Having laughed aplenty, Ainz quietly turned his eyes to Shalltear.
“Although I have said this to Albedo before, Shalltear is not to fault for this incident. All of the blame lies with me. My predictions could not reach this far despite all of the information that I managed to obtain. Shalltear, you are blameless. Remember these words.”
“Th-thank you.”
“I will leave the matter of finding out what happened to Shalltear to Demiurge. How about it?”
Demiurge bowed his head to express his reverence towards the command. Then, as if suddenly remembering, asked.
“Ainz-sama. About Sebas—.”
“He is bait.”
The Guardians all nodded their heads in subordination as Ainz calmly proclaimed that he would use one of their own as bait. It was obvious to them that the will of the master of the Great Tomb of Nazarick took precedence over the safety of their comrade.
“I do not wish it, but there is no other choice. ……. Although I do not know why Shalltear was targeted, if the enemy were to make another move, there is a high chance that their next target will be the one who accompanied her. That is why I did not call him back to give him a World Class item. …… Albedo, select someone who will secretly observe Sebas’ surroundings. ……. Even if Sebas is to be bait, I have no intention of handing him over so readily. Tell the observer to engage the enemy if they approach him.”
Having given his order, Ainz narrowed his eyes. The intensity of the red flames dimmed slightly.
….. I don’t know who used a World Class item on Shalltear, but eventually, somewhere, we will clash. At that time, I will be sure to repay this debt in full!
“I hear and obey. I will take their strength into consideration and send a dispatch as soon as possible.”
“I leave it to you. Although I have learned that resurrection is possible thanks to Shalltear, I do not wish to ever repeat having to kill what my comrades have created.”
Deeply moved, they bowed their heads. Even if the Guardians already knew that Ainz cherished them so, hearing it directly from his own mouth made it all the more effective.
As if she had just vaguely figured out what had happened to her, Shalltear’s face was appalled. Her expression struggled to hide her shame. Ainz gestured at her to perish the thought.
At that moment, someone beside him spoke.
“Uh, umm, Ainz-sama.”
“What is it, Mare?”
“Um, uh, well, the traces of that battle, should I cover it?”
“No need. Did you know? If you destroy a magic sealing crystal, a powerful blast will come forth and destroy the entire area.”
“Re-really?”
“……. Forgive me, I lied. It is like this. Sometimes, even a lie can turn into the truth. Magic sealing crystals are supposed to be valuable, so they will not be able to test it. Albedo, create a crack in Nigan’s crystal. Tell the head blacksmith to do the same on the armor I commissioned. It should seem like it went through a battle.”
“I will carry out your order.”
“Also, it appears I have been too naive. There is no doubt that there is an enemy near us who seeks to harm Nazarick. We must move onto the plan for strengthening Nazarick as soon as possible. For that reason, I will use my skill to create an undead army. I have said all this before….. ah, was it only Albedo who was present then? Regardless, this will be our utmost priority. I wish to establish a plan to collect the corpses from the Re-Lantier graveyard.”
“There is something I wish to say to you regarding that matter, Ainz-sama.”
“What is it, Albedo?”
“When Ainz-sama creates undead with his skill, it is to my knowledge that using human bodies as the catalyst will, at best, result in the weaker type of undead minions, even if they are of the intermediate rank.”
“Right. And what of it?”
The undead made from the bodies of the Sunlight Scripture were, at best, level 40. When he tried to raise them past that level, after a certain time, they vanished along with the corpses.
“Yes. In truth, I have devised a way for you to obtain new bodies. Will you not consider using corpses other than humans?”
“……. I will assume that you are not talking about the corpses of Nazarick’s servants.”
“No, of course not. It is a different race.”
Albedo smiled. A smile that was both cruel— and beautiful.
“Aura discovered a village of Lizardmen. Will you not invade their land and purge them?”
Epilogue
The leader of the mithril ranked adventurer group 「Sky Wolf」, Berette, opened the front entrance to the adventurer’s guild.
Adventurers were looking at him with respect and worship.
Berette was already quite used to this scene, but the intensity of the gazes did not seem to be as strong as compared to a month ago.
Guess it can’t be helped.
He set his eyes on the bulletin board’s commission contents, but unfortunately he was unable to find any mithril ranked ranked missions at all.
Missions only entrusted to mithril ranked adventurers did not appear very often. However the reason for the shortage of missions this time was because an adventurer who could quickly solve all missions ranked mithril and above had appeared.
"…Momon-san."
Half complaining, Berette muttered this name.
About a month ago, this man exterminated a vampire that was both highly capable and unbelievably powerful.
It was a fierce battle that had shaken the heavens and earth. He didn’t witness the battle himself, but after the seeing the remnants of the battle, one could imagine just what kind of battle it was. Igavaruji's adventurer group, Kuragura, had accompanied him but were completely annihilated from the collateral damage they suffered during the fight. This result was not surprising.
No, if anyone were to join that battle, it would be certain death.
The explosion of the magic sealing crystal had charred the surrounding ground black, some areas had even turned into a desert. The shocking thing was, if it hadn’t been done that way, the vampire would’ve been impossible to defeat. Furthermore—
“—They survived…"
On the other hand, they, who had been victorious and returned safely, would naturally be regarded as more of a monster than the vampire against whom Berette never stood a chance.
That was why his tone just now had been humble, and furthermore, Ainz was strong enough to command the respect of others.
Just as he was fantasizing about this absolutely powerful being, he heard the door opening and a commotion broke out, as if a burst of wind had entered the guild.
Roughly guessing what the commotion was about, Berette also turned his gaze toward the direction everyone else was looking at. Sure enough, he saw the person he expected.
The main topic of this town was the 「Dark Hero」, Momon.
With two great swords on his back and accompanied by a woman of peerless beauty.