Once the undead was on its way, Ainz considered the utility of these undead he had created.
If the undead could report back to him, he would have been able to create a worldwide intelligence network, but unfortunately, that wouldn’t work. Even when Ainz was able to directly instruct them, he received only vague replies in return. And under circumstances like the present, where he had created so many undead, it was hard for him to keep track of them all. He ran the risk of accidentally giving orders meant for one undead to a totally unrelated one.
Perhaps someday he would be able to develop some kind of system, but for now, it was impossible.
Maybe in the future, Pandora’s Actor can manage that sort of work for me, but unless he’s taken on my form, the undead he creates won’t be anything better than scarecrows. We’ll have to solve that issue first…
As Ainz was thinking that he would have to get the perspectives of the wise Albedo and Demiurge before giving the idea some serious thought soon, he arrived at his dressing room.
Maids awaited him in a line as usual, their eyes sparkling. Decrement’s were actually bloodshot.
Ainz asked where Aura was as the maids dressed him.
Today’s outfit was snow white.
Ainz was used to darker colors, so it felt flashy.
When they adorned him with precious metals, like a huge golden necklace, he was so shiny that he worried crows might attack.
The feathers jutting out from his back were a mystery.
He wanted to ask if the maids had mistaken him for a peacock or something, but when he glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, everyone seemed incredibly proud of themselves. None looked remotely worried. Moreover, not one of them seemed the slightest bit pessimistic. Their eyes were all syrupy and their cheeks flushed.
Like schoolgirls gazing at their favorite pop idol.
Is this actually good? Women like this sort of thing…? I really have no sense of style…
While Ainz was feeling glum inside, the maids finished dressing him.
Checking himself out in the mirror, he saw he had feathers protruding from underneath his arms as well. The sight reminded him of a certain monster from Yggdrasil.
What was it called? An archaeopteryx…? I’m pretty sure there was a dinosaur familiar like that for druids.
When he crossed his arms, the feathers made a racket.
But what would they say if he told them this outfit wouldn’t do? He had no doubt that the first reaction would be, What’s wrong with it? Please tell us what kind of clothing you prefer going forward.
“Okay!” Ainz gave up on all that. “Let’s go!”
•
At the appointed time, Ainz sensed the Gate opening in the center of the hall.
He had disabled all the building’s defenses, but due to Delay Teleportation, a spell he had used during his battle with Shalltear, there was no presence within the gate yet.
Delay Teleportation temporarily hindered all teleportation in the vicinity of the caster and introduced a lag of several seconds between the time the teleporter disappeared and the time they reappeared—precious moments that were usually used by the delaying side to gain some distance or prepare an attack. The other effect was allowing the caster to know how many people were teleporting and where they would arrive.
Now he sensed one teleporter.
Entoma and Shalltear were either not accompanying the messenger or they were coming later.
Delay Teleportation didn’t cancel teleportations but merely delayed them. So after the set time elapsed, a dark dome expanded over the spot where Delay Teleportation had indicated it would.
A lizardman timidly emerged.
He—probably…yeah, it has to be a he—examined the room until his eyes met Ainz’s, a king sitting on his simple throne.
“O-oh, it’s the King of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown. Do excuse me.”
Ainz couldn’t hide his surprise at the kneeling lizardman’s cultured mannerisms. The one named Zaryusu stood out from the rest of his kin, but the way this lizardman talked was impressively polished. He seemed used to speaking like this.
This must be the product of Cocytus’s training.
That’s what Ainz idly thought, but he had more important things to do.
He had already been tipped off by Delay Teleportation, but after confirming that no one else was coming through the Gate, he told the death knight standing by to reactivate the defensive magic item. Seeing the death knight nod and walk away, Ainz turned to the kneeling lizardman.
Decrement spoke with such perfect timing that Ainz swore she must have been waiting for this exact moment. “Lizardman, you have been granted an audience.”
Her attitude was entirely different from when she had been selecting Ainz’s clothing.
She seemed calm and capable.
Many would probably take offense if a palace maid spoke to them that way. It wouldn’t be strange to find visitors who secretly sneered at the sight of a mere maid standing beside a king. Or perhaps they would pity the Nation of Darkness for being so lacking in manpower that it was necessary for a maid to fill such a role.
But thanks to the education this lizardman had received from Cocytus, he knew that the NPCs’ standing was higher than that of a minion of any level, so he probably didn’t find Decrement’s attitude strange.
Ainz had Decrement tell the lizardman to rise.
What a pain. We could just talk normally without all this ceremony, but…I guess when in Rome…
It didn’t sit well with the vestiges of Satoru Suzuki’s mind, but Ainz could only accept the reality of his situation.
Unaware of Ainz’s inner struggle, the lizardman rose obediently. If he was being honest, Ainz couldn’t tell lizardmen apart. If they had different-colored scales or something unique about them—like a brand or one arm thicker than the other—it was a different story, but this lizardman looked like all the others.
Ainz ordered Decrement to ask his name.
“Lord Ainz permits you to state your name.”
“Thank you! I am the former Razor Tail tribe chief Kyuku Zuzu.”
Ainz had never heard that name before.
Was it better to be honest about that in his response, or should he feign some prior knowledge? Between these two choices, Ainz went for the third option—to do neither. In other words, he nodded benevolently and advanced the conversation. He was nervous about the report he had received from Cocytus last time.
Ainz ordered Decrement to ask why the lizardman had come.
This is so obnoxious!
This was pretty much how it went anytime he had an audience with someone of much lower status, like a subject.
As long as it doesn’t make anyone belittle the Nation of Darkness, I want to talk about decreasing these annoying formalities ASAP…
While Ainz grumbled internally, Decrement relayed his command to the lizardman. “Lord Ainz permits you to state the purpose of your visit.”
“Yes, ma’am! The ruler of our village and unifier of the lake, Master Cocytus, asked me to deliver something to his master, the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the King of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown.”
That was one long-winded explanation, thought Ainz, who surprised himself by managing to not yawn and instead gesture to Decrement with his chin. She walked to the lizardman and accepted a sheaf of papers. Then Ainz took the obnoxiously unnecessary step of receiving the papers from Decrement before he was finally able to open the document.
Inside were a bunch of things scrawled in Cocytus’s handwriting. There was quite a lot, meaning it would take too long to read everything on the spot.
Ainz reorganized the papers and called a death knight guard to hand it the documents. Then he finally spoke directly.
“Good work.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
That was all he could say, but it was such a boring way to end things.
Without standing up from the throne, he continued addres
sing the lizardman. “Now, then. I’m going to ask you some questions not as the King of Darkness but as Cocytus’s master. Getting a subordinate’s perspective directly can deepen my understanding of things.”
The lizardman’s gaze wavered a bit. He seemed unsure of how to respond to being spoken to directly. Ainz wasn’t great at reading lizardman expressions, but that was the feeling he got anyhow.
“Relax. This is unofficial. It’s like a dream that will remain in no one’s memory once you leave this place. I’ll forgive you even if you say something impolite.” He said it less for the lizardman’s benefit and more for Decrement and the nearby death knights.
“Let’s get started. Zaryusu was in the Great Tomb of Nazarick until recently. How is he?”
“Thanks to you, Your Majesty, he’s doing well. A healthy child was born and the couple seems content.”
“Oh, I see! I sent him back home because the baby was due, but it’s already been born, has it? I see, I see. I’m very happy to hear the couple’s relationship is good as well.”
There had been married people in the guild Ainz Ooal Gown. They crossed his mind for a moment. If someone’s wife was in a bad mood, that was enough—like magic words—to make it so no one would complain even if he logged off in the middle of a quest.
Smiling at the nostalgic memories—not that his face moved—Ainz asked another question. “And is the baby white?”
Zaryusu’s wife was that white lizardman. That was quite a rare type, and it stimulated Ainz’s collector spirit, so he remembered her well.
“Indeed, Your Majesty. No matter which parent the child took after, we would expect an exceptional lizardman, but this time the baby must have inherited more strongly from the mother’s side, because it’s pure white.”
“Ooh… So it’s a single—” He was about to say lizard, but he closed his mouth. Person was probably the best bet in this case. They probably wouldn’t say anything either way, but that didn’t mean it was okay to use the wrong word. If a slip of his tongue caused troubles for Cocytus’s government, he didn’t know how he could possibly apologize.
“Just one little person?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. A single child.”
“Hmm. Just one, huh?”
Apparently, they didn’t give birth to multiple offspring like reptiles. Still, if the relationship between the parents was good, maybe they would have more.
Ainz felt the collector’s impulse in him awaken. He almost wanted to ask for one, but he would feel bad taking a child away from its mother.
But lizardmen had a custom of travelers branding themselves and leaving the tribe. If Zaryusu’s offspring grew up to be like him, perhaps Ainz could train the children as adventurers.
The guild of Ainz’s dreams was a place where people from all races belonged. If an extremely rare lizardman joined, maybe it would be good advertising in the same vein as an attending idol popularizing their school.
“So how are mother and child doing? Are they getting the proper nutrients?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. We’re grateful for your kindness. Both are healthy—the baby is doing so well that we’re bound to deal with a lively little scamp in the future.”
“I see, I see. Well, isn’t that wonderful news. I should send a present to celebrate the bright future of this newborn. But even I don’t know much about how to celebrate a lizardman birth. What do you think would make for a good gift?”
It wouldn’t be very interesting to send a birthday fish in place of a cake. If possible, he wanted to give them something that would endure.
“We don’t have the custom of giving gifts to celebrate a birth, but…I think Zaryusu would be happy to receive fighting equipment.”
“Equipment…? Hmm.”
Really, I wanted to give them something that would make the wife happy as well, but armor would protect her husband’s life, so maybe it’s not a bad idea. As he was thinking along those lines, Kyuku spoke up timidly.
“May I ask a question, Your Majesty, King of Darkness?”
“What is it?”
“Why do you think so highly of Zaryusu?”
I value him as the father of a rare lizardman and nothing else. But he couldn’t very well say that. Ainz racked his brain for something else to say. “…He’s a great man. I heard he got exceptional results during his training in Nazarick. That’s why, I suppose. Superior people who are loyal deserve to be treated well.”
“Thank you for answering, Your Majesty. We’ll work to devote ourselves even more fully to you.”
“Yes, that’s the spirit. Don’t forget it.” With an arrogant nod, Ainz tried to think if there was anything else he wanted to ask this lizardman. A truly adept leader would probably question him about the village and compare it to Cocytus’s report to see if there were any discrepancies. But there was no way Ainz was capable of that.
He was about to tell the lizardman to go when he suddenly thought of something. “This doesn’t have anything to do with your village, but do you know about the dwarves who live in the Azerlisia Mountains?”
The lizardman village was located in the foothills of that mountain range.
“Yes, I’ve heard of them.”
Ainz had posed the question with zero expectations, but unlikely wasn’t the same as impossible. Mildly surprised, Ainz ordered the lizardman to share what he knew.
“I’m afraid it’s only what a friend told me, but he said the dwarves are a race that often builds cities inside the mountains where they mine, that they use the various ore they dig up to craft all sorts of weapons and armor. Some of the items are even fashioned from an extremely rare metal.”
“An extremely rare metal, you say?” Ainz imagined himself gulping. As a player who loved rare items, those words were terribly alluring. “Have you ever heard the name of the metal?”
“My apologies, Your Majesty. I haven’t.”
Ainz felt somewhat let down, but at the same time, he reminded himself that it wasn’t right to have absurd expectations.
As the adventurer Momon, he had collected information about various metals, but he had never heard of one sturdier than adamantite. Even orichalcum and adamantite were considered extremely rare. This mysterious metal had to be similar.
With that in mind, he could hardly contain the anticipation raging inside him.
Perhaps a people who lived as one with the land dealt in metals that even Ainz would consider incredibly rare.
If…yes, just if. I don’t think it’s possible, but if the prismatic ore from Yggdrasil exists here, and if the dwarves are mining it, then what? Hypothetically—and it’s a big hypothetical—if there’s prismatic ore in this world, then I could test whether it’s possible to reveal that secret item from Yggdrasil, the Caloric Stone.
The Caloric Stone, a World Item, could be acquired by collecting a large amount of prismatic ore and using a certain amount of each type. It was extremely difficult to do, but the guild Ainz Ooal Gown had managed to succeed one time.
It was their discovery of a celestial uranium vein that made this possible. Normally, the first thing a guild that found a new mine would do was extract everything and get it to market, a feasible strategy because the mines in Yggdrasil replenished slowly over time even when they were completely cleared out. Ainz Ooal Gown had intended to do the same.
By an incredible stroke of luck, they acquired a World Item instead.
Right as they watched the price of prismatic ore skyrocket after off-loading a tiny bit onto the market, the rest of the ore they had stockpiled in the Great Tomb of Nazarick underwent a natural reaction.
Ainz could still vividly recall the strange feelings he shared with his guildmates when they discovered the item sitting in the vault that had become nearly empty after they lost almost all their prismatic ore. This is something to be happy about, right? Yes, he remembered the exact moment they exchanged confused glances and raised a hollow cheer.
Then, after using the Caloric Stone, they tried to
get another one on purpose; after all, single-use World Items could be reacquired using the same method. Unfortunately, their celestial uranium mine was stolen, so that plan went up in smoke.
Watching the guild that had stolen the mine make a killing on celestial uranium, Ainz and the others snickered half out of exuberance and half because they didn’t want to admit their loss, thinking, They’ll never be able to get the World Item that way!
As Ainz steeped in his memories, a sinister smile came over his face, and he laughed…………
What idiots. The only way to amass enough ore is to establish a monopoly. There’s no way you can get the item if you keep selling on the market. Or maybe…
He remembered something Squishy Moe had said at the time. “There must be celestial uranium mines besides the one we discovered. Maybe they attacked ours to distract everyone from the fact that they already found one.”
But immediately after bringing up the possibility, Squishy Moe had rejected his own idea—because they had quickly found out that the other guild had stolen the mine by using the World Item Ouroboros to lock Ainz Ooal Gown out. It seemed dubious that the rival guild thought it was worth using one of the Twenty just to acquire a way to obtain the Caloric Stone.
Ainz shook his head to clear away thoughts of the past. Still, it was impossible to rid his mind of everything.
…Even if the dwarves don’t know about prismatic ore, there’s a good chance they know a lot about a variety of metals. There might be things they never tell the outside world! I could use a spell like Charm to— Whoops, I’m getting ahead of myself. I can’t just pile daydreams on top of daydreams. There’s the matter of the runes, too, so this is definitely something I should move on right away.
Only then did Ainz realize the lizardman was staring at him. Apparently, he had been holed up in his own world for a little while.
“…I seem to have gotten a bit lost in thought. So who did you hear about the dwarves from?”
“From another tribe leader, Zenbel.”
The Dwarven Crafter Page 3
