Neia sought the form of the Sorcerer King who had disappeared into the sky, and as she thought that it was a shame that she could not see him, Neia entered the side tower.
As he greeted the demihumans invading the city with attack spells from the air, Ainz thought about the sequence of events which had transpired and wrinkled his nonexistent brows.
―That was a huge mistake. The order was all wrong. I should have prioritized Neia Baraja over that annoying woman.
Neia had died because he helped Remedios and was thus delayed in going to Neia’s side. He had to use a high level wand to resurrect Neia, because he was not sure how high level Neia was, and he was afraid of her turning to ash like the Lizardman from back then.
In truth, he had no idea whether the price of resurrecting Neia was justified by the benefits she could bring to Ainz and Nazarick. That said, since the plan to help Remedios and indebt her to him had been a complete failure, he ought to at least try again with Neia, which was why he had chosen to resurrect her. However―
…Would a Wand of Resurrection ― a seventh tier spell ― have been fine as well?…It seems I was being too generous. Also, it’ll take an hour before I can swap out this ring.
Ainz was looking at one of his eight rings, the one on his right thumb.
It was the Ring of Wand Mastery.
Said ring was an ultra-rare artifact dropped by a boss.
Normally, only magic casters of the appropriate tradition would be able to use the spells stored within a wand. For instance, only a divine caster could use a wand imbued with the first tier divine spell 「Light Healing」. If they could be used by magic casters of other traditions, then they would be staves, which were more expensive.
That said, a patch had updated certain wands so they could be used by all players. Unfortunately, the wand imbued with the ninth tier spell 「True Resurrection」 that he had used to resurrect Neia was not one of them, and Ainz would not be able to use it under normal circumstances.
However, he could use it as long as he had this ring.
Yet every time the ring was used, it only applied to one wand at a time, and he would have to wait an hour before he could change it out. It also carried the drawback of requiring mana to use, but it was still a very valuable item regardless.
Due to its high rarity, very few people in the guild “Ainz Ooal Gown” possessed it, and the one which Ainz had was left to him by Amanomahitotsu when he had quit the game.
Well, it doesn’t look like I’ll need to use that wand anywhere else, so I shouldn’t let it bother me. Speaking of which, I just realized when I covered her eyes, it feels like she simply respects me. Given what she said… does that mean I’ve gained her trust? Umu. I wonder what happened?
Ainz recalled Neia’s reaction.
Her gratitude sounded sincere… but at the same time it felt like she was glaring at me. Is it because her face is scary? How about recommending she wear sunglasses or something?
Ainz might have thought that, but of course he could not actually say it. In the carriage, she had mentioned being conscious of how scary her eyes had looked.
If one encountered a lady with smelly armpits, how would they react when you said, “You stink,” and gave them a bottle of perfume?
It feels like all the respect I’ve cultivated would vanish and she would only resent me…
In addition, Ainz ― Suzuki Satoru ― was not brave enough to say such things.
Ainz spotted a cluster of demihumans nearby and discharged an area-effect spell at the ground, slaughtering them all. The militiamen who had been facing them waved to him. Ainz raised his arm as well by way of response. Originally, he had intended to just raise his hand, but there was a distance between them, so he put his arm up high in order for them to see him.
That’s right~ It’s the merciful Sorcerer King~ Be grateful to me~ speaking of which, does resurrection magic make people go mad or act weirdly? Compared to that, it would be better if she was just pumped up or on a buzz…
Ainz thought about Neia.
It felt strange no matter how he thought about it. She had been perfectly normal when he had parted ways with her, but she had ended up like that after being brought back to life.
Is she mad? Should I heal her with magic? It would be a little scary if it was a side effect of resurrection. I don’t want to end up warping her personality as time passes.
There had been a strange force in Neia’s murderous eyes, an insane, ferocious gleam that frightened him.
It’s so bad that she mistook me for justice, huh. Some rest ought to help with that… oh.
Ainz turned his gaze to the demihuman position.
Half of it had already been destroyed, and Soul Eaters were walking lazily among the fleeing demihumans. Even that much was enough to send the demihumans collapsing in droves from their instant death auras. The Soul Eaters who consumed their souls became stronger in turn.
When Soul Eaters appeared in YGGDRASIL, they were almost always level-appropriate encounters, so the chances of a player being downed by an instant death effect would only be one in a hundred or less. That was why this special ability of Soul Eaters rarely got the chance to see use.
However, it was different this time. This was the perfect opportunity to show it off.
“Souls, huh… oh no. I should have experimented with this.”
Ainz suddenly landed. Then he used his ability to create mid-tier undead to craft a Soul Eater.
Go.
After he issued a mental command, the Soul Eater immediately began to move. At the same time, he sent an order to the Soul Eaters who were obliterating the demihumans outside.
It went: leave some prey for the newly-made Soul Eater.
Undead created with corpses did not vanish with the passage of time. But why did they not vanish?
If it’s not because they’re using the corpse as a medium, but the soul, does it mean that Soul Eaters which have eaten souls won’t vanish?…Well, even if I found the answer I wouldn’t know where to apply it. Still, knowing is better than not knowing.
He ascended into the sky once more, and verified that the city was safe. Most of the demihumans should have been wiped out by now, but he ought to be careful, just in case.
Muu, that annoying woman is there. Ignore her, ignore her.
Ainz looked away from Remedios and flew elsewhere.
As Ainz flew, he could hear cheers coming from below him, and Ainz responded with a wave of the hand. After verifying that there were no more demihumans ― that the fighting had ended, Ainz began making his way to the war room. He would need a lot of time to return to Nazarick and take care of all sorts of annoying meetings.
“I need to handle this properly…”
A crushing surge of uneasiness flooded into him, and then his emotion suppression calmed him down. The only thing that remained was a chilly sensation in his heart.
I need to use 「Message」to tell Demiurge to meet me in Nazarick.
Once Ainz made his move, victory was all too easy. After wiping out the demihumans attacking the city and finishing a couple of other things, Ainz returned to his own room.
One of those things was to show his face at Caspond’s chambers and ask him for some minor favors in the future. The long and short of it was that after trampling the demihuman encampment underfoot, he had no issue with giving them the leftover rations and everything else ― magic items excepted.