“Oh, I see… Want to go together? I am curious about your adventures.”
Lizzie’s suggestion was a great help for Ainz.
“Yes, it would be my pleasure.”
With Lizzie leading the way, the group walked through the city of Re-Lantier.
“Please come on in.”
After reaching the shop, Lizzie took out her key and lowered her head. She pushed the door and found it opening without any resistance.
“What’s happening, he is too careless.”
Lizzie mumbled to herself as she entered with Ainz and Narberal in tow.
“Nfirea, Momon-san is here──”
Lizzie shouted in the shop, it was quiet without any sign of people.
“Is something wrong?”
Lizzie tilted her head confusedly but Ainz answered curtly:
“This is bad.”
Lizzie was baffled, but Ainz ignored her and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Narberal understood what Ainz meant and unsheathed her blade.
“What, what are you doing!?”
“Don’t ask, just follow me.”
Ainz drew his weapon after the short reply, entering with his sword in hand. He knocked the door inside open and headed towards the right. It was an unfamiliar house, but Ainz showed no hesitation in his footsteps.
Ainz came before the door at the end of the passageway and asked Lizzie who finally caught up:
“What is this place for?”
“This is the storage room for herbs, and a door that leads towards the back door.”
Although she didn’t know what would happen, Lizzie who felt the atmosphere was weird was worried. Ainz didn’t bother himself with her and opened the door.
What he smelled wasn’t the fragrance of herbs, but something more stinging — the smell of blood.
The ones at the front were Peter and Lukeluther, Dyne was further back and Ninya was at the furthest end. All four were leaning lifelessly against the wall. Their legs were straight and their hands were hanging limply. A dark pool of black blood was on the floor, which seemed to have drained from their bodies.
“What, what is happening…”
The surprised Lizzie wanted to enter with unsteady steps. Ainz stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and he rushed into the room.
The collapsed Peter suddenly moved like a puppet, but before it could get up, the flash from a sword went by without hesitation.
Peter’s head rolled on the ground. With a backhand cut, Lukeluther who was attempting to stand was decapitated.
As Lizzie was stunned by the tragedy before her, Dyne who was situated further in had stood up.
His face showed no signs of life and was pale. It looked at Ainz and Lizzie with murky eyes. There was a hole in his forehead which was obviously a fatal wound.
There was only one reason why the dead could move. When they become an undead.
“Zombie!”
As Lizzie shouted, Dyne drew near with a hostile grunt. Ainz immediately stabbed with his sword. It pierced Dyne’s throat and he staggered for a moment before collapsing.
There was no other movement.
Ainz stared at Ninya who sat motionlessly on the ground in silence.
“Nfirea!”
Lizzie finally realized what was happening rushed out to search for her grandson. Ainz glanced at her back and ordered Narberaclass="underline"
“Protect her. My passive skill 「Undead Blessing」 has no reaction, so there shouldn’t be any other undead in this house. But there might be live ones hiding somewhere.”
“Understood.”
Narberal took off after Lizzie after bowing lightly.
Ainz confirmed the departure of the two of them and turned his eyes on Ninya. He slowly knelt down and gently touched the body. After confirming there was no corpse trap which was common in YGGDRASIL, he lifted Ninya’s face. Ninya wasn’t unconscious, but dead.
His face was swollen, probably from the blows of a blunt weapon. Ainz couldn’t recognized him by his face.
His left eye was smashed and flowed out of the socket like a tear.
All the bones in his fingers were cracked and the skin split open, revealing the red muscle within. Some places didn't even have meat. When Ainz removed the clothes for inspection, he was shocked with his eyes wide open.
He put the clothes back in place and mumbled:
“… Even the body was…”
The body was similar to the face, with wounds everywhere due to severe bleeding. It was covered with the color of internal hemorrhage and it was harder to find a spot that wasn’t wounded.
Ainz closed Ninya’s eyes gently.
“… It makes me feel… uncomfortable.”
His mumbling words were gone with the wind.
“My grandson! Nfirea is gone!”
Lizzie screamed when she returned. Ainz who gathered the corpses in a corner of the room replied calmly:
“… I took a look at their belongings, there were no signs of them being searched. Judging from this, the enemy’s objective was to kidnap Nfirea.”
“Ugh!”
“Please look this way.”
Ainz gestured to the bloody words under Ninya’s body. They wouldn’t have been discovered if the body weren’t moved.
“This is… the sewers? It means Nfirea had been taken to the sewers?”
“… It might also be a trap made by the one behind this tragedy. I have no idea how large the sewers are… It would take a lot of time to search it. What are your opinions about this?”
“There are numbers here too! 2–8, what does this mean!?”
“This makes it even more suspicious. I don’t know what these numbers mean… It could be dividing the city into 8 parts along the compass axis and the intersection of 2 and 8, or some sort of address… Did Ninya really have enough strength left to think so complicated? … Even if Ninya wrote it, how much information was leaked by the enemy? This is too much of a coincidence.”
Lizzie frowned her already wrinkled face, and looked as if she was angry with Ainz’s surprisingly calm demeanor. She then shifted her gaze to the four corpses on the ground:
“Who were these people?”
“… They were adventurers commissioned along with me by your grandson. After we parted, they probably came here to unload the herbs.”
“What! They were your comrades!?”
Ainz shook his head:
“No, they were not. We just happened to be adventuring together.”
These cold words made Lizzie disillusioned.
“Speaking of which, I had been thinking about this, but I would like to ask your opinion. What do you think about them turning into zombies?”
“… 「Create Undead」. The enemy has someone who could use magic of at least the 3rd tier. What other possibilities were there?”