The Two Leaders

by Kugane Maruyama

  For a short while, he was overly nervous, riding the waves of emotion that were suppressed and renewed in turn, but after the fierce storm, he discovered an exit. He didn’t know what he would find on the other side, but he was ready to grasp at any straw he had, so he stepped into the dark unknown.

  “…I-I’ve succeeded in capturing the apothecary Nfirea. Does that answer your question…? Oh, I know… If someone gave you a potion totally different from the normal blue ones everyone knows, what’s the first thing you would do?”

  “…Ask someone?”

  “Yes! You’re exactly right, Lupusregina. And just as I planned, she took it to the most knowledgeable potion merchant in town. That’s how I made contact with Nfirea.” He remembered Nfirea telling him that story back in Carne.

  “Oh, I see! So that was your aim!”

  “Seems like you get it now. It was bait used to acquire a capable apothecary. There was a risk of issues in the future depending on how things turned out, but I decided it had to be done regardless.”

  Comprehension filled the air, and admiration shone on everyone’s faces.

  Guess my story lines up…

  Then a voice sounded, as if its owner had been waiting for Ainz to internally sigh in relief. “Um…I don’t mean to be rude, but may I ask something else?”

  Agh, just stop. No more questions, Ainz cried inwardly but didn’t let the slightest hint of those feelings show on his face.

  “What is it, Lupusregina? If you’re sure it’s something I should be the one to answer, go ahead.”

  “Yes, my lord.” She swallowed hard; her expression was earnest. “Do you always think two or three steps ahead like this when you do something?”

  Of course not.

  Ainz’s actions were mostly haphazard. Sometimes he did think things through, but most of the time, he was plunged into situations that betrayed his expectations. He couldn’t very well say that to a subordinate, though.

  “Of course. I’m the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown!”

  They oohed in admiration, and Lupusregina’s eyes went especially wide.

  “What is it, Lupusregina?”

  “The Resourceful King…”

  She practically choked out the words, and Aura took a step forward with a frown on her face.

  But Ainz stopped her. “Don’t worry about it. Was that your only question?”

  “Well, I guess I have one more. Why don’t you have monsters attack the village and then save them? I think if you rescued Nfirea and his grandmother from the burning village, they’d feel even more indebted to you and make themselves useful…”

  “That’s not a bad move at all. Perhaps it’s worth considering. But in that case, it’s possible that Nfirea would turn his hatred on monsters—he might not want to cooperate with us anymore… If they were being razed by a group of humans, it would be different. In that case, we should save Enri Emmott as well, to tighten our hold.”

  Although the fact that Carne was useful as a village that the caster Ainz Ooal Gown had saved did made it a hard decision.

  “By the way, the most important person in that village is Nfirea. And since he’s in love with Enri, she is number two. Lastly, there’s Nfirea’s grandmother Lizzy. I don’t care what happens to the others, but protect those three at all costs. In a worst-case scenario, guard Nfirea even if it costs you your life… So, Lupusregina, will that be all?”

  “Yes! Thank you!”

  “Okay. I forgive this mistake, but now that you know my intentions, I won’t forgive another. You understand, right?”

  “Of course, my lord!”

  “Good. Then go. Go and do a splendid job.”

  Lupusregina left with a bow, and Narberal followed her like a prison guard.

  After the two disappeared behind the door, Ainz turned to the guardian standing by next to him. “So, Aura. Have you heard of the Giant of the East or the Serpent of the We—”

  They heard a voice behind the door say, “Lord Ainz is seriously not screwin’ around! Thinkin’ everything out that well before he makes his move—the word monster doesn’t even begin to cover it!” The thick door muffled it, but it was still loud enough to interrupt the pair’s conversation. And if they could hear it in the room, how loud was it out in the corridor?

  “…Should I tell her the door is thinner than she thinks?”

  “She’s pretty worked up, huh? I could punch—”

  Just then from behind the door they heard a difficult-to-place slamming noise and then the sound of something heavy being dragged away.

  “…Looks like you won’t need to intervene, Aura. Well, we’ve been disrupted, haven’t we? Okay, so have you heard of them?”

  “Uhh, my apologies. I don’t have any information about the Giant of the East or the Serpent of the West. After the fight with the evil tree, I did a search of the forest—albeit a quick one—looking for any powerful monsters, and although I didn’t reach the subterranean cave…”

  “Well, if they’re at Hamusuke’s level, I can understand why they wouldn’t catch your attention.”

  A gardener wouldn’t be aware of every bee that flies by. The strong having that sort of oversight was a fairly difficult issue to solve.

  “My apologies. Then, Lord Ainz, shall I mop them up?”

  “That’s not a bad idea. Maybe we should kill the obnoxious maggots and bring the forest entirely under Nazarick’s control.”

  “Understood! Then I’ll send in a few of my pets.”

  “Hmm. That’s no fun. If this Giant of the East and Serpent of the West are as strong as Hamusuke, I’m curious to see what they’re like.”

  “Then should I capture them and drag them back here?”

  “No, going personally wouldn’t be so bad. Thanks to Hamusuke, I’ve learned the value of old knickknacks.”

  Aura looked like she didn’t know what he was talking about, and he smiled at her.

  “Of course, that won’t be all. Let’s see if we can’t devise a test for Lupusregina, too.”

  7:16 PM Nazarick Time

  Fenrir walked leisurely through the dark forest without making a sound. Even if branches or tangled vines barred his path, neither his movements nor those of the two riding him were hindered. On the contrary, it was like the three of them were incorporeal ghosts—they didn’t so much as snap a twig.

  It was the power of Fenrir’s special ability, Land Navigator.

  “According to the report from my minions, the lair of what might be the Giant of the East is up ahead.”

  The trees grew so thickly in this place that the starlight didn’t even shine through, but Aura didn’t sound a bit nervous. Unlike humans and other beings with ordinary vision, Ainz and the others could see everything as if it was the middle of the day.

  “I see. The Giant of the East and the Serpent of the West, huh? If we’re lucky, they’ll be having a party together, but I guess that’s a lot to ask. If the snake isn’t here, I’ll leave it up to you, Aura.”

  “Yes, sir! I’ll do my best! And how will you deal with these fools who dare show hostility to you, my lord?”

  “I think I’ll try talking to them first.”

  Aura turned around to look at Ainz with a questioning look on her face. “Huh? You’re not going to subordinate them to your will?”

  “Well, the Giant of the East and the Serpent of the West are both unknowns. It’s probably better, from a variety of perspectives, to go into it with that attitude. I’d like to obtain them if they don’t exist in Yggdrasil, you know?”

  “You’re so kind, Lord Ainz.”

  She wasn’t being sarcastic.

  “Y-you think so? I’m really only kind when it benefits me—or members of Nazarick… If these monsters are like Hamusuke, they might be valuable, that’s all. Might as well take the chance to see what they’re about.”

  “You were mentioning that about Hamusuke earlier, too. Is she really so valuable?”

  “She sure is. She�
�s great for experimenting on.”

  Hamusuke was currently training as a warrior under the lizardman Zaryusu. Incidentally, there was another student as well—a death knight Ainz summoned.

  The aim of the training was to test if it was possible for them to acquire the warrior class. Ainz was especially interested in the death knight’s results. If he could become a warrior, it would be possible to rapidly boost Nazarick’s military strength.

  It was probably impossible, but they wouldn’t have the results unless they did the experiment.

  “Is that why you’re having the blacksmith make her armor? Because she’s so important?”

  “You sure have good ears. That’s one reason. But if I’m going to ride her on a battlefield in the future, I need to strengthen her defenses.”

  If Hamusuke acquired the warrior class, she would probably be able to wear full plate armor. When he put the heavy armor on her now, her mobility and evasion capability markedly decreased, so it only made sense…

  If she can’t operate well in armor unless she acquires the warrior class, it’s just like the game… Well, even I’m bound by the game rules to the point where I can’t even put on metal armor, so compared to that, she has fewer restrictions… If we had one more Hamusuke, we could investigate the differences between them…

  These gamelike restrictions were another mystery of this world. If he had Demiurge investigate, he could probably get an accurate understanding of them, but for whatever reason, he didn’t really feel like it.

  I might just have to force myself to acknowledge that this world has laws of magic that are totally different from the laws of physics and accept that anything could be possible…

  “Lord Ainz, is something wrong?”

  “Hmm? No, it’s nothing. What do you need?”

  “Ah, you seemed to be pondering something, so I just wondered if there was something on your mind.”

  “Oh. Well, I just got caught up thinking about a bunch of things. It didn’t mean anything else.”

  “I see.”

  Seeming relieved, Aura turned back around, and Ainz moved his eyes down lower from her hair like golden silk. His gaze passed her slim back to his own hands around her little waist.

  Such a delicate waist. I guess this is what kids’ hips are like?

  Ainz had never had children, so out of curiosity, he patted her waist as if testing the sturdiness of one of his belongings. Then he brought his hands higher and lightly struck her back. Since they were riding Fenrir, he obviously didn’t use too much force.

  But Aura still jumped and whirled around. “Wah! What, Lord Ainz?” Her face was bright red—so red even someone without Night Vision would be able to tell.

  “Ah, I just thought you had such a tiny waist. Are you eating enough? Even with an item that makes it so you don’t have to eat, you still can, right?”

  “Y-yes. I don’t get any magic buffs or anything, but I can eat.”

  In Yggdrasil, humanoids and subhumans developed in exchange for having a life span, but grotesques stopped growing after a certain point and aging ended. If those rules were valid in this world as well, Aura and Mare would grow up. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to them because they didn’t get proper nutrition when they were young.

  Since his guildmates weren’t around, the growth of these children was Ainz’s responsibility.

  “Make sure you’re eating!”

  “Okay! I’ll eat a lot and annoy Shalltear!”

  He wondered why Shalltear suddenly came up but decided to ignore it. “…Items that make eating and drinking unnecessary might be bad for your development, so it may be better to exchange them for a different magic item. Growing up… Someday, you two will have lovers, huh?”

  Both Aura and Mare were adorable kids. Surely, they’d grow up to be beautiful young dark elves. Ainz imagined all sorts of people confessing their love for them—not that he had any experience with that personally, but he’d seen it in dramas on TV.

  Perhaps because of the conversation they’d just been having, he imagined them surrounded by a ton of Hamusukes.

  “Er, huh?”

  Little Aura and Mare surrounded by a ton of Hamusukes. It wasn’t a bad scene, but it wasn’t at all what he had meant to be envisioning.

  A hamster is a mouse relative, so Hamusuke can probably reproduce like crazy. I wonder if we’ll have problems if we don’t get her fixed. That said, I wouldn’t mind if she reproduced a little bit… I wonder if there are even males of her race around…

  “What?! It’s a bit soon for that, Lord Ainz. I’m still only in my seventies.”

  “Oh, ahh, I see. So you’re still a kid for a while, then. By the way, of the members of Nazarick, who do you like? What’s your type?”

  Ainz had zero romantic experience, so he got jealous when he saw a random handsome fellow flirting with a pretty lady, but he was confident that he could be genuinely happy for the NPCs.

  “I love you, Lord Ainz!”

  “Ha-ha. That’s sweet of you.”

  Ainz was glad for little Aura’s flattery. Since he loved the NPCs, hearing they loved him back made him smile.

  “So, who do you love the most, Lord Ainz, Albedo or Shalltear?”

  “Ha-ha. I love you, Aura.”

  “Huh?”

  Ainz petted her head from behind, letting her golden hair slip between his fingers.

  “What?!”

  I guess I need to think about the quality of their education as well. If there’s a dark elf school or something, would Aura and Mare turn out better if I sent them? I wonder what BubblingTeapot would think if she were here. School, though…? A rom-com set at a school? Peroroncino was shouting something about that. That he wanted to established a Nazarick Academy with Suratan. Wonder where that data went…?

  “Whaaaat?!”

  “What is it? You’re awfully loud, Aura.”

  “Ah! S-sorry. I know we’re near the Giant of the East’s house, too…”

  “It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize. More importantly, about your future…”

  “M-my future?”

  “Y-yes. Is something wrong? You seem panicky… Did something happen?”

  “N-no. It’s nothing. Right. You want to talk about my future?”

  “Yeah, I do. In the future, I think it’d be a good idea to visit a dark elf country, if there is one. I’ll have you come with me when the time comes.”

  “Huh…? Oh, y-yes, sir! That future, right. Understood! I’d be honored to accompany you. And—oh, we’re almost there, Lord Ainz.”

  Up ahead in the darkness, past where the forest cut off, was an unnatural light.

  “I see. Could you station around us the magical beasts you brought? I’m going to get ready, too.”

  Ainz used one of his skills, Summon Upper-Tier Undead.

  What appeared was an ominous-looking knight atop a pale-blue horse. Their numbers increased each time he used the skill.

  “Okay, four should be enough. All right, pale riders. You guys stand by in the air to capture anything that tries to flee.”

  When the pale riders silently acknowledged their orders and pulled their reins, the blue horses galloped into the air. Once they turned incorporeal, they could proceed straight into the sky through any branches in the way.

  “Okay, the perimeter is secure. All we have to do now is see if this is our monster.”

  “Yes! Oh, you’re not going to test his stamina?”

  “That’s the very last thing. I’m not actually looking for a fight. Let’s try to have a conversation that benefits both parties.”

  He meant that. It wasn’t as if Ainz liked combat. He didn’t mind being cruel if there was something in it for him, but that didn’t mean he relished brutality. He wasn’t the type to go out of his way to step on ants on the road. Nothing would be better than settling this encounter with a discussion.

  Fenrir arrived at the edge of the woods. The “edge of the woods” in this case was the edge
of one of the clearings here and there within the forest where trees didn’t grow.

  There were some areas where the trees died for special reasons, such as the way the area around an evil tree was a pile of withered trees. There were various different reasons, but this clearing was probably created by the monster.

  The trees were scattered around where they had been felled. It was as if someone had undertaken a large construction project, failed, and abandoned everything in a huff.

  “This is kinda funny. Aura, he must have been trying to copy the building you’re creating. The product of this fool’s efforts is appalling. This is what happens when cave-dwelling creatures try too hard…”

  “You’re exactly right. Lord Ainz, there’s its camp.”

  In the middle of the abused plot of land, so dead it seemed to have been burned, was a crevice.

  “…No lookout? That’s pretty careless. Well, I guess we’re not knocking this time.”

  Ainz followed Aura toward the cave opening in the ground. When he peered inside, a gentle slope seemed to lead to a somewhat more spacious area in the back. The ceiling was quite high, so a fairly large creature could live there with no trouble.

  This reminds me of exploring labyrinths in Yggdrasil. Whenever we found a cave in the mountains, there was that excitement of wondering what we would find inside.

  Back then, Tigris Euphrates or one of his other guildmates would have taken the lead and Ainz (Momonga) would have followed. Or they could summon monsters to send out front, undead in Ainz’s case, and have them set off all the traps, a method called warrior tripping or summons tripping.

  Those were good times…

  His steps were light as he reminisced, but his good mood lasted only a few seconds.

  He furrowed his nonexistent brow at the smell coming from below. It wasn’t gas but stagnant air reeking of animal fat and putrefaction.

  A trap of foul air? I wouldn’t expect such an elaborate trap from the kind of less intelligent creature that would live here… I suppose it could also be a coincidence.

  Because Ainz was an undead, and thus didn’t need to breathe, he had perfect resistance against those sorts of air attacks. Aura had a magic item for protection, so if the awful stench was an attack, its effects would be cut. At that point, it was basically only a smell.