“Ohh?” Zero seemed interested for the first time in the meeting, and his eyes opened back up.
He wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Almost everyone there felt the same.
The Six Arms was a collective term for the six members of the security division with the highest combat ability; it came from the fact that the god of theft’s sibling had six arms.
Of course, at the top was Zero, but the other five were no less powerful. There was one said to be able to cut space, another who manipulated illusions, and even one who was an immensely powerful undead—an elder lich.
If Gazef Stronoff and adamantite-rank adventurers were the strongest of those in the light of day, the Six Arms were the strongest of the underworld. Employing one of them meant only one thing.
“You’re in that much trouble? Okay, then. Take heart. My man will guarantee the safety of your assets.”
“So sorry to trouble you. An issue came up with a woman we were planning to dispose of. It might be going overboard to enlist so much power, but if our shop gets taken out, I’ll have problems. So yeah, I’ll consult you later about the contract and fee.”
“That’s fine.”
“Is immediately after the meeting all right with you? There’s something I’d like you to do right away.”
“Got it. I brought a man with me, so I can lend him to you.”
“…Okay, I’m moving us onto the next topic. Is there anyone here who knows the new adamantite adventurer Dark Momon? Has anyone invited him to join us?”
Intermission
Cha-ling, cha-ling came the sound of precious metals clinking together.
Upon confirming there was nothing left inside the leather pouch he’d upended, Ainz lined up the gleaming coins on his desk.
He made stacks of ten each, gold ones and silver, and counted them.
After tallying the mountain over several times, he picked up the bag and peered inside again.
There’s really nothing in here. After confirming it, he flung the bag away and held his head in his hands.
“There’s not enough… I don’t have anywhere near enough money…”
The human face he’d created using an illusion warped darkly. Of course, the pile of coins before him was a fortune, a sum an ordinary person from this world wouldn’t be able to earn even over dozens of years. But as the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, as well as the only one earning foreign currency, he felt extremely uneasy about the amount.
Since Ainz’s emotions were forcibly calmed if they fluctuated beyond a certain range, his shocked mind would be immediately stabilized if he were in the extremely bad situation of having, say, a single silver coin. When he had some gold coins, however, that didn’t happen due to the slight reassurance in a corner of his mind, so he experienced a steady irritation.
Ainz shook his head and began allotting the coins in front of him to different uses. “First, these are additional funds for Sebas.”
He removed a huge chunk from the mountain, and his face twitched.
“Then this is the money Cocytus requested to support the restoration of the lizardman village and cover equipment costs.”
The mountain moved again, and all that was left were a few gold coins.
“…The stuff we’ll be sending to the lizardman village are necessities, so if I buy at the Adventurers Guild, I can use my adamantite connections. I should be able to get everything a little cheaper…for maybe this much?”
A few coins returned from Cocytus’s funds.
Ainz counted the remaining money and muttered, “…Getting some merchant to sponsor me would be the ideal…to earn some kind of regular income besides adventuring.”
Including Ainz’s, there were only three adamantite-rank parties in the kingdom. Because of that, merchants occasionally requested him by name. In general, the kind of work they wanted was simple compared to how much he got paid, and he wanted to take those jobs by all means, but he had been hesitant up until now.
He wanted to avoid giving the impression that the adventurer he was playing, Momon, was greedy for cash or would take on any job as long as he was paid.
His plan was to make Momon into the kind of adventurer everyone would praise and then transfer all that glory to Ainz Ooal Gown when the time came. For that reason, he had to pay attention to his reputation.
“But I have no moneyyy. I really don’t need a room like this.”
Ainz scanned his splendid surroundings.
He was renting the nicest room in the best hotel in E-Rantel, so the cost was nothing to sneeze at. Ainz didn’t even need to sleep, so there was no point in his taking a room this splendid. He would have wanted to use this money for other things.
That went for food as well. Even if he was offered luxurious meals, Ainz couldn’t eat, so they were meaningless. It would have been smarter to refuse and save the money.
But Ainz knew full well he couldn’t do that.
Ainz—no, Momon—was the sole adamantite adventurer in this city. There was no way someone like that could stay in a flophouse.
Food, clothing, and shelter were points of easy comparison. An adamantite adventurer had to maintain the lifestyle of an adamantite adventurer.
It was all about looks and honor.
That’s why Ainz couldn’t downgrade his inn, even though he knew it was a waste of money not to.
“If I’m worth anything to them, I could probably get the guild to arrange lodgings for me… Ahh, if I just asked them, I bet they would…” But he didn’t want to owe anyone. Up until now, he’d done things like taking on last-minute requests in order to incur debt. Once he’d saved up enough favors, he intended to collect on them, even if it took a near threat. If he asked a favor for such a mundane thing as this, his plan would get messed up.
“Agh, I don’t have any money. What should I do? I guess I have to take a job… But it doesn’t seem like there are any high-paying requests lately. And taking on too many is asking for ill will from the other adventurers.”
If he was going to make Ainz Ooal Gown into an enduring legend, he wanted it to be in a good way, not a bad way. Ainz gave an imitation sigh and counted up the rest of the gold coins to burn into his mind how much spending money he had.
“Speaking of money, what should I do about the guardians’ salary?” Ainz hmmed as he leaned back in his chair and lifted his gaze to the ceiling.
The guardians all insisted that they didn’t need a salary, that there was nothing that made them happier than serving a Supreme Being, and that receiving some kind of consideration for it would be absurd.
But Ainz wondered if it was really all right to take advantage of them like that. There should be a fair price for their work.
When the guardians declared that being able to devote themselves completely to the Supreme Beings was consideration enough, Ainz had a hard time accepting it.
Maybe it was just him, who used to be a human working as a company employee for pay, but he couldn’t simply discard the idea that work deserved compensation.
He was worried about throwing these children who knew nothing of salaries into it, but he still felt a system was worth adopting as an experiment.
“The problem is what to pay them with.” His eyes moved from the ceiling to the small amount of gold coins on the table.
“If I gave some of the guardians the going rate for managers, it’d be fifteen million yen… Shalltear, Cocytus, Aura, Mare, Demiurge, and then Albedo should be even higher? In other words, times six. Yeah, there’s no way. I can’t make that much.”
Ainz held his head in his hands, but suddenly his eyes popped open.
“Oh! I can just substitute something else! I can make a currency that can only be used inside Nazarick—like toy money—and say that one is worth a hundred thousand or something!”
After he’d finished shouting, Ainz frowned again.
How will I have them use the money?
Everything inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick was free, so
even if he created a currency, there was nothing for them to spend it on.
“Maybe they could buy items from this world with it?” Ainz compared the items of this world with those of Nazarick and wondered if anyone would even want them. “But making free facilities suddenly cost money would be totally backward… What should I do?”
After thinking for a little while, he had a brilliant idea.
“That’s it! All I have to do is make the guardians think about it. I just have to ask them what they want badly enough that they would pay for it!” Delighted, he murmured, “Genius, it’s a genius idea,” until his expression suddenly soured. “Man…”
I really talk to myself a lot these days, thought Ainz.
He’d been aware of his growing tendency to talk to himself back in the game when no one was coming around anymore, but he wondered why it hadn’t gone away now that the NPCs all moved according to their own wills.
Was it already a habit? Or…?
“Maybe it’s because I’m still alone…” He smiled a desolate smile.
It probably wasn’t fair to the NPCs, who had minds now, to say he was alone, but that was how he felt—perhaps because he was killing Satoru Suzuki in order to play the leader of the Supreme Beings, Ainz Ooal Gown.
As he sighed and focused once more on the array of coins on the desk, there came a knock at the door.
After a moment, the door opened. When he saw his guest was who he thought it was, Narberal Gamma, Ainz made a certain face.
The expression was snobbish with one side of his lips curled up.
Because the low-level illusion forming Ainz’s face expressed his emotions honestly, there was a chance it could display something unbecoming of the ruler of Nazarick. For that reason, in order to create the picture of a dignified ruler in front of others, especially Narberal, he took great pains to stick to this single expression, which he had practiced in front of a mirror.
“What’s the matter, Nabe?” He used his normal Ainz voice.
“Ma— Sir Momon.”
“…Ah, you still call me master sometimes, huh? I guess we just have to admit it’s a habit of yours. But when I point it out, you stop for a while, so I guess that’s where we stand. Ahh, you don’t have to bow your head. I’m not mad, and as for the extra respect, well, it’s fine. The heads of the guilds seem to be laboring under some misunderstanding, too. Anyhow, what’s wrong?”
“The iron ore you ordered the merchant to collect is ready.”
I didn’t order him! It was a normal business transaction! Ainz thought, but the dignified expression he’d put on earlier remained firmly in place.
“I see. And where is this iron ore from? From all eight spots?”
“My apologies, but I didn’t ask.”
“…Fine. I have plenty of gold. Even if we don’t know where it’s coming from, I have enough gold to buy it all.”
Ainz confidently packed all the coins on the desk into the bag, tossed it at her feet, and watched her respectfully pick it up.
“Understood. But may I ask you something?”
“The reason I’m buying iron from all different locations?”
Narberal nodded, and Ainz explained. “It’s to throw it in the exchange box. Basically, I want to find out if there is a difference in price depending on where it’s collected.”
The exchange box didn’t take shape into account. For example, an elaborate stone carving dropped into the box would get the same assessed value as a rock of the same weight with no craftsmanship involved. So what about composition—difference in quality? That was why he was collecting iron from various locations.
“As you know, we assessed some wheat recently.” It took so much to get just one gold coin, Ainz grumbled in his head.
That meant they could make money if they produced a lot of it, so he’d come up with a plan to create wheat fields outside Nazarick. He figured if they used undead and golems, they should be able to create vast fields.
Granted, there was a pile of problems that needed to be tackled before they could get there.
“I understand. Then I will go and make the purchase right away.”
“Okay. But do be careful. We can’t say for sure that we’re not being targeted. In that case…you know what to do, right?”
“I’ll take a shadow demon to guard me, prioritize safety over intelligence gathering, and if the situation takes a turn for the worse, retreat at full speed. In that event, I will teleport to the fake Nazarick Aura has been building and let the enemy collect false information.”
“Good. Focus on safety. Don’t take an unpopulated route where it would be easy to attack you. And even if people try to pick a fight or call out to you, don’t injure them too badly. That time a guy came crying to me for help, saying all he did was hit on you was, frankly, shocking. You can’t be whipping out your intent to kill like that. Smashing the hand of a pickpocket might not be so bad, but don’t do it too often. And definitely do not call humans worms or other names. Basically, have some restraint when it comes to hurting or killing humans. We’re Momon and Nabe, lauded as ‘Raven Black,’ adventurers of the highest rank.”
Narberal expressed her understanding, and Ainz nodded, thinking that was about all he had for warnings.
“Yeah, that’s it. Okay, then. Go, Nabe.”
With the leather pouch in hand, Narberal bowed once and left the room. Watching her go, Ainz sighed deeply despite his lack of lungs.
“…Expenses always go up right when you have no money. Honestly, this sucks.”
Chapter 3 | The Finders and the Found
1
26 Mid-Fire Moon (August) 3:27 PM
After taking the old woman to her house, Sebas proceeded toward his original destination.
He arrived at a place with a long wall.
Beyond the wall were three five-story towers. With no buildings higher than that nearby, they seemed especially tall.
Those towers were surrounded by several long, thin two-story buildings.
This was the headquarters of the kingdom’s wizards’ guild. They needed spacious grounds because they were developing new spells and training arcane casters. The reason they had so much land despite receiving barely any support from the government was probably because they were the sole producers of magical items.
Eventually the sturdy-looking gate came into view. The latticed door was open wide, and multiple armed guards occupied the two-story towers on either side.
The guards didn’t stop him—just glanced at him—and Sebas went through the gate. Beyond, there was a broad, gently sloping staircase and a door leading to an impressive, old white-walled building. Of course, the door was open to welcome visitors.
Inside was a small entrance hall and then a lobby. From the double-height ceiling hung several chandeliers burning with magic light.
On the right was the lobby lounge, which had several sofas and a few casters engaged in conversation. On the left side was the board. Figures clad in robes appropriate for arcane casters and other people who seemed like adventurers were studiously observing the pieces of parchment posted there.
In the back, a few young men and women were seated behind a counter. They each wore a robe with the emblem displayed at the building entrance embroidered on their chests.
To either side of the counter stood what resembled life-size mannequins, slender figures with no eyes or noses—wood golems. Apparently, they were guards. The lack of human guards, except for the ones outside, was likely a display of the wizards’ guild confidence.
Sebas’s measured footfalls clicked across the floor as he approached the counter.
A young man at the counter noticed him and communicated a modest salutation with his eyes. Sebas gave a slight bow in return. He visited often, so they knew each other.
The young man smiled in a barely perceptible way when Sebas arrived in front of him, and he greeted him as always. “Welcome to the wizards’ guild, Sir Sebas. What can I do for you?”
“I would like to buy a magic scroll. May I see the usual list?”
“Yes, sir.”
The young man quickly put a rather large book on the counter. He’d probably secretly gotten it ready the moment he caught sight of Sebas.
The book was a splendid item with high-quality thin white paper inside and a leather cover. Considering the letters of the title were sewn in with gold thread, this item itself had to be worth quite a bit.
Sebas pulled the book nearer and opened it.
Unfortunately, the writing was not in letters he could read. Or rather, no one from Yggdrasil would be able to read them. Even if they could understand spoken language through some strange law of this universe, writing was different.
But Sebas had received an item from his master to resolve just such a problem.
Sebas reached into his pocket, took out a case, and opened it. Inside was a pair of eyeglasses. The slim frames were made of a metal similar to silver. Upon closer inspection, one could make out tiny characters, like crests, etched into them. The lenses were blue frost crystal, cut and polished thin.
When he put on the glasses, he was magically able to read the letters.
While carefully yet quickly turning the pages, Sebas’s hand suddenly stopped. He looked up from the book and addressed the woman sitting next to the young man behind the counter. “Did you need something?”
“Oh no…” The woman blushed and lowered her eyes. “I was just thinking…you have nice posture.”
“Thank you.” He smiled faintly, and the woman’s face turned even redder.
Sebas was a white-haired gentleman people fell for just from looking at him. Not only did his attractive features draw attention, but his air of elegance did as well. When he walked down the street, nine out of ten women, regardless of age, turned to watch him. If the woman at reception lost herself staring at him, there was nothing to be done, and it happened often enough, anyway.
Now that he understood the situation, Sebas turned back to the book. He stopped again on a specific page and asked the young man, “Could you give me a detailed description of what this spell, Floating Board, does?”
The Men of the Kingdom Part I Page 10
