The Men in the Kingdom

Interlude

Clang clang. One could hear the sound of precious metals banging against one another.

Having confirmed that there was no longer anything in the upside-down sack, Ainz spread the glinting coins on top of the table.

He counted the gold and silver coins in stacks of ten pieces each.

Despite having already counted it numerous times, Ainz picked up the sack and peered inside.

Needless to say, it was empty— after checking it a second time, Ainz tossed aside the sack and grabbed his head.

“Not enough… This is nowhere near enough…”

His human face that was created with an illusion became undone. Of course, the mountain of coins in front of him was a small fortune. It was an amount that an average person from this world would not be able to earn even after several decades. But from the perspective of the Supreme Ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the only one who could earn foreign currency, it was severely lacking and a great cause for concern.

Ainz’ mind was forcibly calmed whenever an emotion he experienced exceeded a certain threshold. For example, if he was hit by the panic of only having a single silver coin left remaining, his mind would immediately regain its composure. Currently however, that response failed to activate because at the back of his mind, he knew that there were still some gold coins in the coffers. This left him with a feeling of anxiety that burned through his body.

Ainz shook his head and proceeded to divide the gold coins in front of him based on how they would be spent.

“First, this is the additional funding for Sebas.”

Ainz’ face stiffened as he saw how the pile was reduced in an instant.

“Next is… costs for the restoration of the Lizardmen village that Cocytus requested as well as the necessary tools…”

Although it wasn’t as large as the one before, another significant chunk of the pile also became separated and only a few gold coins remained.

“… About the supplies for the Lizardmen village, I can use my connections with the guild as an adamantium adventurer. It’ll cover a bit of the costs so… about this much?”

He took back a few gold coins from Cocytus’ pile.

“…Maybe I should find a merchant and get a sponsorship. It would be a way to earn a regular income aside from adventuring.”

Including Ainz, there were only three parties of adamantium rank adventurers in the Kingdom. For this reason, there were instances where they would receive commissions from merchants. Ainz dearly wanted to accept those kinds of jobs because for him, they were easy and paid extremely well. However, he had hesitated to do so up until now.

He feared that it would paint his Momon persona as greedy, that the people and other adventurers would see him as someone who would accept any job for money.

Ainz was planning to elevate ‘Momon’ to an adventurer who was praised by all and when the time came, credit all of his fame to Ainz Ooal Gown. In order for this plan to succeed, it was necessary that he pay close attention to how the masses saw him.

“But still… I have no money. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed in an inn like this.”

Ainz looked around the magnificent room.

This was the most splendid room of the best inn in E-Rantel. The money to rent such a place was exorbitant. Since it was useless to Ainz who had no need for sleep, he wanted to use the funds for the rent elsewhere.

It was the same for meals. Even if he were served luxurious food, all of it was useless to him since he could not eat. It would be smarter to refuse them and save on food expenses.

However, Ainz knew very well that he could do no such thing.

Ainz was, no, Momon was the sole adamantium rank adventurer of this city. Such a person could not make a cheap inn his residence.

The necessities of life were one of the easier ways of comparing oneself to others. An adamantium rank adventurer must dress and live befitting of his status.

He had to show such vanity for the sake of maintaining appearances.

That was why Ainz could not lower the quality of his inn even if he knew that it was a needless expense.

“If the adventurer guild thinks I’m so valuable then they could at least pay for my room… Haa… I guess they would do it if I were to ask.”

But he did not want to owe any favors. Until now, he took on urgent job requests and worked so that people would be indebted to him. He wanted to save it for later to use as a bit of intimidation. Spending it on such a trivial matter would interfere with his plans.

“Ah~ I’m broke. What should I do? Should I accept some requests, after all…? But there aren’t any that pay well these days. And if I take on too much then the other adventurers will resent me…”

He had to make Ainz Ooal Gown a lasting legend, a good one rather than bad, if possible. Ainz imitated a sigh and counted his spending money in his head from the coins that remained.

“Speaking of money, what should I do about the Guardians’ salaries?”

Ainz pondered as he leaned back in his chair and looked to the ceiling.

The Guardians insisted that they did not need something like wages, claiming how they could possibly desire compensation on top of serving the Supreme Being which is their greatest joy.

But from Ainz’ perspective, he questioned whether it was alright for him to simply accept their good will. Work must be met with fair compensation.

Even if the Guardians insisted that pledging their loyalty to the Supreme Being was in itself the reward, it was difficult for Ainz to be convinced.

It may just be his self-righteousness, having experienced working in a company for pay. However, he could not abandon the notion that work had to be rewarded.

He did fear the possibility that a salary might corrupt his children who did not know any better. Even so, there was merit in introducing it as an experiment.

“The question is what I’m going to reward them with.”

His eyes moved from the ceiling back to the few remaining gold coins on the table.

“If I consider the Guardians as department heads of a listed company, then they would need at least 15 million yen annually… Shalltear, Cocytus, Aura, Mare, Demiurge… Albedo would need a bit more, right? So multiply by six and… Hmm, yep that’s impossible. I can’t raise that much money.”

Ainz pulled at his head and suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“That’s it! I can substitute it with something else! Currency that can only be used in Nazarick— make something like notes for children and have one equal a hundred thousand yen!”

Having shouted as much, Ainz frowned once more.

But what could they spend that currency on?

All of the facilities in Nazarick were free. Even if he thought of minting coin, he could not think of what to spend it on.

“Maybe use it to buy items from this world?”

Ainz compared the common goods of this world with those of Nazarick and doubted whether any of the Guardians would actually want them.

“But if I start charging for the stuff that was free up until now, that would be counterproductive… what should I do…”

After thinking it over for a while, Ainz came up with a great idea.

“Right! I’ll just ask the Guardians to think about it. I can ask them if they have anything that they want badly enough to pay money for!”

As Ainz muttered happily to himself about his nice idea, his smile suddenly turned bitter.

“With that said…”

He realized that he was talking to himself more and more often.

He knew that it started back when the game was nearing its end, the loneliness from his guild mates no longer showing up. But why was it that his muttering did not die down even after the NPCs gained sentience and moved about on their own?

Perhaps it became a habit, or—

“Because I’m still alone…”

Ainz gave a lonely smile.

Of course, saying that he was alone even with the self-aware NPCs by his side was rude to them. But he also had this thought; in order to act as Ainz Ooal Gown, the leader of the 41 Supreme Beings that the Guardians wanted, it was possible that he was killing Suzuki Satoru.

Ainz heaved a sigh and turned his gaze back on to the coins on the table. That was when he heard a knock on his door.

After a brief respite, the door opened. Confirming that the person who entered was the one he was expecting— Narberal Gamma, Ainz deliberately fixed his expression so that one corner of his lips curled upwards, into a face that looked as if he were looking down on someone.

The low rank illusion that Ainz was able to cast plainly showed his emotions on the surface. As such, there was a chance that he would show a face ill-fitting of Nazarick’s ruler. That was why he practiced a countless different expressions in front of the mirror so that whenever he was in the presence of others, especially Narberal, he could seem more dignified. He had a great deal of trouble choosing an expression out of the many he practiced.

“What is it, Nabel.”

He questioned her with an equally decorated voice.

“Yes, Momon-sa… san.”

“… It seems the ‘sama’ appears occasionally. No choice but to leave it as an old habit. Regardless, at least you fix it when I give a warning, albeit temporarily. I guess I must give up on that endeavor. Ah, there is no need for you to bow your head, I am not angry. And the respectable way you address me… well, it should be fine since it seems other people including the guild leader have come to some misunderstanding about us. So, what is it?”

“Yes, the iron ore that you demanded of the merchant has arrived.”

It wasn’t a demand I just bought it normally….

Thinking so in his head, his dignified expression remained unmoving.

“I see… where was the iron ore from? Was it gathered from all eight locations?”

“I apologize. I was not told.”

“…It’s fine. I have plenty of money. Although I do not know how many places it was gathered from, there should be more than enough money to purchase all of it.”

Ainz confidently filled the sack with the coins that were stacked on top of the table and tossed it at Narberal’s feet. He watched as she courteously picked up the bag.

“Understood, but may I ask you a question?”

“Is it regarding the reason why I am buying iron ore from different locations?”

Ainz explained it to Narberal who nodded her head.

“It is so that I may toss them into the Exchange Box. In other words, I wish to test whether or not the amount of gold differs based on where the ore was mined.”

The Exchange Box was not influenced by the appearance of the original object. For example, regarding a detailed stone statue, it would ignore any workmanship and calculate its worth to be equal to a stone of the same weight. Then the test was to see how it handles the difference in components— in the actual material. That was the reason why he was buying iron ore from various locations.

“As you already know, Nabel, it works even if you were to put in something like barley.”

Although I inserted in bulk and only got one gold coin from it— Ainz added on in his head.

That was what spawned the plan to build barley fields outside of Nazarick, to grow them in bulk.

Using Golems and Undead would allow them to create a vast field. Of course, there were countless obstacles before reaching that point.

“I understand. Then I will proceed to buy them as soon as possible.”

“Right, but maintain your vigilance. There is no guarantee that you will not be attacked. If something happens… you understand what to do, correct?”

“Use Shadow Demon as a shield, abandon the notion of gathering information, prioritize my safety above all else and focus entirely on retreating. I will then move to the fake Nazarick built by Aura-sama, delivering false information to the enemy.”

“Correct. Prioritize your safety. Never take the roads that are easily assaulted or where there are no crowds. And even if humans talk to you or provoke you, do not cause them severe harm. I was quite shocked when that man begged me for help while crying, saying how he was only trying to hit on you. You must also control your bloodlust. I will not go so far as to tell you not to beat a pickpocket should you happen to run into one, but don’t take it too far. Also, refrain from calling humans insects. In other words, try not to injure or kill humans. We are the greatest adventurers, Momon and Nabel of Black, after all.”

While watching Narberal who seemed to show that she understood, Ainz thought over any other precautions that he may have missed then nodded his head.

“…Hmm. This should be enough. Then go, Nabel.”

Narberal bowed her head and left the room, the leather sack in tow. Ainz watched her back as she left and, despite not having lungs, sighed heavily.

“… The expenses only pop up when I don’t have any money. Damn it all.”