Ainz smiled thinly.
Until now, he had not let the enemy observe their power. Because of that, they wanted to throw their unit against Ainz and observe their abilities.
From the enemy’s resolve and actions, he could sense their anxiety and willingness to sacrifice lives to learn about them. It made Ainz feel that he had won his battle of wits against his opponent.
“Ainz-sama, shall we capture them?”
“Hm, come to think of it, we haven’t shown too much of our abilities to the enemy yet. Therefore, let’s gather some information before we roll over their headquarters in one fell swoop.”
“Understood!”
In addition, even if they did learn about them, they could not devise a counter-strategy that easily.
There were two main types of characters in YGGDRASIL.
There were those who specialized in a certain field, and those whose abilities were evenly distributed.
In the former case, even if one learned about an enemy, they would have a hard time dealing with them if the information did not pertain to their specialty. In the latter case, they might be able to deal with them, but given the even spread of their foe’s abilities, said countermeasures against them would not be foolproof.
Of course, there might be people like Ainz who knew many spells and who possessed many items left behind by their comrades, and were thus able to adapt to many circumstances, or someone like Touch Me with very high overall stats, but those were the exception to the rule. Therefore, there was only one thing they had to worry about.
…The number of powerful entities. The fact that I don’t know that figure scares me a little. Given that I can’t fully verify that particular point, I should probably keep the idea of retreat in mind — hm. Well, in any case, we can’t proceed without punching them to see what the enemy has up their sleeve. — Ohh, the spirit of Yamaiko-san is possessing me…
“Shalltear. You are not to go berserk this time, alright?”
“Of course!”
Shalltear readied her Spuit Lance.
“Very good. Normally, we should avoid revealing the fact that we possess divine-class items to the enemy. However, they won’t be able to see through it without very good detection skills. Alright, go.”
“Understood!”
In Feoh Berkanan — the stately, magnificent former Royal Capital of the Dwarves, built during the flower of their civilization — the largest building besides the Royal Palace was the Merchant’s Guild, because it contained many rooms used during meetings and temporary vaults used to briefly store resources.
This building was used by many Dwarves, and it was larger than any other structure in the city. However, it was now the residence of the Lord of the Quagoa Clans, Pe Riyuro.
By the time Yozu returned, Riyuro was seated — almost sinking — into a large and soft cushion. His attitude was one which carried on as normal, without entertaining the possibility of anger or anxiety, even after hearing about Yozu’s failure.
Yozu bowed, and described what had happened.
While the important details had already been sent via messenger, he was here to explain the details. In particular, he needed to thoroughly elaborate on the Dwarven Kingdom’s trump card, the black suits of armor which he had seen with his own two eyes.
Riyuro listened in silence, and then he slowly moved his hand, reaching into a cage beside him. He withdrew a squeaking lizard; a fat, round and juicy lizard, a snack fit for a king.
Riyuro extended the hand holding the lizard toward Yozu.
“—Want a bite?”
“No, no thank you.”
“Really now,” Riyuro muttered. Then he crushed the lizard’s head with his jaws, and Yozu smelled the faint scent of blood and innards.
All 20 centimeters of the lizard disappeared into Riyuro’s mouth within three bites.
Riyuro wiped his bloodstained hands and mouth clean with a nearby towel.
“—And so you retreated. What of your pursuers?”
“We’re unsure of that. However—”
Since the suspension bridge had fallen, he did not think the enemy would continue their pursuit. And frankly speaking, they had the Dwarves by the throat. All the Dwarves could do was reinforce their defenses, find and seal off the flanking route, and then perhaps they might mount a counterattack on this place.
The reason why they had only committed those two suits of black armor was either because they were foolish enough to split their forces or because that was the sum of their military power.
That was Yozu’s opinion, which he shared with Riyuro.
“It wouldn’t be strange if there were one or two more of them.”
Riyuro seemed to have sensed Yozu’s unconscious display of surprise. He poked repeatedly at the lizards in the cage while lazily explaining his meaning.
The Dwarves were confident in their fortress’ defense. If it was brought down, they would feel that the chances of their city being conquered were very high. Therefore, it was not wrong to assume that the black suits of armor they had sent out were a significant portion of their total number.
However, since they did not know how exactly the fortress had been conquered, committing all their forces to the frontlines was a dangerous gamble. If there were multiple avenues of infiltration, then they might be lost.
While it was not a situation where they could dole their fighting strength out bit by bit, they did not have the information to commit their entire force to a counterattack either.
Therefore, even if there were more, there would only be one, maybe two more. This was what he had come up with.
Yozu felt that it was exactly as the Lord had said, and he was filled with awe at the wisdom of his Lord.
“Then, who do you think can defeat those Golems?”
“I am certain that you could defeat it, my Lord!”
Riyuro was the mightiest being among the eight clans of the Quagoa. Indeed, his fighting ability was exemplary.
He might well be able to fight the entire Quagoa race by himself and emerge victorious. There had never been anyone as powerful as him in the history of the Quagoa.
Yozu recalled the sight of Riyuro battling a monster in the past. He was absolutely confident that Riyuro’s might was superior to that of the Golems.
“Dispense with the pleasantries. Do you truly think so?”
“Yes! I do think so!”
Riyuro chuckled bitterly, but Yozu’s reply was earnest. He had no answer besides that.
“…Which Clan were you born in?”
A surprising question. After Yozu stated his birth clan, Riyuro fell into thought once more.
“I see… In that case, you must really think I can win, then?”
“What, what does that mean?”
“I simply suspected that you might consider this a chance to eliminate me. It is true that I am stronger than anyone else in the entire species. Because of that, you might seek to have me battle the Golems after underestimating their strength. Then, the Golems would kill me. Well, if you did that, then nobody would be able to defeat the Golems… but they would be damaged during their battle with me, and then you might be able to crush them with numbers.”
Although the Lord to which he had pledged his loyalty cast his suspicions upon him, Yozu’s heart was filled with nothing but respect.
If he were in Riyuro’s place, he might not have thought so deeply into the issue.
Yozu firmly believed that Riyuro was the true Lord of the Quagoa, and his loyalty deepened ever further.
Riyuro did not quite understand the man before him, and asked Yozu a question.
“…Why did you not immediately answer that you had no such intentions?”
“Yes! My, my deepest apologies! I was merely entranced your deep insights, my Lord! As you have said, I harbored no such intentions!”