Crunch crunch.
They made a crisp, lively sound.
No, in truth she already knew what Lupusregina was eating. Yuri could not consume food, but she could prepare it. Her skills were simple and could not produce special effects from special ingredients, but when it came to regular dishes, she could make just about anything.
Then why had she asked that question out loud—
“—Eating while standing is hardly graceful, and the crumbs are falling everywhere. Remember to clean up afterwards.”
The regular maids did not clean this room. Instead, Yuri and the others took turns to clean it. That said, it was fundamentally Yuri cleaning up for the other two while they were out to work. The reason why they did not let the regular maids in here was not so much that they did not want to let their jobs be taken, but more that their pride refused to allow them to let others clean up their own messes.
Thus, ordering the person who had clearly dirtied the room to clean it up was only to be expected. Even if that person was under the orders of the Supreme Being and led a busy life every day.
In addition, having someone eat something which went crunch crunch while she was feeling frustrated made Yuri angry, as though she was being looked down upon.
This was her complaint against Lupusregina, who had made an undead being like herself feel that way.
“Okie ~su”
— Crunch crunch.
Irritation flooded Yuri’s heart.
— Should I throw a silver knife at her?
Lupusregina was a Werewolf, and while she was weak against silver and similar metals, she possessed a resistance to other metals as well.
For instance, a silver weapon would increase its damage done to her by 25 points, while weapons of other metals would do 10 points less damage. The final damage was calculated after subtracting defensive strength and the like, so if that value was zero, even a silver weapon would not be able to do her harm. Since it was only a silver dagger, a light throw would not cause any damage to her.
However, silver was the metal which Lupusregina hated the most. Just touching it disgusted her. One could say it was the best metal to punish her with.
Perhaps she had used her skill [Animal Instinct] to sense Yuri’s thoughts, but Lupusregina hastily spoke up.
“H-hang on! Come on, give me a break while we’re off-duty. I’ll speak properly in front of Ainz-sama and stuff, I’m a capable woman, you know.”
A capable woman. Yuri was about to furrow her brows when she heard that, but then she thought that Lupusregina was working harder than her, so she could not say anything.
I want to work too… No, Yuri. How can you be jealous of this girl?
Yuri beat back the Dark Yuri within her heart. Then, she felt something connecting at the same moment as she heard a voice.
『—Yuri Alpha.』
Nobody in Nazarick could possibly mistake the owner of that voice for any other.
“A-Ainz-sama!”
Yuri genuflected in the appropriate posture of greeting.
Of course, her Master was not here and he was probably not watching. However, she could not show any disrespect to her Master’s voice.
『…I have a request for you. Come to my room… ahem, my room in Nazarick.』
“A request for me?!” Her absolute Master had no need to ask Yuri Alpha for anything. All he had to do was give an order. “I will proceed there at once!”
『—Umu. And hurry.』
After saying so, the [Message] ended.
“Was that from Ainz-sama?”
“Yes, he said he had a request for me.”
The tension and passion she was feeling was so surprising that it made her face stiffen up.
As an undead being, her strong emotions should have been suppressed, but the enthusiasm kept welling up inside her.
Right now, she was like Shalltear.
For some reason, she felt excited despite being undead. While that might have been because of a status abnormality like [Blood Frenzy], she could not conclude that was the case.
Even the undead could be divided into those who could express strong emotions and those who could not. In order to ascertain this, the Guardian Overseer Albedo had taken it upon herself (apparently) to experimentally investigate the matter.
She gathered high-end undead mercenary monsters, undead created by the Supreme One’s skills, as well as automatically spawned lesser undead generated by Nazarick in order to collect various data from all of them. Yuri had taken part in that exercise as well.
However, these experiments had begun with a special experiment just for Shalltear, and it sparked a great uproar between Albedo and Shalltear that soon spiralled out of control. In the end, the experiment was terminated with no definite findings. After that, she had been interested in hearing about the results of the research as an experimental participant herself. It would seem that difficult to draw a conclusion due to the lack of information on the superior undead beings in this world, so the plan had been temporarily put on hold, according to Albedo — who had been punished to do cleaning with a mop.
Yuri vaguely recalled Demiurge saying that if that research had been conducted in a different place, perhaps it might allow the undead to feel strong emotions.
At that time, would she be able to express her emotions more fully?
And would that be a good thing?
She did not know if the upwelling within her was one of unease or anticipation, but Yuri locked away her personal thoughts on the matter. She would be appearing before the Supreme One soon, and she had to focus herself.
“—Then I’ll be off. I don’t think anything will happen, but please take care of things if they do.”
“Ok-”
“I understand. Take care, Yuri-neesama.”
Narberal interrupted Lupusregina just as she was about to raise a thumb that was oily from her potato chips.
The relaxed mood around her up till now had vanished.
Narberal had her usual faint smile on her. Her ponytail was still drooping slightly, but one could say it was the same as always. Time spent with the Supreme One was special.
“Hey hey, she was saying that to me!”
Ignoring the voice of her little sister from behind, Yuri set forth.
There was no special meaning to that.
She had been summoned by the Supreme One, so spending even a second extra in conversation with her sisters was a waste. It was most definitely not because her sister’s smile had angered her.
Part 3
Yuri Alpha arrived before the chambers of her Supreme Master. On either side were the insectoid vassals which Cocytus had assigned as sentries, who remained stock still. While they were higher-level than Yuri, it was nothing worth worrying about. More than that, Yuri’s heart was focused on the thick, heavy door before her.
She exhaled — of course, Yuri did not need to breathe, so she was just going through the motions — and inhaled. Then, she worked her shoulders up and down, as though to relieve her tension.
Her tension was not for a good reason, such as excitement at being summoned to the chambers of the Supreme One. It was for a bad reason.
That was because she could not think of a reason why she would be selected out of all the entities in Nazarick who were stronger and wiser than herself. The most likely possibility was that he had business with herself, as the assistant leader of the Pleiades Seven Sisters. However, Yuri felt it was more likely that the Supreme One was going to rebuke her for idleness.
These negative thoughts kept floating up in her head, and they weighed down Yuri’s footsteps. Whatever the answer was, she would find out when the door opened.
Yuri reached out to knock.