Emissary of the King

Part 7

Summoned or created monsters could be banished in several ways — when their summoning time ended, when they took too much damage, or when their masters manually dismissed them. When a monster was banished from taking too much damage, it was a common tactic to immediately re-summon another monster of the same type.

After Ainz banished the Death Knight, he cast ‘Message’. Like a telephone call connecting, Ainz began speaking once he felt the link form.

“—Albedo.”

『—Yes, Ainz-sama? What do you wish of me?』

“No, it’s nothing important, I just wish to chat with you. Where are you now?”

『A, a chat! You have but to give me an order and I will rush to your side!』

“There’s no need for you to go to that trouble. I just wish to chat with you in your room. Where are you now?”

『M-My! In my room?!』

The shrill screech of delight suddenly turned into a somber deadpan.

『I am in the throne room…』

“Do you mean you’re patrolling the throne room?”

The reply was off by just a beat.

『No, not that… if you will permit me this disrespect, it is, in a sense, my bedroom…』

Ainz pictured the throne room in his mind, and fell silent. That room was certainly a luxurious one, yet as a place to live in, it was quite lacking.

The frantic reply came from Albedo, who seemed to have misinterpreted Ainz’s silence as something else entirely.

『M-my deepest apologies, to think I considered Ainz-sama’s grand throne room to be my own sleeping area! If it displeases Ainz-sama, I will depart this place at once!』

Ainz said nothing, but activated his ring.

After reading the room with the hemispherical ceiling that was flanked by dozens of golems, he promptly pushed open the great doors that were carved with angels and demons.

The doors slowly opened, revealing the grand sight of the throne room to his eyes.

“Albedo!”

Ainz shouted the name of the Overseer of the Guardians.

Albedo was frozen in panic by the side of the throne, and even at this distance he could clearly see that Albedo’s perfect features were frozen solid.

“Albedo! Forgive me!”

Ainz strode forward as he apologized.

“I chose this place to be your room. It was my fault that I did not assign you appropriate quarters. Forgive me.”

To be precise, the blame belonged to Tabula Smaragdina. After all, he should have been the one to give Albedo a place to live. But one had to consider the fact that before they had been transported to this New World, Albedo had been nothing more than a collection of data. Expecting him to account for this possibility and design a room for her would have been too much even for his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Granted, Ainz and the creators of the other Guardians had done so, but that was hardly normal. Although Tabula Smaragdina was a setting maniac who produced extremely long design documents for his creations, his imagination was probably within normal parameters.

If one had to point a finger at someone, then Ainz could only nominate one person.

That was Ainz Ooal Gown.

The name of the only person — so far— who had come to this brave new world.

After coming to this world, the NPCs began moving according to their own will. Then, before that, he should have understood their respective situations and ensured the quality of their living conditions, in order to ensure they could carry out their duties without any inconvenience.

To think, in this place…

Ainz forcefully stepped on the bright red carpet, gritting his teeth. The floor was white marble, and when he raised his head he could see the ceiling, a broad and empty space.

There was nothing here which could support life.

To think, she had to sleep in this place!

He remembered the grouses he had heard from Herohero-san.

— We had to use sleeping bags in the office, and I ended up buying two of them. One of them was for when the other one was being cleaned. Hahaha—

Ainz felt like he had been beaten about the head with a bat. He wanted to fall to his knees and genuflect while crying and begging for forgiveness.

You said so much about not letting Herohero-san’s situation show up in Nazarick… Ainz, you’ve committed a grave sin, an unforgivable mistake!

Although his emotion override had already activated numerous times, Ainz was still consumed by guilt.

“What are you saying? The Supreme Beings have granted me this place. Therefore, I must use it to accomplish their aims with all—”

“Say no more, Albedo.”

Ainz had finally reached the base of the steps, and he raised his hand as he mounted them to silence Albedo.”

“This was caused by my carelessness. I will immediately prepare a room for you. Do you have anywhere you wish to stay?”

Albedo’s eyes flickered left and right. Ainz took this to be a sign of her thinking, and calmly watched her in silence.

After a long time, which was probably a sign of the deep thought she had put into this, Albedo finally replied.

“Although this might be somewhat bold, as long as I can stay by Ainz-sama’s side, anywhere will be fine. After all, I am the most adept at defense among the Guardians. Nobody is better at guarding Ainz-sama’s body than myself. However, if I am separated from Ainz-sama, then there may be a chance he may come to harm, be it one in a million or a billion. As such, I would be happy to be granted a corner somewhere in Ainz-sama’s room…”

As Albedo quickly replied, she leaned forward desperately, her wings flapping loudly.

Although he had considered satisfying her wish by all means, sharing a room would pose some problems after all.

Since his body did not possess sexual desires and he had lost various things, he was confident that he would not do anything despicable to her. However, if she lived with him, he would have no time to secretly read his books, and he would have to constantly keep up his ruler’s facade, and that would only increase the mental stress he was under.

“Indeed, my chambers are large, but I must sadly deny your request.”

“Is that so…”

Albedo’s wings drooped. As Ainz saw this, his feelings of guilt intensified.

“More to the point, I believe the Guardians of the various Floors will not permit any intruders of this mighty fortress Nazarick to make their way to my bedchamber. Is that not so?”

“It is as you say.”

Ainz’s mind worked furiously as he saw Albedo with her wings drooped. If he had to pick personal quarters from the 9th and 10th floors, he would have to rule out the 10th floor because all the rooms there had been designed for other purposes, which would leave the 9th floor. On that floor, the only empty rooms he was aware of were the ones that belonged to his former companions.

Although it might just be wishful thinking, but if he lent one of their rooms to Albedo, his heart would forever be filled with doubt that he might have deprived a guildmate who had come to this world of their rightful room, however miniscule that possibility might be.

Rather than lend out a room belonging to one of his companions, it would be better to lend her one of the spare rooms.

“Then, Albedo. I shall grant you one of the rooms on the ninth floor for your own use. It is a spare room prepared for the possibility that we might welcome new additions to the guild. Of course, I will try to give you a room as close to mine as possible, and if an emergency happens — yes, when the time comes, can I count on you?”

“Yes! Of course! That goes without saying, Ainz-sama!”

Her wings suddenly spread themselves out.

As he saw Albedo’s shining eyes and the brilliant smile on her face, Ainz could not help but be moved. To camouflage that, Ainz coughed loudly.

“Then, I will lead you to your new room. We’ll go once you finish packing your things.”

As Ainz said this, he wondered whether she had anything to pack.

The NPCs should have inventory pocket spaces like Ainz did for storing equipment. It might have looked to others like they were sticking their hands into nothing, but in truth it was more like using a smartphone. While players — with their access to cash items — could store much more in their inventories than NPCs could, even NPCs could still fit all of their equipment into their inventories.

It was very likely that Albedo’s equipment was stored in her inventory. The things in there should be recovery items and scrolls that allowed her to use magic.

“Understood. Then, I apologize for the delay, but could you hold on a little longer?”

“Ah, ahhh…”

Ainz wavered a little because the answer was an unexpected one.

“Those words should be mine to speak. Then, Albedo, go fetch your things.”

“Yes.”

Albedo’s wings fluttered loudly as she took flight.

As a succubus, her wings were not simply for decoration.

After flying about three stories into the air, she fiddled with a part of a wall, and retrieved a bag that was big enough that she had to embrace it with both hands to carry it. As a Guardian, her physical strength was great enough that she could lift it easily. Because of that, he could not tell what was inside.

“…Are these your things?”

“Ah? Ahhhh. Speaking of which, Tabula Smaragdina, he… hm. Would you mind letting me look inside?”

Although Tabula Smaragdina had not prepared a room for Albedo, he had still set aside this bag for her. His curiosity over what was inside the bag intensified.

There might be special items inside… or not.

If it was really a rare item… the collector in Ainz would find it hard to control himself.

“Please have a look.”

As he looked beyond the open zipper, the inside seemed about as large as it appeared on the outside, and there didn’t seem to be any special items in there. Nor was there a blood-caked corpse staring out at him with hatred in its eyes or anything like that.

What he saw was many neatly folded sets of clothing, all of which were very normal articles of female wear. There was nothing which aroused Ainz’s interest. However, under the clothes were many small multicolored objects that had been balled up. It was impossible not to notice them. Since Tabula Smaragdina was a fan of horror movies, he didn’t know what he would find next. That mix of fear and curiosity piqued his interest.

“Are those… handkerchiefs?”

“…They are not, Ainz-sama. Why don’t you pick one up and have a closer look?”

Albedo stood there quietly, with a mysterious smile on her face.

In that moment, his anticipation rose ever higher.

Yes, they might be joined together by some kind of gimmick…

With excitement in his heart, Ainz reached for a balled up lump and opened it up.

After that was silence.

Even Ainz knew what that was.

It was underwear. Female underwear.

“Isn’t this… what Peroroncino-san would do…? How should I say this… it seems I’ve learned too much information about a friend…”

As Ainz’s shoulders sagged, he remembered that he had not yet apologized to someone who deserved an apology.

“…Forgive me, Albedo.”

As Albedo watched Ainz’s movements, her face flushed red, and her breathing grew irregular.

A very uncomfortable Ainz tried to fold the opened panties back up, but couldn’t quite manage it. So Albedo gave him a hand from the side, and neatly folded them.

“I’m not Peroroncino-san, I won’t get excited by a piece of cloth if it’s not worn by someone.”

In order to hide his discomfort, Ainz tried to muddle his way through with words he didn’t quite understand. Suddenly, Ainz remembered that he had no idea what had happened to the erotic art he’d received from his former guildmates.

“Then… do you need me to wear it for inspection?”

A shocked Ainz looked sideways at Albedo, whose eyes radiated a lewd glow.

“Ah, wait, Albedo. Before that, let’s settle the matter of your room. I’ll take you there with the power of the ring, so let’s go.”

“Understood, Ainz-sama.”

As Albedo drew close, wrapping Ainz in her scent and tickling him with her breath, he activated the power of his ring.

Epilogue

The room she had been given was luxurious. No, as a room which was worthy of the Supreme Beings, that much was only to be expected.

Behind the desk in the center of the room was the sparkling flag of Ainz Ooal Gown,

Not long after she had watched her master leave with a cheerful smile on her face, a change came over her, and her face was as cold as winter.

“—Hmph.”

Albedo raised the flag with one hand, and opened the door within.

Inside was the bedroom of an absolute ruler of Nazarick.

After entering the room and ensuring it was properly locked, she cast the flag aside.

The brilliant flag fell to the ground.

“The Ainz Ooal Gown which abandoned us… It makes me mad.”

Although she had been filled with joy when her beloved had taken that name for his own, that had turned to worry when she realised that it also referred to the people who upset her.

With a fiendish expression on her face, Albedo approached the flag on the floor and raised her foot to step on it.

“—Shit! How dare these pieces of shit insult my love’s name!”

Albedo cursed freely as she trampled the flag. With her breathing in chaos, she seemed to notice something and raised her face, whose expression softened as she saw it.

Albedo opened her inventory and drew forth a large new flag. She rubbed it against her face with a blissful expression, and then when it was not enough, she rubbed her entire body against it.

The flag she was holding was one of the 41 displayed before the throne, the one representing his own name that Momonga had struck down.

Albedo had swiftly retrieved it after the fact.

“Ahhh, Ainz-sama. No, Momonga-sama. Only you are my true master. I shall make you the sole ruler of Nazarick. There’s no need for those other people. Only you, and only you will rule forever—”

As though her master were truly there, Albedo chanted those words in a moist, breathy tone.

“Yes, absolutely. If anyone tries to stop you, I will destroy them even if they’re a Guardian. I am your true follower, your loyal slave. So please, bestow your compassion upon my body…”

She slowly slid her hand downward, to the lower reaches of her belly.