Chapter 111: Ainz's Blunder
Great Tomb of Nazarick, Throne Room.
Ainz Ooal Gown sat upright on the throne, the dark red light in his eye sockets sweeping across the assembled Guardians below.
He had just finished sharing the intelligence Sebas had sent back.
The atmosphere in the Throne Room grew heavy as compacted ice.
"A roar... can destroy a mountain?" Aura's ears drooped slightly. An unusually serious look crossed her boyish face. "Isn't that even more extreme than Super Tier magic?"
Mare shrank behind his sister, raising his staff to cover his face, his voice barely audible. "S, so scary..."
Albedo stood at the foot of the throne, brow furrowed. She looked toward Ainz, drawing breath to request an immediate enhancement of their defenses.
"Congratulations, Ainz-sama."
A composed voice cut through everyone's thoughts.
Demiurge stepped forward, placed his right hand at his chest, and bowed deeply.
When he straightened, an elegant smile sat on that cunning face, confident light gleaming through the round lenses of his glasses.
Ainz's jawbone nearly came loose.
Congratulations for what?
The green light of forced calm flashed through him and pressed the confusion and the panic back down.
"Mm." Ainz cleared his throat and kept his voice as though everything were well in hand. "You've already seen it, have you, Demiurge."
A declarative statement offered as a question. That was the most effective method for handling Demiurge, and Ainz had by now acquired considerable experience with it.
Demiurge smiled, his expression full of genuine admiration. "Of course, Ainz-sama. Your arrangement was truly brilliant."
'I have an arrangement?' Ainz's thoughts were racing at full speed, but not a single thing showed on his face.
"You deliberately left Narberal in E-Rantel for precisely this moment, didn't you, Ainz-sama."
Shimatta.
A silent cry went up somewhere in the depths of Ainz's mind.
He had forgotten Narberal was in E-Rantel.
For the past several days he had been entirely absorbed in the dragon situation: mobilizing Guardians, fortifying defenses, probing the enemy's movements. He had completely forgotten about the battle maid he'd left behind in that city. He had told her offhandedly to stay there and keep an eye on intelligence, and then never contacted her again.
"Narberal?" Cocytus's low voice broke in. Hearing that unexpected name from Demiurge's mouth, his insectoid compound eyes turned toward the demon. "What does Narberal have to do with this?"
As it happened, Narberal, who habitually referred to humans as various species of low-grade vermin, and Cocytus, who was himself of insect-kind, were unexpectedly close friends. When the two of them were alone together they got along famously, animated conversation coming easily, and so Cocytus, who was generally a creature of few words, was the one most likely to speak up first whenever Narberal's name entered the room.
Demiurge pushed his glasses up, confidence gleaming from the lenses. "Of course. This is precisely Ainz-sama's clever design. It was only when Narberal came to me about operational expenses that I understood everything."
Ainz covered his face with his hand.
He had also forgotten to give Narberal money. He had essentially left her in E-Rantel to fend for herself.
"Ainz-sama deliberately provided Narberal with no operating expenses," Demiurge's voice filled the Throne Room at an unhurried pace. "This kept her active as an adventurer, earning her expenses through guild commissions, which in turn maintained the presence and activity of the team Darkness."
He turned back to face the throne, his eyes full of reverence. "And now, this is precisely the moment when Darkness is needed."
No. I simply forgot.
Green light kept surging and flashing through Ainz. Forced calm was working at full capacity, just barely suppressing the guilt that threatened to spill over into plain sight.
He maintained his seated posture and gave a slight nod, as though confirming Demiurge's analysis.
"Mm. That you've already seen this by now, Demiurge, is quite impressive." Ainz let a note of approval into his tone.
"Thank you for your affirmation, Ainz-sama."
Demiurge bowed deeply. Then he straightened, turned to face the other Guardians, who were still processing what they had heard, and adjusted his tie.
"In fact, I had been wondering all along why the dragon never once stepped into the traps Ainz-sama had so carefully prepared."
Aura blinked. Mare peeked out from behind his sister. Cocytus's compound eyes flickered with quiet attention. Albedo tilted her head and waited for Demiurge to reach his point.
"Setting aside its defensive capabilities for the moment," Demiurge raised one finger, "given that the dragon's offensive power has reached the level we have just heard, it has no reason whatsoever to fear engaging us out in the open, away from Nazarick's defenses, as we were during the lizardmen campaign."
His gaze moved across the assembled Guardians. "My earlier speculation had been that the dragon learned the greater part of Nazarick's intelligence from Shalltear and was therefore cautious about acting against us. But subsequent probing consistently suggested that the dragon had already moved well beyond Nazarick's sphere of influence, and was very likely no longer within the Kingdom's territory."
"But what if the dragon, despite having taken control of Shalltear, was unable to extract the intelligence she possessed..."
The angle of Demiurge's smile deepened. "Then everything falls into place. The reason the dragon never stepped into Ainz-sama's traps is very likely that it never knew Nazarick existed in the first place. It never obtained the intelligence Shalltear held."
Ainz sat on the throne, and the pieces finally clicked.
Demiurge's bait strategy had never worked. He had spent all this time assuming the dragon was simply too clever, that it had seen through everything, that it was holding something back. He had been anxious about it for longer than he cared to admit.
And the truth was really this straightforward?
The dragon had very likely had no idea Nazarick existed. It had encountered Shalltear unexpectedly, taken control of her, and left.
And even though it could control her, it apparently could not read her memories.
So no matter how many layers of bait Demiurge had prepared, the dragon was never going to take any of them.
Which meant all his days of worry, all the defensive contingencies he had painstakingly worked through...
Had all been wasted.
Forced calm flashed again.
"Ainz-sama." Demiurge turned back to face the throne and pushed up his glasses. The lenses caught the light. "Your depth of foresight is something this subordinate truly cannot match."
"From the very beginning, you never placed all your hopes on the bait plan alone. By holding Narberal and Darkness in reserve, you ensured that even if the bait failed, a separate intelligence channel would still exist."
"And now, in circumstances where directly exposing Nazarick might draw the dragon's attention, the adventurer team you created is the best possible means of gathering information from the outside world."
He finished, and turned back toward the throne with an expression of complete and open admiration.
****
40+advance chapters at patreon.com/Eatinpieces