Overlord The Trinity Supreme Beings

by damiantran280

What if there was another supreme being joining Ainz and Nazarick. What if two of the almighty Supreme ones had stayed. —Well this is their legend— Follow Karna, Jeanne D'arc and Ainz as they maintain their precious guild and NPC and dominate the New World — And the new world thought the OverLord of Death was bad enough, well what if we throw in The Son of Sun God and a Holy Saint.

10. Chapter 6 - part 2: Realization

Overlord Chapter 6 part 2:

The Fifth Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick was an extremely cold region that had been modelled after a glacier.

A bluish-white iceberg stood in the middle of an endless expanse of white land, like a tombstone. It seemed to glow from within and confused the senses. Snow fell from the heavy, overcast sky above, whipped into a mad dance by the freezing wind which carried frozen vapors on its gusts. In the distance was a frozen forest covered in snow, which looked like giants clad in robes of purest white.

The bone-chilling wind ruffled the three supreme beings clothing, which fluttered in the wind. Albedo stood beside them, and as Ainz eyed the way she was dressed, Ainz asked:

"Aren't you cold? If you need to, you can put on your armor. We should still have time for that."

Ainz was completely immune to all forms of cold-elemental attacks, and so was his friends, Karna was slightly bothered by it though as he is a fire demon. But none of them would not be damaged or frozen regardless of how low the temperature went. However, Albedo was a different matter. If she was in her full battle panoply, mere freezing gusts like this would not harm her, but she was currently wearing a white dress. He had asked her about this before teleporting, but he had come away with the feeling that she was just trying to put on a brave front.

However, Albedo simply smiled gently in response to Ainz's worries.

"Thank you for your concern, lord Ainz, but it is not necessary. Mere cold like this is not a problem."

Ainz nodded and replied, "I see."

Normally, there would be an environmental effect here which applied cold damage and slowed movement. However, operating it required money, so it had been left deactivated. Perhaps she had simply been lucky that they had made that decision early on. Or was it because Albedo had some sort of magic item or skill that negated cold damage?

In truth, the NPCs were equipped by the guild members who designed them. There were only a few of them which Ainz could confidently say he understood thoroughly, apart from Pandora's Actor. That said, he had gone over all their data after coming to this new world.

Questions filled Ainz's mind as he looked at the majestic two-story mansion before him.

This building seemed strangely out of place in this frozen land. It was like a house from a storybook, and seemed to be surrounded by a fairytale atmosphere.

However, its surface was covered in a layer of ice, giving it an uncomfortably cold aura. In fact, the name of this building was about as far from a fairytale as one could get.

Its name was the Frozen Prison.

All of Nazarick's enemies were locked up here.

'So your only worried about albedo huh?'

'what?...oh right, your a fire demon... hehe sorry' Ainz reply through the [MESSAGE] sheepishly.

"...Let's just go." Karna grumbled.

Jeanne look at Karna, he was slightly shivering from the cold, with a red tint on cheek and happy smiled plaster on her beautiful face she latched onto one of Karna arm and snuggled up to him to make him a little warmer. Though he has equipment that protects him from cold damage, he wasn't completely immune to the cold. Karna was caught off guard a little, his and Jeanne eyes met and Karna smiled at her as she look at him with a smile of her own.

Albedo looked at the two and look at Ainz with puppy dog eyes 'I wish me and lord Ainz could walk hand in hand like Lord Karna and Lady Jeanne, seeing them like that really make me jealous...'

'crap, why is she looking at me like that?' Ainz though, he then look forward to see Karna and Jeanne who were clinging to each other and looking at one other and was seem to be loss in each other gaze, Ainz then glance at Albedo 'does she want me to do that... oh no'

Ainz continue to look forward, hoping that Albedo would give up and look forward herself 'I feel so bad for doing this to her... but it cant be help'.

Karna smiled and slightly leaned in more to feel Jeanne warmth 'once this is over, me and Jeanne really need to sit down and talk... now that I think about it, we really haven't had any time for each other when we arrive here' and with that though, he pushed open the frozen main gate. Though it was covered in a thick layer of ice, the gate still open easily, as though it were welcoming a visitor.

A wave of cold air washed over them in the instant the gate opened. This was because the interior of the Prison was colder than even the freezing environs outside.

It was only after the chilling wind swept over her that Albedo began shivering. As Ainz saw this, he reached into his pocket dimension and withdrew a crimson cape, whose hem was decorated with flame-like patterns.

"Wear this, Albedo. It is not highly enchanted, but it should be enough to ward off the cold."

"To think you would lavish such a gift upon me! My deepest thanks! I shall treasure it all my life."

'Some friend you are'

'oh don't complain, you have Jeanne to keep you warm'

The looked further into the other side of the opened gate.

A silent, dark passage extended within.

"Right, the surviving members of the Sunlight Scripture should be in here." Ainz said.

"Neuronist should be watching them closely. Ah, how warm, it feels like you're hugging me, Ainz-sama… kukuku."

"...Really now? That's wonderful."

I doubt being embraced by skinless and fleshless arms like mine would feel warm, but of course Ainz did not say that. At the very least, he knew that it would not be appropriate at the present moment.

As Albedo wriggled and twisted around in the cape, wrapping it around herself so tightly she almost vanished into its folds, Ainz strode forth.

"What are you doing, we're running out of time… under these circumstances." Karna said as he and Jeanne who was clinging to his arm, walked in front of the group.

"Right"

Ainz's passive skill 「Undead Blessing」 allowed him to sense all the undead lurking within the compound. Since it was annoying, Ainz disabled the skill in order to ignore the presence of the undead as he walked down the freezing, blue-white passage. People without countermeasures against movement impairment might end up tripping and falling on the completely frozen-over corridor.

"...my lord, shall I summon Neuronist? It is unthinkable that she would not come to lead the way, thus forcing the Supreme Beings of Nazarick to advance by themselves…"

'...Neuronist... oh no' memories of the past flooded back to Jeanne. She could still remember the little prank the guild polled on her, one of the member made Neuronist as a cruel joke to prank some the guild member. She being the biggest scaredy-cat in guild was often victim to theses pranks.

"Um...It's fine Albedo, Neuronist, well she's...um, she has a very...um... energetic personality. There is a matter we need to settle as soon as possible and I would like to avoid wasting time." Jeanne said while trying to put in the nicest way possible.

"Understood My lady. Then, after all this is over, I will lecture Neuronist and caution her not to babble too much."

"NO, no, there's no need for that. It does not displease me." Jeanne reassure.

"But…"

Jeanne bitterly smiled as she watched Albedo furrows her brows from her place beside Ainz. As one of her masters, she appreciated the fact that she was thinking of them, but if she did that, their subordinates might not dare complain in future.

"Albedo it is fine, regardless of your merits or flaws, we love you all, because you were all made by our friends of the past. The fault is our for being unhappy with such meticulously crafted people." Ainz said.

Indeed, if Shalltear had betrayed them because her backstory had been designed that way, then he had to forgive her for it. That was because she was simply obeying the will of her creator, Peroroncino. However, he did not seem like the type who would plant bad seeds in the guild. All this confused them because Peroroncino was a man who liked joking around and disliked ruining relationships between his friends.

If that's the case, then it should be an external reason after all, no? The way the text was displayed represents that she was mind controlled… although I can't rule out the fact that it might have been a part of her settings I wasn't sure about, or a change in her settings which happened after coming to this world. Besides, I didn't memorize the personality profiles of all the NPCs, and their personalities seem quite similar to those of their creators… I guess nobody could program them without personalities, so that might be why. If that's the case, then Shalltear… could it be that she had something like a time bomb built into her settings? Her creator liked H-Games, so maybe he programmed some kind of event into her which needed to be solved with a walkthrough… uwah, that sounds quite likely.

Ainz sighed weakly, and then he finally realised the oddity in the behavior of the woman next to him.

She was looking forward and walking, but unlike just now, she was not matching his stride. And while her eyes were facing forward, they were not focused on any particular place.

Karna heard Albedo mumbling something, and he strained to listen.

"I love you… I love you… I love you…"

She was repeating those words over and over again, like a broken record.

'...uhh, this is going to escalate to something big one day…' Karna sigh.

"...Oi, Albedo. I said I loved you all. That refers to everyone" Ainz said.

Albedo turned her head towards him in a strange manner.

"But, but that, that means, you love me too, right?"

"Er… erm… well, yes."

"Kufu!"

Albedo squeezed her legs together and hopped up in an adorable manner — the motion sending her into the ceiling.

Such was the case when one possessed superhuman athletic ability.

Jeanne giggles 'she so kawaii!'

Ping! Or rather, it was a boom. A startling crash came from the ceiling, so great was the force of the impact. As they heard what sounded like a bomb exploding, the translucent bodies of several incorporeal monsters poked themselves out of the ceiling.

These were the undead which were hiding within the Prison, which Ainz's skill had picked up.

"Ah, you lot can go back, it's nothing special."

Ainz looked at Albedo before him, so happy that she was humming to herself. Though she had crashed into the ceiling, her racial skills included a certain measure of damage reduction, so it had not hurt at all.

The various undead bowed reverently before vanishing, returning to where they stood ready to meet any intruders.

"That enough Albedo, we're almost at your big sister's room." Karna said.

Albedo's flighty and overjoyed expression turned serious in an instant.

"Understood. Then, I shall retrieve the doll."

"Umu. Give it to me."

Albedo reached a hand toward the wall, and a pale-white hand reached back out, depositing a doll to her hand. It was a baby doll, which was about the same size as an actual baby.

Karna accepted the doll, and looked it over without averting his eyes.

"How revolting."

The doll was a caricature of a human infant, its distorted features resembling a Cupid doll. Its large, round eyes were particularly disgusting. Karna furrowed his brows and directed his gaze to the end of the corridor. There was a large fresco, painted on a wall which contained a door.

He saw a mother and her baby. It was a painting of a mother gently cradling her child.

If that were all, it would have been a beautiful painting. However, the passage of time had worn away at the paint, turning it into a hideous sight. In particular, one could no longer see the shape of the baby itself. All that remained was something which looked like a corpse.

Karna pushed open the door, which slid open with no sound or resistance — and he was greeted by the sound of crying babies.

It was not just the sound of one or two voices. Nor was it the result of an echo.

Tens, hundreds of crying voices fused into one and reached their ears. However, they could not see any babies in the room.

Still, although they could not see them, they were definitely there.

In this empty room, bare of all furniture, there was a cradle, and a woman gently rocked it.

Though Karna had entered the room, the woman in the black mourning clothes remained silent, caring only for the cradle she was rocking. Her face could not be seen because her long black hair completely covered it up.

Normally, if an NPC saw a Supreme Beings and paid them no heed, Albedo would loudly rebuke them. However, she remained silent. They all knew the reason for that, because Albedo's guarded stance told them everything.

"It's about time to begin, no?"

"It should be. Please be careful."

As though on cue, the women's movements froze. Then, she reached her hands into the cradle, and gently retrieved the baby within. No, that was not a real baby, but a baby doll.

"It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong."

She shook it forcefully and then cast it aside with all her strength. The doll shattered into pieces when it hit the wall.

"My baby, my baby, my baby, my babyyyyyyy—!"

A sound of grinding teeth came from the woman, and with that, the crying noises from the floor and ceiling grew louder. Soon, the source of the sound revealed itself, and lumps of flesh which resembled translucent babies emerged.

"To think Tabula Smaragdina-san put so many monsters in here… how much money did he spend on this?" Jeanne asked.

"A lot probably" Karna sigh as the memory of the good old days of Ainz Ooal Gown came back, however this was interrupted by the squirming masses of flesh which resembled infants come, they were close to level twenty, and they were called Carrion Babies.

In games like YGGDRASIL, one could place pop monsters within dungeons by paying the appropriate in-game or real-world currency. However, they would not come back to life after being destroyed, so they were more of a luxury to players. Those players that did not focus on roleplaying would not emplace such monsters.

The fact that he had put in so many Carrion Babies here, despite their low levels, was a testament to the meticulous nature of Tabula Smaragdina.

Just as they was starting to be impressed, the woman produced a large pair of scissors from somewhere and gripped them tightly. A keen gaze looked out from her unkempt hair, directed at Ainz, Karna, Jeanne and Albedo.

"You, you, you, you, took, took, took, took, my baby, my baby, my baby, my babyyyyyyyyy—!"

"...She really is your sister. The resemblance is very strong." Ainz joke.

"Eh!? Re-Really?"

"Hem, you what… I can see the resemblance" Karna nodded as she look at Albedo and turned to look at her sister.

The woman seemed to take the leisurely conversation as some sort of provocation and broke into a run, her killing intent driving her as swiftly as the wind. The woman in the black mourning clothes took unnaturally large strides as she charged, closing the distance to them in but a few steps.

The woman stabbed forcefully at Karna with her scissors—

"Your child is here."

—And as Karna presented the doll to the woman, her movements froze immediately, as though someone had pressed the stop button on her. She put her scissors away, and slowly accepted the doll.

"Ohhhhh~"

She cradled her beloved child with infinite compassion, as though she would never let it go. Then, she gingerly placed the baby back in the cradle, before turning her face, shrouded as it was by her long hair.

"Lord Momonga, Lord Karna, Lady Jeanne and my lovely little sister too. I trust you have been well?"

"It's been a while, Nigredo. You seem… yes, I am glad you have not changed."

The reason why they could calmly handle this chain of events was because they had witnessed this madness before, in the game.

'Back then, this was so scary that I screamed' Jeanne mused.

Their guildmate said he had made a new NPC, and asked the other guild members to come see it with him. In the end, everyone had shrieked together and unleashed their full power on Nigredo. It felt quite nostalgic now when they looked back on it.

"Nee-san, it's been a while."

Indeed, this Nigredo was Albedo's older sister. In other words, she was an NPC created by the player Tabula Smaragdina.

If one said that Albedo was the incarnation of his love for gap moe, then Nigredo would be the character that represented Tabula Smaragdina's love for horror movies.

Although he wasn't a bad person by any stretch of the word, he was clearly quite a character.

Under normal circumstances, he was a rational man, but the more he got into something, the more he began revealing his true nature. As he recalled that guild member from the past, Nigredo brushed away the long hair which covered her face, revealing her true visage.

Perhaps she felt that covering her face was being disrespectful to the supreme beings, but on the other hand, they would have preferred her to carry on as normal.

Her true face was creepy, to say the least. It had no skin, only exposed muscle.

Her mouth had no lips, yet held a beautiful set of teeth. Her eyes shone brightly in the absence of eyelids. An observer might think her beautiful if they looked solely at her eyes or teeth, but taken as a whole, her face inspired nothing but revulsion.

That frighteningly ugly face from the depths of a horror movie contorted. It was hard to tell because of the lack of skin, but she still had muscle tissue on her face, unlike Ainz, so one could eventually surmise that she should have been smiling.

"Then, Lord Momonga, Lor—"

"—Ah, my apologies. You were not in the Throne Room so you did not know, but my name is no longer Momonga. I am now Ainz Ooal Gown. Please address me as Ainz from now on."

There was a gasp of surprise, and then Nigredo slowly raised her head:

"I understand, lord Ainz."

"Then, Nigredo, we came here to seek your help. Could we make use of your abilities?" Karna asked.

"My abilities? Is it alive? Or nonliving?"

"...Probably counts as alive… should probably be living… I'll be frank with you. The target is Shalltear Bloodfallen."

"The Floor Guardian? ...Forgive my rudeness. If it your order, then I will carry it out at once, Lord Karna."

Though her voice seemed doubtful, Nigredo immediately complied with the request.

"Please, Nee-san."

In response to Albedo's request, Nigredo raised her thumb playfully before casting a variety of spells. There was quite the variety of them, and Ainz mused that he had heard most of them not long before. They were the spells he had demonstrated to Narberal last night.

Nigredo was a magic caster, and she was one of the highest-level NPCs in Nazarick. Though one could not tell from looking at her, she had been designed to specialize in divination and information gathering. That was why they had come here to ask for help with locating Shalltear.

Soon enough — as befitting a person with her skills — Nigredo swiftly announced the results.

"I found her my lords."

"Put it on a 「Crystal Monitor」." Karna commanded.

She cast another spell, and a 「Crystal Monitor」 appeared, displaying something which looked like a vast expanse of forest. Someone in armor was standing amidst the trees.

They praised her:

"Amazing. You discerned the location of the target with pinpoint accuracy. I'd expect nothing less of a specialized magic cas—"

As the image in the monitor became clearer, the praise vanished.

The person depicted there was dressed in a suit of red-colored full plate armor which looked like it had been drenched in blood. It wore a swan-shaped helmet which left only the face exposed. Plumes of avian feathers sprouted from either side of the helmet, while the chest and shoulders of the armor had been styled into the shape of wings. Crimson skirt armor covered the lower body.

It held a huge, strange-looking lance in one hand, resembling a pipette one might use in a science class.

This was Shalltear Bloodfallen. She possessed levels in Valkyrie — a divine magic caster class which specialized in fighting power — and she was fully ready for battle.

"The Spuit Lance! That's the divine class item that Peroroncino-sama gave Shalltear!" Albedo exclaimed as she saw Shalltear's weapon.

YGGDRASIL's magic items were made by embedding data crystals into items, but not all data crystals dropped by monsters were equal. If one wanted to make a divine class item, one would need several data crystals which were classified as "high-rare drops." In addition, one would need to make the container for those data crystals — a sword, for instance — out of extremely rare metals and the like.

As a result, it was fairly common for even level one hundred players to not own a single divine class item.

Even the members of Ainz Ooal Gown — a guild which had ranked among the top ten in the game — could not outfit their NPCs in nothing but divine class items. At the most, they could only give them one or two such articles.

The Spuit Lance which Shalltear Bloodfallen possessed was such an item.

Its name sounded silly, but its power was extremely insidious. When embedded in a weapon, some data crystals allowed their users to absorb a certain percentage of damage dealt and use it to replenish their health. The Spuit Lance was specialized in doing so.

"...we need to head out now." Karna said as he furrowed his browed.

"Eh? Ah, please wait lord Karna! Since Shalltear is already fully equipped, it's possible that hostilities will begin on sight, so we need to select several guards to defend your person my lord."

"We don't have time for that; if negotiations break down, we'll retreat immediately—" Karna turned and began to walk out.

"『Forgive the disturbance, my lord』"

A female voice echoed through each of their mind. It belonged to Narberal, who had stayed in E-Rantel.

Anger blazed in Karna at this untimely interruption.

"What is it, Narberal? I'm—"

I'm busy, he wanted to say, but Karna was cut off halfway by Jeanne, who had placed her hand on his shoulder.

This faint sense of regret allowed Karna to regain his calm.

The NPCs treated each of them as their Supreme rulers. Even if he made the wrong decision, they would still treat their words as their top priority. Because of that, Karna had to keep calm, act carefully, and avoid making mistakes. Usually this wouldn't be a problem as he was a quiet and reserved person, but thanks to his races and emotion, this is getting harder to do.

Karna took a silent deep breath and responded in a calm manner "...No, it's fine. What is it? It must be important for you to contact me with 「Message」, right?"

"『Yes. Someone from the Adventurer's Guild is looking for you, Lord Karna.』"

"...If it's about last night, tell them to wait… no, that's not right. There should be something else, am I correct?"

"『Yes! You are as perceptive as always, my lord』"

Narberal was not being clear, so Karna let his silence show his confusion. Soon, she seemed to have picked up on that and spoke again:

"『Actually, there is another problem besides that. It… concerns a certain Vampire.』"

"What? A Vampire, you say?" Jeanne said.

They turned to look at Shalltear, whose image stood ramrod straight on the monitor.

"Did they mention anything about that Vampire? Like say, silver hair, or crimson armor, or something?" Ainz questioned.

"『Regretfully, they did not. The person they sent for yourself was little more than a runner. They said that they would explain at the guild, and hoped that you would hurry over as soon as possible, my lord. I hear that several adventurer teams have already made their way there… the Guild's messenger is nearby; what should I tell him?』"

Karna closed his eyes and began to think, "What do you think of this situation, Albedo?"

After finishing his explanation, Albedo lowered her eyes for a few moments, and then looked back at Karna.

"Given that we lack information, there will be merits and demerits to either alternative. Thus, you should select according to your personal preference, my lord. If it were up to me, I would ignore these humans."

After thanking Albedo, Karna fell into deep thought once again.

He considered the worst that could happen if he prioritized Shalltear.

He then considered how Shalltear's situation would change if he put the Guild first.

As he thought about the drawbacks of both, he began to feel that either option would lead to disaster.

Karna turned toward his friends "so what do you guys think?"

A short silence fell between them.

"Maybe we can split up, I'll go and deal will Shalltear while you two go with the guild" Jeanne said.

Karna was hesitant as he look at Jeanne with worried. But he wayed both situation and made a tough decision.

"...That could work, but… be careful ok" Karna said with worry and doubts.

"I'll be fine, beside if she does Attack, I am confident that I can win, beside look at her—" Jeanne turn and look at shalltear through Albedo sister Nigredo Crystal Monitor and everyone followed her gaze.

"—she looks like…"

"A typical MMORPG boss" Ainz said grimly.

"Yeah, if that is the case then she wouldn't attack unless provoked"

"That doesn't make sense, unless…" Karna trail off as a horrifying thought form in his head '...no, no way, that impossible right?'

"Unless what?" Jeanne asked.

``if that's the case then..' Karna looked at Ainz and Jeanne who was intently looking at him.

"No it nothing…"

Jeanne look suspicious but ultimately let it slide.

"Alright, Albedo, we will head for the guild, you are to watch over Shalltear and protect Jeanne as she make contact and make sure nothing happens, the last thing we want is for a full on battle to happen, this could result in disaster"

"Understood lords karna."

"You heard that too, didn't you, Narberal?"

"『Understood Lord Karna. Then, I shall inform the messenger that you will be on your way.』"

Karna look at Jeanne again "we'll head out now, be careful"

"I'll be fine don't worry, Albedo gather who you think is fitting for this mission and let go, I want to see Shalltear" Jeanne said.

"I understand. In accordance with your instructions my lady, I shall send several vassals out alone and I will gather people who are worthy to protect you."

"Please do."

Then the three supreme rulers of the great tomb of Nazarick vanished.

Now that only the two sisters were left in the room, the mood in the room lightened. As though waiting for this opportunity, Nigredo turned to Albedo, a curious look in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Has something happened to Shalltear?"

"Mm, it seems she has rebelled against us."

"...Unbelievable… How could that be… is it really true?"

"I find it hard to believe myself, but that seems to be the case."

"Then she should be eliminated without delay. But... it seems that this is not what the supreme ones wishes to do"

"Indeed. Because of lord Ainz and the other supreme ones boundless mercy… no, they probably thinks that killing her without realising why she turned against us would be a big mistake. I'm sure that is what they have in mind."

"Hm~" Nigredo mused, in a tone that seemed somewhere between acceptance and denial.

"I understand. Before you send the vassals out to keep an eye on Shalltear and protect lady Jeanne, I will continue my magical surveillance from here."

"I'm grateful for that, Nee-san."

"By the way, who will you choose to accompany lady Jeanne?"

"Thats easy, i will ask Obito and his brothers to come"

"Isn't that a bit much?"

"Maybe, but if this result in Shalltear attack lady Jeanne than Obito alone can handle her, but I fear we may get ampush so that why im bringing all of the Uchiha Brothers"

"I see"

Thinking the conversation was over, Albedo was about to unleash the power of her Ring when she sensed that her older sister still had something to say. When Nigredo was in a rational state of mind, she was the sort of person who would speak frankly, so there was only one reason that Albedo's big sister would hesitate like this.

Although she did not want to inquire about it, when she considered that it might not be about the previous matter, she had to ask, however unwillingly.

"What's the matter, Nee-san?"

"...Since I am not permitted to leave this Frozen Prison, I am unsure about the situation outside. Is Spinel still well?"

...As I thought.

Albedo regretted asking as she thought that, but in an even voice, she replied:

"Nee-san, you call her that…"

"I hate that girl. Even if we were all made by lord Tabula Smaragdina… no, Spinel was made in a completely different way from us. She is not the kind of person to whom people could open their hearts."

"That's not the case, Nee-san. She's adorable."

"All I can think is that you have been deceived by her. Spinel will definitely bring a great disaster to Nazarick someday. I'll wager on that."

"...We will never see eye to eye on that point. I believe that girl will not cause any trouble."

"Really now? Well, if you — if the Guardian Overseer feels that way, then there's nothing left for me to say. However, I hope that you will take my concerns into consideration, in your role as the Guardian Overseer."

"I understand. I will take your words to heart, Nee-san."

Resisting the urge to sigh, Albedo teleported elsewhere.

However, the matter which she could have laughed off usually now stuck in her heart like a thorn.

She felt that everyone created by the Supreme Beings was staunchly loyal to them. Yet, Shalltear had still rebelled against them. If that were the case, anyone else might be next.

For all she knew, her little sister might also betray—

She could not erase these thoughts entirely. Yet, to Albedo, this was not necessarily a bad thing.

Albedo had a baffled, confused look on her face as she reached her destination.

"Ainz-sama, my beloved, I am your loyal dog, your slave."

She declaimed her feelings to a man who was not there.

"Even if all of Nazarick turns against you, even if the other supreme beings turned against you, I will always stand by your side."

—-

"Come, come, come, pull up a chair and sit down already."

There were six men in the room. Three of them were stout-looking men girt for war, while one of them looked similarly imposing despite his lack of arms or armor. He was the one who had risen to beckon Ainz and Karna over. In addition, there was a skinny, neurotic-looking man in a robe, and finally a fat man seated in the innermost part of the room.

Ainz and Karna took a seat, under the eyes of everyone else, and then the standing man spoke once more.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the head of this city's Adventurer's Guild, Pluton Ainzach."

He was a powerful-looking middle-aged man.

He had an aura of a mighty veteran about him. There was no doubt that he was an excellent warrior.

"This is the Mayor of E-Rantel, Panasolei Gruuze De Rittenmeier-san."

They nodded, and Panasolei waved slightly in response.

He was fat — no, frankly speaking, he was almost entirely made up of fat. His belly was rounded and flabby, and his chins were overflowing with adipose tissue. The excess of fat made him look like a bulldog.

The hair on his head was sparse enough that his scalp reflected the light, and what little hair which was left had already turned white.

"Momon, Siegfried, it a pleasure to meet you."

Perhaps it was because his nose was stuffed up, but he made buhiiii noises when he spoke.

"And this is the leader of the E-Rantel Magician's Guild, Theo Rakesheer."

The skinny man — who looked as frail as a bamboo pole and seemed at least somewhat anorexic — nodded to Karna and Ainz.

"And these three are much like you two, members of the adventurer teams which are the pride of E-Rantel. From the right to the left are Igvarge-san of Kralgra, Perote-san of Tenrou, and Moknak-san of Rainbow."

Those three men each had metal plates around the necks — made of mithril — and each gave the impression of being commanding and even powerful. Their equipment was nothing more than junk to the two supreme beings, but they were still far above the gear sported by most adventurers in this city.

Each of them had different looks in their eyes, but they all shared the same common thread of curiosity.

One of them — the representative of Kralgra, Igvarge — glared icily at both Ainz and Karna.

"Before that, there's something I'd like to ask you, Guildmaster Ainzach. I've never heard of the name Momon or Siegfried before. Since their a mithril plate, they should have done something noteworthy, right?"

There seemed to be a little hostility in his voice. However, Ainzach seemed to pay it no heed and cheerfully replied:

"Their feats include taming the Wise King of the Forest, as well as settling the graveyard incident last night."

"Graveyard incident?"

Unlike the confused Igvarge, Moknak of "Rainbow" exclaimed in surprise.

"You don't mean the incident concerning appearance of vast quantities of undead?"

"you're quite well informed. I instructed that the matter not be made public due to receiving some troubling news. Where did you hear that from?"

"Forgive me, Mayor. I merely overheard this, so it's difficult for me to tell you where exactly the news came from. In addition, I do not know much about the details."

The two of them looked at each other and they smiled as their eyes met. Moknak's smile was forced, while the Mayor's was uneasy.

"Hm~ it rings false to me, but forget it. There should be a lot of people who know about the undead running wild. forgive me, I interrupted by accident."

"It's fine, Mayor. In any case, the Guild concluded that due to their contributions in that incident, Momon and his team are now mithril ranked adventurers."

"Just one incident? Just by handling one matter? No adventurer who's gone through rank placement examinations would be happy with that, am I wrong?"

He was not even pretending to be polite any more. Igvarge displayed his naked aggression on his face, and then someone spoke coldly from the side.

"Hmph. Frankly speaking, I have to say that I'm not happy about their mithril rank either, Guildmaster."

The man who cut in was the head of the Magician's Guild, Rakesheer. There was a derisive expression on his face, though Ainz understood that it was not directed at himself nor at Karna, but at Igvarge. However, Igvarge did not realise this, and smiled at Rakesheer in a friendly way.

"I'm glad you see it my way, Guildmaster-san."

"Ku, kuku."

Rakesheer's lips grew even thinner, as though he had heard something amusing. It was not a friendly gesture, because he had a scornful look in his eyes.

"Is that so? I feel that our views are diametrically opposed."

"What do you mean by—"

"Really, that's enough out of you, Igvarge-kun. There's people in the Guild who feel that these two are worthy of an orichalcum plate."

"What!?"

Igvarge's face seemed to be asking how that was possible.

As he saw it, Rakesheer's mocking smile grew so wide that it twisted his entire face.

"Momon and his team of four and that including himself, broke through a horde of thousands of undead with just his partners — no, he had the Wise King of the Forest as well, for a total of five people — and defeated the people conducting an unholy ritual."

"—Anyone with some stealth training could do that!"

Rakesheer sighed, in a somewhat exaggerated way.

"Indeed, you are correct. Initially, I felt that this was not enough to qualify them for orichalcum rank. However, the discovery of a set of bones bore testament to their might."

At that point, Rakesheer turned to Ainz and Karna, a stern look in his eyes.

"...That is to say, the bones of a Skeletal Dragon. You two slew a frightening undead creature that possessed absolute resistance to magic."

"Well, uh, yes! Skel-Skeletal Dragons are strong! But mithril ranked adventurers can still def—"

"—Can still defeat two of them at the same time?"

"Say what!?"

Igvarge's gasp of surprise was joined by the other two adventurers. Then, there was a subtle shift in their attitude as they looked toward him. They were like observers trying to plumb the depths of a lake.

"We found the remains of two Skeletal Dragons at the scene. Could your teams break through a horde of thousands of undead, slay two Skeletal Dragons, and kill the hitherto unknown masterminds of this conspiracy in such a short time? Other adventurers were present at the graveyard, and they reported the presence of twisted spirits like Wraiths. Could you have traversed such deadly ground?"

Igvarge bit his lip, unable to respond.

"Then, let me ask you another question. I hear that the only two members of their party are women. They are magic caster, which means that they would have been completely useless against Skeletal Dragons and their complete magic immunity. Under these circumstances, with only one other… no, even with the Wise King of the Forest by their side as well, could they have made such a great accomplishment?"

Rakesheer bowed to two warrior who sit in silence and said:

"Please allow me to thank you on behalf of the city. If not for you and your team swift response, many more lives might have been lost. And while I can only speak for myself in this matter, you have but to come to me with any request you have and I will do my best to fulfill it."

"You praise us too highly, Guildmaster. We were simply fulfilling Bareare-san's request, and we solved a problem along the way." Karna said.

"Fufufufu…"

Rakesheer laughed, and there was an undercurrent of respect amidst his laughter.

"It seems you are truly worthy of an orichalcum… no, an adamantite rank. To think people could take such a mighty accomplishment and pass it off which such humility, as though it were nothing of note. I heard that your companion can use the magic of the third and fourth tier as well… is that correct?"

"Your praise honors us… but I do not wish to casually show our hand."

"Is that so? What a shame."

Igvarge's face and ears turned red as he watched the way Ainz, Karna and Rakesheer spoke lightly to each other. Then, he bellowed:

"We could do the same thing if we got everyone together! Besides, it's their fault that they got so few teammates, right? They can't get anyone else because they no good!"

The air in the room grew tense even as it grew frigid, and then the sound of a buhiii~ rang forth.

"Let's leave the matter at that. We didn't gather everyone here to fight now, did we?"

After that last buhiii~, Igvarge sat down, seemingly deflated. However, he still glared hatefully at Ainz and Karna. The two guild leaders watched this sight and shook their heads helplessly.

"I understand that you all value strength, but that is not the topic we are here to address, so why don't we settle the matter quickly?"

"Thank you, Mayor."

"Muu? I have no idea why you would thank me, but you should probably continue speaking. The fact is, I'm not quite sure what is going on."

"Understood. If only I could have reported it right away…"

"Don't worry, I was handling a matter in connection with Stronoff-kun myself."

There was another buhiii~

"Now then, let's get to the point—"

"Before that, shouldn't we show some basic courtesy and remove our helmets?"

Igvarge cut in once more with a mocking words. He was not incorrect in saying so, but he was also being quite annoying. The other adventurers frowned as well.

Karna looked over at Ainz.

"It's fine. This time, he has a point. I have been somewhat rude."

However, the false face Ainz revealed when he removed his helmet was a plain one, which was not particularly attractive.

"Since I come from another country, I wore my helmet to avoid drawing trouble. Please forgive my lack of manners."

"Cheh, so you're a foreigner."

"Shut up, Igvarge. Adventurers protect all humanity from monsters and as such, borders do not exist for them. As a fellow adventurer, I am ashamed at your griping about the unspoken rules which govern our guild."

As the voice castigating Igvarge's second interruption rang forth, he realised that everyone else in the room felt that way, so he reluctantly fell silent.

"...Well, it's because of this sort of thing that people have loaded opinions of foreigners."

Several of the people smiled bitterly at Karna words. Igvarge's own face had turned from pale to almost white, but by the time Ainz put his helmet on again, there was no complaint.

"Then, I hope we won't get sidetracked any further. Let's get right to it." Karna impatiently said.

"Well, it's because someone was late that we haven't heard anything until now."

"That was a mistake on my part. Please forgive me."

Ainz lowered his head in apology. He had experienced this sort of thing before as a salaryman, where his bosses announced that they would only begin once everyone had arrived. Thus, all he could do was suppress the urge to go home, because he truly understood how they felt.

When contrasted with Igvarge's hostility and constant jibes, Ainz's sincere apology made him seem that much more noble. Igvarge scoffed angrily as his scowl deepened, because he was well aware that the general opinion of him had fallen even further.

However, there was someone who was even angrier than Igvarge.

"...Are you quite done yet? One more interruption and you can get your ass out of here."

As expected, it was Ainzach who had spoken up. His eyes were filled with rage, and there was no trace of his previous calm in his voice. Naturally, he was glaring at Igvarge.

Igvarge inclined his head slightly to apologize.

Ainz was confused as he observed Igvarge's reaction. Given the hostility the man had shown him just now, it would not have been strange for him to break into a grade-schooler's tantrum, as though complaining to his parents. Why had he chosen to back down?

After a brief period of thought, he came up with something.

What would people think of Igvarge if he were chased away from a gathering of mithril-ranked adventurers? Even if the truth got out, there would be some people who would believe that he had been ejected from the group because he was useless. If that happened, his standing within the adventuring community would plummet. That was probably why he had shut up.

"To summarize, about two nights ago, some adventurers patrolling the outskirts of E-Rantel encountered a Vampire. Five of them were killed by the Vampire. I have gathered all of you here because of that incident."

As Ainz and Karna listened to the description of the Vampire, their hopes shattered like spun glass.

The sole surviving adventurer had been too afraid to give a proper description, and had only noted details like clothing, hair color, and the like. However, the thing that stood out most clearly was "silver hair and a large mouth."

Despite it being just a muddled description, anyone who knew Shalltear would immediately think of her once they heard it. The two supreme beings of Nazarick was certain of the Vampire's identity in their heart.

'I have no idea how things ended up like this, but things might go badly if I don't alter the memories of the survivors. I'll have to do that some other time' Karna thought.

As Karna furrowed his eyebrows, the discussion continued apace.

"I see. I'm not too clear about this incident myself, but I would be wasting everyone's time if I asked for a full explanation. I'll ask if anything I don't understand comes up."

"Understood. Then, gentlemen, do you have any questions?"

"When you say 'the outskirts,' where exactly do you mean by that?" Ainz asked.

"It's a place about three hour's walk from the north gate. There's a large patch of forest there, and the incident took place within the forest."

"What rank were those adventurers?" Karna asked.

"They were iron plates."

"...I'd like to ask, but why have you brought so many adventurers on board for just one Vampire? Is there going to be a competition of some sort?"

"He's got a point. Platinum ranked adventurers can deal with a Vampire. I have no idea why you've gathered so many mithril ranked adventurers."

"The answer is simple: because that Vampire is very powerful."

Everyone except Ainz and Karna looked to Rakesheer in surprise as he interrupted.

"A very powerful Vampire…"

"Could it be you're trying to say that the opposition is a high-end Vampire… the Vampire Lord 'Landfall' who was mentioned in the Saga of the Thirteen Heroes?"

"We do not know if the enemy is indeed a Vampire Lord, but according to the adventurer who encountered the Vampire, the Vampire used the third tier spell 「Create Undead」. I trust I don't need to tell you adventurers the implications of that?"

They had nothing to say. The stiff looks on their faces spoke for them.

"Hm~ I have no idea what that means, so could you tell me?"

"Forgive me, Mayor-san."

"Anything which could use magic of that tier is of platinum rank at the very least."

Panasolei frowned as he began getting a better picture of the situation.

"In other words… I won't speak like this any more."

Panasolei's eyes sharpened, and that was enough to change the image he projected to everyone else. He had turned from a fat, lazy pig to a savage wild boar. Or rather, this was Panasolei's true face.

"In other words, it's exactly as what you're saying, Guildmaster-san. A monster on par with a platinum ranked adventurer party, with platinum ranked powers on top of that."

"It is as you say."

"So it's basically strengthening something which is already strong?"

"That is a valid way of looking at the matter."

"How would you describe it, in terms of the size of a comparable military force?"

"A military force… that's a somewhat tricky question."

Rakesheer racked his brains, and then spoke again.

"Let me get this out of the way first, this is just my personal opinion and it's by no means a final, unassailable assessment. If you want to think of it in terms of a group of fighting men, given the fact that the undead do not tire, nor do they eat or drink… I guess you could compare it to an army of ten thousand."

"Say what!?"

A look of shock came over Panasolei as he heard this, and he looked to the other adventurers, as though seeking their opinion of those words. Apart from Ainz and Karna, everyone nodded in agreement with the words of the Magician's Guild's leader.

As though picking up the baton from Rakesheer, Ainzach continued speaking:

"To continue where Theo left off, only about twenty percent of the adventurers in the Kingdom can be considered to be at or above platinum rank. There are around three thousand adventurers in the Kingdom, so among the eight million people of the Kingdom, there are only about six hundred platinum ranked or higher adventurers. Do you understand now? Platinum ranked adventurers are rare."

"Is that so? I wish I did not understand, but I do. Then, with this situation in mind, I would like to ask you adventurers: are you confident in eliminating this creature? If not… well, then how about asking the Warrior-Captain Gazef-kun for help?"

Gazef Stronoff. He was the mightiest warrior of the Kingdom, superior even to adamantite ranked adventurers. A man that was arguably the Kingdom's ace in the hole.

However, Ainzach immediately shot that proposal down.

"It may be true that no warrior is capable of beating Stronoff-dono. However, if Stronoff-dono faced a party of adventurers that was weaker than himself, the victors would undoubtedly be the adventurers. This is because adventuring parties have many methods of attack and defense — to continue the example of using Stronoff-dono, the party can use four times the amount of spells and martial arts as Stronoff-dono can. The impact of this difference is particularly marked when facing monsters who possess unique special abilities."

"Umu…"

"The ideal solution would be to recruit orichalcum and adamantite ranked adventurers for this. But before it comes to that, I would like the strongest adventurers in our city to set up a defensive line to keep the Vampire from invading us."

"That would be giving up the initiative, don't you think?"

"That is the best possible outcome of the worst-case scenario. Need I remind you that our foe is a one-man army?"

"I… I don't want to imagine the terror facing such a fearsome foe would entail…"

One could follow an army of ten thousand by their tracks and evade them easily. In addition, prodigious quantities of supplies would be needed to keep such an army on the march, so it would be difficult for them to do battle for long.

However, what if that army was compressed into a single person? And what if that person was able to use 「Invisibility」 or was adept at covert operations?

"Still, as an adventurer, I have to say that forming a defensive line will be very difficult, Guildmaster-dono. After all, coordinating our teams will need a fair bit of training time…"

"Well, in lieu of that, what do you think of everyone just deploying together?"

The adventurers promptly shot down the Mayor's proposal.

"I doubt that would be possible. In order to work as closely as that, we'll need to craft intricate battle plans, but the more complex the plan, the more likely it will go awry when something unexpected occurs. Rather than risk that, it would be better to not work together and just operate independently. Speaking of which, why did that Vampire appear there? What news does the Guild have about it?"

"About that… since the enemy is a powerful Vampire, the Guild does not have the full details on it at the moment. Just as we were about to put a scouting party together, the incident from last night occurred, which dispersed our forces."

"...I see. So you're worried that these two incidents are linked?"

"Indeed, that is so."

"Didn't Momon and his team take care of the graveyard incident? Was there anything on the bodies of the masterminds that would tie the two events together?"

That question plunged the room into a brief silence.

Ainz was puzzled. The Adventurer's Guildmaster — who had fielded answers without any hesitation — now turned to the Mayor, a questioning look in his eyes. Still, when one thought about it, this was information pertaining to the criminals that had conducted a terror attack on the city. There were things which could and could not be said to adventurers.

"From their belongings, we learned the enemy was from Zuranon."

The faces of the three adventurers turned grim.

However, this was the first time Ainz and Karna had heard that name. They fervently prayed to the gods they did not believe in that the others would not question them on this topic about which they knew nothing.

"That undead-controlling secret society? I guess they really are linked with that Vampire."

"So their aim was to trigger incidents within and outside the city to split our forces? Or are both of them decoys, and is the real plan about to begin… this is terrible."

"The most important thing is to make a reconnaissance. From what the rangers told us, there's a cave near the location where the Vampire was sighted. Apparently, that cave is a bandit's hideout…"

"It's quite likely that the Vampire has already departed that location… still, there's a non-zero chance of it remaining there, so we should send someone over—"

The adventurer who spoke immediately shut his mouth.

That was a natural reaction. After all, anyone heading to a likely location of that Vampire was essentially saying that they wanted to walk right into danger. If they really encountered the Vampire, and if the Vampire was as powerful as rumored, then certain death awaited them.

Those words were an indirect way of telling someone to kill themselves.

"...Let's leave that aside for now. It's more important to strengthen the city's defenses. After all, the Vampire might have infiltrated the city during this time, for all we know."

"...Well, it would be easy enough to infiltrate the city, as long as it could use magic. After all, this is not like the Imperial Capital, with air cavalry and magic casters on patrol."

One could use 「Fly」 to enter from the air, or walk right in with 「Invisibility」 for concealment. Magic was very troublesome to deal with, which was why consolidating their fighting strength and mounting a defense was the most logical course of action.

"Still, it's really hard to do anything without any concrete information. We really should investigate that cave!"

The opinions of everyone present gradually began shifting in favor of that extremely sensible proposal.

It would be very bad for Ainz and Karna if that came to pass.

Allowing Shalltear's appearance to become public knowledge would be a very bad thing. Although they did not know exactly how it would play out, allowing Shalltear's current appearance to disseminate through the city — perhaps even throughout the nation — would make covert actions very difficult in future.

Ainz desperately tried to think of a way to guide the situation in another direction.

``damn, think Karna, THINK!'

He looked over at Ainz to see he was no better. He sighed.

After a second Karna came to a conclusion, he silently nuged at Ainz and signaled him to follow alone and said:

"To begin with, you are mistaken. That Vampire has nothing to do with Zuranon."

"Why is that, Siegfried? Do you know something about this?"

"We know the name of that Vampire, because my team and I gather for that very reason, we became a team in order to hunt that creature."

"What!?"

The air shuddered.

Ainz's brain spun into overdrive — the main event was about to begin.

"It is an extremely powerful Vampire. In truth, the reason we became adventurer was to collect information about them."

This was a red herring; but Ainzach took the bait.

"Them? Momon-kun, did you just say 'them?'"

"Yes, I did. There are two of these Vampires, and one of them, the silver-haired female, is known as…"

He suddenly stopped here. Originally, he was going to say "Carmilla," but a name like that was far too normal for a female Vampire. If there were any other players around, that name would swiftly clue them in about his presence. Just as he was waffling over what name to give them, Karna answer:

"That vampire name is Vladella and it belongs to a more power sub race of Vampire, the Draculina"

'...please be stupid enough to buy that…'

'There is no way they will buy that, you literally went with the most obvious name for a vampire ever!'

"Eh?"

That idiotic-sounding reply had not come from one mouth; just about everyone had exclaimed in the same way.

"...Her name is Vlad-dell-la and she's a Dracul-lean-a."

'Please god, let this work'

"Yes"

"and you say that she belong in a sub race of Vampire."

Karna nodded.

"Is, is that so? That Vlad-de-la… ah, forget it! Since we know that female Vampire's name… It's about time you two told us your true identity, no? Which country are you—"

"I apologize, but we cannot say that right now. Currently, we are on a highly secret mission. If you find out, we will have no choice but to leave this land, and then you will have to deal with the Vampire yourself. I do not wish to have this become an international incident. You understand, don't you, Mayor?" Ainz said.

The Mayor nodded slowly, and as Ainzach saw this he bit his lip and looked intently at Ainz.

The Guildmaster's stare meant nothing to Ainz. However, he did not know if they had bought his story or if it contained any contradictions. Those two points of uncertainty filled Ainz's heart with unease, but Ainz brushed it aside with a brusqueness that would brook no interference and continued:

'Note to self, make a fake backstory for our team, I really hope Jeanne is alright…'

"Our team will handle the reconnaissance. If we find the Vampire there, we will slay it on the spot." Karna said in hope of ending this meeting.

Thus spoke the late-coming Heroic Spirit.

With these simple words, everyone could feel the confidence and determination brimming in Karna voice.

The air filled with a pressure which might have been mistaken for rumbling, and the sigh which followed made everyone think they had made the sound.

"Then, ah, the other teams will—"

"—Will not be needed. I do not need them to slow us down." Ainz said.

He waved off all opposition to that plan.

That tactless declaration was made with the utmost audacity.

That gesture was not a wise one, not among fellow adventurers of equivalent rank. However — all the adventurers here were grizzled veterans of countless life-and-death struggles. They could sense that his attitude was not born of recklessness, narcissism, or pride, but had been coldly, carefully calculated. At the same time, it spoke volumes of Momon and his team own strength that he could make such a statement.

It seemed as though Momon black armor was growing before their eyes, and the pressure they felt that came from Siegfried made them imagine that the room itself was shrinking. They could sense that these two warriors were one they could not hope to surpass; as though they were an adamantite ranked adventurer.

This people were a hero among heroes.

Ainzach choked his words back, and then took several deep breaths. In fact, everyone present was doing the same, and the Mayor even opened up his collar, his sweat flowing freely.

In a quiet voice, as though whispering into Momon and Siegfried ear, Ainzach asked:

"—What about your payment?"

"We don't mind discussing that afterwards. However, after this incident is resolved… after the discovery and destruction of the Vampire, We Would all like an orichalcum rank at the very least. That would make it more convenient for us when I track that other Vampire, it would be tiresome to have to keep proving our strength."

Everyone present gasped in realization at Ainz words.

Adventurers did not work for cities or countries, but this city did not have any orichalcum ranked adventurers at the moment. If all four of them became one of the highest ranked adventurers of this city, everybody would know their name. In addition, the rarity of orichalcum ranked adventurers meant that their fame would spread even further. In this way, people would come to them with dangerous missions, and it would allow them to learn about powerful Vampires.

A chair screeched, and as all eyes went to the source of the sound — needless to say, it was Igvarge, who had been hectoring Ainz and Karna all this while.

"I can't bring myself to believe in your strengths. Be-Besides, it's still not clear if that Vampire is as strong as you two said. Even animating that corpse could have been done through a magic item. We're going with you!"

The reason why Igvarge could still muster up his opposition to the supreme beings despite being shaken to the core was purely because of his hostility towards Ainz and Karna and his refusal to acknowledge them was beginning to make Karna really mad.

Perote spoke in a barbed tone:

"Igvarge, that tone of yours—"

"—It's fine."

Karna readily agreed to the request. However, there was no kindness in that reply; the following words were cold and ruthless.

Ainz slightly looked Karna 'well it is their fault, it can't be help'

"That said, I must warn you that if you come along… it'll be certain death for you. Your entire party might be killed as well, for all I know."

That matter-of-fact tone did not sound like a threat, nor did it sound like a joke. It was a flat prediction of the future, which sent a shudder through Igvarge's body. In fact, everyone present was chilled to the bone by that statement.

Karna shrugged.

"That's my warning to you. If you don't mind, then by all means, do come along but don't get in my way."

"Won't be a problem, I should be saying that"

He was bluffing, but he could not back down here. He could not run away from this. How could he, an adventurer of equal rank, disgrace himself before someone in power like the Mayor?

Just as the tension built again between the two of them, Ainzach — who had calmed down a little — asked:

"It's all well and good to be confident, but is there any basis for that confidence? Of course, we know that you are strong, but surely you must know that the foe is no pushover either. Frankly speaking, we're not sure if we can leave everything to you and your party either. If… if for some reason you're defeated, we need to think about what to do after that..."

Without skipping a beat, Ainz replied:

"We have a trump card."

"What is that?"

Ainz produced a crystal and showed it to the intrigued Ainzach.

"...It can't be! It's impossible, unbelievable…" Rakesheer shouted, before panting:

"I once read an old tome… they say that the Theocracy possesses powerful magic items which they consider their national treasures. This is one of them… a spell-sealing crystal. How did you come to possess such a thing!?"

"How surprising… but you have it right. In addition, this crystal now contains a spell of the eighth tier."

"What!? What did you just say!?"

The exclamations that Ainz had evoked from Rakesheer were like the cries of a strangled chicken. Even the man's face had distorted to quite a frightening extent.

Nor was it just Rakesheer who was shocked. Everyone — no, everybody except the Mayor had an expression of fear or surprise on their stunned faces. Any adventurer with even a meager bit of experience could understand the value of the item which Ainz had shown to them.

"...The eighth tier… you're lying, right?"

"...It might be a fairytale, but if it's really magic of that level… it would be nothing short of mythical."

"Are you kidding me!? What kind of nonsense is that!?"

The three adventurers — even Igvarge — stared intently at the crystal within the black gauntlet, frightened looks on their faces.

'So that the standard of this world huh, eighth tier is supposed to be impossible to achieve, good then we have the avantage'

"Forgive me! Could, could I borrow that item for a bit?"

"Why?"

"That… it's just a magic caster's curiosity. I vow I will not do anything strange to it! If you wish anything as collateral, I can pledge everything on my person, for instance, this belt—"

Rakesheer was already unbuckling his belt before he finished. Ainz replied in an annoyed tone:

"I understand, there's no need for that sort of thing. Here, have a look."

"Ah, sorry about this, but may I touch it too?"

"Me too!"

The spell-sealing crystal passed through several hands before reaching Rakesheer, who stared dumbly at it, like a woman who had finally obtained a jewel she had long thirsted for. No, one could say that he was like a boy who had found a treasure he had always sought.

"Amazing… ah, may I cast a spell on it?"

After seeing Ainz agree with a wave of his hand, Rakesheer eagerly worked his magic.

"「Appraisal Magic Item」, 「Detect Enchant」."

The look on the man's face grew even more exaggerated after he cast those spells, and then—

"Impossible!"

—There was no trace of the man from earlier. Instead, his innocent eyes radiated a look of pure delight, and even his tone was different, like he was a teenager again.

"It's true! It's really eighth tier magic! That's all my spells can tell me… but it's amazing, really amazing!"

He shouted like this over and over again, which left everyone else staring in stunned silence. Then, Rakesheer picked up the crystal and licked it all over, even mashing it into his face — like he had gone mad.

"Get, get a grip! What the hell are you doing!?"

Ainzach rose to his feet and drew close to Rakesheer, disturbed by his friend's sudden bout of insanity. Indeed, everyone was looking at him with an expression of shock or disgust. Such behavior was unsightly, coming from a man so highly-placed in the city.

"You idiot! How could anyone get a grip? This is seriously awesome! It's got an eighth tier spell inside it, though I don't know what spell it is!"

Rakesheer continued staring at the crystal in excitement, his eyes sparkling. Before long, he had slowly recovered his sanity, and he asked Ainz:

"Momon-dono! Where, where did you find this crystal!? Tell me!"

"It was dug up in a certain ruin, along with many magic items. Of course, the crystal already had the spell sealed inside it by the time it was discovered. I had a powerful magic caster identify it."

"I see! Then, then where is the site of this ruin!?"

"All I can tell you is that it is very far away, it was not in the continunte"

Rakesheer bit his lip as he heard Ainz's matter-of-fact reply.

"Then, could I have it back?"

"Uuu… yes."

Rakesheer looked around, then reluctantly returned the crystal to Ainz. As he watched Ainz wipe the crystal clean with a piece of parchment, he suddenly exclaimed:

"Back to the point, I — I oppose Momon and Siegfried going forth to slay the Vampire!"

'OH COME ON!'

A shocked silence settled over the room once more and Ainzach palmed his face. He grimaced, and then asked in a severe tone:

"...Why the sudden opposition? Well, I already know why, but still — I have to ask."

"Oh, that… it's because it would be too much of a waste."

He's gone completely insane, Ainzach decided as he looked on his friend and decided to discard his opinion.

"Well then, leaving Rakesheer's words aside…"

"Please wait! Magic of the eighth tier is practically of a divine level! How can you use such a valuable item on a mere Vampire?"

Anger boiled in Ainzach's eyes. He could no longer tolerate these outbursts, especially not from someone as highly placed as Rakesheer.

Then, Ainzach choked back his wrath, and calmly told the other man:

"...Forgive me, Rakesheer, but please don't continue making a scene."

The powerful subtext in those words returned Rakesheer to his senses and left him speechless. The slight blush in his cheeks was probably due to embarrassment at his earlier actions.

After glancing at his friend to make sure he was back to normal, Ainzach decided to formalize the request.

"...Then, we'll be leaving everything to you and your team"

Karna nodded confidently in response to Ainzach's humble submission.

'FINALLY!'

"I understand."

Then, he looked at Igvarge.

"We'll be moving out as soon as possible. Vampires suffer a penalty of slowed movement under daylight."

"Penalty? Eh, a weakness, then? They do move slowly in the day. Our side will be ready soon."

"...Not going to discuss it with your comrades?"

"It's fine, they'll understand."

"...Is that so? Then, we'll meet at E-Rantel's main gate in an hour."

"One hour? Isn't that a bit too soon? There's still a long time before sunset."

"We in a big hurry. If your courage is lacking and you need some time to psyche yourselves up, then we'll leave you here and go on our own. Any questions?"

"I get it. We'll prepare ourselves right away."

There was clear anger in Igvarge's voice as he rose after speaking. Karna coldly glared at Igvarge's retreating back, and then turned to look at the other people who were in the room.

"Then, we shall set out immediately. I hope everyone else will defend E-Rantel. I do not wish to return after not having encountered the Vampire to find that a troublesome situation has developed."

"Well, I can't say there won't be any problems, but you can leave it to us. If you meet any danger, I pray you will fall back immediately."

Ainz and Karna nodded and then left.

In the end, there were only three people left in the room; Panasolei, Ainzach, and Rakesheer, who still had a lovestruck expression on his face.

"I apologize for showing you that embarrassing side of myself."

"It's fine, don't worry."

Panasolei smiled sheepishly at Rakesheer's apology. However, their opinion of him had changed greatly.

Rakesheer also felt that it had been quite an unsightly display on his part, but even so, he found it difficult to conceal his excitement.

He had met Lizzie the herbalist some time ago, and she had eagerly shared the matter of the potion with him. As he listened to her excited exposition back then, he had regarded her with cool eyes and wondered if it was truly worth shouting about. Now, however, he wanted to laugh at his past self.

He now understood the uncontrollable surprise and emotional upheaval one felt when an unattainable object appeared before one's eyes.

"Was that truly such a valuable item?"

Rakesheer fell silent. This was because he was struggling to suppress the boyish glee which was welling up within him.

"Yes. That item could change everything we know about magic. The fact is, magic above the sixth tier only resides in the legends. That was the first time I personally saw something like that."

The spells known as tiered magic had appeared in this world about five hundred to six hundred years ago. After that, there had been several heroic magic-users, but the rumors of people other than the Thirteen Heroes using spells of the seventh tier and up were exactly that — rumors.

In the heroic sagas, there was a hero who once used a spell which made people conclude that "it's impossible even with magic of the seventh tier or higher," but most people thought that it was just a story. In addition, the question of whether the Thirteen Heroes actually used magic of the seventh tier and up was also in doubt.

However—

Rakesheer thought, these stories might not be entirely fictional. He made a mental note of this and told himself to investigate them when he had time.

For instance, the Goblin King who slew many dragons with an ash branch, the winged hero who soared through the sky for long periods, the mystic knight who rode a Tri-Head Dragon, the princess who ruled her crystal city with her twelve loyal knights, and so on.

"Then, can we trust them?"

Naturally, Panasolei was referring to Ainz and Karna.

"I received a potion from an adventurer in stylish black full plate and threw it at the Vampire, causing it to fall back" — that was the testimony of the sole surviving adventurer"

Thus, they had consulted the city's most renowned herbalist, Lizzie Bareare about the matter. What they had learned was that the potion was a magic item just as valuable as the spell-sealing crystal from just now.

While one might only be suspicious if they possessed just one exotic item, it was only natural to wonder who they were if they possessed two of them. Still, why had the Vampire halted its attack?

There were two possibilities. One was that they were in opposition. The other was that there was some link between them. This was why they wanted to see if such a relationship existed. Was Momon really a foe of this Vampire?

"Do you think they're in cahoots with the Vampire?"

This was what they were truly worried about, and the three of them thought back to their conversation with Momon.

"I think the possibility of that is very low. What do you think, Rakesheer?"

"I agree. There are better ways to pretend to kill the Vampire and then conceal her."

Even if the two really was linked to the Vampire, the response outlined earlier would do them no good at all.

"Could it be that they just wants to become an orichalcum ranked adventurer?"

"I doubt it, Mayor. Adventurers enjoy fame and prestige, but command little power. What are the benefits of becoming an orichalcum ranked adventurer, Ainzach?"

"...Well, you can accept better-paying requests, and you'll be more famous. If you're lucky, you might even be offered a government post with good terms… although, that's about it. Power can be much more easily gained through other means."

The most telling impression of adventurers was that they were specialized anti-monster mercenaries. Certainly, it was possible that one might become the leader of the local chapter of the Adventurer's Guild, but they would still be unable to reach a position where they could dictate national policy.

"If wealth was their aim, they could sell that crystal and never have to worry about money for the rest of their lives. Someone as strong as them could rise in fame quickly enough. The fact is, quite a few of the city guard are already calling them a legendary heroes."

Panasolei nodded in agreement.

They had taken out a towering undead creature in one hit, and then mowed through countless undead like a storm, leaving shattered bodies in their wake. These awe-inspiring sights were truly those which would be associated with a great hero.

The guards eagerly spread their accounts of Momon and his team prowess, patting their chests and declaring that there would be no need to fear monsters with them around.

"That said, I regret to say that we have no evidence to prove their reliability. Still, there are no contradictions in what Momon has said so far, and if he really was an enemy, why would he show us that spell-sealing crystal? I think we can trust him and his party."

Rakesheer's words put a grimace on the face of the other two men. That expression clearly said that it was hard to believe such words coming from a maniac like him.

"Mayor, Ainzach, the reason why neither of you can bring yourselves to trust Momon and his team is because they showed up just as the Vampire did, am I correct? However, I feel that Siegfried words can adequately explain that."

The two men nodded in agreement.

"In addition, if that female Vampire really was being hunted by Momon and his group, there's also a rational explanation for why she ceased her attack on the lady adventurer when it saw Momon-san's rare potion. In addition, it's possible that the female adventurer was spared because the Vampire wanted to let Momon-san and his team to know she was here."

"I see… so she wanted to let them think she was nearby and make them stay here. The female Vampire must have seen the female adventurer's potion and suspected that she was related to Momon-san and his team. Thus, she let her go, to spread the news of her presence. It does make sense…"

"...Given the fact that they chased that Vampire all the way here… I can't imagine she would be happy to learn that they were around."

"Indeed, Mayor. However, while we do not yet know which country they hail from, we should still treat them well and be on our guard. Although I don't think their that suspicious… kuku, I'd like to discuss the matter of Momon-san's magic items with him. His suit of armor looks quite valuable as well."

"...Speaking of them, there's something I wanted to ask you, Mayor — where are the corpses of Zuranon?"

"I have no idea."

The Mayor scowled as he said this.

The mangled corpses of Khajiit and his followers that were left behind by Ainz and his friends had been placed in storage under the eyes of layers upon layers of guards, but they had vanished after daybreak. Although they suspected that someone had broken in and stolen them, the guards had not been attacked and there were no signs of anyone suspicious.

The storage area had been built in a way that inhibited the use of teleportation magic; one could say that it was something of a secret room. Thus, there was no sign of how the intruders had even managed to enter. It was as though the Khajiit corpses had vanished in a puff of smoke.

They were still secretly searching for clues within the city, but nothing had turned up. The possibility of finding anything relevant were close to zero. In other words, there was nothing they could learn from the two corpses.

"Could it be that the unholy ritual they were conducting turned them into undead, which then escaped?"

"...We cannot rule that possibility out entirely."

"How troubling, we couldn't even get any evidence from it… the only possibility is that secret shrine under that chapel, no? It would be good if we could learn something useful from it."

"From what you said, it would seem that Momon-kun nor his companion did not enter that place. If we found an ownerless magic item of great value in there, could we hand to him?"

"Mmm, if those items have nothing to do with the ritual, then by adventurers' rules, they would belong to them."

—-

Ainz and Karna sped through the streets.

The warm wind filtered in through the slits in Ainz helmet, blowing over the location which corresponded to his eyes. Perhaps if he had eyeballs, he would be blinking non-stop, but Ainz lacked any sensory organs, so all he felt was "the wind is blowing."

Looking down, he saw the earth flying past him beneath his feet, like a loosed arrow. He did not know if it was because he was close to the ground or because of some other reason, but it felt like he was moving faster than he actually was. Of course, he was not frightened in the least. Still, every time his body bounced up, he reflexively channelled more strength into his legs.

Although Hamsuke could maintain its balance well, it was still a Djungarian Hamster, albeit a gigantic one. Ainz needed to spread his legs wide to ride it, and this unstable riding posture was compounded by a lack of reins, barding, or a saddle. Even someone with extraordinary balance like Ainz had to be careful not to fall off.

'It'll be hard to swing my sword while riding Hamsuke; perhaps I should have a set of riding tack and barding made for it soon. The head blacksmith's making a decoy suit of armor; perhaps I could get some help there'

It was not just the unsteady ride which brought that topic to mind, but also because of the shape which rode beside him.

Narberal and Karna was mounted on a horse while staying in line with Ainz. They rode a Statue of Animal - War Horse, a magic item which summoned a massive destrier in heavy plate barding.

They was a dazzling sight, skillfully guiding their gigantic horse as it galloped down the city streets. Narberal ponytail swayed in the wind, and her brown cape fluttered out behind her. The way she sat tall in the saddle was as though she had come straight off a movie screen.

Karna can be depicted as a knight in shining armor, his white hair blowing in the wind. His serious face, poseur and even the air that surrounded the man make him look like a true legendary hero.

In contrast, Ainz rode a giant Djungarian Hamster. How could he even compete? He looked forward, despair filling his heart, and saw a group of men there.

They were a team of four people, and they seemed better equipped than the members of Swords of Darkness, with whom Ainz and his friends had travelled with earlier.

Ainz tucked the matter of the Swords of Darkness into the corner of his mind, letting go of his complicated thoughts concerning that issue, and then studied the horses those people rode.

They were majestic beasts.

Ainz was no equestrian, but given that their coats gleamed and their bodies were in fine fettle, they should have been superior horses.

The four mounted men rode in a formation shaped like an isosceles triangle, and they too looked like they had sprung from a movie.

'I must look like an idiot riding Hamsuke. I certainly feel stupid enough'

'We could use a magic item to make Hamsuke look more badass' Karna voice rang in Ainz skull.

'Yeah, but there's a lot of problems with that, problems that could be easily avoided'

``I honestly don't get it, your an undead technically you shouldn't even feel anything, I'm the one who should be complaining, my partner is ride a giant hamster for god sake'

Before they could continue...

"That's an impressive-looking creature you're riding there."

Those words came from one of Igvarge's comrades as he tried to strike up conversation with Ainz. Unlike Igvarge, there was no hostility in his voice. Instead, it would seem Hamsuke had piqued his adventurer's curiosity, and his words were filled with wonder and awe.

"What manner of beast is that? Is it famous?"

"...It is the Wise King of the Forest."

"Ehhhh!? What!? That legendary monster!?"

The staring man's eyes went wide as he exclaimed in surprise.

I still can't get used to that sort of reaction. Why do they have to make such a big deal over a hamster…'

'New world new rules I guess, but this world is really weird'

Out of the corner of his eye, Ainz could see Hamsuke woffling its whiskers in pride, and its ears twitched in time with the movement. It was probably paying attention to Ainz's conversation, given the way it was shuddering under him.

Ainz mercilessly chopped Hamsuke on the head with his gauntleted hand, which produced a deep, reverberating sound from the creature's skull.

"No, I just heard Igvarge talk about it… I see, he's seeing red again."

"How did he describe me? Ah, forget it, you don't have to tell me. I can guess from the looks on your faces."

"Hahaha, my apologies. That guy… he's not really a bad sort, but he gets blinded by what's in front of him sometimes."

"...It's a wonder how you guys have stayed safe with a companion like that. Or has this party changed out a lot of members?"

"No, everybody's been with the team ever since it was formed. That guy's a pretty good adventurer, unlike what his personality would suggest."

"Pretty good… huh."

Karna turned to Igvarge, and received a hostile glare in response.

"You guys must have had a really hard time," Karna snorted. Then, after dropping that line, he raised his hand, indicating that Narberal should suppress the anger building within her towards Igvarge. Karna did not want to start a fight here — there were more important things which had to be done at this moment.

After Karna signalling to Narberal, Hamsuke raised its head.

"Milord… your servant's head hurts…"

Tears sparkled in those black, beady eyes.

Ainz felt a twinge of regret. Perhaps he had used too much force. Still, it would have been bad if he had been tossed off at those speeds.

He would not be hurt even if he hit the ground. Ainz had once conducted an experiment with one of the vassals who had similar damage reduction to his own, and it had not felt any pain even after being dropped from a height of one kilometer.

The problem was what would happen if his travelling companions began having their doubts about Ainz's toughness. Now that they had come this far together, Ainz was sincere about getting along with them until the very end.

"Run more evenly. I don't want to have to use strength when clinging to you."

"Understood! Milord must be worried about his servant's body!"

This time, Hamsuke teared up because it was moved, and Ainz ordered it to watch its front. It was then that Igvarge's companion from earlier addressed him in a respectful tone:

"Oh, that's amazing, to think you can maintain your balance in such a precarious position. This would be pretty dangerous, even for someone with a good sense of balance like yours, no?"

"It's because I'm used to it… though I do intend to have it fitted for a saddle soon."

"A harness, huh… I don't really like that… just a jape, of course! If Milord desires it, then your servant has no objections!"

Under Narberal's reproachful gaze, Hamsuke scrambled to display the attitude befitting of a loyal vassal. The vibrations coming from beneath Ainz's waist were different from the tremors of travel.

Karna sigh.

'There's no need to frighten a hamster with killing intent, is there? While I do appreciate that sort of loyalty, isn't that going a bit too far? It's fine to look down on human beings, but there's a time and place for that sort of thing… She doesn't quite seem to grasp that concept… Was she really designed that way? There's not much which can be done if she's like that, but…'

Just having Hamsuke with them was a huge boost to their fame, and the combination of the Wise King of the Forest's staunch loyalty to Ainz was far different from the fear it inspired in others. The first would make people think highly of them and consider them to be a noble adventurer. Although it did not mean much to Karna, he wanted to continue developing in that direction since he had the chance to do so. This was also because he wanted to be regarded as a hero.

In addition, it would be helpful to have people outside of Nazarick swear loyalty to them.

'Come on Ainz, it just an animal do be cruel'

That made Ainz reflect on his actions, and he considered that he might have been too rough towards Hamsuke. Therefore, he lightly patted the place which he had chopped just now, as though stroking a small animal.

"Milord… this is embarrassing…it is"

The sound of grinding teeth was clearly audible to Ainz, through the galloping of horses.

'...You're part of the reason I'm doing this, speaking of which, how hard are you grinding your teeth anyway? If she's really jealous, then I should do something for her, right? Narberal been very loyal too, but… what kind of reward can I give her?

'Ring, bad idea, pat on the head okay, but no physical possession'

'Why?'

'Albedo…'

'...fair point…'

As Ainz sigh in regret for messing with Tabula NPC setting, Igvarge spoke in a thoroughly unfriendly manner.

"Oi, we're here."

After indicating that it understood, Hamsuke gradually reduced its speed. Unlike a horse, Ainz could communicate directly to Hamsuke. Ainz had no equestrian experience and was not at all confident about stopping a horse.

It's a little embarrassing to ride Hamsuke, but I should be glad because I don't have to ride a horse. Still, the time might come when I might have to do so, I should probably practice a little in case of emergencies.

Ainz leapt off Hamsuke, then petted it in gratitude. Narberal and Karna transformed their horse back into a statuette and the men tied up their horses.

"Then, let's go. What formation should we take when moving?"

"We'll take the lead, you can follow behind."

"I don't care what you do, just keep us in mind and be careful."

After hearing Igvarge's annoyed response, Karna and Ainz led Narberal and Hamsuke into the forest.

Much like the forest near Carne Village, the woodlands here bore no signs of human habitation and were very difficult to traverse. However, Ainz was festooned in magic items and thus it seemed like a flat plain to him. In addition, his anxiety over Shalltear made him quicken his pace, to the point where Igvarge had to ask them to slow down.

Well, he did ask them, but his crude words were full of hostility. Narberal — who was walking beside Karna — very nearly turned around to rebuke him, but Karna forced her to keep quiet.

"We're almost there, act like an adult."

Karna smiled as he saw the frustrated look on Narberal's face. By now, Hamsuke had sensed something amiss, and its ears twitched continuously, as though it had heard something.

Ainz knew what had prompted that response from Hamsuke, and so he whispered into Hamsuke's ear:

"—Stop that."

"What? Milord, what are you—"

"—The sound of metal you might have heard is from my subordinates. Pay it no heed."

"Yes, yes, it is. My apologies, milord."

"By the way, have you picked up on anyone following us aside from that?"

Karna had ordered Nigredo to establish surveillance and had taken many other precautions besides, but he asked again just to be sure.

"No, other than that, almost nobody is following us."

"Oi~ what's happening up there?" asked the man who had been riding beside Ainz. Since the team's representative Igvarge was not asking that question, his presence here needed no explanation.

Ainz waved a hand, indicating that nothing was wrong.

"Really?"

The man did not seem happy with that answer, but after sensing that Ainz did not want to talk about it, he shrugged and did not press the matter.

Well, it's not like I hate you or anything.

Ainz merely thought those words without speaking them as he silently advanced through the forest.

After they had travelled some distance, the sound of weapons being drawn one after the other came from the rear. Ainz, Karna and Narberal halted and leisurely looked back.

"Is something the matter?"

"Is something the matter!? You're on point, you should be more alert!"

This was the first time the other men showed their approval for Igvarge's hostility.

"Oi! You, hiding over there, come out slowly!"

Igvarge was shouting at a tree which was large enough to hide a person's silhouette.

Amidst the growing tension in the air, Karna and Ainz calmly walked over to that tree. A somewhat panicked voice called out to him, but they paid it no heed.

Narberal watched like it was the natural thing to do. Hamsuke had his doubts, but he did not offer any opposition.

As he drew close to the tree, someone stepped out from behind it, as though in response. The person in question was dressed in a suit of full plate armor which was the same black as Ainz own. That person held a gigantic axe (a bardiche) which radiated a sickly green glow.

The commanding presence of this warrior filled the scene with a strange air. Or rather, only parts of it were filled with strangeness.

Karna gently raised a hand and said:

"Thank you for coming all this way."

"Thank you, Lord Karna."

The warrior — Albedo — bowed respectfully to her lord and masters.

"Then, Shallte—"

"—Who is she? Is she a friend of yours? And what's this about Lord Karna?"

These loud questions bombarded Ainz and Karna from behind, one after the other.

This was an entirely understandable reaction for Igvarge and his crew, but it was an unpardonable offense to Albedo, who was still bowing to Ainz and Karna. Fiery rancor blazed within her heart, and then she let it out, as though she planned to incinerate everything in the area with the flames of her wrath.

Hamsuke shuddered, every hair on its body standing on end, more than ever before.

Given that even a bystander had this sort of reaction, how much worse must it have been for the targets of Albedo's fury? Their faces had turned white and oily sweat cascaded down their foreheads as they realised that their insignificant lives would be snuffed out shortly.

"Allow me to introduce you to everyone. This is our companion — Albedo."

"Ainz-sama, I find it hard to believe that you would consider me a companion… after all, I am but your loyal servant."

"That is true, so I take those words back. She is my subordinate; does that answer your question? Then, Albedo, commence the next step, as we planned."

The men were still staring in stunned silence as Albedo walked towards them.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Our name is not Siegfried nor Momon. Our real name is Karna and Ainz. Not that you need to remember that, of course." Karna said.

Albedo smiled smugly as she beheld the confused looks on the men's faces. However, that smile was as icy as the grave.

"Then, Albedo… deal with them. Take one alive… no, another one might be good as a spare. The jamming is already in place, so you can go ahead and use magical communication."

Just as the shock from hearing Karna calm and dispassionate orders began filtering into the minds of Igvarge and his people, Karna continued his instructions:

"Take their corpses back to Nazarick. If they're strong enough, we can use them for experiments in making high tier undead."

"Understood My lord."

Albedo slowly raised her weapon, the gigantic axe.

There was no murderous intent or hostility in that action.

That was only to be expected. After all, to Albedo, chopping off the heads of inferior lifeforms (humans) was little more than cutting the leaves off a daikon.

If this were not Karna order, she might not even need to swing her weapon to verify her calmness.

Igvarge and his party might not have understood the situation, but they still knew they were in danger, and they raised their swords in preparation to fight.

Bathed in looks of shock, Ainz and Karna merely shrugged.

"Ah, sorry about that. I misspoke back in the guild; when I said 'Following us is certain death,' I actually meant 'If you follow us, we will kill all of you.'"

Thus did Ainz pronounce their death sentence.

"We warned you, but you would not listen. These are the consequences of your choice. Accept them with dignity."

Igvarge and his group chose to retreat.

The reason why they had all immediately fallen back without so much as verifying the plan with hand signals was because they understood the vast difference between their respective battle strengths. In addition, they did not retreat as one, but they split up to flee, in order to maximize their chances of survival.

Their reaction was outside the scope of Albedo's predictions, and she was a moment too late to respond. Although her physical attributes far exceeded those of Ainz, chasing an enemy through the forest was still quite troublesome.

A multiple shadow leaped out of the surrounding tree and chased down the fleeing men, one of the shadow caught it first target in an instant, and killed him with a blade slice through it throat.

Second later, one can hear multiple grunts and scream as body hits the ground. Suddenly all the corpses were thrown out and hit the ground. In front of Ainz and Karna were the dead body of the foolish adventurers, the shadowy figures emerge from the tree line to reveal Obito, Shisui, Itachi and Sasuke.

"Mare, deal with the last two. Ah, right, kill the man who was disrespectful to to the supreme ones."

Igvarge ran.

Back in the Guild, he had understood to some extent that Momon and Siegfried were better adventurer than himself, but Igvarge was unwilling to acknowledge that fact.

However, when he personally witnessed the commanding figure of Momon's majestic riding beast — the ancient, legendary monster known as the Wise King of The Forest — he had no choice but to accept it. Anyone who could tame such a creature by strength alone was clearly far beyond mithril rank.

As he realised that what they had discussed in that room was true, Igvarge's heart filled with anger.

I don't know what country you're from, but don't get in my way. I can give you information if you want, but in exchange, go stand aside and wait.

To Igvarge, it was as though someone had trespassed in his territory.

He and his group had trained hard to fulfill their dreams, had slowly climbed the ranks after countless close brushes with death. It was only natural that they would be unhappy when somebody cut in all of a sudden and jumped several ranks.

He would pull those two down if he had the chance. He would ruin Momon and Siegfried reputation with false rumors. That was what Igvarge had in mind when he had chosen to set out with Momon and his party.

This was also why — when their black-clad companion showed up and declared she was going to kill Igvarge and his group — he could fall back with no hesitation at all. Though he was afraid, he still moved faster than anyone else. He was driven by the malicious desire to spread bad news about Momon and Siegfried — about Ainz and Karna to the Guild.

Serves you right, I'll make it back alive for sure and then I'll disclose everything about you to the world!

He did not know how they would connected to the Vampire. However, he was sure he could steer the rumors in that direction

Though he knew that terrible weapon might scythe down on him at any time, though he knew his life might be in danger, Igvarge laughed, unable to suppress the emotions surging up in his heart.

He did not care about his comrades at all. No, if they became decoys that let him live on, so much the better.

I will reach the top. I will attain the orichalcum, then the adamantite rank, and become a renowned hero.

There was no need for anybody strong beside himself. His companions were all stepping stones on his climb to the summit. He would be the true hero who saved the world, like the Thirteen Heroes of the past. This was the dream Igvarge had ever since he had heard the saga of the Thirteen Heroes in his youth from a bard in his village.

But then, there was a man who was going to stand in the way of his dreams — was going to surpass him and his team. Worse, he was doing it as a part-time job. That was unforgivable.

He ran and he ran and he ran.

The fact that Igvarge could run at top speed through the forest without his face turning red or panting was proof that he was indeed a mithril ranked adventurer.

However—

Ripples coursed through Igvarge's heart; big ones.

Where is this place? I circled around because I was afraid they would have set up an ambush near the horses… eh?

Igvarge felt that this was right, and his sense of direction told him that much. However, his sixth sense said otherwise. He would not get lost even if this was his first time in any particular forest. However, for some reason, he was still uncertain of his location.

I must be imagining things, he thought. Though, this did not feel like his imagination at all. However reluctant, he had to acknowledge that this was real.

"...Am I lost? But… how could a forest stalker like myself get lost?"

Igvarge's vocation was one which specialized in outdoor movement. In a sense, the woods were like his backyard. However, a strange, unsettling feeling filled him. This forest now seemed like the gaping maw of some vast carnivorous beast.

"It's just like a maze…"

Unease and anxiety welled up inside, as a change came over the forest which should have been completely familiar to him.

And then—

—He heard the sound of quiet rustling.

Igvarge recalled the black-clad executioner from just now, and jerked his head back to look at the source of the sound. He saw a child's head poking out from behind a tree.

That child was a Dark Elf, closely related to the Elves, who were humanoids which lived in the depths of the forest.

Why is there a Dark Elf here?

He had heard that the large settlements of the Dark Elves were located in the great forests to the south, where no man had ever set foot. Dark Elves were the sort who lived far away from civilized areas. In that respect, they were different from the Forest Elves, who traded with humanity.

There was something strange about this Dark Elf, who was also a child. It filled Igvarge's heart with doubt. Just then, the child nervously stepped forward.

It's a girl.

She was dressed in female attire, and the frightened look on her delicate, beautiful face aroused Igvarge's sadistic desires. Although he wondered if this girl had been sent by Momon or Siegfried, the two of them had completely different attitudes, and so he laughed the idea off as impossible.

More importantly, if this girl was a Dark Elf that lived in this forest, she would surely know a safe route out of it. In addition, if that black-armored woman caught up to him, he could use the girl as a hostage. With that in mind, Igvarge decided to try and get the girl to obey him, and so he took a step forward.

"...Oi."

He intentionally pitched his voice low, filling it with notes of menace, and startled the Dark Elf girl into taking a step back.

"Ah, I, I'm sorry…"

Igvarge chuckled coldly as he saw the nervous look on her face. He was confident that his plan would work.

"No need to be sorry. There's something I want to ask you, so come over here."

"Uh… uhh… about that… I'm really sorry."

A question mark seemed to appear over Igvarge's head as he wondered why she was apologizing again. However, the ebony staff in the Dark Elf girl's hand had already swung towards him.

The vegetation turned to snares, which securely bound Igvarge's entire body.

He trembled in shock.

How could a mithril ranked adventurer like himself fail to stop the magic of a brat like her?

Even after struggling with all his might, the plants refused to budge. As anxiety and panic filled his heart, Igvarge raised his voice and shouted:

"You — you little bitch! If you don't let me go, I'll kill you! Oi!"

The Dark Elf nervously lowered her head and advanced toward Igvarge.

It was then that Igvarge realised her outfit was quite exceptional. Both her clothes and armor were masterfully made, of the sort which Igvarge himself would not be able to acquire. In addition, her eyes — the memory of something an Elf friend of his once said surfaced hazily in his mind.

However, before the memory could fully take shape, a shadow fell across his face.

The girl forcefully swung her staff.

Though her face still looked afraid, there was no emotion in her eyes. She did not feel anything about what she was about to do to Igvarge. It was as though her fearful attitude was just an act she had been directed to put on.

He superimposed the form of the girl before him over that of the black-armored woman from just now.

"Wait, wait a minute! What are you trying to—"

Albedo alone with Obito and brothers arrived just as Mare's staff fell on the man's head. His helmet deformed under the impact of the staff and the skull below caved in, while his eyeballs popped free of his head from the force of the tremendous impact. His head was thoroughly smashed, like a watermelon during a suikawari game at the beach in summer.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"Ah, about that, Albedo-sama, it, it's over… is, is this fine?"

Albedo removed her helmet, and smiled to Mare as he looked up nervously to her.

"It was perfect. Granted, it was a somewhat messy way of killing him, but it's fine. The supreme ones will surely praise you for this."

"Re-Really? Ehehehe."

The delighted Dark Elf looked to the corpse, and then Albedo asked:

"How about the other one?"

"Ah, w-well… he's been taken care of. I, I dragged the corpse behind a tree..."

"Is that so? Beautifully done. Then, Mare, can you help me bring the corpses back to Nazarick?"

"I... I got it."

Albedo smiled once more to the smiling boy who was giggling as he held his bloodstained staff. He was such an honest boy.

Still, he would do well to be more open.

"It is finished, my lord," Obito said, as he took of his mask. He was simply handsome with dark almost black blue hair and his high and build he was very physically attractive, however, the right half of his face was left heavily scarred.

Ainz and Karna nodded as they heard this. Now, there were no witnesses to Shalltear's identity. With his armor gone, Ainz felt quite at ease as he replied:

"Good work. How about the recovery of the bodies?"

"I have already asked Mare to send them back to Nazarick." Albedo repled.

"I see. Well then, that problem's taken care of. Sadly, they were killed by the Vampire, so we, the survivors, must continue pressing on."

"Understood. Then… lord Ainz, what is that trembling creature which cowers under your cloak?"

Ainz turned, and found that as expected — although it was quite hard to understand why such a large creature would do such a thing — Hamsuke was clinging to his cloak. Its large, beady eyes were moist, and its fur stood in terror. Of course, it was Albedo which it feared.

"Think of it as my pet. I have named it Hamsuke."

"What!? That thing actually has the position coveted by all the denizens of Nazarick!?"

"...Hm? ...Ah, Hamsuke. This is Albedo and Obito, my faithful servant who rules my domain of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick. In other words, they are your boss. Go, introduce yourself to them."

"This lowly one is, as milord has already said, known as Hamsuke. I place myself in your care."

"...Pleased to meet you, Hamsuke." Albedo said.

"Hn" Obito nodded in approval.

"All right, introductions are over. From now on, I will be going onward with Karna, Albedo and Obito. Narberal, return to Nazarick with Hamsuke and Mare… and pay attention to the object I put in your mouth."

"Yes!"

Narberal's reply was quite energetic. Hamsuke swirled the object it had received in the graveyard within its mouth, and it asked Narberal in a garbled way:

"Un-Understood, milord. And — this thing is really noisy! I have an important question to ask! Quiet down in there! Then, this one has a question to ask… Narberal-dono, will this one be in danger? Will this one be eaten up?"

"Since you are now the supreme ones pet, you will not be eaten without authorization. I will inform everybody; there is no need to worry."

Ainz face did not move, but he was smiling. It would seem that letting them travel together in E-Rantel had improved their relationship.

"Alright, then let's go." Karna said.

"Understood."

As Narberal and Hamsuke watched, Ainz, Karna, obito and Albedo headed toward Shalltear's location.

"Ah, yes, Ainz-sama. The corpses of those men reminded me of the words you spoke to me in the Throne Room. Shall we recover the corpses of the man which you eliminated last night, lord Ainz?"

"Well, about that…"

Just as he was about to repeat what he had told Narberal last night about, "we need to pin the blame on someone as the masterminds of this incident," Albedo continued speaking and interrupted him.

"He might have learned something while fighting you, lord Ainz. Since there is magic which can bring the dead back to life, the best course of action would have been to immediately recover his corpse. Or was there some special reason for doing otherwise?"

Ainz's breathing stopped — no, he had not needed to breathe in the first place.

Albedo had hit the nail on the head.

...Crap.

Resurrection magic existed in this world; in other words, dead men could tell tales, better than what any autopsy would say.

Ainz recalled the events of that night. He thought about his and his friends real identity, the name of Nazarick, and Narberal's abilities. That man and woman knew it all, especially that woman, though she was already captured that man probably still know something.

This was too fatal of a mistake to be written off with the word "mistake".

All he could do was hope that nobody could use resurrection magic, but according to the information gained from the Sunlight Scripture, there were people within the Slaine Theocracy who could use such magic. In addition, there was a high chance that top ranked (adamantite) adventurers possessed spells like that, and high ranking officials in a country might secretly command people who were capable of such magic.

If that were the case, the higher-ups in E-Rantel would look for people to use magic on them once they concluded that the deceased possessed such important information. Given that what they had done would have shaken E-Rantel, it would be natural for said higher-ups to want to know more.

Ainz felt his nonexistent heart beating at a breakneck pace.

What should I do now?

It went without saying that he had to recover the bodies as quickly as possible. However, who should he send?

Ainz had told Narberal not to bother with the corpses. Should he publicly tell her that was a mistake?

...No, I shouldn't say anything.

He should avoid saying anything that might lower their faith to him further as long as he did not know why Shalltear had betrayed him. He had to remain calm in a situation like this.

Ainz now knew why the superiors in his company were unwilling to admit their mistakes. With a prayer in his heart, he made a decision.

"...Indeed, that is correct. However, I do have a special reason for leaving his bodies. So do not worry Albedo, everything dances within the palm of my hand… the matter of Shalltear aside."

"I see! As expected of you, Ainz-sama. I see you have already anticipated the developments I had in mind. It seems I have spoken too much, and I apologize for that. Come to think of it, why did you not use resurrection magic at all, Ainz-sama? It would allow you to question dead humans and the like while gathering information."

"...Eh?"

A very off-key squeak of surprise escaped Ainz.

'Man she is smart, damn it Tabula, Why did you made her so smart?'

"Did I not mention it? Then, have you heard of Demiurge's healing experiments?"

"Yes, I have. Sever all four limbs. heal them with magic, those experiments, right?"

"Indeed. Then, another question for you. Do you know where a resurrection spell has to be applied?"

"Is it not on the corpse?"

"...I don't think so… hm, at least, I don't think so, no?"

Albedo went silent alongside Ainz, and then her eyes sparkled.

"Ah! It seems I misspoke. Ainz-sama, you are correct. It is not on the corpse, but the soul!"

"Indeed. In Demiurge's experiments, the severed limbs vanished and grew from the body once more. Now, when you cast a spell on the soul, what will happen to the body?"

In YGGDRASIL, one could choose to come back to life at one of four locations when casting an XP-draining resurrection spell.

The first was at the corpse itself. The second was at the entrance of the dungeon or other location. The third was in a nearby safe town. And the fourth would be at a designated respawn point within a guild base or other stronghold.

That being the case, where would people in this world come back to life when resurrection magic was cast on them?

The scenario which Ainz most wanted to avoid was the fourth kind, coming back to life at a designated home point. If Nigun came back to life in the Slaine Theocracy, Ainz would have essentially resurrected an enemy, filled him full of useful information, and then kindly released him back into the wild.

This was why he could not conduct experiments with resurrection magic, but in return it had led to these undesired consequences.

"I see, so that's how it is. We must take note of these things. As expected of you, Ainz-sama — I am awed by your keen insight."

As he watched Albedo lower her head in admiration, Ainz immediately shook his head and replied:

"Pay it no heed. Although, I do need to find a place to conduct an experiment like that… hm. Then, once we're ready, we'll set out."

After a short while of walking Karna asked "small talk aside, Albedo where is Jeanne?"

"Lady Jeanne is waiting for you at Shalltear location my lord"

"I see, then what did you and Jeanne do while Ainz and I where at the guild?"

Albedo lowered her head slightly "...well my lord…"

—-

Same time as when Ainz and Karna where at the guild.

Under Albedo's guidance, Jeanne strode into the forest. She was closely followed by Obito and his brothers who were hidden in the shadow.

The six of them reached a large clearing within the woods.

One could say this scene was filled with a rustic charm, but in the middle of it stood something that was completely out of place here — a person in a suit of crimson full plate armor. It was a fantastic sight as it glittered in the sunlight, but the stink of gore it gave off ruined the atmosphere.

It was Shalltear.

She looked exactly like what he had seen on the 「Crystal Monitor」, right down to her seemingly-unchanged posture. For a moment, Jeanne wondered if she was still looking at Shalltear image.

However, it felt real enough. The reason was that was the stench of blood carried to her by the wind.

Jeanne breathed in and out repeatedly.

"Shalltear," Jeanne said to her.

She felt that her voice should have been stern and commanding, and yet the words she spoke were hoarse and quiet and pathetic.

Yet, there was no response.

Before she called out to Shalltear again, Jeanne carefully sized her up.

Shalltear was not ignoring her. Rather, her crimson eyes were open and vacuous, giving the impression that there was no consciousness there.

Albedo, who was standing beside Jeanne, grew furious at Shalltear's attitude.

"Shalltear! Not only do you not have an explanation for your deeds, but you compound it with rudeness to lady Jeanne!"

"Shalltear Bloodfallen, answered your master!" Obito said as his eyes burned red.

"Enough! Do not approach Shalltear!" Jeanne warned.

Jeanne harsh words stopped Albedo and Obito in their tracks as they were about to advance on Shalltear, though it was directed at Obito brothers but they too stop in their advanced. This was a tone Jeanne very rarely took with the NPCs made by her friends, but on this occasion, it could not be helped.

That was how shocked Jeanne was by Shalltear's current condition.

"...Could this be… is it even possible? ...Unbelievable."

Jeanne compared scenes from her past to the Shalltear she saw before her, and shock ran through her. She took a deep breath once again, which allowed her to make a calm decision and realize that the possibility she had in mind was the most likely one.

Jeanne addressed Albedo and Obito. She wanted to share her thoughts, and by doing so, acknowledge the reality of the situation.

"I'm sure of it now. Shalltear is under mind control."

"Is this due to the reason you and other supreme beings mentioned in the Throne Room, lady Jeanne?" Shisui asked.

"I can't be sure just yet… judging from the information supplied by the Sunlight Scripture and my own experience with this sort of thing, I'm certain this is some form of mind control. Of course, I don't know how or why the undead Shalltear was controlled. Could this be the result of some phenomenon unique to this world?"

Jeanne folded her arms, and carefully examined the bolt-upright Shalltear.

"Some mysterious person attempted to control Shalltear's mind, but something happened before that person could issue any orders. Perhaps they were struck down just as they made their move… in any case, I'm pretty sure that was what left her standing here by herself, without any orders. However, she will probably defend herself against anyone who gets too close or who attacks her. Most evil-aligned NPCs will do just that, so don't get too close."

"Understood My lady. However, we will not be able to drag her back to Nazarick like this… That will be fine as long as Shalltear's attempted controller is dead, but if that person is still alive, it will be dangerous to wait here." Itachi said.

"An accurate consideration."

Shalltear had been mind controlled by something. It might be something unique to this world, something that could work on the undead. If that were the case, Jeanne might end up getting mind controlled as well if she stayed here.

"Although this item is quite expensive, we'd best dispel Shalltear's mind control as soon as possible."

Jeanne pulled out a ring from her inventory and put it on her fingers. One of the rings she wore a plain and undecorated item, glowed with a silver light and displayed three meteors on its face. One could say this was one of the mightiest rings Jeanne had in her possession.

"May I asked what is that my lady…?" Shisui asked.

Upon seeing everyone puzzled expression, Jeanne face was filled with a proud smile as she spoke the ring's name.

"This is Shooting Star, an extremely rare item that allows its bearer three uses of the super tier magic, 「Wish Upon a Star」I believe Ainz-kun have one as well."

This was the gacha item that Jeanne had spent her IRL money on. Though she only spend her money one time to get it, Ainz on the other spend his entire summer bonus on the thing. This event lead to many fun moments in Jeanne life as whenever she and Ainz would talk about item, Ainz would inevitably bring the subject of the gacha game and this lead to a lot of tease from the guild.

Among the guild members, only Ainz, Karna Yamaiko and Jeanne could boast ownership of such an unbelievably rare item.

The super tier spell imbued within the ring, 「Wish Upon A Star」, was one which consumed a percentage of one's XP bar to randomly generate an option for a wish. In other words, by spending ten percent of one's XP bar, one could make one choice. By spending fifty percent, one could pick from five choices.

There were many choices that could be made for a wish; according to online walkthroughs, there were over two hundred of them. In addition, some wishes were more common than others; thus, this was a dreadful spell which many feared would deplete their XP for nothing.

Even in YGGDRASIL where gaining levels was easy, one would still need a lot of XP to cast it, given that a magic caster needed to be level ninety five before learning this super tier spell. Thus, many people hesitated over whether or not to gamble their XP on this sort of thing.

The choices one could make when casting 「Wish Upon A Star」 from the ring were randomly generated, much like the original spell. However, one was more likely to get useful selections, and fewer joke selections. From a certain point of view, one might say it was a better version of the spell. In addition, one would be presented with up to ten choices to pick from, and there would be no casting time. It was worthy of being called the best cash item.

Of course, it felt like a shame — and a bit of a gamble — to have to use a cash item like this. However, Shalltear was irreplaceable. In addition, using her own leftover XP would affect her use of other skills which drained her XP, so she had her doubts about going that route.

Jeanne stared at her ring.

Jeanne hoped that she would be given a choice to negate all effects on a given target. She had also thought of several other alternatives, but that was the most direct option which came to mind.

Very few people would pick that wish since it would also negate all positive effects. Thus, Jeanne laughed at herself for thinking of it.

"Then, hear me, oh ring. I WISH!"

Of course, she did not need to speak those words to activate the item. However, she was driven by her desire to be granted the most optimal choice from over 200 available options, hence her cry. It was like how one might shout during a tense moment in a game or over a throw of the dice.

Since the magic of this world seemed to operate along the same lines as YGGDRASIL, the ring should be able to remove Shalltear's mind control. Or rather, that was what Jeanne hoped would be the case.

The scenario Jeanne most feared — that the spell did not work — did not come to pass. The ring released the magic stored within it into this world…

A large blue magic circle with strange patterns, symbols and letters appear beneath their feet. Jeanne body glowed slightly as began her wish upon the stars.

"What… is this…"

It felt as though new information was being entered into her mind — something along the lines of displeasure and happiness. At the same time, she felt like she had been connected to something vast, though she does not know what it was. Suddenly Jeanne realised that 「Wish Upon A Star」 worked differently here than it did in YGGDRASIL.

When Jeanne and her friends had first learned of Nfirea talent, she had idly wondered if she could use it with 「Wish Upon A Star」. Now, she realized that she could have done it. In this world, 「Wish Upon a Star」 was a spell that would grant its caster's wishes. Although it would still expend XP, 「Wish Upon A Star」 was now a spell that could make the impossible possible. In addition, by sacrificing five levels — five hundred percent of her XP bar — one could one could make even greater wishes come true.

With that in mind, Jeanne felt certain that she could dispel the magical effects on Shalltear. As triumph surged through her, Jeanne shouted:

"Now ring, dispel all status effects on Shalltear!"

A beat later, the hopeful lights in Jeanne eyes grew steadily larger and suddenly the magic circle cracks and shatter like glass.

"!"

Albedo realised that something had changed when she saw Jeanne agitated reaction. She uneasily asked:

"My lady, is something wrong?"

Jeanne had no time to answer. She was recalling the news she had absorbed from various walkthrough sites, her own long experience with YGGDRASIL, then combining them with what she had learned ever since coming to this world. The most important parts of that was the information concerning the use of 「Wish Upon A Star」, the spell which had completely overturned Jeanne accumulated knowledge.

Anxiety and anger filled Jeanne as she came to a conclusion. However, she could something else— fear.

Jeanne shouted:

"We're falling back! Albedo, Obito and everyone else over here now! We're retreating!"

"!"

"Yes my lady"

Jeanne cast her teleportation spell, and in the next moment, a berm of earth filled her eyes. Though she was now safe, Jeanne ordered in a panic:

"Obito, Shisui, Itachi And Sasuk! Watch out for anyone who might have teleported after us!"

"Yes My lady!" With that, all of them immediately form a defensive formation around Jeanne.

They all activated their power (Sharingan) and drew their weapons. Albedo drew her weapon as well and stood by Jeanne side to act as her shield. Jeanne drew her silver sword, taking a stance to deal with anything which might come.

As time passed, Jeanne allowed herself to slowly relax. Albedo too stood down from her ready stance, back into her normal posture. But Obito and his brother still stood strong and was ready for any attack.

"...Dammit!"

Furious angered filled Jeanne heart. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, she unknowingly let her aura leak out. She was among the strongest in YGGDRASIL and by letting her power leak out like this was dangerous.

Her power was so great that the ground beneath Albedo and Obito feet began to crack and shake.

'The power of the supreme beings'

'What power...'

"...M-my L-lady, Lady Jeanne, please, be at peace…"

Jeanne noticed the undercurrent of fear in Albedo's voice, and she finally realized that her behavior was not fitting of a ruler. She swiftly calmed herself down, forcefully exhaling the breath she was holding. It felt as though she was expelling the fiery wrath consuming her through that breath. Her power faded and the her aura was no more.

"...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, lady Jeanne. If it is your wish that we shall forget ever seeing that, then we shall remove it from our mind. However — may I asked what happened? Did we displease you, lady Jeanne? If you are willing to tell me, I shall strive not to let it happen again."

"Yes my lady, if it something that we did then please tell us, to be the cause of your anger is a great sin, we shall immediately repent for our action" Obito said

"...My anger was not directed at you, nor was it at Albedo. It was because I learned that my wish did not come true, even after activating the power of a divine level item like this ring."

Seeing how everyone remained silent, Jeanne knew that her explanation was insufficient, so she continued:

"...There is only one thing which can trump the power of the super tier spell 「Wish Upon A Star」."

Perhaps earlier, she might have thought it was interference from something in this world, but Jeanne was confident that it was not the case. This was because she had sensed it as she activated the ring.

"It, it can't be… that would be…"

"Yes, Itachi. There is only one thing which can do that… and I'd never thought this world could contain such a power, this could only be done by the power of World Class Items."

There were only two hundred of these items in YGGDRASIL, and not even Guild Weapons or divine class items could compare to them. The power of World Class Items was such that even controlling the undead — who were immune to mental effects — would be a piece of cake.

Just then, Sasuke thought of the Guardians outside Nazarick, and how they might become targets "my lady, if it really the power of a World Item then shouldn't we call all the guardians together"

"Sasuke right, Albedo increase Nazarick defense to maximum and recall all the Guardians from the outside world immediately. We must verify if they have been controlled like Shalltear. After that guide Ainz and Karna here when they are finished. We need to talk in the Throne Room without delay! After that, we shall proceed... to the Treasury."

'In Nigredo's room, Karna acted a bit strange, could it be that he already knew, no, if did, then he would have said something'

—-

PRESENT TIME

"WHAT!?" Ainz and Karna shouted in shock.

'A World Item no way, that impossible!' Ainz panicked.

'…damn it, so I was right, this is bad, really bad, if this really is the case, then the people of this world have the power to harm Nazarick!'

"Albedo where is Jeanne right now!" Karna said/yield.

—"I'm right here"

Everyone's attention was directed at the Jeanne as she walked toward them, right beside her was Obito and the rest of the Uchiha Brothers.

"Jeanne!" Karna ran up to and looked her in the eye "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, however…"

"Is it true, was Shalltear really affected by a World Item?!" Ainz asked.

"There was no doubt, I'd even used a super tier magic like Wish Upon a Star on her" Jeanne answered.

"Then we need to head back to Nazarick right now!" Karna said.

---

—Nazarick: entrance to the first floor—

"H-hum, excuse me, the guardians overseer Albedo had ordered us to guard the first, second and third floor" Mare said in a shy but very serious tone.

Cocytus slam the tip of this axe into the ground which caused a slight Yelp from the servant in front of him and Mare "Nazarick is currently following a top alter protocall, let used this situation to prove to the supreme beings that we are completely loyal to them!"

Walking the hallway of the first floor was the Archdevil himself, Demiurge was sporting a very serious expression and he kept his fast past walk. Though one probably could not tell because of his glasses but Demiurge seem to be glaring at something.

'The all powerful one created us to do their bidding, if anyone failed to meet their expectations, then there is no purpose for their existence, and they should be eliminated at once!'

—Hey guys, thank you for reading my fanfic and I really really want to thank everyone who commented and gave me feedback on what or where i should take this story.

So i want to ask you guy to give me your thought. Which Character should i make fight Shalltear.

pls don't say Ainz (go watch the anime for that) it between Jeanne and Karna, which one?