He kept the wand — which substituted for a royal scepter — at his waist. It was infused with a 1st-tier spell, but since he had no intention of activating it, it should not pose any problems.
After looking at himself up and down, he felt that this getup was somewhat at odds with the objective of seeking friendly relations, but Aura and Shalltear strongly approved of it.
The problem was that both of them thought too highly of Ainz, so he felt uneasy about relying on their opinion.
Thus, he asked Zenberu for his view on the matter.
After some fidgeting — from being asked about something which lay outside his field of expertise — Zenberu finally said something along the lines of “Your attire would surely inspire awe in anyone who sees it”. Ainz took his word for it, and came here.
However, the Dwarves he encountered turned pale, their postures shot through with nervousness. Of course, that too was an appropriate reaction to a king.
“Announcing the arrival of His Majesty, the Sorcerer King!”
He could hear the Dwarf announcer from the other side of the door.
When the door opened, Ainz entered the chamber.
It looked like a meeting room, and there were eight Dwarves there.
Incidentally, he had learned their names, their posts, their looks and features from the commander-in-chief.
There was the High Priest of Earth, who governed everything to do with magic. He held sway over divine magic casters and even arcane magic casters.
There was the Forgemaster, who controlled all production which derived from the forges.
There was the commander-in-chief who had brought them here. He was responsible for all security and military matters. Once, he had commanded many Dwarven soldiers, but the fact that he only had less than a hundred men now made the title a joke.
There was the Director of Food Production, who managed food production and other industries which did not concern the forges.
There was the Cabinet Secretary, who was in charge of everything which fell outside the jurisdiction of the other leaders here.
There was the Brewmaster, who was on this Council because there had to be a leadership position for the Dwarven people’s favorite pastime of alcohol.
There was the Master of Caves and Mines, who had a lot of power in this city due to his influence over the sphere of mining and resource extraction.
Once, there had been an organization called the Merchant’s Guild, but due to the lack of traders and trade in general, the title of Merchant’s Guildmaster was now a hollow position in charge of foreign affairs.
Those were the eight of them.
Ainz slowly swept his gaze across everyone. Seven of them stared at him. The last one — the commander-in-chief — had a look of fatigue on his face instead, and his eyes met Ainz’s.
Ainz was pretending to be the picture of calm, but his heart was in chaos.
Oi! I can’t even tell them apart! Maybe some of them have shorter beards than the others, but aren’t they all pretty much the same length? Was he lying to me? No, that must have been how he saw it. What should I do?
Zenberu’s memories had depicted them all with identical faces, and at first Ainz thought it was simply because the Lizardman saw all Dwarves as the same. He had even felt that Zenberu’s ability to recognize faces needed improvement. However, that was not the case.
I’m sorry I doubted you, Zenberu. You were telling me the truth all along.
In this world, there was no practice of exchanging business cards upon a meeting, a fact which he had long lamented. Ainz felt the same way today, and then he gathered his strength into his belly.
Next would come a presentation which he had already made several times. Of note was the fact that he had two Guardians behind him and a subordinate of his subordinate. He could not allow them to see him make a fool of himself.
…If only I hadn’t brought the three of them…
However, his regrets were immaterial. The die had been cast[7], after all.
Still — while he had psyched himself for it, there was not a single trace of the dialogue starting. The silence remained unbroken for a full minute after his arrival.
What’s going on? Standard practice for a company would be to start by the host introducing their staff, right? Shouldn’t the commander-in-chief introduce us?…Or should I make the first move? I’m not too well-versed in courtly etiquette and I don’t want to appear boorish.
According to courtly etiquette, inferiors could not address the king directly. Direct interaction required a permission of some sort. In other words, the king was an untouchable being. Therefore, if Ainz initiated the dialog, would the Dwarves look down upon him?
After looking at the Dwarves, was the answer yes or no?
That said, I doubt anyone will slight me, given the country’s situation and the actions I took. If that really happens, then I might as well say that I won’t negotiate with a pack of buffoons like them.
Having made up his mind, Ainz decided to make his pitch.
“I am the ruler of the Sorcerous Kingdom, the Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown.”
The Dwarves sprang into motion, as though they were reconnected to a power supply.
“We, we bid you welcome, sovereign of the Sorcerous Kingdom, Your Majesty Ainz Ooal Gown. May we offer you a seat? There are seats for your esteemed followers over there.”
Ainz nodded, and then he was ushered to what he called the birthday boy’s place. He sat down with regal aplomb, using movements he had practiced over and over. Shalltear, Aura and Zenberu sat behind Ainz.
“Then, we shall introduce ourselves. Firstly, I am this country’s—”
And so, the Dwarves gave their names.
The opening seemed to have gone without a hitch, but Ainz could not contain his worries.
Just keeping their eight names in mind was already difficult. Having to associate each of those names and titles with a face was proving to be quite the challenge.
Names were easy enough to remember, but adding a title onto that made him uneasy. Things like whether it was Master of Caves and Mines or Master of Mines and Caves only made things worse.
That said, Ainz managed to remember them. He would not have been able to do it had he not inquired about them with the commander-in-chief earlier.
“Please allow us to thank you on behalf of this country. Without Your Majesty, this country would have been destroyed.”
Those words were spoken by the Master of Caves and Mines. All the Dwarves present nodded in response.
The members of the Council apparently took turns leading it, so the leader this time around was the Master of Caves and Mines.
“Pay it no heed. Saving someone in trouble is common sense.”
“Your Majesty is a truly magnanimous person. We will surely aid you to the best of our ability if any trouble besets you. That said, I fear we cannot do much to aid your august person, who commands the troops that saved our nation from extinction with but two of their number.”
“It’s nothing like that. My country is indeed powerful in a military sense. However, there are some inadequacies when it comes to other fields. I would be very grateful if you could provide help to me in those aspects.”
“I see. We would be glad to be of service to Your Majesty — to the Sorcerous Kingdom. However, before that, we pray Your Majesty will tell us the reason for your visit to our country, if it is convenient. The commander-in-chief has already told us, but we would like to hear it directly from you.”
The Master of Caves and Mines narrowed his eyes slightly.
7
In Japanese it was: "Alea iacta est" — is a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 B.C. as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy.