This is a very short intermission story to 'tease' about the upcoming next arc


"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Ainz kicked the ground over and over out of fury. His attempt to release Shalltear from the mind control by using Wish Upon A Star had failed, and that only meant one thing.

"Ainz, Ainz-sama, please, be at peace…"

Albedo tried to calm Ainz down. Fear clearly showed in her voice.

"...Forgive me. I seem to have lost my senses for a moment. Pay that unsightly scene no heed."

"Please do not say that. However, I am grateful that you took my suggestion to heart, Ainz-sama. If it is your wish that I forget ever seeing that, then I shall remove it from my mind. However — what happened? Did I displease you, Ainz-sama? If you are willing to tell me, I shall strive not to let it happen again."

"...My anger was not directed at you, Albedo. It was because-"

Beep! Beep!

Ainz's speech was interrupted by the notification he knew very well.

Another Message?What now?

The voice behind the Message spell was of a male.

"Ainz-sama..."

It took Ainz a few seconds to recognize the voice.

"You are Ryu's watcher"

"Yes, Ainz-sama"

"If you are using Message to me, I believe that means there is an emergency"

"Yes, Ainz-sama"

Why now of all times possible?

"...Explain briefly"

"The vessel I am in has been abducted from Ryu"

The way the Eight Edge Assassin worded the sentence was a bit strange, but it was easy to conclude that he meant Lily somehow had gotten kidnapped.

"At this condition, I am unable to do my mission of watching Ryu. Please give me instructions on how I should handle this matter"

Within the calm, expresionless skeletal face, Ainz was overwhelmed out of his wits. Shalltear going berserk and risking herself getting exposed to the world was already a gravely critical matter, and now a similar risk was happening to the Eight Edge Assassin.

Ainz's mind went into overdrive, thinking of the worst outcome that could happen from this abduction case, all within less than a second.

If Lily eventually got killed, the Eight Edge Assassin would emerge stunned and wounded. As the result he would be exposed to the world even if he managed to escape from the vicinity. Ainz could order him now to emerge and rescue Lily, but that would not prevent another problem. He would lose his means to watch Ryu because it would be difficult to supply the watcher with another Reverse Assimilation and Message scroll without getting found out. It was still the less worse outcome, though.

However, there was no guarantee the Eight Edge Assassin would be able to rescue Lily.

He could never ignore the chance that the culprits might be the same ones who had made Shalltear go into her current state. If it happened to be true, the risk would be too high for a single Eight Edge Assassin. Because of this he could not risk sending anyone over to help either.

Still, the matter with Shalltear was the more critical one, and Ainz knew he was the only one who should go and act on this matter.

And so he decided to take a risk by leaving the other matter to Ryu.

"Continue your watch to your surroundings. Emerge from the vessel only if you are absolutely certain she will get killed within seconds. If that happens, evacuate both yourself and the vessel if possible, but prioritize yourself over her"

"Understood, Ainz-sama"

The Message spell ended. Now Ainz could only hope Ryu would get around this matter fast.

"Ainz-sama, please forgive this one's foolish curiosity, but what was that about?"

"It was a matter less important than the one we have. Pay it no heed for now"

Despite saying that, Ainz intended to aid Ryu in this matter once he was done with his own problem. He had to somehow supply another Message scroll to the watcher anyway, so eventually he had to get involved.