Should they not bet their lives on this challenge?
“All right then, I will entrust this sword to you.”
The Sorcerer King stepped off the stage, presenting its hilt to one of the aged smiths. Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps he had researched it beforehand, but the man to whom he presented it was considered a genius second only to Gondo’s own late father, and his voice carried much weight among the runesmiths.
He did not reach out for it.
It was only natural to be confused when presented with such a mighty blade.
“Is, is it alright? Is it alright to hand such a powerful — a weapon which I may never see again in all my life to someone like me?”
“Right now, you are not Dwarves tempted by wine, but runesmiths who wish to take up a challenge. I can place my trust in that. In addition, I will be leaving this city for a while. Thus, I am simply lending it to you.”
The Dwarf straightened himself up.
“…I see. Then, please permit me to borrow it, Your Majesty.”
He bowed deeply, and received the sword with the utmost respect.
“Still, I have to say that I do not quite understand the techniques of runecraft. Is it possible to carve runes upon a blade and then further enchant it with magic?”
“It doesn’t work that way, Your Majesty. Runes are characters imbued with mana. Thus, carved runes and enchantments are mutually repulsive. If a powerful magic caster tries an enchantment, the runes will distort.”
“Is that so…”
“Incidentally, when you say you will be leaving Feoh Gēr, where will you be heading?”
“Ah, I will be going to your former Royal Capital.”
The Dwarves groaned all at once.
He could hear them say things like “That ruined—” “To such a dangerous place—” “Where the Quagoa still rule”
Gondo knew that much, but there was a message within them which he could not overlook.
“They say there are three trials awaiting those who wish to go there from this place. Will it be alright?”
“The three hazards, said to be impassable. Even if you make it past the first of them… the Maze of Death is impenetrable.”
All the speakers were elder Dwarves. As expected of those who were old and full of years, it would seem they knew things even Gondo did not. It might be best to ask them about it and inform the Sorcerer King.
The runesmith who had straightened himself up gave his counsel to the Sorcerer King.
“Your Majesty, that place should be the lair of a gigantic Dragon. That lord of the Frost Dragons, the White Dragon Lord, might be in residence. He was the reason for the destruction of Feoh Tiwaz. I know Your Majesty is possessed of great power, but in my humble opinion, that Dragon Lord is equally powerful. I pray you will take care of yourself.”
“…A Dragon, then. Indeed, it would make for a very interesting opponent. Then I shall proceed with the greatest of caution and deal with it carefully.”
After that, there were several more simple questions, and the meeting was dissolved. This was because everyone realized that the sooner it ended, the more time the Sorcerer King would have to take back their capital. They couldn’t bear to get in the way of that, Gondo thought.
Or perhaps, they wanted to inspect the sword they had received.
Gondo did not know which answer was correct, but given the inferno in the eyes of the Dwarven artisans, it was probably the latter.
The desire to shout “Yahoo!” filled Ainz.
He had felt that way ever since he had finished his presentation. It was no different from when he had been Suzuki Satoru. Whether he had succeeded or failed, he wanted to cry out as he basked in the feeling of liberation and relief.
“That was amazing, Ainz-sama! You really got that lot all fired up!”
“That was truly incredible. The only person in Nazarick who could do that is you, Ainz-sama!”
Ainz resisted the urge to go, “Ah, no~” in embarrassment as Aura and Shalltear praised him. Perhaps if they were Demiurge or Albedo, he might peek at them while wondering if they were mocking him. But since it was Aura and Shalltear, he could take their words at face value. Perhaps if he was Suzuki Satoru, he might even say, “I’m beat, want to grab a drink?” and head toward a vending machine, but the man who ruled Nazarick and the Sorcerous Kingdom could not say such things.
“—Hm, well, it was nothing much. I’m sure Demiurge or Albedo could do a better job.”
“Certainly not!”
“Yup yup! Even those two couldn’t play those Dwarves that well!”
Ainz did not feel that way, but he had not expected the situation to develop this well. And then, the creeping feeling of guilt over whether this success was a good thing began creeping up on him.
Naturally, the sword he had shown the Dwarves was an item from YGGDRASIL.
YGGDRASIL did not have a rune system. Then again, it might have existed within the game’s data, but it had not been discovered by anyone until the very end. Therefore, the runes carved on that sword were merely cosmetic — for decoration.
At first, he had thought, maybe they might get interested if they saw this sword. But he had been caught completely off guard by the intensity of their reaction, to the point where he kind of regretted saying that he wanted them to make a sword like that.
However, Ainz tamped down that feeling.
He had to strengthen the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. Since a foe with a World-Class Item might appear in the future, and there might be hidden players out there fighting him, he had to increase their combat strength.
Ainz looked at Shalltear.
She was a Vampire girl who seemed to be blushing in embarrassment — which was actually quite surprising when he thought about it. She was a seed Peroroncino had left behind. And she was the first NPC he had no choice but to kill with his own two hands.
His emotion suppression cancelled out the surge of hatred that followed, but even so, he could not forget it. He could not forget the shadow of the holder of the World-Class Item that had made him do such a thing.
In order to reach his goal, even making people miserable with lies was hardly worthy of consideration. The most important thing in this world was the residents of Nazarick. All other lives were two or three rungs below them.
Equality of lives was nothing more than a madman’s ravings.
If all life was equal, then he would like to put a man who tortured people to death in one electric chair and a champion of said equality in another, and then make the latter decide which of them should die. Anyone who could actually say that they could entrust their fate to a roll of the dice was a true believer.
However, Ainz would kill the former without hesitation. This was because Ainz knew that lives were not equal. There was no comparing the lives of the NPCs within Nazarick to the lives of the people outside it.
“That’s Ainz-sama for you!”
“You’re right!”
Before he could finish his train of thoughts, the praise of Aura and Shalltear stabbed at his heart. In any case—
“Don’t say they were ‘played’. I merely told them the truth.”
He had said that to them for the sake of Gondo, who should have been behind him.
However, when there was no response from behind, a somewhat puzzled Ainz turned around.
Gondo padded closer, prepared to send Ainz off.
“…What is it, Gondo?”
Upon being addressed, Gondo raised his head.
“…Your Majesty. Since you said all that to them, am I to take it that the Council approved of sending over the runesmiths?”
“Indeed. They did say they would also send an inspection team in the future to see if they were being treated as slaves, but fundamentally, they agreed to do so.”