“Amazing, Lord Ainz! You really inspired them!”
“You were splendid, my lord. The only one in all of Nazarick who could accomplish such a thing is you.”
Aura’s and Shalltear’s comments made him want to blush and shyly answer, Nahhh, but he held himself back. If it were Albedo or Demiurge, he would have been examining their expressions to know for sure if they were being serious or sarcastic, but when it was these two, he could simply accept the compliments. Satoru Suzuki would have said, Agh, I’m beat. Guess I’ll grab a drink, and saunter over to a vending machine, but the ruler of Nazarick and king of the Nation of Darkness couldn’t behave that way.
“Oh, it was nothing. Albedo or Demiurge could have gotten them even more excited.”
“No, they couldn’t have!”
“She’s right! Those two couldn’t have manipulated them as skillfully as you did!”
Ainz wasn’t so sure about that, but it was true that he hadn’t expected everything to go quite this well. He even felt slightly guilty.
It went without saying, but the sword he showed the dwarves was from Yggdrasil.
Yggdrasil didn’t have a rune system. It was possible that it existed in the code, and the players simply never discovered it, but in any case, the runes on that sword were just for looks—pure decoration.
But it did well to stoke the dwarves’ curiosity as to how it was made. He hadn’t expected them to get so worked up, and he felt sort of bad if they were coming to the Nation of Darkness specifically to re-create that sword.
But he suppressed the feelings of guilt.
The Great Tomb of Nazarick absolutely needed to be strengthened. He needed to amass fighting power to resist the people in possession of World Items and players he would probably encounter in the future.
Ainz looked at Shalltear.
The little vampire girl with a slight blush of color in her cheeks (though when he thought about it, he had no idea how that was possible). A child left to him by his friend Peroroncino. And the first NPC he had been forced to kill with his own hands.
The rage that billowed up inside him was quickly suppressed. Still, he would never forget that someone out there in possession of a World Item had forced him to do such a thing.
If he could get his revenge, the unhappiness of others due to a lie he had told was a trivial matter. The most important people in this world were those of Nazarick. Anyone else’s lives were two or three notches less valuable.
Only a madman would value all lives equally.
If all lives are equally important, then put a criminal who tormented and murdered people in one electric chair and in another, put someone precious to someone who blathers on about equality, before telling the idealist to kill one. If that person can choose which to kill by rolling a die, then I’ll be convinced they truly believe what they say.
But Ainz would absolutely kill the former—because he knew that all lives were not equally important. There was a huge difference between the people of Nazarick and everyone else.
“You’re really always so brilliant, Lord Ainz!”
“How very true!”
The pair’s overestimation of him continued, and it was starting to prick at his heart. Especially—
“Don’t say stuff like manipulate; that sounds awful. I only told them the truth.” He said it loud enough so that Gondo could hear it from behind him.
But Ainz didn’t get any reaction, so he turned around, perplexed.
Gondo, who had come to see him off, was trudging along with his head hanging down.
“…What’s wrong, Gondo?” he asked, and Gondo looked up.
“…Your Majesty, King of Darkness. Does that mean the regency council agreed to sending the rune crafters away during the meeting you just had?”
“That’s right. They’ll send an inspection party to make sure we’re not mistreating them, but they fully agreed to my plan.”
“I see… So the people in charge have really decided that we don’t need runes anymore…”
Tears spilled down Gondo’s face.
Ainz was surprised. Apart from childhood, it was awfully rare for him to see a man cry.
The technology he admired, the technology he was so proud of, had been declared worthless by his country; that must have been why Gondo was crying, but Ainz wondered if that was really true. In other words, the dwarf country wasn’t in a position to reject the request of someone offering them reinforcements.
Sacrificing something small for the greater good was the correct decision for a nation.
Ainz would kill any number of humans to protect the greater good of Nazarick.
But he didn’t need to say that to Gondo.
“Yes, Gondo. It seems this country has determined that it doesn’t need runes any longer. When I said I wanted the rune crafters, they hardly resisted at all.”
He needed Gondo, and the other crafters who might hear about this from him, to give up on this country to some extent. It was probably impossible to get them to completely turn their backs on the people of their ancestors, but even so, he needed to make them want to devote themselves completely to the Nation of Darkness.
Ainz put a gentle hand on Gondo’s shoulder. “But I’m different. I see potential in runes.”
Even if Gondo’s ideal never came to pass, as long as Ainz monopolized this uniquely skilled group of crafters and tasked them with conducting research into rune crafting, then if he ever encountered an enemy wielding rune weapons, he would be able to counter them.
Knowledge is power.
“…One country may have discarded them, but another country will protect them. That means this is far from the end, right?”
When he patted Gondo’s shoulder a few times, the dwarf roughly wiped his face. “…Thank you, Your Majesty, King of Darkness. I’ll do my best to fulfill your hopes.”
“Good, good. I expect a lot out of you.”
Ainz smiled to appear trustworthy, but of course, his face didn’t move.
Anyhow…, he thought.
He was glad to have gotten some information about the dwarf capital. He would have to ask Gondo to check if there was anyone else who had additional information. And he needed to ask the supreme commander about it as well.
In Yggdrasil, dragons didn’t have life spans. I wouldn’t be surprised if some individuals have unimaginable power. The ones likely to be there are frost dragons, eh…?
A fading memory of the face of a boy—no, a girl—came to mind.
“She was going to look that dragon up for me… What a shame.”
Chapter 5 | The Frost Dragonlord
1
The next morning by the great door… As Ainz was about to set out to recapture the dwarven capital, Fehu Berkana, he ran into a face that was becoming quite familiar.
It was Gondo.
Ainz cocked his head—because he couldn’t think of a reason why the dwarf would be here.
“You came to see me off?”
“No, I’m your guide.”
Ainz blinked. True, he did request for a dwarf to guide him to the capital. He figured the reason they had immediately agreed was that they wanted to send someone to observe him, so he had expected a dwarf he didn’t know at all.
“Yesterday after I left you, I talked to the other rune crafters. I’m pretty sure I know the way to the kingdom better than anyone else.”
“Including how to take a detour if it turns out the underground road is collapsed? I need someone who can think on their feet. Can you handle it?”
“I’ll do my best. I hope you’ll allow me to continue guiding you.”
Hmm, Ainz thought.
Frankly, the downside to taking Gondo with him was considerable. But if the regency council already approved it, he figured there was little chance they would swap guides just because he had a complaint.
“…Are you strong like a warrior, or do you have any ways of participating in combat?”
“N-no. I’m not confident in t
hose areas at all. I understand it’s dangerous, and no one will blame you if I die. And I have this cloak my father left me. That’s probably another reason I was chosen.”
Having a cloak of concealment was persuasive.
Ainz had planned on protecting whoever accompanied him in the first place, but a dwarf who had nothing in the way of self-defense made him nervous. If the guide was high-enough level, a resurrection spell could solve the problem, but Ainz feared that if Gondo died, that would be the end of it.
“You’ll be checking if I’ve really cleared all the kuagoa out of the capital, too, right? It’ll be a problem for me if you die in the middle of that, and plus, there’s the matter of the rune crafters. I’d rather have you stay here.”
Gondo sidled up to Ainz and lowered his voice. “There’s a huge treasury in the capital. If it hasn’t been pried open, there are all sorts of dwarven treasures inside. There should also be weapons my father made. A manual of technology passed down in the royal family should be there as well. There could even be a book of secrets from an older rune crafter.”
“Ooh.” Ainz showed he was listening and urged Gondo to continue.
“I want to sneak that out for myself…though it may be rude to Your Majesty. Will you overlook what I get up to after you retake the capital?”
“…First, do you have a way to open the treasury?”
“No. But I figured Your Majesty would have a way to do something about that.”
How omnipotent does he think I am?
“You’re telling me to be an accessory to your pilfering?”
“Your Majesty’s role would be to merely open the treasury door to check whether the place has been looted or not. After that, all you would need to do is look the other way. I’ll be the sneaky thief, and you won’t have anything to do with it.”
“…Dwarven royalty has been wiped out, correct? Could there be a catalog somewhere of their riches?”
“I doubt it.”
“You need to find out. If there is, this plan is too dangerous. I wouldn’t be able to allow it… And in the first place, it’s a national treasury of your own country. Wouldn’t you be ashamed to steal from it?”
Gondo smiled sarcastically. “A country that doesn’t care if it loses rune technology doesn’t need a book about its secrets, does it?”
Man, he’s really sulking, thought Ainz, but it was no skin off his back—not that he had any. On the contrary, if such a useful book remained forgotten in the dwarf country, it would be quite a loss for him.
And more importantly, Gondo’s thievery would probably sever him completely from the dwarf country. There was no way the dwarf kingdom would accept a criminal who stole a national treasure. Ainz would also be able to use that as a threat—as a chain—to make sure the dwarf didn’t betray the Nation of Darkness.
But he ran the risk of it becoming a chain for his side, too.
“…What you say is true. Owning something you don’t need doesn’t do you any good. I have the feeing I might suddenly go blind at what happens to be the most opportune moment. But like I was saying before, make sure you check for a catalog. I want to avoid future issues.”
“Understood. I’ll do as you say.”
“Then, let’s be done with that.” Though they were in a slightly removed location, it didn’t automatically mean there wasn’t anyone listening in. “Now, to change subjects… Give me a rough idea of where we’re likely to run into danger on the way to the capital.”
“I’m glad you asked. There are Three Impasses along the way.”
“Impasses? How interesting. For now, you can give me just a basic overview, but tell me about them.”
“Right. The first Impasse is the Great Chasm. Beyond our gate is a slope that leads down to the entrance of a fort. After passing through the fort, you come out and there’s a rift in the ground. Right now, it’s not much of an impasse because there’s a bridge over the gap, but if you’re going to cross, you should be prepared for a concentrated enemy attack.”
“Do the kuagoa use projectiles much?”
“Mm, not that I’ve heard of. But it’s probably risky to assume they don’t, though.”
Gondo was right. There was also the possibility that the magic item at the fort would be used against them.
“The second Impasse is a place where magma flows. It’s a river where the heat alone can be lethal, and the only way through is a narrow path carved into the cavern wall. A huge monster shows up sometimes, too.”
“A monster?”
Crimson, a domain guardian on the seventh level, came to mind.
Things could get hairy if this monster was a similar type.
…That reminds me, slimes have a close relationship with human society, but I wonder if it’s the same here. If they’re using a rare sort of slime, I’d like to take some back with me.
As Ainz was recalling the slimes in the sewers that basically acted like a filtration system, Gondo moved on to the third of the Impasses.
“The last is the Maze of Death. It’s a cave with countless branching paths where extremely poisonous gas is emitted on a regular cycle. If you breathe it, you become paralyzed starting from your arms and legs, and eventually it stops your heart.”
Gondo looked toward Shalltear and Aura.
He seemed to want to say that Ainz would be fine but that the other two would have trouble.
They’ll also be fine, but… Well, I can tell him when we get there.
“So you know the correct route through the cave?”
“Unfortunately, no. I used all my contacts, but even the elderly dwarves don’t know the way. Not even the regency council members have any idea. It might be written in some ancient document, but…”
“You couldn’t find it. Well, it can’t be too easy to find a document pertaining to national security. Let’s just gather info once we get there and play it by ear.” Taking care to remember the Three Impasses, Ainz signaled to the rest of the party. “Okay, let’s go.”
Ainz, Shalltear, and Aura took the lead, and behind them came Gondo plus ten dwarven soldiers and a commander who would accompany them as far as the fort. The doors opened wide. A particular smell had been seeping through the crack, so he could imagine what was waiting for them—it was a gruesome scene.
The gently sloping tunnel was fairly wide and well kept, so it would have been easy to walk if it weren’t for the blood, entrails, and sticky chunks of flesh that covered every surface. Kuagoa corpses littered the floor.
“Urk!”
The space filled with the thick, sour stench of gore seemed a bit much for Gondo, who had never fought as a warrior, and he looked like he was about to throw up. Even the soldiers looked pale, and it wasn’t due to the lighting.
Ainz’s body had no relationship with nausea, so that wasn’t a problem, but that didn’t mean he liked the smell.
His footsteps made a squelching noise. When he looked down, he seemed to be standing on an organ that had spilled out of a kuagoa sliced in half.
Ainz sighed and cast Mass Fly so that everyone could avoid the mess.
The death knights must have enjoyed the slaughter. If he slipped and fell in this tunnel of fresh blood, he was sure the muck and the smell would sap his energy. And he definitely wanted to avoid walking next to someone covered in blood, hence the considerate mass spell.
The party flew down the slope, bypassing the filth.
There were stones that emitted a hazy glow embedded in the walls, so the tunnel wasn’t completely dark, but shadows reigned in the spaces between the stones. Of course, Ainz could see anyhow, so there was no issue.
At the bottom of the slope—a little over a hundred yards from the gate—the entrance to the fort came into view. To be more precise, it was the back door.
Through the fort, there was supposed to be a bridge. A few days’ walk west from there would bring them to the former capital.
The entrance to the fort was cluttered with kuagoa bodies as well. Some of
the bodies had been bitten to death, which was a method the death knights wouldn’t have used; those were the victims of zombies.
The reason Ainz couldn’t detect any undead was probably because the death knights had turned back into regular corpses once destroyed.
Ainz looked around. At the moment, he couldn’t spot any undead, but considering how undead worked in this world, it was dangerous to leave this carnage here.
“In the human world, it’s common sense that if we leave things as they are, undead will spawn, so what are you going to do?” he asked the soldiers.
“We’ve been tasked with cleaning up,” the commander answered. “Well, I say ‘cleaning up,’ but we’re just going to dump all the remains into the Great Chasm a short distance away, where it won’t matter if the remains attract whatever monsters might be down there.”
“And after that, you’re going to repair the fort and investigate the route the kuagoa took to invade? That’s quite a job.”
This was where they parted with the soldiers. It was only Ainz, Aura, Shalltear, and Gondo who were continuing on to retake the capital. Well, the Hanzos were also going, but the soldiers didn’t know that.
The dwarves winced. While they had their own dangerous investigation to undertake—an adventure with a high chance of encountering kuagoa for sure—to get that sort of comment from Ainz, who was invading the kuagoa’s home base, was probably a bit…
“Okay, let’s enter the fort. We’ll go in first and make sure it’s safe. Until then, please wait here. Just in case, will you protect Gondo?”
Upon receiving the soldiers’ affirmative reply, Ainz went through the open door.
Standing at the scene of this disaster, he asked Aura behind him, “Aura, can you sense anyone hiding using stealth abilities?”
“No. There isn’t anything alive in this fort,” she answered while holding her hands to her long ears, apparently listening for any sounds. If Aura, a ranger, said there weren’t any living things here, then it had to be true.
Still, he couldn’t be careless.
Someone powerful enough to kill Ainz’s two death knights had been here. If that person specialized in stealth classes, it was possible they could deceive even Aura’s investigation abilities.
The Dwarven Crafter Page 21
