Ainz was more bothered than furious. Despite Albedo just saying that one of his npc's got killed, the Undead impersonator was an undead he could summon back anytime. Back in Yggdrasyl, Undead impersonators were summons used for stealth missions. They could take the shape of another monster for ten minutes. When the update with the undead impersonators came, many guilds tried to use them to spy enemy guilds, but they quickly dropped the idea when someone noticed they could dispel the illusion with any fifth-tier or higher light spell. Being only a lvl.60 monster, they were forgotten. Ainz remembered them only when Demiurge asked him for undercover troops to gather intelligence about the world they were in.

What was interesting thought, was that for their level, they were basically impossible to kill by humans of this world with simple raw power, be it magical or physical. So for one of them to die, during a fight with human adventurers, mean that someone more powerful than the average human came. And for a human to be able to kill an undead impersonator, the probability of being a normal adventurer was very low.

As he was thinking, Ainz gradually became excited. Maybe a player, not yet lvl.100, came to this world too. Maybe even one of his guildmates. Maybe Ulbert Alain Odle, his sorcerer friend under the disguise of a human came too, or simply another player he didn't know.

All the guild's npc loved him unconditionally, that was certain, but he had no one to talk to like a friend. Knowing that someone came from the same world as his would certainly relieve him.

But as he thought, Ainz started to calm himself. There was also the possibility that the player was hostile, and the fact that he could expose what he considered his guildmate's children, the floor guardians, to danger made him think rationally.

"Albedo!"

"Yes, lord Ainz?"

Albedo, still kneeling in front of him, raised her head.

"Send a group to investigate this hideout. It is possible that players are involved, maybe someone who stayed like I did. However, only send disposable troops. If the enemy is too strong, I don't want to endanger any of you. Just a moment…"

Ainz took a moment to check his spell list mentally. Once he found what he was searching for, he got up from the throne.

"Come with me, I will summon the undead to do the information gathering."

"Understood."

Albedo rose from the ground and followed her beloved into Nazarick's halls.

Demiurge's place was more like a prison than a proper room. He had a room, simply decorated, to rest, but it probably was never used. The rest of his personal area was a prison, with people sobbing in corners, other mad from the torture, and some others simply laying on the ground of their cells.

When Ainz entered, Demiurge immediately stopped writing the report he was working on. He had to find a stable supply of scroll parchment for Nazarick, but the arrival of his master, a supreme being, took priority over whatever task he was doing at the moment. He kneeled on the ground.

"How may I help you, Lord Ainz?"

"Raise your head, Demiurge. I need a body to summon an undead. I believe you have… expendables, right?"

Raising his head, the demon answered. Albedo seemed satisfied of his behavior.

"Of course, Lord Ainz. Humans are weak, but I do not discriminate on the people joining my experiments…"

Indeed, not only humans were detained. There were some semi-humans, cherubims, ogres, various large animals, and even an angel, with her wings cut off. Even a slime, blocked in a magic field, was there. One could ask how could you torture a slime, or even if they felt pain, but being the second most skilled in torturing after Neuronist Painkill, Demiurge was able to do so. They even took their time together sometimes to discuss about it.

"The shape of the living creature does not matter. The undead should change the shape of the base organism to form, like in Carne village…"

Demiurge pondered for a moment.

"Would the body of a Merman be alright, lord?"

"Yes it should. Bring me to it."

Once in front of the body, Ainz put his bony hand above the corpse.

[Raise undead: Death Inquisitor]

The death inquisitor was a peculiar undead, because it fell under the faction of justice. Supposedly a judge, dead without resolving a case and a strong sense of justice.

A black, tar-like substance covered the body. It raised, and the substance cleared itself, revealing an… out of place, monster. The skeleton was wearing a classy, black suit over a white shirt, black pants and shoes, a black top-hat and a monocle holding onto an nonexistent nose. The skeleton was holding a classy walking stick. Overall, it gave the impression of a British gentleman of the 20th century, from the industrial revolution. It knelt in front of Ainz.

"I am thy humble servant. What is thy wish, mine master?"

The skeleton had a very posh voice, and his vocabulary reflected his character.

"You will have to investigate a place where a slaughter took place. Find out what happened. And before, follow Albedo's orders until she finds a bodyguard for you."

"Aye, mine master! I wilt doth as thee command!"

Ainz left without a word, returning to the throne room. Demiurge and Albedo looked at their master leaving, with a sigh of regret, while the skeleton rose from his position and looked at Albedo.

"shalt we doth as master Ainz commanded, Lady Albedo?"

The skeleton was given a vampire bride from Shalltear as a bodyguard. She was reticent at first, but when Albedo told her it was Ainz's order, she immediately ordered to one of the brides following her to follow the inquisitor's orders.

Even for Albedo, commanding this skeleton with a strange personality was not easy. On one hand, he was a lowly reanimated undead, on the other hand, he was created by Ainz, the master of the tomb of Nazarick. She decided to treat it as a servant, but talking politely to avoid angering her master.

"There is a low-lives city named E-rantel not far from there. North of it, there is a hideout in the forest where we planted our spy. He died despite being an upper level, and we don't know what happened. Use your skills to discover it."

"Low-lives?"

She practically spat the word.

"Humans."

"Oh, aye. I wilt doth as thee command, lady Albedo."

Having received his orders and his escort, the skeleton walked out of the tomb and set forward to his objective.

The vampire bride following him, they walked for three days and nights, using the vampire's illusion magic when meeting travelers, and avoiding villages. The weather was hardly a problem for them, both being of high-level and undead.

Once they arrived, the undead spiral had already started, without someone to bury properly the dead. A few zombies were already walking the place. When they walked down the wooden ramp, the undead didn't react, as neither the vampire or the skeleton was alive.

"Is thither something alive hither, vampire?"

The unnamed vampire bride looked around the place, activating [Detect life]. As there was no response to her skill, she answered simply "No." She didn't really know how to handle the skeleton for the same reasons as Albedo, so she resolved the problem by talking the less she could to him.

"forsooth mine skills wilt beest necessary then. standeth aside."(It seems my skills will be necessary then. Stand aside.)

[Power of law: Eye of the detective]

From the outside, nothing changed. On the skeleton's side, his sight changed. Everything became black and white, with possible clues standing out, outlined in a flashy yellow.

First, everything was yellow. Indeed, the clues showing that there was a massacre were numerous, so he restricted the skills to "every clue except the ones including the base fighters". Now, only the bodies and weapons of the officers and those in command were outlined. He noticed a body, with only a charred top skeleton and decaying legs.

Walking up to the carcass, he placed one finger on the skeleton's skull.

[Power of law: Shadow of the past]

Now in the memories of the last moments of the victim, he saw what happened from the ice mage's point of view. He was supervising a drug shipment, when he an underling told him that they were attacked. The fight didn't last long, but from what the skeleton knew, his opponent, the female mage, was someone pretty strong compared to the standards of this world. The victim died at that moment, so he didn't know what happened after.

Looking at the sides of the abandoned quarry, the boulders simply couldn't be natural. Most likely they were made to cover an entrance. Looking for more clues, he found the jail and found some clues as well. The adventuring party freed someone, and used the escaping prisoners as a cover to run away. As he was about to use his powers on the guards, the vampire bride beside him suddenly watched in the direction of the exit.

"Alive persons detected. My [Detect life] is sensing about ten people entering the quarry. What do we do?"

"We wend and meeteth those folk of course. those gents might has't some information's."

Walking to the exit, the skeleton hummed a merry song in rhythm to his cane hitting the ground.

Outside, a group of people was dispatching the few undead who woke up. It was a very mismatched group. One of them was fat. Very fat, with purple and gold clothes, another was a small racoon-like semi-human, wearing a green robe and a wooden staff. Probably a magic caster. The others were a mix between armed civilians and dangerous-looking thugs with crude weaponry. One of them noticed the skeleton and the vampire coming out of the prison.

"Shit! A lich? Boss, what do we do?"

The fat man looked annoyed as he dried a drop of sweat on his neck.

"Do you need me to hold your damn hand? Just kill them and be done with it."

The semi-human chanted [Reinforce magic resistance] while the others were already eying the cane with a golden knob, estimating the price.

To much of their surprise, the skeleton took his top hat and bowed before them.

"Now, now, we don't needeth to resort to violence. if 't be true thee impart me with what thee knoweth, according to the law codex, chapter twelve, paragraph thirty-two, thy sentence wilt beest lightened. And don't compare me to a lowly lich." (Now, now, we don't need to resort to violence. If you impart me with what you know, according to the law codex, chapter twelve, paragraph thirty-two, your sentence will be lightened. And don't compare me to a lowly lich.)

"What?"

None of them could understand the intricate language the skeleton was using, except the last part.

"A pity we can't understand him. We could have come to an agreement, but to hell with it. He's just a skeleton with fancy clothing, kill him already."

Despite their hatred of being led by such a fat and weak person, they had no choice but to obey him. They calmly walked to the skeleton, with little awareness, while the magic caster prepared a fireball.

"All thee wilt sayeth wilt beest held against thee in court. alloweth the judgment beginneth." (All you say will be held against you in court. Let the judgement begin.)

[Power of law: judgment]

A red cross appeared above their heads. For the first time, the fat man looked worried.

"Hey, you there, you're a wizard, right? What's this?"

The raccoon-like person answered in an equally trembling voice.

"How am I supposed to know? That's not even magic, there's no mana flux!"

"Do something! You all, kill it quickly!"

He was really worried, and started to run slowly toward the exit, his belly flopping and jumping in a comical way?. While they panicked, the skeleton mumbled.

"Corruption, armed assault toward an innocent person, physical and verbal assault toward a member of the justice corp, resistance to arrest… thy sentence wilt beest heavy, scoundrel. [Power of law: ethereal court]"

Chains came from the ground, literally breaking the stone the quarry was made of, and restricted the bandits. The skeleton invaded their minds, seeing every crime they did. It only happened in the span of a few seconds, the bandits had yet to understand what was happening.

"The court hath witnessed thy crimes, and hath decided of a judgment."

[Power of law: Death sentence]

The skeleton hit the ground with his cane, and invisible ropes hang the bandits in the air, strangling them. They tried to grab the ropes, to no avail, before they stopped squirming and dropped dead to the ground. Even when they died, they were useless. When the skeleton tried to watch their last memories, he realized they were as clueless as he was about what happened.

However, something else happened. The skeleton felt a critical success on his "eye of the detective" skill, and a little trinket he didn't notice before flashed in his sight. Walking up to it, he found a trinket in the form of a white flower, made from precious metal and white and transparent gems. From its shape, it was probably a hair pin. Seeing that there was no noble women lying on the ground, or devouring the corpse of the dead bandits, he could only conclude that this was probably the stolen property of a bandit. Performing a fifth-tier appraisal spell on the trinket, he found out it was enchanted with a seventh-tier protection spell against magical and physical damage. For this world, the seventh tier was something never achieved by humanoid means, and mere bandits wouldn't be able to take out someone powerful enough to get an item with seventh-tier protection, so it was certainly one of the adventurer's property.

He searched the place for a few more hours, but as he couldn't find more clues, he had no choice but to come back to report to Ainz.

"…And that concludes mine report, mine lord. My most humble apology, I couldn't findeth out what hath happened more precisely. "

In the throne room, kneeling in front of Ainz, the death inquisitor finished reporting the result of his research, handing a luxurious hair pin in his open palms. Ainz had asked Demiurge, Albedo, Shalltear and Narberal to listen to the report, hoping that one of them could find a new idea from the skeleton's report. But as usual, Demiurge kept his little smile of contempt, Albedo and Shalltear kept a calm behavior in front of their master and Narberal her poker face.

From the report, Ainz could deduce that a stronger being than usual came. However, when he heard that the hair pin was enchanted with only seventh-tier magic, his expectations for a guild mate appearing disappeared. All of his guild mates were the highest level someone on Yggdrasil could have, lvl.100. Taking the trinket, he looked at it closely, hoping to find something unusual, but sadly the death inquisitor was right in his report. It was only a beautiful piece of jewellery.

"Narberal, come here."

Narberal walked up to the throne from her position on the side, and knelt.

"Yes, my Lord?"

Ainz handed her the hair pin.

"While we travel as adventurers, you will use this. While I do not doubt your ability to defend yourself, even if someone discover its power, it would suit someone as powerful as the beautiful princess Nabe, and it will give you a sufficient protection."

"Understood."

Narberal took the piece of jewellery and put in in the front pocket of her maid dress. As Ainz was about to stand up, Shalltear spoke up.

"Lord Ainz, shouldn't we just give Narberal a protection item with a hidden enchantment?"

"Kukuku… Surely you wouldn't think the great plan Lord Ainz came with is so simple, shalltear?"

Demiurge kept his little smile, explaining to Shalltear, while Ainz was mentally screaming.

'Damn you Demiurge! That's all I thought of! I'm not some kind of schemer!"

"What? But…"

Incomprehension could be read on Shalltear's face, as she was doing her best to understand the intricacy of her master's plan.

"Demiurge. Explain to the others what you understood. Even if you all should strive for understanding by yourself, a dent in my plan would be off-putting…"

"Yes, Lord Ainz. Even if I can't even come close to understanding a fraction of your plan, I'm glad I could understand this little part. Narberal will be wearing the protection item. In this world, seventh-tier magic is god-like, so it's highly likely that the person who lost this will look for it. They will quickly find it, Momon the black and the Beautiful princess Nabe have a high popularity in this town after all, so people will notice that jewellery very fast. They will try to steal it, or they will contact Darkness. In both case, we can find the person behind it. Be it a supreme being or an anomaly in this world, both are interesting to contact. That's pretty much all I understood, but I can't fathom how far in time this plan was devised… "

'Hmmmm, I'm so lucky Ulbert created you the way you are, Demiurge!'

"You are right, Demiurge. Shalltear, I have other plans for you, so do not worry. Narberal, get dressed as Nabe, we will go adventuring for a while."

"Yes, my Lord!"

They all responded in unison, and Ainz left the throne room.

In the town of E-rantel, two famous adventurers came back. They were not adamantite adventurers yet, but they received the mythril plate in the recent Zuranon incident. A lot of people said they deserved at least orichalcum, or even adamantite plate, but the adventurer's guild had strict rules. Riding on the famous Wise King of the Forest, followed by the beautiful princess Nabe, her fan group had already noticed the new item she was wearing, and spread the news. Some said it was a powerful relic, able to wipe out an entire city in a single use, others said it was a simple piece of jewellery, adding to her already astounding beauty.

Momon was walking toward the Shining Golden Pavilion, the place he was supposed to rest when not adventuring. Having arrived at their destination, they left Hamsuke in it's personal stable at the inn, and walked toward the entrance. However, they heard a voice.

"Excuse me, are you adventurers?..."

'Lucky! I didn't expect the bait to get caught this quickly!'

Momon turned back, facing the man who asked the question. He seemed to be an adventurer, but he wasn't wearing a plate. There, a young man wearing a leather armor stood, fidgeting in place. The armor seemed simple, but the experienced eyes of the VRMMORPG player Momonga were not mistaken. What he was wearing was in fact dragon leather, camouflaged as normal leather. He had blond hair, a face with sharp features, blue eyes, a crossbow on his back and a short sword at his waist. Mana was literally leaking from all his enchanted equipment.

Nabe had already put her hand on the hilt of her sword, when Momon stopped her.

"Indeed. I am Momon, and she is Nabe, my partner. We are "Darkness". Do you have some kind of business with us?"

He cleared his voice once again.

"Yes, indeed. Could we talk inside?"

Hello there, author here.

Sorry for the long wait. University, end of the school year and final exams didn't really leave me much time, so I couldn't focus on writing.

Now, the two stories are crossing. Just to be clear on the timeline, it's between the defeat of Clementine and Khajiit, and the news about Shalltear's betrayal from Albedo.

As usual, I hope you like what you read. Next chapter should come sooner (I still have a few exams, but the majority are done). Ask the questions in the comments if you have some, i'd be glad to answer them.

See you next publication!