“…What is it, master?”
“Ah, mm, nothing. I was just thinking.”
“You were? I’m terribly sorry for interrupting, master!”
“You weren’t being rude or anything. I came here to see you, after all.”
“Ohhh! Thank you, master!”
He seems to be awfully moved. What’s that about? thought Ainz as he got back to the point of their conversation. “Uhhh, oh, we were talking about poaching, right? I don’t care if word gets out, but there’s a problem: your safety.”
“Ohhh! Master! That you would concern yourself with my safety is simply…!”
Why is this old man getting so emotional about every little thing? If you’re not planning on cutting someone off from the beginning, isn’t it the job of the person at the top to guarantee at least minimal safety to the people below them? Or is that not how it works in the empire?
If the latter, that’s scary… If someone gets in my way, I might kill them, but I don’t really like the idea of killing someone I’ve had working under me…
“Fluder, don’t get so excited. If there’s someone nearby, it’ll look suspicious.”
“Don’t worry, master. This floor belongs to me and only me. There’s no one else here.”
Ainz had visited once, and the tower was fairly big. He was certainly the empire’s most powerful caster if he could have an entire floor of that to himself.
“Now then, getting back to the topic of your safety. Has anyone come to kill you as a result of your betrayal?”
“There’s no sign of that, but my work for the government has been cut. And the emperor used to consult me often, but ever since we returned from the great lands you rule, he hasn’t summoned me a single time.”
“I see… Then, Fluder. Would you like to come be with me?”
“Ohhh! Gladly!”
That was fast…
“Then once I figure out what your role will be… Oh, there’s something we need to discuss before that. Your reward. Now then…” Ainz reached into space. He had rehearsed the rest of this conversation repeatedly, calling himself out and correcting himself as he went.
He had no idea if Fluder would really do what he imagined he would, but he had practiced enough.
“As promised, I’ll bestow a piece of my wisdom on thee, Fluder. Take it. And decipher it.”
Ainz handed him a Book of the Dead.
It was a musty old volume, but the pages themselves were in mysteriously good condition, no bookworm holes or the like.
Fluder accepted the book with trembling hands. Ainz was thankful he was undead. If he were human, the book may have been trembling, too, from his nerves.
What Fluder desired was to peer into the abyss of magic. But Ainz didn’t know anything about any abyss of magic. He could teach him what he had learned in the game Yggdrasil, but the abyss of magic was beyond him.
But not providing it would be a betrayal of Fluder’s loyalty. One good turn deserves another, and Fluder deserved a reward for his faithful service. So Ainz gave him the book that appeared to contain the most magic knowledge. Although as far as Ainz could tell, it was just arcane gibberish.
“I beg your pardon.”
After flipping through a few pages, Fluder’s giddy expression changed to disappointment.
“What is it? Is it not what you wanted?” Ainz asked coolly, suppressing his anxiety. If it wasn’t what he was hoping for, that was no problem. He had already rehearsed a response for that.
“N-no, it’s not that. I can’t read it.”
“Oh, I see.”
Ainz took the book from Fluder’s hands and flipped open to a random page.
“This chapter is about the…heterogeneity…that occurs in a soul when transforming into a lich.”
It made sense that Fluder couldn’t read it, since it was in Japanese, but…
It’s less like a fantasy novel than a collection of lore for a fantasy world. What the heck is “heterogeneity”? It’s something about what happens to souls, but this is such a wall of hard words that I can’t process it. It’s like I’m just looking at the surface… Maybe it’s purposely written so that even if you can read it, you can’t understand it?
Basically, it was something occult. Yes, it was definitely related to the occult. To Satoru Suzuki, who didn’t have any knowledge of such things, it seemed to be random bullshit, but maybe it was borrowed from some place’s mythology? If Tabula Smaragdina were around, he would have filled him in on all the details.
“Ohhh!”
When Fluder looked at him with so much joy in his eyes, he felt guilty.
“Oh right… I only have one of these, so I can’t just give it to you, but go ahead and use it.”
Ainz placed a monocle on top of the book and handed it back. When Fluder put it on, he flipped through the pages in a tizzy.
“Th-this is! This means that souls are like the spray from the flow of the vast world, and all souls are the same regardless of size, which means that…!!!!!”
Yikes, he’s gone insane.
The change in Fluder was so abrupt, Ainz nearly recoiled in surprise.
His eyes were wide and bloodshot. He was snorting like an animal and seemed like he might pounce at someone any second.
“H-how is it?”
Fluder’s eyes rolled to look straight at Ainz. “I-it’s wonderful, master! This is exactly the knowledge I’ve been hoping forrr! Hya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Perhaps Ainz’s shock from the old man’s mad racket surpassed a certain level? His psyche abruptly calmed.
“Oh. Then I’ll start by taking the glass back.”
“What?! But I…”
“Translating the book is part of your training. It’s by deciphering and understanding that text that you’ll be able to ascend to the next realm. Using the glass would be meaningless.”
“This is quite unexpected… Would you allow me to read through it once first?”
“If you want to read one page, that’s fine, but if you read any more, it won’t contribute to your growth.”
Fluder snapped the book shut and closed his eyes.
After nearly a minute, he finally opened his eyes and spoke. His voice was utterly tranquil. “Understood. I shall adhere to your teachings. But, master, if there’s something I don’t understand, will you lend me your wisdom?”
“Su-sure. If I understand it, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you, master!”
Fluder removed the monocle and returned it.
Yes! Now I won’t hear anything from Fluder for a while. Oh, but I do have to give him one stern warning. Uh…what am I supposed to say again?
Ainz struggled through his memories. Then he called Fluder’s name in a heavy voice that he felt was fitting for a ruler.
“Fluder.”
“Yes, master!”
“I trust you, so I gave you this book of hidden knowledge. Make sure it doesn’t end up in a third party’s hands. That goes for any notes you take while deciphering it, too. Don’t tell anyone a thing about this book.”
“I won’t, master!”
“I’m sure the reason why goes without saying, but this book contains knowledge beyond what humans should know. If others learn of it, there will be trouble… Well, there might still be some hope if the person who got it had your kind of ability, but… In any case, I don’t want to still be cleaning up after you ten years from now.”
“Of course not, master. I won’t leak any of the information I learn from these pages to anyone. I promise!”
“I’ll trust you, Fluder. Don’t disappoint me.”
“I won’t, master!”
Fluder had gotten out of his chair and now prostrated himself on the floor.
You don’t have to go that far, Ainz thought, but he supposed it must have been an impressive threat and was satisfied that his ten hours of acting practice and voice exercises had paid off.
“That’s fine, then. If you understand, then I have nothing else t
o say on the subject. Now, back in your seat. I get that it’s awfully difficult to decipher an unknown language without any assistance. Do you have any ideas what to do about that?”
“Yes, master! It’s terribly inefficient, but there is a reading comprehension spell. I think I’ll use that and go bit by bit.”
“Oh, I see! That’s wonderful.”
That was the best answer Ainz could have hoped for. It would be a decent challenge and buy him time, but it wasn’t so difficult that Fluder would give up.
“Then I’ll give this to you… Wait, right. I’ll lend you a box to keep it in. I don’t imagine you’ll be reckless with it, but this is just in case someone tries to steal it from you.”
Ainz took a box out of space. It was the same sort of box he used to keep his notebook.
“If you keep it in here, it will take a while to open even if it gets stolen. If someone steals the password along with it, there would be no point, but…just be careful.”
“Of course, master. I would never give away the password.”
“Good.”
Ainz turned his gaze from Fluder, who was happily caressing the book, to the ceiling. He needed to remember what else he had to talk to him about.
“Oh right. We didn’t finish discussing your coming to be with me, since your defection is out of the bag. First of all, when can you come?”
“Whenever you wish, master. I have nothing tying me to this country.”
Ainz moved his mental eyebrows.
Was this personality—someone who would readily cast aside the responsibilities of his position—acceptable? Ainz was worried he might do the same thing under him.
He subtracted points on Fluder’s résumé with red pen.
“…Then, Fluder, I intend to have you involved in the development of magic in the Nation of Darkness. But we’re not releasing any of the spells you develop to the outside world. They’ll be for you, me, and those close to me. Can you tolerate that condition? Can you give up your desire for fame?”
“I have no problem with that. I’m happy if I can peer into the depths of magic. I have no other desires.”
As Fluder made that declaration, Ainz kept a close watch on his face.
Ainz didn’t have any gift for seeing through to the true nature of people. In terms of humanity, Fluder, who was a genius caster who had lived far longer than people do and been involved in running a huge empire, was certainly ahead of him. If Fluder was to try to trick Ainz, there was no way Ainz would be able to see through it.
But can’t is different from won’t. Ainz observed Fluder with that in mind and eventually said, “That’s fine, then. I’ll give you full privileges when you arrive in the Nation of Darkness. I’ll support you in developing magic as much as I can. Now, then…”
This meant he had an additional human supporter of Nazarick in addition to the Baleare family. Once he could get the woman Demiurge and Albedo recommended, the strengthening of Nazarick would proceed nicely.
He had to get as strong as he could before his invisible enemy revealed itself.
His opponent had a World Item. He needed to acquire powers that didn’t exist in Yggdrasil as soon as possible. He had to assume that anything he could do, his opponent could do as well.
But there was one problem—how to protect the empire.
Demiurge was of the opinion that the empire was a latent enemy, but Ainz didn’t agree with him.
He wasn’t sure what the future would bring, but he didn’t think conquering the world with might alone was the smart way to go about it. If the Nation of Darkness gained a reputation for destroying all its enemies, it would end up antagonizing countries that it could have been allies with.
So then how about deepening the friendship between the rulers, Ainz and Jircniv, and conveying that to their retainers?
Then Demiurge and the others will keep their conquer-by-power plans to a minimum. That’s a great idea. A friendship across national borders. In other words, a friendship across guilds… Friends, huh…?
Ainz’s grotesque friends came to mind.
Still, though, how do you make friends? Giving someone what they want probably isn’t the right way… The best in this case is probably to protect what’s important to Jircniv—the empire… There’s a good chance my enemy will target it.
Ainz had an idea of what he would do if he were the invisible enemy who had brainwashed Shalltear. It entailed…
The worst-case scenario would be if Iä Shub-Niggurath was used on the capital of the empire, my ally. No matter who did it, it would definitely be blamed on me… And then they would work to spread word of it all over the world. And that would slow the expansion of the Nation of Darkness’s influence.
Ainz remembered his days in Yggdrasil.
Once, since it was foolish to challenge a huge guild head-on, they had incited a bunch of smaller guilds to start a war. It should be possible to use the same tactic in this case. And if Ainz was in the opposite position, he would surely do so, which meant there was a good chance that his opponent would.
In order to thwart that plan, Ainz had been thinking to casually spread the rumor via Fluder that he would never use that spell again—though it was a lie. But he couldn’t use Fluder anymore. He had to come up with another way.
This is like trying to devise a way to prevent people from smuggling in a palm-size hazard… Maybe I should order Demiurge to come up with a plan. But would he think that’s weird? Agh, I don’t know what to do.
The best would be if he could just have those two do everything for him, but all that would do was put his image as an absolute being into question. He would be in trouble if he couldn’t come up with a solution that also protected his reputation.
“Master, is something wrong?”
“…Fluder. I want to protect the empire for a while. Do you have any ideas how to do that?”
“…Why do you want to do that?”
“Conquering it would be easy, but I’m not interested in being king of a mountain of rubble. I want to annex the empire in pristine condition. To that end, I want to prevent any harm being done to the empire as a result of the loss of power it will experience with you gone.”
The amount of wrinkles on Fluder’s face increased.
“That’s a tough question out of the blue. Even with me gone, I don’t think there is any immediate danger to the empire. That said, it’s true they don’t have anyone to fill the gap I would leave… If there’s no issue, then I’ll stay here for now.”
“Will you? I’ll debate it on this end and get back to you at a later date.”
“Yes, master!”
“…Oh. Lastly, there are two things I’d like you to do for me. One is that I want detailed information about the martial king. And then there’s the death knight thing.”
Just before the appointed hour, Ainz used detection magic. Usually, he would use several counter spells first, but he didn’t want to waste a ton of scrolls. Unlike that time in the graveyard, where there was clearly an enemy, he cast it on its own.
Still, he did take care to do it in a place where he wouldn’t involve anyone else if he did get hit with a counterintelligence spell.
He could see a place different from his current location. It was the interior of a carriage. He manipulated his field of vision to look outside.
Then he used Greater Teleportation to go there.
Having succeeded without any hitches, he opened the door to the carriage. Ainzach, sitting inside, looked surprised. Without paying any attention to that, Ainz climbed into the carriage, shut the door, and canceled the invisibility spell he had been using.
“So it was you, Your Majesty. I somehow had the feeling it was, but do you mind not coming in invisible anymore?”
“If I wasn’t invisible, someone would see me.”
“You’re wearing that mask, so I think you’re all right…”
“Maybe, but I used teleportation magic. I want to avoid as much trouble as I can.”
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br /> “That’s true…”
“If you understand, then let’s get going.”
“Yes, let’s.”
The carriage went through the open gate and stopped where indicated by the guard. It was a place where multiple carriages could be parked.
“All right, let’s go.”
Ainz followed Ainzach out of the carriage.
Waiting there was a maid and an old man dressed like a butler.
He may have been a butler, but he didn’t have Sebas’s depth of character. The vibes he gave off were those of any sophisticated elderly man. And the butler seemed to be human, but the maid was not.
From the top of her head came ears that weren’t human but animal. Ainz couldn’t tell for sure because of her hair, but there didn’t seem to be anything where human ears would have been. Her face was cute, but it was different from human cuteness—more primal.
“We’ve been waiting for you. Sir Ainzach and…Your Majesty, the King of Darkness, I believe? My master is expecting you. I’ll lead you to him, so would you kindly follow me?”
“Wha—?!” Ainzach yelped slightly at the butler’s question.
He hadn’t spoken of Ainz’s identity the previous day, so he must have been shocked that the man had managed to guess it. But Ainz didn’t find it so surprising. He may have been wearing his mask, but he hadn’t changed anything about his clothes. Anyone with connections had probably heard of him. More importantly, it was rude to leave the man hanging.
“I appreciate it. We’ll follow you.”
“Your Majesty.” The butler bowed and the maid followed a beat later.
As they set off after the pair, Ainzach spoke to him in a low voice. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Ainz figured it was for replying to the butler before.
He considered saying, No worries, but he simply accepted it in silence.
From Satoru Suzuki’s point of view, he was a boss covering for a subordinate’s mistake. Ainzach’s gratitude was natural, so as a boss thinking of his subordinate’s future growth, it wouldn’t do for him to shove it aside.
Being a boss is no cakewalk. He felt the struggle keenly.
Suddenly he realized that since he was role-playing a ruler, he hadn’t said a heartfelt thank-you in quite a while.
The Ruler of Conspiracy Page 25
