Hello,all. It's time for another chapter.

The Workers side of the story will mostly conclude here, so there's no cliffhanger.

See you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


SCHWING!

RRRRMBL!

As soon as Ainz shouted for the battle to begin, Sheep glowed for a very brief moment and unsheathed her weapon with an upward slashing motion. The move created a geyser-like energy shockwave which grew larger as it advanced quickly towards Doppel-Momon.

SLASH!

WHOOSH!

With a single heavy slash from the sword on his left hand, Doppel-Momon deflected the shockwave without flinching, causing it to disperse and do no damage. At this moment, Doppel-Nabe flew up and launched a spell towards Sheep.

[Fireball]

A fireball was launched from Doppel-Nabe straight towards Sheep, who quickly did a sidestep, causing it to only hit the ground. She didn't even seem to get damaged by the fireball's splash damage.

Within an instant, Sheep's weapon disappeared and the sinister-looking bow appeared in its place. She then immediately did a few quick shots at Doppel-Nabe, who gracefully evaded all the shots. Doppel-Momon quickly charged at Sheep and did a horizontal slash. It was a miss because Sheep sidestepped again, rotating her position and putting herself behind Doppel-Momon. Her weapon was switched back to the strange sword again, and she did a flurry of slashes at Doppel-Momon's back. In retaliation, Doppel-Momon did a back kick which missed but was enough to make Sheep stop her attack and jump away.

Sheep then switched to her bow again, turned to face Doppel-Nabe who was still floating, and did something strange. She jumped up doing a backflip, then she held her bow horizontally right in front of her. Her whole body glowed, and suddenly she was launched straight towards Doppel-Nabe at incredible speed.

Sheep had just shot Doppel-Nabe with herself as the arrow. Ainz couldn't help being surprised, leaning his body forward. That kind of move was totally against laws of physics, so some kind of magic or Martial Arts was definitely involved there.

Doppel-Nabe managed to evade the strange attack using [Teleportation], putting herself near Doppel-Momon. As soon as she landed on the ground, Sheep took a quick look at Doppel-Momon and Doppel-Nabe, and then she jumped with a spinning motion. As soon as she was facing her targets, Sheep somehow stopped her spinning motion mid-air, drew her bow, and launched a shot heavy enough to propel herself further away.

BOOM!

The energy bolt Sheep had launched hit the ground and created a massive explosion. Doppel-Momon managed to guard against it, and therefore took little damage, but Doppel-Nabe, having been caught by surprise, took quite a significant damage from the explosion.

In the mean time, the Workers who were with Sheep had been doing nothing but watching. They were all in alert, battle-ready stance, but they seemed unable to find the right moment to take action. It was expected, since they pretty much were watching a battle between monsters. Any reckless action would just add a casualty and make the situation worse.

Interesting. She's able to hold her own against Doppel-Momon.

Ainz had been observing the fight and couldn't help feeling intrigued. Doppel-Momon, although based on Perfect Warrior Momon, was still just a Doppelganger copy and therefore notably weaker than the genuine Perfect Warrior Momon. Despite that fact, Ainz could estimate that Doppel-Momon's power was about equal to a Warrior-type of around level 75 to 80, which was nevertheless still much stronger than any local beings he had encountered, barring that level 85 giant living tree he remembered. Yet this Sheep girl seemed to be able to fight on equal footing with Doppel-Momon.

If a local can be this strong, I really should up the fortifications of Nazarick. Still, I can't help feeling that her movements are somewhat familiar.

As Ainz was trying to remember, Sheep switched back to her strange sword and brandished it towards Doppel-Momon, who was quite a distance apart from her. It was at this point Ainz could see that Sheep's sword was shaped more like an ancient Japanese weapon called Jitte than a sword.

Sheep pointed her sword upwards and it began to glow slightly. She then rotated her arms, making the sword move in a circular motion like the hands of a clock. Afterimages of it could be seen as it rotated, and Ainz immediately knew that something dangerous would come once the sword completed a full circle. Doppel-Momon seemed to know that as well, thus immediately charging at Sheep to interrupt whatever she was preparing.

Doppel-Momon came at Sheep with his shoulder put ahead, intending to bash Sheep with a shoulder charge. With his strength based from Perfect Warrior Momon, he would have no problem pinning Sheep to the arena wall and then crushing her.

However...

[Impenetrable Fortress]

CLANG!

Doppel-Momon's shoulder charge met a figurative hard wall which didn't budge. Sheep didn't even flinch at all from the impact.

What the-? Is that a Martial Art? It's like the one that Clementine woman used against me!

Immediately, Sheep's sword completed a full circle and erected a very long energy blade, at least twenty meters tall. Sheep then did a downward slash with that giant energy blade.

BOOM!

The impact made a loud sound followed by an explosion of dirt. Once the dust settled, Ainz saw that a long crater had been created by that attack. Doppel-Momon thankfully had managed to evade a direct hit, though the explosion still had pushed him away.

The hell? That was almost the same as Rose's Photon Art! Was it a coincidence, or did Rose teach her that move like Ryu did to me?

A lot of things was going on in Ainz's mind. Right now the fact was clear that there was a strong local capable of using both Martial Arts and Photon Art, and it had also been presented that she could use a Martial Art in the middle of charging a Photon Art without interrupting it. Such mixture would be a force not to be taken lightly at all, and it was quite terrifying to think what would happen if more people like her decided to be hostile against Nazarick.

I wonder if I can learn more things from her. Nevertheless...

[Message]

Ainz contacted Doppel-Momon with the spell, trying his best to be discreet and not be noticed by any of the opponents.

"Worthy"

Ainz immediately ended the spell after saying the word. Before this event, Ainz had instructed Doppel-Momon to hold back his strength while Ainz observed the battle. He also had told Doppel-Momon two keywords to determine the next course of action. 'Worthless' would mean 'Keep holding back' while 'Worthy' would mean 'Get serious'.

The decision was made after confirming that Sheep was indeed a lot stronger than the other Workers in Rose's team. Ainz had no idea whether Sheep was a local demon or some kind of demihuman and why she was masquerading as human among the Worker team. He didn't even know whether Rose and the other Workers knew about Sheep's true identity or not.

There are a whole lot of questions in my mind. I suppose I will ask about them later. For now, let's see how long she would last against serious Doppel-Momon.

Ainz leaned forward, watching the ongoing battle full of interest.


[X][X][X]


"Woah..."

"She's pretty good. I would have never thought of using Martial Arts along with Photon Art"

Rose and Meru had been watching the ongoing battle from this mind space they were currently in. Their role for now was to just wait until Ainz released their body from this crystal, so watching the battle was the only thing they could do while waiting.

"Still, why is she still using the old version of Kazan Nadeshiko? The modified version I have since long ago is a straight upgrade without the flashy rotating motion that leaves you vulnerable"

"Remember that she is from the same place as Ryu, Rose"

"Oh yeah... Maybe you're right"

Rose remembered that there was a possibility that the ARKS Sheep and Ryu had come from was different from the ARKS she had come from herself. In this case, the term "different" could likely mean, "from a parallel universe". If this was true, Rose could assume from what Ryu had said back then that the ARKS he had come from was years behind in technology advancement, and therefore modified Photon Arts still didn't exist yet over there.

"Anyway, our time might come soon. I should get myself ready"

"Good luck, Rose. Be careful"


[X][X][X]


"Guys, do you think we can strike?"

"Don't ask me"

Roberdyck gave that answer because he truly had no idea. The ongoing battle was beyond what they could have ever imagined. Even without participating, the whole team was already at risk of becoming collateral damage to the destruction thrown around. The defensive buff from Rose had worn off, so now they were all vulnerable to damage from even a stray spell.

"Leave Momon alone and focus your attention on Nabe"

Hekkeran had been observing the situation and judged that Doppel-Momon was too far beyond what the team could possibly handle, thus he made that decision. The team should try to at least hinder Doppel-Nabe, who was wounded from Sheep's attack, from interfering with Sheep. Still, despite having taken damage from Sheep, Doppel-Nabe was still a copy of Nabe, the Adamantite Rank adventurer. They had to take actions carefully.

Right now, the team was positioned on one side of the arena while Sheep was nearly all the way at the other end. Both Doppel-Momon and Doppel-Nabe were in-between, their backs turned to them, and seemingly wide-open to attack. Knowing this, Hekkeran looked at Imina and Arche, signaling them to begin an attack. Both Imina and Arche nodded, and Imina immediately drew her bow.

[Enchant – Fire]

Arche casted a spell which enchanted the arrow Imina was about to use with fire. Imina then immediately shot the arrow right at Doppel-Nabe's back. At the same time, Arche casted an offensive spell aimed at Doppel-Nabe.

[Lightning]

The two attacks went straight to Doppel-Nabe at high speed. However, Doppel-Nabe disappeared just before the attacks could hit.

"You think I didn't know?"

Doppel-Nabe was suddenly right behind Arche and Imina. Before the two could properly react, Doppel-Nabe did a wide roundhouse kick.

SMACK! SMACK! THUD!

The kick hit both Arche and Imina, throwing them away and sending them to the ground. Both of them were writhing in pain right after.

"I don't even need magic to crush fleas like you"

Roberdyck immediately went to the two girls. It didn't take long for him to notice the fact that the one attack had seemed to break some of their bones.

[Cure Moderate Wounds]

Roberdyck used a spell to heal Arche and Imina, but taking that much damage had definitely inflicted a significant amount of both physical and mental fatigue on both of them.

"Don't look down on us!"

[Physical Boost]

Hekkeran activated a Martial Art to buff himself and then he immediately charged at Doppel-Nabe. He did a number of slashes and also the offensive Martial Art [Twin Blade Strike], but Doppel-Nabe effortlessly parried all of them with her sword.

WHAM!

THUD!

A single quick strike to the face with her elbow was all she needed to make Hekkeran stop. He fell on his back with his nose bleeding, seemingly also broken. Roberdyck quickly went to Hekkeran.

[Cure Moderate Wounds]

With the spell, Hekkeran's nose was healed. It was strange that Doppel-Nabe had never interrupted Roberdyck from healing the others. Was that her form of mockery?

"Why don't you fleas come at me at once, so I can crush all of you together?"

"Aaaargh!"

[Limit Breaker]

[Iron Fist]

[Dull Pain]

Hekkeran, having lost his calm, fell for it. He immediately charged at Doppel-Nabe again after unleashing multiple Martial Arts at once. Arche and Imina, seeing what was happening, launched an attack with [Magic Arrow] and a quick shot respectively, hoping that at least one attack would hit.

"Never mind"

[Mass Shock Constriction]

BZZT!

All four of Foresight Team were suddenly enveloped in electricity. None of them could move any part of their body even though there were nothing binding them physically. The tingling sensation while this was happening was also uncomfortable.

"I have decided that you fleas are still worthy of being burned to a crisp instead"

Doppel-Nabe then began preparing another spell. Hekkeran, and probably the others as well, knew that this would be their end. They had failed, and now they would have to face death.


[X][X][X]


CLANG!

There was a resounding echo as Sheep and Doppel-Momon's weapons clashed. For some reason, Doppel-Momon had become more aggressive than before, giving Sheep no room to breathe. Over his shoulders, Sheep could see her comrades trying to fight Doppel-Nabe to no success. In fact, Sheep had just seen Arche and Imina getting kicked very hard.

"Tch!"

Sheep rushed towards her comrades. She felt that she must come into their aid, since they had said themselves that she was the only one with fighting chance against these opponents. However, Doppel-Momon stood right in front of her, blocking her advance.

"Your opponent is me"

"Get out of my way!"

CLANG!

Sheep and Doppel-Momon clashed their weapons again, and this time his strength was overwhelming, pushing Sheep back several meters.

"Aaargh!"

Sheep grunted and immediately dashed forward again. Doppel-Momon blocked her way once more, and Sheep did a combination of heavy slashes. Doppel-Momon blocked all of them effortlessly and countered with a quick shoulder charge.

WHACK! THUD!

Sheep was thrown off several meters by the shoulder charge, taking quite a significant damage. She quickly stood up, and the sight she saw behind Doppel-Momon was her comrades being trapped by some kind of electricity magic, and Doppel-Nabe seemingly preparing another spell.

"Get... out... of... my... way...!"

"Make me"

A flame of rage was fueled inside Sheep's mind. Her comrades, the first friends she had ever made in this planet, was about to be killed by that scum. In addition, another scum was stubbornly blocking her way. All these were happening because of the biggest scum up there, sitting on his throne and watching over.

That's it... I've had enough...

Sheep then stood straight, her weapon vanished and replaced with another by a flicker of light.

Release...

Briste Insignia!


[X][X][X]


Alright, it is time.

Ainz had been observing the battle between the Workers and Doppel-Nabe. His plan, which he had let Doppel-Nabe know too, was to release Rose from the [Crystal Prison] at the moment where it seemed Doppel-Nabe would finish the Workers off while Doppel-Momon was blocking Sheep from interfering. This would be done in a manner where it seemed Rose had broken from the crystal herself and saved them in the nick of time. Rose had agreed to play along with the plan, and Ainz knew that it would be a dramatic rescue, and it should be awesome. At least he hoped it would be.

However, things had just taken a very unexpected turn.

SLASH!

THUD!

SPLORCH!

Ainz, and everyone else in the arena as well, couldn't believe what they had just seen. Doppel-Momon's right hand had been cut off and rolled on the ground. A large volume of blood spurted out from the cut off part.

"What the hell!?"

Ainz looked towards the scene to see what had just happened. The thing immediately presented to him was the sight of Sheep wielding a different weapon. This weapon seemed to be a katana, with a quite intimidating look in fact. Its blade was as black as Momon's armor, but there was a blood red line going through the length of the blade at its center. There was also some kind of dark blue energy constantly coiling around the blade like a snake on a tree branch. The hilt of the weapon seemed to be decorated with grey and black, but Ainz couldn't care about that any further.

Sheep herself was now enveloped in a very visible fiery aura of blood red color. Her face expression was generally straight, but her eyes clearly showed fury. The illusion spells on her had worn off somehow, fully revealing her horns and red left eye, which just now was leaking blood.

SLASH!

SPLORCH!

Without delay, Sheep zoomed past Doppel-Momon who was still staggered from the amputation and slashed Doppel-Nabe, beheading her completely.

"Not on my watch, you scum"

The lifeless body of Doppel-Nabe then fell flat on the ground and disintegrated into particles of light. Her death dispelled the restraining spell, freeing the Workers from it. They all then stood up, their face all showed fear.

Sheep then turned to face Doppel-Momon, who had collected himself and now stood in battle stance with only his left arm. As seconds went by, it was clearly visible that Sheep was beginning to bleed in more places even though she had not taken any damage. Now her nose and mouth started to leak blood as well.

Sheep immediately launched herself forward with her weapon pointed straight at Doppel-Momon, who tried to guard it with his sword.

CLANG!

The impact was massive, but Doppel-Momon stood his ground. Sheep then jumped back a bit and immediately launched herself forward once again, but this time she slid to the side and passed Doppel-Momon while doing a flurry of quick slashes on the way. Not willing to give any room to breathe, Sheep stopped and jumped back to Doppel-Momon, this time at higher angle. Right at the moment she was above Doppel-Momon, Sheep pointed her weapon straight down and somehow changed her trajectory into a straight vertical dive. Doppel-Momon immediately jumped away to evade.

CRASH!

BOOM!

Even though she had missed, Sheep's weapon made an explosion upon contacting the ground. Doppel-Momon was thrown away quite a distance as the result. Immediately, Sheep jumped from her position and made a vertical spinning slash, even though the distance between her and Doppel-Momon was still too far for her katana to reach. The slash produced a dark energy bolt which was shot straight towards Doppel-Momon.

CLANK! CRACK!

Doppel-Momon tried to block the energy bolt with his sword, but the bolt broke his sword in two and made a direct hit to his torso. The damage he took was significant.

SCHWING!

Sheep did a somewhat slow one-handed downward slash with her right hand. Her position was still the same, so Doppel-Momon expected another energy bolt. But contrary to his expectation, what appeared next was a giant energy blade slashing down on him with the same motion as the slash Sheep had done.

SPLAT! BOOM!

The impact made by the energy blade resulted in a massive explosion. When the dust settled, there was nothing on the impact zone other than a long hole, a pool of blood, and a few remnants of light particles scattering. Doppel-Momon was definitely dead.

I messed up big time.

It had never been in Ainz's plan to have both Doppelgangers killed in this scenario. He had failed to anticipate Sheep being strong enough to kill Doppel-Nabe instantly and slay Doppel-Momon just like that. The cost of resurrecting the two Doppelgangers later wouldn't be that expensive, but the fact remained that the treasury of Nazarick would have an unexpected expense thanks to his mistake.

Suddenly, before Ainz could think any further, Sheep's sinister katana flew straight at him. He had been too distracted in his own thoughts that he was late to notice the sudden attack.

Wha-?

CLANG!

A sound of metal clashing was heard right in front of Ainz. It had happened very quickly, but Ainz knew that someone, a Floor Guardian, had shielded him from the sudden attack. That Floor Guardian was none other than Shalltear Bloodfallen, fully equipped with her armor set and the Spuit Lance.

"Ainz-sama, are you all right!?"

"Uhh, y-yeah. I'm fine"

The katana which had been deflected disappeared with a flicker of light mid-air and reappeared in Sheep's hand. Shalltear and Sheep soon locked eye contact, and without a doubt Shalltear burst into rage.

"YOU LOWLIFE! HOW DARE YOU TO PUT AINZ SAMA IN HARM'S WAY! I WILL DRAIN YOUR LIFE AWAY SLOWLY, UNTIL YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD!"

"I'm already being drained and wishing so..."

Sheep's answer was spoken in a straight, calm tone with a slight smile. She let out a small cough, which spurted out more blood in addition to her bleeding eyes and nose. Ainz wondered if that sinister katana drained her own life constantly, and perhaps her mind as well, in exchange of power. It was a possibility that the mind drain was the cause of her suddenly attacking Ainz, but the fact still remained that Ainz had been directly attacked, and no Floor Guardian would let that slide.

"Then I will gladly deny your wish!"

Shalltear immediately flew straight towards Sheep with her lance pointed straight forward. At the last second, Sheep blocked the attack with the scabbard of her katana.

CLINK! SCHWING!

The attack was somehow completely blocked, and Sheep immediately countered with a single slash which Shalltear guarded.

What? That move...

"You're quite something, but see if you can resist this"

[Vermilion Nova]

"No! Wait-!"

Ainz's words were too late. Shalltear had already casted the 9th-tier spell which created a huge pillar of flame right below Sheep's feet. A second later, Sheep was completely engulfed in the pillar of flame. The Workers at the far side of the arena could only watch in horror.

"Shalltear! Cancel that spell!"

"Huh? A-As you command, Ainz-sama"

Despite being confused, Shalltear obeyed and put the spell off earlier than its supposed duration. Still, the fact remained that the spell had taken effect, and nobody would survive the scorching heat without crippling injuries unless their strength was comparable to a Floor Guardian. Sheep, having been seemingly drained by her own weapon, probably would not survive. Ainz expected to see the worst once the dust settled.

Now I really ended up killing one of them. But she attacked me first, so that was to be expected. It was a self defense, no?

Ainz was thinking of a reason to tell Rose in case she would lash out at him for killing Sheep, and that was the best answer he could come up with; A legitimate self defense.

However, when everyone gained visual on Sheep once more, what Ainz saw was something beyond any of his expectations.

Sheep was standing straight, having taken no harm at all from the spell, and being covered in an energy barrier Ainz was too familiar with.

The hell!? That's-

The barrier around Sheep disappeared, and a familiar fish-like white monster appeared right above her. The fish monster then circled around, showering Sheep with energy and rejuvenating her. It was definitely a Photon Blast, the same one Ainz had seen back then when Meru had fought Cocytus.

Don't tell me that this demon-like person is an ARKS too! Why didn't Rose tell me so!?

Shalltear had been there watching the battle back then, therefore she seemingly noticed the fact like Ainz did. She glanced at Ainz with confused look because she, like any other Floor Guardian, naturally knew that Nazarick had a mission to ally with ARKS. Therefore, her current situation would require a decision from Ainz to take further course of action.

But right now Ainz's mind was a total mess. He couldn't think of a quick decision, and before he could say any words, Sheep charged at Shalltear with her katana pointed forward. The next thing Ainz said was out of reflex instead of a calculated decision.

"Don't harm her! Just defend!"

Shalltear nodded, and she went into defensive as commanded. Ainz knew that Shalltear at her full power could easily withstand the attacks for a while, giving him some time to assess the situation. There was no guarantee that Sheep didn't have any stronger attack, though. Therefore Ainz had to come up with a decision fast.


[X][X][X]


"What the-? What is that weapon? What did she just do? None of her moves resembled any Photon Art of Braver class!"

"Calm down, Rose..."

"How can I possibly be calm? I need to go down there but that bonehead is so captivated by what's happening he forgot to release us from this crystal!"

"Right, but you should still calm down"

"Heh, alright. I take a deep breath... and now I'm... Not calm at all! Look! She just picked a fight with probably one of his strongest underlings! At this rate she will get killed!"

"C-Can you try breaking out of this?"

"How!?"

"That Martial Art, perhaps?"

"But how to use it if both of us are here not controlling the body?"

Meru couldn't say anything, and Rose fully understood that. This kind of situation had never happened before. For some reason, the spell [Crystal Prison] which had been used for the purpose of drama had sent Rose's consciousness into the same place as Meru, and therefore now they had no idea how to make the body activate the Martial Art.

"Let's try willing it together"

"Huh?"

"We will it, for the body to use the Martial Art"

"Eh... worth a try, I guess"

Meru and Rose then held hand, closed their eyes, and concentrated their mind. They tried their hardest to imagine themselves activating the [Enhanced Magic Resistance] Martial Art, hoping that the body would follow suit and use it as well.

Suddenly, a vortex of light appeared right behind Rose and she was quickly sucked into it.

"W-Wha-!"

"Rose!"

The next thing Rose saw was the fact that she was back in control of the body, which was still unable to move inside the solid crystal. However, the body was emitting aura and some visible cracks could be noticed around the crystal.

"Meru! You all right?"

"I'm fine. How about you, Rose?"

"I can't believe that it actually worked! I'm back in control, and the crystal is beginning to crack"

"That's good, Rose. Now hurry!"

"I know! That Photon Blast of her won't last any more seconds"

Rose then focused the photons inside her body, concentrating her mind to use the Martial Art in its full power.

[Enhanced Magic Resistance]

Crack! Crack!

CRASH!

The crystal broke with a quite loud cracking sound, and Rose immediately jumped down into the arena. The thing which mattered the most for her right now was to somehow pull Sheep out from her seemingly berserk state, and then hope that Ainz would be merciful enough to let it slide. No matter how Rose dislike him, it was a fact that right now she and everyone else on the team were inside his domain. Being hostile was definitely not a good idea.


[X][X][X]


Ah shit, I just remembered that I forgot to release her from the crystal.

Ainz just realized more of his mistakes. He had been supposed to release Rose from the crystal some minutes ago, but the sudden development had distracted him away from it. Shalltear was already informed about the initially planned scenario and the roles of Rose, but since the situation had changed, Ainz spoke just to make sure.

"Shalltear. Do not harm her either"

"Yes, Ainz-sama!"

I thought ARKS operatives are vulnerable against non-damaging spell effects. Did something happen while she was not in my sight?

While [Crystal Prison] was not a top tier spell, it was still a spell of 7th tier. Back in YGGDRASIL, the spell would disable the target for a certain duration depending on the values of the caster's magic power and the target's magic resistance. In this world, that spell could last for a full day if the target didn't have magic resistance, so Ainz had never expected Rose to break out of it this soon.

Still, now that she's free, this might be a good thing.

Ainz then waited, seeing what Rose's next action would be. He could make a quick prediction that Rose would try to calm Sheep down and stop the fight, so he had quickly prepared a plan in mind to follow up with that. He just hoped that his prediction would be correct.

"Sheep!"

Rose called out to Sheep, and Sheep stopped her attacks on Shalltear. The photon beast which had been hovering over her and healing her disappeared with a flicker of light as she looked back to see Rose.

"Rose...?"

"Stop the fight, Sheep. It's already over!"

Without giving Sheep a chance to respond, Rose jumped to hug Sheep, who seemed to be caught by surprise from that action.

"R-Rose?"

"You are the first friend I have on this world. Please, I don't want to lose you!"

"Rose..."

As this was happening, Sheep started to bleed from her eyes and nose again. Ainz decided that he had to jump in immediately to stop Sheep from harming herself further. He quickly hovered down to the spot where they were located and immediately spoke.

"Sheep. I have no idea what your weapon is capable of, but I can clearly see that you are harming yourself as long as you are wielding it. I advise you to stop it if you are able. Have no fear, I will not harm you or your friends. None of us will."

Sheep looked at Ainz for a few seconds without saying anything. She then let out a small sigh and then her weapon disappeared with a flicker of light. She then pulled a bottle out of thin air and drank its contents. Ainz remembered Rose giving the same kind of bottle to Cocytus back then when they first met. As Ainz expected, a green light covered Sheep and healed her fully. Her nose was still leaking blood, though. But she just wiped it with her finger.

"This will stay for several hours, but I will be fine"

Ainz nodded, and then he looked at Shalltear.

"Shalltear, the battle is over. Put away your arms"

"As you command, Ainz-sama~"

Shalltear then instantly de-summoned her armor and Spuit Lance, reverting back to her normal lady-like appearance.

"Now, have your other friends gather here. I will give you my verdict"

Rose then glanced at the Workers and gave them a signal to come over. They hesitated for a moment, but in the end they nodded to each other and approached. Now that they were all right in front of Ainz, he began speaking once again.

"I will get straight to the point. You are free to go. No strings attached"

The Workers and Sheep seemed to be surprised by the words Ainz had said. It took some amount of seconds for them to let it sink in, but they eventually displayed their joy with their face expression. The man who had spoken to Ainz before stepped forward and spoke to him again.

"We humbly thank you for your merciful heart, Ainz-sama"

He said those words while bowing in respect. Ainz couldn't care less about that, but the appreciation felt somewhat nice regardless.

"But before I let you leave, there are a few questions I would like to ask"

"We will gladly answer your questions the best of our ability"

Ainz looked at Sheep after Hekkeran spoke his consent.

"Sheep, I can't help but noticing the way you fought. Tell me, are you an ARKS operative?"

Sheep couldn't hide her reaction. She was definitely surprised hearing the question. The same applied to the Workers.

"Y-Yes, but how did you know about ARKS?"

"Some time ago, I met a stranded and confused ARKS operative like you. I gave him food and shelter for a while, and we talked about a lot of things. I still keep in touch with him, which is important since we have had a few run-ins with Darkers and a Dark Falz"

"What!?"

Rose was surprised hearing what Ainz had just said, and Ainz had no idea why. Sheep seemed to have the same reaction, but to a lesser degree. Rose then immediately stepped forward and spoke her question.

"You fought Darkers?"

"Yes, and I could use more helping hands from ARKS"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Hmm?"

"If you've told me earlier that you're fighting Darkers, I would've helped you without question instead of running off all the way to the Empire!"

"When we first met, we haven't encountered Darkers yet, unfortunately"

"Oh, I see"

Rose's behavior just now raised a question in Ainz's mind, and therefore he asked a question immediately.

"Is ARKS like that as a whole? Would they ally with me if I simply say I'm fighting Darkers?"

"Exterminating Darkers and fighting off Dark Falz is the purpose of our existence! Why would we refuse to ally with someone on the same page?"

Seriously? It's just that easy? Have I been worrying over nothing all this time?

"Umm... May I ask a question?"

Sheep asked while looking nervous. Her behavior right now was so different than herself a few minutes ago, it felt somewhat strange for Ainz.

"Alright, but do tell me your real name after I answer your question. I assume 'Sheep' is an alias, isn't it?"

"Is the ARKS operative you told us about... Ryu Seika?"

"That is correct. You know him?"

"He is my brother"

"I see- Eh...?"

W-WHAT? D-Did she just say-?

"My real name is Hikaru Seika"

THE HELL!?

What Ainz had just heard was completely out of his expectations, his mouth went agape. Even Shalltear next to him couldn't hide her surprise either. Nobody would have thought that this person who had inhuman features, namely the horns and the red eye, was the sister of Ryu, a completely human person.

However, Ainz still believed that he had to keep calm. Despite what Rose had said, it was still important to never show any sign of weakness. The possibility still existed that Rose herself was too naive in her view towards ARKS. This possibility was strengthened because Ainz had noticed Sheep's face expression showing a somewhat snarky smile while averting her eyes, an expression which basically said "Heh, she doesn't know", which Ainz fully agreed with. All big organizations are very likely to have dark secrets hidden within after all.

Nevertheless, now the fact had been presented to Ainz that Ryu's sister was here as well. He wanted to ask for more details, but now there were locals present and Ainz believed it would be unnecessary for them to know all the info. Therefore, Ainz decided to send them off for now and invite all three ARKS operatives for a more private meeting later.

"I see. In any case, I will send you all back to the entrance. Look for a city named E-Rantel to find Ryu"

"We planned to go there after this supposed expedition quest"

Rose spoke those words and then she looked at the Workers. They all nodded, agreeing with her.

"Good to hear. Off you go, then. May we meet again under better circumstances"

[Gate]

A familiar dark vortex appeared, and the six outsiders walked into it after bowing to Ainz. After they all entered, Ainz dispelled the portal and let out a sigh from his skeletal mouth. Too many things had derailed from the original plan, and the mental exhaustion had finally caught up to him.

"I need a break..."

"O-Of course, Ainz-sama!"

Shalltear then put herself down into the exact same position she had been in back then when Ainz had used her as a chair. Ainz immediately realized that he had made a mistake blurting out those words, which Shalltear had misinterpreted.

I don't want to sit on her again, there's no reason to do it this time!

Despite thinking that, Ainz also felt that it would not feel good if he refused the offer which Shalltear had made sincerely. He was now in a conundrum between enduring another shame, or risking making Shalltear sad.

Sigh...

Ainz chose the former, sitting down on the weirdest chair he had ever sat on.

"I will only take a couple minutes. Sorry about this"

"D-Don't worry, Ainz-sama! The pleasure is all mine!"

Ainz didn't want to look at Shalltear's face right now, because he knew that she was wearing the same face as back then, and he didn't want to get weirded out again from seeing that face.

There are a lot of things I need to do after this...

Ainz sighed again, not knowing that deep down in the Throne Room of Nazarick, Albedo was furiously biting her handkerchief to shredded pieces after seeing through the monitors, the pleasure Shalltear had gotten again.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

Well, to be frank, I planned this chapter to cover a bit of progress for Ryu's side of the story as well, but the word count has already become too high for comfort, so I decided to leave that for the later chapter.

So, yeah. In this story, everyone from Foresight Team lives thanks to Hekkeran unknowingly pulling Ainz's heartstrings in a good way. Most of other Workers survive too as the byproduct of the same event. Ainz got something too, having pretty much secured two more ARKS operatives to be his allies against Darkers. An essentially win-win outcome.

Next chapter will mainly cover Ryu's side of the arc. And before I forget, I'd like to say thanks to the guests who had recently posted quite lengthy comments. You have no idea how pleased I was seeing more people other than the regulars.

See you again later.