Friend

"What is the situation?"

After teleporting back to Nazarick, I asked Yuri Alpha, who had been waiting to receive me.

"Lord Ainz and Lady Albedo have returned after confirming that Shalltear Bloodfallen has been brainwashed."

"And our plan of action?"

"Ainz-sama has ordered everyone except Sebas-sama and Solution to return to Nazarick immediately. Furthermore, Ainz-sama has ordered the both of us to meet him and Albedo-sama to join him at the entrance of the treasury."

"Very well, let us head there immediately."

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"I have arrived, Ainz-sama"

Sukuna said with a bow as Ainz turned to look at him. He had reached the treasury a few moments age, accompanied by CZ2128 Delta and Albedo.

"Welcome back, Sukuna. I apologise for cutting your trip short, but the situation is extremely precarious."

"Not at all, Ainz-sama. I am always at your command."

"I assume you have been given all the information about the situation."

"I have the gist Ainz-sama. I assume a world item is at play?"

"Exactly. I hope you realise how important your existence will be in resolving this."

"Yes, Ainz-sama. I believe we are headed to retrieve the World Items?"

"You are right. Now that all of us have gathered, let us enter the inner sanctums."

 "This is the armoury, so what is the password..."

 "Ainz-sama, if there is an armoury, does this mean that there are other treasures stored in other locations?"

...Eh? Does Albedo not know about the interior of the Treasury?

Ainz had no idea why Albedo would have such doubts. However, it was understandable why she would not know about such things. After all, the Treasury did not exist within the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick proper, but could only be reached via the use of the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown. Thus, it was only natural why Albedo — who had only received the ring ten days ago — would not know of such things. 

Before he could explain, Sukuna replied "The Supreme being, lord Genjiro designed the treasury himself in order to store all that Nazarick had to offer. In his own words 'Sorting things neatly looks better.' and thus, the armoury exists in order to hold the greatest weapons Nazarick has to offer. This is not all, as the halls are filled to the brim with scrolls, miscellaneous items, raw materials, crafting supplies as well as one dedicated to the storage of data crystals."

'I guess Sukuna would know, as he frequently patrols this place too. If I remember correctly, he should have access to every room in the treasury except the mausoleum.' 

Ainz thought to himself, before saying.

"Correct. Although if Genjiro was obsessed with cleanliness, then the treasures among the gold pieces should have been tidily arranged as well. One would not want to say that one's room was filthy, after all. However, they're all located in the same place inside, and it doesn't really matter which direction you enter from... oh, my apologies. I seem to have said too much. We have work to do."

Ainz shrugged, and then looked to the shadow before him. This was a special type of door typically opened using a password.

Since he could not remember the password, Ainz spoke a master password: "All glory to Ainz Ooal Gown."

In response, the jet-black door displayed a series of words: "Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum."

"...Tabula Smaragdina-san really was a perfectionist."

Albedo reacted to those words which Ainz could not help but mention.

"It should be — By this means you shall acquire the glory of the whole world / And so you shall drive away all shadows and blindness — am I correct?"

As though in response to Ainz's words, the shadow door collapsed into a single point. Soon, the shadow was gone, leaving a fist-sized sphere of blackness floating in the air.

Now that the shadow had vanished, one could see into the tunnel that had been left behind. This was an orderly place, completely unlike the previous area. The best way to describe it would be something like a display from a museum.

The dimly lit room was very long and stretched ever inward. The ceiling was about five metres above the ground, a height which was clearly not designed with humans in mind, while it was about ten metres from one wall to the other.

The ground was made of tightly fit, shiny black stone blocks, and it looked like a single gigantic stone slab.

Neat rows of countless weapons were arrayed on the walls to Ainz's left and right, making an impressive display.

"I'm going in."

 Ainz entered the Armory without waiting for his three followers to respond. What awaited the three of them were broadswords, greatswords, kukris, claymores, shortswords, swordbreakers...

Of course, swords were not the only weapons here. There were one-handed axes, two-handed axes, one-handed bludgeons, javelins, bows, crossbows...

Just the types alone were almost uncountable. 

The group looked at these weapons on either side as they silently walked through the Armory. Before long — about a hundred metres and thousands of weapons later — they reached their destination, which was a rectangular room.

It might have been used to receive guests, since there was a table and sofa set in the middle of the otherwise-empty room. There were other passages visible to the left and right which looked similar to the one through which Ainz and company had entered.

There was only one route which led further on, in contrast to the way they had entered. The atmosphere was also dramatically different. If the previous room had been like a museum, then the next one was like a tomb.

The height of the room was about the same as the previous one, but the dim interior extended further in. It was hard to tell due to the angles, but it looked like there was a large niche set into the wall, with something placed within it.

After hearing the sounds of surprise from behind him, Ainz said: "Within lies the Mausoleum."

 "The Mausoleum?"

 "Hm? Albedo... do you not know the name of that room?"

Well, I did pick that name myself... If it's like this, Albedo might not even know the name of the Treasury's Guardian...

"Then, do you know of Pandora's Actor?"

"Yes, I do. As the Guardian Overseer, I am aware of his name and appearance... Pandora's Actor is the Area Guardian of the Treasury, and his abilities are on par with myself and Demiurge. Other than managing the Treasury, his purpose is also to prepare the currency needed to activate Nazarick's defence network. In other words, he is a treasurer."

"That's pretty much it. However, that is not all. That fellow—"

Before Ainz could finish, he was interrupted — the three NPCs turned to look at one of the other passages and saw an entity there.

That being had a bizarre appearance. 

While it had a man's body, its head was that of a distorted squid. The right side of its head was half-covered in a twisted, tattooed letters, which resembled the ones that had floated up on the door just now 

Albedo cried out in surprise "Tabula Smaragdina-sama!"

 This was one of the Forty-One Supreme Beings. As a magic caster, he was superior to Ainz in terms of attack power.

 "No, that's not him!" she immediately continued.

"Who are you?! Even if you disguise yourself and your presence as a Supreme Being, I would not mistake my own master for anyone else!"

The mysterious being who looked like Tabula Smaragdina merely inclined its head at Albedo's question, but did not make any reply.

"—Really now. Kill it." 

Before anyone could go any further, Sukuna called out in a relaxed tone, causing everyone other than Ainz to freeze.

"It has been a while since we last met, good friend." 

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