The Ruler of Conspiracy

by Kugane Maruyama

  Pandora’s Actor crossed the room and sat next to Ainz.

  Wouldn’t you normally sit across from me?

  Everyone has personal space, so Ainz was shocked to find Pandora’s Actor invading his so nonchalantly.

  …Well, I guess it’s fine. But he’s right in my face.

  He took a good look at Pandora’s Actor. He wasn’t quite as shocking as when he met him in the Treasury. Over time, some of his orders must have toned him down.

  “What is i—?”

  “N-nothing. Don’t worry about it. Now then, I wanted to ask you a few things. First, tell me news about Momon. I know you’re reporting in to Albedo, but…have there been any problems?”

  “Not real—”

  “Okay. That’s good. Then I want to ask you, as Pandora’s Actor: Have there been any problems?”

  The atmosphere changed.

  “Actually, Lord Ainz!” He leaned in so far that Ainz bent backward as if he’d been pushed. “I haven’t the fortitude!”

  Before Ainz could even retort with a Who are you? Pandora’s Actor continued.

  “I haven’t touched a magic item in so very long. I haven’t polished any of the magical objects created by the Supreme Beings. I wasn’t done sorting the data crystals, either. I beg you, Lord Ainz! Give me some time to spend with the magic items!”

  “…Is this how I made you?”

  “Indeed! These are emotions I received from you, Lord Ainz!”

  “…Oh.”

  Ainz racked his brain to recall the backstory of Pandora’s Actor. He did remember giving him some sort of personality trait like enjoying the caretaking and keeping of magic items. It made sense, since Pandora’s Actor was the only one in the Treasury. He was surrounded by things he loved and had basically gotten a job in heaven, was what Ainz’s idea had been. But this seemed to be entering fetish territory.

  “Don’t you go back to Nazarick every day?”

  Half of Nazarick’s undead were made by Ainz, and the other half were made by Pandora’s Actor. His creation’s undead were somewhat weaker than the ones Ainz personally created but still within the margin of error, and there were tons of corpses kept on ice on the fifth level—so many that even with both of them creating undead, they couldn’t possibly get through them all.

  “But I don’t have permission to return to the Treasury!”

  What state of mind was he in if he wasn’t making his over-the-top gestures like usual?

  “I see. Then I’ll have Shalltear give you a ring. And as for the gear you asked me about, I’ll allow it. Just don’t break it.”

  “Ye—”

  “Cut out the gestures. I thought I told you to talk normally—er, maybe I didn’t. Hmph. Pandora’s Actor!”

  “Yes, my lord!”

  “Our relationship is creator and creation. I’m very pleased that you endeavor to express yourself as I created you. But I also believe this: that children should surpass their parents.”

  “Ohhh…Lord Ainz. You think of me as your child…”

  “Right, right. You’re, yeah, my child or at least something…like that. No, you definitely are. That’s why you don’t need to speak German or salute or react so dramatically, and so on, in front of me. Though I created you, I want to see parts of you that I didn’t create, as proof of your growth.”

  He turned to look when he heard a sniffle and saw Fith dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

  Why?

  Are your tear ducts too loose?

  Amid Ainz’s confusion, Pandora’s Actor bowed low. “Understood, Father!”

  “…Mm.”

  “Just watch, Father. I’ll make all your wishes come true!”

  This was a bad idea. I was too hasty. It was impossible, but Ainz felt assaulted by a headache.

  “Pandora’s Actor, you mustn’t tell anyone what happened here today. You understand, right? If people learned you were getting special treatment, it could cause discord. And…for that reason, I’m lowering your importance to me. If I had to choose between saving a floor guardian and you, I would let you go.”

  “Of course, my lord! Please let me go!”

  When he said it so proudly, Ainz felt guilty.

  “Sorry. And, Fith…know that everything that just happened must be kept between us.” When he saw that she nodded, he nodded as well. “Okay, I’m going to go now.”

  “Please wait. Since you’re here, there’s something I want to ask you, Father. How do you plan to rule the Nation of Darkness?”

  “What?”

  “Many of the humans are wondering what direction you will lead this country in. Will you implement expansionist policies? In that case, will they be sent off to war? Things like that.”

  Ainz stopped where he stood.

  Where was Ainz Ooal Gown headed?

  Ainz was just a normal guy, so when presented with the extravagant goal of world conquest, he had almost immediately quit thinking about it. He figured he could leave it up to the smart ones like Albedo and Demiurge.

  But the decision of how to rule the country was one he couldn’t avoid.

  “Is something wrong, Father?”

  “…I’d like to tell you, but I’m still thinking it over myself. I’ll let you know after I’ve consulted with the guardians.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Ainz stood silently. “All right, Pandora’s Actor.” He heard a return salute as he left the room.

  Before he went outside, he contacted Shalltear using Message to relay Pandora’s Actor’s request before he could forget. If he put off work till later, it often slipped his mind.

  When they reached the entrance, Ainz opened the door before Fith could for him.

  Then he looked up at the sky.

  It was blue.

  “I’ll fly.”

  That was all he said. He heard the flustered commotion of several people behind him, but he ignored it.

  He sailed up into the sky using Fly. Then he landed on the roof of the second house.

  E-Rantel was a fortress city built with three concentric walls. From this view, one of the walls blocked his vision.

  “I guess I can’t see it. All I can do is go there.”

  If he walked the streets, maybe he would get an idea, something he would never come up with if he stayed here.

  An eight-edged assassin climbed up the wall.

  “Lord Ainz, please wait! It’s too dangerous for you to go alone!”

  He couldn’t laugh off what the eight-edged assassin was saying.

  Standing out in the open alone was as good as saying, Go ahead and snipe me.

  “Yeah, you’re right. Certainly if Peroroncino was my opponent, I’d be a sitting duck.”

  Peroroncino was an archer and the most specialized in ranged combat of anyone in Ainz Ooal Gown, so he would probably have been able to shoot him to pieces. He was a man who had no trouble attacking targets from over a mile away. Lurking in the shadows and sniping—with a bow—was his specialty. That said, Ainz wasn’t planning to get picked off, even against Peroroncino.

  He was confident that he could employ several different methods of defense, run away, and switch to attacking. It was training in PvP with Peroroncino through which he had made that possible. He wasn’t going to die so easily. But since here he had to be on guard against moves that existed only in this world, the eight-edged assassin was right.

  Ainz couldn’t die yet. At least not until they experimented with resurrecting a player. He needed to act as though he had only one life and prepare a shield.

  The safe choice was definitely Albedo, since she was the toughest guardian. But then they would need someone to escort her. Soon it would be a whole procession. He didn’t want to do that unless he was trying to lure the enemy to attack.

  In that case, the best would be a disposable high-level minion…

  I don’t really have any high-level monster minions. As for mercenaries, I used up most of my summons on Albedo’s subordinates, so I
don’t really have the bandwidth to call many more.

  Ainz sort of regretted trying to look cool and splurging. But he consoled himself by thinking, Sometimes bosses have to fake things for appearances.

  Wait, wait. I need to think my options through one at a time.

  Ainz made a list in his head:

  MERCENARY MONSTERS: Without money, calling on them was impossible.

  THE SKILL UNDEAD ADJUTANT: No good, since it used experience points.

  SUMMONS VIA THE STAFF OF AINZ OOAL GOWN: Walking around with the Guild Weapon was out of the question.

  THE SKILL CREATE UNDEAD: Even Create Upper-Tier Undead resulted only in monsters with levels up to about 70, meaning they weren’t strong enough.

  Well, I have a trump card.

  He could use Master of Dark Rites to strengthen his Create Undead skill.

  Create Upper-Tier Undead could be used four times in a day, but by using up two of those, he could create an undead that was nearly level 90.

  Ainz put a hand to his chin and pondered what sort of undead to make. A thief-type eternal death? Or an eyeball type specialized in detection?

  Eternal deaths were fantastic but had a continuous passive skill called Aura of Death and Putrefaction. It was a great skill, like a mix of Ainz’s Aura of Despair V (instadeath) and Aura of Despair I (fear), so this undead could deal instadeath and ability point penalties. It was especially adept at the latter. Since the aura wasn’t a psychic effect, even those immune to psychic magic couldn’t protect themselves from this tricky undead.

  Using it in a setting where friendly fire couldn’t be avoided would surely create a hellscape filled with agonized shrieks. If he gave the order, the ability could probably be turned off, but it still seemed insane to take an undead like that out and about.

  A handful of other terrifying monsters came to mind and then vanished.

  …Man, it’s like…they’re all so unattractive… Even though they have great abilities.

  They all seemed so incredibly inappropriate for a king to take as his escort on a walk through town.

  As Ainz was trying to figure out what to do, his eye landed on Fith as she desperately tried to climb up the wall. He said nothing and jumped down. Partway through his fall, he used Fly to slow himself and practically floated to the ground.

  Fith, red in the face with her hands up on a window frame, hurriedly fell in line behind him.

  “Fith.”

  “My lord!”

  “I’m going to town.”

  “Understood! I’ll prepare a carriage!”

  “No, I don’t need a carriage. I’d like to see the city, this place I rule over. So I think I’m going to walk.”

  “What?! But your honored feet will get dirty! I’ll order the streets cleaned at once! And I’ll ready an entourage!”

  Most of the streets in E-Rantel were not stone paved. If it rained, they immediately turned to mud.

  “No need. I used to live in this city, you know.” That was only technically true, since the moment he had arrived at his inn, he would normally return to Nazarick to create undead… “And I’m going to create an attendant with magic. Nazarick doesn’t need to go out of its way to prepare anyone.”

  “…If that’s what you wish, my lord.”

  Well, the problem is I’m not sure what to summon. A demon or undead will start bad rumors. Then I should summon something beautiful that will be good for my reputation. What should it be…?

  Having thought that far, he finally had his answer.

  “I’m going to summon some angels. Let’s go.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  Ainz’s karma leaned negative quite heavily, but that didn’t mean he had any trouble summoning angels, whose karma was very positive. Some classes came with a penalty that didn’t let them summon anything with karma too different from their own, but Ainz didn’t have any such restrictions. Incidentally, for those classes who did have that issue, the closer the summoned being’s karma was to their own, the stronger the being would be.

  With every con came a pro—that’s how things worked in the game Yggdrasil.

  Ainz headed for the yard.

  Breaking in horses, training hunting dogs—it had been used for all sorts of things, so the neatly trimmed lawn was surprisingly large.

  “Okay, I’m ready. It’ll take some time, so please chat with me while we wait.”

  “You want to chat with me, my lord?!”

  “Yes. Right. Well, tell me something about the ninth level, or— Oh. Will you tell me about cleaning? About cleaning our rooms?”

  Without waiting for Fith’s reply, Ainz changed some of his gear and began to cast.

  He was using the super-tier spell Pantheon. It was a spell similar to the tenth-tier Armageddon: Good and the super-tier spell Nibelung I, the exact opposite of the super-tier Pandemonium.

  Ainz stood there listening to Fith talk as he continued casting. If he needed to cast it in a hurry, he could have used a cash shop item, but it would have been a waste.

  Shooting the breeze with a maid isn’t so bad. That was the sort of thing that was on his mind.

  The fact that no maids were allowed in Albedo’s room was news to him.

  “I see. That was all very interesting. I just remembered, though—go to my room on the double and bring me Slimy Boy. This won’t work without him.”

  “Understood!”

  After watching Fith’s maid uniform get disheveled as she jogged away, Ainz stared vacantly at the large open space. While he waited, he reflected on what Fith had said to him.

  Albedo had told the maids she would clean her own room because she considered it part of her training as a bride-to-be. And she didn’t want anyone else in the room Ainz had given her.

  Ainz grumbled to himself, “Sheesh. Albedo, I understand how you feel, but when someone’s as busy as you are, you should leave the odd jobs to the maids. This is a strange thing to say, but I guess I win as a ruler.”

  Eventually, he watched Fith come dashing back, out of breath, bearing Slimy Boy, and Ainz smiled at her good work.

  “Thanks.”

  He expressed his appreciation briefly and took the Lip Bug from her. Then he stuck it to his bone throat, or rather his cervical vertebrae.

  “Mm—mm. Mm.”

  He had no idea how it worked, but his voice changed. It had to be a special characteristic of the monster, but he couldn’t quite understand it. All he could do was accept that that’s what it did.

  About the time he gave up on his questions, the super-tier spell finished casting, and six angels appeared in columns of light.

  They were lion-headed angels with one pair of wings spread out and another wrapped around their bodies. They were clad in gleaming armor, each of them bearing a shield with an eye pattern in one hand and a fire-tipped spear in the other.

  These were angels with levels in the 80s, cherubim gatekeepers.

  Ainz didn’t know much about mythology, so he had no idea why they were called gatekeepers, but he had a decent idea what sort of abilities they had as monsters.

  Cherubim gatekeepers made for great tanks. They also had fairly good detection abilities, so they were plenty qualified as guards.

  “Protect me. Don’t kill any enemies; to whatever extent possible, incapacitate them without injuring them.”

  “Understood, Lord Summoner.”

  It wasn’t a merciful order. He didn’t have any qualms about killing his enemies—he was planning for the possibility that someone was pulling the strings from the shadows. Also, Momon had to be the one to kill them.

  “We’re off, then.”

  After setting up his defenses by deploying the angels around him, Ainz set off.

  Summons—including this super-tier spell—vanished after a set amount of time, so he wanted to avoid wasting time as much as possible.

  “Angels, Fith is also coming along. Protect her as you do me.”

  “Understood, Lord Summoner.”

&nb
sp; “L-Lord Ainz! I can’t possibly be worthy of the same protection as your precious Supreme Being body!”

  “…Fith. You may be a maid, but you’re also one of my friends’ creations. That makes you extremely valuable to me. Listen, I don’t like repeating myself. Remember what I said and pass it along to your fellow maids.”

  “Th-thank you!”

  Incidentally, he didn’t mention the eight-edged assassins, who were also no doubt coming along. He could summon those as long as he had Yggdrasil gold. They had no value to him besides the fact that it would be a waste to lose them.

  “Now then, let’s go.”

  Ainz, with an entourage consisting of the six angels, Fith, and a few eight-edged assassins—the rest would stay behind to guard this place—approached the gate.

  Standing there was the commander of over twenty death knights Ainz had created, a crypt lord.

  He was an undead with a level in the 70s, wearing a purple robe that must have been gorgeous once but was now in tatters, plus a crown so radiant, it didn’t match the rest of his appearance.

  Crypt lords had commander skills that strengthened their subordinates, but since the death knights this one was commanding were under Ainz’s control, the buffs weren’t in effect. That said, he was still a great commander, and Ainz had stationed him there because of his appreciation of his abilities.

  “I’m going out now. Let Albedo know.”

  The crypt lord bowed low as Ainz walked past him into the city.

  He didn’t have any particular destination in mind.

  More than a walk, he wanted an answer to the question Pandora’s Actor had lobbed at him. He wouldn’t have been able to sort out even the things he could manage on his own if he had to endure constant disruptions.

  Ainz set out on his walk, envisioning the future of the Nation of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown, which he controlled.

  3

  Ainz and his crew proceeded straight down the broad street.

  He couldn’t say it was very lively. Compared to his memories as Momon, the difference was clear at a glance. The expressions on the people’s faces were dark, and they were all in a hurry for some reason.

  Meanwhile, death knights strode right down the middle of the street. It was probably the group he had patrolling the city as guards. He’d given them simple orders to apprehend anyone fighting or otherwise being violent and to protect anyone who asked for help.