"You are right as always Ainz-sama. The best thing would be to approach the problem the same way as we did in the kingdom."
"You mean send a small scouting group to their country to collect valuable Intel, layouts, population numbers and military strength?"
"Exactly so Ainz-sama."
"Though I do agree with the approach, the question we have to answer next is: who will go?"
Almost all of the people that Ainz could rely on to complete missions outside Nazarick were either unavailable or unfit for the job."
Sebas and Solution were still working hard inside the kingdom. Though according to Demiurge the day when they took over the kingdom completely was near, it still was too long away for Ainz to recall them. Demiurge was buried in work as it is and Shalltear was out of the question for obvious reasons. Albedo was out scouting possible POI's for where his comrades may be hiding and the twins would be too dangerous seeing as the Slane Theocracy was so biased against non-humans.
"Haaah, as expected if would have to be the free members of the Pleiades. That would mean Yuri Shizu or Entoma."
"Might I suggest Yuri and Shizu? Seeing as Entoma might be a bit too dangerous."
"Hmm that's good for a start but still not enough. They need to have a high level NPC with them, one that can protect those two if bad goes to worst."
"Then how about sending Lycan?"
…
"That fellow huh?" Ainz wavered for a second.
It was true that the NPC Lycan met both of the requirements, he was both a high level NPC of Nazarick and would be indistinguishable from a normal human to the naked eye. The problem was that he is a loose cannon and had a bad personality. Ainz was unsure whether he could be entrusted to guard Shizu and Yuri during this important mission.
With the members of Nazarick spread thin, I can't be picky with the members I choose to send outside anymore.
Ainz thought about it for a second and then an idea struck him like lightning.
That's it I'll just give them that thing along as a means of escaping. Even Gargantua could make an escape if he used that.
"Huh, very well then. Shalltear please get me Yuri and Shizu and also, find whatever hole Lycan is sleeping in and bring him to me as well."
"Understood Ainz-sama!"
Shalltear bowed and left the room followed by Demiurge who also bowed and left to return to his other tasks.
Well then thighs are starting to get interesting, to finally have a chance to repay the ones who brainwashed Shalltear, I'm getting….
… a little excited.
Part 2
A month later
The old man awoke to the sound of a soft knocking. Inside the Tomb of Nazarick one would normally not be able to sleep soundly being a human, but this man was an exception as ever since coming here he had been sleeping peacefully on the rare occasions that he slept at all.
"Fluder-san you asked me to wake you up after four hours."
The sound of the soft female voice came from beyond the door of Fluder's room.
Fluder raised the upper half of his body and softly addressed the maid behind the door.
"Ah thank you very much, I'm awake now so feel free to resume your work."
"I understand, then please have a good day."
Soft footsteps could be heard as the maid behind the door left to resume her cleaning duties elsewhere.
"A good day… huh?"
To Fluder ever since coming here, every day had been bliss like a dream that never ended. Fluder had− after he had betrayed the empire defected to Nazarick under the pretext that he was borrowed to the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown to expand each other's knowledge of magic. Fluder had expected that the emperor had discovered his relations with Nazarick and thus requested this transfer. Afterwards he had sent a letter to the emperor explaining that he wasn't coming back and why, though he was almost certain that emperor Jircniv wouldn't bother reading it as he already knew what was in it, which he hadn't.
When the letter was delivered to the emperor all that he had said was "a letter huh, gramps?" and promptly thrown it into the fireplace with a face full of disappointment and disgust.
Fluder on the other hand couldn't care less about Jircniv or the empire anymore. He had left everything that he was, everything that he represented and everything that he pretended to be behind. The true him that was buried beneath decades of chasing the impossible had finally come out. He had shed his fake appearance and had become his true self, a man obsessed with nothing but magic.
Fluder felt his eyes were wet and started wiping away the moisture with his fingers while also confirming once more that all of this wasn't a dream, that he really had obtained a method of realizing his greatest ambition, which was to peer in the abyss of magic itself.
"How many times have I cried in my sleep since coming here I wonder? Is it one out of three or one out of two by now?"
Fluder spent almost every waking moment on research or work and even when he did sleep he often dreamed about the abyss of magic, thus crying tears of joy was no surprise. Moreover he hardly ate and even used magic which reduced fatigue so he could immerse himself even more in his magic research. But the old body of Fluder still had its limits and despite his best efforts still needed food and rest as he did not possess a 'ring of sustenance' like the floor guardians did.
He glared from the corner of his eyes at the shadowy figure standing in the corner of his bedroom. There stood what normal men would describe as death incarnate. A humongous monstrosity wearing rusted armor equipped with a shield and a sword, without flesh on its face and nothing but bones. A seemingly legendary creature called a death knight and Fluder's guard. Though a more accurate description would be warden or jailer.
Unlike the previous human that was allowed residence into Nazarick− the former brothel prostitute Tsuare, Fluder was a dangerous man even to Nazarick. It was not his ability to use magic of the 6th tier that made him dangerous, seeing as even Naberal was well capable of beating him in a magic battle. It was his ability to use teleportation magic on top of spells like {message} which could allow him to pass valuable intelligence to the outside which could be extremely detrimental to Nazarick.
Even though Ainz had stated that the chance of Fluder opposing Nazarick was low Demiurge had insisted on keeping him under at least minimum surveillance at all times. Fluder however didn't care if his new master trusted him or not. He had experienced worse in the Baharuth Empire when he was still in service of the first emperor. All he cared for was being able to stay and devote himself to Ainz until he had finally reached his goal and seen the extent of the abyss of magic. Afterwards he would gladly die and didn't even care if he was turned into an undead to serve Ainz from beyond the grave, no he would be most delighted if he could repay his master's kindness that way.
Still it was very surprising how quickly Fluder had gotten used to a death knight standing behind him and watching him sleep. Though he was certain that the death knight cared very little for what Fluder did or who he was, it wouldn't be all that surprising if suddenly the death knight decided to kill Fluder in his sleep. To Fluder this was a situation much like sleeping under a guillotine.
More than having a legendary undead stand next to me all the time, I'm surprised that it does not have the negative aura that the one in the empire does. Could death knights have the ability to turn off their negative auras at will?