At some point, I should really gather the guardians—well, all the NPCs—and express my gratitude and acknowledge their work.
With those things on his mind as the ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, aiming to be a white company, he kept walking after their guide without pause.
“What a surprise to see a rabbitman, huh, Your Majesty?”
Shouldn’t you say that after she’s gone? thought Ainz, but he was curious, so he continued the conversation. “Not rabbitwoman?”
“No…well…it’s because the race is rabbitmen.”
“Ainzach, what am I supposed to do if you take a little joke so seriously?”
“……She must have come from even farther east than the city-state alliance. They’re quite rare.”
“Mm…”
Ainz didn’t know how far away east of the city-state alliance was. He hadn’t acquired that much information yet.
But he had never seen a rabbitman in the kingdom, and neither had he seen one besides her yet in the empire. Even if other races didn’t reject her, it couldn’t be easy to live in an environment where there were no other members of her own race.
He was curious to hear what she had to say, but he couldn’t. It would be troublesome if it triggered her.
Before long, they had been led before a room.
“Please go in and wait here.”
Inside, a number of weapons and pieces of armor had been oiled and were on beautiful display with not a speck of dust to be found.
When Ainz took a closer look, he noticed that most of the armor was scraped and dented. The pieces had definitely been used in combat.
Rather than a weapon merchant’s display, this was more like a collection of gear that represented the master of the house’s glorious memories.
After taking a cursory look at everything, Ainz returned to the first sword.
It was the nicest sword in the room.
It didn’t have any scratches, but given that it was placed in such a way that it naturally caught one’s eye immediately upon entering the room, it had to be its owner’s favorite.
“Does it please you?”
“Yeah, this is quite a good collection.”
The owner of the room—the master of the house—stood before two sofas facing each other in the center of the room, and Ainz answered his question. The man had a substantial physique and hair cropped so short, the skin was visible from underneath.
They continued their discussion of the arms without introductions.
“Which is your favori— Oh, that one, right? That’s what everyone who enters this room says.”
Ainz crossed the room and stood before the sword.
“Can I try holding it?”
“Of course. I don’t mind.”
Ainz thanked him and picked up the sword. If he tried to equip it, he would drop it, but just holding it was no problem.
As he admired the blade, he noticed there were letters carved into it. He had seen the strange characters somewhere before. He frantically sifted through his memories, and before long, he arrived at the answer.
“Runes?”
“Ohhh, I’d expect nothing less from the King of Darkness. You know them?”
What? They actually are? …Does this world just have runes, too?
As far as he knew, runes were old characters from Satoru Suzuki’s world. If they existed here, there was a good chance that someone from the other world had brought them. Ainz answered carefully, “…Well, I only know of them. I don’t have the ability to create items inscribed with them. Which of the master craftspeople made it?”
“Ohhh, what an astute question. This sword was made by a rune artisan from the dwarf country in the Azerlisia Mountains—probably over a hundred and fifty years ago. The blade can harbor lightning. Do you see the symbols carved into the handle?”
The master of the house came next to Ainz.
When he stood there, the strong scent of cologne hit Ainz’s nose.
“It’s from one of the most famous dwarven rune workshops, Stone Nail.”
Dwarven rune workshops? …I should collect more details on that.
“Oh-ho. That sounds like a very famous workshop. Are there any other pieces from there?”
Ainz scanned the room, and the man laughed good-naturedly.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha. Not here there aren’t. I have them stored elsewhere. But the only one this enchanted is this sword.”
“Oh-ho.” Ainz hid his disappointment with an exclamation of awe.
Still, he had picked up the name of the workshop, Stone Nail. He needed to investigate and see if there were players there.
“I’ve heard that weapons made by dwarven crafters don’t come to market very often, and yet you have pieces besides this one?”
Ainz mentally gave Ainzach a thumbs-up for his question.
“That’s right, Ainzach.” The man grinned. “Whenever one goes up for auction, I make sure to attend. Last time, I dueled a stubborn adventurer and ended up paying three times what I planned.”
Ainzach shook his head slightly in amazement, while Ainz nodded, thoroughly impressed. That’s what collectors are like. Understood by no one—and sometimes they can’t even understand their past selves.
Ainz wanted to examine the sword much more, but he put it back.
“I was captivated by this fantastic piece before we even really introduced ourselves. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
The man’s face was all smiles. “You’ve got a way with words, Your Majesty. Allow me to properly introduce myself: I’m Osk, a humble merchant.”
“Won’t the other merchants in the empire get upset if you call yourself ‘humble’? I’m Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness.”
“There isn’t a day I don’t hear your name, Your Majesty. Please have a seat. I’ll have some drinks made.”
“…I appreciate the offer, but I’m all right.”
Osk’s beady eyes were small compared to the rest of his face, and he squinted with them at Ainz. “Your Majesty, I’ve heard the rumors. How about if you took off your mask?”
“…If it’s the master of the house asking, then I suppose I have no choice.”
Ainz removed the mask, revealing his actual face.
Osk didn’t appear to be surprised. His eyes were so tiny that when he smiled, it was impossible to look into them.
“Ohhh…I see; I see.” Osk spoke again after nodding a few times. “Actually, given the rumors, I was worried if I would be able to rustle up some tea to your liking, but I guess I didn’t need to worry about that,” he said cheerfully, shaking his stout belly with laughter.
“So, Osk, why did you think His Majesty was the one with me?”
“I mean, it’s not that hard to guess, right? If you, the head of the Adventurers Guild in the conquered city of E-Rantel, are coming with someone superior to you, there’s only one person who comes to mind.” He continued, “There was a chance it was his right hand, but I just had a hunch.”
“Can I ask the next question? Are the weapons lined up over there all ones you have used?”
Osk smiled, clearly amused by Ainz’s question. “Ha! Your Majesty, take a look at my physique! I may have held tools for making calculations but never a sword. These are my hobby… I’ve admired the strong ever since I was a child, and I’ve always liked swords and other weapons.”
“I see…”
“You seem to understand. Then I would also like to ask a question, if I may. I’ve heard that Your Majesty possesses incredible power. Have you been alive very long—well, you must have been, right?”
“Compared to the life spans of you humans, yes.” After he said it, he wondered what sort of being Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness, would become.
He couldn’t very well have said, No, you guys are older, and even if he could have, they wouldn’t have believed him. So he was creating the character of the King of Darkness as he went; pretty soon he had to make some decisions or he would run into trouble.
“Then do you have any old weapons?” Osk didn’t even try to conceal his curiosity.
“Of course I do. But I can’t give them to you.”
“I would pay the appropriate price—or I could even swing three times the going rate.”
Ainz couldn’t immediately refuse. He remembered how very unreliable the inside of his wallet was. But as a king he couldn’t say, Okay, here ya go.
“…Money doesn’t do much for me.”
“Certainly, toward a king such as yourself it was a rather impolite thing to say—my sincerest apologies… So what would you be willing to trade for?”
Could I have him praise the actions of my country or something like that? Hmm? In which case…
Ainz took out a dagger. It oozed a shimmering haze effect. The slightly transparent blade was made of blue crystal. The magic inside it was only so-so, but overall it was still an upper-grade magic item and immensely powerful compared to the average items circulating in this world.
““Wh-what in the—!””
There were two voices.
Ainzach was staring wide-eyed at the dagger, too. “Hmm,” Ainz murmured and set the dagger in front of Ainzach. “It’s yours.”
““What?!””
Once again there were two voices.
“Ainzach, it’s a reward for your services. But I’m not conferring it on you, and it’s not a guarantee of your status. I gave it to you because it’s the type of reward I’d like to be able to give in the kind of country I’m hoping to have. If you’d rather have money, I don’t mind if you sell it.”
Given the size of the data, it wasn’t a weapon that could kill Ainz, and it wasn’t a sentimental weapon that one of his guildmates had created for him, either.
“I—I don’t think I can accept such a powerful…”
Ainzach was shaking.
“It’s not really that great. Well, if you won’t accept it, I’ll give you something else later. Like a potion for healing wounds or something. What do you think?”
After taking plenty of time and hesitating, Ainzach took the dagger.
“I accept. Thank you, Your Majesty! I’ll do my best to serve you and live up to this blade!”
“Congrats, Ainzach. If you ever need anything, I hope you’ll remember your friend here,” Osk said, glancing at the dagger.
But Ainzach made a face like a mother dog protecting her pup. “Never. I definitely will not.”
Ainz changed the tone of his voice just a tad. “All right. Shall we get down to business?”
Osk reluctantly ripped his eyes away from Ainzach wrapping the blade up in a handkerchief and agreed. “………Understood. What is it you came to talk to me about today?”
“Hmm… I’m not very good at making things flowery, so I’ll get straight to the point… I want you to set up a fight in the arena with the martial king for me.”
Osk’s eyes widened slightly but then immediately returned to their previous expression.
“I heard that the martial king doesn’t belong to the arena but is your pet swordsman. Ainzach told me that if you gave me permission to fight the martial king, the card could be drawn up right away.”
“Hoo-ha-ha-ha-ha. Are you serious, Your Majesty? The martial king is the strongest man in the arena—the body of a monster and the skills of a warrior. He’s probably the strongest ever. I’m sure you have strong subordinates but against this guy…” Osk boastfully shook his head.
“…Is he stronger than Fluder?”
“No, they have to be in the warrior division. Casters are no good. I absolutely refuse anyone flying through the sky firing off spell after spell.”
Ainz hesitated when Osk began to grumble, but Ainzach explained, “Once there was an adventurer team that won by flying and using bows and other long-distance attacks, and it really killed the mood. Since then, Fly, Teleport, and other spells like that have been prohibited.” By that time, Osk had returned to himself and looked at Ainz.
“Ahem! Do excuse me, Your Majesty. I recalled a bitter memory… Okay, so who do you want the martial king to fight? A human?”
Ainz and Ainzach exchanged a glance. Then Ainz answered.
“Me.”
“………Huh?!”
“I, Ainz Ooal Gown, will be his opponent.”
A period of time passed in total silence. Osk was utterly flustered and said, “B-but, Your Majesty, you’re a king—of a country!”
“Yes?”
“Huh? I mean, yeah, but… I just…”
“Yes, I understand your concern. You’re thinking about what happens if I get injured, right?”
He pretended he couldn’t hear Osk murmur, “If injured is all, that’d be fine…,” under his breath.
“Relax. I won’t make an issue out of it no matter what happens to me. And I’ll draw up paperwork to that point.”
“But if something like that happened, I’d be out of business. Word on the street is, the empire and the Nation of Darkness are allies. If the king of our allied nation got severely injured, the country would hate me.”
“I promise I won’t cause you any trouble like that.”
“You can say that, but…” Osk seemed to think a bit before continuing. “This isn’t the right way to put it, but could you offer something as collateral?”
“Collateral? Such as?”
“…Please lend me something like you gave Ainzach earlier. If, should anything happen, I can have it, then I’m fine with it.”
“If that works for you, then I’ll make that promise. But I can’t give it to you right this instant. I promise to deliver it tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty… I have a question for you, if that’s all right?”
Ainz waved a hand to gesture that he should continue.
“As a bit of an entertainment manager, I collect a lot of information—especially about the powerful people and monsters I’m going to have appear at the arena. Among those rumors has been one about you, Your Majesty. Is it true that you killed tens of thousands of kingdom subjects with a single spell?”
“Ahem!” Ainzach coughed, seemingly on purpose. He was shooting an accusatory glare at Osk, but it wasn’t as if Ainz was trying to hide, and neither was it something he was ashamed to talk about.
“That’s right. I killed them with my magic. Are you going to condemn me?”
“No, I just wanted to hear how much magic power you have. It would be extremely bad if you used a spell like the one in the rumors. The arena is in the capital, you know.”
“No, no, of course I wouldn’t use that sort of spell.”
Not even Ainz would use that spell in the middle of an allied country’s capital. What kind of terrorist would that make him?
“Naturally, that’s what I thought. Your Majesty is so intelligent, you’d hardly think you’re an undead. You don’t seem like the type to hate life and perpetrate huge massacres. Just sometimes I screw up by neglecting to check something that seems obvious.”
Ainz felt the same way. That was always the danger when someone new came in. Actually, Satoru Suzuki had made mistakes like that, too.
“It’s only natural to think along those lines. I’ll say it once more: I wouldn’t use that sort of spell.”
“Why not? Does it have something to do with the positions of the stars?”
“It’s nothing to do with anything like that…” A little light bulb went on in Ainz’s head. “Uh, it’s actually my most powerful ace move. It was Sir El Nix’s earnest wish, so I had no choice but to use a major spell I can only cast once every ten years. So now I have to save up energy for ten years.”
“Oh-ho!” A strange light twinkled in Osk’s eyes. “Are you sure it was okay to tell me that? In a way, you just
revealed a weak point, Your Majesty…”
“It’s fine. Even if I can’t use that destructive of a spell, it’s simple for me to kill any fools who antagonize me. It’s not as though all my magic is incapacitated, you know.”
“I’d expect nothing less from the King of Darkness. So you’re saying it would be a simple matter for you to defeat the martial king, is that right?”
When Ainz nodded boastfully, Osk plastered on a smile. But Ainz couldn’t tell by looking if it was genuine or not.
“I see. There’s one more thing I’d like to ask, please. Why do you want to fight the martial king?”
“I heard he was someone strong… I want to know if he is stronger than Gazef Stronoff. In the kingdom, there was Gazef. So how about in the empire? I was curious—that’s the biggest factor.”
Of course, that wasn’t actually the reason he was fighting. It was the result of his meeting with Ainzach.
Ainz wouldn’t mind telling the truth, but he just didn’t feel like he could trust this guy. He seemed like the type to prioritize his own interests. He judged that opening up to a person like that wouldn’t yield very good results.
“I understand. Thank you… Let’s set you up for a match with the martial king, then, Your Majesty. But…” Ainz was going to thank him, but Osk held up a hand to stop him. “I want you to follow the rules of the arena. And even if for you and the martial king, it’s a serious fight, for us, it’s entertainment. A one-sided fight is no fun, so I want you to fight him with a sword—weapons, no magic. I humbly propose that that will make it a good match.”
“What?!”
It was Ainzach who leaped to his feet. His face was flushed with anger.
“Who could do that?! His Majesty the King of Darkness is a caster! How do you expect him to win like that?”
“Oh-ho. Right. Even the King of Darkness won’t be able to win if his magic is sealed away. Ugh, what an uninspired suggestion. But I didn’t expect you to say something like that. I didn’t think you cared whether His Majesty won or not. It seems I need to adjust my perspective on that.”
“Why, you!”
“Ainzach, don’t get all excited. I’m fine with it.”
“…Your Majesty, what did you say?”
The Ruler of Conspiracy Page 26
