Furina wasn't quite sure what to expect when she heard the news of Neuvillette coming back terribly injured. In fact, the simple idea of Neuvillette ever being injured was something Furina never thought could happen.

Neuvillette is infinitely more powerful than her. How could anyone possibly injure him?

Honestly, if whatever injured Neuvillette was still alive, she may as well just call it quits and personally ensure that the prophecy comes early. Maybe if she doesn't weep on her throne on that fateful day, the people of Fontaine will still be okay?

Hah, who's she kidding. She will cry that day, no matter how she tries to convince herself that she won't.

…Momon wasn't Fontanian, was he? Would he be dissolved by the waves? If she survives that day…

Her thoughts were interrupted by Neuvillette entering her office, covered in wounds that had to be wrapped with cloth. Additionally, he was limping.

Furina lightly gasped at the sight. She heard he was injured, but not to this extent.

"Lady Furina-"

"Did you kill it?" Furina interrupted, "The monster who attacked you, I mean."

"No," Neuvillette regretfully said, "I've gotten the human and melusine captives out of their grasp. They are currently in the hospital recovering. But the demon, Demiurge, is still at large."

Furina wishes she wasn't the hydro archon quite often. The sinking feeling in her stomach was nothing compared to the weight of the prophecy… But it was quite close.

Ainz wanted to scream.

Demiurge, smart, cunning, genius Demiurge… Did something unfathomably stupid.

The worst part about it, Ainz knows exactly why Demiurge took that action. Ainz wasn't a good leader, and communicated to Demiurge the equivalent of "You can do whatever" and Demiurge took that as there being no threat in this world powerful enough to beat him.

What fools, they were.

According to Demiurge's own calculations as the person who fought the Chief Justice of Fontaine, Neuvillette was around level 90. But because Neuvillette was some sort of water mage, he was able to escape Demiurge through the sea.

In a vacuum, this would be fine. Demiurge is still 10 levels higher than Neuvillette. And Nazarick has many servants who are stronger than Demiurge.

However, Neuvillette is not the strongest person in Fontaine.

Rather, that honor goes to the nation's goddess, Furina de Fontaine (Or Focalors, as that seems to be her official title.)

Now, Ainz was an experienced raider and PvPer. He knows a thing or two because he's done a thing or two.

Conventional wisdom suggests that, if Neuvillette is level 90, Furina is probably level 100.

However, given Furina's title of the Hydro Archon…

The much more realistic prediction is that Furina is a world enemy.

And they just pissed her off by attacking one of her close confidants.

That was the given reason why Ainz was currently freaking out on the inside as the rest of his floor guardians watched him sit passively on his throne.

If Ainz totaled the number of level 100 beings, including himself, then Nazarick would have around 14. Perhaps closer to 20 if he included some of the NPCs in the 8th floor that could wrestle with level 100s despite not being at that level themselves.

Yggdrasil was rather generous when it came to level scaling and boss scaling. Dungeons started at 5, but you could bring 20 people inside a dungeon if you really wanted to. Raids started at 15, went to 50.

World enemies start at 40 people. And scaled infinitely.

Just to repeat, Nazarick had 14 level 100s.

If Furina was not just a level 100 equivalent player, or a dungeon boss, Nazarick could physically not fight against her. Furina could walk all the way down to the throne room and Ainz, nor the rest of Nazarick, couldn't stop her if he wanted to.

So, in Ainz's situation, there was only one question that needed to be answered right now.

Is Furina actually a world enemy?

But first things first, he needed to calm down Demiurge.

"Please, Ainz-sama! Please execute me for ruining your grand plans with my foolishness!" Demiurge earnestly pleaded, his head firmly on the ground, "I do not deserve to be anywhere close to your presence! My name should not even be in the same sentence as yours!"

Ainz resisted the urge to sigh, and focused on being the firm, yet benevolent master that his NPCs saw him as, "Demiurge, you have indeed ruined the plan I was intending on carrying out-"

Demiurge flinched, and the other floor guardians in the throne room glared at Demiurge for sullying Ainz's plan.

Ainz attempted to bring it back, "However, with your failure comes new opportunities to surpass previous expectations."

Albedo gasped, "Ainz-sama, are you saying that Demiurge's failure… Was it calculated by you?"

Demiurge looked at Albedo, trying to figure out the meaning behind her words, "What are you-" Then, Demiurge realized it, "Ainz-sama! Could it be?!"

Ainz had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

So, Ainz did the only thing he could do, he confirmed it, "Of course."

Demiurge started to tear up, "Your sight surpasses even the most faithful of prophets, Ainz-sama! I could have never come close to predicting the true scope of your master plan!"

Ainz nodded, "Of course."

Normally, in this situation, Ainz would rely on one of his NPCs being confused and asking for elaboration, and then Ainz would let Demiurge explain his findings.

Unfortunately, everyone except Ainz himself seemed to have realized 'the plan.'

Everyone began to praise Ainz for his kindness and intelligence, putting him on the spot to initiate the first step of a plan that he had no idea about.

Ainz remembered a conversation he had with Cloe. With that in mind, he turned to Sebas, "Sebas, procure me a master's ticket to the Opera Epiclese. I shall be determining the strength of Furina de Fontaine myself."

The other floor guardians protested, claiming that it was too dangerous. However, Ainz expertly maneuvered the conversation into asking if that meant they doubted his capabilities.

The floor guardians yielded to Ainz, and Ainz could go to the Opera in peace.

"Cloe, how could I meet Furina?" Momon had asked Cloe one evening.

Cloe seemed to briefly jump out of her skin at the question, "Huh?! You want to go meet the Hydro Archon?!"

Ainz tilted his head at the reaction he gained from Cloe. Why would she be freaking out at the prospect of what might possibly be the most touristy thing he could do? Try to meet the god of the nation he was in? Could he have missed some sort of cultural custom to never meet the Archon of Justice unless Ainz is in some sort of special circumstance?

Furina, on the other hand, was freaking out at the possibility of getting caught too soon. The past week has been a glorious break from her false divinity. Momon going to the Opera Epiclese and hearing her voice so soon would… End the story too soon! Yes, that's what she was thinking about. There was no such thought of Furina just wanting to be around Momon for longer.

Momon answered Cloe's question by nodding, "Is it so strange to want to see the god of the nation I am visiting?"

Cloe nervously laughed, "Of course not! It's just, uhh…"

Cloe hesitated, momentarily unsure what to say, fortunately, she had the perfect excuse, "Well, you know, it's so hard to actually see m- Furina, while in the audience. You would need to pay millions of mora to get one of the elevated seats, which can give you a good view of her. Otherwise, you would only hear her voice, and, well, it's just not a good experience, you know?"

Momon hummed, "I see. Then there is no way of personally contacting her?"

"If you're fine with waiting years, maybe," Cloe said, "The queue is… Quite long, last I heard. It's actually quite infamous."

It was actually only 7 months long if Momon signed to go now. The reputation of the wait actually scares off most Fontanians from trying… And the bureaucratic headache that is actually trying to sign up for a personal meeting.

Not that Furina was trying to compromise her position, of course. Momon probably doesn't know about it.

Momon nodded, "Okay. I guess I'll hold off for now, then…"

Furina internally breathed a massive sigh of relief. Thankfully, that's an issue that'll never come up again!

The first day where the court was back into session was packed full, as Fontaine went a full week without the voice of their Chief Justice and Hydro Archon.

The case was quite exciting as well. The trial was about a quadruple murder, with the prosecution claiming the victims were killed for the petty reasoning of the defendant being bored that day.

What made the case even more entertaining is that the defendant is actually a foreigner from a land unknown.

Skryb was a fairly foreign sounding name, after all. And his main defense was just simply, "Can you prove that this guy had the power to kill four people at once?"

Furina expects the entire book will be thrown at him. They caught the entire ordeal on video tapes.

Just to show the court the magnitude of Skryb's crimes, one of those video tapes was played.

"AHHH! WE DID NOTHING WRONG! WE'RE INNOCENT!"

"IT'S JUST ONE GUY! WE CAN BEAT HIM!"

"BWAH- HE'S BEATING US?! HOW IS HE BEATING ALL FOUR OF US FIGHTING HIM AT THE SAME TIME?!"

"MY LEEG! MY LEEEEEEG!"

"You morons thought you could beat me, Skryb, in a four on one battle?"

Truly, one of the most heinous criminals to ever grace this land.

Furina thought the case was pretty clear and cut dry. That was basically the clearest it could get. It was his voice on the videotape, saying his name.

So, to ensure people heard her voice, she stood up and-

Froze.

Momon was standing in one of the sections that were at her level.

Momon was here.

How!? Every ticket was sold out! There was practically no way for Momon to buy a ticket! Not unless Momon had ties to the nobility!

Has she spoken yet?!

Going through the entire trial inside her head, she didn't remember talking. So her cover was still fine and she was safe to just stay silent-

Wait, Furina was standing! She's positioning herself to speak, but she can't! Her cover will be blown!

But she can't just sit down now! It'll destroy her reputation if she did something so… pointless! Not in front of all the rich nobles, at least! They had the sight of a vulture! They would question her if she did something so cowardly as to stand up and sit back down so quickly!

No, she was a masterclass actress! Surely, she had some sort of accent- No, what is she saying!? That would be even more suspicious!

It would be fine. All she needed to do was to lean over the edge and pretend that she was trying to get a better view…

Furina positioned her body to exude an aura of confidence. There was no way anyone would think that her movements were any bit suspicious…

"Lady Furina, are you all right?" Neuvillette immediately betrays her by pointing out her odd behavior in front of the entire court, "You seem to have wanted to speak, but you have yet to speak during the duration of the court's session."

Neuvillette was getting his pay cut. Furina knows that Neuvillette rarely uses the vast amount of wealth he had at his disposal, but he's getting his pay cut anyways.

Furina (attempted to) haughtily wave Neuvillette off silently.

Neuvillette hummed, "...I see. Then excuse my interruption and let us continue."

That did not assure the citizens that everything was fine with Furina.

"Huh? Why didn't she say anything?"

"Is Lady Furina sick? But how could a god be sick?"

"I wonder what happened to Lady Furina…"

Listening to the doubts of the citizens was akin to being directly impaled in the stomach for Furina. However, this was recoverable, just as long as Momon didn't hear her voice…

"Lady Furina?" Clorinde silently whispered from behind, "If you wish to leave, no one would blame you."

Furina would love to take that offer, but she couldn't verbally take it…

Clorinde said something a moment later, "There is an emergency. I am forcibly taking you away."

And this is why Furina is going to personally give Clorinde a big fat raise!

Watching the Hydro Archon leave was like feeling as though the sky finally lift off of Ainz's back.

It was painfully obvious that Furina had noticed his presence there. It wasn't even funny. She kept looking directly at him, and the way she looked at him indicated a feeling of dread within him.

Especially now that he could confirm that Furina was actually a world enemy.

Furina's total "HP" points was extremely low, probably the same as almost every other human in the room. However, Furina had some sort of curse on her.

Now, for a less experienced player, that may just be a sign that she was a low leveled mob with some sort of effect that doesn't really matter. After all, most curses disappeared when the target dies. At worst, some sort of debuff would be applied on the killer.

However, for experienced players like Ainz who played Yggdrasil for years, low leveled mobs with curses on them typically indicated the developers about to pull a fast one on you.

For example, Supreme Demon General Akanumaozu, a world enemy from a few expansions ago, was summoned through killing innocent civilians in a random small village in Muspelheim. The way you found which village to start killing in was through using curse detecting magic, which indicated which were inflicted with Akanumaozu's curse.

Another world enemy, The Mimic of Worlds, was summoned by killing a cursed lesser mimic in a fairly normal dungeon. Ainz and his small dungeon group was actually wiped by the Mimic of Worlds, because they didn't check for curses on the mimic they fought. Then when they returned with the full guild to fight it, they found out that the Mimic of Worlds actually moved dungeons whenever it was victorious.

Anyways, the point is, Furina is practically guaranteed to be a world enemy. And if Furina wasn't the world enemy, then it was probably her alter ego, Focalors, who would be summoned upon killing Furina.

And Ainz did not want to find out what type of monster Focalors is.

Considering Furina noticed Ainz so easily, he had to consider the possibility of Furina already knowing all about him. It was more likely that she could just pierce through the illusion magic that concealed his power. After all, the only real 'contact' they could've had was through Demiurge, of which only one fight took place. But Ainz didn't want to test if Furina was some sort of actual god with the type of omnipotence gods usually had in mythology.

And now, Ainz was thrusted upon the most difficult duty in the entire world.

"...How am I supposed to sell the idea of surrender to the NPCs?" Ainz depressedly asked no one as he was leaving the Opera Epiclese.

AN:

I was going to just leave "What's the case about" blank but I thought it would be way funnier if I did something. I'm sure no one's immersion was ruined by that.

I was gonna have Furina enter Nazarick this chapter, but this chapter is already 2.5k words long, so I decided I can just combine the plans for Nazarick and the stuff that comes after for the 5th chapter.