In the sky above a vast forest to the south of the Nation of Darkness and
southwest of the Theocracy, Ainz was gazing down upon the land, buffeted
by the winds.
"Woodlands? This a grand forest. A sea of trees!"
It was the middle of the night, and the green carpet rolled out beneath
him was dyed the deepest black. Each time the wind blew, the leaves
heaved like the surface of the ocean, making the phrase he'd used feel quite
apt. This place was the size of the Tove Woodlands and Azerlisia Mountains
combined. Quite possibly larger than the Re-Estize Kingdom's entire
holdings.
Let's give it a more appropriate name in the Nation, at least.
The vast forest stretched as far as the eye could see, without anything to
break up the monotony. Beneath those leaves, all manner of species had
developed cultures of their own and territories around them. Yet, from the
sky, he could see none of that, which meant—
The canopy itself provides cover. There are flying monsters to worry
about, so their civilizations naturally avoid dwelling in sight of the sky.
He had found two landmarks of note.
The first was the crescent-moon lake, where the elf capital supposedly
stood. It was quite sizable and easily spotted on his ascent.
The other was the dirt path stretching from the Theocracy.
They had cut their way through the forest, blazing a trail for their
invading armies.
The forest itself was so vast, the road was but a thread weaving through
it, but it had to be more than a hundred yards wide. Otherwise, he'd never
have spotted it from this height at all. It seemed a rather slow way to
invade, but providing some measure of safety within this forest was no
small task. And given the time and labor involved, the Theocracy's
dedication to ending the elf country was all too evident.
I don't get it. Why are those the only distinctive features? Has the
Theocracy's invasion stalled?
The simplest way to wipe out the elves would be to fell the trees around
them and then set them on fire. They weren't particularly dry, but neither
was the forest especially humid. If you were careful of your surroundings,
you could easily take out a village.
Are they avoiding burns so they can enslave more elves? That would
imply they're confident of victory. Has the balance of power swung that far
in their favor?
From here, he could not see any evidence of forest fires. He was a
considerable distance away, so it was hard to definitively declare there had
not been any burns. If Aura had been with him, she might have had a
different opinion.
And the Theocracy's frontline camp must be where those lights are.
Human eyes could not penetrate the darkness of the night. If a camp was
of any real size, the lights would be visible even from this distance. He had
easily spotted what must be their front line. But for reasons—most
prominently, his altitude—it was hard to estimate just how far they were
from the elf capital. Moreover, if they were clearing the forest as they
advanced, he could not begin to imagine how long it would take them to
reach their destination.
Still, Ainz had seen what there was to see. He activated Greater
Teleportation.
There was no cover in the sky, and anyone flying was easily spotted.
Plenty of people could see perfectly well, even at night. It was not worth
lingering.
Naturally, if anyone started ascending from several thousand yards
below, he would have plenty of time to get away. But he could see no
benefit to announcing his presence in the area. For that reason, he'd kept
Perfect Unknowable active the whole time.
Analysis of the intel they'd gathered suggested this world's creatures
were mostly quite weak.
But they knew little about this area, and there was no guarantee it did
not hide someone of Ainz's strength. He had to account for those maybes
and take precautions to avoid revealing too much information. The more
they knew about his skills, the more countermeasures they could prepare,
placing him one step closer to defeat.
…Next up, the elf capital.
Midnight.
In the woods, sparse moonlight filtered through the boughs above—a
world of near-total darkness. But that was no impediment to Ainz.
He'd used Fly to descend through the trees and was now hovering just
above the brush, approaching his destination.
He'd figured out roughly how far off the Theocracy armies were. Now
he just had to gather intel in the elf capital.
In time, the view opened up before him.
Elf homes were made from thick, stout trees—aka elf trees—and the
capital was a cluster of these, a forest of its own. The layout was more or
less like any elf village, but where those had few residents, the capital had
many—and that made all the difference. The residences were packed
together, making the place feel claustrophobic. It reminded Ainz of the gray
world he'd once lived in; he instantly found it repulsive.
Beyond the elf trees of the capital, no other trees grew—only a plain of
short grass.
This was no natural occurrence but a deliberate effort to shore up their
defenses. It provided a clear line of sight on anything approaching, making
a stealthy encroachment unlikely.
Or it could be an elf tree survival strategy.
He wasn't really doubting the story about the elves using magic to create
the elf trees, but perhaps the trees were just using the elves to propagate
their species.
Maybe the elf trees were actually a kind of monster—it seemed worth
investigating to see if they were sentient.
He wasn't sure how to do that. Perhaps he should leave it to Mare.
As he pondered the question, his eyes studied what was in front of him.
If there was a grassy field providing no cover as far as the eye could see, it
stood to reason there were lookouts posted. It would be difficult to enter
without the use of magic.
That said, a ranger of Aura's level had techniques that would make it
possible. High-level rangers didn't need cover to conceal themselves, and if
the level gap was great enough, they could go undiscovered even if they
made eye contact. Aura had said advanced ranger stealth techniques were
tantamount to convincing your foes you were a pebble.
Ainz was not entirely convinced. He'd had Aura demonstrate on the way
here and had managed to spot her—as long as she wasn't using magic items
to boost her abilities. This was because Aura was a hybrid ranger/tamer, and
while both classes were high-level, her skills paled in comparison to a pure
ranger. On top of which, Ainz himself was high-level, and his core stats
were accordingly high. Unfortunately, this left him unable to confirm the
veracity of Aura's claims.
But regardless of the truth, with Ainz's own abilities, he could not safely
approach the elf capital. For that reason, he had Perfect Unknowable active
and was using an illusion to disguise himself as an elf.
By the standards of this world, Perfect Unknowable was nigh impossible
to penetrate, but he was using the illusion anyway just in case—an extra
precaution, like he'd taken during his earlier flight. Not once had he ever
believed he knew every skill or ability the world contained. His knowledge
dated from his time in Yggdrasil, and even that could hardly be considered
complete.
Ainz himself kept an invisibility-piercing ability active at all times and
had to assume opponents would do the same.
For that reason, he wore a magic item—the Ghillie Guise Cloak.
Anything to lower his risk of detection, but also a way to hide his true
identity if he was spotted.
Let's do this.
From the border between the plain and the forest—any closer, and there
were no trees to hide him—Ainz peered up at the capital.
He could see elves on the bridges circling the outer elf trees.
Those were essentially the castle walls, and the bridges were the
ramparts.
Ainz was unsure if they lacked the ability to penetrate Perfect
Unknowable or simply weren't paying that much attention, but they showed
no signs of spotting him. With all the measures he had in place, it would be
embarrassing if they'd made him right away.
Keeping a tree between himself and the elf sentries, Ainz took out a
scroll.
Just as he was about to activate it, he hesitated.
Once again, he got ready—and he hesitated.
He'd made up his mind already. But he could not shake the feeling that
it was such a waste. Was there not a better way? That thought persisted, and
it stopped him from using the scroll.
If he was in combat or lives were on the line, he wouldn't think twice.
But with neither being the case—well, the lack of urgency naturally invited
indecision.
He dithered for a while, and eventually, he successfully emptied his
mind, activating the spell at the cost of the scroll. Thought led only to
doubt.
The spell used was God Eye.
A ninth-level spell, it generated an invisible incorporeal magic eyeball.
He had not used this since the lizardmen incident.
The main differences between it and remote viewing through a magical
item were increased range and the fact that it could simply pass through
ordinary walls.
It was an excellent spell for reconnaissance, but not a flawless one. It
was merely invisible and could easily be spotted with tier-two detection
spells. And while incorporeal, if it did take damage, the feedback would
harm the caster. Since it was classified as intelligence magic, antiintelligence measures could reveal the caster's location, and if he tripped an
attack wall, there was a chance spells would come flying his way. But the
greatest flaw was that the eyeball itself had no HP and borrowed neither
level nor defense from Ainz himself.
Yet, it was still far safer than infiltrating in person and was situationally
very handy to have around.
It moved steadily forward—at a speed Ainz found infuriatingly slow—
and reached the city walls after some time.
The elf sentries worked in teams of three, armed with bows, but they did
not see the God Eye sailing toward them.
Seems like they don't have any way of seeing the invisible. But I can't be
sure other elves don't have a class allowing it.
The first seemed a safe assumption—they wouldn't just ignore an
eyeball. But he couldn't relax. This was his first excursion into an area he
knew nothing about, after all.
Ainz's God Eye floated under the bridges and into the capital itself.
Once inside, he quickly turned back, moving outside the capital boundaries
again and hovering by the three sentries.
They were talking among themselves and didn't appear to notice
anything out of the ordinary.
Whew.
Ainz let out a sigh of relief.
The Great Tomb of Nazarick—and many other guild homes—often used
traps that stopped or disrupted some spell effects once you entered them.
Canceling Invisibility, lowering holy-attribute spell effects, et cetera. He'd
been double-checking to see if the elf capital had anything like that active.
He'd have to check again after entering any key capital structures, but it
seemed like he'd be safe to roam around the bulk of the city.
With Perfect Unknowable active, he didn't want to take too much time.
Given how much mana he'd need later, he didn't have much to spare.
Ainz's God Eye moved farther in. His goal was an elf living in a tree
with goods for sale.
In ordinary villages, shops like that would be clustered together, and that
sort of practical design would likely apply even here. Given the need for
storage, it would make sense for them to be in extra-large trees.
After searching a while longer, his hopes grew dim.
I can't find shit!
There were thousands of trees here, and to human sensibilities, it was
just a forest. Possibly because it was late in the night, there were no visible
signs anywhere and no nameplates on the trees themselves. Just row after
row of indistinguishable lumber. He could not even be sure the tree in front
of him was not one he'd checked already.
In human towns, there would be main roads and avenues and shops
lining them. Possibly stores arranged around a square. But that logic did not
appear to apply here.
There were no larger roads or squares at all—at least none that he could
see. Experience was of no use in this search, and he had to wing it on
hunches alone.
Not a great town for tourists. It would be very difficult to find what he
needed here—no, it seemed downright impossible.
But there was no need to complete the task today. He was in no hurry;
he could afford to take his time and play it safe.
Nonetheless, Ainz kept looking awhile longer. He had used a God Eye
scroll and wanted to look as long as it lasted.
But the result of that extended search was a deep sigh.
If the residents here are already in bed, no matter how many times I
search, I'll get nowhere.
Searching blindly was useless. He'd have to try again in daylight,
despite the risks. Then at least the flow of foot traffic would clue him in.
Otherwise, there was no telling how long this would take.
Ainz sent the God Eye into a random domicile. Since the elves' lives
revolved around the bridges, the elf tree entrances—what humans could call
homes—were on the second and third floors. When sneaking in, the first
floor was best. Like a thief pilfering the wardrobes. Too much activity on
the second floor.
He slipped through the wall—and then had the God Eye ascend to the
third floor, where he found some elves.
This appeared to be a family home. A father, a mother, and two boys, all
asleep.
I'd heard as much, but…they really are primitive.
This was a "bedroom," but all four were stretched out on what appeared
to be a pile of leaves. Given that human villagers used dried grass in lieu of
mattresses, this might not qualify as a substantial difference.
From what the elves in Nazarick had told him, this was typical elf
bedding. Gathering this quantity of leaves was hard work, but once
gathered, they could be used for quite a long time. He'd asked if there were
bugs, but they'd said they had spells to stop that.
The children—both boys—were sleeping peacefully.
Sleep…what is that like?
Ainz's body had been like this awhile now. Sleep, food, and sex were
things of the past, and it took some doing for him to feel any pain. That was
an asset, making all his feats possible…but there were times when he
missed what he'd lost. Seeing them sound asleep like this stirred those
memories and brought a pang of envy. Though this was nothing compared
to the pangs felt when seated before a delicious-looking meal.
Gazing at the happy family, he canceled God Eye.
Oooof.
With a shrug, he cast Greater Teleportation, and the view changed.
Before him was a veil of twisted vines.
These blended into the surroundings, looking like part of the forest but,
on closer inspection, were actually a cunning disguise hiding the little
cottage beyond.
This had been created with a magic item—the Green Secret House. For
the next few days, it would be their base of operations.
Fenrir had been seated outside the cottage, and he got up, sniffing the air
and growling, looking—no, glaring—at Ainz.
Not quite at him.
Like Aura earlier, Fenrir couldn't actually perceive anyone under Perfect
Unknowable's protection. Yet, despite the spell, he had realized someone
was here, and that was commendable indeed.
Ainz let the spell drop.
Recognizing him, Fenrir quickly bowed his head.
He might not be capable of speech, but he was far more intelligent than
a simple animal. This gesture was not mere instinct—it was a conscious
decision to apologize to Ainz. But Ainz thought Fenrir had nothing to be
sorry for.
From the wolf's perspective, an unknown creature had approached. It
was only natural to be cautious and protect his master. It would be more of
a concern had he reacted otherwise.
Fenrir was the only guard Ainz had brought along (in lieu of the
Hanzos). Ainz himself had suggested bringing multiple other high-level
minions but ultimately changed his mind. Unsure how his plan to help the
twins make friends would turn out, he decided it was best to prevent
information from leaking.
And that wasn't the only concern.
Since Shalltear's brainwashing, he'd avoided sending guardians out
alone.
But what did he have to show for it? No signs of their enemy, no matter
how much time passed. The only bait taken was when Ainz—well,
Pandora's Actor—had fought the platinum full-plate man, Rik Aganeia.
Nothing since. Still no clue who had brainwashed Shalltear.
Thus.
If he'd baited Rik in when there were no Hanzos around, then perhaps
his enemies had some way of detecting their presence.
Maybe the use of a World Item.
Maybe one of those abilities unique to this world—Talents.
It might be dangerous, but he'd decided to experiment with leaving the
Hanzos behind.
He had explained the latter reason to Albedo, fully aware that there were
any number of arguments against the idea. She'd nodded with her usual
smile, but he wasn't sure she fully bought it. Maybe he'd find out when he
got back. Not a prospect he relished.
"Good work," Ainz said and reached a palm toward the door of the
Green Secret House. It was well hidden and virtually imperceptible unless
you knew exactly where to look.
He pushed lightly against it, but the door didn't budge.
Sadly, this magic item had no key. It was possible to force it open with
unique magic items like the Epigonoi, but normally, once locked, you'd
need someone inside to open it.
Ainz used the knocker. The Green Secret House allowed you to make
the door semitranslucent—one-way—so that anyone inside could look out.
It didn't take long before he heard the lock click.
The door swung open.
"Welcome back!"
"Wel…come...back…"
Aura's voice was bright and cheery, but Mare barely got the words out.
His eyes were clearly not focused.
They'd changed into their sleeping clothes, and Mare even had on a
nightcap. Given the hour, this was entirely appropriate.
"Sorry to keep you up this late."
Ainz stepped inside.
The interior was bathed in warm light and much more spacious than the
exterior had implied.
Inside the door was a living room with a kitchen beyond. There were
four other doors leading to bunk rooms.
"You said you'd be out late, so I thought it would take far longer."
"So did I…but no use standing around. Let's sit."
He considered telling them to go ahead and sleep, but even if he'd
learned next to nothing, it was worth sharing information—and sooner
rather than later. Ainz really didn't have much faith in his own memory.
He felt a little guilty about making them stay up for a mundane reason
like that, but he dutifully led them into the living room to fill them in.
He sat down on the chair and found Aura ready to listen. Mare's head hit
the back of his chair, his mouth half-open; he looked ready to fall asleep
right there. Ainz had only just seen two children sound asleep, and his guilt
grew.
Since I don't need sleep, maybe I'm not being adequately considerate of
those who do? That's not good.
"Should we put Mare to bed? Aura, you can bring him up to speed
tomorrow."
"Hoo, boy," Aura said, smacking his head. "Wake up! You're before
Lord Ainz! Don't be rude."
"Yawn… Oh. Welcome baaack…"
Mare bowed, but they'd already had that conversation. Ainz didn't point
that out.
Aura shook her head. "He's such a child," she muttered.
"No need to force yourself to stay awake. I don't want it causing
problems tomorrow…"
He trailed off, remembering some late nights in Yggdrasil.
He didn't think he'd ever let it affect his work performance. But was that
really true? And staying up too late for something fun was a far cry from
when someone else made you.
Ainz—Satoru Suzuki—had certainly grumbled when his boss had kept
him working late.
And the twins were children. Of course, Mare was a level-100 NPC with
an astonishingly high-functioning body, so perhaps there was no use
comparing him to the ordinary human Ainz had once been, grown-up or
not.
Mare was so sleepy, he could barely keep his eyes open, and it looked
like he was glaring at them.
Then his head lolled to one side. He blinked furiously and quickly
straightened himself up.
This wouldn't work.
"Okay, let's do that. Mare, we don't want to affect your performance
tomorrow, so you go to bed. Forcing yourself to stay up just makes it hard
to think straight. There's little advantage in that. Like I said, Aura can fill
you in tomorrow."
Aura's face was a sight; she was torn between the impulse to obey and
feeling like her brother was disgracing them in front of their master. She
soon made up her mind and bowed her head.
"…As you wish. I'll take Mare to bed. Can you stand?"
"Huhhh…?"
She didn't even get a real answer. This wasn't happening.
"Mm, let me carry him."
Aura's lips parted, but Ainz got to his feet anyway, picking up Mare.
"Mm," Mare mumbled.
He was in sleeping clothes, with minimal gear on, and felt super light.
Maybe that was just how much children weighed.
This might have been hard if he'd been in full gear. I'm sure I could have
managed it, but…that thing is heavy. Possibly the heaviest weapon any of
the guardians carry.
With both hands full—he could have cradled the boy in one if he wanted
—he was led by Aura, who opened the door for him. He gently laid Mare
down on the bed inside.
Mare must have fallen asleep on the way. His eyes were closed, and he
was breathing peacefully.
Careful not to make a sound, Ainz tiptoed out. Aura was even quieter—
she was a ranger.
Back in the living room, they sat down. Aura bowed her head lower.
"I apologize on his behalf for retiring while you're still working, Lord
Ainz. Your anger is to be expected, as is your concern about his abilities as
a guardian, but on night duty, we use sleep-blocking equipment to avoid
any risk of this unseemly behavior. Today, though… Well, to equip the antisleep gear, he has to remove a combat item, which does keep him from
exercising his full potential. Lord Ainz, our top priority here is your
protection, so I made the call to avoid using that sleep preventer."
This all came out quite quickly. Aura rarely spoke like this, so she must
be pretty rattled.
"No, it's no concern. Like I said, we're here on vacation. There's
nothing wrong with falling asleep early. But you're properly awake? You
sure you don't need to sleep?"
"I would never disgrace myself like that in front of you, Lord Ainz."
"So stiff! I'm not angry, I swear. Honestly, I'm tickled to see a side of
Mare I never ordinarily would. When you're with me, you're both
inevitably on your best behavior, so I often wonder how you act when I'm
not around. Is Cocytus any different?"
"…Not really, no."
Aura was back to her usual self.
"Ah. Well, perhaps I'll use Perfect Unknowable and take a peek at what
he's like on his own."
Ainz smiled—not that anything actually moved, but his tone of voice
likely conveyed it. Aura grinned back, full of mischief.
"Aura, you're sure you aren't sleepy?"
"I always stay up this late, so I'm good to go."
Aura explained that she often played with the nocturnal beasts, so it was
common for her to be up late. This "play" was important for any beast
tamer; if she didn't spend time with each beast in her care, they'd get
stressed and not be in top condition. She wasn't taking time out of her sleep
cycle or anything—whenever she stayed up, she also slept till noon. More
or less, it was just like working a late shift.
When either of them was outside Nazarick, they used the item she'd
mentioned and avoided sleep entirely.
Hmm, is that a good idea? I'm glad they take their duty seriously, but
races that need sleep should probably get it. And sleep is important for
growing children. I'll have to discuss it with Albedo. For now…!
Ainz took a breath, then began with the location of the Theocracy's
invading army. He wasn't able to accurately say how far that was from the
capital or how many soldiers they had with them. The goal here wasn't to
pick a fight, so all they needed to know was that the invasion was ongoing.
More importantly—he filled Aura in on the results of his capital
scouting.
He hid nothing, explaining it all. No point lying or making excuses.
Explaining failures as is. Aura wasn't like some others he could name—she
would simply nod and maybe provide a better idea.
"Hmm," Aura said, nodding. "In that case, I think you're right, Lord
Ainz. Better to try again during the day."
"That was my thought, yes. What will you be up to?"
"Let me see… Are you sure you don't want me infiltrating?"
"Hmm. I think it's extremely unlikely you'd be spotted, but we know so
little. If there's any chance they'd learn who you are, we should avoid it at
this stage."
"Then I'll have to talk with Mare tomorrow about his plans, but I'd like
to support your efforts somehow. How about I search the capital's
surroundings and look for any tracks the elves might've left?"
Ainz nodded. This made sense.
If they were hauling things in and out of the city, there would be
evidence of that. And the more tracks they found, the more likely that they
would stumble upon a path.
Discovering that would lead them to villagers or settlements—places
where elves often had to go.
He had to assume elves were using something with a similar effect to
Forestwalk, but Aura's suggestion was a good one. He saw no reason to
reject the idea.
"An excellent suggestion. I'm sure inspecting the area…would take you
a day at most. Mare can help you locate tracks. Find what you can."
"Will do!"
"Then, tomorrow—well, the day's already changed—I'll try gathering
information again at midday."
"I might attract attention during daylight hours, so I'll make my move
after dark."
"Hmm, sounds like a plan. For now, let us retire. Good night, Aura."
"Good night, Lord Ainz!"
Each went to their respective rooms. Ainz lay down on his bed, but he
was undead—and did not need sleep. So he took out a book from his item
box.
A business manual he often read. It was called How to Be a Good
Leader. If he was honest, he didn't think reading books like this was doing
much good, but it was better than nothing.
He began flicking through the pages.
A late-night incursion on the first day, a midday infiltration on the second.
Two precious scrolls wasted, which certainly hit Ainz where it hurt, but at
noon on the third day, he lucked into some critical information. In other
words, he found several trees that seemed like shops and was starting to get
his bearings.
It might seem like a small step, but for Ainz, it was a huge development.
His joy was so great that his mental restraints kicked in. Not wanting to
waste this intel, he spent a good deal of time double-checking the route to
the shop.
At that point, he beat a temporary retreat. The spell itself had plenty of
time left on it, so he was tempted to send the God Eye up the unnaturally
tall, thick central tree—the palace—and take a peek inside but ultimately
stopped himself.
In human society, kings need not be strong, but there were two reasons
for that. First, you could not survive by following the strong, only those
who could make the right judgment calls. This was a survival strategy for a
feeble species who would otherwise be little more than food for everything
else. Second, their dwellings were secure. That was the difference between
this forest and the Empire, the kingdom, and the Sacred Kingdom.
But for a race carving out a living in competition with other species, it
was natural for the king to be the strongest among them.
The elf king was clearly a force to be reckoned with. Best to avoid
unnecessary risks here.
Ainz had learned a lot about this world but had yet to find anyone but
monsters anywhere close to his strength. Had he not met that mysterious
warrior Rik, he might not have spared much thought for the elf king. But
the fight with Rik had made Ainz extra cautious.
He discarded the eyeball spell and cast Greater Teleportation.
Back at their base, he found the twins waiting for him—this time Mare
was wide awake—and they exchanged information.
He learned the twins had found a number of paths—the elves mostly
moved within the trees, so the second day had been a waste. Discovering
where these led would depend on how far they led.
Ainz expressed concern that if they moved in daylight, they'd be spotted
by the elves on these paths.
Aura seemed quite confident that if they rode Fenrir through the woods
alongside the path, they would not be discovered easily. Her confidence
convinced Ainz he had nothing to worry about. But he did not immediately
grant permission to investigate. Rather, he suggested holding off for now.
They might have far better information later that day.
Night had fallen on the third day…
Once again under cover of Perfect Unknowable, Ainz approached the elf
capital. Naturally, from a different direction than any previous approach,
with magic assists. There was always a small chance a skilled elf ranger had
discovered signs of his previous visits.
Fly should have stopped him from leaving any tracks on the ground, but
Ainz himself had little expertise with stealth or tracking. For all he knew, he
could have bent branches or scattered leaves in odd directions, leaving trace
signs behind.
Honestly, sometimes I wonder if being extra-extra cautious all the time
is actually worth it, but if the surrounding villages all go on red alert
because some mystery intruder is hanging around, that'll make everything
far more difficult. And if the Theocracy takes those elves prisoner—well, I'd
rather they not find out about my little scouting mission.
Even if they did discover signs of a mysterious watcher, few would
assume they were from the Nation of Darkness. However, the Theocracy
finding out a third party was hanging around was bad news. He was scared
to see what they'd do. Unexpected actions could mess up all kinds of plans.
I could pop back and consult Albedo and Demiurge, but that could put a
damper on my "have Aura and Mare make friends" scheme.
Which left him with only one option—be as careful as he could.
Ainz took out a scroll and this time activated it right away. He was
certain it would lead to results, and therefore, he did not hesitate.
His God Eye flew into the target elf tree, and Ainz muttered, "All right!"
under his breath.
The elf he was after was sound asleep on a bed of leaves. A grown male.
As a rule, elves had slim builds and were shorter than the average
human. Maybe 80 to 90 percent as tall. They had little body hair and no
beards. And since their biological prime lasted for centuries, it was difficult
to determine their ages—everyone looked young.
So he couldn't be sure this elf had the information Ainz was after. Yet,
he'd targeted him anyway, for good reason—
No one slept here but this man.
Cleaning up after snatching a whole family was a lot more work.
He had a second goal in mind, but that—he'd have to find out later.
Ainz knew where the man's home was, so he used Greater Teleportation
to bring himself there.
The elf did not wake at his entry. Ainz had made no noises and was
undetectable—even someone high-level would likely not have noticed. This
was expected.
Ainz used a tier-four spell, Charm Species.
This took hold easily—the fact that the elf was asleep helped more than
the level gap.
"Wake up," he said.
Perfect Unknowable had dissipated the moment Ainz used a hostile spell
—in more accurate game terms, when the spell required a resistance
calculation. As he spoke, he grabbed the elf's shoulder—gently, not causing
pain—and shook it. He did not want to linger in enemy territory.
"—Mrah?"
Not the most intelligent noise, but he had been asleep.
"Don't resist," Ainz said. He took the man's hand and cast Greater
Teleportation.
This spell allowed you to travel with someone else, but only if they
consented—if they resisted, they'd be left behind. However, a charmed state
was treated as "consent" and posed no hindrance. The same went for the
higher-level controlled state, but while harder to resist, Ainz had reasons to
avoid resorting to that.
For now, his kidnapping was a success. He had the makings of a
criminal mastermind.
Cool, just as planned.
Having everything go right was always a pleasure. A broad smile spread
across his bony visage.
"Whoa! Wh-what the—what's going on?!"
The elf appeared to be shocked by the sudden change in the ground
below him and the view before his eyes. He leaped to his feet, now wide
awake. Did not seem like he was inclined to believe this was all just a
dream. Perhaps elven culture was not big on that notion.
Ainz glanced around, but unlike the past few days, there was no sign of
Fenrir. He must be hiding out of the elf's view.
"Nothing to yell about."
"N-nah, it kinda is…"
"I simply used a teleportation spell. Keep your voice down. No one here
will harm you."
"T-teleportation?!"
The elf blinked and then fell silent. The charm kept his responses mild.
"Come on in."
Ainz ushered the elf through the half-open door of the Green Secret
House.
He knew Aura and Mare must be watching through the gaps in the doors
to their respective rooms.
He'd wondered if having two dark elves at the table might help loosen
this man's lips, but as there was a chance revealing their faces could cause
issues down the road, he'd thought better of it.
The three elf women they'd rescued had not shown any hostility to dark
elves. But the situation might have changed in recent times, or perhaps the
elf capital had always taken a more negative view of their kind.
Even if that was the case, Ainz could have simply said, These two are
not your enemy, and resolved the matter.
"What is this place? Is this the world of the godtree?"
Ainz had no idea what a godtree might be but assumed it must be from
elven myths or legends. Or—
Could it be related to Yggdrasil players? I'll have to ask…but I don't
want to take much time. Maybe some other day.
Ainz had the man sit down on the living room couch. He took out a
piece of notebook paper on which he had written several questions to ask
this elf. Time was of the essence. If he messed this up, he'd have to kill the
man. But that would mean a mysterious disappearance in the elf capital,
which had a low but distinct chance of causing future headaches.
"Since we're good friends, I'd love for you to tell me a thing or two.
Keep it nice and simple." Ainz did not wait for a reply. "Is there any
possibility—magical or otherwise—that leaking information would lead to
your death?"
"Huh? Of course not."
The elf looked at him like he was crazy, but it was always possible he
simply didn't know.
And in that case, three questions is all I get.
They'd planned for that, which was why there were only three questions
on his note. He was going in order.
"Do you know where the dark elf village is?"
"…Not exactly, but I know the approximate area."
It was farther southwest from the capital. He was given more detailed
instructions, but the directions mentioning the three big trees didn't really
mean much to Ainz.
He'd have to hope Aura got more out of it.
"Next…"
The last question on his note was one Aura and Mare had been shocked
he'd originally not planned to ask. They had a point, and it was pretty
important.
"Tell me what you know about the Theocracy."
"The Theocracy… Oh, you mean those horrible humans! We ain't done
nothing to them, but they invaded us anyway!"
He launched into a lengthy tirade, accusing them of tyranny, unprovoked
aggression, and the enslavement of hundreds of elves. Ainz was forced to
step in and stop him.
It seemed like he was but an ordinary citizen and didn't know just how
close the Theocracy was to the capital. He wasn't even sure if the elves
were winning or losing. But the guards on patrol seemed extra tense these
days, which the ordinary elves took as a bad sign.
That was the last of his three questions, but this elf did not seem to be
any worse for wear. Those prisoners had been the exception. In which case,
he had plenty more to ask—but did not want to take too much time.
"How are relations with the dark elves? Any enmity to speak of?"
"None…that I know of?" The pause was because he'd started answering
before Ainz had quite finished. "I sure don't, and nobody I know has
anything against dark elves or thinks less of 'em. They're basically distant
relatives, ya know? But that's our perspective on it, and I can't speak for
them. Never met one, so honestly no clue what they make of us."
"Do you know anything about the Nation of Darkness?"
"What's that?"
No lag there. That was the answer Ainz had expected. And at the least,
that meant it would not work against his plan to help the twins make
friends.
"That's all I need to know. Thank you."
"No prob. What are friends for?"
That made Ainz smirk. He'd used the word himself, but hearing it from
someone else just made the lie all the more transparent. Ainz's only friends
were his fellow guild members.
"That's enough," he said. The signal—Mare's face peeked out from the
crack in the door behind the elf. To keep him from noticing, Ainz kept
talking. "I would have liked to know more about elf culture, but I'm afraid
we don't have time—"
The man's eyes blurred, and he fell over on the couch, sound asleep.
This sudden slumber was the result of Mare's Sandman's Sand.
Aura came out with her brother, so Ainz asked, "Aura, will that man's
directions get us to the dark elf village?"
"I believe so, yes. Once we get closer, I may have to investigate further."
That was more than enough. Ainz used Control Amnesia.
This was a major reason why he'd snatched—chosen—a man who lived
alone.
Elf ages were hard to determine, and a grown-looking male might not
turn out to be an elf who knew much about the world. He could well have
been a very young man who'd never even left the capital.
Meanwhile, someone with kids would likely be old enough, but that
raised the question of what to do with them—and their family.
If they wound up deciding they had to eliminate them—well, now an
entire family was missing, and with no signs of any struggle. The uproar
would almost certainly come back to haunt him. No one would believe
they'd up and decided to flee into the night for no apparent reason.
And he lacked the mana to use Control Amnesia on that many.
For that reason, Ainz had gone with a bachelor instead.
He wiped the man's memories in one fell swoop. Meticulous memory
manipulation, making every detail add up—that was a tall order indeed. But
all at once, without much thought—that was pretty simple.
And since he didn't have to go that far back, the total volume was quite
small. That's why he'd been racing against the clock. If he hadn't planned
on using this spell, he could have asked questions until the charm ran out,
then cast Charm Species again and continued questioning the man.
But since he'd kept the question count low and taken little time, all he
had to do was wipe all memories after he'd gone to bed. He might have
gone back a bit too far—Ainz had accidentally wiped the part where he lay
down to sleep.
That kind of error was common when rushing cleanup, but if he'd gone
any slower, Ainz might have run out of mana. Given how much he still had
left, maybe it wouldn't have been an issue…but that was hindsight talking.
Nothing he could do about it now. The elf might be a bit confused, but
hopefully he'd invent a plausible explanation on his own.
Ainz had used a lot of mana, but since he'd prepared carefully and made
no mistakes, the remainder was enough to complete the plan.
"I'll be right back. Aura, Mare, help like we planned?"
"Yes, Lord Ainz! We're on it!"
"Um, r-right. I'll do my part!"
Ainz led the way, while the twins picked the man up, swinging by his
limbs. Either one of them was strong enough to carry the man on their own,
but there was a risk they'd bump into something and have that register as
damage, canceling the spell and waking him up. Then Ainz would have to
cast Control Amnesia again and run out of mana.
Of course—
I have another plan for that eventuality, so it wouldn't pose a real
problem.
Ainz stepped out of the Green Secret House and activated Perfect
Unknowable. Then he opened a Gate.
It led straight to the elf's bedroom.
He stepped through first, inspecting the bedroom interior, ears perked
up.
Whew, that's a relief.
No one had been surprised by the Gate's appearance and gone running.
Just to be sure, he stayed still a moment, listening closely.
Seems like we're good.
A ranger of Aura's level could probably be too quiet for Ainz to hear,
but even she didn't stay in perfect stealth mode around the clock. If a
veteran ranger had noticed something off about the man's house, guessed
there might be more to it, and staked the place out, that would be such bad
luck, Ainz would have no choice but to suspect someone was out to get
him. Best to assume nothing like that had happened.
He released Perfect Unknowable and poked his head through the Gate,
signaling to the twins that they were free to carry the man through.
They executed the plan in silence.
Aura and Mare carefully laid the man down on the leaf bed. Letting him
take damage here (and waking up) would be a very stupid mistake.
Sandman's Sand was stronger than regular old Sleep. A good shake
could wake you from the latter, but Sandman's Sand would leave you under
until you took actual damage.
If they left him like this, he would not wake up until someone found him
and hurt him. He might even sleep until he died. That would undo all the
efforts Ainz had taken to avoid causing a commotion.
With the elf on the bed, the next step was to wake him up. Ainz looked
around, searching the closet he'd spied on his earlier exploration.
He found a wooden carving depicting a strange sort of creature—
probably—like a mole or frog with a portly belly. He hadn't seen anything
like this in the woods around them. Perhaps it was a fictional being from elf
myths or legends. Ainz picked it up.
Definitely wood. Still…heavier than it looks. If the blow proves fatal…
well, that's just his luck.
Even if this became a crime scene, no one could tie the murder to Ainz.
The twins saw him heft the statue and carried the man over beneath the
shelf.
Aura and Mare nodded once and disappeared through the Gate. Ainz
himself stood just outside of it.
He tossed the strange statue toward the ceiling.
This was Ainz's best shot at avoiding any suspicious deaths.
Before the statue landed, he jumped through the Gate and closed it
behind him.
"Good. Now for the final check. Wait right here."
"Okay! Got it! Almost done! Good luck, Lord Ainz!"
"Er, um, I'm sure you'll be just fine, Lord Ainz! But, um, I know you're
running low on mana, so be careful!"
With that, Ainz cast Perfect Unknowable again, then used Greater
Teleportation. This took him back to the elf's abode.
"Shit fire! That hurts like hell! Why'd it fall? Why was I even sleeping
over here? Booze? I don't remember drinking… Goddamn, that stings!"
The elf was awake and glaring balefully at the statue. His eyes were
tearing up, but Ainz couldn't help but grin.
Excellent! The perfect crime.
The man was clearly not acting—he genuinely didn't suspect a thing.
Well, he was confused by the statue that had fallen on him but naturally
didn't think anyone had broken into his house and thrown it at him.
"…Wait."
Ainz had been about to teleport away but quickly stopped.
Did he notice something amiss? He can't know it was us, but does he
know someone was here? This is a shop; could there be a security device
or…a magic item? One even I couldn't detect?
"Maybe Tsungoggua was trying to tell me something!"
Tsungoggua? There were no monsters in Yggdrasil by that name.
"Tsungoggua, Tsungoggua! Please send me a sign!"
The elf was on his knees, head bowed to the wooden statue. Clearly the
pose of a faithful man in supplication.
…Some sort of indigenous religion? This man sure talks to himself a lot.
Does he think someone's listening? A prayer to some god named
Tsungoggua?
This man had gone from useful tool to something far more sinister. Ainz
wondered if it might be better if he snatched him up and finished him off
but decided against it. There was a strong possibility he was just religious.
Best to be cautious, though. He'd have preferred to leave something to
watch over him, but even Ainz had no good options there. None of his
spells would help. At best, he could use magic to peek in on him from time
to time.
Ainz clicked the tongue he didn't have, then used Greater Teleportation
to return to the Green Secret House exterior.
Canceling Perfect Unknowable, Ainz gave the twins a thumbs-up and
got big grins back. Honestly, that last bit had been concerning, but without a
good way to deal with it, it seemed pointless to worry them.
"All right, everybody! I thank you for all your assistance. Today's
business has come to a close," Ainz said, being very theatrical. The twins
looked momentarily taken aback but soon smiled again. "The hour is late,
so let us head to bed, lest we find ourselves weary in the morning."
"Yes, Lord Ainz!" they chorused.
"The date may already have changed, but when should we rise? You
may wake when you please, but no sleeping all day. If you can be up by
nine, I'll fetch breakfast for us from Nazarick."
"Okay!" they said, and Aura elbowed Mare in the ribs.
He had meant none of this to sound spiteful, so he just said, "Then—
good work, one and all."
"Good work, Lord Ainz!" they said.
"And good night!"