv appeared to frown on purpose and looked at him. “Why so loud? I’m not going deaf yet.”

“D-do excuse me. But what was that all about just now?!”

“You mean you want to know why I made that decision?”

Nimble nodded. When he looked over, Baswood seemed to feel the same.

“I see… Well, what should I do?” Jircniv asked masochistically, with a dry smile on his face. “Because he showed up, the— Arrrgh! The negotiations with the Theocracy fell through. The shrines probably aren’t happy with me, either. How long will it take before I can try again? Is it even an issue that time can solve?”

Jircniv put himself in the Theocracy executives’ shoes. If the country he was dealing with made such an inept excuse as Ainz Ooal Gown just guessed what I was up to; there’s really nothing more to it than that, he would probably deem it not worth partnering with and cut it off. Or he could use it to start a conspiracy.

It was probably impossible to ally with the Theocracy at this point.

“Since there’s no chance of an alliance with the Theocracy, you’re saying we should fight on alone? I mean, I would expect nothing less of Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness. All I can say is that he’s done brilliantly. His reach is far longer than I imagined. He gave me some space and then swooped in for the kill the moment I was careless.”

Despite being enemies, he had to admire such a perfect plot.

Having received such a perfect blow, all he could do was admit defeat.

Reinforcements wouldn’t show up for the empire anytime soon—and the Nation of Darkness probably had all the proof of conspiracy it needed. He was as good as fried.

Perhaps the two understood the situation they were in. Baswood shook his head. “Man, I don’t even know what to say. I guess he used the most powerful attack in the most vulnerable spot.”

“Yeah. There’s nothing we can even do anymore. My spirit is pretty much snapped in half. I almost feel like nothing matters.”

“Your Majesty…”

Jircniv turned toward Nimble’s gloomy voice. “He’s more like a demon than an undead. He really knows how to break people mentally.”

“But still, to become a subject state…”

Nimble seemed to be having a hard time accepting it, and Jircniv smiled kindly at him.

He knew how he felt.

But he didn’t want him to express his feelings like a child; he wanted him to explain his logical plan of action. That said, there was no way Nimble would have a plan when Jircniv couldn’t come up with anything.

“…I’ll be straight with you. We have no chance of victory. If we have any move to make at all, it’s as I said before, dependent on one of his subordinates defecting. I can’t think of any way to defeat him individually. As we learned during the war, he’s the most powerful caster in existence.”

The two knights agreed.

“So how is he as a warrior? Can you kill him with a sword?” Jircniv shrugged. “You saw, right? The martial king couldn’t beat him as a warrior. And what the hell was that? He took the martial king’s blows unharmed! Was he using magic?”

“…I don’t know, but it’s possible.”

“Ah. So if he uses his magic, he can make himself immune to all attacks? It seems like it would be practically impossible to assassinate him. Is he invulnerable?”

“If he has a form, he can’t be invulnerable.”

“Then how come he didn’t get hurt at all?”

Nimble wasn’t sure what to say and looked to Baswood for help, but Baswood’s lips remained in a tight line.

“…For now, this is what I’ll do. I’ll gather information about the martial king’s weapons and then talk with casters and adventurers to find out why they didn’t do anything—that’s all I can do. Luckily, he’s made an enemy out of the Adventurers Guild. It’ll probably cooperate with us.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to discuss being a subject state after that investigation is done? Luckily, he hasn’t accepted yet…”

Jircniv was annoyed, but he didn’t let it show on his face. Instead, he looked at Nimble with pity.

“Was it lucky? Do you really think so? I thought the reverse. I think we should secure vassalage as soon as possible.”

Nimble looked like he had no idea what was going on, but Jircniv was the one to ask a question.

“Why do you think he refused?”

“I—I…don’t know, but…”

“If he were some fool, it would be possible that he wasn’t confident enough to deal with the changing circumstances—but this is him we’re talking about! The way he schemes, I’m sure that during the short pause after I made the proposal, he was calculating what would happen. So if he didn’t accept, that means that something about the proposal doesn’t align with his aims.”

“What could that be?”

Baswood’s question made Jircniv’s face twist up in disgust. “I don’t know. But I’m positive that it can’t mean anything good for the empire. Otherwise why not have us as a subject? We should probably assume he has some objective that he can’t achieve with the empire around. So…”

Jircniv was working his brain so hard, it seemed like it might start smoking.

This was Ainz Ooal Gown they were talking about. There had to be a reason for his actions.

What would I want if I were the King of Darkness? What would I hate?

Jircniv thought so frantically, he broke out in a cold sweat.

“The Adventurers Guild? Could he have put a stop on turning us into a subject state because of something to do with the Adventurers Guild?”

“You mean his announcement? …Can we allow that, Your Majesty? If we’re unlucky, all the empire’s best material will have gone to his side in a few years.”

“…I didn’t understand it. What did you think when you heard it?”

“Even if you lose some freedom, having someone so powerful as the King of Darkness at your back is incredibly tempting. More people die trying to be adventurers than succeed. But people who don’t have confidence in themselves will think, With a guy that strong supporting me… Besides, here the knights do lots of the work that would normally go to low-ranking adventurers.”

“Talent drain…? …And about those people with low self-confidence, it’s not because they don’t have aptitude, huh?”

There were plenty of outstanding individuals with low self-confidence, and who could feel confident from the get-go jumping into a new world anyhow?

“So is it that those sorts of people wouldn’t want the empire to be a subject state? But…wouldn’t everything be a lot easier if we were? He could probably just incorporate the entire guild… Ahhh! Ainz Ooal Gown! I guess his intellect just far surpasses mine! He’s too smart—I can’t get a read on him!”

“Maybe he’s not thinking anything.”

Jircniv responded to Baswood’s joke with a harsh look that contained even hatred. “That couldn’t be. He already foresaw so many of our moves… It’s no good. I don’t know. It could also be that he’s still looking for a place to take out his hatred of living things and wants to torment us, or some other emotional thing that humans can’t fathom…”

Maybe trying to understand the thought process of the undead was a mistake.

Maybe all this agony and skepticism was part of the plan already, and Ainz was waiting with open arms for Jircniv to panic and go through with the transition to subject state.

“What are you going to do?”

Nimble was probably asking about what moves the empire would make.

“My plan is to gather the secretaries to inform neighboring countries. We have to come up with a document that explains that the empire is aligning with the Nation of Darkness and will become a subject state. We’ll tell neighboring countries and establish it as a fact. We’ll make it so the Nation of Darkness has to accept us.”

“Your Majesty…”

The pair hung their heads. Never thought I’d see you make a face like that, Baswood, Jircniv wanted to joke. He wiped the bitter smile off his face and spoke kindly. “Why the long faces? There are all sorts of ways to be a vassal. If we’re allowed a great deal of autonomy, our lifestyles won’t even change. In fact, if we’re protected by the Nation of Darkness’s overwhelming military, we might be even safer than we are now.”

Hearing about their bright (potential) future seemed to cheer the two up slightly.

“To prepare for that, we need to resolve all our internal dissent. If the Nation of Darkness doesn’t grant us autonomy, the empire may split. And there could be influencers who begin to move out of dissatisfaction with the idea of becoming a subject state.”

Jircniv thought quickly over what sorts of powers existed in the empire.

The greatest faction was certainly the knights, but they probably wouldn’t join an opposition faction. They might verbally disagree, but they would never act on those feelings.

Next were the nobles. He wasn’t sure what they would do. There was only a minority now who disagreed with Jircniv’s decisions. But that minority might see this as a chance to dethrone the Fresh Blood Emperor, and there would probably be plots to become the ruler of the empire as it transitioned to a subject state.

The masses he could trick as much as he needed to. As long as the status quo in the empire continued, they wouldn’t care about the politics involved.

“The issue is the priests.”

The shrines would almost certainly be against it. And what would be especially problematic, in addition to their hostility, would be if they stopped providing all healing treatments. In order to avoid that fate, he would have to meet with them as many times as it took to persuade them.

“…Will you be all right, Your Majesty?”

“Who knows? I intend to tell him the transition to subject state will go more smoothly with me around and show him results, but…I just don’t know.”

Why me? The thought came to mind.

He had inherited the empire from his deceased father and strengthened it according to plan. He was sure he hadn’t made any mistakes during that time.

But ever since that monster showed up, everything had gone haywire.

He didn’t think he made any errors in his negotiations and dealings with the monster, either. Ainz Ooal Gown simply had abilities too far beyond what humans were capable of imagining.

In a few short months, the situation had changed completely.

Jircniv sighed. “I’m the unluckiest guy in the world right now…”

This is a side note, but a few days later, Jircniv was still in despair when he was astounded to receive word that Argenti had changed their hometown from the imperial capital to somewhere in the city-state alliance. My bad luck is truly bottomless…