Chapter 109

I want to apologize, I made a mistake and mixed volume 3 with volume 4, I had to delete and republish in order to accommodate the volumes in order, as a sign of apology I publish 10 more chapters.

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The Devil's Craftsmen

Nazarick's King paced in his room, attended by only one single maid. Lupusregina Beta. Out of all the battlemaids, he had come to know her the best due to her extended services rendered during his short lived time as Momon. The role was still there, a staff of humans reliably tended to his estate as one of the great lords… but he was often 'away on assignments for the crown' boosting Renner's reputation as well as his own by eliminating monsters before they could threaten the Kingdom.

The adventurer's guild was suffering for his efforts, but the population didn't care. The truth was that his own summons were usually dispatching them and Renner just gave him the credit.

Most of the time when he was required to act in the Kingdom, it was Pandora's Actor that visited. Everything was neatly tied up… and yet he paced.

He recalled the last discussion he had with Blue Rose.

"Pickings are slim now, it looks like if we want to continue to practice our trade we'll have to leave the Kingdom soon." Lakyus said while the peasant maid poured another glass of wine.

"A shame really… not to criticize you Mr. Momon!" Evileye exclaimed and waved her hand back and forth as fast as she could, briefly drawing away from him, "Really what you've been doing for what is left of the Kingdom has been beyond wonderful! So many lives saved… but now our work is drying up, and not just ours, others too."

"Maybe we should start thinking about retirement?" Gagaran proposed and took another deep drink at the same moment as Lupu did. The pair's tendency to try to outdrink each other was a fixed feature of their associations now and so nobody bothered to say anything.

"I know what you mean… but what a shame it is…" Ainz replied as Momon, and his heart was sorely troubled. 'I finally understand those players who wanted only to explore Yggdrasil… adventuring… it is marvelous… marvelous beyond words… and it draws the strong, the ambitious… creating resentment among those is a problem.' He told himself then, and told himself again as he paced in his room. However, the truth, a truth he was well aware of still, was that he didn't want adventuring to die out.

His solution to keeping Blue Rose in the Kingdom at the time had been impulsive… "If you're worried about the cost of living that you're accustomed to, stay in my estate. I'm seldomly here thanks to my work and there is enough space here for you all to have whatever comforts you need."

"D-D-Did you just invite me to l-live with you Mr. Momon?!" Evileye stammered, and Ainz cocked his head down toward the diminutive magic caster.

"We are comrades in the same profession, it's only natural we should help one another isn't it? My status may have changed somewhat but… I am still an adventurer at heart." That much had been a total truth, it felt too right to him, to be out and about, far more comfortable than Kingship.

That encounter ended on a warm note with the most powerful and respected adventurers in the Kingdom being bound tighter to Momon, as both an adventurer and a Great Lord. Now back in Nazarick, he was still quite troubled by how it all went.

Demiurge, predictably, praised it to the skies. "Queen Renner has informed me of all that you've accomplished, we are all in awe of what you've done, binding them dependent on yourself as their benefactor makes them easy to control…"

Fragments of the conversation were lost by Ainz' own sense of confusion at the grandiose proclamations of the demon, and that was still only the smallest part of the trouble in his breast. He went to his desk where the little dagger lay, taken from among Heketi's things, it was a runecrafted item, not unlike the spear she used against the lizardmen. 'I don't want powerful and ambitious people resenting me… Nazarick has no real direct need of adventurers, and if adventurers start fleeing as they lose their livelihoods then they will carry that resentment with them…'

The upcoming trip to see the dwarves teased him, there lay a tantalizing possibility of an answer in there.

Ainz stared down at the little dagger, it had only a single rune carved on it, a rune that as he learned, meant 'Ice', it inflicted cold damage, and experiments by Foresight had them appraise it as 'useful', which was praise enough.

'They're fanatics now… I wonder if that has something to do with adding them to the rosters… will anyone I add to the roster and level up become a fanatic?' It was a whole new line of questioning for which he had no answer again.

Leinas' own devotion was such that she seemed to enjoy the 'tail', a shudder came over him, he felt Lupusregina's eyes on his back. As the first to recognize his transformation, she also spent the most time with him. His idiosyncrasies as a human again were taken in stride.

He traced a finger back and forth along the blade, then turned and tossed it to her, she caught it by the handle with no real effort, "Tell me, Lupusregina, if you were a common human who aspired to be an adventurer, how would you respond to being given that weapon?"

She glanced down at the weapon, it wasn't badly made, steel with an enchantment of any sort was expensive. She scratched behind her ear while her eyes focused on the weapon itself. "A common human adventurer would be overjoyed to receive something like this, My Lord."

"That is also my thought. As things are, driving the powerful and the ambitious away is a process that will only continue… but these dwarven crafts offer a chance at turning that around. Drawing adventurers and would-be adventurers to my Kingdom rather than driving them away from it."

"My Lord?" Lupusregina asked, a quizzical look on her face when she cocked her head, reminding him vaguely of a confused puppy for a moment and prompting a laugh to come from Ainz that took several seconds to stop.

He waved his hand away at her evident confusion, choosing instead to explain, "We shall nationalize the adventurer's guild. I can think of any number of uses for a militarily capable force that wishes to explore, plus I'd rather they go out there spreading my name than spreading dissent. The dwarven runecraft will keep the costs low, and I was planning to see them anyway… perhaps my thoughts of trade should be expanded beyond their original scope…"

Ainz' words trailed off and his pacing, which had briefly paused to address Lupu, redoubled. 'Taking Demiurge might have been an accidental offer, but there is no better place to tell him than under a mountain. He is the weakest, but perhaps smartest guardian. Even before my enhancement I could have handled him… but still, doing so in an enclosed space is better for me.'

It filled his heart with a mix of pain at the prospect of having to fight one of the precious children of his friends, and excitement at planning out a potential fight against a powerful opponent. His parental instincts at war with his gamer inclinations, there was nothing he could do but move forward.

"Has he finished the handover to Albedo for integrating the ceded cities and ensuring the frogmen have what they need in order to rebuild?" Ainz asked, and Lupusregina bowed her head.

"Forgive me, my Lord, but I don't know." She answered in a little voice like she was guilty of forgetting something important at school.

"There's no need to apologize, you didn't know. Go ahead and find out, I should get my rest for now." Ainz said, and the battle maid bowed before departing.

As soon as he was alone, Ainz went to the mirror and moved it over the Draconic Kingdom. The beastmen's advance was once rapid, but it was now completely halted, though through no effort of the human Kingdom, rather that the beastmen had enough 'food'. Ugly a scene as it was, he didn't watch for long. And as if the ghost of Touch Me stood by his side, he heard the whispered words. 'Helping the weak is common sense.' He turned the mirror off, 'I will watch the Queen again instead… so much can be learned from that one…' He reflected.

Ainz cast a spell of watchfulness and looked through the view that let him look at the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom. Seated on her throne, she did not so much as shiver. Her hand waved before her in a slow, graceful gesture as she spoke to her nobles. "There will be no further retreat! The line will be drawn there! You will send either your wealth or yourselves to the front lines, and we will save our nation!"

The guards along the wall tensed up as she spoke, even through the magical view, Ainz could feel the electricity in the air, the energy and the way the woman presented herself as the picture of power… 'Marvelous… utterly marvelous…'

"Weeks of monitoring, practicing her gestures and tone of voice… how long before I can do so as flawlessly as she can?" Ainz asked himself and waved his hand the same way she did.

When the moment passed the Queen spoke again, "Have we enough adventurers to help the army out of its bind? And what about the aid from the Slane Theocracy?"

"Regrettably they are caught up in their war with the elves, all they can send are retired scriptures… the same as they send every year." A red silk clad courtier near the throne replied, he was gaunt and worn, his face clean shaven, but it was obvious the burden of his station was beating him down.

It made the Queen stand out all the more in Ainz' eyes because she appeared to bear it all marvelously better than the others. Her back was straight and makeup perfect. Her white dress hung down to her ankles, and the whole court hung on her silence as much as on her words.

"I see. What about reaching out to the new kingdoms that emerged? The Kingdom of Carne or the Kingdom of Nazarick… both have had substantial military success. Particularly Nazarick." Queen Draudillon said with a hopeful glance at her aide.

"The Wolf Queen and Wolf King of Carne have offered caches of supplies in the form of potions… it appears that is their primary export, but they have yet to establish a formal adventurer's guild and are still 'finding their feet' as the Queen said it, and so haven't the means to send an army to our aid."

"Still, potions will be helpful… it is something. What about the Kingdom of Nazarick?" The Queen followed up without missing a beat.

'I haven't heard anything from them… that is strange…' Ainz pondered that, but had his question answered a moment later.

"At the time, their King was away settling a border affair with the Lake people, the lizardmen and frogmen, and so our delegation left empty handed." The aide answered and Ainz could only sigh at that.

"As a matter of goodwill I should send something… given what I have learned from watching her, I should offer 'something'. Nazarick must always repay a debt, even if they don't know we have it." Ainz muttered as he watched the court play out in front of him. He snapped his fingers, "Yes… I want to have the adventurer's guild nationalized for my Kingdom, I need to draw in talent… I know exactly what to do!" His guildmaster blood was on fire with excitement as he found an answer he could actually easily solve.

It was only the knock at the door which brought him up short.