Because the shadow covering the door had disappeared, it was possible to peer inside the opened hole. There lay a well-managed and orderly world, totally different from the places before. If an analogy is desired, the most fitting description would be similar to a museum exhibition.
The dimly lit room was very long, stretching inwards continuously.
There was a space of about five meters between the floor and ceiling. It was not designed with human height in mind, but to allow entry for non-humans. The width of the room was approximately ten meters.
The floor was closely paved with slabs emitting black light, appearing like a single enormous piece of stone. It created an atmosphere of solemn tranquility.
Both sides of the room were lined with numerous weapons, which was quite a spectacle to behold.
“Get in.”
Without waiting for the response of the other three people, Ainz walked straight into the armoury.
Greeting the trio was a range of weapons, including broadswords, great swords, estocs, flamberges, scimitars, patas, shotels, kukris, claymores, short swords, swordbreakers…
Of course, the display consisted of more than just swords. There were also one-handed axes, two-handed axes, one-handed blunt weapons, one-handed spears, bows, cross-bows…
Even after classifying the weapons, one would still lose count.
Apart from those, there were also many flashy weapons which raised the question of whether they could still be classified as weapons. Some seemed impossible to fit inside their scabbards and focused only on its appearance, etc. These types of weapons made up the majority.
Almost none of these weapons were made from common metals like iron.
There were weapons with blades made from blue crystal, pure white blades with gold patterns, black blades with engraved purple runes, even a bow with strings seemingly made out of light.
Aside from these, there were weapons that were obviously dangerous with just a glance.
A double-handed axe with blood oozing out of its edge, a huge mace where faces of agony would occasionally flash across the black metal, a spear which looked as if it were formed from entwining human hands. Such weapons were also numerous.
Whilst it was easy to guess that these were mostly magic weapons, one couldn’t even begin to guess at their effects. A sword with a blade swaying like flames was quite obvious, but the magical effect of a whip-like sword with the appearance of a squirming centipede was simply impossible to predict.
The group observed these weapons from the side and silently walked towards the centre of the armoury. After around one hundred meters in, approximately passing several thousand weapons on the way, they arrived at their destination — a rectangular shaped room.
Possibly used to receive guests, in this otherwise empty room there were only sofas and tables. Looking to the side, you could see an entryway similar to the one which Ainz and the others had come in from.
There was only one path that could be taken in the place opposite from the entrance direction, and there was a different atmosphere. If up until now it was a museum, from here onwards it was a tomb.
The height and width was about the same, but this even dimmer room stretched endlessly inwards. Although it was difficult to discern due to the bad viewing angle, it was still possible to spot the numerous large pits dug into the wall which seemed to have something placed inside.
Hearing the alarmed voices from behind, Ainz replied:
“Before us lies the Mausoleum.”
“The Mausoleum?”
“Hmm? Albedo… you don’t know the name of the room past here?”
Though I chose the name myself…seeing as Albedo is like this, could it be that she does not know who the caretaker of the Treasure Hall is?
“Then, do you know Pandora’s Actor?”
“Yes. As part of my management responsibilities, I know his name and appearance… Pandora’s Actor is the Treasure Hall’s Area Guardian, equal in strength to Demiurge and I. Apart from managing this place, he is also in charge of preparing the gold consumed when activating Nazarick’s protection net and other responsibilities. Simply put, he is the one in charge of finance.”
“That’s roughly it, but not quite right. That fellow—”
Ainz’ speech was interrupted — before he could finish his sentence, the three NPC characters turned their heads to look at the path, at a figure which had suddenly appeared.
It had a bizarre appearance.
Although the body was that of a humanoid, its head was similar to that of a distorted octopus. On the right side of the head, at least half was covered by crooked text tattoos, similar to those which appeared on the door earlier.
The skin colour was like a corpse — deathly white with some purple mixed in, emitting a strange sheen as if covered in a layer of mucus. Each hand had four slender, webbed fingers.
Its garments were completely black and decorated with silver accessories that matched well with the glossy leather that clung tightly to its body. It wore several loosely-fitting belts and had a black cloak which looked as if it were about to be worn was folded and being held.
Simply put, it was truly of an alien race. Six squirming tentacles extended from the side of the mouth to near the thigh. Those two pupil-less and blue-white murky eyes turned to look at the group.
Albedo let out a surprised voice:
“Tabula Smaragdina-sama!”
This was one of the 41 Supreme Beings. In terms of pure destructive power, he was a stronger magic caster than Ainz.
“No, wrong!”
Albedo immediately exclaimed.
Following her reaction, the two battlemaids sprung into action.
Shizu took out her gun, resting the rifle butt against her shoulder and pointed its muzzle towards the figure.
Yuri smashed her fists together in front of her chest; her metal gauntlets collided to release a loud bell-like sound.
Next, she slid to Albedo’s side, in front of Ainz and Shizu. Ainz was a magic caster, Shizu was a gunner. This was the best position to protect those two who were unsuited for melee battles.
“Identify yourself!? Even if you disguise yourself as a Supreme Being, I am not foolish enough to fail in recognizing my own creator!”
Faced with Albedo’s question, the person with the appearance of Tabula Smaragdina merely tilted his head in silence.
“— is that so. Kill him.”
As her cold voice rang out, the two battlemaids hesitated briefly. Even if they didn’t know who this was, they still had reservations about attacking someone with the appearance of one of the creators.
Given the situation, the battlemaids were not wrong, Albedo was just that good in making calm and collected judgment without hesitation.
This course of action placed Ainz’ protection as the utmost priority.
Albedo clicked her tongue at the two who didn’t act, and was just about to charge forward when Ainz spoke: