Chapter 3, Part 1

After his meeting with the envoy of the Holy Kingdom was over, all of the guardians remained in the throne room. None of them displayed any signs of anger, and Demiurge looked pleased. Given the guardians’ mood Ainz, who hoped he had lived up to Demiurge’s expectations, decided to start the meeting without waiting for Pandora’s Actor to return.

“The plan Demiurge came up with had been set in motion. It will spread the name of Ainz Ooal Gown as a great hero who fights for the living. As well as allow us to explain the alike looks of Jaldabaoth and his maids to the servants of Nazairck,” Ainz proclaimed.

“But to predict that an agent of the Theocracy would show up as well. Truly everything rests in the hands of the Supreme One,” Demiurge bowed as he praised Ainz.

“Ainz-sama had predicted the action of these humans so far into the future. I am honored to serve such wise master,” said Albedo excitedly.

Ainz ignored their praise. “Demiurge’s plan really is excellent. The Holy Kingdom will be in our debt. Defeating Jaldabaoth will make the name of Ainz Ooal Gown known throughout the lands as a great hero. We can now gather information about the Theocracy, and it seems that Jircniv had abandoned his plans to oppose us from within,” he thought.

“I didn’t like pretending I was weak,” frowned Shalltear, “but for Ainz-sama..,” she looked at Ainz with eyes full of lust.

“Ahem,” coughed Ainz, “we are trying to plant the idea that I am the strongest being in Nazarick in their minds. We have tried to bait those who had brainwashed Shalltear on many occasions, but had been unsuccessful.”

“Indeed, with this plan, we can bait them into either attacking the Sorcerer Kingdom or approaching Momon,” added Albedo.

“Then.. telling Momon to.. respond to Draconic Kingomd’s.. request for aid was.. part of the plan? – asked Mare.

“Indeed. It would isolate Momon and make approaching him easier than doing so here in E-Rantel.”

“Oh, as expected of Ainz-sama,” said Aura, “to accomplish so many goals with just one move.”

Demiurge smiled. When he saw this smile Suzuki Satoru felt pain in his none existent stomach. That smile was terrifying.

“What is it now? The plan is so straightforward, what else does he imagine I am trying to accomplish?” Ainz cried out inwardly as he looked at Demiurge.

“Become the great hero of the living? Have the Holy Kingdom owe us a debt of gratitude? Bait those who oppose us into attacking? Ainz-sama’s plans go far beyond that!” Demiurge proclaimed. “Still, to take my plan and so vastly improve it. As expected of the leader of the Supreme beings,” his body trembled as he said that.

“We can’t just wait around for the party who brainwashed Shalltear to make their move. Allowing them the opportunity to choose the moment for their attack could prove costly. Instead, we should go on the offensive and learn about this world at a much faster pace than what we had been able to do so far. And with Ainz-sama’s plan, we will be able to do just that,” Albedo said excitedly.

“Eh? I don’t understand,” said Shalltear, her shoulders sinking. She looked at Ainz.

“I don’t really understand either,” admitted Aura “Why would we now be able to look for information faster?”

“That’s what I want to know!’ Suzuki wanted to shout. Of course, he did no such thing. “Should I ask Demiurge to explain as usual?” He wondered.

“Did you not pay attention to Ainz-sama’s words?” Asked Pandora’s Actor, he had returned in time to hear Demiurge’s proclamation.

“Jaldabaoth had been sealed. Now he had broken his seal. Notice that he was not defeated, but sealed. It shouldn’t be shocking when we announce that Jaldabaoth cannot be killed, but only sealed away,” Pandora’s Actor explained. “We can further claim that the seal which was used in the past is no longer effective.”

“Oh, I see,” Ainz thought. “So that’s where Demiurge was going. It’s really good that Pandora’s Actor was here to explain it, I should have him attend more meetings.”

“Indeed. This gives us the perfect excuse to aggressively gather information about powerful beings, spells, and items of this world. After all, we are looking for a way to seal the evil demon Jaldabaoth, who would dare to deny us the knowledge we seek?” Albedo added.

“Ainz-sama is amazing,” moaned Shalltear, a bit too excitedly.

“I think.. so too,” said Mare, looking at Ainz with eyes full of admiration.

“You praise me too much,” Ainz refuted the two, “Demiurge is the one who came up with this plan.”
Ainz was satisfied with the results of this meetings, he had learned a great deal about Demiurge’s plan. And so he dismissed the guardians.

Inside the Adventurer’s guild in E-Rantel:

The chatter inside the Adventurer’s Guild of E-Rantel was a bit more subdued than normal. The reason for this was a group of four people with orichalcum plates hanging from their necks. Why was a foreign adventurer’s group here? This and other whispers could be heard as the surrounding adventurers gossiped.

“Oh, Marv-kun. What brings you here today?” Ainzach asked as he descended down the stairs from his office. “I was told you wanted to ask me something?”

“Yes Ainzach-san, we will be staying in E-Rantel for two more days, and I was hoping we could have a go at the Adventurer’s Dungeon, while we are here,” – Marv explained.

Whispers filled the guild again. Aside from Momon, the highest ranked adventurer group in the city was mithril. How would an orichalcum group do in the dungeon? It would be an interesting test of strengths.

“Well, normally only the adventurers of the Sorcerer Kingdom would be permitted to challenge the dungeon. But you are guests of his Majesty,” for a moment Ainzach considered what to do.

“Let me go and ask his Majesty if he’ll allow you to challenge a wing of the dungeon,” – Ainzach made his decision. “Please wait here until I return.”

After Ainzach left, Marv and his group sat down at a table. “The Young Blood” was a pretty small adventurer’s group, with only four members. Marv himself – a damage dealer and a frontline fighter. Kiza – a magic caster. Shola – a cleric and Zirek – a ranger. It was a good set up to handle most requests. Now Marv wanted to see how well his group would do in a confined space of a dungeon.

While they waited a man approached them. He had a look of an experienced adventurer, a mithril plate hung from his neck.

“I heard you wanted to take a crack at the dungeon?” He asked them. “I am Moknak, the leader of “Rainbow” – a mithril ranked adventurer group from this city.”

“Oh, that means you have challenged the same wing of the dungeon as we plan to?” Marv inquired after introducing himself and his group.

“Yes,” replied Moknak, “to tell you the truth I am very eager to see how you’ll do. As the second highest ranked adventurer group in the city, it’s hard to gauge our progress. Momon-sama and his group are far too powerful, and the lower ranked adventurers are quickly improving. It makes it hard to determine our rate of improvement,” he explained.

“I see. So you are wondering how close you are to an orichalcum rank?”

“That would be nice to determine. I know we improved enormously since the changes made by his Majesty to the Adventurer’s Guild in this city. But how much is another question.”

“By the way, doesn’t it get boring? Exploring the same place over and over?” Asked Zirek.

“Oh, right you don’t know much about the dungeon. Why don’t I tell you about it?” Moknak offered.

“As to your question, both the layout and the encounters change daily. Some passages will open up, while others will close, traps, hidden doors and such will change. So will the encounters, except for the final boss. As it is used to measure if one is ready to advance to the next rank, so it remains the same to accurately measure one’s ability,” he explained.

“Oh, and what kind of being poses as the final boss of the right wing of the dungeon?”

“I would not want to spoil it for you. But I actually don’t know. Depending on a configuration a dungeon will have four or five boss type encounters. We had only progressed up to the second to last boss so far.”

“I see. Although making it to second to the last boss would indicate you are above the mithril rank. I understand now why you want to see how we do, to measure your group’s progress against ours,” said Marv.

Moknak nodded in agreement.

“But what happens when you engage the second to last boss, yet cannot defeat it? Normally attacking an enemy you cannot defeat would result in one’s death or severe injury. But I don’t imagine that’s the case here, is it?” Asked Shola.

“Correct. In the dungeon, there are Elder Liches with a red band around their arm. These Elder Liches are actually observers. They will take notes of your performance. They can also stop the fight if they decide your group is in danger,” Moknak explained. “Also, in case of injury or death healing and resurrection will be provided, free of charge.”

“Free of charge? The Sorcerer King is really quite generous,” Shola shook his head in disbelief.

“His Majesty truly wants to help us become strong, his resources allow us to take our training to the next level. For instance, last week we had my group fight against three groups of gold ranked adventurers. Normally such a contest would never take place due to the dangers of injuring or even killing someone. But with a healer on sight, we could engage in full force and learn from our experience,” Moknak told them.

“Such experience would certainly be very beneficial to one’s progress. And an experience like that is hard to gather in the wild. This Sorcerer King is quite smart in how he’s going about this,” mused Marv about the information they’ve learned.

Just then the doors to the Adventurer’s Guild opened and Ainzach walked in.

“Marv-kun, I have great news,” he said cheerfully. “His Majesty had allowed you to

challenge the appropriate wing of the Adventurer’s Dungeon. More than that, you can exchange the silver tokens you can get there for items of your choice here.”

“Thank you Ainzach-san. And please thank his Majesty on our behalf as well,” Marv bowed to the guild master.

“Let’s go, I’ll take your group to the dungeon,” Ainzach told them as he turned around and walked outside.

“Let’s meet up here in the evening, and good luck out there,” Moknak said.

“Thanks,” – replied Marv, as he and his group got up and walked outside to join Ainzach.

After he walked outside and inhaled the fresh air, Marv’s body was filled with excitement.

 

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