Well, but in that case, they would have lower combat capability, so they wouldn’t be hard to handle even if they managed a sneak attack.
There were lots of bodies inside the fort. Unlike on the slope, however, there were dwarf corpses here and there, as well.
Ainz cut across to the large opposite set of doors, which had been left ajar. Outside was a massive fissure in the ground, the bottom of which not even Ainz could see.
And there were no kuagoa on the other side. Apparently, they had withdrawn instead of building a position.
“This must be the Great Chasm, but…” Ainz looked to either side. “There’s no bridge. No, there are the abutments. That makes this the wreckage of a bridge…?”
“It would seem the enemy took the bridge down as they withdrew,” said Shalltear, standing next to him.
“Hmm…”
Would an opponent strong enough to slay death knights take the bridge down? Taking measures to prevent this side’s attack shows a lack of confidence in their strength— No. Ainz shook his head.
In this world, death knights were rare. Seeing two would probably make most imagine something even more powerful waiting in the wings. And losing this bridge probably wasn’t a huge problem for the attackers.
“Well, that’s smart… Go tell the dwarves we’ve confirmed that everything is secure up to this point.”
“Yes, my lord!”
As he watched Shalltear head back to where the dwarves were, he saw Aura sitting on the ground looking at the dirt. He wondered what she was doing, but noticing her intent expression, he decided not to distract her.
Turning back to the Great Chasm, he picked up a small rock and tossed it in. He had just done it for kicks, not for any real reason, but he never heard it hit the bottom.
“We don’t know how deep it goes, Your Majesty.” The dwarf must have seen him throw the rock. Shalltear had brought over the commander. “Twice we sent in exploratory expeditions, but no one ever returned.”
“I see. There must be monsters down there… They never come up?”
“So far they haven’t. In the end, we decided to stop sending people down. Nothing good could come of disturbing them.”
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”
Ainz could create an incorporeal undead, such as a ghost, and use a spell to share its vision to investigate, but that wasn’t what he needed to be doing right now.
Surveying the surrounding area was low priority. Not that it didn’t need to be surveyed at all. In Yggdrasil, a place like this would have been hiding something—like a valuable item or a dungeon.
Knowing those damn devs, they would have programmed some tiny offshoot where you could mine super-rare ore or something. They definitely would—or more like, that’s literally what they’ve done before.
“Now then, let’s get to the other side and chase those kuagoa back to the capital.”
They were still flying, so crossing the gap itself wasn’t an issue. But Ainz imagined something horrible looming up out of that darkness.
He was getting flashbacks to a time in Yggdrasil when they had been crossing a lake and a giant snake monster suddenly swam beneath them. Horrible experiences like that had been handy when designing level five of the tomb, but still.
Ainz bid farewell to the commander and had Aura and Shalltear look out below as the four of them crossed. As expected, his worries were for nothing, and they reached the other side without anything appearing from the hole.
Still, when he landed, he emitted a small sigh of relief—a fact he kept from the other members of the party, naturally.
He glanced around.
There were only four enemy corpses on this side. That meant the death knights must have been defeated around here.
“Shalltear, I have a few warnings for you.”
After calling her over, he noticed Aura was still looking at the ground.
Maybe I should have Aura listen, too, he thought, but Shalltear was the main fighter this time. He could fill in Aura later.
“Please wait one moment, Lord Ainz.” Shalltear took out a notebook and opened it. “Okay, now I’m ready.”
“Uh, okay. You’re taking notes…? That’s a good attitude. Ahem! So we’re about to enter an extremely dangerous area. The reason it’s dangerous is that there is definitely an enemy out here who was able to defeat two of my death knights. It might be insulting to compare you to a death knight, bu—”
“Not at all, Lord Ainz. I’ll do everything in my power to defeat the formidable enemy who destroyed the death knights you created.”
“No, absolutely do not do everything in your power.”
“Wh-why not? Wouldn’t it make sense to attack a powerful enemy with every bit of strength available? Ah, please excuse me. That was no way to respond to you, my lord.”
“No, that’s fine. Your question is only natural.” Ainz folded his hands behind his back and explained how to confront the unknown enemy. “But we need to think about what the enemy’s likely course of action would be. What the enemy wants most of all is information—about how strong we are. They’ll probably send in a disposable strike team to measure our capabilities. If, after determining what abilities we each have, they decide they can win, they’ll close in on us with a deadly attack that leaves us no openings for escape.”
“Wow, that’s so…”
“Well, I don’t know for sure if they’ll think that far ahead, but…”
“Ummm, Lord Ainz?”
Aura called him in what was an unusually timid tone for her. Normally he would have paused his explanation to Shalltear and listened to her.
But he really enjoyed explaining areas of his expertise.
That’s why he replied by putting a pointer finger to his lips.
“Oh, okay!”
The gleam of understanding lit up her face. She must have gathered that he wanted her to be quiet while he was giving a serious explanation.
“As I was saying, Shalltear… That’s what I would do if I encountered a strong enemy. Well, my friends would have, too.”
“You mean the Supreme Beings? But I can’t imagine our enemy could be as powerful as any of the Supreme Beings…”
“Really? You should assume that anything I can do, our enemy can as well. Only a fool gets conceited and assumes they’re special. Don’t let your guard down. I also want to make sure that the enemy can’t grasp our full potential.”
The reason he had hidden the Hanzos, too, was to throw off the enemy’s calculations.
“So, Shalltear, until we charge into the dwarf capital—the enemy’s headquarters—I want to place a few restrictions on you.”
“Yes, my lord! What sort of restrictions might they be?”
“As for magic, you can use tier-ten spells, but not a lot of them. Stick to one or two.”
“…I see. If we do that, the enemy will get the wrong idea, which will make them careless, and then we can defeat them in a counterattack. But if that’s the idea, then wouldn’t it make more sense to limit me to a lower tier? Say, five or so?”
“No, I doubt that would make them careless. The moment the enemy thinks they know everything we’re capable of and comes to crush us is our chance to deal a fatal blow. If a small party of enemies attacked us and were only using up to tier-five magic, I would infer that they were withholding information.”
“And what would you do in that case, Lord Ainz?”
“I would think of a way to acquire more information. If I was in a position that I could afford to lose, I would cede them ground temporarily. Then I would take my time gathering intelligence. Once you acquire a strategic point, you don’t want to lose it, which limits the moves you can make. I’m sure they would leak some info at that point.”
“It’s impressive that you’re so aware of all those things.”
In the game, it was possible to come back from a few losses. But there was a chance that in this world, it wasn’t. Especially for Ainz, who hadn’t test
ed anything about player deaths yet.
“That’s just how important context is. Shalltear, always think ahead.” Having said that much, Ainz turned to Aura. “So, Aura, what did you need?”
“Oh, it was nothing!” Her eyes sparkled.
For a moment, he had no idea what had gotten into her, but then he realized that maybe she was impressed by the strategy he had been explaining to Shalltear.
Hmm, but that was the most basic of the basics. Maybe I should make sure she gets educated in all these things, too? Should I lend her the guidebook about PKing? But that’s the only knowledge I have that I can use to show off to the NPCs… What should I do? I was always told not to spread knowledge around…
Ainz was lost in thought when Gondo asked, “Hey, sorry to bother you while you’re busy coming up with a plan, but should we get going? If the road is collapsed, we’ll need to find another way.”
“Yeah… Shall we use the magical beasts?”
“No, I think we should hold back on that. There are some narrow caves to get through along the way, so we’d have to leave them behind.”
Ainz thought he could just create soul eaters or some other undead they could mount as necessary, but he figured it would be wiser to heed his guide’s advice in this case. “Got it. Then, let’s head out.”
•
“His Majesty has departed!”
Six of the members of the regency council—the chief of the great earth shrine, the chief of the food industry, the chief of administration, the chief of alcohol, the chief of caves and mines, and the chief of the merchant council—trembled with glee.
True, the King of Darkness hadn’t done anything wrong. But there was no way they could relax with an undead—a being who hated living things—radiating that much power in the city.
Those present had gathered for the city’s safety and for the people. Having imagined the worst-case scenario, they had to act. They had spent the whole day in fear wondering if the King of Darkness might go on a rampage and murder their children. They considered all sorts of countermeasures and tried to find a plan that would work.
And now, the object of the deliberations—which had lasted so long, their voices had gone hoarse—was finally gone. What was so wrong about basking in that sense of relief?
“Drinks, we need drinks!”
Just as parched land required rain, exhausted minds required the consolation of alcohol.
Obviously, no one was going to object.
“But…isn’t he coming back?”
The uplifting atmosphere deflated in an instant and turned dark.
The triumphant fists in the air withered.
“Should we run away?”
“And go where? If we ran after making that agreement… Besides, we asked him to retake the capital! Wouldn’t you be furious if it were the other way around?”
“I would be mad, but I wouldn’t be able to be assertive against someone so powerful.”
“Ahhh, yeah. I know how you feel.”
“…So you’re fine with it? Has the dwarf in charge of the merchant council lost all pride?”
“I mean, there’s no way to do proper deals with that thing. Normal deals are possible because the parties are equal to some extent. You can’t do business with someone so overwhelmingly powerful.”
They all sighed at once.
None of them still had any reason to doubt that the king would retake the capital. One glance at the magical beasts he had left behind was enough to convince them. He was heading out to a dragon lair but didn’t even feel he needed to bring those monsters along to help.
“Getting back to what we were saying, does anyone have any idea when he’ll return?”
“How would we know? It’s not like we could ask. If he grinned and said, ‘In no time,’ I’m pretty sure I’d piss myself.”
It was a pathetic thing to say, but none of the other dwarves made fun of him.
“…How could you not? I’m sure I’d do the same.”
“Me too. I’d probably even do a number two.”
Despite the indecent conversation, they all exchanged glances.
“Have we learned anything new? Did anyone find out anything about that Gondo guy?”
“Nothing. I know he called a meeting of all the rune crafters, though.”
“The rune crafters? About going to the Nation of Darkness?”
“Who knows? Should we summon someone and see what they have to say?”
“That might be good, but won’t it get back to His Majesty if we do that? It’s probably dangerous to stick our noses into that business. Just like how only an idiot would stick his nose in a hot furnace.”
“In that case, we need to tell the rune crafters they’ll be going to the Nation of Darkness. What if we nonchalantly brought it up?”
“…I’m not sure I can be that nonchalant.”
The other dwarves all nodded and agreed.
“Okay, then let’s forget about asking. I’m not interested in digging a hole we don’t need only to fall in and die.”
Everyone agreed. They wouldn’t be able to face the people if their meddling angered the king and caused a slew of casualties.
“Then, let’s inform the other two who aren’t here about the plans for tomorrow and that there’s no need to get involved with the rune crafters. I heard the supreme commander will be back later, but what about the chief of the smith shops?”
“I’ll go,” said the chief of administration. “I’m interested to see what sort of fancy armor he’s making. Or rather, I’m curious what kind of metal the King of Darkness provided.”
“He said it was rare, but I’m sure it couldn’t be as rare as adamantite.”
“Then, maybe something like orichalcum?”
Even if they weren’t blacksmiths, dwarves were naturally fascinated by the idea of a metal they had never seen before due to their nature as a race of the earth.
“We should have grabbed him and gotten a glimpse. I realize we were busy and didn’t get a chance, but…”
The chief of the smith shops had accepted the ore and hurried back to his workshop. The others understood why he was in a rush and refrained from stopping him.
“Well, knowing him, he’s probably made some progress. If he’s forging mail, there will probably be some extra links. Can you grab a couple and bring them back for us?”
The chief of administration agreed, and the meeting came to a close.
After that, they had decided to rest their weary bodies. But the dwarves were a race of people who would declare they needed a break right before promptly starting a drinking party.
Drinking booze at work always makes it taste better, they would say as they began enjoying their special high-proof dwarven drinks. The chief of administration, however, left the conference-room-turned-party venue as if someone was yanking him by his beard.
His aim was, of course, the chief of the smith shops.
As might be expected of the workshop belonging to the head of the country’s smith shops, it was huge. It had to be either the first or second biggest in Fehu Jura. Many dwarves were employed there; the furnace, hot enough to melt even adamantite, was always lit, and the symphony of hammers never stopped ringing out. That day, however, it was eerily quiet.
Of course, the furnace was burning.
The chief of administration could tell because as he approached, the temperature was rising.
What was the cause of this silence?
Spurred on by his growing anxiety, he sped up.
He had visited several times, so he unhesitatingly proceeded to the furnace where he figured the smiths were working.
All the faces he knew were there.
He breathed a sigh of relief in spite of himself. But the puzzled looks on their faces and the object of their gazes brought his anxiety right back.
“What’s wrong?”
When he spoke, their eyes pleaded to him as if he was a savior.
“He’s holed up and won�
�t come out.”
Separate from the workshop that housed the massive furnace was an atelier for the chief of the smith shops. The chief would hole up in there for days at a time when he had a particularly important project to do.
That was normal, so there was no reason for his apprentices and the other blacksmiths to look so concerned.
“…That’s not out of the ordinary, is it?”
“True, he shuts himself in there fairly often, but…we can’t hear his hammer. And it’s already been half a day—almost a whole day, actually.”
“…Could he be thinking about what shape he wants the final product to be?”
“He’s never done that before.”
The chief of administration stroked his beard.
To him, it didn’t seem so strange, but if all the blacksmiths who regularly worked with the chief of the smith shops thought so, maybe this truly was an emergency.
“Then, why don’t you open the door? Is it locked?”
“No, it’s not locked. He just hates having the door opened on him while he’s holed up.”
“Ah. So you want me to open it, is that it?”
It was difficult for the disciples, but they must have thought that someone of the same status wouldn’t be as objectionable.
It was rotten luck, but he had no choice.
“Fine. I’ll go. You guys can scram. You probably won’t get in trouble if it’s just me busting in on my own.”
After the blacksmiths showered him in thanks, the chief of administration approached the door and knocked.
But there was no reply. He knocked a few more times.
Urged on by his imagination, he threw open the door.
As expected, it was the same old room. For being only one door away from a huge furnace, there was a surprising lack of heat. That was thanks to a magic ventilation system. When he looked to the back, he saw a bright-red flame burning in the furnace.
A single figure was facing it.
So he’s here after all. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he stopped—because there was something strange he could sense even from behind the chief of the smith shops. For one thing, why didn’t he react despite the chief of administration walking in uninvited? From what the blacksmiths had said, merely opening the door should have annoyed him.
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