Emissary of the King
Part 1
Space distorted, and the view before his eyes changed instantly.
Upon returning to his room with its grand desk, Ainz sighed in relief. He had teleported many times before, and he knew there should not be any problems this time round, but he had only been in this unknown world for a few days. Thus, the fear that he might teleport to some strange place still worried him.
He caressed the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown on his right ring finger and looked around him.
There was nobody around.
That was good. He did not want anyone to see what he was about to do.
Ainz was about to walk towards the table when he stopped and looked up. He possessed magic vision which could see through invisibility, and noticed the figures of the Eight Edge Assassins standing by on the ceiling.
Their gazes met.
“All of you, leave.”
“Pardon my impudence, Ainz-sama. There might be intruders who might make an attempt on your life here. To avoid this tiny possibility, please allow us to stay here to serve as your shield. Please reconsider.”
“Intruders? Here? I can only take this as an insult to the ones guarding the eight floors above me.”
“Ah! That is not what your humble servant is implying! Please forgive my transgression. However, if something were to happen to the last Supreme Being who stayed with us, that would be our shared responsibility. To consider all possibilities of danger and protect the Supreme Beings is the duty of everyone here. We will shut our eyes, mouth and ears, and protect your majestic self while hiding in the shadows.”
It mentioned something about hiding in the shadows, but to Ainz, the bug shaped monsters were just hanging prominently from the ceiling.
He understood their wish to serve, but he couldn’t allow others to know what he was going to do next.
He suddenly realized what he felt was similar to a fourteen year old boy who wanted a lock for his own room.
Hmm?
“— I hear and obey. We have no objections since it is the will of the Supreme Being.”
The Eight Edge Assassins descended from the ceiling. They detached their legs from the surface above them and fell to the ground.
They landed without any noise and stood up as one.
“We will retreat from this room now.”
After Ainz nodded, they left the room elegantly in a disciplined line. For some reason, this reminded Ainz of the nature documentary clip of ants marching in a line, shown to him by Blue Planet.
After the last of them had left the room and bowed to Ainz from the corridor, it closed the door gently.
Ainz scanned his surroundings once more. The ceiling as well, of course.
— No one else was around. The room was truly empty now.
There were two set of doors in this room. One was the one used by the Eight Edge Assassins, which led into the corridor, while the other was linked to the other rooms— Ainz’ personal chambers, which comprised several rooms just like the royal suite in hotels, such as the bedroom, changing room and bathroom — all connected together.
Ainz walked towards the door leading to the other rooms and opened it easily. He poked his head in and looked inside.
There was no sign of anyone else. Even if he listened closely, he still couldn’t hear the sound of another person.
He thought that a maid might be cleaning the other rooms, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
No, he couldn’t let his guard down.
Ainz let go of his relaxation and tensed up once again.
Walking across the room, Ainz opened the door leading to the corridor. On either side of the door was a bipedal insect-type monster assigned by Cocytus, standing there as sentries. He didn’t see any signs of the Eight Edge Assassins. They couldn’t have gone far, but they were not here.
“…The two of you.”
“Sir! Twenty five hours— No, it’s twenty five hours and forty minutes.”
Ainz blinked his non-existent eyes.
“Yes?”
He could tell his minions were troubled. Ainz was certain of it.
It was nothing to be happy about, but his skill at reading the expressions of insects had been rising rapidly. It would be a good thing if his observation skills improved, but if that wasn’t the case, it would be a useless ability.
No, there were insectoid monsters led by Cocytus under his charge, this should be a very useful ability for the ruler of Nazarick.
— The thoughts that arose in a corner of the brain that he wasn’t even sure existed were dismissed by his rage.
Now wasn’t the time to consider all these. He should be thinking about the inhuman working conditions of his servants instead.
He let a weak-sounding “um”’ slip out, and tried covering it up with a clumsy cough. Ainz then questioned his servants:
“I ask again, you said it has been one day?”
“That is so. It has been one day since we were bestowed the honour of sentry duty before Ainz-sama’s room.”
“Is that so… One day… You are here on Cocytus’ orders, I presume?”
Standing sentry for an entire day without any relief. This would put any unethical company to shame. Ainz was speechless as he thought about Cocytus. His last farewell with Herohero was still fresh on his mind. If Herohero hadn’t been run ragged from work, and was healthy and mentally fresh, he might be standing here with Ainz right now.
How could he allow his own subordinates to be forced into such a situation which robbed Herohero of all his vitality?
Ainz’s job took up a lot of his time, but he at least had time to play virtual games.
There were many who gave up gaming because of the drastic change in their living environment. Herohero didn’t cancel his account, but he was as good as retired— If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t had left his items behind and told Ainz he was free to do whatever he wanted with them.
As he fumed silently, Ainz announced:
“Carrying out your duties over such long hours without rest must have taken its toll on you. Your hard work is worthy of praise. You may hand your duties over to your replacements, so go back and rest. If Cocytus says anything to you, tell him these are my orders.”
“Could, could it be that we, we did something wrong?”
“What? No, you didn’t do anything wrong…”
Their voices were trembling, but it wasn’t because of confusion, but due to some other reason. This made Ainz furrow the eye brows in his heart.
While Ainz was considering that possibility, the servants continued:
Was Cocytus that scary?
“If that is so, why are you ordering us to stand down and hand over our duties?”
The pitiful pleas of his servants baffled Ainz once again.
“Why? Do you even need to ask? Keeping the same posture while standing sentry for twenty five hours must be very tiring, no?”
“No such thing. There is nothing tiring about this. Being assigned to guard Ainz-sama’s room is a heavenly experience for us.”
Are you sure you’re not about to ascend to heaven because of fatigue?
“No, that… Ahem. You won’t be able to concentrate like this. I think changing shift routinely would ensure tighter security, right?”
“Please don’t worry. When we were dispatched here, Cocytus-sama loaned us an item allowing us to operate without need for sleep. Being assigned to the important post of guarding Ainz-sama’s room makes us happy, we can’t afford to let our guard down.”
Ainz could feel the determination of their voices.
“Is, is that so? Do your best in your assigned tasks then.”
He might be shaken, but Ainz still nodded with the lofty attitude of a master.
“We are extremely grateful, Ainz-sama.”
He was thinking that he should be the one thanking them, but as their master, Ainz couldn’t say that. However, there was something he should say.