191

She had thought about the possibility of the girl being related to the Sorcerer Kingdom, so she should also have thought about this possibility.

Normally, it's impossible.

No amount of lives would be enough for a king to come to the battlefield where two other countries were fighting their decisive battle.

Yet, didn't the Sorcerer King do just that, going and doing whatever he liked in the Holy Kingdom? He made every country realize that a magic caster capable of destroying armies could appear anywhere now.

Plus, they also received the hard-to-believe report that he had appeared in the arena as a gladiator right before the Empire became their vassal.

Then, it was completely believable that he would come to this Elven Country moments before its fall.

Zesshi fiercely admonished herself.

It would be the worst if the Sorcerer King was here as well as she had surmised.

This girl alone was enough of a problem, the addition of that undead would wipe away any chance of victory she might have had. The Theocracy had yet to complete its analysis of the Sorcerer King's true strength, but it was hard to think that someone who could annihilate an army of over a hundred thousand soldiers could be weaker than this girl.

At present, it's nothing but layering conjecture over conjecture, but everything fell into place—everything really did fall into place. I don't know what the other party is aiming for, but if the Sorcerer King himself is here, should I negotiate?

If they managed to steal the earth elemental, then that was the same as usurping this country.

The girl had the mark of royalty—her eyes.

If the Elves were shown that as proof of royal lineage and shown the earth elemental used by the Elf King obeying this girl, they would surely bend the knee.

If they also fought us back, they would be highly popular as well…what perfect timing.

What, perfect, timing?

Zesshi started feeling even more uneasy.

—The Theocracy had accelerated its war with the Elven Country, rushing it to its conclusion only because the Sorcerer Kingdom started invading the Kingdom, seemingly to destroy it. But, is that what the Sorcerer Kingdom was truly aimed for?

Suddenly, she felt like the different colored cubes of the Rubik's cube had fallen into their proper places, completing it. Just for a moment, Zesshi, who had never experienced any fear in any battle, suddenly trembled all over her body like she was filled with ice.

Yes, if all of this had been the Sorcerer Kingdom's plan all along, then everything fell into place.

Their original goal was not the Kingdom, but making the Elven Country come under their rule while hurting the Theocracy? In that case, their invasion getting repelled at E-Nauru and the leaking of information about their invasion was not because they wanted to instill fear of their impending doom into the Kingdom's population, but to push the Theocracy into making a move at their desired time? No, he aimed for both?

Trying to put both countries under his rule in such a short period of time? Unbelievable!

It's too unbelievable to think we had been dancing along to the Sorcerer Kingdom's tune all along…simply impossible.

She didn't want to acknowledge it, but had to assume the worst-case scenario like before.

The Supreme Executive Council evaluated the Sorcerer King as someone to be regarded with the highest level of caution. That, though he was a cut above the rest when it came to scheming, his fearsome power was what should warrant most caution.

But—

Yes, but—if this had been the Sorcerer King's scheme, then the truly fearsome thing was not his power that could kill a hundred thousand soldiers in an instant.

It was not the fact that he commanded subordinates powerful enough to eliminate all the nine million citizens of the Kingdom either. It was his ability to read a hundred moves ahead while playing his opponent like a puppet through invisible strings; what they should fear most was his scheming mind.

It was hopeless for them if someone who's already strong could also scheme.

That would destroy the only weapon the weak had against the strong.

Or, was it the demonic Prime Minister Albedo who schemed this? Whoever it was…no, wait? …was it not just these two countries…but also the Theocracy? Are they planning to wipe out the soldiers deployed here and declare war?

It was true that there were some people who would say that there was no problem no matter how many weak soldiers died. A person who stepped into the realm of heroes was strong enough to surpass a few thousand soldiers. But, that was how a strong person would think, and not what an ordinary citizen would think.

The Theocracy extolled human supremacy and united the country with that notion. The intention behind it was that unless the weak humans united and made the first move against non-humans, they would be the ones to get destroyed instead. And there was a good example of that scenario in the Draconic Kingdom, which bordered the beastmen.

However, were the common populace strong-willed enough to continue to fight if they realized that they were about to be destroyed by this hypothetical person with tremendous power? After hearing of their failure to destroy their arch nemesis, the Elven Country, and that their soldiers were wiped out instead?

Zesshi made her usual smile—the one she used to hide her heart.

It's not that she was happy or that she found something interesting. Actually, her state of mind was the total opposite.

It's her despair at having fallen into the trap—into the perfect scheme their enemies had laid out.

What should I do? Try to let the soldiers escape? Or, escape myself so that I could live?

The death of the Theocracy's strongest trump card would be a tremendous loss for the nation, so escaping should be the better choice.

With her attention diverted to think about the next best move, Zesshi stood still, which then made the girl talk.

"E-excuse me? I am repeating myself but won't you surrender? I t-think it's not too late yet. I don't want to kill you."

It's not a bad idea considering that she might get information on the opponent.

But—

"—can't. I can't run away!!"

"Eh?"

The girl raised a puzzled voice. Understandable. Zesshi's response didn't match her question from the girl's point of view, but it was logically connected inside Zesshi's mind.

That's right. There was nothing else to be done.

If this really was the Sorcerer Kingdom's scheme there's only one way to break through it: fight with the ferociousness of a wounded and cornered animal, kill the girl before her and destroy the Sorcerer Kingdom's plan along with that.

The loss of an individual this strong would greatly derail the Sorcerer Kingdom's plan.

Perhaps a most wicked trap was lying in wait for them, but this was their only chance to foil it and she was the only one able to do it right now.

Yes. I am the only one who can save my country!

If asked whether the Theocracy did enough for her to make her bet her life on them, she would feel complicated emotions. But, from time to time, there were some humans she liked. She saw most of them pass away over her long life, but she thought that they mattered enough for her to wager her life once for the sake of the country they loved.

—I will probably die, but I will use all my might to kill her. That's good enough for me.

Zesshi made her decision.

She really did think about retreating for a moment, but if she had to do that, she would like to do it at her own pace rather than escaping narrowly by the skins of her teeth.

There was a certain part of her in this battle until now which hadn't been serious about killing her opponent. It was not due to any sentimentality on her part regarding the girl possibly being her niece. Even if the opponent was a mere child, she would cut her limbs and bind her or kill her without hesitation if need be. But, she certainly prioritized leaving with her life the most, until now. She would throw it away.

If she didn't gamble here then where else could she?

Tomorrow would surely be worse than today.

"Go!"

She bellowed.

Einherjar attacked, following her command.

Frankly, she need not have shouted it out loud. She could give the order silently in her mind. In a sense, this was a poor decision that gave away information to the opponent. Zesshi understood that as well. She shouted despite that to stir herself up and to strengthen her conviction even more.

She made the Einherjar deal with the elemental while she tried to go after the girl herself.

However, the elemental extended its hands out to the sides like it was trying to block the corridor.

Zesshi didn't mind if this was how it was going to be.

She and Einherjar would take the elemental in a rush and then kill the girl after.

If the elemental before them was the one used by the Elf King, destroying it would be destroying one of the symbols of royalty as well. Perhaps that would slow down the Sorcerer King's plan by a bit.

The two great scythes slashed the elemental multiple times in an instant.

Frankly speaking, elementals, which didn't bleed and didn't really have any vital points, were troublesome opponents for her.

On top of that, high-class elementals had resistances against physical attacks.

Even Zesshi's scythe couldn't take them down in a single hit.

This was not the kind of opponent Zesshi would choose given a choice, but she didn't have a say in this matter.

Still, the girl's attack couldn't reach them either with the elemental obstructing the corridor, and it would be hard to get a clear line of sight to attack with magic from the scrolls. The thing they should be more cautious of was the girl being able to cast her strengthening spells on the elemental.

I am the one at an advantage here because they are two of us, but it's not an absolute advantage. We can't go behind the elemental so we can't stop her from casting buffs…but…

She wondered if the girl truly didn't realize this.

Something bothered Zesshi slightly, but she couldn't express it in concrete terms.

The elemental brought down its arms, which were made of boulders. She was about to jump back but this wasn't a situation where she could slowly grind it down with hit-and-run attacks. She used the great scythe to hook the arm and deflect it. The earth elemental's attack had tremendous force behind it, but deflecting it by applying force from the side was easy.

That said, this wasn't a weapon suitable for that, and she was only able to do it through brute force because of the overwhelming difference in their strength.

She could see Einherjar doing the same from the corner of her eyes.

Zesshi's Einherjar was weaker than herself. So, seeing that it was even possible for it, Zesshi confirmed that this elemental wasn't strong, just like she had expected.

This was probably not the one used by the Elf King, the elemental the Theocracy was most worried about.

That said, it didn't mean that the earth elemental before them was exactly weak either.

Someone only on the level of heroes wouldn't be able to avoid its punches. It was hard to be sure if the hit would kill them or not, but it would certainly damage them heavily.

She dodged another attack and turned her gaze to the girl hiding behind the elemental. They were right in the bosom of the huge enemy so it was dangerous to take her eyes off it, but it was far more dangerous to ignore the girl's movements.

What she saw made her doubt her eyes.

—huh?

The girl was running away with her back turned to them.

Though her running looked cute, she was unbelievably fast.

She ran.

She ran away.

"—!!"

Zesshi realized.

This earth elemental wasn't summoned to handle her Einherjar.

It was to stall for time so the girl could escape.

She didn't realize based on the girl's attitude, but perhaps she was at her limits all this time.

The girl never intended to fight or risk her life. Didn't her actions at the start make that pretty clear?

That time when she retreated back with great force, when Zesshi tried to jump behind her was not because she disliked being pincered, it was because she didn't want her escape route to be cut off.

Her words and actions had put her intentions clearly on display.

"Damn!"

She needed to choose one of the three choices before her immediately.

She could somehow catch up with the girl.

She could defeat the earth elemental here for now.

Or she could escape as well.

Among them, she could easily put the third option into practice.

The summoner couldn't give commands adapted to the changing battlefield to the summon if they couldn't see what was happening.

So, for example, if the elemental was commanded to "stay here and kill everyone that tries to pass through the corridor," it wouldn't chase after Zesshi if she ran away. But, if it was commanded to "kill the woman before you," it would probably try to chase and kill her.

That said, it would just give chase in a straight line and wouldn't use its brains to do things like trying to waylay her.

So, there was no way it could catch Zesshi who was faster and more agile than it if she did decide to run.

If she ran away at full speed, the elemental would wander around aimlessly, searching for her like a mindless drone.

However, she refused to do it. Refusal was the only path open to her.

She couldn't avert her gaze from the possible future crisis—the Sorcerer King's schemes.

Then, the choice was between the first and the second option.

Catching up to the girl was difficult as well. Even if they destroyed the earth elemental obstructing them quickly, it depended on luck whether or not they could catch up to the extremely mobile girl. Plus, her reinforcements were probably waiting for them at her destination. Zesshi wasn't sure how the battle would end if that was the case.

So the second option was the best one.

It made her resolve from before a joke and would be completely meaningless if it turned out that this was not the one used by the Elf King.

Still, considering the risk and the return, this was the only choice she could take.

She shouldn't be tempted by the greener grass on the other side.

Zesshi stared sharply at the earth elemental and then realized that the girl behind it—who had put some distance between them—turned back to face them.

Zesshi continued to observe her without diverting her attention from the earth elemental, expecting the girl to say something. And then, the girl moved her lips.

"It's good that I conserved my mana."

It shouldn't have been audible considering the distance, but maybe because of Zesshi's Elven blood or because of her extremely high capabilities, she could faintly hear the girl's words of relief.

Before Zesshi could understand the meaning behind them, the girl raised her staff high against the ceiling.

One of Mare's classes was named the "Disciple of Disaster," which had a trump card.

It was the inferior version of the World Disaster's trump card.

Its name was [Petit-Catastrophe].

In return for consuming enormous mana, its damage surpassed even the Super-Tier spells that Ainz could use. Of course, it was still not as powerful as [Grand Catastrophe], but the raging torrents of energy born from it was enough to blow away everything in an instant.

The very next moment, Zesshi was hit by tremendous energy.

Bad—will—die. Zesshi immediately realized.

The fierce currents of energy blew away the earth elemental in an instant.

She finally realized at that moment that the earth elemental was neither a countermeasure for Einherjar nor a wall to let the girl escape. It was nothing more than a decoy, to keep Zesshi and her clone from escaping that single tyrannical attack.

And in reality, her Einherjar had also disappeared just a moment after the elemental did.

Following that—

—not yet! I will not die! I WILL NOT DIE!

Though the storm of destruction raging around her was sweetly whispering to

her to give up and take it easy, Zesshi brought all her vitality to the forefront to bear through it.

But—her consciousness weakened. She could no longer sense the pain that had been stinging all over her body from before. She could no longer even sense if she was still standing or where she was.

So this was how death felt like.

What the heck is this?

That was the only thing that she could think of.

Wasn't she supposed to fight, risking her life, after this?

Wasn't she supposed to fight with all of her body and soul to protect the Theocracy—her country, from the fiendish enemy and their diabolic schemes?

How mean.

Of course, it was just Zesshi excusing herself. She realized that even amidst her awareness fading away.

Even so, she couldn't help but complain.

She didn't feel any relief at the elemental getting destroyed. It probably meant that it was no more valuable than a sacrificial pawn. Or, maybe they thought it was an acceptable loss for taking out the strongest trump card of the Theocracy.

In the end, who was that girl really?

If she really was from the Sorcerer Kingdom, to what extent were they dancing on their palms?

This was defeat.

She finally realized that defeat didn't mean getting taken down by the enemy's attack. It was getting one's wish, which they put their body and soul into, smashed without a trace and then falling into an endless pit of despair.

Cruel.

She didn't want to lose.

Her wanting to taste defeat was an outright lie.

She only wanted to deny her own strength. Or maybe—deny her mother.

Deny the blood that ran through her veins—and the loveless days it made her go through.

But, if she could have protected what she held dear with this unwanted power…

Even though she would have probably forgiven her mother a little then.

Even though she seriously didn't want to lose for once.

All those feelings still ended up getting crushed.

I hope at least that she isn't from the…Sorcerer…Kingd…

And then—the world went dark.

***

Ainz left the Elven treasury along with Aura.

The conclusion was that they don't know yet if it met their expectations or not. Ainz wasn't sure about the value of a lot of things there, like the strange fruit which was larger than a palm fruit—actually larger even than Aura.

The fact that most of the items were made of materials easily collected from nature instead of precious metal was even more disappointing, but he still held a slight hope that they had some rare or unknown abilities.

So, Ainz wasn't exactly in a bad mood. In fact, he was feeling pretty good.

The goods were not here anymore.

Ainz sent them to the log house near the overground level of Nazarick using

[Gate].

He probably surprised the Pleiades on standby in the log house, but he didn't have enough time to explain the situation to them while Mare was still left alone.

He only managed to loudly command them to carefully store the items sent inside the log house considering that some of them could be dangerous.

After everything was done, Ainz resolved himself and turned to Aura with a serious expression; which was the same as his usual bony mien.

"Well then, I am relying on you! Aura!"

"Okay!!"

Aura gave an energetic reply, turned her back to Ainz, and squatted.

Frankly speaking, the speed at which he could run was completely different from Aura's. He would probably be easily left behind. Of course, she would slow down a bit as she would have to carefully follow the trail of the Elf King's blood.

Still, Ainz wouldn't be able to keep up despite that. He also had equipment that would greatly raise his speed alone, but a change of equipment didn't just mean changing the required part and being done with it.

The gear Ainz usually equipped were strictly coordinated for things like the overall resistance distribution, equipment weight, and the increase and decrease in parameters. He would need some time to go over the coordination again if he were to break the balance. He wouldn't need to spend time if he used consumable items like scrolls to increase his speed instead, but his miserly nature stopped him.

He wasn't sure if he could keep up with Aura even after going through all that trouble either.

So they chose the most suitable option here—he was to be carried by Aura.

Of course, an adult man getting carried by a little girl was extremely, extremely embarrassing. Even Ainz felt a bit ashamed of that. His embarrassment gradually accumulated, probably because the suppression wouldn't kick in with such lukewarm emotions.

But Mare's life depended on this choice.

Mare would win against the Elf King without a doubt. From Ainz's estimation of the Elf King's strength, he had no chance at victory; he was also exhausted and heavily wounded on top of that. However, there were no such things as absolute certainty.

Ainz hesitated to ask about the situation through a [Message] even though he wanted to, fearing that he could end up diverting Mare's attention in the middle of a fight. So, it was best to meet up with him even if by only a second sooner.

Then—Ainz should throw away his embarrassment if need be. It was not a choice he made as Suzuki Satoru, but as Ainz Ooal Gown.

Naturally, there arose one more doubt after that.

How exactly should he be carried?

If he was going to be carried by Aura, then there was the choice of getting carried in her arms like a princess. Maybe some would even prefer a ride on her shoulders. Ainz chose to be carried on her back. No, to be precise, it was Aura who decided that.

At first, Ainz proposed to be carried over her shoulder like a piece of luggage.

.

He would have been less embarrassed that way and it was also more suitable in the sense that he could ironically joke that he was "unnecessary baggage."

But, upon proposing that, Aura told him, "I can't handle Ainz-sama like luggage." After he realized that it would take some work to persuade her, Ainz gave in.

He didn't dare propose getting carried like a princess. His mental stability wouldn't have held.

So, he ended up getting carried on her back.

Having already resigned himself to it, Ainz climbed onto her small back, cheering with a "dokkoisho" in his heart. Following that, he took out a short sword from the item box and held it. He was not sure if he would need it, but it was better to be prepared.

An Elemental Skull created from Ainz's [Summon Undead Tenth] floated beside them.

Why didn't he create an undead to carry him in Aura's place then? There was a simple reason why he didn't.

It's because he would need to leave someone behind as a diversion in a critical situation.

He intended to use an undead for it so he and Aura could escape. So, he decided not to summon one to ride it.

Of course, he could just get down from the undead when they met an enemy, but that moment could end up being fatal.

Ainz felt that he was being too cautious, but this was a battlefield where the chances of something unexpected happening were too high. It was necessary to make preparations to some extent—like to retreat immediately with an undead as a wall—for their own safety.

Elemental Skull was more of an attacker than a tank. He summoned it despite that because the tank wasn't always the most appropriate choice to use as a diversion. Incidentally—

He wouldn't recommend an attacker acting as a tank in YGGDRASIL.

Furthermore, only monsters like Touch Me-san were able to build into being both a tank and an attacker at the same time so he wouldn't recommend that either. Well, it was more like no one would be able to do that normally.

However, if one wanted to insist that they could, they were free to do so.

Aura sprinted.

Following the faint trail of blood, she descended down the stairs for a few floors. Then she stopped.

She looked away from the floor towards the direction they were heading for.

Ainz followed with his eyes as well but couldn't sense anyone there.

He wanted to ask her what the issue was but decided to wait for her words, ready to command the Elemental Skull immediately if something unexpected happened. Ainz also thought about another possibility.

And he was right.

"…Ainz-sama, I received a message from Mare"

"—I see"

Ainz replied with a serious tone. It sounded out of place considering he was sitting on Aura's back, but he had to use a tone befitting of their master.

"From your attitude, it doesn't seem like Mare asked for help. So, did he capture the Elf King without an issue?"

"About that…it seems like Elf King was already killed"

"What?"

From Ainz's point of view, the Elf King without his primal earth elemental was weak, but not enough to be unable to escape from or be killed by the inhabitants of this world.

"…So there is one more strong individual here other than the Elf King. What did Mare do after that?"

"Yes. He took down that strong individual, but it seems like they are still breathing. What are your orders? Mare said that it's highly possible they are holding some important information, that they could have probably watched the battle between Ainz-sama and Shalltear…"

"What? You mean that battle? …Could they have a world item? …We will go there, secure them, and immediately return to Nazarick…there's no time. Aura, it will probably be hard on you but I will be depending on you for just a little bit more."

Aura specifically mentioned the enemy to be a strong "person" instead of "people" so they were probably alone. However, it was also possible that Mare chose those words because it was a group where only one of them was strong while the others were just riff-raff. It's better to retreat to a safe place as quickly as possible when one was unsure about the enemy's numbers.

"That will not be a problem. But—we will be going fast. Ainz-sama, hold on tight."

Aura dashed the moment her words ended. She was far faster than before, not slowing down even at the corner, but instead kicking off the walls to change directions—it felt like a jet coaster, though he had never ridden one.

Although this body couldn't be affected by fear, he felt a bit afraid. Perhaps his line of sight being this low to the ground increased his sense of fear.

He could move at about the same speed when he changed into a warrior, but running on his own two legs was completely different from experiencing these sudden curves, accelerating and decelerating at someone else's whims.

They saw Mare after what felt like a few seconds to Ainz.

Mare was carrying an unknown human over his shoulder, dexterously holding his own staff and something that looked like a strange sickle together in one hand.

He had a lot of questions like "I heard he was killed but where is the Elf King's body?" or "what happened to his magic items?" but they couldn't have such a relaxed conversation in a hostile area.

They should retreat for now.

Ainz, carrying himself brazenly with a serious expression—like he wanted the others to understand that this had been necessary and that it was completely normal—climbed down from Aura's back. He thrust the short sword into the floor.

It was hard to memorize this featureless corridor in a short amount of time, but it should be a bit easier if it's the place he stuck a recognizable sword in. He also memorized this short sword very clearly so he could use magic to connect to here directly.

Then, he activated [Gate].

"Go ahead."

After a shy acknowledgment, Mare entered the gate while holding the human.

Ainz dispersed the Elemental Skull and followed after him along with Aura.

The other side of the gate was where he previously threw the contents of the Elven treasury. Ainz found Entoma, who probably came over to retrieve the items, bowing upon his arrival. She probably guessed that they were going to come through when she saw that a [Gate] had been activated again.

Death Knights, who were likely here to help Entoma, were standing around aimlessly.

"Welcome back. Ainz-sama"

"Umu. Continue with the retrieval, Entoma. Is the ring with you?"

"Yes, it is"

"Then give it to Aura. And, Aura. This one's an important source of information. It will be bad if she dies. Quickly, but carefully, carry her to the frozen prison. On that note, I don't think we will have to remind Neuronist, but don't forget to take off her gear"

"A-ainz sama, may I have a word?"

"What's the issue Mare? Is there something to worry about?"

"Y-yes. This human…? Was very strong. I cast [Sandman's Sand] on her, but if she woke up for some reason, I don't think Neuronist-san can win against her."

"…I see. Then Aura, you should stay beside that woman until either I or someone else arrives. Be on guard."

Aura wore the ring and activated it, teleporting while holding the woman somewhat gentler than Mare did. After seeing her depart, Ainz turned to Mare.

"Well then, Mare…why do you think that human watched the battle between Shalltear and me?"

This was his greatest doubt.

"Y-yes. That human used both Ainz-sama's [The Goal of All Life is Death] and Shalltear-san's [Einherjar]. It's impossible that it was completely unrelated to that battle!"

"What!! What did you say!!"

Normally, having a single skill strong enough to be called a trump card was the limit. To hold two such skills was impossible in Ainz's opinion. In that case, Mare's hypothesis was probably right. Maybe it was something like a copy skill.

"You did good taking her down without killing her, right?"

"Y-yes. I too thought that she would end up dying from [Petit-Catastrophe] but, it looks like she had a lot of health, so she didn't die luckily."

"You used [Petit-catastrophe]!? …to think that she didn't die from even that…that human is certainly strong. You've been really fortunate…So what happened to the Elf King?"

Hearing about the end of the Elf King from Mare, Ainz wrinkled his nonexistent brows. [Time Stop] didn't work on him, so it was highly likely that he was equipped with an item to nullify it. He wanted to retrieve the equipment, but he also wanted to gather intelligence from that woman at the same time.

Retrieving the equipment should be prioritized, as that human wouldn't be escaping from Nazarick anytime soon.

Then, let's send Pandora's Actor. He can also search around for stuff that I've missed.

Or, should I send him to investigate that human…no, I am better than Pandora's Actor at that. In that case…

Ainz turned towards Entoma.

"Entoma. Just wait for a little bit longer. I will be calling Pandora's Actor."

After hearing Entoma's answer, Ainz activated [Message].

-x-X-x-

[Epilogue]

Albedo, having finished greeting her master who had just returned from the

Elven Country in the Frozen Prison, returned to her master's quarters and resumed her work.

Her workload had increased with the destruction of the Kingdom and its vast territories placed under their control.

However, Albedo possessed a talent for internal administration, so it wasn't a problem that she had to rack her brain over. As a result of a majority of the cities being razed to the ground, the distressing problems—their occupation policy in particular—had also been reduced to ashes.

For that reason, Albedo was using a large part of her brain's resources to review the creation of a manual they could use in the occupation policies for each of the various countries when they would eventually be placed under their rule in the future.

While it might be possible to scale the one they used in E-Rantel to the level of nations, it was not difficult to imagine kinks forming in the process of broadening the scale and scope of it. In the end, it was better to just apply the methods for administrating a city to the cities and the ones for administrating a state to the states from the beginning to avoid mistakes in the distant future.

Of course, she didn't believe that they could apply those policies as they were in every country. If the races were different, then the cultures and other elements would also differ greatly. Still, they should be able to use them as a broad framework nevertheless.

I'll have Demiurge and Pandora's Actor look over the materials I've completed, and after that, I'll need to get Ainz-sama's approval.

If she borrowed the wisdom of those two, the model she had made would become even better.

I could make use of that girl, couldn't I?…

It was a fact that it would be faster to have her own master, who was full of wisdom and intelligence, look them over right from start—he would be able to perceive things much deeper than those two—but, there was no way she could approve of proposing something that had its problems laid clear at a glance in her position as the Guardian Overseer.

While thinking about that and other things, she tidied up her documents.

『Albedo! Report to the Frozen Prison immediately.』

The sudden [Message] made Albedo jump in surprise. She sensed a burning rage in her master's thoughts.

Once one reached a certain level range, a resistance to mind control was essential. It was obvious that depending on the time and situation, being charmed or controlled could instantaneously lead to defeat. There were no Floor

Guardians who hadn't taken countermeasures against those effects.

In spite of that—although it was slight—the reason why Albedo felt panicked was because even though external psychic effects were ineffective on her, the same was not the case for the emotions gushing out from inside her.

She had been found out.

There was an affair she had been carrying out off the record from her master.

Could it have been discovered?

Had Demiurge gotten wind of it and reported it to their master after all?

However, it was still in the experimental stage. She hadn't put it into full-scale operation. Would that much rage be directed at her in spite of that?

Still, that was the only thing that she could think of that would cause him to direct feelings of anger against her.

She didn't know.

Albedo hurriedly activated the ring's power and headed to the Frozen Prison.

Her master was standing in front of the cage of a Half-Elf they had captured in the Elven Country. Behind him was the Area Guardian Neuronist and the figures of Aura and Mare.

Her master's expression was no different from normal. Nonetheless, she could feel an intense fury radiating from him.

Albedo flew to the feet of her master and immediately prostrated herself before him.

"My deepest apologies!"

"…Wh-what's wrong?"

From that baffled-sounding voice, she instantly realized that the source of her master's anger was different than what she had thought. That being the case, prostrating herself had been a bad move.

But, she had been thinking about what sort of excuse to make just before she came here. Even though their master was wiser than her, she believed that with enough time spent, her plans could rival even him.

I hope I can pull this off…

"—If there is something that Ainz-sama is offended by, or has angered him within Nazarick, then it is all the fault of my—the Guardian Overseer's dissatisfactory work. I also feel bad for Tabula Smaragdina-sama. Therefore, I believe the most appropriate thing for me to do is bow like this and apologize."

"…No, you're wrong, Albedo. Let me first correct your misunderstanding. This anger is not directed at Nazarick."

A sigh of relief spilled out of Albedo. It wasn't an act, it was the real thing.

"If…that is the case…then what in the world has happened?"

"Before that, could you raise your head, or rather, stand up? I don't really like seeing you, who has done nothing wrong, prostrating yourself."

"Thank you very much, Ainz-sama."

While announcing her gratitude, Albedo stood up.

She was a little concerned about the looks of suspicion that had appeared on Aura and Mare's faces for a moment, but right now there was something more important than that.

"Then what sort of information from that prisoner of war has earned Ainzsama's displeasure?"

She was talking about using [Control Amnesia] to collect information.

The explanation she had received was that even if her master—who had accumulated a lot of practice using it—were to search through memories spanning over a long period of time, just even just taking glances at them would take weeks of time. If he were to take a detailed look in order to obtain important information, it would require years of time, and if one were to go so far as to alter or falsify memories, it would take decades.

There might be a lot of people who would think that viewing memories was a form of interrogation where obtaining false evidence was impossible, but the information that was acquired was nothing more than what was the truth for that individual. It goes without saying that it was more than possible that even that individual had been deceived.

If you tried to get confirmation, you couldn't trust them as an information source without peering into the memories of multiple people. If you were to do that, then no matter how much time you have, it would never be enough.

Ultimately, choosing a much simpler method of acquiring information was more realistic, her master had grumbled.

It was the same for modifying memories.

For example, if her master had burned a certain village to the ground and the surviving inhabitant of that village, a blasphemous and malicious man who sought power and—although it would be absolutely impossible—managed to ascend to a level high enough that they would be able to injure her master.

It's wrong to think that he could be used after they had "solved" the problem by wiping away his memory about her master being the one who burned the village. While that inhabitant of the village lived his life to seek out the power to take revenge, he would probably talk to someone about his grudge against her master. If you didn't erase everything up to till that point, a huge inconsistency would be born within that man.

Because although he wouldn't remember who had burned his village, the memory that, over a drink, he had talked about how "my village was burned down by an undead named Ainz," would still remain.

However, it appeared they had tried to use it because it was convenient to gather information even while the prisoner of war was unconscious.

"—It's Shalltear."

From those few words, she was able to guess almost everything that was to come.

"…Who is that woman affiliated with?"

"…Albedo."

"Yes!"

Albedo knelt down on one knee.

"Drop everything you're working on right now, except for those matters related to the defense of Nazarick. We are going to utterly annihilate the Theocracy immediately. This is a fight they picked with us. We will have to accept their challenge properly…Don't you agree?"

His tone was gentle. However, the emotions deep inside his voice were the complete opposite. How long had it been since he last showed this much rage?

"—Yes. I believe it is exactly as you say. I will immediately relay your orders to all of the Floor Guardians and transition to making preparations for war."

"Very well. Do it at once, Albedo. At. Once."

Albedo bowed deeply, trembling at her master's gentle tone.

-x-X-x-