Sebas considered changing his vector of attack. This was, in a way, enemy territory. The fact that the man wasn’t requesting backup from inside meant that he didn’t expect anyone would come quickly. Still, if Sebas stayed here too long, it would surely make things more complicated.
His master hadn’t ordered him to cause trouble. The order he’d received was to blend in and quietly gather intelligence.
“If you were going to take her to the shrine, then I don’t suppose there is any issue if I bring her there myself? I will take custody of her now.”
The man’s shocked eyes darted around. Then he desperately strung some words together. “…There’s no proof you’ll actually do it.”
“Then why don’t we go together?”
“I have an errand to run now, so I can’t. That’s why I’m taking her later.” Sensing something from Sebas’s expression, he quickly continued. “She’s legally ours. If you lay a hand on her, you’ll be violating this country’s laws! Just try and take her—that’s abduction!”
Sebas froze and furrowed his brow for the first time.
This argument had struck a critical location.
His master had said that attracting attention to some degree was unavoidable, but that was necessary while playing the butler of a rich man’s daughter.
If he broke the law, the authorities would be involved, and there was a chance someone would see through his disguise. In other words, it could directly cause a huge fuss—and he would attract the kind of notice his master didn’t desire.
Sebas had a hard time believing this coarse man was educated, but his words overflowed with confidence. Someone must have put these ideas about laws into his head. If that was true, there was a good chance this defense would hold.
Now, with no witnesses present, it was a simple matter. He could physically force his captive to talk. He could leave a corpse here by simply snapping the man’s neck.
But that was his last resort, to be used only in the event that this situation threatened to affect his master’s plans. He couldn’t do that for this woman he didn’t even know.
So does that mean the correct thing to do would be to abandon her?
The man’s vulgar laugh irritated Sebas as he vacillated.
“Should such a splendid butler take on a big problem like this and keep it a secret from his maaaster?”
Sebas frowned openly at the grinning man for the first time.
The man must have gleaned a hint of weakness from his reaction. “I dunno what noble you serve, but…if this blows up, won’t it cause trouble for him? Huh? And what if he has a good relationship with us? He’ll get pissed, won’t he?”
“You think my master can’t handle a little thing like this? Rules exist to be broken by the powerful, you know.”
The man flinched a bit as if he had an idea how that worked, but he regained his confidence a moment later. “…So you wanna try it, then? Huh?”
“Hmm…” It didn’t seem Sebas’s bluff was going to make the man stand down. Does he truly have such a powerful backer? Sebas judged this line of attack to be ineffective and switched angles. “…I see. Yes, this does seem like it could be troublesome, legally speaking. But there is also a provision in the law that allows forcible rescue when someone calls for aid. I’m simply helping her in line with this clause. To begin with, she’s unconscious, so she needs to visit the shrine for treatment, yes?”
“Mn…bu…that’s…” The man mumbled, at a loss.
His ignorance was exposed.
Sebas was relieved at the man’s inability to act and slow-working brain. He’d told a huge lie, something that sounded plausible, since his opponent had brought up legalities.
If the man were to counter with another argument, even a lie, Sebas didn’t have enough knowledge of the laws of this country to fight back. In the end, he had only a smattering of legal knowledge, and not studying it more thoroughly was what had landed him in this situation.
On the other hand, someone with only a fragmentary understanding of the law would hesitate when it was brandished in a fight. Plus, this man had to be an underling. He probably didn’t have the authority to make any decisions on his own.
Sebas turned away from the man and held up the woman’s head. “Do you want me to help you?” he asked. Then he brought his ear to the woman’s dry, chapped lips.
What he heard was faint breathing, respiration that could be mistaken for the last gasp of a deflating balloon.
There was no reply. Sebas shook his head slightly and asked again, “Do you want me to help you?”
Helping her was completely different from helping the old lady. He wanted to assist others whenever he could, but if he got involved with this woman, there was a good chance it would lead to a fair amount of trouble. And when he considered whether the Supreme One would forgive him or whether this went against his will, a cold wind blew through his heart.
Still no reply.
The man quietly laughed that vulgar laugh again.
As someone who understood what hell she had been in, he knew there would be no reply. If she had been able to speak freely, they probably wouldn’t have tried disposing of her like this.
True luck would not occur twice in a row—because things that happened so frequently couldn’t be called luck.
No, if grabbing Sebas’s slacks had been that woman’s luck, she wasn’t going to receive a windfall again.
Her fortune had been the fact that Sebas happened to come down this alley at the right moment. Everything that occurred after, she achieved with her will to live.
It was definitely not luck.
A slight movement…
Yes, her lips made a truly feeble movement. It was not an automatic one, like for breathing. It clearly contained her intent.
“—”
Upon hearing what she said, Sebas nodded emphatically. “…I’m not interested in saving every single person who asks me for help like a plant expecting to bathe in the rain from the heavens. However, when someone is struggling to survive…” Sebas’s hand moved to cover the woman’s eyes. “Let go of your fear and rest. You are under my protection now.”
Clinging to his warm, kind touch, she closed her vacant eyes.
The man couldn’t believe it, so naturally, he tried to say what was on his mind. “It’s a li—” You didn’t hear her voice, he was about to snap but froze.
“A lie, you say?” At some point, Sebas had stood up, and now the gleam in his eyes pierced the man.
Those brutal eyes.
The man’s breath caught—it felt like his heart would be crushed under such a gaze, one that seemed to weigh on him with physical pressure.
“Are you saying that I lied the way you did?”
“Ah, nn, uh…” The man gulped loudly, swallowing the spit that had pooled in his mouth. His eyes moved to Sebas’s arms and stuck there like glue. Perhaps after getting ahead of himself, he remembered his fear.
“Well, I’m going to take her and go now.”
“W-wait—I mean, please wait!” The man raised his voice and Sebas glanced at him.
“You still have something to say? Are you trying to buy time?”
“N-no. If you take her away, there’s going to be trouble. For you and for your master! You’ve heard of the Eight Fingers, I’m sure!”
Sebas remembered hearing the name during his intelligence gathering. It was a criminal organization that dominated the kingdom’s underground world.
“So I’m tellin’ ya, just pretend you didn’t see anything. If you take her away, I’ll have failed at my job, and they’ll punish me!”
Realizing he couldn’t win with strength, the man tried for pity, but Sebas turned a chilly gaze on him and answered in an icier voice. “I’m taking her and going.”
“Give me a break! They’re gonna kill me!”
Should I kill him now? Sebas thought. The man’s moaning continued as he calculated out the pros and cons.
It was possible
the man was buying time because he was waiting for help, but Sebas judged from his attitude that that wasn’t the case. But he couldn’t figure out why.
“Why haven’t you called for assistance?”
Stunned, the man rapidly explained.
Essentially, if Sebas were to escape while he was calling for help, it would be as good as reporting to his compatriots that he’d made a critical error. And he didn’t think he’d be able to win by force even if he called them. That was why he was trying to persuade Sebas to change his mind.
He was so pathetic that Sebas suddenly felt the strength drain out of him, and his urge to kill went away. Still, it didn’t mean he was going to hand over the woman. So…
“…Why don’t you run away?”
“That’s not an option. I don’t have that kind of money.”
“I doubt it costs as much as your life itself, but…anyhow, I’ll pay for it.”
At those words, the man’s face brightened.
Sebas knew it was safer to kill him, but if he could get him to make a desperate escape, it would buy time. Then he had to heal the woman and take her someplace safe.
Besides, if Sebas killed him here, there was a good chance they’d launch a search for the missing woman. Since it was unclear how she’d gotten in this situation, it wasn’t possible to conclude that his actions wouldn’t endanger people who knew her.
Mulling it over, Sebas wondered why he was doing something so risky.
He truly couldn’t fathom where the ripple in his heart that caused him to try to save her had come from. Anyone else from Nazarick would have ignored her to avoid trouble. They would have stayed hands-off and kept walking.
When someone’s in trouble, it’s only natural to help them.
Sebas put aside the workings of his heart even he could not explain, since he didn’t need to be thinking about them right now, and answered the man. “Take this, hire an adventurer or something, and run with all your might.” He took out a leather pouch.
The man’s eyes were doubtful. Perhaps he didn’t feel the amount in the small bag would be enough.
The next moment, his eyes were riveted on the coins falling onto the street. They sparkled like bright silver—platinum trade currency. Ten coins worth ten gold pieces each lay on the ground.
“Run as fast as you can. You understand, right? And I have a few questions. Do you have time to answer?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. I came out to dispose—er, to take that woman to the shrine, so they’ll assume I’m a little late coming back.”
“Understood. Then let’s go.” With that, he jerked his chin to say follow me, picked up the woman, and set off walking.
2
26 Mid-Fire Moon (August) 6:58 PM
Sebas’s lodgings were in one of the royal capital’s better neighborhoods, a house in what could be called a luxury residential district.
It was cozy compared to the mansions lining the streets nearby, but it had probably been built with the assumption that two servant families would also live there. It was way too big for only Sebas and Solution.
Naturally, there was a reason they rented such a mansion. As long as they were disguised as a great merchant family hailing from faraway lands, they couldn’t very well live in a shabby residence. To do it, though, with no connections or reputation at the construction guild, they’d had to pay an absurd sum up front, many times the going market rate.
When they arrived and went through the door, there was someone to meet them. It was a combat maid in a white dress, Solution Epsilon, who worked directly under Sebas. The other residents included shadow demons and gargoyles, but since they were there as guards, they didn’t come to the door.
“Welcome ba—” Solution lost her words and froze mid-bow. She directed a frostier gaze than normal at the woman Sebas held against his chest.
“…Master Sebas, what in the world is that?”
“I found her.”
For a moment, Solution gave no response to that short answer, but the air grew heavy. “…I see. It doesn’t look like a souvenir for me, so what are you planning on doing with it?”
“Hmm. Well, for starters, could you heal her wounds for me?”
“Wounds?” Solution took a look at the woman, shook her head once she understood, and then fixed her eyes on Sebas. “Couldn’t you have left her at a shrine?”
“…Yes. I probably should have thought of that…” Unshaken, Sebas regarded Solution with cold eyes, and for a brief moment, their gazes met. Solution was the first to look away.
“Shall I dispose of her?”
“No, I’ve brought her this far. We should think of a good use for her.”
“…Understood.”
Solution didn’t have a very rich range of expression to begin with, but her face was blank and even Sebas couldn’t comprehend the spark of emotion in her eyes. Still, it was very clear that she was not welcome to this idea.
“First, could you please assess her physical health?”
“Understood. Then allow me—”
“Wait…” Perhaps to Solution, the woman didn’t warrant any more care than the absolute minimum, but Sebas didn’t think she needed to be examined in the entryway. “We have an open room, so could I ask you to do it there?”
Solution bowed her head silently.
They didn’t speak to each other while they carried the woman from the entryway to the guest room. Neither Solution nor Sebas was the type to make idle chatter, but there was another reason—something was off.
Solution opened the guest room door for Sebas, since his hands were full. The room was dark because its heavy curtains were drawn, but it wasn’t stuffy at all. It had been opened several times, so the air was fresh, and it was cleaned regularly.
In the room illuminated by only a sliver of moonlight through the gap in the curtains, Sebas gently laid the woman down on top of the bed’s clean sheets.
He had performed minimal first aid by pouring chi into her, but given the way she didn’t move a muscle, the woman made him think of a corpse.
“Okay, then.”
Solution carelessly ripped off the cloth wrapped around the woman and revealed her battered body. It was a pitiful, awful sight, but Solution’s unchanging expression was bland and uninterested.
“…Solution, I’ll let you take it from here.” With that, Sebas left the room.
Solution, who had begun palpating the woman, didn’t attempt to stop him.
Once he was in the hallway, he whispered in a voice that wouldn’t reach Solution: “This is foolish.” The words immediately vanished into the hallway, and naturally, there was no one to respond.
Sebas fingered his beard unconsciously. Why did I save that woman? He couldn’t hit upon a precise reason. “The lion spares the suppliant,” I guess?
No, that wasn’t it. Why did I save her?
Sebas was the butler who performed steward duties at the Great Tomb of Nazarick and had completely devoted himself to the Forty-One Supreme Beings. He should have been serving and surrendering everything to the one who had taken on the name Ainz Ooal Gown, the guild master.
There was nothing fraudulent about his loyalty, and as an utterly faithful servant, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw away his life for his master.
Still, if he had to choose only one Supreme Being to swear his allegiance, he knew who he would attend—Touch Me.
Touch Me was the strongest member of Ainz Ooal Gown and Sebas’s creator. Second to none, he’d attained the class of world champion.
Their guild grew stronger by killing players, among other things. Who would believe that the original purpose of the group he first formed—the guild’s predecessor, the First Nine—was to aid the weak? But it was true.
He’d saved Momon when he was getting PK’d constantly and was about to quit the game out of frustration. Next, he reached out to BubblingTeapot, who couldn’t find anyone to quest with due to her unfortunate appearance.
Touch Me’s lingering int
entions wound around Sebas like an invisible chain.
“I guess this is a curse…” That language was probably blasphemous. If any of the other inhabitants of the Great Tomb of Nazarick—those created by the Forty-One Supreme Beings—heard him, it was possible they would attack him for his disrespect.
“It isn’t right to pity those who do not belong to Ainz Ooal Gown,” he whispered gravely.
That was completely natural.
Everyone believed that disregarding outsiders was correct, excepting certain members of Nazarick who had been designed by their creators to be different, such as the head maid, Pestonia S. Puppydog.
For example, he’d received a report from Solution that Lupusregina, one of the Pleiades, was getting along well with a girl in Carne, but Sebas knew that if the situation demanded it, she would cut that girl down with zero hesitation.
It wasn’t because she was cold-blooded.
If a Supreme One ordered them to die, they had to die, and if they were ordered to kill someone, even a friend, they had to kill them immediately. That was true loyalty. Conversely, anyone who couldn’t understand that received pity from their fellows.
Making judgments based on foolish emotions was wrong.
So what about me? Is the action I took correct? Sebas was chewing his lip over his worries when Solution came out of the room. Her face was expressionless as usual.
“How did it go?”
“…She has syphilis and two other STDs. Multiple fractured ribs and fingers. Severed tendons in the right arm and left leg. Both top and bottom front teeth are missing. Her organs don’t seem to be functioning very well. She also has an anal fissure. She may be addicted to some kind of drug. Since she has innumerable bruises and lacerations, I’ll take the liberty of omitting the details, but…is there any other explanation you require?”
“No, that’s fine. There’s only one important thing: Will she get better?”
“Easily.”
Sebas had expected this immediate response.
Using healing abilities, even someone with their limbs cut off could recover, so if Sebas used his chi kung, he could completely heal her physical damage. Actually, if all of Nazarick weren’t in a state of emergency and he hadn’t been worried about intelligence leaks, he could have healed that old woman’s twisted ankle earlier on the road.
The Men of the Kingdom Part I Page 12
